racism

Affirmative Action in Fiction
by Saab Lofton

"White fear is profitable. Bond issues for prison construction managed by major investment banks are more profitable than school construction bonds for improving the decrepit, crowded public schools like Taft High School in the Bronx. The prison construction bonds also depend heavily on a steady flow of young, brown bodies of former students of de-funded schools, as do the crowded barracks in Iraq's deserts."
--Roberto Lovato of the Pacific News Service, May 18th, 2004

"Over the past 20 years California has built 23 new prisons and only one new university."
--Workers World, May 22nd, 2003

Cartoonists to Protest Lack of Color in the Comics

By Teresa Wiltz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 6, 2008; C01

You could call it a sit-in, of sorts. Perhaps a sketch-in would be more appropriate, a comic call to arms, with cartoonists of color protesting for greater presence in newspaper pages. Protesting in the best way they know: drawing about it, en masse, all on the same day.

Because, these artists say, "Candorville" does not equal "Boondocks" or "Curtis" or "Wee Pals" or "Herb and Jamaal." And "La Cucaracha" does not equal "Baldo" or "Gordo" and especially not "Cafe con Leche."

Guess which driver's facing 21 years in prison — the drunk , rich, white one or the sober, poor, black one?
By Sarah Fenske
Published: January 24, 2008
http://phoenixnewtimes.com/2008-01-24/news/the-wrong-driver/full

Two cars collided last year on Cinco de Mayo.

Considering the date, you might assume that at least one of the drivers was drunk — and you'd be right. Laura Varker was 17 years old, and she'd been tubing down the Salt River all day with her eight best girlfriends. Their T-shirts all read "Cinco de Drinko." Even an hour after the accident, Varker's blood-alcohol level was 0.09, over the legal limit for adults. And, as an underage driver, she was in violation of the law by having any amount of alcohol in her system.

the Green LanternGreen and Black
By Saab Lofton

When the DC Comics character Green Lantern was created in 1940, he was an individual with a magic ring, but twenty years later, his back story was rewritten so that being a Green Lantern meant one was part of a collective.

The Green Lantern Corps, as it was called, could be compared to the Jedi Order from Star Wars since both organizations enlisted thousands of different aliens (and just as the Jedi had a fallen angel in the form of Anakin Skywalker, the Green Lanterns were similarly betrayed, but I'm getting ahead of myself).

Jena 6 Teen Released on $45,000 Bail

By DOUG SIMPSON
The Associated Press
Washington Post
Friday, September 28, 2007

JENA, La. -- A black teenager whose prosecution in the beating of a white classmate prompted a massive civil rights protest here walked out of a courthouse Thursday after a judge ordered him freed.

Mychal Bell's release on $45,000 bail came hours after a prosecutor confirmed he would no longer seek an adult trial for the 17-year-old. Bell, one of the teenagers known as the Jena Six, still faces trial as a juvenile in the December beating in this small central Louisiana town.

"We still have mountains to climb, but at least this is closer to an even playing field," said the Rev. Al Sharpton, who helped organize last week's protest.

This is so wrong on sooo many levels. He preaches from his staged press conference that it was J.C. who prevented violence during a huge protest rally last week. Because African Americans would never act in a civil manner. What a slap in the face to the African American community

NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD CALLS FOR RELEASE OF MYCHAL BELL, FOR ALL CHARGES AGAINST THE JENA 6 TO BE DROPPED, AND FOR FEDERAL INVESTIGATION INTO JENA 6 ARRESTS AND PROSECUTIONS / NLG STATEMENT ON JENA 6
Monday, September 24, 2007, 11:44 AM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, September 24, 2007

Contact: Kerry McLean, 917-334-9331
Marjorie Cohn, NLG President, 858-204-3565

NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD CALLS FOR RELEASE OF MYCHAL BELL, FOR ALL CHARGES AGAINST THE JENA 6 TO BE DROPPED, AND FOR FEDERAL INVESTIGATION INTO JENA 6 ARRESTS AND PROSECUTIONS

Of White Trees, Black Boys, & Jena
by Mumia Abu-Jamal recorded 7/21/07

And if I may take a page from my friend Suryu,

"the Message Stupid!"

Transcript:

La. Protests Hark Back to '50s, '60s

Friday September 21, 2007 3:16 AM

By MARY FOSTER

Associated Press Writer

JENA, La. (AP) - Drawn by a case tinged with one of the most hated symbols of Old South racism - a hangman's noose tied in an oak tree - thousands of protesters rallied Thursday against what they see as a double standard of prosecution for blacks and whites.

The plight of the so-called Jena Six became a flashpoint for one the biggest civil-rights demonstrations in years. Five of the black teens were initially charged with attempted murder in the beating of a white classmate.

Conviction in Jena case overturned

Judges rule teen should not have been tried as adult in racially tinged case

The Associated Press
Sept 15, 2007

JENA, La. - A state appeals court Friday tossed out the aggravated battery conviction that could have sent a black teenager to prison for 15 years in last year's beating of a white classmate in the racially tense Louisiana town of Jena.

Mychal Bell, who was 16 at the time of the December beating, should not have been tried as an adult on the battery charge, the state Third Circuit Court of Appeal in Lake Charles ruled.

Bell is one of six black Jena High School students charged in an attack on fellow student Justin Barker, and one of five originally charged as adults with attempted second-degree murder.