Soul Fusion Teaching Artist Kim Poole and the Teaching Artist Institute: Bringing the Diaspora Together through the Arts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAG9TMRSqkc&feature=player_embedded
Baltimore’s best kept secret has never been louder. The statuesque soul fusion teacher artist, Ms. Kim Poole, has emerged from Baltimore’s underground music scene with a commanding presence. Her powerful sultry vocals and soul stirring storylines empowers women globally to celebrate their resilience and engage in cross-cultural communication thru music. Influenced by the musical styles of Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan, and Nina Simone and supported by her five piece band, her eclectic blend of Soul, R&B, Jazz, & the Blues together create what she refers to as soul fusion. Her professed “old soul” brings a refreshingly original, yet familiar energy to the stage in performances and a unique edu-tainment method to her “music is a tool” workshops. Promoting cultural heritage, self-awareness and love of community through interactive performances and workshops, Ms. Kim Poole is changing the face of music worldwide and leading the teacher artist movement in her own right.

–from the Kim Poole Music Website, http://www.kimpoolemusic.com/

Ms. Kim Poole has coined the term “Soul Fusion Teaching Artist” to describe her focus, and the term is most appropriate. But she is not only a Teaching Artist, she is also a community activist who uses her art, music, as an organizing tool. Through her Teaching Artist Workshops and the Teaching Artist Institute which was officially founded in 2015, she is spreading the understanding of the healing and empowering nature of the arts to established and aspiring artists to ensure that their craft enriches not only their careers but also the communities they serve. Ms. Poole is affiliated with the Maryland Organization of the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus. Thanks to Ms. Kim Poole, the discipline we all know as “The Arts” is assuming its rightful place as one of the critical Spokes of the Wheel of Pan-Afrikan Unity and Uplift.

REPORT ON COURT HEARING — Mumia’s Fight for Medical Treatment

by Rachel Wolkenstein
http://www.rachelwolkenstein.net

EDITOR’S NOTE: Rachel Wolkenstein is a life-long political activist and an attorney for over 40 years defending civil liberties and civil rights, focused on the exercise of First Amendment rights, challenging the injustices of the American judicial system in criminal prosecutions and opposing the racist death penalty. She has worked as a legal and public advocate for freedom for Mumia Abu-Jamal since helping build the worldwide campaign for his freedom in the 1990s. She posted this report on the recent court case pertaining to the denial of medical services to Mumia in 2015 on her website, http://www.rachelwolkenstein.net.

A remarkable and legally historic evidentiary hearing in Mumia Abu-Jamal v. Kerestes took place over three days in late December 2015 in the U.S. federal district court in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The amended lawsuit filed August 3, 2015 by attorneys Bret Grote of the Abolitionist Law Project and Robert Boyle is an action for damages, injunctive relief and a declaration of the unconstitutional denial of medical treatment to Mumia Abu-Jamal. The immediate question is whether Judge Robert Mariani will grant Mumia a preliminary injunction and rule that the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC) has been deliberately indifferent to Mumia Abu-Jamal’s medical condition in violation of the Eighth Amendment’s proscription against cruel and unusual punishment and order the DOC to immediately treat Mumia’s active Hepatitis-C with the new antiviral medications.

A brief summary of the legal case

The legal brief filed August 17, 2015 in support of the Motion for Preliminary Injunction succinctly summarizes Mumia’s case:

“Mumia Abu-Jamal is suffering severe and chronic symptoms from untreated, active Hepatitis-C. In the past several months he has experienced diabetic shock, a painful and pruritic [extremely itchy] rash affecting his entire body, edema, skin lesions, anemia, and likely fibrosis of the liver. Scientific advances in the treatment of Hepatitis-C have established a new standard of care that could cure Abu-Jamal of his Hepatitis-C and alleviate the painful symptoms within 8-12 weeks without significant side effects through daily administration of a single pill. DOC defendants, however, are refusing to provide Abu-Jamal with this medically necessary, life-saving treatment.”

In riveting testimony, Mumia’s doctor, Dr. Joseph Harris, fully described how over the past two years these new antiviral drugs (marketed as Salvadi and Harvoni) have “revolutionized” the treatment of Hepatitis-C (HCV) with a 90-95 percent cure rate. Immediate treatment for all those with active Hepatitis-C is now the recommended standard of care by the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease (AASLD) and the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) and is endorsed by the Center for Disease Control (CDC). The World Health Organization added these new medications to its essential medicines list. In curing HCV, the “extra-hepatic” secondary symptoms including fatigue, itchy rashes, arthritis and muscle pain will also be cured. But the cost in the United States is $1000 per pill, making a course of treatment approximately $90,000.

Medicine for profit in capitalist America means there is no equal access, let alone free access, to this new cure. As for other medical care, insurance coverage depends on the scope and cost of the medical insurance itself. While there is growing public outcry over the high costs, neither Medicare nor Medicaid currently pays for this treatment unless the disease has progressed to severe liver damage.

At the close of the intensive evidentiary hearing on December 23 after the testimony of Dr. Harris, two DOC expert specialists, the DOC’s chief medical officer and the SCI Mahanoy chief medical officer, the following was not in dispute:

Mumia Abu-Jamal has active chronic Hepatitis-C, stage-two fibrosis with a 63 percent probability of cirrhosis of the liver.
Mumia has “anemia of chronic disease.”
Mumia’s severe itchy skin rash is not resolved despite months of intensive treatment.
Severely itchy skin is often a secondary symptom of HCV.
There is no medical reason for Mumia not to be treated with the new antivirals for Hepatitis-C.

The dispute is clearly not a medical or scientific one. It is social, one of cost and, in regard to prisoners, one of peneological purpose. This was the proverbial “elephant in the room” that the DOC witnesses would not directly address. Instead, the DOC tried to explain the difference between “correctional and institutional standards” and “community standards.” The DOC maintains that this is simply a case of doctors with differing opinions of treatment. That argument was exploded by the DOC expert witness on Hepatitis-C treatment, Dr. Jay Cowan, who responded to attorney Robert Boyle’s question, that “yes he would recommend the new antivirals to anyone who had Hepatitis-C who could pay the $90,000 cost.”

The DOC’s new “Interim Hepatitis-C Protocol,” secretly issued on November 12, 2015 does not take any account of the new drugs’ potential to cure Hepatitis-C and stop its deadly progression and alleviate painful and debilitating symptoms suffered by a significant portion of the prison population. Rather this is a protocol to deny this new treatment to Pennsylvania prisoners. According to the testimony of the head of DOC medical services, Dr. Peter Noel, only five out of some 6000 prisoners with active HCV are getting treatment.

The DOC protocol does not allow treatment to be considered until the prisoner is close to death, with severe complications from cirrhosis of the liver. The protocol has a tortuous and Kafkaesque stratification of who should be considered for treatment. There are numerous “reasons” for exclusions from treatment, including misconduct and not following medical regimens. The last hurdle before treatment may be considered by the Hepatitis-C Treatment Committee is an endoscopy that shows the prisoner has “esophageal varices.” This is a condition in which the “blood vessels in the esophagus may leak blood or even rupture, causing life-threatening bleeding.” If there are no “esophageal varices,” the prisoner is set for another endoscopy in “two to three years.” And then, depending, treatment will be considered.

The DOC lawyers and doctors, from the medical specialist “experts” to the head of its medical services, laid bare the reality of medicine for profit in capitalist America and the function of prisons as repressive punitive institutions without a modicum of care for the medical well-being of prisoners. The court evidentiary hearing unfolded with rare public display of the DOC’s mendacity and utter contempt for its own laws and rules: the suppression and then attempt to keep its Hepatitis-C Treatment Protocol “confidential;” submission to court of a false declaration from its chief of DOC health services; and its expert witnesses testimony that withheld information from Mumia’s medical records that contradicted their opinions. In cross-examination Mumia’s lawyers successfully discredited the DOC’s presentation of false or misleading evidence.

At the close of the evidentiary hearing Judge Mariani set January 13, 2016 as the date that all parties would get transcripts of the hearing, and that written briefs were due by both Mumia and the DOC by February 3, 2016. The judge said he would decide as quickly as possible, making this case his priority.

The implications and scope of Mumia’s lawsuit

While this lawsuit is based on the “deliberate indifference” of the DOC to treat Mumia Abu-Jamal specifically, focusing on the horrific history of his medical mistreatment, this case presents an historic testing of all prisoners’ right under the Eighth Amendment to medical treatment—in fact a cure—of the deadly Hepatitis-C virus that infects 13-25 percent of prisoners. The DOC is seeking dismissal of a class action lawsuit brought in federal district court in Philadelphia on behalf of some 10,000 Pennsylvania prisoners, Chimenti v. Department of Corrections.

In the United States there is no constitutional right to medical care, except that under the Eighth Amendment prison officials have an “obligation to provide medical care for those whom it is punishing by incarceration.” Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 103 (1976). That obligation is determined by a serious medical need and the state’s acts or omissions that indicate a “deliberate indifference” to that need. Case law holds that deprivation of treatment for reason of cost is deliberate indifference under the Eighth Amendment and therefore unconstitutional.

But if “the law” really was “the law” Mumia would have been immediately granted the Hep-C cure. The DOC would have administered the new antiviral medicine to him without the compulsion of a lawsuit—and done the same for the thousands of other prisoners suffering from Hepatitis-C.

Instead, Mumia has been subjected to over a year of medical mistreatment—the state’s latest attempt to silence and kill him. The DOC has resisted and challenged any diagnosis and medical treatment for Mumia’s skin condition and now refuses to treat his active Hepatitis-C. A fellow prisoner, Major Tillery, confronted prison Superintendent John Kerestes, warning him that Mumia might die unless he was hospitalized immediately. For that act of solidarity, Tillery was transferred to another prison and set-up on a false misconduct charge and spent over four months in the “hole.” An international campaign of protest was launched after Mumia’s near-death from diabetic shock demanding medical treatment and Mumia’s release from prison. Without that campaign, including this legal action to save Mumia’s life, the DOC would have not given him any medical care.

We will see what this court decides and how this case proceeds on appeal. Any court decisions in Mumia’s favor, however small, will be challenged by the DOC, and likely the FOP (Fraternal Order of Police), in the appellate courts and in the public arena. At stake is keeping Mumia alive, striking a blow for medical care for prisoners throughout the country, and expanding the campaign in an international struggle for Mumia’s freedom.

Mumia’s court testimony

On the first day of the court hearing, December 18, Mumia testified via videoconference from SCI Mahanoy; his first court testimony since his 1982 trial. As Mumia’s wife, Wadiya Jamal, stated in her December 18 message, “This rotten-ass system has made many attempts on my husband’s life. Mumia is innocent of the murder of police officer Daniel Faulkner on December 9, 1981 and the cops on the scene all knew that. His Hep-C is from the blood transfusions 34 years ago when he survived a cop’s gunshot to his chest through his lungs to his liver.” Blood transfusions prior to 1992 are a major source of HCV because blood was not thoroughly screened untill then. In an understated manner Mumia described in court the ravages to his body and mind from this year of pain and near death from diabetic shock. All of Mumia’s medical records from the prison and his hospitalizations were admitted into evidence.

Mumia explained the progression of the severe itchy skin condition that began in August 2014 in small patches and spread over most of his body. In the prison infirmary he was first given topical creams but then treated with steroids and had a catastrophic allergic reaction, a swelling of his whole body such that he could barely breathe. He had rapid extreme weight loss dropping from around 260 pounds down to around 180 in a month’s time. He was fatigued; he couldn’t sleep for all the itching; he was driven to scratch himself bloody at night. Without recognizing it himself he was losing coherence and couldn’t concentrate on his work.

Early morning on March 30, 2015 he collapsed in the prison infirmary, was rushed to a hospital and put into the ICU to treat diabetic shock and a glucose level of close to 600. He testified, “On April 2nd, after being in the ICU near death, and back at SCI Mahanoy I was in the infirmary unable to walk one step. I could not lift my arms, I was too weak to pull myself up off the floor.” Mumia’s prison medical records of blood tests taken on March 6, three weeks earlier showed his glucose level had spiked to deadly dangerous 419. This was ignored by the prison doctors.

In April Mumia’s skin condition worsened, with 70 percent of his body covered in thick scales from head to toe, his skin described alternatively as looking like elephant hide, or reptilian, and also with flaking skin and lesions on his legs too numerous to count. In court Mumia was asked to identify photos taken of him during visits on April 9 and April 26, 2015 with his wife Wadiya Jamal (and myself) showing the scabbing on his arms and the side head shot showing his scaling and peeling skin, a lesion over his ear and folds in his neck. Over the DOC’s objection that these photos were “inflammatory and prejudicial,” Judge Mariani admitted the photos into evidence.

Mumia further described that while taking a shower one morning in early May blisters erupted on his lower legs and he was taken to Geisinger Medical Center for five days of intensive treatment of his skin. He was also given a battery of tests to determine if he had various cancers or other diseases that might be the cause of his skin condition. The doctors and nurses said they had never seen anything like this before. Mumia was wrapped like a mummy every four hours with topical steroid creams and Vaseline for days. This was continued when Mumia returned to the infirmary at SCI Mahanoy.

The tests for cancer were negative. Geisinger doctors recommended in the discharge summary that Mumia should have follow-up gastroenterology consultation for Hepatitis-C treatment. Mumia was found to have an “irregular-appearing liver” and anemia of chronic disease.

Since April, Mumia has been housed in the SCI Mahanoy infirmary. Since May he has Vaseline wraps several times a week as well as baths and for the past month phototherapy was added to ameliorate his skin condition. The DOC infectious disease specialist, Dr. Ramon Gadea, examined Mumia and his medical records in September. Mumia specifically asked him if he had reviewed Dr. Harris’ report that Mumia’s skin condition was likely secondary to his Hep-C. Dr. Gadea told Mumia he agreed with that diagnosis and would recommend Mumia be treated for his Hepatitis-C but he thought the prison would refuse because of costs.

On cross-examination DOC counsel Laura Neals tried to establish that Mumia is better now after all the skin treatment. He testified that although his skin condition is better than before, it still itches terribly and he has difficulty sleeping. He was asked by Neals why he had refused a test for Hep-C in 2011, to which he replied, “I never agreed to blood tests while I was on death row, because I didn’t trust the doctors.” It was in January 2012 when Mumia was being transferred from death row into general population that Mumia had an extensive blood work up and he showed positive for the Hep-C virus. On redirect, Mumia’s attorney, Bret Grote asked: “Would you accept Hepatitis-C treatment?” Mumia answered: “Yes, with it I can live; without it I may die.”

Dr. Suzanne Ross, a clinical psychologist and International Representative of International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal and Prof. Johanna Fernandez, of the Campaign to Bring Mumia Home, testified for Mumia providing more detail and emotion on Mumia’s drastic changes in physical appearance, energy and concentration over the past months while suffering from the severe skin condition and aftermath of the diabetic shock and hospitalizations.

Mumia’s doctor, Joseph Harris

Dr. Joseph Harris is a Board Certified Diplomate in Internal Medicine licensed in New York State. He has extensively treated Hep-C and HIV patients and spent a year as a Village Physician with Doctors Without Borders in Valle de Cauca Columbia. He also practiced in Rwanda. Dr. Harris began serving as a consultant for Mumia’s attorneys in May 2015 and began monthly visits with Mumia in July. Because the DOC would not grant Dr. Harris any entry as a physician, not even to bring in a pen and pad to make notes, Dr. Harris visited with Mumia as a regular visitor in the visiting room. Nonetheless Dr. Harris was able to take a medical history and personally observe Mumia’s skin and portions of his lower extremities.

Dr. Harris testified that he had treated 100 people with active Hepatitis-C over a recent two-year period of time and the 31 people (including himself) for whom he was able to obtain the new antivirals were totally cured within the 12 week course of treatment. In depth and with clarity for laymen, Dr. Harris described the impact of the new antiviral Hepatitis-C drugs and how quickly the standard of care has changed. Just a year ago, the AASLD protocols still had a prioritization subset to its “treat everyone” recommendation. Mumia, he testified, even under last years’ protocol is in the category of most priority treatment needed because of the numerous secondary effects of Hepatitis-C that he is suffering, particularly the painful skin rash and the chronic anemia.

Mumia’s unique and severe skin condition was diagnosed by Dr. Harris as Necrolytic Acral Erythema (NAE) a rare condition that “typically involves a Black patient with a pruititic [itchy] and/or painful rash that has a minimal response to usual treatments. It is a cutaneous [skin] marker of Hepatitis-C.” He testified that Mumia’s skin condition was not simply eczema and/or psoriasis. Mumia had been treated with the “big guns” of dermatological treatment and his skin condition continues. So long as Mumia’s HCV continues to advance, his severe skin condition will come and go. The intensive skin treatments provided by the prison doctors have reduced but not resolved Mumia’s skin rash. He made it abundantly clear to all—treat Mumia’s Hepatitis-C and his skin rash will resolve.

Another critical point of Dr. Harris’ testimony was the medicine and science in determining whether a person has active chronic Hepatitis-C. A simple blood test determines whether the virus is present. The determining issue is whether there is a “viral load.” But the number—high or low—of that viral load is totally irrelevant as to how much liver damage the virus has caused.

The DOC Expert Witnesses

The DOC’s hired gun as their expert on Hepatitis-C was Dr. Jay Cowan, a Diplomate Board Certified Gastroenterologist, president of Correctional Medical Associates, a subsidiary of Corizon, a Tennessee company that provides medical services to prisons in many states and counties, including in New York and Pennsylvania. At the time he testified, Dr. Cowan was completing his tenure as Medical Director of Rikers Island prison. Corizon, as of December 31, 2015 was terminated as the medical provider for Rikers Island after investigation by the New York City Council. According to a report in CounterPunch, “Abu-Jamal Gets Federal Court Hearing Seeking Order to Treat His Hepatitis-C Infection,” by David Lindorff, December 19, 2015:

“During New York City Council hearings into Corizon’s contract with Rikers, which ultimately led to termination of the company’s contract, Cowan was accused of being callous towards the prison deaths attributable to his company’s neglect, incompetence and malpractice, and with being ‘evasive’ in responding to questioning by city councilmembers.”

Unfortunately Judge Mariani stopped Mumia’s attorney Robert Boyle’s cross-examination of Dr. Cowan’s medical oversight of Rikers Island jail and work with Corizon.

Dr. Cowan testified he was retained by the Pennsylvania DOC to sit on its Hepatitis-C Treatment Review Committee, the existence of which was first disclosed by the DOC during the hearing. He was part of the group that on December 17 (the day before the hearing) denied Mumia the Hep-C treatment. Dr. Cowan is an “expert witness,” which means he frequently testified in court proceedings and is expert at not directly answering questions. He spent considerable time testifying on the means to determine how much liver damage a person with HCV has. He simultaneously acknowledged that new American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) and the CDC Hepatitis-C guidelines established a standard of treatment that “everyone should be treated,” while insisting that the “correctional setting guideline” was the “same” as the “community setting,” with one caveat, “risk stratification.” In other words he supported the view that, in the “correctional setting” a prioritization that precluded treatment until someone is close to dying of liver disease. He was not familiar with all the CT scans and sonograms that showed damage and irregularities in Mumia’s liver.

Dr. Cowan disputed Dr. Harris’ diagnosis of NAE and any correlation between Mumia’s skin rash and his Hepatitis-C based in part on his false understanding that Mumia’s skin condition was “completely resolved.” He testified he had no information that the DOC’s infectious disease expert Dr. Gadea had recommended Hep-C treatment for Mumia on the basis that his skin rash might be secondary to his HCV.

Nonetheless Dr. Jay Cowan, the DOC Hepatitis-C expert was compelled to acknowledge that Mumia has Stage Two liver disease, with “significant probability of fibrosis.”

Dr. Schleicher, the DOC Board Certified Dermatologist, works for an outside medical contractor. He examined Mumia solely via “tele-med,” a form of video conferencing. Questioned by DOC counsel, Dr. Schleicher diagnosed Mumia’s skin condition as a “cross between psoriasis and eczema” with an unlikely connection to Mumia’s Hep-C. But on cross-examination he admitted he knew little about Hep-C, and stated he was unaware that Geisinger Medical Center recommended Hepatitis-C follow-up and treatment for Mumia in May 2015. Additionally Dr. Schleicher testified that he, like Dr. Cowan, was not aware that the infectious disease specialist hired by the DOC, Dr. Ramon Gadea, stated there might be a correlation between Mumia’s skin rash and his Hep-C.

The DOC had suppressed its new protocol for Hepatitis-C treatment — and then wanted Mumia’s attorneys to agree to confidentiality

John Steinhart, R.N., the SCI Mahanoy Chief Medical Health Administrator, whose job description is to provide the medical oversight of prisoners in that institution, testified that he had no medical responsibility for Mumia’s care. Nonetheless it was Mr. Steinhart who was the DOC witness to first testify that Mumia was being treated and monitored in something called the “Liver Disease Chronic Care Clinic,” an entity previously unknown to Mumia, Mumia’s lawyers or Dr. Harris.

And it was John Steinhart who first testified to the existence of the new DOC Protocol for Hepatitis-C Treatment, issued in November. From the outset of this lawsuit Mumia and his lawyers had been told there was no existing DOC protocol, and hadn’t been for the past two years since the suspension of the prior means of treating Hepatitis-C with interferon. This issue of whether the DOC had treatment guidelines is “only” a core of the entire lawsuit—whether under the DOC’s Protocol Mumia would be treated for his active Hepatitis-C and if not, what was the DOC process for making that determination.

Moreover, the DOC at first argued against this Protocol being introduced into evidence as an open court record. They wanted Mumia and his attorneys to agree to keep the Protocol “confidential.” A specific reason for the secrecy was to prevent the lawyers representing the class action on behalf of all Pennsylvania prisoners with HCV from obtaining a copy.

This was not agreed to and the next day the Protocol was introduced into evidence and became a public document. Prison Radio made a request for the release of the Protocol under the Right to Know Law and that legal office made it clear the Protocol was not a confidential document.

The last act of the DOC—the false sworn declaration of Dr. Peter Noel

The DOC’s position in this lawsuit is medically and morally unconscionable. It is no surprise then that the DOC engaged in repeated misconduct in court beginning with presenting expert medical witnesses who professed lack of knowledge about key parts of Mumia’s medical record—records that contradicted or undermined their “expert opinions.” The withholding, attempting to suppress, and keep secret the new Hepatitis-C Treatment Protocol was yet more evidence of the DOC’s unscrupulousness.

And then came the testimony of Dr. Paul Noel, a Board Certified Family Practice doctor who is the DOC Chief of Clinical Services, the person who is in charge of the DOC medical services. He was the DOC’s last witness for the hearing. His importance to the DOC case cannot be understated. Among other responsibilities, Dr. Noel coordinated with outside medical providers and generally worked to insure that the prison doctors followed specialists’ instructions. He held forth about Mumia’s extensive medical treatment under DOC care, his knowledge of the new AALDS guidelines to treat chronic Hep-C patients and his work on the new DOC Protocol, taking into account the guidelines developed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons as well as the Veterans Administration.

Dr. Noel estimated that of those Pennsylvania prisoners who are positive for the Hep-C virus, some 6-7000 likely have chronic Hepatitis-C and will be eventually evaluated under the new Protocol. He went through platelet counts and other factors the DOC will use to measure the seriousness of liver disease, using a test called the Halt-C to determine the onset of end stage liver disease.

Dr. Noel testified that Mumia’s Halt-C score is 63 percent, greater than the 60 percent level set by the DOC as the breakpoint of cirrhosis of the liver. However, Dr. Noel testified that the DOC treatment review committee determined that based on other factors, Mumia would not be considered for treatment.

Robert Boyle cross-examined Dr. Noel challenging the basis in which the DOC committee determined whether those with chronic Hep-C in general and Mumia in particular would or would not get the new antiviral medicines. When Boyle asked Dr. Noel to identify his sworn declaration, filed in opposition to Mumia’s Motion for a Preliminary Injunction, Dr. Noel immediately recoiled and testified that the signature on the document was his signature but it was NOT his statement.

The next minutes in the courtroom were unusual to say the least. DOC counsel, Laura Neal proceeded to “explain,” asserting that the false statement in the declaration submitted in Dr. Noel’s name was not really important and that Dr. Noel had OK’d it after a likely “clerical error” left a false paragraph being included in a sworn document filed in court. Judge Mariani cautioned Laura Neal to stop, advising her that she was at risk of impeaching her own witness.

Under further cross-examination by Robert Boyle, Dr. Noel testified that the declaration as submitted with his signature wrongly claims that a measure of the severity of liver disease is the viral load number. That is not medically or scientifically correct and Dr. Noel testified he had instructed that paragraph of his declaration be changed before submission to court. But it wasn’t. Moreover, as attorney Bret Grote brought forward, Laura Neal cited this misrepresentation of the measure of liver damage in Dr. Noel’s declaration as medical evidence in opposing Mumia’s motion for a preliminary injunction. U.S. Magistrate Judge Karoline Mehalchick then denied the motion citing this falsehood as one of the medical reasons to deny Mumia treatment. The case then went to Judge Mariani who proceeded to re-consider the motion and hold this evidentiary hearing.

In further cross-examination, Dr. Noel admitted that there were substantive errors in other parts of his declaration, including that Mumia had a normal ultrasound, which was not correct and falsely stating that the infectious disease specialist, Dr. Ramon Gadea had ruled out Hepatitis-C as a cause of Mumia’s skin rash.

DOC’s position of keeping prisoners from “running to court”

To conclude this legal report it is useful to recall the legal argument that took place before the evidentiary hearing began, which the DOC will likely pursue as an appeal issue. The DOC demanded the judge dismiss the lawsuit claiming that Mumia had not completed the prison grievance and appeals process because he hadn’t specifically asked for Hep-C treatment. In legal parlance this is “exhaustion of administrative remedies.” In response to the judge’s questions about putting “form over substance,” Laura Neal, a lawyer for the DOC insisted this was a “matter of principle”…”discouraging inmates from running into court.”

After an hour of legal argument and a two-hour break in proceedings for the judge to review the case law and facts he returned to court and read his ruling upholding the decision to go forward with the evidentiary hearing. In a legally and factually detailed ruling, Judge Mariani said, “in May of 2015 [the DOC had] all the information at [their] fingertips in terms of his health issues.” Judge Mariani ruled that it would have been impossible for Mumia to cite Hepatitis-C, as he had not yet received a proper diagnosis to determine his Hepatitis-C was the cause of his conditions. Judge Mariani told the DOC, “That’s a tortured view of what is required of an inmate in a grievance.”

We need a full mobilization to fight for Mumia’s life and his freedom

This was a “good day in court.” And Mumia has not had many of these. But just as Mumia wouldn’t have gotten into court on this case without international protest and publicity, medical treatment to keep Mumia alive and for those other thousands suffering from Hepatitis-C won’t be won relying on the courthouse or the state legislatures. While fighting hard in the courts, there can be no illusion in obtaining justice there. The state, its cops, its prisons are intent on silencing Mumia and what we are dealing with now is state execution by medical mistreatment. The state won’t stop; the only way Mumia will survive is if he is freed. It will take a broad international campaign that calls for agitation, publicity and demonstrations building the broadest possible support demanding Mumia’s freedom as a central demand. In addition to town hall meetings, we need to obtain the concrete support of more organizations and build on the critical and successful work that’s been done so far to get resolutions from trade union organizations, such as the largest union in the UK, UNITE, San Francisco Labor Council, New York Metro Local 10 for the American Postal Workers Union, the United Steelworkers Union Local 8751 in Boston.

A postscript to acknowledge and thank all those who wrote reports on the hearing or whose public statements I have borrowed from. Although I was there in its entirety, writing a report like this is difficult without a transcript or having the use of a tape recorder. Any errors made are of course my own. —Rachel Wolkenstein —December 30, 2015

Dr. Frances Cress Welsing, March 18, 1935 – January 2, 2016

It came as a shock to many in the Pan-Afrikan World when the news of the sudden death of one of our great intellectuals, the author and behavioral psychiatrist Dr. Frances Cress Welsing was announced. Apparently, she suffered a major stroke on January 2, was taken to intensive care in critical condition and transitioned to the Honored Ancestors hours later. For many of us, she provided the first scientific explanation of the psychology of White Supremacy; her landmark work The Isis Papers is considered required reading in many a Pan-Afrikan organization.

Rather than enter into a detailed biography of Dr. Welsing’s career (I could not do it justice anyway), I shall, for now, offer a few quotes from her seminal work, The Isis Papers, as a brief tribute. We also invite you to visit her Memorial Page on Facebook.

from The Isis Papers: The Keys to the Colors. Third World Press (1990), ISBN 0-88378-104-2.

“Functional Definition Of Racism = White Supremacy = Apartheid: As a black behavioral scientist and practicing psychiatrist, my own functional definition of racism (white supremacy) is as follows: ‘Racism (white supremacy) is the local and global power system and dynamic, structure, maintained by persons who classify themselves as white, whether consciously or subconsciously determined; which consists of patterns of perception, logic, symbol formation, thought, speech, action, and emotional response, as conducted, simultaneously in all areas of people activity (economics, education, entertainment, labor, law, politics, religion, sex, and war); for the ultimate purpose of white genetic survival and to prevent white genetic annihilation on planet Earth – a planet upon which the vast and overwhelming majority of people are classified as non-white (black, brown, red and yellow) by white-skinned people, and all of the non-white people are genetically dominant (in terms of skin coloration) compared to the genetic recessive white-skinned people.’ ”

“No matter how much you may shrink the size of your nose, no matter how many doctors, lawyers, judges, professors, scholars you may produce, no matter how many Einsteins, Freuds, Marxes, or Rubensteins you produce, no matter how much money, diamonds, and gold you may obtain, if you are classified as “non-white” under the conditions of white supremacy domination, when the hammer of white supremacy falls, you will be under that hammer.”

Mumia Abu-Jamal’s Rare Day In Court

The following message came to us from the New York chapter of the Jericho Movement to Free Political Prisoners. A hearing to present arguments for the provision of urgently-needed medical treatment for Political Prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal will be held on Friday, December 18 at the courthouse in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Details regarding the mobilization of concerned activists to travel to the Scranton hearing are given in the message below:

The Campaign To Bring Mumia Home
Dec 9th, 2015

Dear Friends:

We have a rare, one-time opportunity to get Mumia the medical attention he desperately needs. Please join us in and outside of the court in Scranton, PA on Friday, December 18. A bus and caravans are leaving from New York and Philadelphia.

US Federal District Court Judge Robert Mariani will conduct am extensive public hearing on Mumia’s medical crisis and he has asked for a testimony from Mumia. Credit for this victory is due in no small part to the public outcry.

Our attorneys and the attorneys of Department of Corrections will present arguments.

Our attorneys will argue that Mumia has the right to immediate life-saving treatment for his chronic and active Hepatitis C.

The other side will insist that treatment be withheld until the final stages of the condition. In other words, until it’s too late to save him.

A legal victory in Mumia’s case will also be a victory for the other 10,000 PA prisoners afflicted by Hep C who have filed a class action suit.

Special Note for Those Traveling on the Bus from New York:
Bus and caravans will leave from New York on Friday, December 18 at 5:45AM sharp

To secure a spot and for tickets, please email us immediately with your name and contact info at bringmumiahome@gmail.com

We will be leaving from Local 1199, 310 West 43rd street and will remain in Scranton until the court hearing has ended for the day, probably at 4 or 5 o’clock.

When: Fri, Dec. 18, 2015

Caravan Leaving From NY: 5:45AM
Email us: bringmumiahome@gmail.com

Confronting the Silence: Structural Racism, the View from America

Confronting the Silence: November 3, 2015, United Nations
Panel Discussion
The View from America: Police Brutality and Structural Racism

This is a continuation of our report from the November 3 session at the United Nations ECOSOC Chamber in New York City that was convened to examine issues of structural racism in the African Diaspora as part of the UN’s ongoing effort to observe their recently-announced International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024). Speakers from across the Diaspora, including activists, families of police brutality victims and well-known spokespeople such as legendary entertainer and activist Harry Belafonte fathered to lend their perspectives on the structural racism that people of African descent face every day. The ECOSOC (Economic and Social Council) Chamber was filled with activists, organizers and concerned citizens from New York, from across the Unites States and from around the Diaspora to listen to these analyses and, it was hoped, to begin to dialog and plan together on ways to turn the tide away from brutality and back toward justice.

This portion of our report includes statements from several speakers who gave perspectives from the United States. We include the words of Alicia Garza (Black Lives Matter), Samaria Rice (mother of Tamir Rice), John Crawford Jr. (father of John Crawford III), Nicole Lee (Mothers Against Police Brutality) and Steven W. Hawkins (Amnesty International USA).

Alicia Garza
Black Lives Matter

Bruce Knotts, who chaired this session, introduced Alicia Garza as follows: “One champion woman who responds to the indifference toward Black lives is Alicia Garza. She is an organizer, writer and freedom-dreamer. She is the co-creator of the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter, a national organizing project focused on combating anti-Black state-sanctioned violence. Alicia’s work challenges us to celebrate the contributions of Black Queer Women’s work within particular narratives of Black movements, and reminds us that the Black radical tradition is long, complex and international. Please welcome Alicia Garza, as she reminds us that Black Lives Matter.”

According to an article on MSN (http://www.msn.com) titled One Slogan, Many Methods: Black Lives Matter Enters Politics by John Eligon for The New York Times, November 19, 2015, “The name Black Lives Matter was born when Alicia Garza, a California-based activist, used it in a Facebook post after George Zimmerman was acquitted two years ago in the killing of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager, in Florida. She then teamed with two fellow activists to create the Black Lives Matter hashtag and social media pages. But the movement gained prominence after a white police officer killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old, in Ferguson last year, and the Black Lives Matter founders arranged a national ‘freedom ride’ to Ferguson.”

These are the words of Ms. Alicia Garza, as she gave her analysis, supported by factual data, of the toll structural racism and the exercise of state power has taken on Black Lives.

“Good afternoon. Thank you Chairman, thank you UN, and thank all of you for coming and being here this afternoon. I start by saying that anti-Black racism saturates every aspect of our society in the United States. In a country in which Black bodies were among the first currency in out economy, and where Black people were counted as three-fifths of a human being for the purposes of apportioning power to those who owned other people and away from those who were owned, it’s hard to find any system, any structure, any policy or practice that’s advanced by the United States that is not steeped in the our violent origins.

“In 2014, Black people were 13.2% of our total population, yet this year alone, 960 people were killed by the police, with Black people being twice as likely to be killed as Whites or Latinos. According to the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, every 28 hours in this country a Black person is murdered by police, security guards or vigilantes.

“While Black men are more likely to be killed by the police, Black women are more likely to experience sexual violence at the hands of those who are sworn to protect and serve us. Over the last ten years, women in prisons have increased by 138%. 90% of those women are single mothers, and often lose contact with their children forever. In fact, we are the fastest growing prison population in the United States. The majority of women who are locked up commit what we call ‘crimes of survival’ or ‘economic crimes’. In fact, 80% of these women earned less than $2000 per year at the time of their arrests. Black women are three times more likely than White women to be single heads of households with children under the age of 18.

“More than 21 transgender women, most of whom were Black, have been reported murdered since the beginning of 2015. Though so many are not reported, and when they are reported they are misgendered, the average life expectancy of a Black transgender woman is 35 years old, and that is due to both murder and poverty. Our mothers are being robbed of the ability to see our children grow up, and perhaps even have families of our own.

“We are half the prison population in a country that incarcerates more people than anywhere else in the world. Black women make 64 cents to every 78 cents that a White woman makes, to every dollar a White man makes. Generations of structural racism have burdened Black communities with overwhelming debt, and today, while the typical White household is worth $141,900, the typical Black family in the United States is worth $11,000.

“One in 13 Black people born in the United States is unable to vote because of felony convictions, and the lawmakers in our country continue to pass restrictive covenants that deny Black people access to a robust democracy. There are half a million undocumented Black immigrants within the borders of the United States, who are both criminalized for being undocumented and criminalized for being Black. For Black people, especially those of us who exist at the intersections of gender, class, citizenship status and sexuality, it is a daily struggle to simply live while Black, much less thrive while Black.

“The United States has failed to adequately and robustly engage in truthful and honest reconciliation as it relates to the persistence, prevalence and dire consequences of anti-Black racism. Any best practices or recommendations must be grounded in the willingness of the United States to admit that there is still a war on people of African Descent. We question the ability of this nation-state to remain united, when people of African Descent are excluded, marginalized, disenfranchised, and murdered with impunity, and this misery is all sanctioned by the state.

“We agree with our allies at the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement that we need a comprehensive national plan of action for racial justice that looks at how to address the stark disparities facing people of African Descent in America. We can drastically reduce the population of people of color, and especially Black people, in prisons and jails, by addressing disparities in our criminal system and in our economic system, paying attention to sentencing and diversion, investing in community programs that are culturally relevant, and interrupting bias with judges, prosecutors, district attorneys and, of course, the police. We must end the Drug War as part of ending the war on Black communities. An end to the criminalization of poverty and the militarization of civil society will go a long way in protecting the sanctity of Black life. A social wage is required to ensure that all families have access to dignity in this country. A more robust democracy with no barriers to access to it can only be achieved by the enfranchisement of Black people, which means enfranchising former felons and currently incarcerated people, and prohibiting any restrictions to access to democracy.

“Finally, perhaps most importantly, we must ensure that adequate resources are re-invested in Black communities that have been devastated by de-investment.

“Reparations for the Slave Trade, but also reparations … I’m going to say that again. Reparations for the Slave Trade, but also reparations for the wealth that has been deliberately stolen from people of African Descent … is an important and relevant advance, especially in the context of predatory lending, sub-prime mortgages, and the gentrification that has ravaged Black communities for the last six decades.

“Let this Decade be the one where Black people throughout the Diaspora are seen as the solutions, the future to the sanctity of this world, rather than problems to be fixed. Thank you.”

Samaria Rice
Mother of Tamir Rice, shot by Cleveland Police

We heard from two family members of young Black men who have been cut down in the last year by police murder. First was Ms. Samaria Rice. Mother of Tamir Rice. Bruce Knotts introduced her: “On November 22, 2014, her youngest son, Tamir Rice, 12 years old, was fatally shot by Cleveland police in Ohio. Since that time, Samaria gas been engaged in a campaign to provide justice for her son’s death. Ger life is dedicated to assisting children everywhere who suffer from official violence. Please welcome Samaria Rice.”

Ms. Rice’s remarks were brief, personal and emotional.

“Hello everyone. I’m here today, along with John Crawford Jr., Andrew and Deanna Joseph. Our children are victims of police brutality. My son, Tamir Rice, was 12 years old. Tamir was shot and killed in less than two seconds vu Cleveland, Ohio police officer Timothy Loeman. I want the world to know that letting a child out tom play, and never to return home, is a mother and father’s nightmare. Tamir was a bright, loving child, who was very talented in many ways. Tamir was a member of the Boy’s and Girl’s Club. Tamir played many sports. Tamir loved animals and arts and crafts as well. Tamir was the glue, to keep our family flowing with love and laughter.

“Every morning I wake up, I think of Tamir, but I also wake up looking for change across this nation. I wake up seeking justice for my son, and that’s why I’m here today.

“I would like to thank the United Nations for allowing me to speak. I want to thank Bruce Knotts, and Grant Green, my team of attorneys, and my family and friends, and a special thanks to my Uncle Mike, who is here with me today. May God bless this nation and this world. Thank you.”

John Crawford, Jr.
Father of John Crawford III, victim of police brutality April 5, 2014 in an Ohio Walmart

Bruce Knotts introduced John Crawford Jr., father of John Crawford III. His introduction implied that Mr. Crawford may not have intended to speak at first. “I actually wanted to gave a father of a victim speak, and so, John, if you wouldn’t mind?”

Mr. Crawford agreed, and he clearly had something to say.

“First of all, I’d like to say praise to the Most High for allowing me to be here in sound body and mind. Secondly, I would like to thank the High Commissioner and the UN for having me here. Thanks for the invite.

“I must be honest and say that there’s a dichotomy that exists between my spirit right now, because I’m very grateful to be here, but at the same time I’m appalled. Because it’s 2015 and we’re regressing and not progressing. …

“My son, along with Tamir – his name was John Crawford III – he was killed in a Walmart, last year on August 5, four days prior to Michael Brown and the situation in Ferguson manifested itself. It was essentially a prank call by a guy – he was ‘swatted’ in criminal terms – he was ‘swatted’, and they came and shot him in thirty-three one-hundredths of a second. So as you can imagine, that’s literally the blink of an eye. So you can imagine, once we saw the footage, we were just overwhelmed. But, keeping this thing in context, I hear all of this great dialogue and the perceptions are on point, but my background is in criminal justice as well … and I’m glad to be here in that regard because I get a chance to give homage to my African Ancestors and comrades. Thank you for help in shaping my reasoning and rationale. I appreciate that.

“What do we do? The fundamental question I’m going to ask as a father, and there’s not many of us on the [speaking] circuit – I’m here with Mr. Joseph, Andrew Joseph – and there’s not many fathers on the circuit. What so we do when we see things? I’m hoping that this is a platform for me, personally, as well as Samaria and the parents to utilize and apply pressure, if you will, to the system because we could sit here and have dialog all day, and it’s great, we need to have it, it’s definitely needed. However, if you know the problem, what do you do to combat the problem? What is the resolution? How do we get together and apply pressure? And my argument was, until you have am equalitarian agenda, we can’t expect the oppressor to help the oppressed.

“Our condemnation is our contentment. We’ve got to stop being so content. …

“But then you hear the same stories with the officers involved, saying, ‘Well, I felt threatened for my life.’ They have misused – the law is the law, and it’s there, the Fourth Amendment [freedom from unreasonable search and seizure] is clear to me – but what is ‘reasonable’ in a court of law? … When you look at that aspect of it, when you look at the jargon … this is now they’re getting off. You want to know how? This is how. They’re saying, ‘What is reasonable?’ When the prosecutor is going there to prosecute, he says, ‘What is reasonable?’ Well, that’s in there, that’s in the language. However, the reasonableness is still predicated on something called ‘eminent risk of danger’. So you must be at eminent risk of danger first, before something is found reasonable. And this is the thing that we’re not addressing, frankly.

“So I would like to find a way to use the UN as a platform to apply pressure. When you’re disproportionate in numbers, as we are in government, when you don’t have enough Blacks in there to leverage the playing field, how do you expect to get results? We can talk until we’re blue in the face, but until we become equal where the power structure is, the infrastructure is going to be Business As Usual.

“And so, that’s my plea. That’s the primary purpose that I’m here, is to try to form alliances. When you’re economically disproportionate, you don’t have any power. You’re powerless. What so we do? We know what the problem is.

“All of the speakers prior to myself so eloquently stated a lot of the problems. And some of the solutions. But now I ask, how do you go about the implementation of some of those solutions? What do we do? Do we get in a closed room, along with legislation? And what do we do from that point? …

“In summation here … and I agree with you, Samaria, until there are proper sanctions given, it’s going to be Business As Usual, and I say that we are on the verge of a civil war here, and I’m trying to figure out along with yourself, all of this intelligence in the room right now, all the diplomats, all the intelligence, a lot of the power is right here in this room, right now. What do we do to combat this civil war, in real language? What do we do to implement a strategy that says, ‘okay, you cannot take anyone’s life. You must follow the Fourth Amendment and its practices. You must follow the law and its practices. And if you do not, these are the sanctions.’ And until you give these officers, until you give the systems sanctions … There must be sanctions given! I can’t stress that enough, because this is the reason they’re killing with impunity. It’s not by chance. … If there were some sanctions given, obviously, they would think about it. The same way that civilians think about it. The only reason that there’s not a flat-out war between civilians and law enforcement right now is, frankly, we think about it. …

“So, I simply would like to pose that as a question, and hopefully use this as a platform to make that happen, make that a realization. Thank you for having me. I thank you for your time.”

Nicole Lee
Mothers Against Police Brutality

“Pulling grieving mothers together, Nicole Lee is General Counsel for Mothers Against Police Brutality. She is a highly respected human rights lawyer, and thought leader. She is presently working with the Organization of American States Inter-American Commission on Human Rights’ Initiative on Police Use of Excessive Force in the United States. Please welcome this champion of justice.” – Bruce Knotts

“Thank you Chairman Knotts, and all those that organized this important gathering. I’m Nicole Lee, I’m a Washington-based attorney, specializing in human rights, but today I am speaking in my capacity as senior adviser to Mothers Against Police Brutality.

“Mothers Against Police Brutality was founded by Collette Flanagan, after a Dallas police officer shot her son, Clinton Allen, to death on March 10, 2013. Clinton, a 25-year-old African American father of two, was unarmed when he was shot seven times. There were no charges brought in this official homicide. No indictment. No prosecution. No trial. No loss of pay for the officer. No punishment of any kind. It was out of this experience of unaccountable police violence that Mothers Against Police Brutality was formed. Our work is grounded in the lived experience of mothers and families who have lost their loved ones to police brutality. We seek to unite these mothers and families nationwide in positive action for change. By assisting families, mothers against police brutalities, we try to lift up their authentic voice, too often the missing voice, in the national conversation about police violence against the public.

“The purposes of Mothers Against Police Brutality are to stop the killing of unarmed and mentally ill persons by law enforcement agencies, particularly the killing of Black and Latino men and women, and to change deadly force policies and practices. In pursuit of these foals, we employ the full range of citizen action strategies: letter writing, face-to-face meetings with public officials, legislative testimony, vigils, marches, development of model policies, legal action, and coalition-building with other national and local groups. Additionally, we seek specific steps to make our police departments more accountable to the public. These are specific steps that focus on the pressure points surrounding police killings and brutalities that include special prosecutors to replace the ineffective and compromised District Attorney investigations, timely drug testing of officers, psychological evaluation and cultural competence of officers, and compensation for victims’ families, use of body cameras and standardized deadly force training, approved by the Federal Justice Department, also re-evaluation of the criteria for civil rights violations in police shootings, and a national database of problem officers.

“I would like to close with brief reflections on the role of women in this current movement. We are the backbone, the strategists, and the visionaries of the movement against police brutality. We are the leaders, the organizers and the foot soldiers. Mothers and daughters are the most affected, plating valuable roles in these struggles for justice across the globe, not just in the United States. In Argentina, for example, the mothers of the Plaza de Mayo played a strategic role in the movement against fascism, demanding justice for their children that were killed and maimed during the Dirty War. Today, women are battling displacement, unjust evictions and sexual assault in post-earthquake Haiti. In the Dominican Republic, civil society women leaders fight against anti-Blackness and state violence through policies that render Dominicans of Haitian descent stateless. And in the United States, Black women have always played a crucial role in the fight against anti-Black racism, whether it was Ida B. Wells in anti-lynching campaigns, the organizing and civil disobedience of Rosa Parks, or the strategic planning of Dianne Nash. The roles that women have played were crucial to the victories that have been won across centuries. Today, as then, in the spirit of Mamie Till, mothers who have lost their children pit aside their profound grief, and take up the cause for the benefit of all mothers and children. Countless women who may never be interviewed by the media are leading and sustaining the movement for change locally and nationally. Even within our government, we see that Black women are plating an important part in reform. But we in Mothers Against Police Brutality know that reforming the system is simply not enough. Mothers and family members know all too well that reforming police forces does not eradicate state violence. It is just one of the many manifestations of structural racism that keeps people of African descent from achieving our full potential. Thank you.”

Steven W. Hawkins
Executive Director, Amnesty International USA

Mr. Hawkins spoke about his recent visits to Ferguson and to Baltimore, where the Freddie Gray trials are getting under way with the first officer’s case being heard, and from there he discussed how their research from those points led them to focus on issues of policy with respect to human rights and police violence.

“Thank you all, and thank you to the High Commissioner and honored guests. Amnesty International took to the streets in Ferguson and in Baltimore because we recognized the human rights crises that were unfolding here in the United States with respect to police use of force against citizens, and particularly Black youth. What we recognized is that the police here in the United States are relatively ungoverned in terms of their use of force. Amnesty, as a result of being on the ground in Ferguson and Baltimore, undertook a study, a 50-state study, of the laws on the books in every state within the United States. What we found was shocking. Nine states had no law codified whatsoever with regard to how the police should use lethal force in any given situation. None of the states met the standards prescribed by the international community. And as a result, we’ve put together some model legislation that comports with international standards, and I’m pleased to announce that Maryland and a few other states are looking at adopting law, Maryland being one of those states that had no law at all on the books, and hopefully will adopt the standards that Amnesty has put forth.

“What we face in terms of policy in the United States is extraordinary in terms of the fact that we have 18,000 local jurisdictions, totally atomized, totally decentralized. So that four deputies in some small town can determine whether someone lives or dies on any particular day. That is outrageous. And when I look at the national response to the crisis after 9-11, when we had, in this country, in the United States, thousands of local airports, big ones like JFK, but also small, regional airports in rural areas and so forth, but within one year, the Federal Government was able to act, and create TSA, and do something about this totally decentralized approach to airline security. Well, I believe that we face another crisis in this country, and that’s the crisis of how Black youth are treated by the police in this country. And if the Federal Government can respond to one crisis, it can respond to this one. And I think the families of Tamir Rice, of Eric Garner, of Michael Brown, of Andrew Joseph, and so many others, call for this government, call for the United States government, to act, to react to this crisis the same way. Thank you.”

In our next installment, we will see how these issues of structural racism and police brutality affect us not only in the United States, but they also impact upon African Descendant communities elsewhere in the Diaspora, from Brazil to Jamaica.

The Global Africa Diaspora Convention 2015

Setting the Stage for Increased Diaspora Cooperation with the African Union
November 27, 2015

“[T]he Economic, Social and Cultural Council [is] the organ that deals with civil society in the African Union. They deal with non-state actors. … Your presence here is like a seat at the table, so I want to thank the Economic, Social and Cultural Council for making that happen.” Dr. Jinmi Adisa, the Director of the Citizens and Diaspora Organizations Directorate (CIDO) of the African Union’s Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) welcomed Pan-African activists from Africa, the United States, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, Asia and Australia to the Global Africa Diaspora Convention that was held from November 19 – 22 in Washington, DC and Baltimore, Maryland.

Dr. Adisa and his immediate supervisor, Dr. Joseph Chilengi, the Presiding Officer of ECOSOCC, had come to the Baltimore-Washington area to participate in a series of meetings and discussions designed to introduce African Descendants and Continental Africans to the AU’s efforts to connect with the 300 million-plus people of African descent who live around the world outside the Continent of Africa.

After a Welcome Reception that was held on the evening of Thursday, November 19 at the African Union Mission in Washington, DC, the venue changed to the Best Western Hotel and Conference Center in East Baltimore for two days of plenary sessions and breakout conferences that were centered around specific aspects of African Diaspora involvement with the AU, including women, youth, the nature of the African Diaspora, research, academics, business, economics, culture and the arts.

The weekend was capped by an Interfaith Service at Metropolitan AME Church in Washington, DC on Sunday, November 22. The weekend was organized by the African Union ECOSOCC Special Adviser on Relations with the Diaspora, Ms. Evelyn Joe.

For those who might have felt the African Union had no interest in engaging with the African Diaspora, including African-Americans and other African Descendants around the world, this Convention was a welcome reminder of the invitation the AU issued in 2006 for the Diaspora to become involved in “the building of the African Union.” This weekend should serve as a springboard for several initiatives being promoted by African Diaspora organizations for economic development and grassroots representation for the Diaspora in the AU. Dr. Chilengi stressed, “the Diaspora as a region needs to put in place your framework mechanisms for ensuring that you play your role insofar as The Africa We Want is concerned. … We need the skills and the resources of the Diaspora.”

Below, we include the opening statements by Dr. Adisa and Dr. Chilengi. The summary of this article appears on the website http://www.bmoreblack.com, and the full article also appears on the website of the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (http://www.srdcinternational.org).

Friday, November 20, 2015
Morning Session

Dr. Jinmi Adisa
Director, Citizens Directorate (CIDO) of the African Union ECOSOCC

“The African Union says it’s people-centered. But then, if it’s so, we must listen to them. So actually, the whole purpose of this is to come and listen. And then, the Economic, Social and Cultural Council and its various organs, that’s the organ that deals with civil society in the African Union. They deal with non-state actors. … One of the fundamental things you can be assured is that whatever you say here, whatever you agree … will be taken directly. … It will go to ECOSOCC, they will examine it and make their recommendations. … Your presence here is like a seat at the table, so I want to thank the Economic, Social and Cultural Council for making that happen. I want to thank Ms. Evelyn Joe. She is the Special Adviser here and I think she has gone to a lot of effort. … In the process of doing it, of course, we clash, but that’s to come together and make something good, and I think in the end she’s got it right, and I want to commend her enterprise and zeal in making this happen.

Dr. Chilengi (left) and Dr. Adisa (right).

“I’m also very glad to be here to see some very important people, like some of my icons like [President of the World African Diaspora Union] Professor [Leonard] Jeffries here. … There was a visit to Addis Ababa in which he gave us some documents that we’re trying to put together [for] a Diaspora Library so that those of us who are walking free and doing things and going to school and making noise can understand the sacrifice that people like Professor Jeffries have put in to get us where we are. I want to acknowledge Professor Jeffries. [He is] an inspiration to me. I look up to people like him.

“I get a lot of criticisms. That’s the nature of my job. I’m supposed to deal with the Diaspora. And I say where is it coming from? From our people, yes. I could do better. I’m not perfect. I make mistakes, like everybody else. Whenever I see a criticism coming from somebody like Professor Jeffries, I say ‘This is serious’. …

“Be rest assured that all your sacrifices and efforts [are appreciated]. In your family, you have to fight. But that is because we are family. We have a sating that if two brothers sit under a tree to discuss family matters and they come out laughing they are not telling the truth to themselves.”

Dr. Joseph Chilengi
Presiding Officer, African Union Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC)

“Good morning ladies and gentlemen.

“I grew up in an African way and I spent a lot of time with my grandfather and grandmother, and they shared with me a lot of things. And the poem and the ways that were expressed a few minutes ago [a very spiritual and emotional poetry, spoken-word and dance performance by Baltimore-based cultural artists], by our colleagues in front of us here … I’ve never known myself to be strong, but I made myself strong today. I think that is a first step of courage, because such situations usually break me down. I think that I need to ask you that we acknowledge and appreciate the message that was given today. …

“I think also that it’s a great honor to come and sit with ourselves here as Africans and share our impressions, our potential direction and our potential challenges and out potential solutions to what Africa wants to be. The slogan now on the Continent is ‘The Africa We Want’. And the Africa we want shall be defined by ourselves, determined by ourselves, driven by ourselves and delivered to generations to come and to ourselves by ourselves.

“This, therefore, means that all of us here, including yourselves, are diplomats of the African Union, you are ambassadors of the Union in your own selves, individually, collectively, institutionally, and also through collaboration with other stakeholders. Because you have to tell the African story of the Africa you want. You need to determine the aspects of the Africa you want, you need to deliver to Africa and Africans the Africa You Want, and no one else can tell the story for us. We have to tell the story.

“And this story is toward the Agenda 2063. Agenda 2063 is a framework mechanism in which we are saying as Africans, fifty years from now, this is the Africa we want. In terms of its transport network, in terms of its energy sufficiency and capacity, in terms of human resources movement, in terms of its operations in science, technology and space, in terms of a governance framework, in terms of human rights process, in terms of overall human rights and the Human Development Index of all Africa. It is within this Agenda 2063 that the aspirations of the Diaspora are also situated. In 2012, we met in Sandton [South Africa, for the 2012 Diaspora Summit], I recognize a few faces. A colleague seated here, I can never forget your face. And a few others. We met in Sandton. [Several of] our Ministers and our Heads of States joined us and came out with a Declaration, which legally recognizes the Diaspora as a region of the African Continent wherever every African is situated. And that is the Declaration that brought into place the Sixth Region of Africa. So the Sixth Region of Africa is the African Diaspora Region. We are all aware we have ECOWAS, the West African Community, we have SADC, we have the East African Community, we have North African Community and … five [regions] constitute the African Continent in terms of political configuration. But the Sixth Region of Africa is the Diaspora.

“… the Sixth Region of Africa is the African Diaspora Region.”
— Dr. Joseph Chilengi

“What does this entail? It means the Diaspora as a region needs to put in place your framework mechanisms for ensuring that you play your role inasfar as The Africa We Want is concerned. It’s not an Africa of criticism. It’s an Africa of aspirations. An Africa that has acknowledged, and that has identified the limitations we have now in all spheres of human endeavor, and decided to define in each sphere the direction we want to take and where we want to go, and you have to be part of this aspiration. But most important and most critical is this: that you are not in Africa. You are outside the boundaries of Africa. And therefore, if you are outside the African boundaries, then you need to defend Africa’s interests. You need to defend Africa’s interests. You are the first frontline soldiers in Europe, in America, in Asia, in Australia, in the Middle East. You are the first line soldiers. If you get defeated here, we get defeated in Africa. And hence, we travel kilometers. … [T]he reason we’re coming here, leaving everything behind, is because of the importance we attach to you. … You have an important role to define and influence [the] American Senate, to influence the American Administration, the Australian, the European Union, that their policies and programs, the way they see Africa is not the way you understand it. You are the chief advisers in your spaces because you understand Africa better than they do.

Elder Rufus Stevenson and Dr. Chilengi.

“In order to be an effective diplomat, an ambassador of Africa, we then need to sharpen out engagement skills. The way we engage will determine our results. Africa has been known to be a ‘Dark Continent’, but Africa is awakening. In the Africa We Want, we make it very clear now. Some of you are aware that Africa was in Valetta [the Summit on Migration in Valetta, Malta, November 11-12]. Before we were in Valetta, me, Dr. Adisa and others were in Brussels. Before the heads of state were going to the Migration Summit in Valetta, we discussed with our European colleagues and we told them the truth of the situation and the challenges. My country, Zambia, for example, hosted 1.2 million refugees. We didn’t press a button or assignment yo get heads of state to come and discuss that. We used our obligation within international law, human rights law and refugee law to respond to that. Kenya is currently hosting millions of refugees. Tanzania did more than a million refugees, as many other countries in Africa. And we advised them. We’ve got the experience. We’ve gone through it. Listen to us. They didn’t listen. The following policy of the Continent has officially changed: Anything that is not of interest to Africa, we say no.

“Heads of state went to Spain in numbers two weeks ago and they were told ‘We’ll give you so many billions of euros and you need to do this and this’ and we said ‘Keep your money.’ And our response at that Summit was a resounding ‘No’ to the proposals that were made by the European Union. What we said was: ‘We’ve got the experience in dealing with refugees. Come to us and we’ll give you guidance. Don’t give us money. We’ve got the brains, and our brain is our major resource.’ That is the way Africa is moving. Africa is moving in a direction that some of you may not know. Our children have been crossing dangerous waters into European space, at all costs. We don’t like it. Because, and we have always told the Europeans and other West African countries, every day they sing like Europe is heaven, America is heaven. I tell them, if it is heaven, I’d want to go to heaven at any cost. There are pastors here. And if it’s going to heaven, I’d do anything I can do to reach heaven, just like you aspire to reach heaven. If you begin to indoctrinate our young children that Europe is heaven … tell them the hope that is in Africa. That the train they are seeing here is also coming to Africa. Ethiopia is one such country I have seen. … Africa has signed an agreement with China to develop a fast train network from Cairo [Egypt] to Cape Town [South Africa]. It was signed last year in August. And Ethiopia has come out. Egypt will soon come out. Nigeria will come out. Zambia will come out. Everyone will come out. South Africa has already come out. Kenya will come out. In the end, we will have a connectivity within Africa using the same train. That’s what our children want.

“We are working within our Agenda 2063 to address our energy deficiencies. The amount of development in Africa does not match our energy capacity. We are working on the Inga Dam [actually two hydroelectric dams connected to one of the largest waterfalls in the world, Inga Falls, located in the western Democratic Republic of the Congo, 140 miles southwest of Kinshasa]. It produces two million milliliters of water per day. And therefore it can [produce] sufficient energy capacity for Africa and the entire Europe and America. We already signed an agreement to have that energy hub come up in Africa.

“Within Agenda 2063, we have said ‘No’ to aid and conditionalities. We have told all partners that want to engage with Africa that the issue of aid and conditionalities belongs in the dustbin. If you want to engage with Africa, you go for mutual accountability. Give us money if you so wish, but when you get natural resources also from Africa, we want to know what you are using them for. If you get coltan from DRC, let’s make sure they’re not making the guns to send back to DRC [to kill us with]. If you’re getting our timber, make sure that that timber is not being used in order to come back and exterminate life in Africa. So we have set the agenda straightforward. And the message they’ll be getting is that Africa has become stubborn, and please accept we are now becoming stubborn. Because we know what we are doing.

“We are finding it difficult for us in every space. We have the minerals. We have the natural resources. We’ve been bossed. They took it in the past. We benefited nothing. Now our eyes are open. We know that our generation is [aware], our children and our grandchildren. We are now saying, ‘These minerals are not for anyone else. They are for us. If you give us conditions … we go to China.’ China is a good buddy. Yeah, we don’t talk for a long time. … We are not interested in sitting with people who tell us, ‘You know, your human rights, and wah, wah, wah, wah. …’ First, we know people need water. When they have it, that is their right. People need roads. When they have it, that is their right. And those of you that have been to Africa now, every country that you go to, every country in Africa is a construction site. It is a construction site! My son, who recently came to Lusaka [Zambian capital city] from school, when he arrived in Lusaka said ‘Wow, Daddy! Wow!’ I said ‘This is what we are doing for you. This is Africa.’ The roads are being done, everywhere. … This is Africa. We are moving.

“… what needs to be done is to seek to achieve the Diaspora Initiative.”

“So all these are situated within Agenda 2063. Now, there are five Legacy Projects that are made for you. … We are just coming from a [Zambian] Diaspora conference organized by my government in my country. And they have just issued [a directive] – you know, we are a copper mining country – one of the biggest mines of the state, don’t sell shares to anyone outside of Africa. So, all of those shares have been offered through the Stock Exchange only to be sold to Zambians and Zambians in the Diaspora. …

“So that is the Africa we are working on. And this Africa we have to work on cannot be done with us only inside the Continent. You are critical players. … You know, we are changing. … We want to move. Problem is we don’t have time. We don’t have time. I don’t have time myself to want to sit with the European leadership … for the whole day. No, I want to go and sit with China for thirty minutes and … the road is being done in my country. And therefore we need the skills and the resources of the Diaspora. We need them. There has been an argument that the remittances are more than the foreign direct investment. Yes, but those are private remittances. We need investment from the Diaspora. Investment that will grow the economy. You have grown your families. You have built homes I know. You have brought in vendors, I know. Now, can you build their factories where they are going to work? So we need the resources. We need the skills.

“That is why Dr. Adisa is here. … Did he share about the Africa Diaspora Corps? Volunteer Corps, focusing on the youth. That the son of Professor Jeffries, who is here, if he’s studying medicine at Johns Hopkins University, when he stands for internship let him come to Africa, in a hospital in Africa. And when they are in Africa, opportunities will come up. They will love it. They will love Africa, they won’t want to come back. Let the new generation come and look after the Africa We Want. Because it was meant for them. The focus is on the youth.

“And therefore the resource base is on the youth. The focus is on the youth. I’ll be meeting some colleagues from the White House. … They do a Nelson Mandela Fellowship [here]. … So after their fellowship where do they go? You send them to Africa, they go to sleep. We don’t want that. Can we discuss some way to use that talent? When they learn those leadership skills, we want them to enter the African Union, ECOSOCC, Pan African Parliament, the Commission for Human Rights, CIDO. … So we want those skills, and several other things.

Dr. Chilengi and the ECOSOCC Delegation.

“If I wanted to talk, I’d talk for the whole day. But since I came a long way, I have to throw a challenge to you, and to ourselves. What is it that remains to be done? Now, in order to enter you into the future of our Continent that we want. Those of you who are following foreign policy, everywhere we go, we are taking all international positions, [and] we are defeating them. That is our strategy. … We are fifty-some countries in the United Nations in New York. When you add China there, and you add Russia there, we become a good strong voice.

“So what needs to be done is to seek to achieve the Diaspora Initiative. We need to operationalize it. It has been on paper, two-three years now. We can’t be leaving things on paper for such a long time. That is not the Africa approach we have now. Now we are in a hurry. Don’t slow us down. This Africa Diaspora Initiative is your Initiative. It is our Initiative. It cannot be done by us alone. We need to join forces with you. Let’s move quickly and operationalize the African Diaspora Initiative.

“And let’s shift the paradigm of African Diaspora participation in African economic growth. Your politics are economic politics. Economic politics, that’s what we want to hear from you. So the paradigm shift remains with you. But it requires a lot of organizational capacities. Africa is not a small country. Africa is diverse, from Arab to Francophone, to Anglophone, to Bantuphone, to Afrophone, to whatever phones we have, Africa is diverse. And therefore it requires the organizational capacity. These structures which you have … can we work to strengthen them, so that they can respond to the challenges of Agenda 2063? And 10 to 15 years from now, 50 years from now, watch Africa, how it’s moving. Forget about the negative stories you are hearing. Just watch the development aspects of Africa. You will be amazed, I’m telling you. If you go to Ethiopia, there is no foreign bank in Ethiopia, you know that. … If you go to Kenya, same. So we are slowly taking control of the situation. And when we close the African space … where will the other banks go? They have to [go] back to where they come from, or they play our game inside Africa. I thank you so much.”

Confronting the Silence: Introduction to the UN Session on Structural Racism

Tuesday, November 3, 2015
United Nations
ECOSOC Chamber
New York City

As part of the International Decade for People of African Descent, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights sponsored a program in cooperation with Unitarian Universalist Association, the United Nations Department of Public Education, UNESCO, the Organisation de la Francophonie, Black Lives Matter Initiative and Amnesty International USA.

As explained on the United Nations website, “The UN General Assembly proclaimed 2015-2024 as the International Decade for People of African Descent (resolution 68/237) with the theme ‘People of African descent: recognition, justice and development’. At the centre of this initiative is the promotion and protection of all human rights of people of African descent, the improvement of their well-being and the recognition of their culture, history and contribution to societies. The General Assembly also endorsed a programme of activities (resolution 69/16) which is to be implemented by all the relevant actors, including the United Nations, Member States, regional and subregional organizations, civil society actors, including organizations of people of African descent. The Decade and its programme of activities are an integral part of the full and effective implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (http://www.un.org/WCAR/durban.pdf). As such all the relevant actors are expected through the effective observance and implementation of the Decade to further advance the anti-racism agenda as defined inter alia in the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, its Outcome document and political deliberation, and the International Convention for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.”

An audience of several hundred filled the hall of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), including Pan-Afrikan activists from the United States, the Caribbean and Europe.

The event featured remarks from Ms. Alicia Garza of Black Lives Matter, as well as statements from Mrs. Samaria Rice, mother of 12-year-old Cleveland, Ohio police brutality victim Tamir Rice, and Mr. John Crawford, Jr., father of John Crawford III, a 22-year-old man who was shot to death in a Beavercreek, Ohio Walmart while holding a toy BB gun. Their statements, as well as those from human rights observers from different areas of the African Diaspora, will be discussed in the next article. This article will concentrate on the introductory remarks, the Keynote speeches from Ms. Mireille Fanon-Mendes France and Mr. Harry Belafonte, and the report on racial profiling in the Diaspora from Mr. Mutuma Ruteere, Special Rapporteur on Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, which effectively spelled out the issue of racism and racial profiling by law enforcement personnel against people of African descent around the world.

Opening Remarks

Bob Herbert
Former NY Times Columnist, Demos Scholar, author of the book “Losing Our Way”

“The Human Rights Office welcomes the opportunity to cosponsor this event in the context of the International Decade for Peoples of African Descent, along with our partners, DPI, UNESCO, the International Organization of Francophonie, Unitarian Universalist Association, Black Lives Matter and Amnesty International USA.

“People of African descent worldwide are a distinct group, that regrettably, over the course of history faced common challenges if racism and structural discrimination and continue to face impediments to the realization of their rights. Slavery and the slave trade are the base of the widespread and systemic manifestations of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance that we see today against people of African descent. Racism and racial discrimination was firmly entrenched in colonial societies and reinforced in contemporary societies through increasing socioeconomic inequalities, exclusion, marginalization and injustice against people of African descent. I look forward to hearing your views on what can be done during this Decade ay the international, regional and national levels to improve the situation of people of African descent. What more can we do to encourage states to strengthen protection of human rights of people of African descent, particularly in terms of their adequate access to quality education, health and employment, access to justice, social and economic inclusion, poverty eradication and potential participation?”

Zeid Ra’ad Hussein
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

“Across the globe, women, men and children of African descent struggle against racism, inequality and in justice. This includes unequal treatment before the law. In many countries, people of African descent, particularly young men, experience alarming rates of sometimes lethal police action, and are subjected to racial profiling and bias in the crimo0nal justice system. They are more frequently incarcerated and are more likely to be subjected to harsh sentences, including the death penalty. People of African descent are also victims of hate crimes and Afrophobia. Communities of African descent are often also poor and marginalized, with high rates of maternal mortality and limited access to economic opportunities or quality education, health services, housing and social security. Women and girls of African descent are subject to compounded discrimination on the grounds of sex and race. This structural and institutional discrimination has deep roots in slavery and colonialism, and it is a universal concern, an appalling affront to the human tights that we stand for. And yet efforts by communities to seek redress for these violations are often ignored. We need systems that ensure equal education, employment and opportunities for all. Systems that guarantee that law enforcement will be colorblind. …

“The entire United Nations System is committed to eradicating racism and racial discrimination against people of African descent in line with the Programme of Activities for the Decade, the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action and the International Convention for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination signed 50 years ago. We must continue to partner with Civil Society, which is doing an invaluable work. Many women and men of African descent have made great contributions to civil rights, freedom and the struggle for justice. Their courage in the face of oppression, their fearless persistence, their dignity and often their grace have been an inspirational force for many, myself included. Together, we shall overcome in injustice, and build a more fair, more equal future. I thank you.”

Bruce Knotts
Director of the Canadian Unitarian Council and Canadian Universalist Association United Nations Office

“I want to thank all of you here, and all of you watching this broadcast. …

“The international community has noted your concern. We need to ensure that they keep what you discuss here on the front burner of the global human rights agenda. …

“Our first principle is to promote the inherent worth and dignity of everyone, everywhere. In that spirit, in June, the UUA General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favor of supporting the Black Lives Matter Movement. We’ve hung banners outside of our places of worship proclaiming that ‘Black Lives Matter’. Some of these banners have been vandalized or destroyed. We have repeatedly replaced them. We get hate mail telling us that ‘all lives matter’ and ‘police lives matter’. Here is my response. Of course all lives matter and police lives matter. However, when the Fire Department comes to your neighborhood, do you send the firefighters to all the houses, ore to the house that’s on fire? For over five hundred years, the house of the people of African descent has been on fire. While some have succeeded and barriers for some have been lowered, for many, if not most, of people of African descent around the world, they live in a world facing bigotry and destructive [forces] which deny opportunities granted to others, denial of liberty while others go free, and violence of a frequency and intensity not experienced by others and that all too often ends in death. It is particularly tragic when this needless violence results in the death of children. It’s not heroic when a big, burly man in a uniform throws a small teenage girl of color on the floor. All too often the big burly men who beat, shoot and kill Black children face no consequences for their unjustified violence. When society fails to punish unjustified violence against Black women, men and children, it screams that Black lives don’t matter. It’s this callous indifference to Black lives that requires all of us to scream back our conviction that Black lives do matter.

“The UN has declared this the Decade of People of African Descent. Let’s use this Decade to stop the ugly bigotry through violence that is directed towards people of African descent and recognize that when this happens to Black people without consequences, far more often than others, it constitutes a major structural human rights violation which demands urgent international attention and immediate action to end the discrimination of individuals, families and communities of people of African descent.

“When society fails to punish unjustified violence against Black women, men and children, it screams that Black lives don’t matter. It’s this callous indifference to Black lives that requires all of us to scream back our conviction that Black lives do matter.”
— Bruce Knotts

“So today, we hope to send the firefighters to the right house and give them the right instructions. Our goal is not to blame any member state, but rather to eliminate structural racism wherever it exists. Most of all, our mission here today, and in the future, is to save the lives of men, women and children of African descent who, no less than the rest of us, deserve a safe and secure life.”

Mr. Knotts then introduced the first of the three Keynote Speakers for the day’s event, Calypso legend and Human Rights Activist Harry Belafonte.

The Keynote Speeches

Harry Belafonte
Internationally Acclaimed Human Rights Activist, Singer, Actor and Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund)

One of the most successful Caribbean American pop stars in history, he was dubbed the “King of Calypso” for popularizing the Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s. He was an early supporter of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and ’60s, and one of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s confidants. Throughout his career he has been an advocate for political and humanitarian causes, such as the anti-apartheid movement and USA for Africa. Since 1987 he has been a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. In recent years he has been a vocal critic of the policies of both the George W. Bush and Barack Obama presidential administrations. (from Wikikpedia)

In his resonant baritone voice, now rendered gravelly with age but still commanding and strong, he spoke of meeting Eleanor Roosevelt upon his introduction to the UN: “I got to know Africans in a way that I otherwise wouldn’t have known them.”

He spoke of meeting Paul Robeson and other giants of Africa and the African Diaspora, and he spoke of his Jamaican mother, who had come to America “undereducated, came here looking for opportunity and instead of that, found belligerence. She found resistance. She discovered racism. …”

“Artists are the gatekeepers of the truth. … We are humanity’s moral compass. … Using the arts as a tool for bringing the human family together … for a common humanity, specifically engaged in spreading the word of Africa [through the] songs of the Caribbean, songs of Africa. …”

Mr. Belafonte spoke of the Second World War and its struggle to end fascism: “All of that was supposed to have been brought to an end” but racial oppression continued in America. “From that time until now, not a day has been spent where I was not committed to sorting out and looking for reasonable ways in which to engage. The United Nations became a righteous place for me. Through Eleanor Roosevelt and all the new African nations that were beginning to appear in great abundance, I visited Eleanor Roosevelt’s home, and in her home I met the delegate from Kenya, the delegate from Tanzania, the delegate from Ethiopia, the delegates from everywhere, and I began to understand the great variety that existed among peoples of color in the Diaspora. I found great excitement in that fact. And I found in it an opportunity to [explore] the arts of the Diaspora, and use it as a platform in which to gain liberation not just for Black people, but for all of our humanity.

“I’m deeply honored and I’m grateful for this opportunity to stand before this lordship. I hope the fruits of this convening will bring the Diaspora close together, because I sadly tell you that as much as African [Americans] speak to calling themselves African[s], most of us of color in America know little, very little about the Diaspora. We don’t know our Brazilian Brothers and Sisters. We don’t know our Haitian Brothers and Sisters. Perhaps in title, in some fleeting moment, [but] the depth of us, as African Descendants, is not known one to the other. Through the arts, we can change that. Through the needs of the human race, the United Nations is the perfect place for us to sit and have exchanges to find our deeper humanity in settling the affairs of the cruelty of racism and classism. I thank you very much.”

Mireille Fanon-Mendes France
Chairperson of the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent and the Daughter of Legendary writer Frantz Fanon

Mr. Knotts introduced her by stating that “her input to this program today has emphasized that we need to listen to grassroots leaders, and you will hear them.” Following are some of her remarks.

“On behalf of the United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, I am pleased to be here with you today. As some of you may know, as recommended by the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, the Working Group was established in 2002 by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Its objective is to study the problems of … racial discrimination, Afrophobia, xenophobia and associated in tolerance faced by people of African origin. …”

She spoke of the concept of race as a historical myth used to prop up and support the enforcement of inequality, a system that is “incompatible with democracy.”

“It is important to recognize that the challenge of the Decade, ‘Recognition, Justice and Development’, the aim of reducing forever the legacy of a culture of hatred, is a dynamic means to end the poisonous legacy of that history. … These three things are important areas to be addressed comprehensively for the applicability, effectiveness and justifiability of people of African descent and Africans in the Diaspora around the world.

“To conclude, I have to note that the Working Group has played an important role in the development of the Programme of Activity of the International Decade for People of African Descent and continues to be a strong advocate for its implementation. … We look forward to engaging with the broader Civil Society, as well as Member States of the United Nations, as well as the United Nations and its agencies … to make the Decade a substantial change in the paradigm of domination and therefore a success. I thank the organizers for inviting the Working Group and thank you for your attention.”

Racial Profiling and Racism in Law Enforcement Across the Diaspora

Mutuma Ruteere
Special Rapporteur on Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance

Mr. Mutuma Ruteere delivered the third of the three Keynote Speeches, and presented a comprehensive analysis of racism and racial profiling by law enforcement that set the stage for the statements that were to come from Ms. Alicia Garza of Black Lives Matter, Mrs. Samaria Rice and Mr. John Crawford Jr. Mr. Ruteere lives in Nairobi, Kenya, and is the Special Rapporteur on Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance. He also serves as Director, Centre for Human Rights and Policy Studies, an independent research centre based in Nairobi Kenya. He holds a PhD in political science with a specialization in human rights. Mr. Ruteere has extensively published on human rights in particular on the thematic violence and policing, terrorism and counter- terrorism, civil wars and transitions, poverty and access to rights. He has advised state agencies, NGOs and private sector organizations on human rights. His current work at the Centre for Human Rights and Policy Studies attempts to link theoretical research with innovative policy making to address human rights issues. In addition to his two annual thematic reports, Mr Ruteere undertakes two country visits per year and subsequently reports to the Human Rights Council and to the General Assembly. Since he was appointed, Mr. Ruteere visited Hungary, Bolivia and Spain at the invitation of the respective Governments. (from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Page, http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Racism/SRRacism/Pages/OverviewMandate.aspx)

“Ladies and gentlemen, it is an honor to be here with you today to discuss the important issue of racial profiling which is a practice that persists around the world and continues to impair the enjoyment of fundamental rights of individuals and groups.

“This year, I am dedicating my report to the Human Rights Council to the issue of racial and ethnic profiling in law enforcement.

“My report examines the context leading to the practice of racial profiling and provides an overview of its different manifestations. It also presents different positive practices initiated towards the elimination of racial profiling and makes several recommendations.

“Profiling is prevalent in everyday law enforcement practices, but it is also worth highlighting that the issue also arises, and is arising at the moment, with regard to policies connected to national security and immigration.

“The manifestation of racial profiling has been observed in ‘stop and check’ operations, which in some places disproportionately target minority groups. In Europe, for instance, minorities including Roma people suffer unequal levels of stops by the police. Similarly, people of African descent have historically and continue to be subjected to practices of racial profiling.

“Different patterns of racial and ethnic profiling have surfaced in recent years as ways of taking measures to combat terrorism. Migrants and minority groups have been particularly susceptible to the adverse effects of these law enforcement practices. In the context of immigration, official border crossings and hubs of transportation, such as airports, railroad crossings and bus depots, have been common places where racial and ethnic profiling takes place.

“I am also concerned about the development of new technologies that purport to create risk profiles for specific ethnic groups. Use of this software by law enforcement agencies has generated fears that racial and ethnic profiling may become a regularized and permanent feature of immigration and border control management systems around the world.

“Profiling in the administration of justice has often led to unjust and disproportionate punishment of individuals of traditionally discriminated groups and, in particular, people of African descent. This discrimination is partly enabled by high levels of discretionary powers in the administration of criminal justice systems. In some contexts, this practice has been intensified by direct discrimination wherein harsher punishments related to certain kinds of recreational drugs have disproportionately affected minorities.

“Studies have identified correlations between racial status and harsher criminal sentences, and evidence from different countries around the world shows that implicit bias has noticeably [shaped] criminal investigations. Consequently, in some cases, prison populations tend to be comprised of severely disproportionate numbers of persons from minority communities which further contributes to their stigmatization.

“I cannot emphasize enough that racial and ethnic profiling is prohibited in International Human Rights Law and this practice violates … human rights including the tight to live free from discrimination, the right to equality before the law, the right to personal freedom and security, and the right to the presumption of innocence.

“The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination forbids the use of racial profiling. The General Equality Provision of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights also covers questions of profiling as do specific guarantees prohibiting relative to the right to liberty and security of persons, the right against arbitrary arrest or detention, and the right to liberty. Moreover, as denoted by my colleague, the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action calls upon states to enforce effective measures to eliminate profiling.

“The Rabat Plan of Action, which has been developed by a number of Special Rapporteurs of the United Nations, has also called upon states to enhance their efforts to combat negative stereotypes and discrimination … based on nationality, education, religion and beliefs.

“I cannot emphasize enough that racial and ethnic profiling is prohibited in International Human Rights Law and this practice violates … human rights including the tight to live free from discrimination, the right to equality before the law, the right to personal freedom and security, and the right to the presumption of innocence.”
— Mutuma Ruteere

“A number of states have made efforts to combat the phenomenon, through the adoption of laws and policies, establishment of adequate institutional frameworks such as oversight and equality bodies, and the implementation or training and awareness-raising initiatives. States have begun to combat profiling, yet additional steps remain in order to effectively address this problem. In this regard, I would like to once more stress that legislative measures are central to any strategy to combat discrimination and racism by law enforcement agencies and for this reason I continue to encourage states that have not enacted specific legislation outlawing the use of racial and ethnic profiling to seriously consider doing so in order to fight impunity and further provide remedies, redress and reparations to victims of such practices.

“I have recommended that states gather law enforcement data including statistics disaggregated by ethnicity and race which are essential in order to prove the existence and extent of racial and ethnic profiling. Furthermore, investigative oversight bodies should have the authority to address allegations of racial and ethnic profiling, and make practical recommendations for policy changes. Finally, I call for effective regulation of discretionary powers of law enforcement personnel in order to reduce the risk of racial and ethnic profiling. There are several approaches that may be used in a complementary fashion, such as improving the quality and precision of intelligence gathering, making sure that law enforcement agents use this information in their decision making, increasing the supervision of law enforcement officers’ discretionary capacities, and enhancing civilians’ understanding of their rights and responsibilities in encounters with law enforcement agents, an otherwise important role of the Civil Society.

“I thank you all, and I assure you of my partnership in promoting equal dignity, rights and progress of individuals of all races, groups and nationalities. Thank you very much.”

Our next post on this event will feature reports from various parts of the world on racism and racial profiling, and statements from Ms. Alicia Garza of Black Lives Matter, Mrs. Samaria Rice, mother of Tamir Rice, and Mr. John Crawford Jr., whose son John III was gunned down by law enforcement officers in a Beavercreek, Ohio Walmart.

Baltimore Action Legal Team on the Freddie Gray Case

Six months have passed since the horrific death of Freddie Gray as a result of his arrest by Baltimore City Police officers on April 12, 2015, and the weeks of protests, civil unrest and general uneasiness that followed, punctuated by what was referred to as the Baltimore Rebellion or the Baltimore Riots, depending on one’s perspective. Since that time, the Gray Family has reached a settlement of potential wrongful-death civil charges with the City of Baltimore, and the criminal cases against the six police officers are preparing to commence. On September 24, the Baltimore Action Legal Team (www.baltimoreactionlegal.org) held a discussion on the Freddie Gray Case at the Real News Network building in downtown Baltimore, Maryland. The event was sponsored by Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle (LBS) as part of their “Malcolm X Talks” Series (http://www.lbsbaltimore.com). The four members of the Baltimore Legal Action Team (BALT) discussed the recent civil settlement between the City of Baltimore and the Gray Family as well as a number of aspects of the criminal cases against the six Baltimore City police officers who have been formally indicted in his death. A number of details of the civil settlement and the upcoming criminal case were explored during their presentation as well as the question-and-answer period.

The Civil Case: A Settlement to Quiet the Waters?

The civil case was brought by the family based on Freddie Gray’s wrongful death in the custody of the City (police). The family sued for monetary damages from the City. After negotiations, the City agreed on a settlement to be paid to the family in installments.

The settlement offer is a separate issue from the criminal cases.

One thing that not many citizens seem to understand, especially in the wake of the $5.9 million settlement offered to the family of Eric Garner in New York, is the Maryland State cap on damages stemming from civil suits. This was explained during the meeting, as well as the reasons why this Maryland cap was not applied to this case. Other cases of wrongful death in the past were subjected to a $200,000 cap set by the state of Maryland. One instance involved a $7.4 million settlement that was reduced to $200,000 because of the State cap on damages. The lawyer took $150,000, leaving the plaintiffs to split $50,000 among the children.

The cap has subsequently been increased to $400,000 by the City of Baltimore.

The Gray case resulted in a total award of $6.4 million, part to be paid in 2016 and part to be paid in 2016. The amount is to be split between the mother and father (amounts to each were discussed but are not really relevant here), subsequently to be distributed to the several children, meaning no one person is likely to receive the lion’s share of the money, especially after taxes and legal fees are taken. It is questionable who, if anyone, will “get rich” from this settlement, and in any case, no amount of money can adequately compensate for the loss of a loved one, especially in the brutal manner in which Freddie Gray died.

In any case, the $400,000 Maryland cap on damages was not applied to this case. There are several reasons for this, which were explained as follows:

There is no cap on Federal Civil Rights Charges. The likelihood of Federal charges being filed led the City to offer the settlement pre-trial, out of court. Because the suit was not actually filed or tried in court, the City agreed to the settlement and no cap was applied. Had the case gone to court on State charges, the cap would have applied.
It may have been prudent for the City of Baltimore to settle this case early. Had the City waited for the criminal trials and the officers were found guilty, the City’s liability could be reinforced and the payout could possibly be even higher, especially if Federal Civil Rights charges had been filed.
It would have been more difficult (practically in terms of expense and also in terms of conflicting stances of the City) for the City to defend a civil case based on a claim of no wrongdoing while also pursuing a criminal case against the officers based on a claim of wrongdoing.

Why did the City settle the civil case before the criminal case was tried? Did the City “cave” too quickly in the face of the threatened civil or Federal Civil Rights suit from the Gray family? A number of factors seemed to influence the City’s decision to settle early.

There is a lower standard of proof for a civil case based on wrongful death (which seemed rather apparent in this case) than there will be for establishing criminal guilt for the officers involved, which would have made the civil case harder to defend. In this settlement, the City does not actually admit specific wrongdoing but “accepts liability” in that it acknowledges that Freddie Gray should not have died in the City’s custody.
One example of the difficulty of a civil case as opposed to a criminal one is the OJ Simpson murder case. He was found “not guilty” in the criminal case which needed to prove “beyond a reasonable doubt” that he killed Nicole Brown Simpson, but with the lower standard of proof in the civil case, he was found “liable” for her wrongful death.
The settlement was not rushed as some observers believe. The parties negotiated for over three months, and other cases, such as that of Eric Garner ($5.9 million settlement) were taken into account as comparison cases.
This settlement means there will be no more civil suits, wrongful death suits or civil rights suits against the City after this.
The City has faced a number of excessive force and false arrest claims over the last several years, according to the BALT panel. $4.4 million total in 2010, $1.6 million in 2014, $4.2 million from police car collisions since 2010. A plaintiff who was paralyzed in a police transport case sought $39 million in 1997, and another sought $7.4 million around the same time. The final amounts awarded, through court action or settlement, was not discussed.
Was the settlement for the Gray Family “hush money” as some questioners believed? In a way, perhaps it was, because the family cannot sue the City in civil court for damages again. But this does not prevent them from testifying in the criminal cases against the six officers.
Did the “Baltimore Uprising” that followed in late April coerce the City into offering this settlement to avoid “adding fuel to the fire” that might have caused Baltimore to burn again? Or was it more to avoid spending the resources in attorney fees (law firms can apparently rack up huge sums in a very short time) and other expenses that would have been required in the event of an actual trial? Or was the City’s decision influenced by the national climate in which police murders of civilians have taken center stage, especially with recalcitrant police, judicial and government officials failing or refusing to press charges against officers who killed civilians, and even having proclaimed their actions legal and free from wrongdoing despite clear video evidence, as was most scandalously and sensationally shown in the cases of Eric Garner (New York City), Walter Scott (South Carolina) and Tamir Rice (Cleveland, Ohio)?
The Uprising may seem to have “forced” the City to pay the Gray family. Meanwhile, the settlement could also give the appearance of a City that was finally prepared to accept some of the “personal responsibility” that politicians often lecture citizens about accepting for their own actions. It “feels better” that the City did not say “this is not our fault” or that “your life is not worth anything” or that “you brought this upon yourself,” according to the BALT legal activists. “There’s something just about it. … There’s some metaphoric value, I think, in that.”

The Criminal Case: In It for the Long Haul

This is the timeline of the arrest of Freddie Gray on April 12:

Brian Rice makes eye contact with Freddie Gray. Gray flees and Rice pursues him, along with bicycle officers Garrett Miller and Edward Nero.
Miller and Nero apprehend Gray and initiate an arrest.
Miller and Nero call for the police van and put Freddie Gray in it. Officer Caesar Goodson is the van driver.
Freddie Gray is taken to “multiple locations.”
Officer William Porter becomes involved in the vicinity of Dolphin Street; he checks the van and allegedly picks Freddie Gray up off the floor and places him in a seat without securing him with a seat belt.
At another stop, Officer Alicia White looks in the back of the van, after which Freddie Gray is taken to the Western District police station.
There are a total of four or five stops along the way to the police station.

Thus, the six Baltimore City police officers who now face charges in connection with the death of Freddie Gray are as follows:

Lt. Brian Rice: The officer whose eye contact with Freddie Gray precipitated the chase and the arrest that left Gray mortally injured. He faces charges up to and including manslaughter.

Officer Garrett Miller: One of the bicycle officers who chased Freddie Gray, physically restrained him and arrested him. He faces charges of second degree assault and misconduct in office. Along with Officer Nero, these are the lightest charges of those filed against the six officers.

Officer Edward Nero: One of the bicycle officers who chased Freddie Gray, physically restrained him and arrested him. He faces charges of second degree assault and misconduct in office. Along with Officer Miller, these are the lightest charges of those filed against the six officers.

Officer Caesar Goodson: The van driver. He faces a number of charges including manslaughter and second degree murder, the most serious charges.

Officer William Porter: The fifth officer to interact with Freddie Gray. He faces a number of charges including manslaughter.

Officer Alicia White: According to the chronology we received, she was the last officer to interact with Freddie Gray when she checked the van during transport. She faces a number of charges including manslaughter.

Why did the police officers chase Freddie Gray in the first place?

The initial charge against Freddie Gray was that he was in possession of an illegal knife (though this could not have been determined until after he had been pursued and arrested, which would seem to bring into question whether there was probable cause to chase him in the first place other than “eye contact”). An illegal knife would have been one that was spring-assisted, such as a switchblade, and more than three inches in length according to Baltimore City law. The State’s assertion was that the knife that was found on Freddie Gray during the search at the time of his arrest was not an illegal knife.

The chronology of the criminal court cases and the most prominent pretrial motions (where decision are made as to how the Court will pursue the cases) up to the end of September was as follows:

April 12: the arrest of Freddie Gray.

April 19: Freddie Gray dies in the hospital as a result of grievous spinal injuries.

April 30: State’s Attorney for Baltimore City Marilyn Mosby received the report of the police investigation.

May 1: Ms. Mosby announces the charges against the six police officers.

May 8: The officers file motions to dismiss Ms. Mosby for prosecutorial misconduct and ask her to recuse herself from the case.

May 21: Baltimore grand jury indicts the six police officers.

May 27: The officers file motions to change the venue of the case from Baltimore City.

June 26: The prosecution files a motion for officers Goodson, White, Nero and Miller to be tried together.

July 10: Nero and Miller file motions opposing the effort to try them with Goodson and White.

August 17: Judge Barry Williams denies the subpoena sought by Catherine Quinn to put Ms. Mosby’s prosecution team on the stand at the hearing scheduled for September 2.

September 2: Judge Williams denies the officers’ request to dismiss the charges and against their request to remove Ms. Mosby from the case for prosecutorial misconduct.

September 10: Judge Williams rules that the trial will be held in Baltimore City.

These were not all of the pretrial motions. Some of the above motions can be renewed during the trial if anything changes that might influence the original decisions differently.

Jury Selection for the Criminal Case

The legal panel explained the process of jury selection for criminal trials, which is expected to be followed in the criminal cases here. The voir dire (“to see, to say” in French) process is to be followed. A large pool of potential jurors is summoned from among the citizens of Baltimore City, who are then reviewed by the attorneys for the prosecution and the defense. Questions are asked of the potential jurors about their knowledge of the case being tried, histories (for example, whether or not they or their families had been the victims or perpetrators of crimes similar to the one being tried), their attitudes (such as their feelings toward police) and their political opinions (such as their support of or opposition to the death penalty), and based on this information, the prosecuting attorneys and the defense attorneys are permitted to excuse individuals from serving (or rejection for cause) on the jury of their trial.

Both attorneys are also allowed a certain limited number of “peremptory” challenges in which they can simply choose to reject jurors for any reason as long as there is no indication of discriminatory intent (such as racial bias). In spite of efforts to curb racial bias in jury selection, plenty of research still indicates that racial bias does occur, but it can be hard to prove that racial bias was the intent, and thus it cannot be eliminated entirely. In fact, many cases of political prisoners have hinged on the use of racial bias in jury selection (among other abuses), most notably reports of a systematic use of racial bias in Philadelphia in the 1980s during the time of the trials of revolutionary Black activists such as Mumia Abu-Jamal, the MOVE Organization and the Black Panther Party.

Trials that involve more serious charges usually allow for more peremptory challenges of potential jurors by attorneys.

In the case of the trials of these officers, there will be six separate trials, six separate teams of lawyers for the prosecution and the defense, and possibly six separate strategies. For example, even though the most recent pretrial motions resulted in all six cases being tried in Baltimore City, efforts to move some of the trials could succeed upon later motions. Trials could be held concurrently (at the same time), consecutively (one right after the other) or some combination of these. Defendants could opt for jury trials (a “trial by one’s peers”) or court trials (in which the presiding judge rules). Anu of the trials could change judges for any number of reasons.

The entire voir dire process could in the end be unsuccessful, in that the jury pool could be considered too influenced by the sensational news of Freddie Gray’s death and the resultant Uprising to yield a sufficient number of potential jurors to fir the court’s standards of objectivity and impartiality. In that case, the court could conceivably reconsider moving the trial venue out of Baltimore City.

The State’s Apparent Strategy

The State’s Attorney’s Office stated its intentions to vigorously prosecute the six officers when Ms. Mosby announced the charges against them on May 1. It appeared the State intended to try Porter first, although he was the fourth police officer to come in contact with Freddie Gray during his arrest. This may be because he might be considered a potential material witness in the trials of Goodson and White, or perhaps because of statements he was reported to have made regarding Freddie Gray’s condition and his need for medical attention during the arrest and transport. The State may wish to have the option of calling Porter after his trial as a witness in the other trials. If Porter is convicted, this plan would be delayed until after all his appeals are exhausted and his case is finally settled, which could take years. If, however, he is acquitted, he could be called to testify in those trials.

Each trial could take months to complete, especially when one considers the likelihood of considerable motions by the attorneys in each trial. In the event of the filing of appeals, that timeline could stretch to years.

Why were the bicycle officers who chased Freddie Gray and initially apprehended him facing the ;east serious charges despite videographic evidence that Freddie was in great pain before he was even placed in the police van? Apparently, this is because of the State’s prosecution strategy, which is based on the theory that his injuries were inflicted during the ride in the police van and not at the time of his initial arrest, and some speculated that the injuries he was treated for in the hospital were even more serious than what was evident from the video of his arrest, which would point to subsequent injuries being inflicted during transport. Thus Goodson, the van driver, is apparently considered the most culpable in Freddie Gray’s death and this faces charges up to and including second-degree murder. Meanwhile, the two bicycle officers, Miller and Nero, are charged with second-degree assault, which is likened to verbal threats that inspire fear (a misdemeanor), and misconduct in office. The misconduct charge is important, though, because without it Miller and Nero might face no penalty other than a suspension with pay. When these facts are considered, along with the stiff potential penalties also faced by officers Alicia White and William Porter, the apparent irony is that the three Afrikan-American officers (Goodson, Porter and White) could face more severe penalties than the three White officers (Nero, Miller and Rice) for the death of an Afrikan-American man (Freddie Gray) in police custody in a racially-charged case.

Additional charges can be added in subsequent trials as more information is gathered, but it can be tricky to amend the initial charges, especially since they arose from a grand jury investigation.

Attorneys for the officers argued that the atmosphere in Baltimore City was too volatile, that any jurors would be afraid to acquit the officers because such an act could lead to more unrest in the streets. Judge Williams rejected that argument, however, insisting that “justice will prevail.”

The Baltimore Action Legal Team also provided a brief discussion on interactions with police. There have been a number of “Know Your Rights” and “What to do in an Encounter with the Police” presentations and commentaries over the years. The advice of the Baltimore Action Legal Team will be reviewed in our next post.

The 2015 Africa Braintrust: The Keynote Speeches

The Africa Braintrust was held on Friday, September 18, the closing day of the 2015 Congressional Black Caucus week of meetings, addresses and panels. The annual Braintrust, sponsored by a variety of corporate and organizational donors and organized by US Congress Member Karen Bass (Democrat from Southern California), includes a variety of panel discussions that focus on US policy toward the Continent of Africa, as well as discussion of many of the challenges that still face the Continent. The discussions usually center on issues of economic development, peace and Security, the rule of law and health concerns on the Continent. In this article, we will share with you the remarks made by the two featured Keynote Speakers, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield (morning keynote) and National Security Advisor Susan E. Rice (afternoon keynote).

LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD
Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs
Morning Keynote

Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, a member of the Career Foreign Service, was sworn in on August 6, 2013 as the Assistant Secretary for the Bureau on African Affairs. In this capacity, she leads the bureau in the Department of State focused on the development and management of US policy toward Sub Saharan Africa. Prior to this appointment, she served as Director General of the Foreign Service and Director of Human Resources (2012-2013) for the State Department.

Her 32-year Foreign Service career includes an ambassadorship to Liberia (2008-2010), and foreign postings in Switzerland (at the US Mission to the United Nations), Pakistan, Kenya, The Gambia, Nigeria, and Jamaica. In addition to the Bureau of Human Resources, her Washington postings include the Bureau of African Affairs (2006-2008), where she served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, and the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (2004-2006) where she served as Deputy Assistant Secretary.

Prior to joining the Department of State, she taught Political Science at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania. (from the brief bio in the Africa Braintrust Program)

We entered the hall while Ms. Greenfield (pictured, right) was already delivering her speech, but the following represent what we were able to hear of her statement. At the time of our arrival, she was remarking on President Obama’s trip to Kenya and to the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, which she said primarily served the important purpose of giving business people “the opportunity to see Africa at its best.”

He was the “first US President to address the African Union. … If you were in that room you felt the heartbeats of every person in that room as he walked onto that stage, and then the excitement as he delivered his historic speech.”

“I am very optimistic about Africa’s future and the opportunities that are being presented to us as we move forward. President Obama said while we were in Nairobi, ‘Africa is on the move.’ That’s my new motto. Africa is on the move. Now we must focus on what we must do, together, all of you, to keep Africa moving forward. … Africa’s population in the coming decades will double to 2 billion people, and many of them will be under the age of 18. This beings great opportunities but it also provides significant challenges that we will all have to face.”

She praised YALI (the Young African Leaders Initiative) for building leadership skills in young Africans. “If they are not encouraged to lead for good, they will lead for bad.” On charges that “we were brainwashing them to be supporters of the US”, she responded “Who was questioning what Boko Haram was doing to the young people across the Continent of Africa? Who was talking to ISIL to find out what they are doing to support young people across Africa to lead for bad? So we have to give young people the tools they need, the skills they require, the resources they require to lead for good on the Continent of Africa.”

She listed several goals the US has for sustaining progress and generating new opportunities in Afrika: Promote strong democratic institutions with free and fair elections; Increase economic growth and trade; and Build peace and security. She expounded on several more specific subjects:

Democratic institutions: She mentioned the “success” of Nigeria’s presidential election because people voted and candidates respected the results. “President Jonathan surprised us … and he will go down in history and leave a legacy across Africa for that decision.” Still, she pointed out that there are still presidents who refuse to leave office, such as in Burundi, and coups against elected leaders as happened in Burkina Faso. President Obama has stated that civil society organizations (CSOs) play “a critical role” in maintaining democracy, and that governments need to allow CSOs to function in Africa.

Health Infrastructure: “Not just to deal with Ebola … Malaria [and] HIV” but to deal with all the health issues the people struggle with. Much is not known about what happened to people aside from Ebola as the fight against Ebola was moving forward. She promoted the idea of “an African CDC”. Two weeks ago, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Liberia Ebola-free “but we have to remain ever vigilant.”

Economic growth, trade and development: “We want to diversify and expand US-Africa trade”, so Africans can get more of their goods to market. “AGOA [Africa Growth and Opportunity Act] is at the heart of our strategy for increasing US-Africa trade and investment.” She also promoted the Power Africa Initiative.

Peace and Security: Ambassador Greenfield made note of Al Shabbab (Somalia), the Lords Resistance Army (Uganda) And Boko Haram (Nigeria) as well as “millions of South Sudanese suffering from crises of their own leaders’ creation.” She expressed guarded hope that South Sudan’s leaders will abide by a recent peace agreement.

She concluded, “There’s a role for all of us, for all of you, in working for peace and prosperity for the Continent, and for enabling those young Africans to propel Africa forward, so that their children will have peace and prosperity in the future. Thank you very much.”

SUSAN E. RICE
National Security Advisor
Afternoon Keynote

From January 2009 until assuming the role of National Security Advisor in July 2013, Ambassador Rice served as the US Permanent Representative to the United Nations and a member of President Obama’s Cabinet. Under Ambassador Rice’s leadership, the US Mission to the United Nations helped win the stiffest UN sanctions ever against Iran and North Korea to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons and materials, supported interventions in Libya and Cote D’Ivoire, helped build the referendum on the independence of South Sudan, worked to reform the UN Human Rights Council and helped rebuild a strong basis for international cooperation, among other accomplishments.

Prior to serving as US Permanent Representative to the UN, she served as Senior Advisor for National Security Affairs on the Obama for America Campaign. She later served on the Advisory Board for the Obama-Biden Transition and as co-chair of its policy working group on national security. From 2002-2009, she was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, where she focused on US foreign policy, transnational security threats, weak states, global poverty and development.

From 1997 to 2001, she was the US Assistant Secretary of State fort African Affairs, when she formulated and implemented US policy for 48 countries in Sub Saharan Africa and oversaw the development of 43 US Embassies and more than 5,000 US Foreign Service national employees. From 1995-1997, she served as Special Assistant to President Bill Clinton and as Senior Director of African Affairs at the National Security Council of the White House. From 1993-1995, she served as the Director for International Organizations and Peacekeeping on the National Security Council staff. Previously, she was a management consultant with McKinsey and Company and also served on numerous boards, including the National Democratic Institute and the US Fund for UNICEF. (from the brief bio in the Africa Braintrust Program) Photos from Phone 532

Congress Member Karen Bass (pictured, left, at the table) introduced Ms. Rice (pictured, left, at the podium) as “a woman of distinction.” Ms. Rice’s talk concentrated on the issues of economic growth, peace and security, building the health infrastructure and training future African leaders. Her speech is detailed below.

Ms. Rice thanked Congress Member Bass, Rep. Butterfield and the leadership of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC). She paid special tribute to the late Congressman Donald Payne, “Mr. Africa, [who] reinvent America’s relationship to the Continent.” Through his leadership, she “saw first-hand the power of the CBC’s unwavering insistence that Africa receive the same consideration as any other region of the world.” She credited Ms. Bass and the CBC for helping to build “a bipartisan consensus that gets things done for Africa, from fighting apartheid to supporting PEPFAR, from confronting the genocide in Darfur and easing the suffering of the people of South Sudan to tackling the Ebola crisis in West Africa. So when President Obama made his fourth visit to Sub Saharan Africa this summer, and a first ever by a sitting American President to Kenya, to Ethiopia and to the African Union, he was grateful to be joined by 16 members of the CBC.

“And everywhere he went, he met inspiring Africans working for change in their communities, sometimes against incredible odds. They were entrepreneurs bringing solar panels to villages not connected to the electrical grid, so the families have light to read by. They are women participating in the civic life of their country and fighting for the right of girls to be educated. They’re religions leaders opposing radical ideologies and standing up for the peaceful teachings of Islam. In President Obama the people of Africa and everyone here today have a leader who understands, in his words and I quote, ‘Africa’s rise is not just important for Africa. It’s important for the entire world.’ As he made clear, none of our major challenges globally, curbing climate change, promoting inclusive economic growth, ending violent extremism, can be met without the voices and contributions of one billion Africans. That’s why, when President Obama hosted the first ever African Leaders’ Summit, here in Washington last summer, he focused on strengthening our partnerships across the Continent to achieve our shared goals for the future. No longer do we view Africa through the prism of poverty and crisis. We see Africa for what it is, a dynamic diverse region, brimming with economic potential and boundless possibility. Africans are driving their own development, building their own capacity to feed and care for their people, and doing more to prevent and resolve African conflicts. Accordingly, the United States has stepped up our commitments to Africa across the board.

“Yet, at the same time as we all know, serious challenges threaten to undermine Africa’s progress. In his remarks to the African Union, President Obama said that, quite, ‘The most urgent task facing Africa today, and for decades ahead, is to create opportunity for this next generation.’ Today I’d like to speak about the steps we’re taking in partnership with Africa, to help create that opportunity by spurring economic growth that is inclusive, by fostering development, advancing peace and stability, and investing in Africa’s future.

Economic Growth

“First, we’re fully committed to driving economic growth across Africa. As President Obama declared in Kenya, ‘Africa is on the move.’ Poverty rates are going down. The middle class is growing. From Ethiopia to Cote D’Ivoire to Mozambique, Africa has some of the fastest growing economies in the world. But we haven’t fully tapped this potential. Trade between Africa and the United States is far below where it should be. In 2013, total trade between the US and all 49 countries of Sub Saharan Africa was only a little larger than our trade with The Netherlands. So we’re taking steps to increase trade and investment with Africa, which supports jobs and growth in all of our countries. One of the most effective tools we have in this mission is AGOA, the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act. I confess this is a piece of legislation close to my heart. I was deeply involved in the original passage of AGOA and I want to thank Congress Member Bass and the CBC for backing the ten year renewal that Congress passed this summer. This strong evidence of America’s long term commitment to Africa will help spur sustained investment in the next ten years and well beyond. And American businesses are eager to invest in Africa. The first US-Africa Business Forum, held last year, was such a success, generating $33 billion in new commitments, that President Obama announced a second Forum to be held here next year. Through our Doing Business in Africa Campaign, we’re working across the government to make it easier for American companies to strengthen their commercial ties to Africa, and through Trade Africa, we’re working with African governments to improve the business environment and remove barriers to trade. With Power Africa, we’ve made a game changing commitment to double access to electricity across Sub Saharan Africa. Expanding access to power is one of the first ways we can support African businesses, which in turn unlocks more growth and more trade. Bit this isn’t like just flipping a switch. Power plants and electrical infrastructure take time to build and bring online. Like all bold ideas, successive administrations will have to carry this project forward. We’re well on our way with new Power Africa projects slated to generate more than 20,000 megawatts of electricity. We’re bringing down barriers to greater investment in Africa’s energy sector, and have already facilitated deals that will create an estimated four million new power connections. Entrepreneurship is the spark igniting Africa’s growth, and we’re directly supporting Africa’s dynamic entrepreneurs, nurturing their ideas, and connecting them to resources. At this year’s Global Entrepreneurship Summit, in Nairobi, President Obama announced more than $1 billion in new funding from the US government and the private sector to support entrepreneurs, much of it focused on Africa. Beyond that, we’re investing in women and young people, and entrepreneurs who have the hardest time accessing financing and business networks.

“Second, a commitment to maximizing commitment and delivery results is essential to this Administration’s approach to development. In Africa, too many people, as you well know, still live in extreme poverty, eking out meager livings with their bare hands and sheer determination. Empowering Africa’s most vulnerable is a cornerstone of our commitment to the region. President Obama’s consistent focus has been on helping our development partners become self-sufficient. Today, African countries are setting their own priorities. We build our programs around African plans.

“And even as we continue to provide generous humanitarian relief in Africa and around the world, we move far beyond simply responding to the latest crisis. For example, we’re helping more than 40 African countries build their resistance to climate change now, before vulnerable communities have to face its worst impacts. Through President Obama’s Feed the Future Initiative, we’re making sure smallholder farmers can both deed their families and sell their harvests at market. Since 2010, we’ve invested more than $5.5 billion to improve food security in Africa and other regions. In the past year, Feed the Future has helped nearly 2.5 million African farmers raise their incomes by using new technologies and mans management practices. Our nutrition programs have helped nearly 9 million African children get the nourishment they need to grow and thrive. And we hope to see Feed the Future institutionalized so that it continues to transform lives after President Obama leaves office.”

Health Systems

“Of course, no one can succeed if they’re too sick to work. So with our partners, we’ve developed country-led plans to build mobile health systems, and to reduce several preventable diseases. We’re helping mothers and children become healthier, and making labor and delivery safer. And we’ve been slowly making progress against HIV and AIDS, bringing us within striking distance of an AIDS-free generation. Together with more than 45 countries, we wrote a mobile health security agenda to improve our ability to prevent and contain … epidemics like Ebola. Think back to this time last year, when Ebola was spiraling out of control, weak health systems buckling under the strain. But thanks to the heroism of all the responders on the ground, the leadership of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, the American support to galvanize a massive international response, we have brought the disease under control. As of last week, there were only five cases, and we will not stop until we get to zero.

Peace and Security

“In our interconnected age, outbreaks of diseases, or violence, or instability are no longer local concerns. They threaten entire regions, and undermine global economic security. So the third area I want to discuss is how we’re advancing peace and stability across Africa. I was honored to be President Obama’s personal representative at the joyous independence celebrations in Juba, South Sudan just over four years ago. So for me, like so many of us, South Sudan’s return to violence has been heart-wrenching. That’s why President Obama convened an urgent summit with regional leaders in Ethiopia when he was there in July. And in no small part due to President Obama’s personal leadership, shortly after that meeting, regional leaders finally united behind a draft peace agreement. A few weeks later, South Sudan’s leaders signed the agreement. This is an essential first step. But the true test will bow be in how President Kiir, Riek Machar and their backers prove or disprove their commitment to peace. At long last, they must prioritize the needs of the South Sudanese people, almost half of whom are dependent on international aid for survival … and as they do, the United States stands ready to help the people of South Sudan achieve the lasting peace they deserve.

“In Darfur, the war crimes continue. We’re working to end the horrible conflict by strengthening our positioned parties and building a national dialog that could, if implemented, improve the way Sudan is governed.

“In Burundi, we’re working with our partners to dispense assistance, and supporting efforts by the East African Community, the African Union and the United Nations to broker an end to the crisis.

“The United States and the international community are uniting today in responding to the crisis in Burkina Faso. The junta should step aside and allow preparations for October elections to resume immediately. The United States stands squarely with the people of Burkina Faso, in rejecting this threat to their democratic progress for which they have worked so hard. We are reviewing our assistance to Burkina Faso in light of evolving events. [The junta in Burkina Faso recently vowed to pressure from the AU and announced it would relinquish power to allow the election process to continue — Ed.]

“Under President Obama the United States has significantly increased our efforts to bolster peacekeeping capacity in Africa. In the African Peacekeeping Rapid Response Partnership, we’re committing more than $100 million a year, for the next several years, to help our partners with all their capabilities, including … medical expertise, to deploy rapid response forces to prevent conflicts and save lives. We are facing down the growing terrorist threat. In Somalia, we continue to provide training, equipment … to support the African Union’s mission to root our Al Shabbab and strengthen Somalia’s security institutions. In the fight against Boko Haram, we’re increasingly providing specialized advisers, training, equipment and intelligence support to Nigeria and its regional neighbors. We’re providing wildlife tracking, yes, to preserve Africa’s ecology, but also to shut down domestic flows of money to terrorist networks. And critically, we’re working with governments and community leaders to counter violent extremism before the radicalization to violence can occur.

“In Nigeria, Niger and Chad we’re increasing civilian security and building resilient communities targeted by Boko Haram. We’re supporting African civilians in Mali to support reconciliation and mitigate conflict, particularly in isolated communities. And we’re working with governments to responsibly address legitimate grievances that terrorists might exploit. As in Ethiopia, where American legal advisers are training police and lawyers to better uphold the rule of law.

Investing in Africa’s People

“Finally, I want to highlight our unprecedented investment in the future of Africa and its greatest asset, its people. Nothing captures our commitment better than President Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative, or YALI. YALI offers emerging leaders on government, business and civil society from across Africa, the chance to develop their skills, and connect with their peers, both in Africa and the United States. Since 2010, the YALI network had grown to more than 145,000 members, from every African nation. By the end of this year, YALI regional leadership centers will be open in Nairobi, Accra, Dakar, and Pretoria. We’ve established practical training tools, courses on public speaking, networking, how to launch a startup, that are accessible online. And next year, we’re expanding the Mandela Washington Fellowship, which brings young Africans to train at American universities. We’ll double the number of African fellows from 500 to 1,000, and begin sending young Americans to Africa, strengthening the connections between us.

“Even as we prepare the next generation to take up the mantle of leadership, we’re striving to ensure they inherit societies that are more free, more fair, and more just. Societies that provide opportunity for all of Africa’s people, So we champion democracy, good governance, peaceful and regular transfers of power, active civil societies, and a robust free press. Not because we have all the answers, but because healthy democracies are consistently more peaceful, and more stable. They are the strongest partners, and the best able to provide for their people. We highlight the damage corruption is inflicting on the Continent because Africa’s potential will never be fulfilled if the elites are skimming off the top or leaders cling to power while they rob the people for personal gain. And each time President Obama made that point on his latest trip, he was met with rousing applause.

“The United States speaks out on behalf of Africa’s daughters and their right to grow up without being forced into early marriages, without being mutilated, without being abused.

“We speak out for our African LGBT [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender] brothers and sisters, and their right to equal treatment under the law.

“We speak out for Africa’s minorities, and the right to worship freely, and pursue their dreams. We make clear that every government has the responsibility to protect the human rights and the safety of all its people. And that when traditions say that some groups should be excluded, or targeted, or oppressed, then those traditions are wrong, and they have no place in the 21^st Century. They do nothing but hold societies back.

“So our investment in Africa’s future is both immediate and enduring. We’re expanding our trade and investment, [laying] the groundwork for deeper cooperation for years to come. … [S]ustainable development solutions that reduce hunger and combat health challenges, while spurring the broad-based economic growth that can eradicate extreme poverty. We’re taking steps to bolster our shared security, today and tomorrow. We’re supporting Africa’s youth and challenging Africa’s leaders to govern with an eye to the future. ‘Africa’s rise is not just important for Africa. It’s important for the entire world.’ Those are President Obama’s words, and that’s something all of you have known for quite some time. Today, after four Presidential trips to the region, an historic summit with almost 50 African leaders here in Washington, signature economic and development initiatives, that are opening doors for more people across the Continent, many others now know it too.

“We have more work to do. More work to end old mindsets and address entrenched challenges, both in Africa and here at home. But this much is clear. Under President Obama’s leadership, the United States is redefining the way we engage with Africa. Not as a paternalistic nation, but as permanent, equal partners.

“And I know that partnership will continue to benefit from the support, the wisdom and the good will of everyone here, for many, many years to come. Thank you all.”

Overall Reflections on the Africa Braintrust Keynotes

Both Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield and Ambassador Rice echoed predictably similar sentiments in their remarks. Since they both are academicians with ties to prestigious institutions such as Bucknell and think tanks such as McKinsey and Brookings, they both have had accomplished careers in international circles, especially through their shared experiences in the Foreign Service, and they both have been career diplomats in service to Presidents Clinton and Obama, this should not be surprising. This should also give us pause to acknowledge their accomplishments but also to view their perspectives with at least a reasonably critical eye because of the fact that they come from places of academic connection to the powers that be. In other words, we take much of their commentary as reflective of a true concern for Africa and her people, but at the same time recognize that their perspective remains centered on US interests as opposed to what is necessarily best for Afrikan people, particularly those at the level of the “grassroots”.

Both Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield and Ambassador Rice extolled the virtues of YALI as an important tool for ensuring that, as Ms. Greenfield put it, “give young people the tools they need, the skills they require, the resources they require to lead for good on the Continent of Africa.” Her answer to suspicions that YALI would be used to “brainwash” Africa’s next generation of leaders was to ask, “Who was questioning what Boko Haram was doing to the young people across the Continent of Africa? Who was talking to ISIL to find out what they are doing to support young people across Africa to lead for bad?”, as though comparing US intentions to those of known terrorist organizations, as opposed to those of more people-centered revolutionary organizations, would be convincing. She had stated in her speech that African people will “lead for bad” if they are not encouraged (presumably by the US) to “lead for good”. This brings the question as to what is considered “good” in the eyes of a nation which has waged an unprovoked war in Iraq, a nation which has launched an attack on Libya under the cover of United Nations Resolutions (which, if one reads them, did not sanction the launching of NATO cruise missiles into Tripoli and Sirte), a nation which has with those two attacks on Iraq and Libya unleashed ISIL and Boko Haram on Asia and Africa. There are indeed those who are suspicious of the intentions behind YALI, and those suspicions will only be allayed through the example of a more altruistic attitude toward Africa from the US than has been demonstrated until now. YALI has the potential to develop truly representative, people-centered leaders in Afrika, but only if the commitment to true democracy is not trumped by self-serving US interests, as too often turns out to be the case. In short, the “jury is still out” on YALI; we will have to observe and analyze the results of this program as it proceeds and do what can be done from the civil society level to ensure that YALI itself is not used to “brainwash” the next generation of Afrikan leaders into “service to the West”, as many revolutionary Pan-Afrikanist activists and commentators already fear may be happening.

Both speakers strongly endorse AGOA and insist that it will lead to greater development for Africa, though the history of US trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP, or as columnist Thom Hartmann calls it, the Southern Hemisphere-Asia Free Trade Agreement or “SHAFTA”) makes one suspicious, and the fact that AGOA is not a trade agreement but is instead a unilateral trade policy of the US (in other words, “take it or leave it” to Afrika) makes one even more skeptical, especially in light of the concerns of environmentalists and labor activists about the facilitation of resource extraction and the corporate-friendly standards that could easily lead to the abuse of the rights of workers and are apparently built into AGOA. We’ve been researching and writing an article on AGOA (“Much Ado About AGOA”) which will, admittedly belatedly, appear on this site soon. And finally, there is the Feed the Future Initiative, which bears a disturbing resemblance to earlier programs in Latin America (which led to USAID being expelled from Bolivia) and India (which apparently has led to the corporatization of India’s cotton crop and tens of thousands of Indian farmer suicides). For our discussion of the history of similar efforts (that, like Feed the Future, also involved USAID and its partners in the biotech agribusiness industry, see our article Seeds of Suspicion).

We agree that the scourge of terrorism must be defeated in Afrika, but we also must recognize the role the United States itself played in facilitating the rise of organizations such as ISIL (the destabilization of Iraq and the resultant “liberation” of Iraq’s weapons which ultimately fell into the hands of ISIL) and Boko Haram (which obtained much of its weaponry as a result of the US-led NATO attack on Libya and the “liberation” of those weapons; see our story “Who Is Boko Haram?” on this web site). Amid the continuing effort to establish AFRICOM on Afrikan soil, and suspicions in some circles that anecdotes of terrorist organizational activity in North Africa may have been used as an excuse to establish more and more US military bases in Afrika and around the world under the “War On Terror”, we also must be watchful to ensure that US foreign policy does not involve a secret (or not-so-secret) plan to engage in a 21^st Century “Scramble for Afrika” to counteract East Asian influence and to feed an increasingly hungry corporate power structure that still relies on the energy and land resources of others (especially Afrika) for its survival and continued growth.

We will also feature articles in the coming weeks from the panel discussions that were held during the Africa Braintrust, on Health and Healthcare Infrastructure in Africa, US-Africa Trade Relations, and Elections and Governance in Africa. At these panel discussions, participants occasionally voiced similar concerns, and members of the audience were provided the opportunity, though limited by time, to ask some pointed questions to the panelists, some of which were actually answered. Be sure to check this site for updates over the next few weeks from the Africa Braintrust.

Another Attempt to “Execute” Mumia Abu-Jamal

On Tuesday, August 25, 2015, the following email was sent by Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio. Prison Radio (http://prisonradio.org) has shared the audio commentaries of Political Prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, known to supporters as “The Voice Of The Voiceless”, since his imprisonment in 1981 following his conviction for the murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner, a trial that numerous activists, legal scholars and supporters have charged was ridden with prosecutorial misconduct, judicial misconduct, police misconduct and prejudicial coverage by a compliant law-and-order press that has demonized Black Liberation activists since the 1960’s. Mumia’s initial death sentence was vacated and commuted to life in prison without parole, which Mumia’s supporters assert is simply a “slow death sentence”, one which the prison authorities seem intent on speeding up whenever possible. Earlier this year, a medical emergency saw Mumia’s blood sugar levels spike to near-coma status, and only a concerted effort by supporters and public pressure forced prison officials to act to provide the medical treatment they are supposed to provide to all prisoners. Now, another emergency threatens his life because of the refusal of prison officials to provide the treatment to him that they are obligated to provide.

Here is the text of the email from Noelle Hanrahan:

Dear friend-

We are in court demanding immediate lifesaving medical treatment for Mumia Abu-Jamal, and we are going to win.

Yesterday, Mumia’s lawyers Bret Grote, Legal Director of the Abolitionist Law Center, and co-counsel Robert Boyle filed a preliminary injunction in Abu-Jamal v. Kerestes with Judge Robert Mariani of the Middle District Federal U.S. Court (see link below).

The injunction seeks a federal court order to ensure that prison medical staff provide immediate lifesaving treatment to Mumia.

The prison administration is simply denying Mumia all treatment. Let me be clear: Mumia is weak, his lower extremities still swollen, his skin still severely compromised and raw, and his hepatitis C active and damaging his organs.

Given the severity of Mumia’s organ failure (his skin) and indications of additional potential organ damage, our legal action states that withholding treatment is causing immediate and irreparable harm.

Prison officials have refused to conduct additional viral load blood panels, reveal or conduct additional organ damage assessments, and they are refusing to prescribe simple medications to reduce Mumia’s painful and dangerous skin eruptions.

And in an effort to further delay treatment, attorneys for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections have filed briefs opposing the class action lawsuit for hepatitis C treatment filed in June. We expect they will oppose our injunction filed yesterday as well.

Treatment for Hepatitis C has a 95% cure rate.

By withholding medication, the DOC would like to see this become a death sentence.

In addition to the hepatitis C antiviral cure, we are demanding that prison medical personnel re-proscribe Protopic ointment and the mineral supplement Zinc (220 mlligrams per day) as recommended by his physicians to provide immediate relief to Mumia’s skin rashes- which have become open wounds.

As Mumia’s legal team fights tirelessly for Mumia’s life, we more than ever need your assistance. We need to raise $5,317 in the next 5 days to make it half-way to our goal for this stage of Mumia’s legal and political campaign.

We are amplifying the call for:

1. Immediate treatment of Hepatitis C with the latest Anti-viral drugs that have a 95% cure rate.
2. Treatment of Mumia’s skin condition by re-proscribing protopic cream and zinc supplements.
3. In-person medical exams by Mumia’s independent physicians.

Help us make these demands reality by giving to Mumia’s medical and legal fund now, and by calling the numbers listed in our Action Guide.

Every action and every gift makes a difference.

bit.ly/fight4mumia

See the preliminary injunction filed yesterday here.

You can also give to Mumia’s fund through our website, Paypal, or check: PO Box 411074, San Francisco, CA 94141

This is but the latest attempt to carry out the death sentence that had originally been meted out in December 1981. Since that time, numerous researchers, most notably Mama Pam Africa of the International Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, Professor Johanna Fernandez and Attorney Michael Coard, have made compelling arguments that withheld evidence indicating Mumia’s innocence, fabricated evidence of guilt, mishandling of evidence and numerous cases of police, prosecutorial and judicial misconduct have cast serious doubt on the entire case, including the original guilty verdict handed down by the 1981 jury. Despite this, police, judicial and prison officials not only refuse to acknowledge these discoveries, they have also used every procedural trick at their disposal to deny Mumia medical treatment in an attempt to make good on their promises to see him executed. For more on this situation, visit http://www.freemumia.com and http://prisonradio.org.

KUUMBAReport.com

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