Remembering Martin Luther King, Jr.

As we remember the contributions of one of the most well-known, well-regarded, and cherished civil rights leaders in American history, let us reflect on the principles and values for which he stood.

Black, brown, and other peoples of color were not included in the Constitution of the United States. To date, this founding document has not been amended to embrace the dignity and humanity of non-white persons.

How, then, can this nation move forward to ask new and interesting questions about the progress of its citizens as the malignancy of racial injustice metastasizes.

Does the present state of race in America signal a failure on the part of Dr. King? No. Does it indicate that the civil rights leaders of the 60s have failed blacks in America? No. Does it suggest that 20th century activists did not risk all for freedom? No.

What it means is that the perilous march to freedom is an arduous process against a system of oppression that continually renews itself on the resources and spilled blood of the downtrodden.

It means that the sacrifices of yesterday produced a force inclusive of highly-educated, socially conscious, and determined activists who have a strong legacy from which to draw strength, courage, and examples of adaptability for today's challenges.

It means we must build upon rather than dismantle our legacy of audacity in the face of insurmountable odds and brace for what vestiges of injustice may lurk in our future.

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Immigrant Women and The Agricultural Industrial Complex

The structure of the agricultural industrial complex fosters more than genetically modified foods that poison not only humans but animals and the soil. Like the industrialization of other industries, this commercial structure produces multilevel problems for societies around the world—each having serious consequences for individuals. An important negative outcome is that the agricultural industrial complex provides the perfect environment for economic oppression and physical abuse. 

If we don’t give a damn about the injustices suffered by “those people” whether they live in our neighborhood, in another part of the country, or a continent away we are all going to perish under the enormous weight of the unnatural structures constructed by oppressive forces. Maricruz Ladino's story of survival, poverty, rape, and industrialized farming will air tonight on PBS. Check your local listings. The article below by Neil Genzilinger is reposted from The New York Times.

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Documentary Investigates Sexual Exploitation at Farms Across the U.S.

Photo Credit: Andres Cediel

Plenty about the ways that much of our food is raised and processed is dismaying. Tuesday night’s “Frontline” on PBS, “Rape in the Fields,” makes the picture considerably darker, exploring persistent allegations that female workers are often sexually assaulted and harassed by supervisors who exploit their immigrant status. 

The charges aren’t new — some of the cases investigated go back more than a decade — but the program gets a number of women to tell their stories on camera, some for the first time. It’s a damning accumulation. 

Not many of the cases seem to have resulted in consequences for the men accused, for reasons no officials seem able to explain. (The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has brought cases against the companies that employed them.) But the program’s team tracks down several of the men. One, asked point-blank if he raped a woman who has accused him of doing so, can’t stammer out a direct answer. Another denies even knowing any of the women who have accused him of assault, even though he was their supervisor. 

The structure of big agriculture provides the perfect environment for abuse. Huge growing or livestock operations are kingdoms unto themselves, secretive ones that no one wants to examine very closely. Many of the women who work in these places are not legal immigrants and are desperate for money. They fear losing their income if they report a sexual crime, and sometimes the law enforcers they would report it to are the same ones whose job it is to deport them. 

The program is a collaborative effort by the correspondent Lowell Bergman, the Center for Investigative Reporting and the graduate school of journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. The broadcasting of it is a collaboration as well: it will also be shown on Saturday on the Spanish-language network Univision. That’s a little bit of light, at least, on a problem that has gone largely unpublicized amid the noise of the immigration debate. 

Mr. Bergman asks Representative Luis Gutierrez, an Illinois Democrat well known as an advocate for immigrants, what evidence he has to counter industry claims that the allegations are made up or exaggerated. “The personal testimony of those women that I’ve met with,” he says. “The tears in their eyes. The anguish in their face. The humiliation.” 

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People Against Oppression Everywhere

Democracy Now! broadcasting live from Georgia at the Troy Davis death row vigil.

Shame on the American "justice" system. Shame on the State of Georgia.

democracynow on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

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Corrections Officials Sign-On for Troy Davis

Date of Publication: 

09/21/2011

Media Contact: Ron McAndrew, 352-342-1450 (EST) and Jeanne Woodford, 415-243-0143 (PST)

ATLANTA, GEORGIA-This morning, six retired corrections officials, including Dr. Allen Ault, retired Director of the Georgia Department of Corrections and former Warden of the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison where he oversaw executions for the state, have sent the following letter to Georgia Corrections Officials and Governor Nathan Deal asking them to urge the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to reconsider the decision they made on Tuesday, September 20, 2011 to deny Troy Davis Clemency despite concerns about his guilt. Davis is scheduled to be executed on Wednesday, September 21 at 7:00pm at Georgia Diagnostics & Classifications Prison in Jackson, Georgia.

Statement:
We write to you as former wardens and corrections officials who have had direct involvement in executions. Like few others in this country, we understand that you have a job to do in carrying out the lawful orders of the judiciary. We also understand, from our own personal experiences, the awful lifelong repercussions that come from participating in the execution of prisoners. While most of the prisoners whose executions we participated in accepted responsibility for the crimes for which they were punished, some of us have also executed prisoners who maintained their innocence until the end. It is those cases that are most haunting to an executioner.

We write to you today with the overwhelming concern that an innocent person could be executed in Georgia tonight. We know the legal process has exhausted itself in the case of Troy Anthony Davis, and yet, doubt about his guilt remains. This very fact will have an irreversible and damaging impact on your staff. Many people of significant standing share these concerns, including, notably, William Sessions, Director of the FBI under President Ronald Reagan.

Living with the nightmares is something that we know from experience. No one has the right to ask a public servant to take on a lifelong sentence of nagging doubt, and for some of us, shame and guilt. Should our justice system be causing so much harm to so many people when there is an alternative?

We urge you to ask the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to reconsider their decision. Should that fail, we urge  you to unburden yourselves and your staff from the pain of participating in such a questionable execution to the extent possible  by allowing any personnel so inclined to opt-out of activities related to the execution of Troy Anthony Davis. Further, we urge you to provide appropriate counseling to personnel who do choose to perform their job functions related to the execution. If we may be of assistance to you moving forward, please do not hesitate to call upon any of us.

Respectfully and collegially,

Allen Ault – Retired Warden, Georgia Diagnostic & Classifications Prison
Terry Collins – Retired Director, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction
Ron McAndrew – Retired Warden, Florida State Prison
Dennis O’Neill - Retired Warden, Florida State Prison
Reginald Wilkinson – Retired Director, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction
Jeanne Woodford – Retired Warden, San Quentin State Prison

Source: The Law Office of the Souther Center for Human Rights

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Judge Mathis on the Execution of Troy Davis

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Teddy Pendergrass with Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes

'Wake Up Everybody'

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