Racism in the Law Everywhere: New Statement on the situation in Toledo : Cleveland IMC (((i)))

Racism in the Law Everywhere: New Statement on the situation in Toledo

As The Reverend Al Sharpton said in Jena, there are Jenas all over the
United States. Toledo Ohio is another of our nation's Jenas and
deserves the utmost attention. Like Jena, the catalyst for the
trouble in Toledo begins at a high school with overt racist
provocations. Like Jena the authorities handled the situation through
the lens of racial preference, waging a campaign of repression and
defamation against the community.
Whereas white students hung 3 nooses in a tree to intimidate and
insult black students, the city of Toledo allowed a full detachment of
uniformed Neo-Nazis to protest "black crime" at a largely black high
school in a largely black working class community. To add insult to
injury a largely white police force was sent to guard these Nazis.
A peaceful counter rally was organized across from the high
school by an ethnically diverse coalition of regional activists. The
rally was well attended by several hundred mostly young community
members and anti-racists from other areas of the Mid-West.
The rally was peaceful, but at a certain point an African
American young person from the community threw eggs over the heads of
the white police officers at the hate spewing Neo Nazis. Here, just
like in Jena we see a systemic, racist, overreaction on behalf of the
authorities that never seems to end. Nearly instantaneously the
police charged on horseback, into the crowd of anti-racist
protesters. This was accompanied by the officers raining tear gas
onto the largely youthful, local crowd. Many of the elders of the
community had been watching the protest from porches and windows. As
the community witnessed its conscious, opinionated young people being
attacked, in their own community, for having the good sense to heckle
something as obviously wrong as Nazism, they could not sit by. As the
police arrested people at random the community reacted in the incident
that came to be known in the media as the "Toledo Riot".
The police arrested over 110 people, many of them juveniles. In
the course of the rioting, another young person, 17 year old Olajadai
Crenshaw allegedly destroyed the lock on a local bar. Later, the bar
was looted and burned to the ground by the angry community. Olajadai,
for this act was not reprimanded in a way that is at all proportionate
to the crime. He was tried as an adult and sentenced to 8 years in
prison, 2 years of which he has already served. Let us not forget
that Michael Bell was unjustly charged with attempted murder and was
facing 15 years. At worst Olajidai destroyed an inanimate object and
will now sacrifice many of the best years of his youth as a result.
Another case is that of Lassandra Burrwell, a wife and mother of
nine who allegedly threw a brick through the windshield of a police
cruiser. The courts, showing a complete disrespect for her children
and husband sentenced her to 5 years in prison, a sentence grossly
disproportionate to any crime she could possibly have committed. All
of the defendants in the crime were slighted into railroad plea
bargains. The low income nature of many of those involved made
protracted court cases seem impossible. The prosecutor in the cases
said he would recommend light sentences in exchange for the pleas of
the defendants. However the judge is in no way obliged to follow
these recommendations, and often issued harsh sentences.
Many community leaders enacted a very successful local petition
campaign, which may have spared many more juveniles from adult
sentences. This however, is a minor success which did not equal the
community's signatures of support.
As the prejudiced municipal authorities thought there troubles
around this incident would be behind them, a new local light of
protest emerged:
Donnell Summers, a young African American man who was arrested at
random by the attacking police as he tried to peacefully protest as
part of the initial rally against racism, decided to attempt to fight
his trumped up charges. He had a felony count of Aggravated Riot.
The charge implies that Donnell participated in some sort of violence,
which he did not. With the help of his family and small groups of
supporters across the country who found out about his case, he
rescinded his initial plea. Unfortunately he and his family thought
they saw a light at the end of the tunnel which was a mere illusion
fabricated by a court system that hoped to prevent the growing
publicity around the case.
The courts dropped Donnell's felony which caused him great
relief. Donnell hoped to volunteer as a little league baseball coach,
and a felony on his record would've made this dream impossible. Now
facing the misdemeanor, non-violent charge of "riot" Donnell and his
attorney felt comfortable about the possibility that they may be
looking at community service if they plead. It should be noted that
Donnell had already accrued thousands in debt to a previous attorney.
Once again however, we saw the judge issue his own harsh sentence.
Donnell was given a 6 month suspended prison sentence, 3 years
probation, and a 3 month work release jail sentence.
Once he turned himself in to this institution to serve his 3
months his troubles began again. He was denied clearance to leave the
facility to pursue work. He has been reprimanded for abusing over the
counter Motrin which he brought into the facility with him. He could
not understand how it was possible to abuse Motrin and was told that
he ought to have read the rule book. He explained that he was never
issued a rule book, and then received one after the fact.
Furthermore, his jailers told him that his conviction was a felony
causing him to be treated differently than if it were a misdemeanor.
His attorney had to bring court documentation to the facility proving
that he did not have a felony conviction so that his treatment would
be changed. Despite this Donnell was still not given his work
clearance.
He realized that they were waiting for his opportunity to work
to expire so that he could serve the remainder of his sentence in
prison. Desperate, realizing that his good name had been ruined, that
his community would not receive justice, that the right to peaceful
protest was being stripped from Americans, and that the courts
refused to recognize blacks as participants in the political process,
he has decided to give up everything for a final act of protest.
Two weeks ago Donnell walked out of his work release facility
and did not return. He hopes to use his status as a fugitive to give
a new jolt of publicity to the plight of the African American
community in Toledo. He realizes that this leaves him with few legal
options. He also realizes that his risky act of non-violent civil
disobedience must garner enough attention to make his likely eventual
imprisonment worth it. Please don't let his efforts go on in vain!

At the root of this issue is the fact that the City of Toledo is
incapable of recognizing black folks from certain parts of town as
political actors. This includes the city's mayor in 2005 who was
black himself. His orientation was towards big business, not social
justice. Black folks were arrested in October 2005 for protesting
hate, and again in December of that year when the Nazis were allowed
to return to the city. This time things were totally non-violent and
there were a greater proportion of white supporters. However, police
still arrested over twenty people. Many again, were black. Four of
the people arrested were white anti-racist from Chicago. They were
arrested in the city for gathering at a library before the protest
ever began. They were able to sue the city and have all their charges
dropped. The support of these anti-racists from Chicago is greatly
appreciated, as the struggle against racism ought to be the cause of
all people. However, their treatment by the city was markedly
different than that given to the local black residents. They were
recognized as being arrested for acting in a political capacity. They
were able to secure competent legal representation.
Conversely, many of those arrested in October 2005 on riot related
charges had to submit to drug testing indefinitely before being
granted reasonable bond (many people had bonds in excess of $30,000.)
Donnell Summers submitted urine samples twice a week for 6 months
after his arrest on riot charges. He never failed a single drug test.
We believe this was done to humiliate the community and associate
them with unrelated crimes in the eyes of the public. All these
things were part of the price for daring to take direct political
action.
The power of the people to come together and rectify situations
such as this was evidenced recently in the massive mobilizations in
support of the Jena 6. As people descended on Louisiana, Olajidai
Crenshaw's mother, Kay voiced support for her son at a rally in
solidarity with the Jena 6 that took place in Toledo. "There are
Jena's everywhere" she said. This is something that black folks and
their allies realized simultaneously all over the country on September
20th.
Let us get justice in order to make sure that the movements for
human rights in the United States really does visit all of our
nation's Jena's

Here's a good article about Mumia Abu-Jamal's innocence that I thought readers of this site might find interesting and relevant. It's mainly a response to the recent publication of Maureen Faulkner's book of lies in the service of this outspoken and eloquent critic of racist state repression. Please check it out at

http://www.partisandefense.org/pubs/articles/factsheet1231.html

The last post obviously should have read, "in service of killing..." rather than "in service of..."

Again, please check out the refutation of Maureen Faulkner's lies at

http://www.partisandefense.org/pubs/articles/factsheet1231.html

While living in this gulag cage I watch national and international events, government agendas of oppression of the working class world wide. In my daily existence (as dismal as it is 'inside') I witness increased efforts of right wing political hate groups to spread their sickening ideological concepts of racism, sexism, fascism, authoritarianism, just about every imaginable form of bigotry and all manner of hate meant to divide people, create warring factions, which can be controlled and manipulated by the few for the benefit of the few, throughtout the gulag system. Gulag officials look on the right wing propaganda and recruiting campaigns with favor, in muc the same way that neo-nazis are protected by the police from deserved attack on the outside. The right-wing gate groups recognize the gulag system as a fertile ground for recruitment of prisoners, hoping that when they are strong enough and have enough supporters it will be feasible to put their sick divisive ideology into wider practice. The monsters of the earth have realized for decades a potential army in waiting, comprised of prisoners, those with absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain by the destruction of capitalism. Accordingly, right wing gate groups in most places shower the gulags with their poisonous literature, seek out and make prisoner contacts and actively support prisoners deemed of value to them or suitable for the proliferation of their politics of division. Through propagandizing and supporting these chosen prisoners the hate groups create strong, loyal power bases in the prisons. This also aids their numbers to grow on the outside as the prisoners are released or these groups are given free world friend and family contacts by the prisoners. With the seeds of fascism planted in fertile ground these fascist supporters in the gulags then attempt to recruit fellow prisoners, yet this seems to be largely ignored by the left in the US, including most anarchists.
One is prompted to ask the logical question, what is the vast majority of the left doing to combat the extreme right wing's successful efforts at recruitment within and from the gulags? What are most anarchists and their organizations doing to neutralize the potential acceptance of fascist propaganda by prisoners hungry for political knowledge and education, prisoners eager to understand the reasons why they ended up in prison, the politics of their incarceration? In short, prisoners looking for answers. What are anarchists doing to provide a counter-balance? Are they providing anarchist literature to allow prisoners a choice between opposite polarity concepts? Are they attempting to promote class conciousness in prisons, demonstrating that a better future is possible for all working class people whatever their culture of color through direct-democracy and class struggle, not authoritarian control politics? How much importance do they place on prisoner support and prison struggles? Not much nor nearly enough is being done to curtail the spread of the poison of hate. This is extremely sad because a s we rest, as we falter, as we procrastinate, when hesitation is practiced instead of productive actricity, when apathy reigns and compsaspssion is absent, the monsters of the earth spread wide their tentacles and their organizations increasingly grow stronger. Through inaction it would seem that many anarchists have piassibely bought the states propaganda that prisoners are nothing more than liabilities to sicety, not worth the air they breath! The face is that the cast majority of prisoners are working class, our class! They are working class, our brothers, sisteres, sons, dauhgters, fathers, mothers, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and friends.
Albeit there are monsters in the gulags, social predators, but the vast majority of prisoners are locked away from society for economic based crimes, often their only crime was to break the law in order for their families to survive under the crusing weight of poverty. The only difference between the prinsoners and any person within the free community is they were put through capitalism's judicial wringer and shook out like fresh washed laundry within the gulags, where they confront the even more brutal face of capitalism without the smiling mask it usually hides behind when dealing with those in the free world. During 16 [28] long years inside I've all too often watched a sad scenario play itself out where prisoners write to leftist, radical and revolutionary political groups seeking literature about their politics. Prisoners wanting to educate themselves and interested in helping to create a better world, prisoners open to learning. I've witnessed those same prisoners become bitterly disappointed when their ope-hand of friendship, their efforts to learn were ignored.
It has often puzzled me how those within a political movement can struggle against a system yet seem willing to accept that same system's propaganda against prisoners as 'gospel'. Ignored, the previously hopeful prisoners turned in other directions to where they would be accepted as useful people and now instead of fighting alongside us to bring the system itself to its keens in defeat, these misguided, embittered souls buy into the ignorant ideology of hatred, forever keeping us divided, apart, misunderstanding and fighting each other, which is a much favored manipulation of those who profit from our division as a people. It seems ironic that the left will quite possibly have to fight one day against these very people that it capitulated, threw them away without any effort expended, while the hate mongers gained in strength by providing literature, comradeship and support. These prisoners were lost by default with the right winning easy uncontested vitories for their hearts, minds, and future potential. I am a cpative today. However there is a very good chance in this era of oppression/repression you will become tomorrows' prisoner for any number of reasons or just for being who you are, especially if you're and anarchist. I hope not as I love you my anarchist brothers and sisters, far too much to wish you endure what I have endured over my last 16 [28] years in capitalism's steel and conrete cages. Stay strong and keep struggling for a better world, a borderless, nationless, egalitarian world, an anarchist world. Protect yourselves and others from the monsters of the earth and reasch out with mutual aid to each other. Never throwaway through apathy a potential you might someday miss when it is needed to save us all and make anarchism a worldwide reality.

January 29 1996

While this article clearly shows the harsh and sometimes racist actions of those in power, we all need to realize if this is going to continue to be a "free" country these nazis,as retarded as they're views and actions are, they are allowed to assemble and the best course of action is to IGNORE them. Having a counter rally only ever results in the "wrong people" being imprisoned. The goal of they're rallies is to antagonize, and when people show up and start yelling at them they win, they get the TV and news coverage that they wanted. They will goad anyone who is willing to interact with them and try to rile them up to the point of action. Then they can say " see all they want to do is fight and destroy". BE smart and ignore"sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me".
You never see the peaceful rallies on TV only the violent ones or if some gets arrested.

Cleveland Indy Media Center