Angela Davis speaks out on Prisons and Katrina NEW!

[Joanne98]

Angela Davis speaks out on Prisons and Katrina NEW!
Thursday, December 28th, 2006
Angela Davis Speaks Out on Prisons and Human Rights Abuses in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina

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Scholar and former prisoner Angela Davis was in New Orleans this month to speak out against human rights violations and demand amnesty for those imprisoned during Hurricane Katrina. We hear from her keynote address at the event "Amnesty for Prisoners of Katrina: A Weekend of Reconciliation and Respect for Human Rights."
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Former Senator and Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards has entered the 2008 presidential race -- one day earlier than he intended. On Wednesday, Edwards’ campaign inadvertently posted the news of his candidacy during a test-run on its website. Edwards had intended to make the announcement today during a speech in the 9th Ward district of New Orleans.
Scholar and former prisoner Angela Davis was also in New Orleans recently. Her visit to the city was in recognition of International Human Rights Day. After Hurricane Katrina hit, many in New Orleans were arrested for looting, left to drown in locked jail cells and held past release dates. As many as 85% of defendants in the 3,000 criminal court cases still pending in New Orleans qualify for representation by a public defender. An untold number of them have yet to see a lawyer.

Angela Davis went to New Orleans to speak out against human rights violations and demand amnesty for those imprisoned during Hurricane Katrina. She gave the keynote address at a series of events organized by the prison-abolition group - Critical Resistance. "Amnesty for Prisoners of Katrina: A Weekend of Reconciliation and Respect for Human Rights" - took place in New Orleans earlier this month. In her speech Davis referred to Merlene Maten - a 73-year-old New Orleans grandmother - who spent 16 days in prison for allegedly looting $63 worth of food from a deli a day after Hurricane Katrina hit. Here is an excerpt of Angela Davis’ speech.

Angela Davis. Activist, author and professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her most recent books are "Abolition Democracy" and "Are Prisons Obsolete?"
To purchase an audio or video copy of this entire program, click here for our new online ordering or call 1 [phone].

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/28/1450208

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. I remember the news outlets

with their photos of white people "taking" and black folk "looting" stores.

[KamaAina]

3. White people did not "take" anything so stop saying that!

:sarcasm:

the AP photo caption had the white person "finding supplies" while the black one was "looting". :grr:

[H2O Man]

2. Nominated.

Angela is a powerful human being.

[Journeyman]

4. What in the world does Edward's announcement have to do with Davis' speech?...

Strangest and most incongruous lead for an article I've read since I edited my college newspaper.

[Joanne98]

9. Maybe it's wishful thinking. A presidential candidate can't be censured.

You could literally run a Katrina investigation right thru his website. Remember when Bev Harris got her website taken down by a Diebold gag order? Diebold was upset because she published company e-mails. Kuchinich put them up on his campaign site and they dropped the gag order. Edwards could do the same thing with Katrina. Keep fingers crossed.:)

[Journeyman]

11. I think it's just bad writing . . .

The article gives no indication whatsoever that Edwards is involved with Davis, just tosses two disparate ideas together linked only by the incidental confluence of place.

As I believe Edwards sincerely wants to be President, I can't imagine his first act would be to align himself with Angela Davis.

[Joanne98]

16. Maybe it was a news announcement mixed in with the show annoucement.

I really don't know.

[lies and propaganda]

13. i thought that too..

a luittle random..

[Sapphire Blue]

14. The OP content was apparently from the summary of the show, not exactly an 'article'.

Edwards' announcement was mentioned at the beginning of the show.

[Joanne98]

5. TREATED LIKE TRASH!

Treated Like Trash: New Katrina Report Reveals ‘Dickensian’ Abuse of Incarcerated Youth
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=b919b57ff4ff3585e419967986224e37

New America Media, News Report, Cheryl Brown and Donal Brown, Posted: May 09, 2006

Editor’s Note: A damning new report details the ordeal of incarcerated youth during Hurricane Katrina, including being shackled and left in the rising waters in their cells. This story is a joint project reported and written by Donal Brown, reporter for the New America Media and Cheryl Brown, editor and co-owner of the Black Voice News serving Riverside and San Bernardino, California.

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. -- Imagine you are a 14-year-old boy incarcerated for a minor offense and a category five hurricane is bearing down on the city. You are told nothing but then the lights go out, they come on for a short time, but go off again for good. The water is rising up to your legs then to your thighs.

A day passes and you are given no food and water.

“The water was past our hips. Beaucoup feces was everywhere, and we hoped the water wouldn’t go over our heads.” So begins the story of Eddie, an African-American child who said he will never be able to get out of his mind what happened during Katrina.

In a telephone interview on May 8, Eddie Fenceroy, now 15, told of his experience in the South White Detention Center at the Orleans Parish Prison (OPP) during Hurricane Katrina.

When Eddie was finally evacuated to some fish farm ponds at the OPP, he was "shackled at the ankles in a coffle and handcuffed," in the style trains of slaves were handled in the old South.

“The grown people were not shackled; it was like they thought we were much faster and could run away. Where would we have run? I was hoping to live and not die,” he said.

Eddie said he was starving and not allowed to eat the food that floated past on the flood waters, not even wrapped loaves of bread. He had to watch as the guards fed their own children. Then the guards deserted with their families. They left one person to guard, and he had an assault rifle trained on the juvenile inmates.

Eddie was finally taken to the Broad Street Bridge where he saw a lot of dead bodies floating in the water. He still has nightmares about the bodies and is plagued with foot fungus contracted during three days standing in the polluted waters.


http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=b919b57ff4ff3585e419967986224e37

[malaise]

6. K & R

You go girl!

[seemslikeadream]

7. Reason for Impeachment # 3 New Orleans

She calls out to the man on the street

sir, can you help me?

Its cold and Ive nowhere to sleep,

Is there somewhere you can tell me?

He walks on, doesnt look back
He pretends he cant hear her

Starts to whistle as he crosses the street
Seems embarrassed to be there

Oh think twice, its another day for

You and me in paradise

Oh think twice, its just another day for you,

You and me in paradise

She calls out to the man on the street

He can see shes been crying
Shes got blisters on the soles of her feet

Cant walk but shes trying

Oh think twice...

Oh lord, is there nothing more anybody can do

Oh lord, there must be something you can say

You can tell from the lines on her face

You can see that shes been there

Probably been moved on from every place

cos she didnt fit in there

Oh think twice...



Thanks again to Phil Collins for the words
My heart to the people of New Orleans

[Sugar Smack]

15. My god.

:cry: That was very powerful.

[Sapphire Blue]

8. K&R; also, please visit 'AMNESTY for survivors of Hurricane Katrina'

AMNESTY for survivors of Hurricane Katrina: http://www.criticalresistance.org/katrina/


Sign the petition: http://www.criticalresistance.org/katrina/petition-nest.html


Listen to Angela Davis' Keynote Speech at the Human Rights Teach-In: http://www.criticalresistance.org/katrina/media/angela.mp3


(fyi - your link isn't working; looks like the end was cut off)


(Edited because I'm a dyslexic typist ;) )

[Joanne98]

10. Thanx...

[Joanne98]

12. My child prison thread from yesterday...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2985726

[Sapphire Blue]

17. Back to the top

:kick:

[Jcrowley]

18. K & R n/t