Another Black Man Murdered By Police

How many times will I have to post one of these in 2009? I'm truly disgusted. 3 black men shot in the back by police... 2009 is only 10 days old. President Obama, please introduce a Universal Code of Police Conduct as soon as you take office. You'll be receiving a letter from me shortly.

The American Criminal Justice System Needs To Be Revamped Part 3

Are you still not seeing the trend yet?

The American Criminal Justice System Needs To Be Revamped Part 2

Today is my birthday. I woke up to hundreds of facebook messages, text messages, emails, and voice messages wishing me many more years of life and happiness. I was all smiles until I viewed the footage of Oscar Grant being brutally murdered at the hands of the "good guys." Never have I been so completely disgusted in my entire LIFE. This blog cannot contain the fury and rage that I feel right now. I just watched a black man murdered as he was completely debilitated and restrained by two officers while facing down on the concrete. He will not ever wake up to another Happy Birthday again.

In what universe is this acceptable behavior? I'm not sure if anything so cowardly and barbaric has ever been recorded. This makes the Rodney King beating look like a walk in the park. An officer of the law ended a man's life over what? What could Oscar Grant have possibly said that warranted a bullet to the back?

Last February I found myself and a close friend in a very similar situation. I was scheduled to speak at Indiana State University the next morning when my buddy decided to show me around Indianapolis. We stopped at a club downtown where we were promised VIP entrance by the venue's promoter. As we waited for entrance, a few overly aggressive police officers told us we were not allowed to wait for the promoter to grant us entrance and that we must exit the immediate vicinity. After trying to explain our situation one officer promptly cuffed my friend. When I objected to this, the other officer who was standing behind me sucker punched me in the back of the head. As I turned around to protect myself, I was forced to the ground, cuffed, and hit again by both officers repeatedly. They encouraged me to "keep talking" so they could gladly provide more severe punishment, as a third cop instigated the incident. After busting my ear lobe open, the officers leaned me against their police car in the freezing cold weather and left me there for about 30 minutes. Once I finally convinced them to let me go, they threatened more punishment if I did not immediately leave the premises without knowledge of their badge numbers and names. This all took place in front of a nightclub where hundreds of people stood in line awaiting entrance. Nobody moved or attempted to come to my aid.

The police are the gateway to the American Criminal Justice System. They seek the "criminals" that fill up our jails. Who do you turn to when the guardians of the law exceed commonly justifiable behavior? The law? Hmm... How can the law hold the guardians of the law accountable when they exceed the law? Look at the results of the Rodney King beating, the Sean Bell shooting, and Amadou Diallo incident. Justice was not served. Our current laws, law enforcement officials, and the American Criminal Justice System cannot bring justice in their current form.

I propose that President Obama develops a bill to restructure the criminal justice system as we know it. In this bill I encourage uniform police behavior standards across all 50 states. I also advocate the downfall of prison privitization, as this fuels the prison industrial complex. Laws need to be changed, beginning with those that affect non violent offenders. Change is needed. How many times will we allow what you just saw to happen from coast to coast before we lobby our government for CHANGE?

The American Criminal Justice System Needs To Be Revamped

I've never agreed with the American criminal justice system. Point blank, it is wrong and unfair on too many levels. Since a youngster in New York, I have observed how our current system has destroyed more lives than it has protected, reformed, and/or rehabilitated.

To be considered the land of the free, the United States certainly boasts a dynamic air of hypocrisy. We have the HIGHEST incarceration rate in the world. In fact, the International Herald Tribune (owned by the NY Times) recently reported that "The United States has less than 5 percent of the world's population. But it has almost a quarter of the world's prisoners (READ HERE)."

Very few people seem to have a problem with this in middle America. More than likely because this alarming figure affects the Black community in widely disproportionate numbers. I would venture to say that most African Americans, myself included, can list someone within their immediate reach that is incarcerated. Yet ALL Americans turn a blind eye to the prison industrial complex that assists young brothers like myself in donning orange jumpsuits. In case you haven't realized it, there is an entire system set up to fill and build prisons to the economic benefit of corporations and private ventures.

So why haven't there been widescale protests and marches against this problem in recent history? It's because you've been tricked... hoodwinked... bamboozled into believing the overall American criminal justice system is fair. I agree that criminals should face adequate punishment for crimes that are committed against other Americans. However, I completely disagree with this nation's drug laws in respect to non violent drug offenders. When I challenge this notion with the average individual, they usually admit that our current system has some hiccups, but later defend its merit in keeping the United States a safe place. This is such a farce that it sickens me to even type their words: "What's the alternative D? How could we avoid locking up non violent drug offenders? They deserve whatever happens to them because they broke the law, etc." To these questions I ask you to look at the circumstances surrounding the incarceration of Clarence Aaron.

Mr. Aaron had no previous criminal record. He was a successful student and athlete, graduating from LeFlore Magnet High School in Mobile, AL. He scored in the 74th percentile on the ACT. He attended Mississippi Valley State University and later transferred to Southern University in Baton Rouge, LA, where he was attending on an athletic scholarship for football and was majoring in marketing. During college, Clarence held a summer job through his membership with the International Longshoreman's Association and participated in activities with his local Masonry Lodge. Clarence is the only son of Linda Aaron. In the summer before his final year at Southern University, Clarence was approached by a childhood friend from Mobile who asked Clarence if he knew of anyone who could supply him with cocaine. Clarence knew of people who dealt drugs in Louisiana and helped his old friend by arranging a meeting with a drug dealer from Baton Rouge. Distrustful of each other, the two parties insisted Clarence be present during their meeting. Clarence foolishly agreed. Following that incident, Clarence returned for his fourth year of studies at Southern University. The next winter Clarence was pulled out of a class by F.B.I. agents and arrested. He was charged with possession with intent to distribute nine kilograms of cocaine and attempting to possess with intent to distribute fifteen kilograms of cocaine. His first trial ended in a hung jury. Upon retrial, Clarence was convicted on the testimony of co-conspirators who got lenient sentences in exchange for their testimony against him.

Can you guess what kind of sentence Clarence received for foolishly introducing his two drug dealer friends? No, think again. THREE CONSECUTIVE LIFE SENTENCES. A young black man with infinite potential has been sentenced to sit in jail for the rest of his natural life for an adolescent mistake. Rapists and most murderers don't even get triple life sentences. Petey the pedophile is comfortable at home in your neighborhood right now. Amy the axe murderer just got out on parole last week. Yet this brother and many like him across the United States are trapped and ruined by our disgraceful "justice" system. How does that make you feel?

As I faxed my letter to President Bush seeking a presidential pardon for Clarence, (obtain a copy here), I couldn't help but to fume and boil with anger over this injustice that is all too common in this country. It gave me flashbacks of filming my college documentary on the incarceration of Marcus Dixon, a superstar football player acquitted of rape, but nonetheless given a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison for having sex with a high school classmate. I remember confronting racism in Marcus' hometown of Rome, GA, being asked to leave the office of my school's head football coach as I questioned why his Vanderbilt scholarship was rescinded before the trial even begun, and speaking at an Atlanta NAACP rally on Marcus' behalf. In all 3 instances, the anger of injustice flowed through my vains. Reading Clarence Aaron's story here reignited that fury.

I fault myself for not sustaining this level of outrage over the past few years. This displeasure previously sparked action that myself and others must seek in order to move the United States to that more perfect union. Therefore, I challenge you to get angry about the American criminal justice system. I encourage you to demand the downfall of the prison industrial complex. Barack better get plenty of paper for his fax machine ready because I will be leaning on him, as I leaned on Bush, to answer these inadequacies in American life. You should too.