Against the Execution of Troy Davis (How much is a Black man's life worth?)

Troy Davis waits to be executed for a murder he did not commit. The case against him rests on the flimsiest of evidence.

Many of us are aware of the Exonerations Project and the Center for Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University.

Among other things, this proved what many of us have known for many years – African American men are disproportionately convicted, imprisoned and sentenced to execution.

Troy Davis’s case stands out at this time because he is scheduled for execution, because there is practically no evidence against him, and because the courts have refused to reopen his case. He was given a 30-day stay of execution, but this has already passed.

There was no murder weapon and no physical evidence to convict him. Seven of the nine witnesses against him have withdrawn their testimony, stating that they only provided it under duress.

You can read more about this at Sojourner’s Place.

See also Derrick’s Window

Converstions with Marva

So why is this case being upheld?

Why is a retrial not being granted?

Fans of TV dramas such as CSI and Law and Order would strongly object if these shows depicted such a case. No weapon, no forensic evidence. This plot does not hold together.

But this is real life. And history has shown us time and time again that Black people’s lives are not worth much.

He killed a police officer. He must be guilty, regardless of the lack of evidence.

It just seems like the same old thing to me. String another one up. Lynchings, tasings, legal, state-sponsored executions. It all amounts to the same thing. So much African blood being spilled.

Black life is not worth much.

Meanwhile, the real killer is still out there somewhere.

Black life is not worth much.

Think about Samantha Orobator, the young woman from South London who was scheduled for execution in Laos.

Black life is not worth much.

Amnesty International have called for today to be an International Day of Blogging for Action.

Black life is not worth much. Click here to email or fax Georgia’s Governor Perdue and prove that this is not true.

Black Writers and Artists, Add Your Link

I am in the process of carrying over the links from the old Nurture Success site. They will appear on various lists including

African Heritage Resources and

Writers' Resources

If you are a writer or an artist of African heritage, please join Black Books and Stuff and add your link. You can also post news of any events you are holding on this site.

You will also want to check out this list of Resources for Black Writers and Readers.

Samantha Orobator Has Seen a Lawyer

I have just heard that Samantha Orobator, the Black woman from Camberwell, South London who is being held in prison in Laos, has been allowed to see a lawyer, at last.

There were 10 Laotian high officials present, so she did not have the opportunity to discuss anything confidential. But at least they have let her see a lawyer. She was scheduled for execution but this was changed - only because she is pregnant.

Orobator is accused of heroin possession. She has been held for many months and became pregnant in prison. To read more, see: African American Political Pundit

To watch a video, see: Black Women in Europe

Endgame - The Beginning of the End of Apartheid

I was very moved and inspired by this political thriller, which depicted the true story of top secret talks held in the 1980s which led to the end of the apartheid regime in South Africa. It was recently screened on Channel 4 in the UK.

This story is not really know, even today. When most people thought a violent end to apartheid was inevitablem those who took part in these talks showed extraordinary courage, risking their lives and those of their families and friends. This is truly the courage of a few individuals in the face of danger from the group.

Click here to read my review of Engdame.

See also Nonviolent Communication.

Hatred of Black Women

What is with the hatred of Black women?

The latest victim (that we've heard about) is the London woman who was scheduled for execution in Laos. They have let her off now - at last - but only because she is pregnant!

http://www.blackvoices.com/newsarticle/_a/pregnant-woman-escapes-death-penalty-in/20090505100309990001

She got pregnant in jail. She was accused of drug trafficking, but her friends say she has never touched drugs.

A couple of years ago, there was the woman in northern Nigeria who was threatened with being stoned to death.

But before we expect others to love and appreciate us, we need to learn to love and appreciate ourselves. I am told many sistas jumped on Rihanna after her bloke (allegedly) beat her up. And look what happened when Tyson raped that young sista. So many women blamed her.

If this is how we treat each other, we can't be surprised when others abuse, exploit and oppress us. Can we?

We need to learn to love, appreciate and value ourselves and each other. Seriously, yall, this is life and death.

Check out my article on The Key to Confidence.

Ending the Violence through a Creative Response

This is a continuation of my previous blogs,

Ending the Violence
No to Pre-Trial Electrocutions
Police Officers Accused of 60 Other Assaults

I was in Brixton town centre a couple of days ago when I noticed that, outside Brixton police station, a tree has been dedicated as a memorial to a young African Caribbean man, Sean Riggs, who died in police custody.

With all the recent media feeding frenzy around the allegations of assaults by police officers at the G20 demonstrations, there has been no mention of this young man's death. I have seen no connections made between the G20 incidents and the ongoing assaults on African people by the police.

According to information posted on the tree memorial, there were two cameras present when Riggs died, but neither was working. That is the official line. Judge for yourself how believable that is.

Our young people need to carry cameras all the time as a way of protecting themselves from police violence. This is one important lesson to be learned from the incidents that took place at the G20 demos. But once in police custody, use of cameras will often not be possible.

Nonviolent Communication (NVC) is one of the most effective methods of countering violence. For more about this, see

Ending the Violence
Improving Relationships/Improving Communication
Nonviolent Communication

NVC is used to transform situations, including cases of extreme violence. It is not the same as passive resistance, it is a creative response.

I hope you will join my course in London in October and find out how you can use NVC in your own life.

We really can transform this situation and create a better future.

Below is an excerpt from "A Duty Of Remembrance", by Toyin Agbetu, taken from Nyansapo: The African Drum.

What I like most about this piece is that Toyin is bringing in the spiritual dimension, talking about revering the ancestors.

We need to have an awareness of the problem. But it is far more vital to focus on solutions.

A Duty Of Remembrance

Greetings, I was recently reading trough a book that was sent to me called Again We’ll Rise by BJ Gilwards. Inside it were a collection of inspiring quotations and statements from African people spanning millennia. It made me think hard about many of the wisdom's we have forgotten, the legacies from our history, the good and the bad, the gains and also the losses.

During January 1999, a gang of eight officers from the British Police Force brutally restrained a young man named Roger Sylvester. In describing their actions the police lied claiming Roger was violent. However contrary to their statements Roger was seen being dragged limp, naked and handcuffed into a police van by several witnesses. Roger, a council worker stopped breathing and fell into a coma at the emergency psychiatric unit at St Anne's Hospital, Haringey. Six police officers had pinned him down on the floor for about 20 minutes.

Ben Bersabel, a nurse on duty at the time of the assault said he had noticed Roger was being held down on his front and calling out for a doctor. The police ignored Rogers’s pleas for help and as a direct result of their actions he suffered heart and kidney failure, severe brain damage and bruising to his body. Roger, 30 was a mental health service user. He died six days later at the Whittington Hospital.

Roger’s family made several complaints about the abusive actions of the officers. This led to an investigation carried out by Essex Police under the supervision of the racist Police Complaints Authority (PCA) but to no avail. When the discredited PCA was abandoned it was replaced with the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) which now has overall responsibility for the police complaints system. It is important to note that the British tactic of rebranding old as new is common and even the Metropolitan Police Force has formally changed its name to the Police ‘Service’ in an attempt to soften its brutish image.

Now for many years Roger’s family were denied justice, the British media in an attempt to exonerate the police deliberately mislead the public by reporting state fabrications. A typical story was that published by the BBC with the headline ‘Detained man's drug delirium’.

… But then after several years of campaigning the family achieved a breakthrough. On 3 October 2003, an inquest jury returned a unanimous verdict and ruled that Roger had been unlawfully killed. In a just ‘civilised’ society the six police officers should have faced murder or at the very least, manslaughter charges for their ‘unlawful killing’ but instead in 2004, a high court judge formally quashed the verdict allowing the police force to once again escape justice after killing innocent Africans.

… So what is the solution? How do we as a community achieve justice, reparation and ultimately Maat for atrocities committed against our Ancestors? Well the first thing we must do is respect the ritual of remembrance and hold a memorial or commemoration for them every year without fail. For this act to be progressive it must not only be carried out for the victims of Maafa but also the survivors and heroes.

… You see we need African Remembrance at the very least, once a year. Our own right to dignity demands we collectively remember their names especially in circumstances where the loss has been both tragic and traumatic instead of worshipping those ‘celebrities’ and role muddles the government and its media promotes as ‘black’ British or American idols.

So to those who have passed and whose names we rarely call, please know that not all your children have forgotten your sacrifice. And in remembrance to those of you who are also still with us, I want to thank you, from brother Colin, Aiah Menjor and Milton Hanson to sista Ama Sumani and Elder Rosie Purves, there are so many of you out there who I want to thank for doing the work, and those of you who silently support them, you know who you are. In the meantime I have written to the IPCC making an Freedom of Information (FOI) request for the details of all the cases involving African people who have died in custody that Freddy Patel has been involved in and may have covered up. If we don’t do think this work important, then who will?

Taken from Nyansapo - The Pan African Drum
Toyin Agbetu is a writer, film director, poet, and founder of Ligali, the pan African human rights based organisation.
To subscribe to this free newsletter, Nyansapo the Pan African Drum, contact Ligali http://www.ligali.org/index.php

Ending the Violence

As you may know, yesterday was the AfroSpear's Day of Blogging for Justice against tasers. If you haven't yet, you can read my latest anti-tasing blog here.

Here are some more:

Electronic Village Wants to End Taser Torture

Eddie Griffin's Message to the Fort Worth Police

From My Brown-Eyed View

Dallas South

Antoinette's Pont of View

There are many more. Feel free to add your voice. We need to stop this violence against African people. Tasers are widely used in the U.S.A. and will be in the UK unless we stop this.

The only real way to stop violence is with nonviolence. I am not talking about passive resistance as was used during the civil rights era of the 1960s. I am talking about creative communication, also known as Nonviolent Communication (NVC).

NVC is used in many parts of the world, incuding places that have a history of extreme violence, such as Rwanda and Burundi, Sierra Leone, and Israel and Palestine.

NVC is changing people's lives. We can use it to transform the way the police operate so that everyone's needs are respected.

The Law of Attraction tells us that what we put our energies into increases and expands. The Law of Increase says that what we concentrate on, what we focus on, increases.

So if we focus on the solution, we will find more and more solutions.

It is important that so many people have blogged and are continuing to blog about tasing, as it is being used to assault and even kill African people.

We need to be aware of the problem. This is vitally important. But even more crucially, we need to focus on solutions.

I will be leading a course in London on NVC for the African Caribbean community in October. Check my web page, Improving Relationships/Improving Communication, for updates.

For more information, see Nonviolent Communication.

We can bring about positive change and transformation. We can transform this situation. Find out more and get involved.

No to Pre-Trial Electrocutions

Congratulations to my fellow AfroSpear members for organising another Day of Blogging for Justice to raise awareness about the use of tasers against Black men, women and children.

Click here to read my post on the previous Day of Blogging for Justice against tasing.

It is a travesty that another such event is needed. Tasing is also being referred to as "pre-trial electrocution" and rightly so.

Here are some more of today's blogs:

TNT Truth Not Tasers

AfroSpear Blog

Here in London, attacks by the police are much in the news at the moment, following the demonstrations around the G20 a couple of weeks ago. Three people have been named as victims of police attacks, one of whom, Ian Tomlinson, is now dead. Films of the incident suggest that Tomlinson was minding his own business, watching the demo from the sidelines, when attacked from behind by a police officer. He collapsed, and died shortly thereafter.

It has been decided that a third inquest into Tomlinson's death will be carried out, as the findings of the first two contradicted each other.

The day after Tomlinson's death, a woman protester was struck by a police officer.

I note that (1) both of these protesters were white, (2) both incidents were filmed. In the case of the attack on Tomlinson, several different cameras in different positions recorded the incident.

And (3) none of the alleged attacks involved the use of tasers. In other words, London's Metropolitan Police are capable of doing plenty of damage without deploying tasers. Tasers are rarely used in the UK at present, but once their use becomes widespread, the situation will only worsen.

Given the current state of the economy, with an increase in employment being forecast, many are predicting an increase in civil unrest. So lots more opportunities for the police to use heavy-handed tactics.

I will be blogging more about this soon, but I wanted to post this today in support of the Day of Justice.

Black people have been saying for many years that the policing of our communities is often brutal and violent. When Black people die in police custody, no one is ever prosecuted or deemed to have acted unlawfully or inappropriately.

As I said recently in Police Officers Accused of 60 Other Assaults, African young people and adults need to be carrying cameras and/or camera phones at all times in order to record these incidents. However, I add that, once a brotha or sista is inside a police cell, he or she has no opportunity to use a camera, and no guarantee that the cameras in place are in working order or contain film. Again, I will blog more about this soon.

Again, all credit to the sistas and brothas of the AfroSpear for keeping the issue of tasing in the forefront of our minds.

Susan Boyle's Got Talent

On the Channel 5's Wright Stuff this morning, they were talking about judging a book by its cover. Current Britain's Got Talent star Susan Boyle is considered unattractive and even "ugly".

This blog has moved to Susan Boyle's Got Talent.

Police Officers Accused of 60 Other Assaults

In the wake of last week's demonstrations about the G20, a Metropolitan Police officer is accused of striking an innocent passerby.

Camcorder footage reveals the officer allegedly striking a man on the back of the leg as the man was walking away. The man is seen to fall over, and died shortly thereafter.

Interestingly, the passerby was white. It is a rarity for white people in Britain to suffer assaults from the police except in large demonstrations such as the Wapping pickets and the miners' strike of the 1980s. Or at least, such assaults are rarely pubicised.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission asked newspaper The Guardian to remove the video from their website.

It would be even more interesting if we could produce film footage of police officers' assaults on members of the Black community, similarly to the Rodney King incident.

It remains to be seen what, if any, action is taken against the officer involved. In the Jean Charles de Menezes case, no one was found to be guilty of causing his death even though this innocent Brazilian man was shot at point-black range following the London 7/7 bombings of 2005. It was claimed they officers involved thought he was a suspected terrorist involved in the bombings.

The Jury recorded an open verdict and made it clear that they did not believe the court testimony of the police officers involved, who stated that a warning had been given before de Menezes was shot. For more on this, see Q&A: The Day de Menezes Died

Nubiart Diary recently reported on four officers who were recently convicted of assaults on a British Muslim man, who have been accused of involvement in 60 other incidents.

The article cites a string of other recent complaints against London's Metropolitan Police. To read more, visit News and Views: ANC Welcomes Ruling.

This article also includes a report from the ANC on the Pretoria High Court's refusal to grant parole to someone who murdered two ANC members.

John Hope Franklin Dies at 94

John Hope Franklin, author of From Slavery to Freedom, advised Thurgood Marshall in the historic Brown v. Board of Education case. To read more, see Obituary for John Hope Franklin.

This article also includes a review of the book Milk, Money And Honey: Changing Concepts In Rwandan Healing. Plus Black history events and more.

I'm on Black Pearls Magazine!

I've recently been interviewed about Success Strategies for Black People. To read this interview, see Black Pearls Magazine.

Click here to read an interview with me about Harriet, my choreopoem about Harriet Jacobs, who escaped sexual exploitation during slavery.

Click here to read more interviews with me.

African Women's Creativity

The Images of Black Women Film Festival promotes and celebrates women of African descent in cinema,both on screen and behind the camera.

Click here to read my article on the fifth annual Images of Black Women Film Festival, which was held recently at the Tricicyle Cinema in London.

Click here to watch a short film based on my choreopoem about the sexual exploitation of African American women during slavery.

Click here to read interviews with me.

Black History Films

Spent Saturday afternoon watching another excellent Black history presentation by Tony Warner at the Imperial War Museum. To listen to my interview with him from last October, visit the Success Strategies Radio Show.

On Saturday, Tony showed a film of interviews with African Caribbean war veterans, talking about the way they were treated when they settled in Britain after the war.

He then screened another film, titled "Playing the Race Card", about how successive Labour and Tory governments brought in legislation to prevent immigration from Africa and the Caribbean in the '60s and '70s, but did nothing to support the Black people living here.

The film pointed out thtat there were not measures to slow down or curb immigration from Ireland, which was not a member of the British Commonwealth.

In the 1970s, many people who had originated from India but had been living in Kenya and Uganda settled in the UK after receiving pressure from Idi Amin and Jomo Kenyatta. Although they held British passports, many Kenyan Asans discovered that the law had suddenly changed to prevent them from settling in Britain.

Tony pointed out that, although there were huge labour shrtages at the time, African, Caribbean and Asian people were still being discriminated against in employment.

The presentation finished with a short film celebrating some of the many contributions African women have made. I strongly recommend it. Click here to watch it.

Tony's site, Black History Walks, lists future events he will be offering.

I made a decision that this year, I would focus more on the positive. Even though, oppression, discrimination and pain feature largely in our history, alongside this, it is important to focus on the positive. Hence, my article on Black History International.

I therefore add the following comments:

(1) Knowledge is power. I'm sure President Obama has told his children about the way his Kenyan grandfather was treated during Britain's occupation of Kenya. For more about this, see Obama's Inauguration.

Gloria J. Browne-Marshall told me that some of her students in New York from Caribbean backgrounds were not even aware that slavery had happened. Tony Warner told me on Saturday that he had encountered this himself. This kind of ignorance renders us more vulnerable to manipulation by those who would exploit and oppress us. To listen to my interview with Marshall, go to Success Strategies Radio Show.

(2) Tony Warner and I have both heard Black people (who should know better) say that too many immigrants are coming to this country now. These Black people need to be educated to know that they are behaving the same way white people behaved towards their ancestors one or two generations ago.

(3) Along with these stories of oppression and discrimination, there are always stories of courage, of resistance, of African brothas and sistas who have stood up against evil, and fought for their rights and the rights of others. These stories continue to inspire me.

(4) Most importantly, we need to remember that white people are not the enemy (although they often seem to be). The enemy is group mentality. Another example of vicious group mentality and its consequences is the Rwandan genocide as portrayed in Hotel Rwanda. A very small number of people were courageous enough to stand up to the group and behave as individuals in that situation.

I talk more about group mentality and the need for individuality in The Key to Confidence, and in my book What They Don't Want Us to Know.

Video Budget Message from President Obama

I enjoy receiving emails from the President. No message from any previous President has ever landed in my inbox.

Having said that, what is President Obama saying? We have a long road ahead of us, we have a lot of work to do. We have to work together.

I could be cynical and say “same old, same old”. But it’s a message that bears repeating. Especially since the previous administration seemed to be intent on communicating a very different message: Get all you can for yourself, forget about everyone else.

Obama is talking about putting money into affordable healthcare, education and investing for the future. He is even talking about tax cuts for low-income families. I can get behind all of these aims.

Click here to watch this Obama video.

Click here for the Key to Financial Prosperity.

Obama's whole style is different from that of the politicians that went before him. I've said this before. His style is about inclusion. I find this very inspiring. Don't know if it will work yet, but one thing is sure: we have to learn from history or we will be condemned to repeat it.

Building Wealth: Learn from Experience

Did you know that John H. Johnson, founder of Ebony magazine and the Johnson publishing empire, studied biographies of Black achievers and freedom fighters such as Booker T. Washington and Frederick Douglass? It was important to him to follow their examples as he climbed from poverty to wealth and business success.

For more about the importance of positive role models, see Do You Think Like a Success?

For more about John H. Johnson and other African American achievers, see Black Wealth.

Here's to your success!

The Courage of One Man

As I'm sure you are aware, Hotel Rwanda is the story of the courage of one man, Paul Paul Rusesabagina, who stood up as an individual at a time when group mentality threatened his life, and hundreds of thousands of people were killed. Rusesabagina saved the lives of hundreds of people during the Rwandan genocide. There are other stories of individual courage we have not yet been told.

To read more, see Hotel Rwanda.

See also Black History International.

I talk about the individual vs. the group in my ebooks What They Don't Want Us to Know and The Key to Everything.

Black History International

This year, with the election of President Obama, we have more to celebrate than usual. Check out this article about Black History International.

It includes

• Harriet Tubman


• Harriet Jacobs


• Rosa Parks


• Malcom X

African and African American freedom fighters, writers, entertainers and more.

President Obama is aware of the history of Kenya and how it affected his family. To read more, visit Obama's Inauguration.

Check it out: Black History International.

Articles Wanted: Michelle Obama as a Positive Role Model

I am seeking articles on Michelle Obama. For more info, see Is Michelle Obama a Positive Role Model?

You may also be interested in:

Ebony Intuition: Michelle Obama Covers Vogue March 2009

African American Relationships Guides

Is Marriage for White People?

Personally, I don't think marriage is for a particular race, culture or group. It's for anybody who wants it. Many people see marriage as a sacred trust. I certainly do. I was brought up in the church. However, being a Buddhist challenges this. For us, marriage is not a sacrament.

To me, marriage is different from any other type of relationship. It is different from living with someone (I've done both). It is a commitment acknowledged publicly by one's friends and family.

Anyway, check out this somewhat distubing article on "Marriage Is for White People".

Clearly, marriage is a choice. It'snot something anybody has to do. I'm looking to explore this more in my forthcoming African American Relationships Guides. Please submit an article if you would like to. I want to know what you think.