THE VIOLENCE INITIATIVE

" Funded in part by the Centers for Disease Control, the U.S. Justice Department, and the National Science Foundation, the report called for more attention to "biological and genetic factors in violent crime." In particular it called for more research on "new pharmaceuticals that reduce violent behavior," and it asked researchers to determine whether male or black persons have a higher potential for violence, and if so, why?

NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH GENETIC AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOVAL RESEARCH WEBSITES

Cointelpro 2009: FBI up to old dirty tricks?

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Muslim charities and groups tried to defend themselves against the might of the federal government, but were no match for the resources of the Justice Dept, and other agencies. With their reputations besmirched, donors afraid to give, and cases winding slowly through the courts, these groups were forced to shut down—though no one was convicted of wrongdoing.

Captain James “Yusuf” Yee, a West Point graduate, was vilified in 2003 and 2004, accused of trying to pass secrets to Al-Qaeda and aiding the Taliban while serving as a U.S. Army Muslim Chaplain at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He was confined in a Navy brig and widely held up as a traitor. Months later the government dropped its charges and left Mr. Yee trying to pick up his life.

In other instances, Muslim charities and groups tried to defend themselves against the might of the federal government, but were no match for the resources of the Justice Dept. and other agencies. With their reputations besmirched, donors afraid to give, and cases winding slowly through the courts, these groups were forced to shut down—though no one was convicted of wrongdoing.

Not only have groups been targeted but speakers have been banned and blacklisted by the U.S. government. The American Civil Liberties Union will soon argue in federal appeals court the case of a Swiss professor and leading scholar of the Muslim world denied entry into the United States based on his political views. Professor Tariq Ramadan was invited to teach at the University of Notre Dame in 2004 but the U.S. government revoked his visa, citing a statute that applies to those who have “endorsed or espoused” terrorism. After the ACLU and other organizations filed suit, the government abandoned its claim that Mr. Ramadan had endorsed terrorism, but it continues to exclude him because he made small donations to a Swiss charity that the government alleges has given money to Hamas, the ACLU said. The ACLU contends the government's exclusion of Mr. Ramadan was only motivated by his outspokenness against U.S. foreign policy.

“By denying visas to prominent foreign scholars and writers simply because they were critical of United States foreign policy, the Bush administration used immigration laws to skew and stifle political debate inside the U.S.,” said Jameel Jaffer, director of the ACLU National Security Project, who will argue the case for the plaintiffs. “While the government has an interest in excluding people who present a threat to the country, it doesn't have any legitimate interest in excluding foreign nationals simply because of their political views. The Bush administration was wrong to revive this Cold War practice, and the Obama administration should not defend it.”

The American Muslim Taskforce, a coalition of Islamic groups and institutions, blasted the FBI March 17 for infiltrating mosques and profiling Muslims. “If the FBI does not accord fair and equitable treatment to every American Muslim … then Muslim organizations, mosques and individuals will have no choice but to consider suspending all outreach activities with FBI offices, agents and other personnel,” said a statement from the coalition of 17 Muslim groups from across the country.

The group added that any suspension “would in no way affect our unshakeable duty to report crimes or threats of violence to our nation.” The coalition complained that problems started after a so-called Muslim convert, who was actually a paid FBI informant, started to spout ideas of violence against America. When the man was reported to the authorities nothing was done. The rhetoric was so bad that an Islamic center obtained a restraining order against the man. It was only later that the group discovered the likelihood that no action was taken because the man was working for federal authorities.

The news of FBI spying and double dealing against Muslims isn't news at all—if one knows the history of this country. These same tactics were employed in the 1980s as officials tried to entrap those sympathetic to the socialist Sandinista movement in Nicaragua and has been seen with stool pigeons placed inside the anti-war movement. But the ultimate script for these despicable acts goes back to government efforts to subvert Black organizations that demanded equal opportunity and justice for the children of America's former slaves. Whether it was called Cointelpro, which officially existed from 1956 to 1971, or something else, the aim was the same: Disrupt, discredit and destroy organizations, individuals and movements pressing the country to live up to its ideals.

These same tactics have been used against and continue to be used against the Nation of Islam, in particular. Though the Nation has no history of violence and no history of calling for the violent overthrow of this country, a prophetic warning about the country's failings and the divine consequences of those failings has engendered persecution and attempts to subvert a movement that is good for the country. Members of the Nation of Islam are forbidden to carry weapons or possess weapons in their homes.

Though the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has condemned terrorism and said the Nation of Islam would not allow terrorist acts in the name of Islam, those words are not widely reported—if reported at all. The right wing has tried to stir up fear by talking about radical Islam in the prisons of America. The Nation of Islam, however, has a stellar record of reforming inmates who accept and follow the Teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. They come out of prison as productive individuals, despite having been destroyed by a racist society. Countless others not imprisoned have accepted Islam and improved their conduct because of a divine word that touched their ears and inspired change in their lives. Just a brush with Islam has inspired many to become better people and more responsible citizens. The Million Man March in 1995, which called Black men to responsibility, reconciliation and atonement was good for the country. This unifying and positive event, which resulted in an outpouring of community and political activism and personal responsibility, was called by a Muslim leader and included a broad spectrum of religious and political support and participation.

Islam is not a threat to America, but could potentially be salvation for a mighty nation that resembles empires of the past that fell because of spiritual and moral failings. Islam is a blessing to America. The enemy of America is loss of spiritual values, an arrogant exploitation of the weaker people of the earth and mistreatment of Black, non-White and even poor Whites in this nation. Islam offers a roadmap to reform that the country could use and would be wise to consider and accept.

America's Wrongfully Convicted

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DNA evidence freeing dozens after years behind bars

MGN Online

Mr. Green, who is Black, is due $2.2 million in compensation from the State of Texas but says that no amount of money can compensate for the mental torture he has faced behind bars.

“It felt good to be freed but that system has destroyed my life. I will never be the same. They took away 27 years that I will never get back. I couldn't even attend my mother's funeral because I was locked up for this crime I knew I was innocent of,” Mr. Green told The Final Call in an Aug. 14 interview.

According to research by the Innocence Project, an organization focused on freeing innocent prisoners, there have been 258 post-conviction DNA exonerations in the United States since 1989.

Out of those figures, Blacks have accounted for nearly 60 percent (152) followed by Whites at 30 percent (79) and Latinos at 8 percent (21). The average length of time served by those later exonerated is 13 years. The total number of years served is approximately 3,281.

A week before Mr. Green was freed, Allen Wayne Porter, who is also Black, was released in Houston due to DNA testing after serving 19 years in prison.

“When that door closed behind me in that prison, that's when I went crazy. I was furious at the system and that's why my disciplinary record in my first three years looked like it did. A trial is not about the truth. It's not about the law. It's about who can put on the best show,” said Mr. Green.

Mr. Green, 45, was released on July 30 on $500 bond after DNA tests on the rape victim's clothing proved that he was not linked to the crime. According to his attorney, Mr. Green was sentenced to 75 years in prison for the 1983 rape of a Houston White woman based on faulty eyewitness identification.

Mr. Green served the longest time behind bars of any Texas resident who has been exonerated and his attorney believes the Houston Police Department is to blame.

“The Houston Police Department is the blame for this conviction. They used improper suggestive identification procedures in getting the victim to pick him out,” Attorney Bob Wicoff told The Final Call.

Mr. Wicoff explained to The Final Call that the Post Conviction Review Section of the Harris County District Attorney's Office was responsible for finding a pair of jeans locked away in a warehouse that had been worn by the victim the day of the crime. The article of clothing was tested for DNA evidence, thus Mr. Green was excluded from those linked to the act.

According to Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos, their office has identified all four men suspected in the crime that Mr. Green was wrongfully convicted of.

One of the suspects reportedly admitted that he was present and Mr. Green was not at the scene. Two of those men are still behind bars serving time for other convictions. However, due to statute of limitations, none of the men can be prosecuted for the crime Mr. Green lost most of his life for.

In 2005, Mr. Green filed for post-conviction DNA testing and a swab of his DNA was taken by prosecutors in February 2009.

The results excluded Green, who had been appealing his case multiple times since 1983.

According to Mr. Wicoff, the final ruling on Mr. Green's innocence will be made on August 26 by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. He is confident everything will be cleared and that Governor Rick Perry will grant the necessary pardon.

Causes of Wrongful Convictions

According to the Innocence project, the first DNA exoneration in the U.S. took place in 1989. Exonerations have been won in 34 states. Since 2000, there have been 192 exonerations.

The Innocence Project notes that eyewitness misidentification testimony was a factor in 75 percent of post-conviction DNA exoneration cases in the U.S., making it the leading cause of these wrongful convictions. At least 40 percent of these eyewitness identifications involved a cross racial identification.

According to court documents, the White woman was talking on a pay phone in the Greenspoint area with her husband and was abducted at a gas station on April 18, 1983. They sexually assaulted her in a secluded area after midnight.

When police spotted the car they were in search of and pulled it over, the four Black men inside fled the scene. From there, the police began randomly stopping all Black men walking in the area and that's how Mr. Green was detained.

The victim was brought back to the scene while Mr. Green and another man were being held in a police car. They reportedly saw both men but denied that either of them were the ones who raped her. Strangely, things would change eight days later. The police showed her multiple photos including Mr. Green's. She picked his picture, then picked him out in a live line up, and eventually pointed him out in a courtroom.

“She shouldn't have picked me. When she first saw me, she said I wasn't the one and then all of a sudden I'm in jail for 75 years. I have a right to be upset,” Mr. Green told The Final Call.

One of the things from this whole experience that makes Mr. Green teary-eyed is the fact that his mother, Mary Ann Strait, died while he was in prison. He has trouble sleeping at night.

“They wouldn't let me attend her funeral. That was a turning point in my life. I was heartbroken and I wish she was here to witness me being free,” said Mr. Green, who is now working as a paralegal for the Innocence Project in Houston.

Related news:

Wrongly convicted Texas man owed $1.8 mil under new law (FCN, 09-24-2009)

Wrongfully jailed and still wronged after release (FCN, 07-01-2009)

Wrongly convicted ‘Central Park 5' seek compensation (FCN, 06-01-2009)

Wrongfully convicted call for justice for the innocent (FCN, 05-14-2008)

100th innocent death row inmate speaks (FCN, 11-12-2002)

Reposted from THE FINAL CALL (finalcall.com)

Government infiltration threatens rights and freedom, warn analysts

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The last thing one wanted to be thought of in activist circles in the heyday of the civil rights and Black Power movement was an informant or snitch. Providing information and sometimes setting up plots to entrap unsuspecting comrades resulted in deaths, bitter inter- and intra-feuds as well as activists who still languish in prison, not to mention the suffering of those jailed unjustly or who spent decades in exile.

Since Ernest Withers the man the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported was an FBI informant is dead, many unanswered questions remain and his family doubts the reports are true.

“Personally, and as a family, we do not believe what has been alleged. It still has to be proven,” Mr. Withers' youngest daughter, Rosalind Withers, told The Associated Press in an interview. Andrew Jerome Withers, Rosalind Withers and Frances Williams vowed to do their own FOIA request and talk to the FBI themselves in efforts to clear their father's name.

Still the use of informants yesterday and today cannot be denied and so are reasons for concern. In the current political environment and with passage of so-called anti-terror legislation, such as the post-9-11 Patriots Acts, advocates warn Americans should have major worries about violations of their civil liberties and government ability to spy and pry into their private lives.

Informants have been at the center of “terrorist plots” allegedly involving Muslims from Florida to New York. And Muslim leaders from New York to Los Angeles have complained about agents sent to monitor and infiltrate their places of worship.

“A movement or institution with enough strength and political discipline can usually withstand the damage from informants. Unfortunately, the Black movements in this country have never gained the level of critical mass or cohesion necessary to escape the damage done and that's the case in this era,” observed Professor Hank Williams, and instructor and Ph.D. candidate at the City University of New York.

“This has a direct connection to where we are today politically, since the movement was successfully destroyed and a generation of some of the strongest leaders was lost through political assassination, exile, and other means. Some were bought off, others couldn't handle the pressure, and yet others couldn't see the people around them destroyed. That affects where we are now, since many have survived and are even still at the forefront of struggle, losing the wisdom and momentum of the leaders and organizations that didn't survive the '60s and '70s was a serious blow.”

While people should not “get too wrapped up in the past,” Prof. Williams said, “one has to wonder how much further along we'd be if the most politically advanced ideas of the organizations and people who didn't make it had been synthesized and acted upon?”

On Sept. 12, The Commercial Appeal—once noted itself for the fomenting of tensions and hostilities in its coverage of civil rights and Black liberation issues in Memphis—reported that photographer Withers was as an FBI informant and spied on Dr. Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement.

A veteran freelancer, Mr. Withers' photography ranged from the murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till in 1955, to the 1968 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and beyond.

According to the Commercial Appeal, an informant identification number assigned to Mr. Withers was overlooked in the redaction of a 1977 FBI file. The document, obtained via the federal Freedom of Information Act provided by the Commercial Appeal, cites ME 338-R and identifies Mr. Withers. In the right-hand margin the notation “b7D'' provides justification for the redacted words. Under the FOIA, section b7D allows the FBI to withhold information that would identify confidential sources, according to the report.

In the article, Mr. Withers, who died in 2007 at the age of 85, is portrayed in the eyes of the bureau “as a prolific informant who, from 1968 until 1970, passed on tips and photographs detailing an insider's view of politics, business and everyday life in Memphis' Black Community.”

“The grief-stricken aides photographed by Withers on April 4, 1968, had no clue, but the man they invited in that night was an FBI informant—evidence of how far the agency went to spy on private citizens in Memphis during one of the nation's most volatile periods,” the story read. According to the Commercial Appeal, the story reported was two years in the making.

Mr. Withers' children question Commercial Appeal reporting.

“When I heard that, it was just terrifying,” said Rome Withers in an interview with The Tri-State Defender on Sept. 14, speaking about his father. “I just hope that the community understands that this is only an attempt to really demonize his Withers' (photography) collection or even to devalue his collection because we have been on an uphill fight to try and maintain and keep his collection intact,” he said.

Since his death, the Withers' children say “forces” have tried to gain control of their father's extensive and unique collection. The family says it is involved in a court battle and wants to make the collection available to the public, particularly so the Black community. It covers Black life beginning in the 1940s, they added.

“Unfortunately, Mr. Withers is not here to answer the allegations or to provide exactly—if anything—what happened. However, what we do know is that J. Edgar Hoover was so diabolical that his hatred for Black people did not stop him from doing what he desired to Whites as well. And like Mr. Withers, we don't know what was held over peoples' heads. We don't know the extent of the threat that anyone found operating in this way, faced,” said Atty. Nkechi Taifa, senior political analyst for criminal and justice reform with the Open Society Poverty Center, in Washington, D.C.

“Why the FBI didn't remove ME 338-R remains unclear, but the evident oversight provides the key that unlocks Withers' secret life,” the paper said.

“They still haven't said what he was doing,” observed satirist and activist Dick Gregory, who was also a target of the FBI's nefarious activities. Mr. Gregory told The Final Call, “We may never know why this number was not redacted. At the same time, it might help us finally pull some pieces together.”

Mr. Gregory took strong issue with some responses to the spying allegations. Civil rights icon Andrew Young has publicly said he always liked Mr. Withers “because he was a good photographer and was always around.” “I don't think Dr. King would have minded him making a little money on the side,” Mr. Young, 78, told the Memphis newspaper.

“Can you imagine a Jew in Nazi Germany finding out that a Jew was working with Hitler for the Nazis and then another Jew saying we wouldn't have minded him making a little money on the side?” Mr. Gregory asked.

“It is never acceptable to turn for the enemy,” commented Kalongi Changa, of the Atlanta, Ga.-based Free The People Movement and author of the forthcoming book “How to Build a People's Army.” He is a grassroots organizer and deals with social and criminal justice issues.

“With all due respect to Andy Young, I think that is one of the most absurd statements that an educated man can make in these days and times. Saying that he thinks that Dr. King wouldn't have minded this man making money snitching on his people is almost equivalent to saying he wouldn't have minded a prostitute making a little money selling her body,” Mr. Changa said. “Playing with your enemy is like playing with fire—someone or something will eventually get burned.”

“I presume that snitching is older than stealing because a person could steal information and give it away before there was ‘property' to steal,” said Dr. Nathan Hare, founder of the San Francisco, Calif.-based Black Think Tank.

“However, though ‘snitch' is now generally associated with giving away or selling secret information it also means ‘to steal.' So snitching is tantamount to stealing and in most people's minds worse than a thief. There at least used to be a code among thieves that they didn't steal from other thieves, but I don't think there's any sense of honor among snitches, and it is rightfully and universally despised and personified with the words ‘rat' as in ‘to rat,' ” he said.

“Stool pigeon, which suggests a pigeon sitting on a toilet stool, but is in fact a pigeon used as a decoy to draw others into a net, and thus the snitch becomes an extension of the police or, and for the enemy,” said Dr. Hare.

A victim of government surveillance himself because he was closely aligned with a range of Black Power groups, Dr. Hare added, “The other side of the coin was that so many good guys appeared to be called snitches, who, apparently and probably were not. At one point it looked like people would call anybody who disagreed with them a snitch or an ‘agent provocateur,' usually shortened to ‘an agent.' ”

Dr. Hare said one book about the FBI's dreaded Counterintelligence Program, COINTELPRO, which was designed to disrupt and destroy Black and progressive organizations, misidentified him in connection with the case of former Black Panther Elmer Geronimo “Ji Jaga” Pratt, who was jailed for 27 years for murders he did not commit. Informant Julius Butler, a member of the Panther Party, testified that Mr. Pratt boasted to him about the murder. Mr. Pratt was only freed after a retired FBI agent admitted the agency had evidence that proved the Vietnam vet was nowhere near the crime scene.

Atty. Taifa added: “I think what we have to do is put it all in perspective. It is one thing to be a snitch, then there is the collaborator and then there is another situation when there is in fact something happening within our communities. Say, one of our leaders is murdered and someone knows who did it. Or, a child is raped or molested and someone has that information for authorities. It is critical to provide that information. But it needs to be clearly distinguished from those who seek financial aggrandizement to bring down the movement, seeking to collaborate with the movement when it is not in our community's best interest,” she said.

One would be hard pressed to find an instance where dissident or influential individuals and groups were not monitored regularly by the U.S. government as well as some international agencies. The FBI's Electronic Reading Room houses tens of thousands of pages detailing some of the deepest penetrations into the lives of individuals, organizations and the infiltration of mass movements.

Last month, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Asian Law Caucus and the San Francisco Bay Guardian filed a lawsuit against the FBI in an effort to speed the release of FBI records on the investigation and surveillance of Muslim communities in the Bay Area.

The civil liberties organizations and The Bay Guardian have requested the records in order to understand and to report on whether and how the FBI are “investigating Islamic centers and mosques (as well as Christian churches and Jewish synagogues); ‘assessing' religious leaders; Infiltrating communities through the use of undercover agents and informants; Training agents in Islam and Muslim culture; and Using race, religion and national origin in deciding whom to investigate; and identifying particular schools for its Junior Agent Program.

“Clear information about the FBI's activities is necessary in order to understand the scope of their surveillance tactics to assess whether they have had a chilling effect on the right to worship freely or to exercise other forms of expression,” said Julia Harumi Mass, staff attorney for the ACLU of Northern California. “This lawsuit is about transparency. The public is entitled to this information under the Freedom of Information Act.”

“The FBI admitted in March that our clients' FOIA requests are entitled to expedited processing because of the widespread media attention on these issues, but the government has yet to provide them a single document,” said attorney Raj Chatterjee of the law firm Morrison & Foerster.

The FBI records are sought in part in response to concerns about the effects of possible racial and religious profiling and the potential harm such tactics may have on national security. The groups are also seeking details on whether FBI agents are recruiting Muslim and Arab children at Bay Area schools to serve in the agency's Junior Agent Program.

“Snitches have played a role in disrupting African resistance since enslavement,” said Georgia State University Professor Akinyele Umoja. Prof. Umoja was referring to paid agents who curry favor with oppressive forces, not tattle tales about run-of-the-mill street crime or illicit activity.

“Denmark Vesey's planned insurrection was stopped due to information provided to the slaveholders. Informants were present in the civil rights movement in the South. Movement forces assumed snitches were in their meetings. Wise movement leaders often confused their enemies by providing misinformation in public meetings. COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program of the FBI to destroy Black leadership and movements) and Southern state documents are full of examples of misinformation provided by Movement leaders to confuse White supremacists and local, state and federal police,” he said.

“It is also revealed that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad couldn't sneeze without the enemy knowing. Snitches also played an important role in the demise of the Black Panther Party.”

The list of Black groups and leaders targeted by government unfortunately goes on and on, he said.

“Informing on the movement is treason. A liberation movement cannot be successful if a culture of snitching is acceptable. Movements are only sustainable and victorious if we have a culture of resistance and self-reliance. One should wear a ‘badge of shame' for informing on our organizations, leaders, and other sisters and brothers to our enemies,” Dr. Umoja continued.

“We also have to develop a culture of collectivism or communalism. If one wants forgiveness, a public apology should be made and restitution should be made to the individuals, organizations and families involved. People's lives and human rights were violated by the repression of the COINTELPRO and other U.S. government initiatives against our movement. “

Dr. Umoja also recommended that if a member of a community has an addiction or a financial or emotional problem, it should be shared with their community and organization. “We are only as strong as our weakest link. If we leave brothers and sisters out there they are vulnerable for parasites who want to destroy the movement,” he said.

Under COINTELPRO's directive in the 1960s and 1970s, FBI director J. Edgar Hoover was on the lookout for a “Black Messiah” who could inspire diverse groups and unite the Black masses. The language was clear and so were its targets: H. Rap Brown (now Jamil Al Amin), Stokely Carmichael (who became Kwame Ture), the Black Panthers, the Nation of Islam and the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

“The reason Jamil Al-Amin was transferred to the prison in Florence, Colo., if you recall, is because the Georgia inmates petitioned to make him their imam. An effective organizer—even within the prison population—and a charismatic leader who had also begun to exercise influence over the prison staff is something the government could not afford. So now he sits in solitary. The same for Dr. Mutula Shakur, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Max Sanford, Huey P. Newton. They know they have to do something with people like these,” said Dr. Umoja.

But while the Panther Party and other nationalist groups were destroyed, one movement has been able to re-emerge and is the undeniable target of government surveillance: The Nation of Islam and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. With the Nation there is the combination of Islam, Pan Africanism, nationalism and self-reliance—all elements that pose a threat to a nation dependent upon its former slaves, said Dr. Umoja. “Now Minister Farrakhan is here, who represents a blend of all of the elements: an effective organizer, charismatic, influentialand has the genuine love of the people from all walks of life. You cannot be an effective leader without charisma. No one can deny that, he has that charisma that no one can control,” he said.

“Unfortunately, the mission of the Nation of Islam has been misunderstood by some in government but in other cases misunderstanding has been created, which has permitted, and it is well documented in history, the violation of our civil and constitutional rights through J. Edgar Hoover that continues down to the present time as revealed in December 2009 disclosures that there was Department of Homeland Security illegal surveillance of the Nation of Islam and that we were still a target of the U.S. government,” said Atty. Abdul Arif Muhammad, general counsel for the Nation of Islam.

“It would not be wise for us to not think such activity does not continue, especially in light of the Islamaphobia present in the United States and being stoked by the media and other forces in and outside of government to illegitimately distort the mission and work of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam.”