Cynthia McKinney stumps for Molison City Council Campaign

Alfred Molison, Green Party
Houston City Council Candidate


Former Georgia Congresswoman Does Joint Fundraiser in Houston


Former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney attended a joint fundraiser hosted by the Alfred Molison for Houston City Council campaign. The event was hosted at the Houston Shrine of the Black Madonna, Friday evening, August 3rd, 2007 and raised contributions from fifty plus Houstonians to benefit the debt retirement effort for Ms. McKinney's 2006 Congressional campaign, as well as Mr. Molison's 2007 bid for a seat on Houston City Council.

"It was distressing to hear her war stories from the front lines on Capitol Hill about monied interests undermining the aspirations of the American people," said Molison, candidate for Houston City Council, District C, an employee of the Social Security Administration who cochairs the Harris County Green Party. "Even so, I found her speech exciting and inspiring. I really appreciate that Cynthia took the time to drive from Atlanta to support our efforts to bring to the citizens of Houston a living wage, vigorous enforcement of air pollution laws and improved access to health care."

Cynthia McKinney served six terms in the U.S. Congress representing first Georgia's Eleventh, then its Fourth Congressional Districts. She was defeated in the 2002 Democrat Primary. "Heroes don't wear medals, they wear scars," Ms. McKinney told the crowd, as she described how the '02 voter turnout hit historic levels, swelled by the cross-over of voters who have traditionally voted for Republicans -- a practice legal only in Georgia and a small handful of other states which provide for open primaries.

McKinney attracted popular support but vehement opposition from corporate contributors for publicly questioning, given the reports of intelligence warnings, what the Bush administration knew and when they knew it with respect to the attacks on September 11th, 2001. She has also questioned Defense Secretary Rumsfeld on the $2+ trillion of missing Pentagon money and has been an outspoken critic of the Bush administration's war plans and the profiteering of his corporate contributors since prior to the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.

"Its vital that we remove corporate influence from public policy making and that we have a transparent election process," said Molison. Molison has advocated public financing of political campaigns and like McKinney has campaigned for paper ballots to restore transparency and integrity to the election process. "The campaign contributions of war profiteers have corrupted the U.S. Congress and those of the petroleum industry have corrupted our City Council. From top to bottom its time we took our Democracy back."

For further information, contact: Alfred Molison, 713-726-9009, Green Party Candidate for Houston City Council or Bryce Parker, 713-877-0917, http://votealfred.com

http://gpblackcaucus.blogspot.com

Green Leaders call attention to the racially motivated case of the 'Jena Six' in Louisiana

Malik Rahim co-founder of Common Ground Collective in New Orleans

Greens urge far-reaching steps in the US justice system to correct
biases against African Americans, Latinos, and poor people, and

to end record US incarceration rates

WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party leaders called the US's high percentages of people in prison and racial disparities in incarceration a "shame on America" and urged dramatic steps to reverse the criminalization of large numbers of Americans.

Greens expressed special alarm at recent cases that have revealed systematic racial bias in law enforcement and sentencing, including the prosecution of six black high school students in Jena, Louisiana, for fighting after racial tensions sparked by the display of three nooses in a schoolyard in 2006
.
The students initially faced 100-year sentences for attempted murder after an incident that many believe should have led to suspensions from school. An all-white jury convicted one of the students, who now faces a 22-year prison term. No white students were prosecuted.

"The case of the Jena Six is emblematic of how people of color in the US face prosecution and sentencing," said Clifford Thornton, Green candidate for Governor of Connecticut in 2006 and co-founder of Efficacy, Inc. , which promotes major reforms in drug policy. "The Jena Six prosecution is one of the more blatant and scandalous examples of how our justice system regularly criminalizes black and brown people -- especially children."

Greens cited a recent study by the Sentencing Project, which revealed severe disparities based on race and ethnicity in incarceration, with African Americans imprisoned at over five times the rate of whites and Latinos imprisoned at nearly double the white rate. Greens further noted that America has 5% of the world's population and 25% of all the world's prisoners, far surpassing Russia, China, and North Korea.

Green leaders listed several urgent measures to overhaul the justice system:

• Federal monitoring of prosecutorial practices and sentencing patterns in all jurisdictions where such disparities are evident, in accord with civil rights laws.

• Cancellation of the war on drugs, which Greens have called "a war on youth and people of color" . According to the DEA, FBI, Department of Justice, police agencies, and numerous public interest groups and researchers, 72% of all illegal drug users and most of those involved in the drug trade are white, while African-Americans make up only 13% of all illegal drug users and a tiny percentage of drug importers. Despite these numbers, the overwhelming percentage of those incarcerated for drugs are black.

• Abolition of the death penalty. "The death penalty is already barbaric and we know that it has been applied in many cases in which people convicted and executed were later exonerated," said Alfred Molison, Co-Chair Green Party Black Caucus . "But the death penalty should also be abolished because black, brown, and poor white people disproportionately get executed. When those who can't afford to defend themselves adequately in court are targeted for the ultimate and irreversible punishment, the punishment itself becomes murder."

• Repeal of zero tolerance and mandatory sentencing statutes, which enlarge the power of prosecutors and erode judicial discretion.

• An end to abuses of the plea-bargaining system, which have resulted in the imprisonment of innocent people who lack the financial resources to defend themselves sufficiently in court.

• An end to the privatization of the prison system, which creates economic incentives to put more people behind bars, since corporate prison owners and contractors increase their profits when more cells are filled up. Greens have drawn links between privatized prisons and draconian drug laws, the targeting of poor people and people of color for prosecution, mandatory and severe sentencing, high death penalty rates in some states, and other policies.

"We ask Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco to step in and overturn the Jena Six convictions," said Diane F. White, Pennsylvania delegate to the Green Party's National Committee, Acting Corresponding Secretary for the Black Caucus, and "Dismantling Racism Ally." "The state of our justice system should provoke outrage from every American who has some sense of real justice. Democrats and Republicans have tolerated racial bias, unfair sentencing practices, and abuses in our courts and prisons for too long. The US imprisons more of its population than any other country in the world. We can no longer trust them to correct these injustices. The Green Party exists because we need a political party, candidates, and elected officeholders to reverse bipartisan laws and policies that have turned record numbers of Americans, especially African Americans and Latinos, into inmates."

MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org/

202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193

• Green Party News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml

• Green Party Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers

• 2007 national Green Party meeting in Reading, Pa.: video footage,
blog and media coverage
http://www.gp.org/meeting2007/

Green Party Black Caucus
http://gpblackcaucus.blogspot.com/

"Study shows racial disparities in prison"
By David Pitt, Associated Press, July 18, 2007
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070718/ap_on_re_us/prisons_racial_disparity

'Open Letter to Michael Moore' from the Green Party on 'Sicko,' health
care reform
http://www.gp.org/press/pr_2007_07_09.shtml

http://www.commondreams.org/news2007/0710-03.htm

~ END ~

EFFICACY AND "THE DRUG WAR"

"The inner cities have been in a war for over thirty years. We have spent over a trillion dollars and yet there are more illegal drugs on our streets than ever before. This, I and many others feel is the most important problem we will face in our lives."

by Clifford Wallace Thornton, Jr. , email: efficacy@msn.com

Because of this drug war and the collateral damage that ensues, the black and Latino communities are in a devolutionary state. If this is not important to the development of black America, I don't know what is. I also believe that minorities have been singled out while time and time again whites out number black and Latino as to who is selling or using. http://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/usa/

Most people think it is the drugs but in all actuality it is the drug policies. We as a people, as a country have to be thoroughly educated on this issue called the "war on drugs".

"If one does not understand racism, classism, white privilege, terrorism, and the war on drugs--what these terms mean--how these concepts work, then everything else you do understand will only confuse you"


Many see the drug war as being supported by three major phenomena; all of which result in unequal treatment based either directly or indirectly on race, class or white privilege and understand, even though I'm basically talking about America this is how it works all over the world:


1) Greed, Drug markets are a dandy source of 'black' money which ends up being recycled (laundered) through our banks and other financial institutions and then made available for all sorts of scams-- including political contributions which guarantee that politicians remain "tough on drugs." The drug war effectively exempts most well-to-do adolescents from any severe punishment-- while it guarantees that the poor and unconnected are hit the hardest.


In terms of participants, the upper level dealers and financiers are seldom even identified; but the mid and lower level workers (often "minorities") are far more visible and at risk of arrest.


The job security provided to police and the prison industry is also a big motivator. It might be noted here that your state, I believe is going through major prison building and watch who gets the high paying jobs.


The benefits of the war on drugs to the pharmaceutical, Alcohol and Tobacco industries doesn't need to be spelled out. I'm reasonably sure that if cannabis were legal, they would all take a big hit. As it is, illegal cannabis already reduces their sales significantly. Also understand that cannabis is not the real prize, HEMP is. HEMP would immediately revolutionize the clothing, paper, and food industry, a no no in this country.


2) Overt Racism. The malignant racism which justified slavery is definitely not dead. It survived under Jim Crow (segregation) and continues to survive under the drug war. There is abundant evidence that blacks and browns actually have fewer drug problems than whites;; but you'd never know it from our media. As editor past and present of many Drug News Weeklies for years, I had continuous evidence that the war on drugs is incredibly racist in all its applications. That unfairness is accepted by most whites; at least they don't feel any great need to protest.


3) Fear and the intellectual dishonesty that fear promotes in Medicine and the "treatment" disciplines (Psychology and Sociology). This is a very complex issue; but there's no doubt that the drug war survives partly because Medicine has been so thoroughly co-opted. My take is that our whole system of classification of mental "disorders" has also been corrupted by the war on drugs. We literally have no defensible objective standards for the labels we apply (labels demanded by "treatment"). Our "official' take on abnormal behavior also promotes continued marginalization of dissent-- especially by minorities. The truth is that blacks are condemned to the worst schools and if they make any trouble at all, the "solution" is to banish them administratively from the system ASAP. I also see this in New Zealand and all other countries where there is a significant minority population.


America has been a racist society ever since its Constitution was drafted in 1787. We-- as a nation-- have never repudiated our (sainted) founders' embrace of slavery. Until we do, I suspect we'll remain an intensely racist society. Historically, I see it as a smaller-- but far more intense-- version of Western Europe's legacy of exploiting Africa and Asia for profit in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. The big difference is that while Europeans were content to travel to those areas and rule as colonizers. Our plantation economy led our forebears to employ the additional barbarity of abduction; along with the destruction of families and of culture and brought about by perpetual enslavement and continued refusal to educate children. The cruel treatment of slaves was justified by a spurious doctrine of racial "supremacy;" but I suspect it was mostly motivated by (the now) seldom-discussed fear of a "servile rebellion."


Our white forebears thus saddled all Americans of color-- especially blacks-- with the bitter legacies of their own guilt and fear. Until that's recognized and repudiated, I see no real improvement. The drug war has been substituted for slavery and segregation and most people can't see it or don't want to see it. I just want to say I am not promoting drug use, I am promoting a sound logical approach to this problem.


I increasingly see ALL human behavior as generated by emotions-- which are then dressed up and justified by "logic." The way you recognize extremists and demagogues is by the shabby quality of their "logic" and the degree to which they are unable to deal honestly with challenges to that logic.

Besides our web site listed below please go to:

http://search.msn.com/pass/results.aspx?srch=105&FORM=MSN8A&q=clifford+wallace+thornton%2c+jr.

http://search.msn.com/pass/results.aspx?ps=ba%3d(0.15)0....(.)0.%26co%3d(0.15)1.3.200.2.5(01)3%26fgc1%3d3%26pn%3d1%26rd%3d0%26&q=%22Cliff+Thornton%22&ck_sc=1&ck_af=0

http://www.drugtruth.net/MP3/FDBCB_111105.mp3

http://vivisimo.com/search?query=%22Clifford%2BWallace%2BThornton%22&v%3Asources=MSN,Netscape,Lycos,Looksmart,Overture&x=44&y=14 and

http://www.current.tv/watch/19981707

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqV4w2vVptU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN3ck1rZN6c&mode=related&search=

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cliff+thornton&search=Search

http://www.altavista.com/image/results?q=Clifford+Thornton&mik=photo&mik=graphic&mip=all&mis=all&miwxh=all&stq=0

and

Book published Oct 2004

Under The Influence: The Disinformation Guide To Drugs :: Disinformation :: The gateway to the underground -

Efficacy

PO Box 1234

860 657 8438

Hartford, CT 06143

efficacy@msn.com

http://www.efficacy-online.org/
http://www.votethornton.com/

"THE DRUG WAR IS MEANT TO BE WAGED NOT WON"

Working to end race and class drug war injustice, Efficacy is a non profit501 (c) 3 organization founded in 1997. Your gifts and donations are taxdeductible

African Descendants in Diaspora asked to be members of the African Union

SisterSpace Broadcast Thursday April 12, 2007

Sistah Anelle Williams, the host of Sisterspace is a "Founding Member" of the GPUS Black Caucus and she was its first "Parlimentarian". This broadcast features commentary from Mumia and a discussion of the African Union's attempt to include the African Diaspora in their organizing campaign.

Black Caucus Organizing Committee Seat Co-Chairs in Preparation for 2008 Nominating Convention

Martina Robinson, a disability rights activist, freelance writer, integrated dance instructor, and choreographer from Belchertown, MA has been named as Acting Co-Chair of the Green Party Black Caucus. Serving with her as Acting Co-Chair is Alfred Molison a National Delegate and 2007 Green Party City Council Candidate from Houston, Texas.

Martina is 28 year old woman with a Cerebral Palsy. She graduated from Purchase College, SUNY in 1994. She undertook her graduate work at UMASS when she moved to the Pioneer Valley in 2000. Martina hopes to enter a doctoral program at The Union Institute in the fall.
"My thesis will focus on the intersection of the disability rights movement and global justice movement, says Martina.

Alfred Molison is the current co-chair of the Harris County Green Party and is the outgoing co-chair of the Green Party of Texas. Alfred is pushing for healthy jobs, healthy lives, healthy futures! Email Alfred Molison