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From SeeingBlack.com The 411 Suicide or Murder in Death of Black Female Soldier in Iraq?
Her body was found in a tent belonging to the private military contractor Kellogg Brown & Root. She had abrasions all over her body, a broken nose, a black eye, burned hands, loose teeth, acid burns on her genitals, a bullet hole in her head. The Army labeled LaVena Johnson’s death a suicide. They told her parents she died of “self-inflicted, non-combat injuries.” But her parents never believed that story. They think she was raped and murdered and that the Army’s investigators ignored physical evidence that would have proved this. The Johnsons are now demanding a full congressional investigation into their daughter’s death. The military's Criminal Investigation Command told us that “facts are facts.” They stand by their investigation that concluded LaVena Johnson’s death a suicide. Death by Taser: Police Accused of Cover-Up in Death of African American Man Shocked Nine Times While in Handcuffs Police in the city of Winnfield, Louisiana are being accused of covering up the death of twenty-one-year-old Baron Pikes. He died in police custody on January 21 after being shot nine times with a taser gun while in handcuffs. The city police chief initially claimed that Pikes was high on crack cocaine and PCP at the time of his death. But the coroner recently ruled Pikes’ death to be a homicide, after an autopsy determined there were no drugs in his system. The coroner also determined that the police shot Pikes twice after he lost consciousness. Chicago Tribune reporter Howard Witt broke the story nationally. Pikes was first cousin of Mychal Bell, the lead defendant in the Jena Six case. Mexican Immigrant Beaten to Death by White Mob in Pennsylvania Luis Ramirez was a twenty-five-year-old Mexican immigrant who was beaten to death last week by a group of teenagers in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania. He was walking home last Saturday night when six white high school students brutally beat him while yelling racial slurs. When one of Ramirez’s friends tried to stop the beating, one of the teenagers said, “Tell your Mexican friends to get out of town, or you’ll be laying next to him.” Despite eyewitness testimony, no charges have been filed as yet. Ramirez came to the United States six years ago. He was the father of two children. He was engaged to Crystal Dillman, who grew up in Shenandoah. We called the district attorney investigating and said he had no comment. Obama Speaks Before 200,000 in Germany On the campaign trail, Democratic candidate Barack Obama continued an overseas trip Thursday with a speech in Germany. Speaking before an estimated 200,000 people, Obama called for increased international cooperation and defended his call for escalating the US-led occupation of Afghanistan. Sen. Barack Obama: "No one welcomes war. I recognize the enormous difficulties in Afghanistan. But my country and yours have a stake in seeing that NATO’s first mission beyond Europe’s borders is a success. For the people of Afghanistan and for our shared security, the work must be done. America cannot do this alone.” Obama was speaking at the Victory Column in Berlin. His talk drew criticism from Republican candidate John McCain. Sen. John McCain: “I would rather speak at a rally or a gathering any place outside the United States after I am president of the United States. But that’s a judgment that Senator Obama and the American people will make.” Protesters Target Fox News for Coverage of African Americans In New York, dozens of people converged recently outside the headquarters of Fox News to protest its coverage of Barack Obama and African Americans. The rapper Nas helped deliver more than 600,000 signatures demanding changes at Fox News. Nas: “This should outrage every American that Fox uses hateful language to talk about the person who may be the first black president. But the Obamas are not the only targets. Fox’s pattern is race-baiting and fear-mongering regularly, focuses on black leaders, black institutions and ordinary black people, like when they used the solemn occasion of Coretta Scott King’s funeral to call black leaders racist. That’s not acceptable. It’s offensive to black Americans. It’s offensive to all Americans. That’s why I wrote on my new album a song called ‘Sly Fox’: ‘Watch what you watchin’/Fox keeps feeding us toxin/Stop sleepin’/Start thinkin’." The campaign against Fox News was organized by Color Of Change. Appeals Court Rejects Abu-Jamal Re-Trial Death row prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal has been dealt another legal setback. A federal appeals court in Philadelphia has refused to reconsider its decision not to grant a new trial for the jailed journalist. Abu-Jamal’s attorney said he will now ask the Supreme Court to consider the case. House OKs Housing Aid After Bush Drops Opposition The House has approved a sweeping measure to intervene in the nation’s housing market. The bill would help around 400,000 borrowers refinance their mortgages through government-insured loans. President Bush dropped his opposition to the bill after Democrats agreed to help bail out the nation’s two largest mortgage lenders, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Bush had previously threatened a veto over nearly $4 billion in housing grants to troubled communities. The Senate is expected to take up the measure on Saturday. Military Town Foreclosures 4 Times the US Average The measure comes as new figures continue to underscore the severity of the housing crisis. The research firm RealtyTrac reports foreclosures in military towns are almost four times the national average. Foreclosures in ten towns and cities within ten miles of military bases in the US have risen by an average 217 percent, up from a national average of 59 percent. Report: 150 Banks Could Fail Over Next 18 Months Financial analysts are projecting that as many as 150 banks could fail over the next eighteen months as the nation’s financial crisis worsens. Last week, hundreds of bank customers lined up outside IndyMac Bank in Pasadena California to withdraw savings three days after the FDIC seized the bank. Ben Betters, bank customer: “Well, I’m old enough to remember my grandparents talking about the fall and the Great Depression of 1929, so I was concerned about the bank totally closing, not being able to get the money. That was the main concern, because my wife and I are both retirees, and this is, you know, savings that we depend on monthly.” IndyMac is the second largest bank failure in US history and the fifth bank to fail this year. Regulators expect the IndyMac takeover to cost taxpayers up to $8 billion. Meanwhile, on Wall Street, bank stocks plummeted last week in the steepest one-day decline in banking shares since 1989. Stocks of Washington Mutual dropped nearly 35 percent. A year ago, a share in the bank was valued at $43; yesterday, it was worth just over three dollars. Billionaire investor George Soros said Monday that the current financial market turmoil represents the most serious financial crisis of our lifetime. Ex-APA President Linked to CIA Torture Program New information has been revealed about the role psychologists played in helping the CIA develop its torture techniques. In her new book The Dark Side, Jane Mayer reveals a former president of the American Psychological Association, Martin Seligman, was invited by the CIA in the spring of 2002 to speak at the Navy’s SERE school in San Diego. In the 1960s, Seligman experimented on dogs and found that by shocking a dog repeatedly and randomly, he could brutalize it emotionally into a state of complete passivity. Seligman spoke for three hours about his theory of learned helplessness. His theories were later adapted for use in CIA prisons. Seligman is the second APA president to be linked to the CIA’s torture program. Last year, it was revealed former APA president Joseph Matarazzo is a partner in the Spokane firm Mitchell & Jessen that was contracted to design the CIA interrogations program. Unlike other medical associations, the APA has refused to unequivocally condemn torture. One Million Names on Terrorist Watch List The Bush administration’s terrorist watch list has ballooned to over one million names, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU’s Barry Steinhardt said the list is out of control and a waste of resources. At a press conference Monday, Jim Robinson, former head of the Justice Department’s criminal division during the Clinton administration, said his name is on the list, even though he possesses a government security clearance. Cancer Researcher Warns on Cell Phone Use In science news, the head of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute has issued what has been described as an unprecedented warning to his faculty and staff to limit cell phone use because of the possible risk of cancer. Dr. Ronald Herberman said children should only use cell phones for emergencies and that adults should keep the phone away from their heads by using a wireless headset or the speaker phone. According to the Associated Press, no other major academic cancer research institutions have sounded such an alarm about cell phone use. Devra Lee Davis, the director of the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Environmental Oncology, said, “The question is do you want to play Russian roulette with your brain. I don’t know that cell phones are dangerous. But I don’t know that they are safe.” Oil Tanker Spills Near New Orleans Back in the United States, hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel oil spilled into the Mississippi River near New Orleans Wednesday after a tugboat collided with an oil tanker. The spill has stretches more than eighty miles and is threatening the fragile delta ecosystem. The tanker was carrying more than 419,000 gallons of thick industrial fuel oil. The accident came on the same day Senator McCain was scheduled to visit New Orleans to promote offshore oil drilling. McCain was planning to fly aboard a helicopter and land on an oil rig in the Gulf Of Mexico. McCain ended up canceling the trip. Court: US Can Jail Civilians Indefinitely A federal appeals court has ruled President Bush can order the indefinite jailing of civilians imprisoned in the United States. The five-to-four decision effectively reverses last year’s ruling that the administration cannot label US residents “enemy combatants” and jail them indefinitely without charge. The ruling came in the case of the only person still held as an enemy combatant on US soil. Ali al-Marri was arrested six years ago at his home in Peoria, Illinois, where he lived with his wife and five children. He was initially charged with credit card fraud and lying to federal agents. But in June 2003, President Bush declared him an enemy combatant and ordered him into military custody. He has spent the last four years in solitary confinement at a Navy brig in Charleston, South Carolina. Al-Marri’s attorney Jonathan Hafetz said, “This decision means the president can pick up any person in the country—citizen or legal resident—and lock them up for years without the most basic safeguard in the Constitution, the right to a criminal trial.” FEMA Demands Immunity from Trailer-Contamination Suit Meanwhile, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is seeking immunity from lawsuits accusing it of exposing Hurricane Katrina victims to toxic fumes in government-issued trailers. Earlier this month, a government study found cheap materials and poor oversight exposed thousands of evacuees to toxic levels of formaldehyde in government-issued trailers following Hurricane Katrina. Researchers found toxic levels at between four to eleven times higher than those in average US homes. At least one death has been linked to toxic exposure in the Katrina evacuee trailers. More than 11,000 health complaints were filed over the trailers, leading government officials to move more than 4,000 families. FEMA says it should be immune from the suits, because it bought the trailers from private contractors. Lawyers for the plaintiffs say FEMA routinely ignored early-stage warnings of the trailers’ toxicity. Green Party Nominates First All-Women-of-Color Presidential Ticket in US History The Green Party made history last week when it nominated the first all-women-of-color presidential ticket in US history. Former Democratic Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, who was the first African American woman elected to Congress in Georgia, won the Green Party’s nomination last Monday. She named longtime community organizer, journalist and former director of the Hip Hop Caucus, Rosa Clemente, as her running mate earlier this month.Obama: US Should Recognize Palestinians’ “Legitimate Difficulties” Gore Calls for Ending Carbon Reliance in Favor of Renewable Sources Former Vice President Al Gore is calling for a dramatic shift in US energy policy. On Thursday, Gore called on the next US president to abandon fossil fuels in favor of renewable energy to produce electricity within the next ten years. Gore issued the challenge at a speech in Washington, D.C. Al Gore: “So, today, I challenge our nation to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within ten years. This goal is achievable, affordable and transformative. It represents a challenge to all Americans, in every walk of life: to our political leaders, entrepreneurs, innovators, engineers and to every citizen.” Gore continued, “We’re borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet. Every bit of that’s got to change.” Maryland State Police Spied on Peaceful Groups Newly released documents have revealed the Maryland State Police conducted an extensive surveillance campaign in 2005 and 2006 targeting peace groups and anti-death penalty activists. The documents show undercover agents infiltrated meetings and events of the Baltimore Pledge of Resistance and the Baltimore Coalition Against the Death Penalty. The agents entered the name of one prominent Baltimore peace activist, Max Obuszewski, into a federal database that tracks terrorists and drug dealers. The police continued to carry out the surveillance, even though officers never observed any illegal or criminal activity. McCain Can’t Recall Making Rape Joke On the campaign trail, Senator John McCain is claiming he can’t recall making a joke about women enjoying being raped. A 1986 article in the Tucson Citizen reported McCain joked about a woman being “beaten senseless” and “raped repeatedly” before being “left to die” by a gorilla. According to the article, McCain goes on to say the woman asks her doctor, after regaining consciousness, “Where is that marvelous ape?” A spokesperson says McCain doesn’t remember making the joke. The spokesperson went on to dismiss other criticism of McCain’s humor, calling it “a good example of McCain being McCain.” US Considers Quashing Report Critical of Israel In other news, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports the Bush administration is debating whether to silence a forthcoming high-level report critical of Israel’s conduct in the Occupied Territories. The report is written by the top US official there, retired general James Jones. According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Jones has written a “scathing” report criticizing both the Israeli government and the White House. Israeli officials who met with Jones said they expect the report to be “very harsh, and make Israel look very bad.” Jones is said to be particularly critical of Israel’s claim to have security interests to justify its large settlement blocs on Palestinian land. Top administration officials are said to be so upset by the report they are debating blocking its release. Mugabe and Tsvangirai Meet to Hold Power-Sharing Talks Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai have signed a deal laying down the framework for formal talks on forming a power-sharing government to end a deep political crisis. On Monday, the two rivals held their first meeting with each other in ten years. South African President Thabo Mbeki mediated the deal. After the signing, Tsvangirai spoke at a news conference. Morgan Tsvangirai: “As we sign this memorandum of understanding, we all commit ourselves to the first tentative step towards searching for a solution to the country that is in a crisis.” Video Footage Shows Weeping Gitmo Prisoner Attorneys for the Canadian prisoner Omar Khadr have released more video footage of his interrogation at Guantanamo Bay. The then-sixteen-year-old Khadr is seen in a distressed state and begging for help from Canadian officials. He appears to break down, weep and whisper what sounds like “help me.” Khadr was fifteen years old when US troops imprisoned him in Afghanistan in 2002. Khadr’s attorney, Nathan Whitling, said the tapes show a frightened teenager. Nathan Whitling: “Contrary to everything the Canadian public has been told about Omar Khadr, the tapes do not show a dangerous terrorist, but instead a frightened, wounded Canadian boy pleading for help from Canadian officials. Instead of helping, they casually dismiss his claims of abuse and mistreatment and tell him that they will do nothing for him.” Khadr’s lawyers released the footage following a Canadian Supreme Court ruling in May that the Canadian government had to hand over key evidence against him to allow a full defense of the charges he is facing. The Canadian government had vigorously fought the tapes’ being made public. Another Khadr attorney, Dennis Edney, said the footage underscores the grounds for his release. Dennis Edney: "We are hoping that the Canadian public will recognize that you put aside any concerns of guilt or innocence—that has to be determined in a properly constituted court, which of course is not Guantanamo Bay—and look at compassion, as we feel the children have a special significance in society. This kid has suffered enough. This kid needs to come home. This kid is not a terrorist.” Spike Lee To Make a Film of Broadway Musical Passing Strange Filmmaker Spike Lee is making a film from the recent Broadway musical Passing Strange. Speaking at a press conference earlier this month Spike Lee described why he wanted to film the play. SPIKE LEE: As a filmmaker, for me, the greatest artists are musicians. I know there are painters and sculptors and novelists, and what not. But for me, musicians are the greatest artists on this earth, because I feel the talents they have come directly from God, and I really feel that. And when I saw the play at the Public, I was knocked out. And I came back a second time with Wesley Snipes, and I go, “You gotta see this!” And the story—the story, the musicianship, the acting, it was a revelation. Passing Strange recently closed after a six-month run on Broadway. The show won a Tony Award for best book. It was co-written by its star, longtime recording artist Stew and Heidi Rodewald. It was nominated for six other Tonys including best musical. Passing Stange was first commissioned by the Public Theater of New York and premiered at the Berkeley Repertory Theater. Marvin Sapp Song Continues to Break Records Marvin Sapp's single "Never Would Have Made It" is a record-breaking phenomenon far beyond the world of gospel. The track from his seventh album, "Thirsty," is in its 42nd week at No. 1 on Billboard's gospel radio charts. It is a crossover success with its perch at No. 1 on the urban adult contemporary chart, and has become the longest running No. 1 single at radio across all genres in the history of Billboard analysis. The album, released last July, is now certified gold and has been No. 1 on gospel album sales charts for 27 weeks. Sapp, who is the founder and senior pastor of Lighthouse Full Life Center Church in Grand Rapids, Mich., wrote the song on the Sunday after he eulogized his father. It's built upon a simple refrain: "Never would have made it, never could have made it, without you." Read and search hundreds of news stories on SeeingBlack.com's 411 Channel. Click here to view all our blogs and discussion groups, where you can comment on any news stories or post your own news. © Copyright by SeeingBlack.com |
