NYCLU to Release Report Revealing Racial Bias in New York City Marijuana Arrests

Release: Tuesday, the New York Civil Liberties Union will release a detailed 106-page report that analyzes the NYPD’s marijuana arrest practices. The report, an examination of the role race plays in police work, comes just days after three detectives were acquitted for shooting an unarmed Sean Bell.

The report, The Marijuana Arrest Crusade in New York City: Racial Bias in Police Policy 1997-2007, was researched and written by Prof. Harry G. Levine, a sociologist at Queens College, and Deborah Peterson Small, an attorney and advocate for drug policy reform.

The first-of-its-kind analysis is based upon two years of observations in criminal courts as well as extensive interviews with public defenders, Legal Aid and private attorneys; veteran police officers; current and former prosecutors and judges; and those arrested for possessing marijuana.

CARLOS CARDOSO MURDERER HAS NEW STORY

MAPUTO: Carlos Cardoso was a great Mozambican journalist and a friend of mind. He was murdered, and the killer was finally found and convicted. But now there’s a new development with the killer now claiming the killing was ordered by the son of the former president

Maputo, 28 Apr (AIM) – The man who led the death squad that murdered Mozambique’s foremost investigative journalist, Carlos Cardoso, in November 2000, on Monday changed his story and claimed that the killing was ordered by the late Nyimpine Chissano, the oldest son of former President Joaquim Chissano.

Anibal dos Santos Junior (“Anibalzinho”) is currently serving a 30 year jail sentence for his part in the murder. Because Anibalzinho escaped in September 2002, he was tried in absentia along with five others, from November 2002 to January 2003. He was later retried, in person, and found guilty for the second time in January 2006.

Both trials found that Anibalzinho recruited the other two members of the death squad and drove the stolen car used in the murder. Convicted of ordering the murder were the notorious loan shark Momad Assife Abdul Satar (“Nini”), his brother Ayob Abdul Satar, owner of the now defunct Unicambios foreign exchange bureau, and bank manager Vicente Ramaya. Their motive was clear – Cardoso was investigating the huge bank fraud in which the equivalent of 14 million US dollars was siphoned via phoney accounts in the names of members of the Abdul Satar family held at the branch of the Commercial Bank of Mozambique (BCM) managed by Ramaya.

Anibalzinho is currently on trial before the Maputo City Court for his part in the 1999 attempted murder of the BCM’s lawyer, Albano Silva. But when he was questioned by the court on Monday Anibalzinho tried to reopen the Cardoso murder case, alleging that the assassination had been ordered and paid for by Nyimpine Chissano.

This is very different indeed from what he said when he was standing trial for the Cardoso murder in December 2005-January 2006. Then Anibalzinho thrust all the blame for the murder on the shoulders of Ramaya and the Satars, and exonerated Chissano Jr.

This time his testimony was completely reversed: now he claimed it was all the fault of Nyimpine: and, since Nyimpine died of a heart attack last November, he was in no position to uphold his good name.

MORE ON MOZAMBIQUE: COPS KILL WITH IMPUNITY–AMNESTY

M&G: Police in Mozambique are killing and torturing people with near total impunity, according to a report by Amnesty International released on Tuesday. “Police in Mozambique seem to think they have a license to kill, and the weak police accountability system allows for this,” Michelle Kagari, deputy director of Amnesty International’s Africa Program, said.

WIKILEAKS” THE HIDDEN CURSE OF THOMAS PAINE

In 1789 Thomas Paine, American pamphleteer, philosopher and revolutionary, compared the sun to the truth: “[S]uch is the irresistible nature of truth,” Paine declared, “that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing.”

Thomas Paine, author of ‘Common Sense’ and ‘The Rights of Man’ was wrong. Paine gave away his copyright to ‘Common Sense’—allowing printers to pocket the authors fee. Printers, happy with this state of affairs, preferenced its production over other popular, but less profitable works. Thomas Paine had discovered the essential economic underpinning of the modern press release. Paine’s truth appeared not only because of its coherence but because Paine subsidized its production= above competing ideas.

The modern press release may have been seen as a blessing by the fourth estate, for it made certain ideas more profitable without making other types less. Yet once electronic cut and paste came
into play, the press release and similar content subsidies proliferated.

When the system of ideas regained its economic equilibrium, unsubsidized words became unprofitable and were eliminated. The
consequence has been a great shift from words pulled out of writers by reader demand, to words pushed out of writers by special interest subsidies.

Competition to control perception has resulted in forums of influence, not limited to the world great newspapers, behaving as fresh faced coquettes with too many suiters. These coquettes long ago stopped cooking their own food and now expect everything to be lovingly presented on a silver platter. There are few exceptions and the phenomenon is mostly invisible to outsiders.

Print media, including internet media, should not be looked at as a content production industry, but rather, as a lobby selection industry, which balances production subsidies with reader interest. In this manner it is analogous to the legislative economy which balances subsidies from political lobbies with electoral credulity.

But I leave you with a quote from Paine:

“We have it in our power to begin the world over again.”

And we will.

LETTER RE: IN DEBT WE TRUST:

Gavin Hooker writes: “I just wanted to say thanks to the people who worked so hard to create this documentary. I think that this film should be shown in all high school classes (especially senior classes!) because it really provides accurate and true information about the what debt is really all about & how it can control (and ruin) people’s lives. I am currently pursuing a masters degree and teaching credential. I will be teaching middle school & i hope to be able to show this film to my students in order to prepare them early on for the fusillade of credit card letters & ‘free, ZERO% interest’ credit cards they will be tempted by. I feel very strongly about this issue & i am so glad that this documentary has addressed it. Thank You for your hard work and efforts.

Thanks so much for this unsolicited and kind letter. For More info, see indebtwetrust.org

And speaking of which, here’s a FREE MUSIC OFFER—From Polar Levine who did the music for the film:

SOMETHING FREE AT THE PUMP

You want rice with that recession? The economy and everybody doggy-dog-paddling in it seem to be looking a bit droopy. You-mins eating in more and downloading (with money) less.

Danny Schechter’s documentary IN DEBT WE TRUST predicted this economic meltdown two years ago. And POLARITY/1’s songs for the film did as well.

As a consolation prize for what we’re being served (sans rice) by our United States of Debt — Polarity/1 is now offering FREE downloads of those songs — and more! http://www.polarity1.com/agitpop/index.php

Go get em and give em to friends. And get MAD.

Check out IN DEBT WE TRUST — the scariest movie of the century. http://www.indebtwetrust.com/ (Better hold the butter on the popcorn.)

That’s my take of the day’s nooze. I am off to celebrate with the We Are Family Foundation at their annual doo. Your comments welcome. Still looking for a web wizkid to help me update the way this blog works.

Applicants and comments to: Disssector@mediachannel.org