Let Troy Davis Speak

NAACP President Ben Jealous just sent out the following message:

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Dear Wayne,

A few hours ago, I met with Troy Davis on death row.

As you know, he is facing the death penalty in Georgia for killing a police officer -- but since his trial, seven out of nine witnesses have recanted or contradicted their testimony. And with no physical evidence to link him to the crime, it is likely he is innocent.

Besides the fact that Troy is facing execution for a crime that he may not have committed, he also told me that he is being denied the right to speak out on his own behalf despite the fact that others in his position are allowed to do so.

Please contact Commissioner Brian Owens of the Georgia Department of Corrections to demand that he remove the gag order on Troy Davis.

In my meeting with Troy, I discovered that 60 Minutes, Dateline, and the Associated Press have all been denied media access to Troy. When Georgia won't let the media talk to the accused man, it is a flagrant abuse of his First Amendment rights.

In fact, the case of Troy Davis highlights how broken our criminal justice system is... and why we must reform it. Today, more than 60% of the people in prison are people of color. African Americans make up more than 40% of those on death row. This summer, the NAACP will launch a campaign to reform our country's criminal justice system with the goal of making our communities safer, improving police performance, saving money, and keeping more of our young men and women out of prison. But Troy can't wait for this summer. We need your help now.

An innocent man may be executed. You and I must work together to reform our country's criminal justice system, and we must start by saving the life of one man. Please contact Commissioner Brian Owens of the Georgia Department of Corrections today and demand he give Troy the right to speak.

Benjamin Todd Jealous
President and CEO
NAACP

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I've sent my online petition. I also shared the information with my Twitter followers. Will you join us in this effort to change the policy enacted by the Georgia Department of Corrections?

NAACP to Erie Police: 'Slap on the Wrist is not Enough'

Villagers will note that we reported on the disgusting video of Erie police officer James Cousins last week. Our interest was piqued by his reference to taser abuse. However, the inhumane way in which he talks about the mother of a slain Black man in his town brought on the wrath of the NAACP.

NAACP president Ben Jealous shared the following update with us:

Dear Wayne,

I have an update on the Erie police scandal that I wrote to you about yesterday.

James Cousins II, the officer caught on the YouTube video making fun of a homicide victim and his grief-stricken mother, has been suspended for 10 days without pay. And he's been ordered to complete alcohol counseling.

It's a slap on the wrist. And it's not enough.

To add insult to injury, the Erie police department issued a badly written, typo-filled letter of apology to the victim's mother. And there has not yet been an apology from the mayor or police chief.

But, the good news is that the pressure that you, the NAACP, and thousands of other NAACP supporters put on the mayor of Erie, Pennsylvania is working. The officer's punishment for his inappropriate and shocking behavior has been increased. And we won't let up until the mayor orders an independent investigation into the practices and policies of the Erie police department -- a department with a history of racial bias and discrimination.

We've also requested that Attorney General Holder ask the Department of Justice to conduct a thorough investigation into the pattern and practices of the Erie Police Department.

I know that like me, you are committed to seeing justice done in this case. But more than this single case, together we must work towards highlighting the unfair and biased policing in our communities.

The NAACP is committed to ending racial profiling and curbing police brutality and other forms of unequal justice for African Americans and Latinos.

Thank you for standing with us,

Benjamin Todd Jealous
President and CEO
NAACP

What say u?

NAACP Leaders Talk with Black Bloggers

NAACP President Ben Jealous has been engaged in the Vote Hard Bus Tour going through four states down south. However, he took time yesterday to continue his dialogue with Black bloggers. Garlin Gilchrest II, Chris Rabb and I were the bloggers on this month's conference call. You can see summary of last month's call here.

NAACP leaders introduced to us by President Jealous included Rev. William Barber (North Carolina), Chris Smitherman (Cincinnati) and Angela Ciccolo (NAACP General Counsel).

Here are the highlights from the call:

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Rev. William Barber (NAACP North Carolina Conference) - He shared history of the 'early voting' initiative that began two years ago in North Carolina. This year the state has 15 sites open for Sunday voting. Over 1.2 million NC residents have voted already ... 400,000 of them are African American. Over 6,500 Charlotte citizens voted this past Sunday. Two voter suppression challenges that NAACP NC Conference dealt with recently involved (a) out-of-state college students registered to vote in NC and (b) ex-felon voting rights. Finally, Rev. Barber encouraged everyone to check out the Million Voting March information in print and video.

Chris Smitherman (NAACP Cincinnati Branch) -President Smitherman highlighted the importance of early voting by spending the night in order to be the first person to cast a vote in Hamilton County. Over 15,600 citizens followed his lead as of yesterday. The goal is to have over 25,000 early voters in Hamilton County. He noted that Hamilton County went to Pres. Bush in the 2004 election cycle by only 27,000 votes. NAACP worked with a number of strategic partners including the Greater Cincinnati Urban League, Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS), SEIU and others in a variety of early voting efforts. CPS provided two busses to help get 18-year old high school seniors to voting booths! NAACP Cincinnati Branch wants citizens to 'own the ballot'. As such, the branch is actively promoting support for local ballot initiatives.

Angela Ciccola (NAACP Headquarters) - She acknowledged the powerful work being done by local branch and state leaders such as Barber and Smitherman. She pointed out that the NAACP is aggressively fighting voter suppression and voter intimidation situations in places like Lake County (IN), Indianapolis (IN) and Virginia.

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NAACP has a number of election 'watch parties' taking place next Tuesday night. I imagine that most NAACP members and supporters will be watching the election results next Tuesday all over the country.

I understand that the issue of the NAACP Youth Entrepreneurship Institute will be on the agenda for our call next month. NAACP would like to see more bloggers of African descent on these monthly conference calls. Let me know if you're interested and I'll forward your information on to them so you will be notified.

Save the NAACP Youth Entrepreneurship Institute

This is an 'Open Letter to NAACP President Ben Jealous'. I invite everyone to voice their own thoughts in the COMMENTS section below. My hope is that we will receive some type of response from Mr. Jealous himself over time.

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Dear President Jealous:

The Electronic Village offers our sincere congratulations on your appointment as President and CEO of the NAACP. The afrosphere stands ready to assist you in any way we can. Black bloggers are optimistic about the outreach that you have made to our online community. Your recent conference calls displayed the power of working cooperatively, thus, serving notice that the NAACP will stand for equity in the public arena, fairness in the corporate sector, and impartial treatment in the criminal justice system.

After talking with you last week I took a deeper look at the NAACP website. It gave me great hope to learn about the Reginald Lewis Youth Entrepreneurship Institute (YEI). For over five years I ran a small business incubator here in Cincinnati. As such, I know the power of entrepreneurship ... especially in these volatile economic times when unemployment is sweeping through the Black community.

You can imagine how disappointed I am to learn that you have decided to cancel this valuable youth entrepreneuship program.

Learning how to become entrepreneurs is so vital to our children and the future they face. It would be wonderful to see such a program located here in Cincinnati. Our town was recently named by Entrepreneur Magazine as a region with three of the top 25 college entrepreneurship programs, University of Cincinnati, Xavier University, and Miami University (Oxford, Ohio), not to mention an outstanding program at Northern Kentucky University just a cross the Ohio River from Cincinnati as well.

In addition, our school board created an entrepreneurship high school eight years ago. Also, our city is the home of a powerful brother, Jim Clingman, who advocates for economic empowerment and youth entrepreneurship in his nationally syndicated newspaper column.

Mr. Jealous, the YEI Program would be a great asset to Cincinnati, as it has been to other cities, and this is a request for your reconsideration of maintaining the program as an individual offering of the NAACP.

Thank you in advance for your courteous consideration of this request.

Sincerely,
Villager, blogger
Electronic Village
Member: The AfroSpear

NAACP Prez Ben Jealous and Black Bloggers Talk About Voters, Foreclosures and Much More

Villagers recall that I questioned the relevance of the NAACP last year.

I no longer question the relevance of the organization. First, one of my colleagues in The AfroSpear is president of the NAACP Wichita Branch and his consistent advocacy on the part of our people is beyond reproach. Second, I've seen the continued evolution of the NAACP Cincinnati Branch as it relates to matters of economic development as well as social justice.

However, I was still surprised to receive invitation to join NAACP president Ben Jealous on a conference call he wanted to hold with some members of the afrosphere. African American Political Pundit and the Super Spade were other bloggers on the call. Mr. Jealous had Hilary Shelton (DC Bureau Director), Carla Sims (Communications) and Nicole Hayes (Media Relations) on the call from the NAACP.

Mr. Jealous indicated that he wants to create a more direct connection with Black people through the evolving blogger networks. He wants to see NAACP use more Web 2.0 tools to communicate with his stakeholders.

The four topics Mr. Jealous wanted to update us on included:

1. 2008 Presidential Election - NAACP effort to register voters as part of the 'Upload to Uplift' initiative was a success. 17,288 people registered to vote via this online project at the time of our call. Mr. Jealous noted that he planned to be in North Carolina in the coming week to encourage early voting. I was pleased to learn that he planned to contact the #1-ranked Black blogger, Pam Spaulding, during his visit to North Carolina.


2. Black Radio - NAACP wrote FCC Chairman Kevin Martin to ask that the FCC investigate Arbitron's Portable People Meter (PPM) methodology. Jealous says the PPM methodology "dramatically undercounts and misrepresents the listening habits of racial and ethnic minorities -- so much so that the continuing viability of minority radio stations is seriously threatened."


3. Foreclosure Crisis - Evidently, the NAACP has been knee-deep in this issue since 2007 when it became apparent that 52% of the African American families with subprime mortgages purchased in 2005 were likely to be in foreclosure by 2009. NAACP expressed concern about predatory lendors and shysters that underplayed the balloon payments and interest-rate escalators. NAACP is monitoring how the Treasury Department implements the $700 billion bailout plan to ensure that African Americans families benefit as much as others. African American Political Pundit asked the NAACP to take a look at the contracts purchased with the $700 billion funds to ensure that 8(a) and MBE-certified corporations get a chance to compete whenever possible.


4. Texas Visit - Mr. Jealous noted that he was heading to Texas this weekend. He planned to meet with NAACP members and leaders impacted by Hurricane Ike. He also wanted to get a first-hand account of the Brandon McClelland case in Paris, TX. We asked him to keep us informed of his findings.

The conference call ended with discussions about NAACP getting onto Twitter and such.

Overall, I found Bro. Jealous to be well-informed and willing to empower his staff. Also, the mere idea that he wants to engage with the afrosphere (Black bloggers) is a powerful indication that he "gets it" when it comes to leading a large organization in the 21st century.

I look forward to future discussions between the NAACP and Ben Jealous. Villagers, let me know if you have issues you want covered at the next conference call between NAACP and Black bloggers.