Genarlow Wilson will soon be FREE

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ji6SjalKvSRT9XF0pDrDqttM-VxQD8SGVBIG0

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia's Supreme Court on Friday ordered the release of a young man who has been imprisoned for more than two years for having consensual oral sex with another teenager.
The court ruled 4-3 that Genarlow Wilson's 10-year sentence was cruel and unusual punishment.
Wilson, 21, was convicted of aggravated child molestation following a 2003 New Year's Eve party at a Douglas County hotel room where he was videotaped having oral sex with a 15-year-old girl. He was 17 at the time.
Wilson was acquitted of raping another 17-year-old girl at the party.
The 1995 law Wilson violated was changed in 2006 to make oral sex between teens close in age a misdemeanor, similar to the law regarding teen sexual intercourse. But the state Supreme Court later upheld a lower court's ruling which said that the 2006 law could not be applied retroactively.
Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears wrote in the majority opinion that the changes in the law "represent a seismic shift in the legislature's view of the gravity of oral sex between two willing teenage participants."
Sears wrote that the severe punishment makes "no measurable contribution to acceptable goals of punishment" and that Wilson's crime did not rise to the "level of adults who prey on children."
The state Supreme Court had turned down Wilson's appeal of his conviction and sentence, but the justices agreed to hear the state's appeal of a Monroe County judge's decision to reduce Wilson's sentence to 12 months and free him. That judge had called the 10-year sentence a "grave miscarriage of justice."
Dissenting justices wrote that the state Legislature expressly stated that the 2006 change in the law was not intended to affect any crime prior to that date.
They said Wilson's sentence could not be cruel and unusual because the state Legislature decided that Wilson could not benefit from subsequent laws reducing the severity of the crime from a felony to a misdemeanor.
They called the decision an "unprecedented disregard for the General Assembly's constitutional authority."
A spokeswoman for Wilson's lawyer said his legal team received no advance notice of the decision.

Woman sets herself on fire

A woman set herself on fire to protest racism. I am not sure how you can protest something such as racism by setting yourself on fire. What will you prove? After reading this article, it seems like she may have been simply trying to commit suicide due to financial troubles. It doesn't matter how bad life is, doing something so extreme (especially to yourself) will not help your cause. The pictures are pretty graphic.

http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/7134/02kongofire49055fs8.jpg

http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/5536/01kongofire91570hf1.jpg

http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/3636/04kongofire63744da9.jpg

The horrifying sight which traumatized shoppers and office workers in the centre of Luxembourg City last week has now been labelled as a protest against racism. The Belgian woman of Congolese origin who set herself alight in the middle of Place d’Armes told witnesses that she was doing it to protest against racism, moments before she carried out the desperate act which has left her in hospital fighting for her life.

Maggy Delvaux-Mufu, a mother of three in her forties, alerted several national newspapers late on Tuesday morning last week that she would be burning herself alive on place des Martyrs at 12.45 am, before setting out accompanied by her husband to walk through the centre of town to her macabre rendezvous. The police were alerted and officers were deployed to the Rousegärtchen.

But the woman changed her plan when she came across a group of journalists gathered to cover an event organised by the ‘Mouvement écologique’ on Place d’Armes, opposite the Cercle municipal. She soaked herself in petrol before confronting the members of the press, announcing that she was about to sacrifice her life to protest against racism. Moments later, she struck a match, turning herself into a human torch in front of hundreds of people.

Delvaux-Mufu’s husband and passers-by jumped on the burning body, attempting to stifle the flames with coats and jackets. The scene made several people feel unwell and many witnesses who filled the square at lunchtime were traumatised by the woman’s shrieking screams of unimaginable pain. The flames were already extinguished when police, rescue services and the fire brigade arrived at the scene. One person is reported to have vomited after seeing the woman being transported into an ambulance. The events in Place d’Armes have also started a controversy regarding the authorities’ lack of psychological support for witnesses.

Delvaux-Mufu was taken to the Bon Secours hospital in Metz, where she is being treated in a specialised ward for burns and is fighting for her life. Grand Duchess Maria Teresa visited the woman and her family at the hospital last week.

RTL television was the first to run a news flash about the incident on its website on Tuesday afternoon last week. 352 reported the bulletin in its news in brief section, shortly before going to print. Events preceding the incident only came to light later on in the week.

The 42-year-old Belgian citizen and her husband had been facing financial difficulties. They had recently indebted themselves by buying a Citroën garage in Oberwampach, before realising they were missing the documents that would allow them to set up a business. Delvaux-Mufu wrote a letter to Le Jeudi recounting her story of bureaucratic difficulties and economic despair. “I’m against all forms of violence, but day after day, my family and I have to endure moral violence, discrimination, insults and much more from Mr Juncker’s administration”, she said in the letter published last week.

Money problems had driven the woman to desperately plead her case at the Prime minister’s office early on the same day of the incident. Her threat to burn herself alive on Place des Martyrs after being turned away by the authorities caused government officials to contact the police. A city-wide search was organised, but nobody could foresee the woman would change her plans."


SO, what do YOU think? Was she really protesting racism, or was there something more to it?

Source: http://www.mediatakeout.com/14109/shocker_african_women_protests_racism_-_by_setting_herself_on_fire_photos.html

~Traycee~

Anything to keep him in jail??? Bell ordered BACK to jail!

A black Louisiana teenager at the center of the racially charged "Jena 6" case was ordered Thursday to spend 18 months in a juvenile facility, after a judge ruled he had violated his probation for earlier juvenile convictions, a source with knowledge of the court proceedings said.

Mychal Bell, 17, who was freed two weeks ago after his adult criminal conviction for beating a white classmate last December was overturned, was sent to the Renaissance Home for Youth in Alexandria, Louisiana, the source said.

The decision came at the end of a two-day juvenile court hearing that was closed to the media and public.

Carol Powell-Lexing, one of Bell's attorneys, said the judge's decision would be appealed.
Bell was freed on $45,000 bail on September 27, after an appeals court threw out his conviction on battery and conspiracy charges in adult court and remanded the case to juvenile court.

But Judge J.P. Mauffrey agreed with prosecutors that Bell had violated the probation he was given for four previous juvenile offices, including two simple battery charges, the sources said. Bell had been placed on probation until he turned 18.

Civil rights activist Al Sharpton, who has championed Bell's case, denounced Thursday's decision as "revenge" by the judge and called on Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco to intervene.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/10/11/bell.jail/index.html

It's time to hoot and holler!!!

Mychal Bell has been FREED on bail!!! What a joyous day today is! And, if I may say......he looked damn good as he set foot out of that courthouse. I cried some good tears, I'll tell ya that.

But, I must ask....why must ONE fool try and destroy something good? In case you haven't heard by now, the district attorney said the following: "The only way _ let me stress that _ the only way that I believe that me or this community has been able to endure the trauma that has been thrust upon us is through the prayers of the Christian people who have sent them up in this community." Seriously, what kind of ignorance is that? To make it worse, he was terribly serious in what he was saying.

I don't want this blog to focus on the negative. I want to focus on the positive....MYCHAL BELL IS A FREE MAN................for now. We shall see what happens when this case is taken to juevenile court.

Sidenote: I know I've been lax on my postings. There's just so much to write about in such little time. But beware, when I do get caught up on my postings, you will have a lot to read.

I look forward to your comments. Be blessed and be safe people.

http://www.comcast.net/news/index.jsp?cat=GENERAL&fn=/2007/09/27/774477.html&cvqh=itn_jena

~Traycee~

Solidarity

I must say, it really warmed my heart to see so many of my brothers & sisters dressed in their best black outfits today. This was such an important day in our history books, and I was just proud. Whenever I saw someone dressed in black we gave each other a look in the eyes, a smile, and we continued our walk to destinations only known to each of us.

I saw races other than blacks wearing their black clothing as well. I do have a confession to make: while at lunch with a coworker, we both wondered aloud if those who weren't of African American decent and were wearing black were wearing it for the same reason that we were. Now, I know that this thought should not have crossed my mind, but I honestly couldn't help it. Actually, neither of us could help it. While we sat in the window of the fast food place eating our lunch, we talked about people as they walked by and we contemplated their reasoning for wearing black. It seems like we automatically knew of the reason for Black folks wearing black, but what were other people's reasons?

Were they taking a stand against the racial inequality going down in Jena? Or, was it the last of their clean suits in their closets and they simply had nothing else to wear?

Whatever their reason, whatever ANYONE'S reason...I was still happy! I was on the verge of tears a few times. Even my fellow bloggers who are as far away as Texas and the Bahamas were wearing black today. I just felt so damn proud!
Our family decended upon Jena, La. today and made a HUGE statement! In a peaceful, NON-VIOLENT protest, they made a statement. As I'm sitting here listening to The Michael Baisden show, Mychal Bell's father just finished talking and he said there's a strong possibility that Mychal will be out of jail tomorrow by noon, CST. I cried. While our fight is no where near over, WE ARE BEING HEARD!!! WE ARE BEING HEARD!!! WE ARE BEING HEARD!!!!!!!!!!!

I've always been PROUD of being a black woman! But I'll be damned if I'm not ECSTATIC today. If you could just feel the joy in my heart..........MY GOD!!!

~Traycee~

Support the Jena 6

If you are aware of the racial injustice that is happening down in Jena, La. and would like to show your support for these young men, do not forget to join in on the silent protest by wearing ALL BLACK tomorrow. If someone asks you who died, simply tell them it was the justice system.

For those of you who are unaware of the Jena Six situation, please visit the following sites to get some background information on it.

http://www.jenasix.org/
http://traycee-jackson.blogspot.com/2007/07/jena-six.html
http://www.whileseated.org/photo/003244.shtml
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/10/1413220
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/03/AR2007080302098.html

You can also do a Google search on "jena 6" and a ton of results will come back. Click on any of those links for information.

~Traycee~

Jena Six Update - Correction

Mychal Bell has not been freed. He is in fact still in jail. His lawyers are trying their best to get him out of jail while the prosecutors ponder on whether to bring new charges against him in a juvenile court.

I will keep you all updated!

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/14/jena.six/index.html

~Traycee~