Imam Jamil Al Amin, aka H. Rap Brown

Jamil Al-Amin #99974-555, formerly known as H.Rap Brown, was wrongfully convicted in The State of Georgia and is being held at the federal facility, ADMAX, Florence, Colorado. Al-Amin was not convicted on federal charges. He has recently been diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma-cancer of the plasma cells. Join an Urgent Medical Campaign to move Al-Amin to a federal medical center which can give him the best attention for this particular rare cancer.

The Nancy Lockhart Show and Moorbey : Imam Jamil Al-Amin AKA H. Rap Brown – Urgent Call To Action

Check Out Legal Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio withTheNancyLockhartShow on BlogTalkRadio

URGENT CALL TO ACTION ****** MEDICAL UPDATE July 4, 2014 Imam Jamil Al-Amin Formerly H. Rap Brown

Medical Update And Urgent Call To Action

July 4, 2014 11:50 pm

Imam Jamil Al-Amin would like for all of his supporters to know that so far, test results show that he has been diagnosed with multiple myeloma - cancer of the plasma cells. He still has to have a bone marrow biopsy, which can determine the stage.

He would like to thank everyone who has assisted in making phone calls, writing letters and sending e-mails and is requesting that we all continue.

Please e-mail the following right now and request that he is moved to the best federal medical facility that can give him the best attention for this particular rare cancer.

Include his name and ID#: 
           Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin #99974-555

It is important to say, I am writing to request that Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin #99974-555 is moved from ADMAX, USP to the best federal medical facility that can give him the best attention for this particular rare cancer. 

•  E-mail:E-Mail BOP - Click here   Choose Florence ADMAX USP, in the next blank, include your e-mail address so that you receive a copy. Voice your request to move him to the best federal medical facility. Verify the symbols and then click submit. 

Please Call the following and request that he is moved to the best federal medical facility to receive comprehensive medical treatment: It is important to say, hello I am calling to request that Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin #99974-555 is moved from ADMAX, USP to the best federal medical facility that can give him the best attention for this particular rare cancer. 

• Federal Bureau of Prisons (202) 307-3198 Press #3 for Office of General Counsel and request that he is moved. You will be transferred to an individual to document the call. Pressing #7 and then #6 for Medical Services simply gives other recordings and was not as effective.

• Lisa Gregory, Director of Health Services for The North Central Region of the Federal Bureau of Prisons – telephone number - 913-621-3939. Press 0 (Zero) for the operator. Leave a message if necessary. 

• Please also Write:
  Director Charles Samuels
  Federal Bureau of Prisons
  320 First Street, NW
  Washington, DC 20534

URGENT: Call To Action

Please Continue With The Campaign To Request Moving 
The Imam To The Best Federal Medical Facility

Please contact the individuals below and request that Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin #99974-555

is moved to the best federal medical facility to receive comprehensive medical treatment. Please do not inquire about his health as that information cannot be provided to us. When contacting by phone, fax, or e-mail please use the following name and ID #:

Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin #99974-555. Please choose at least two of the methods below. I've completed all contacts. Be polite!!

• Federal Bureau of Prisons (202) 307-3198 Press #3 for Office of General Counsel and request that he is moved. They will transfer you to an individual to document the call. Pressing #7 for Medical Services simply gives other recordings.

• Lisa Gregory, Director of Health Services for The North Central Region of the Federal Bureau of Prisons – telephone number - 913-621-3939. Press 0 (Zero) for the operator. Leave a message if necessary.

• (http://www.bop.gov/inmates/concerns.jsp )Choose Florence ADMAX USP, in the next blank, include your e-mail address so that you receive a copy. Voice your concerns is the last box, please request that Jamil Al-Amin is moved in this box. Verify the symbols and then click submit.

• You may also write the Federal Bureau Of Prisons:
  Mr. Charles E. Samuels, Jr. 
  Federal Bureau of Prisons
  320 First Street, NW
  Washington, DC 20534

Correction: Assist Imam Al-Amin in getting moved to the best medical center available within the federal system.

This Is A Summary of visit by Imam Khalil with Imam Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin

The following was submitted as:  Summation of Recent Visit With Imam Jamil Al-Amin by Imam Khalil

Update: Wed, Jun 25, 2014 at 11:07 AM

Imam Jamil sends his greetings to all Muslims and to those who do good, to those he knows, and to those he does not know. 

He expresses his thankfulness, gratitude, and appreciation to everyone whose efforts have contributed to raising awareness to his declining health, and for the concern shown by the massive call in campaign.

His spiritual state is good, at an all-time high, and so is his mental state; it is a sharp as a tack.

However, his physical condition is steadily declining. He has lost as much as 30 pounds. His feet are still swollen, top and bottom, and painful. He is having difficulty walking and sleeping; he is weak, and he wakes up tired. He is still not available to exercise. He just sits and lays down, day in and day out. He has not seen an MD, nor an orthodontist; only a dentist, which is a general practioner, and an MDs assistant. He asks that everyone continue their humanitarian efforts to demand that he gets urgent and accurate medical treatment and to be transferred to a more suitable medical facility."

 The Struggle Continues.  Thank you. Imam Khalil

Mumia Abu-Jamal's Radio Essays: Imam Jamil Ailing

Mumia Abu-Jamal's Radio Essays: Imam Jamil Ailing


Update: June 23, 2014 7:15pm 

     I have been advised that Imam Jamil Al-Amin has had blood tests as well as, other medical tests completed. As of June 20, 2014 the results of those tests had not been received. 
     The Imam's current illness is a result of an untreated abscess (Gum Infection) which has poisoned his system. Please request that Jamil Al-Amin#99974-555 is moved To Butner Medical Center in North Carolina, where comprehensive medical treatment is available. 
    Do not inquire about his health as that information cannot be provided to us. When contacting by phone, fax, or e-mail please use the following name and ID #: Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin #99974-555.
     Be polite!! We do not want the prison to mistreat him because we have been rude. 

•  Lisa Gregory, Director of Health Services for The North Central Region of the Federal Bureau of Prisons – telephone number - 913-621-3939. Press 0 (Zero) for the operator. Leave a message if necessary.
•  Call the Warden At ADMAX – 719-784-9464 – Leave a message if necessary.

Use the following link for Inmate Concernshttp://www.bop.gov/inmates/concerns.jsp    

1. Choose Florence ADMAX USP
2. In the Second Space, Include Your E-mail Address
3. Voice Your Concerns and request that Jamil Al-Amin is Moved To Butner Medical Center in North Carolina

        You may also call and write the Federal             Bureau Of Prisons at:
         Federal Bureau of Prisons 
         320 First Street, 
         NW Washington, DC 20534 
         Phone: (202) 307-3198 

 Thank You. Nancy Lockhart, M.J.

Update 6/18/2014: Imam Jamil Al-Amin - H. Rap Brown

It has been brought to my attention that Imam Jamil Al-Amin has received medical tests on Thursday June 12, 2014 however; no information on whether or not he has seen a doctor as of yet.

Please continue to call, fax, e-mail and write

 CONTINUE TO CALL, WRITE, FAX: 

• Call and leave a message requesting a comprehensive medical exam -  for Jamil Al-Amin #99974-555          (719) 784-9464

•  E-mail a request to: FLM/ExecAssistant@bop.gov 

• Write And Fax The Warden – Include inmate name and ID number: Jamil Al-Amin #99974-555 - P.O. Box 8500 Florence, Colorado 81226

•  Fax (719) 784-5290

Is Imam Jamil Al Amin (H. Rap Brown) Near Death from lack of medical treatment in prison?

Imam Jamil Al Amin (H. Rap Brown)

Zoharah, I talked with Karima last night and she did not hear from

Jamil on any of designated times for him to call last week. We are

praying he will call today, one of designated days.  His attorneys are

working on a habeas corpus case to have him brought back to Georgia,

and am hoping Ramsey Clark can reach Holder, but holiday is barring

much progress.  Will keep you posted.  Connie

On 7/3/2014 11:03 PM, Simmons,Gwendolyn Delores wrote:

Dear colleagues,

Connie can you let us know if Karima heard from Jamil on Thursday,

Saturday of last week, or Tuesday  or Thursday of this week? Can she

call him? Who are his lawyers? Can't they call and get an update on

his health. Is it unusual for Karima not to get calls at least once a

week?

I like all of us am worried that the prison officials may know that he

is very ill and do not want us to know. Of course it could even be

worse.

If Bennie is not able to get an update on his health quickly, I feel

we need to do a full court press. This should include getting info to

Amy Goodman at Democracy Now, to Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Tavis

Smiley, the Red Cross, Amnesty International among others.

It seems that in view of Jamil's "silence," he might be seriously ill.

Perhaps a barrage of calls to the Prison and the Justice Department

would be a good thing to do. For everyone's information, Jimmy found

the numbers for the  Federal Bureau of Prisons and Attorney General

Holders's numbers, which I am including, which I am including here:

1). Federal Bureau of Prisons  - (202) 353-1555

2). U.S. Justice Dept/ Attorney Holder - (202) 514-2001.

The address for Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin is  Reg. No. 99974-555@www.bop.gov

I look,forward to hearing any updates of what we know about Jamil's status.

Zoharah

here:

Sent from my iPad

On Jul 3, 2014, at 12:15 PM, "Constance" <cw.curry@comcast.net> wrote:

Really appreciate everyone's response to this situation.  Am

suggesting we wait to hear from Bennie Thompson on Jamil's condition

and latest info on move before we mount our campaign which at some

point will also be to get him back to Ga. correction facilit. from

whence he was lifted by night seven years ago an taken to federal

underground in Florence, Colorado.  Thanks, Connie

On 7/3/2014 11:50 AM, James Garrett wrote:

Fannie and Zoharah:

I thank all of you who have and are now taking up the banner

to move Jamil to a safe medical facility.

I have shared with Barbara Lee's local office the scan received from Gwen.

If it is ok I will also push the text of Fannie Rushing's letter.

Finally, I suggest that a media platform may be available via Karen Finley

the MSNBC commentator who co-hosted the Dinner with Danny Glover..

If someone has contact Ms. Finley may be a useful pursuit to get Gwen or even

one of the Congress people on a larger platform.

Be Well, all

Aluta,

jimmy garrett

> From: FRushing@ben.edu

> To: zoharah@ufl.edu; cw.curry@comcast.net

> CC: docgarrett@hotmail.com; danharmeling@gmail.com; Kathysarachild@gmail.com; cald15@net.net

> Subject: RE: update

> Date: Thu, 3 Jul 2014 15:05:24 +0000

>

> Dear Connie and Zoharah,

>

> Connie, I just want to reaffirm what Zoharah has said. We all owe you a tremendous debt of gratitude for your selfless commitment to this issue. It is one that SNCC and others have lagged and drug their collective feet about. Zoharah, thank you for picking this up and getting us in movement. I know how busy and tired you are from all the work you have been engaged in during the past few months.

>

> I added Dorothy Dewberry to the email list. I am thinking it might be helpful to make little reports on what we are doing so that we do not duplicate and dissipate our energy.

>

> I have emailed Bobby Rush and will send him a copy of the signed letter. I will follow up with phone calls. If I do not hear back from him, I will find him this weekend while he is at home.

> I have contacted a friend who is the editor of "The Chicago Reporter". She called the prison and got a nonsense bill of goods. I explained that it was all nonsense and will send her the signed letter.

> I have sent the following to friends, Educators for Liberation, Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, Educators for Social Justice and Portside Monitor. Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, once known as H. Rap Brown, was chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in the 1960s and a advocate and fighter against injustice and for liberation.As part of this fight and a shooting incident with police in 2000, he was imprisoned in a maximum security prison in Georgia. In spite of this in 2007, he was transferred, in the middle of the night, to another maximum security prison in Colorado further from family and friends. All of this time, he has been held in solitary confinement and for the last seven years, confined in a underground facility in the prison. Iman Al-Amin has not received proper medical care . As a result, he has lost teeth, developed an infection, lost weight, has body bloating and respiratory problems. His treatment is an example of cruel and unusual punishment and an act of inhumanity in violation of the principles of the Geneva Conventions and the laws of humanity. This is not an appeal regarding the merits of his case. It is an appeal to express the same concern for undocumented immigrants, prisoners at Guantanamo and people in countless countries around the world engaged in human rights violations of this type. Please,Call, not write your congress people, media and friends. This is a matter of life or death. Ask for : immediate medical attention for inmate Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin (Reg.# 99974-555); his transfer to a different facility where his medical needs are more assured of being met, such as the prison medical facility located in Butner, North Carolina. Make CALLS TO:Charles E. Samuels Jr. the Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons 202-307-3198 #9 for Press Office.(DIRECT LINE: 202-307-3250) and to Lisa Gregory, Director of Health Services, North Central Region - 913-621-3939 .

> A Luta Continua, The Struggle is at home as well as abroad,

>

> Fannie Theresa Rushing

>

> I will continue to pursue Rush, Jessie Jackson and several local radio stations. I believe we should appeal to the United Nations and Amnesty International What do you al think? Do you think we should give ourselves a name so it does not seem as if we are just individuals?

>

> Fannie

> ________________________________________

> From: Simmons,Gwendolyn Delores [zoharah@ufl.edu]

> Sent: Thursday, July 03, 2014 8:24 AM

> To: Constance

> Cc: Rushing, Fannie; docgarrett@hotmail.com; dan harmeling; Kathy Sarachild; Simmons,Gwendolyn Delores

> Subject: Re: update

>

> Dear Connie,

>

> Thank You! You have never forgotten Jamil; we owe you for reminding us of what is being done to him. Dan Harmeling and Kathy Sarachild helped me get the packet out.

>

> I will mail both packets to you today.

>

> I will call about other ideas later today.

>

> I also got your phone message.

>

> Talk to you soon! Take good care and be well!

 Zoharah

On Jul 3, 2014, at 9:10 AM, "Constance" <cw.curry@comcast.net> wrote:

Zohorah, please forgive silence yesterday--phone problems--land and cell lines. You all are just unbelievable. Please send materials to me at 930 Myrtle Street, NE, Atlanta, Ga. 30309--you can send Karima's to me as well. No word on his health but Bennie Thompson working on getting a report. Will keep you up to date. love and gratitude, Connie

>

>

End the persecution of Imam Jamil Al-Amin By Askia Muhammad Senior Correspondent Updated Aug 14, 2007 - 10:51:00 AM

• Fight to free Jamil Al-Amin (FCN/Mumia Abu-Jamal, 11-20-2001)

Imam Jamil Al-Amin Photo: Getty Images ?What?s needed is more public awareness of the fact that he?s an innocent man. He?s a political prisoner who is serving time for a crime that he did not do. If he?s guilty, he?s guilty of fighting for the rights of African Americans and, fighting for the rights of Muslims. And trying to make America the democracy that it claims to be. Yeah, he?s guilty of that.? -Hodari Abdul-Ali Executive Director, The Imam Jamil Action Network

WASHINGTON (FinalCall.com) - From his jail cell on K-Block in the state prison at Reidsville, Ga., to his supporters all over the country—an unambiguous demand is being sounded for prison authorities and for the legal system itself, to end the unjust persecution of Imam Jamil Al-Amin.“My husband says he feels he has been sentenced two times. He has been sentenced for a crime, number one, that he did not commit and that someone has confessed to it, and confessed shortly after the incident. And he’s been sentenced by the Department of Corrections,” Karimah Al-Amin, wife of Imam Al-Amin, told The Final Call.
In March 2002, Imam Al-Amin was convicted of murdering a Fulton County, Georgia Sheriff’s Deputy and wounding another in an incident March 16, 2000. Mr. Al-Amin steadfastly maintains his innocence. His supporters insist that he was convicted not based on the evidence, but because he is a Muslim, because of his militant past and his former association with the Black Panther Party.
There is a consensus among Imam Al-Amin’s supporters that he was convicted long before the jury announced its verdict and that prosecutors intentionally ignored the truth in order to punish someone with whom Atlanta authorities have had a long-running feud.
Law enforcement officials “know they’ve got the wrong people, but as long as they can do it in the darkness, or as long as there’s no mass protest, then they can just say, ‘Hey. We got another leader off the streets. So what if he didn’t do it. We’ve been after him since the ’60s’ COINTELPRO,’” complained Hodari Abdul-Ali, executive director of the Imam Jamil Action Network.
“What’s needed is more public awareness of the fact that he’s an innocent man. He’s a political prisoner who is serving time for a crime that he did not do. If he’s guilty, he’s guilty of fighting for the rights of African Americans and, fighting for the rights of Muslims. And trying to make America the democracy that it claims to be. Yeah, he’s guilty of that,” said Mr. Abdul-Ali.
Imam Al-Amin’s second unjust sentence, his supporters insist, is his treatment in the Georgia prison system where he has been on 23-hour lock-down since 2002, despite many public complaints, even petitions from among the Muslim population at Reidsville that he join them for Jumu’ah prayers as their Imam.
He gets one hour out of the cell to shower and also to walk around, what is considered a ‘Dog Pen’ for exercises, according to Mrs. Al-Amin. Authorities even tried recently to humiliate him by passing his meals to him through a slot on the floor, his supporters pointed out. That practice was ended after many vocal complaints.
“The [Prison] Commissioner, when questioned on the phone [recently] by [Imam Al-Amin’s] brother Ed Brown, said, ‘We’ll consider [modifying his conditions] once the situation changes.’” said Sister Al-Amin. “He was asked, ‘What is the situation?’ He could not come up with anything. He doesn’t have any infractions against him. He would be considered a model prisoner anywhere else.”
And there is the fundamental injustice of his conviction, insists Imam Al-Amin’s wife. The Imam has been a target of government harassment since the 1960s when he was the leader of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). At that time he was known as H. Rap Brown and was known for militant civil rights rhetoric.
The fiery civil rights leader was singled out individually, by name, as a threat by FBI Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) agents. “Spiro Agnew, who was then governor of Maryland said: ‘Throw Brown in the jail and throw away the key,’” Nkechi Taifa, then Director of the Equal Justice Program at Howard University School of Law told The Final Call at the time of Imam Al-Amin’s trial in January 2002.
The facts in the case also strongly support Imam Al-Amin’s claims of innocence.
There was testimony during the trial that within minutes of the shootout March 16, 2000, in which deputy Ricky Kinchen died, a caller to Atlanta’s 911 Emergency Telephone line reported seeing a bleeding man a few blocks from the scene of the confrontation, begging motorists for a ride. That fact is important because both Deputy Kinchen and his partner, Aldranon English, claimed to have wounded their assailant.
There was also testimony of a trail of fresh blood leading from the scene to an abandoned house, which was not investigated by the police, according to Sister Al-Amin, and “the Imam’s fingerprints were not found on any firearm associated with the crime,” she wrote in The Weekly Mirror. When Imam Al-Amin was arrested three days after the shooting in White Hall, Alabama, after a massive manhunt, authorities were shocked that he had no injuries.
Prosecutors managed to stack the jury, said Mrs. Al-Amin, excluding Muslims, Black women who might be old enough to recall COINTELPRO involvement in civil rights and campus rights activities.
Another puzzling development is the recent appearance of an un-dated and unsigned letter, purportedly written by a Mr. Otis Jackson who in the typewritten letter identifies himself as Mr. Bey. In his confession letter, Mr. Bey writes: “I pulled out and opened fire with my 9 mm hand gun. I then went to my car and got my M-14 and fired off some rounds. Deputy Kinchen shot me two times in the arm so I shot him. I shot Deputy English as well. I remember standing over him and him telling me about his family, but I was upset and hurt and I hate cops so I shot him anyway.
“I got in my car, went to the home of [redacted] She along with [redacted] removed the bullet. One went in and came out. The one that was in there, they got it out. I went home, on the 17th or 18th I found out that they were looking for Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin. So I called my parole officer and told her what I had done,” the confession letter continues. “I was sent back to Vegas. I had to beg the FBI to investigate and I was told that I was not the one that they wanted. I was told that I should be honored that I had gotten away with killing a police.”
With such potentially convincing evidence available for his legal team, why is he still behind bars?
“That’s what we’re dealing with right now,” said Sister Al-Amin. “We’ve been in court in the county where he’s being held with a habeas corpus (petition). We have two new attorneys, not the original trial attorneys. We raised 14 grounds for reversal and for him to have a new trial,” she continued.
The plight of Imam Jamil Al-Amin is not new in the persecution of freedom fighters. We must not forget, and continue to organize and mobilize our community to support, defend, and with God’s help, gain the release of our Brother, another political prisoner, Mumia Abu-Jamal, who has been on death row in a Philadelphia, Pa. prison for the past 25 years.
Like the case of Imam Al-Amin, wicked forces do not desire to look at the truth of the evidence in his case that would free him.
The Final Call will continue to monitor, investigate and report on the legal proceedings of both cases involving Imam Jamil Al-Amin and Mumia Abu-Jamal.

• Emory Douglas

H. Rap Brown (Man with Match)

• poster
 
• work on paper

1967

• PAPER
 
• SCREEN PRINT

17.00 in HIGH x 22.00 in WIDE
(43.18 cm HIGH x 55.88 cm WIDE)

All Of Us Or None Archive. Fractional and promised gift of The Rossman Family.

2010.54.2906

inscription: Lower right corner of drawing has: "Emory". Verso upper left corner has handwritten: "New Day 12/82" and "to Rlebleck".

Tag words:

• figure ~ male
 
• fire
 
• match
 
• riot
 
• sunglasses

• poster
 
• work on paper
 

• Art
 
• History
 

• african american
 
• ethnicity and race

Poster is printed in black ink on white paper. Poster has a drawing of H. Rap Brown figure, shown from the shoulders up he is wearing black sunglasses and has a mustache. Brown is looking at a lit match he is holding between the finger and thumb of his left hand. H. Rap Brown (later known as Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin) was a civil rights activist associated with the rallying call "Burn, Baby, Burn." [LMC]

© 2014 Oakland Museum of California

Court Denies Damages for Oscar Grant's Father

Federal Jury Denies Damages For Oscar Grant’s Incarcerated FatherReported by Andrew Scot Bolsinger

Oscar Grant Jr., father of the man who was shot and killed by a Bay Area Rapid Transit officer in the first hours of New Years Day 2009 in Oakland, Calif., was denied damages by a federal jury on Thursday.

The jury found that the father—who had been in prison all of his son’s life—failed to show he had a close familial relationship with his son and failed to prove the officer intentionally harmed his son for reasons “unrelated to legitimate law-enforcement objectives,” according to recent reports.

Grant III was shοt in the back and killed, while laying on the ground in a crowded BART station, by transit police officer Johannes Mehserle. The final day of Grant III’s life was portrayed in the independent, award-winning film Fruitvale Station.

The incident was captured on numerous cellphone video cameras by other train passengers, prompting protests and riots and outraging much of the nation.

Mehserle was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in a 2010 criminal trial, and was released from a Los Angeles County jail in June 2011 after receiving credit for time served.

A year after the incident, BART reached a civil settlement with those closely connected to Grant III and the incident. Grant III’s young daughter, Tatiana, received $1.5 millon and his mother Wanda another $1.3 million in settlements. BART also awarded $175,000 to each of Grant III’s five friends who were with Grant when he was shot. BART did not settle with Grant Jr., whose case went to trial in June.

“The man was killed in cold blood: No ifs, ands or buts about it,”  Grant Jr., said during his testimony, according to the Oakland Tribune. “I don’t care how they say it, it was not an accident.

“They took the most precious thing in the world to me—my only child,” said Grant Jr., 50.

The jury was aware that Grant Jr. was serving time in Solano state prison, but was not told any details of his criminal record—nor the details of Grant III’s own arrests and convictions before his death, according to published reports.

As described by the local newspaper’s coverage of the story, the spectators in the courtroom could hear Grant Jr.’s leg shackles as he walked to and from the witness stand dressed in a gray suit, blue shirt, and multicolored tie.

Grant Jr. told the jury he filed the lawsuit out of a respect for his son. He said he wants to help take care of his granddaughter Tatiana and he wants the chance to pay restitution for his own crimes.

“I’ve already paid for my crime, I’d like to give back to the community,” said Grant Jr., who according to a trial brief filed by his lawyer expects to be paroled in the next couple years after four prior denials by the state parole board.

During cross examination about the depth of his relationship with his son, Grant Jr. grew combative, according to the Tribune. Grant Jr. could not answer questions about whether his son played high school sports, whether he knew his granddaughter’s birthday, his son’s friends’ names, or whether Grant III had a job.

“What does my prison record have to do with your officer killing my son, shooting my son in the back?” Grant Jr. said during the trial.

Grant Jr. said Grant III last visited him in prison in 2002, and he last spoke to his son three days before his Jan. 1, 2009 death.

The jury deliberated a day before choosing to deny Grant Jr.’s claim that Mehserle’s intentional shooting of his son deprived him of a previous existing relationship that involved deep attachments and commitments to one another, and the sharing of special community of thoughts, experiences and beliefs, according to published reports.

Source

Andrew Scot Bolsinger won more than two dozen press awards during his journalism career. He is a freelance writer, author and operateswww.criminalu.co, which is focused on prison reform. He can reached at Andrew.Bolsinger@gmail.comand can be followed

John Coltrane - Giant steps full jazz album

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue - 1959 (Complete Album)

John Coltrane Blue Train Full Album

K. Michelle - Can't Raise A Man (Official Music Video)

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass - AudioBook

James Earl Jones Reads Frederick Douglass July Fourth Speech

"The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro"

Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. They were great men, too Ñ great enough to give frame to a great age. It does not often happen to a nation to raise, at one time, such a number of truly great men. The point from which I am compelled to view them is not, certainly, the most favorable; and yet I cannot contemplate their great deeds with less than admiration. They were statesmen, patriots and heroes, and for the good they did, and the principles they contended for, I will unite with you to honor their memory....

...Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? and am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?

Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions! Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. For who is there so cold, that a nation's sympathy could not warm him? Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Who so stolid and selfish, that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nation's jubilee, when the chains of servitude had been torn from his limbs? I am not that man. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the "lame man leap as an hart."

But such is not the state of the case. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common.ÑThe rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day? If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. And let me warn you that it is dangerous to copy the example of a nation whose crimes, towering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrevocable ruin! I can to-day take up the plaintive lament of a peeled and woe-smitten people!

"By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Yea! we wept when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there, they that carried us away captive, required of us a song; and they who wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How can we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, 0 Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth."

Fellow-citizens, above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, to-day, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. If I do forget, if I do not faithfully remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, "may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth!" To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs, and to chime in with the popular theme, would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world. My subject, then, fellow-citizens, is American slavery. I shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slave's point of view. Standing there identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine, I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this 4th of July! Whether we turn to the declarations of the past, or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous and revolting. America.is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will, in the name of humanity which is outraged, in the name of liberty which is fettered, in the name of the constitution and the Bible which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery Ñ the great sin and shame of America! "I will not equivocate; I will not excuse"; I will use the severest language I can command; and yet not one word shall escape me that any man, whose judgment is not blinded by prejudice, or who is not at heart a slaveholder, shall not confess to be right and just.

But I fancy I hear some one of my audience say, "It is just in this circumstance that you and your brother abolitionists fail to make a favorable impression on the public mind. Would you argue more, an denounce less; would you persuade more, and rebuke less; your cause would be much more likely to succeed." But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? That point is conceded already. Nobody doubts it. The slaveholders themselves acknowledge it in the enactment of laws for their government. They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. There are seventy-two crimes in the State of Virginia which, if committed by a black man (no matter how ignorant he be), subject him to the punishment of death; while only two of the same crimes will subject a white man to the like punishment. What is this but the acknowledgment that the slave is a moral, intellectual, and responsible being? The manhood of the slave is conceded. It is admitted in the fact that Southern statute books are covered with enactments forbidding, under severe fines and penalties, the teaching of the slave to read or to write. When you can point to any such laws in reference to the beasts of the field, then I may consent to argue the manhood of the slave. When the dogs in your streets, when the fowls of the air, when the cattle on your hills, when the fish of the sea, and the reptiles that crawl, shall be unable to distinguish the slave from a brute, then will I argue with you that the slave is a man!

For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. Is it not astonishing that, while we are ploughing, planting, and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical tools, erecting houses, constructing bridges, building ships, working in metals of brass, iron, copper, silver and gold; that, while we are reading, writing and ciphering, acting as clerks, merchants and secretaries, having among us lawyers, doctors, ministers, poets, authors, editors, orators and teachers; that, while we are engaged in all manner of enterprises common to other men, digging gold in California, capturing the whale in the Pacific, feeding sheep and cattle on the hill-side, living, moving, acting, thinking, planning, living in families as husbands, wives and children, and, above all, confessing and worshipping the Christian's God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave, we are called upon to prove that we are men!

Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? that he is the rightful owner of his own body? You have already declared it. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? Is that a question for Republicans? Is it to be settled by the rules of logic and argumentation, as a matter beset with great difficulty, involving a doubtful application of the principle of justice, hard to be understood? How should I look to-day, in the presence of Amercans, dividing, and subdividing a discourse, to show that men have a natural right to freedom? speaking of it relatively and positively, negatively and affirmatively. To do so, would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer an insult to your understanding. There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven that does not know that slavery is wrong for him.

What, am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their mastcrs? Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood, and stained with pollution, is wrong? No! I will not. I have better employment for my time and strength than such arguments would imply.

What, then, remains to be argued? Is it that slavery is not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? There is blasphemy in the thought. That which is inhuman, cannot be divine! Who can reason on such a proposition? They that can, may; I cannot. The time for such argument is passed.

At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. O! had I the ability, and could reach the nation's ear, I would, to-day, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced.

What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy -- a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages.There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour.

Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the Old World, travel through South America, search out every abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me, that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival....


...Allow me to say, in conclusion, notwithstanding the dark picture I have this day presented, of the state of the nation, I do not despair of this country. There are forces in operation which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery. "The arm of the Lord is not shortened," and the doom of slavery is certain. I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. While drawing encouragement from "the Declaration of Independence," the great principles it contains, and the genius of American Institutions, my spirit is also cheered by the obvious tendencies of the age. Nations do not now stand in the same relation to each other that they did ages ago. No nation can now shut itself up from the surrounding world and trot round in the same old path of its fathers without interference. The time was when such could be done. Long established customs of hurtful character could formerly fence themselves in, and do their evil work with social impunity. Knowledge was then confined and enjoyed by the privileged few, and the multitude walked on in mental darkness. But a change has now come over the affairs of mankind. Walled cities and empires have become unfashionable. The arm of commerce has borne away the gates of the strong city. Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of the globe. It makes its pathway over and under the sea, as well as on the earth. Wind, steam, and lightning are its chartered agents. Oceans no longer divide, but link nations together. From Boston to London is now a holiday excursion. Space is comparatively annihilated. -- Thoughts expressed on one side of the Atlantic are distinctly heard on the other.

The far off and almost fabulous Pacific rolls in grandeur at our feet. The Celestial Empire, the mystery of ages, is being solved. The fiat of the Almighty, "Let there be Light," has not yet spent its force. No abuse, no outrage whether in taste, sport or avarice, can now hide itself from the all-pervading light. The iron shoe, and crippled foot of China must be seen in contrast with nature. Africa must rise and put on her yet unwoven garment. 'Ethiopia, shall, stretch. out her hand unto Ood." In the fervent aspirations of William Lloyd Garrison, I say, and let every heart join in saying it:

God speed the year of jubilee
The wide world o'er!
When from their galling chains set free,
Th' oppress'd shall vilely bend the knee,
And wear the yoke of tyranny
Like brutes no more.
That year will come, and freedom's reign,
To man his plundered rights again
Restore.

God speed the day when human blood
Shall cease to flow!
In every clime be understood,
The claims of human brotherhood,
And each return for evil, good,
Not blow for blow;
That day will come all feuds to end,
And change into a faithful friend
Each foe.

God speed the hour, the glorious hour,
When none on earth
Shall exercise a lordly power,
Nor in a tyrant's presence cower;
But to all manhood's stature tower,
By equal birth!
That hour will come, to each, to all,
And from his Prison-house, to thrall
Go forth.

Until that year, day, hour, arrive,
With head, and heart, and hand I'll strive,
To break the rod, and rend the gyve,
The spoiler of his prey deprive --
So witness Heaven!
And never from my chosen post,
Whate'er the peril or the cost,
Be driven.




The Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass, Volume II
Pre-Civil War Decade 1850-1860
Philip S. Foner
International Publishers Co., Inc., New York, 1950