World AIDS Day

I really wanted to share a couple personal stories about how HIV/AIDS has effected my life. But I'm still not ready to write about it. Maybe next year.

Instead, here are a few links and resources:

I joined Link & Think after reading about the idea on Anil's site. The idea is the 'net equivalent of A Day Without Art.

Earlier this week I posted a Times article about Rev. Darius Prigden getting tested for HIV in front of his congregation. It has sparked some inquiries via comments and I hope to have an update within the next couple of weeks. BTW, thanks for the wonderful comments Donald.

Do check out the Black Stripe, the greatest resource for "Same Gender Loving, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered People of the African Diaspora" on the 'net. Must reads on the site includes: a tribute to Essex Hemphill, "a writer, poet, performance artist, editor and activist who helped energize the Black gay movement," and a very intriguing read, AIDS in the Gospel Choir,which discusses the issue of SGL/Gay members of the church (with two sidebars). Do read the site for other resources, articles and information.

FYI from an email list I belong to:

In honor of World AIDS Day, Illuminations will do their thing at Canaan Baptist Church of Christ, 132 West 116th Street (Between Malcolm X and A. C. Powell, Jr. Blvds.) in Harlem at 3:00 p.m. Illuminations is directed by Prof. Gregory Payne, who formerly directed Lavender Light.

Lavender Light will be doing their thing at the Brooklyn Museum.

More to come, I hope, throughout the day and in the coming days and weeks. Please feel free to share your stories, comments and ideas around the issue.

WAD Blogs

Blogs/sites that I read on a regular (or semi-regular) basis that have posted World AIDS Day stories and/or info:

Donald — some of his resources are: People of Color in Crisis, Us Helping Us, TheBody.com

Anil
ej
George
j.
James
Jason
jonno
kd
Keith (no permalinks — look for the Dec. 1st entry w. corresponding links)
Ultra Sparky

The Balm In Gilead
Africana.com
The Black World Today
WIRED News

Closer & Closer to Justice?

Two quickies leading up to Thurday's ruling in the Central Park 5 Case:

Prosecutors reviewing the convictions of five teenagers in the 1989 rape and beating of a Central Park jogger are also considerating tossing out their convictions for other crimes that night, according to reports published Monday.

Four of the teenagers, in videotaped statements after their arrests, said they witnessed at least one assault. But those confessions may no longer be valid if prosecutors decide the teenagers gave inaccurate statements about the rape, the Times said.

Which is scaing the mess out of law enforcement:

[ .. P]olice officials are opposed to total exoneration for the five youths. In addition to the April 19, 1989, rape of the jogger, the defendants were convicted of crimes against eight other people who were accosted in Central Park.

"We know the verdicts must be set aside by virtue of the law," one of the attorneys, Michael Warren, said Monday.

Call Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau and tell him the convictions must be set aside and justice must prevail: 212-335-8500 (tel) & 212-335-8999 (fax)

Decision Day, Part I

The Manhattan district attorney has decided to call today for the dismissal of the convictions of five men in the 1989 Central Park jogger case, including all charges that they participated in a gang rape and a rampage of muggings, according to two law enforcement officials who have read the legal papers.

The crime was a particularly grim moment in modern New York history, and the apparent collapse of the legal case is likely to reopen bitter debates about what actually happened and how the investigation was handled.

The move by the district attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau, will have no immediate impact on the convictions of the five men — Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Kharey Wise. Only the judge presiding over the case, Charles J. Tejada, can vacate the guilty verdicts, a decision that is considered likely but not imminent.

Judge Tejada has declared that he will await Morgenthau's report (and recommendations), but he wants a reply by the CP5 lawyers in a month's time and his final decision will come February of next year. While it does look like a just move on Morgenthau's part, the wrongfully convicted men and their supporters should wait until this journey to justice is complete.

Joyce Purnick opines:

Inevitably, then, ambiguity will continue to cloud this polarizing and racially charged case. Mr. Morgenthau's office will submit what is being described as an extensive affidavit to the court today, but not so extensive that it will satisfy those seeking a finding of guilt or innocence on the rape charges, or a guide to what to think of the confessions.

The case's round edges will invariably add to the mistrust of the criminal justice system, to the impression that members of racial minorities — especially young Black men — cannot get a fair shake. Civil lawsuits and generous settlements from the city loom as inevitable.

And that's it? After 13 years, five convictions and five prison sentences, after the pain and suffering of the jogger and other victims of violence in the park that night, it ends with more questions than answers?

A decent article, but Purnick is still an idiot!

Decision Day, Part II

Other Articles & Features on the Manhattan's DA's Expected Bombshell Announcement:

From The New York Amsterdam News:

Will it ever end?

As we go to press, there is every indication, including the impressions of the NYPD, that Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau will recommend that the convictions of the Central Park Five be overturned.

This recommendation, more than any other evidence, will probably be based on the confession of Matias Reyes, who said he is solely responsible for raping the investment banker in April 1989. The Central Park Jogger case, as it has come to be known, was reopened last January after Reyes, 31, who is serving a long prison sentence for raping another woman, admitted he raped the woman and then bludgeoned her to within inches of her life. The victim lost 75 percent of her blood and remained in a coma for 12 days. Later, a DNA test confirmed that semen found on the victim's garments belonged to Reyes.

If justice is given its full measure, as attorney Michael Warren has said often during his representation of three of the five defendants – all of whom have served their sentences for their alleged role in the crime – the young men will also be absolved of the other convictions that the DA could retain, including assaults on other people in the park that night.

''Anything short of complete exoneration would be further miscarriage of justice,'' said Councilman Bill Perkins of Harlem. ''The district attorney has a legal and moral obligation to present the facts and evidence of his investigation in a fair and impartial manner and to render his decision based on such.''

From Newsday:

It's Decision Day

With prosecutors expected today to recommend vacating the convictions in the Central Park jogger case, lawyers for the five men found guilty of the notorious 1989 rape said their clients would accept nothing less than full exoneration.

The attorneys' declarations on the eve of Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau's long-awaited move drew support from Councilman Bill Perkins (D-Harlem), who contended that anything short of erasing the five's guilty verdicts for robbery and assault, as well as the brutal sex attack, "would be a further miscarriage of justice."

They Could Make History

If Manhattan prosecutors recommend that the Central Park jogger convictions be thrown out, it could be the largest multi-defendant case ever overturned on faulty confessions, legal experts said yesterday.

District Attorney Robert Morgenthau could ask that all or some of the convictions of the five defendants be expunged, perhaps because of problems with their statements to police or on some other grounds.

According to attorney Peter Neufeld, who runs the nonprofit Innocence Project at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in Manhattan, the largest single instance of defendants exonerated after convictions based on a confession involved four teens in Chicago.

Jogger Defendants: Full Exoneration

With prosecutors on Thursday due to say whether they will move to vacate the convictions in the Central Park jogger case, lawyers for the five men who were found guilty of the 1989 rape said they would accept nothing less than full exoneration. The attorneys’ declarations on the eve of the dramatic courtrom development rippled through the city’s political scene, with Harlem Councilman Bill Perkins contending that anything less than erasing the five’s convictions for robbery and assault as well the brutal rape “would be a further miscarriage of justice.”

As co-counsel Eric Seiff put it at an emotionally charged news conference, “If a loaf of bread is 63 pe cent rotten, you don’t nibble at the other 37 percent” — a reference to the men’s central assertion that their confessions to raping the jogger was coerced by the police.

At the center of the gathering drama stands Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, who, sources said, is expected, at minimum, to ask the court to toss out the rape conviction.

(Also check out the great graphic accompanying the above article.)

From The New York Daily News:

DA wants to toss jogger verdicts

Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau intends to ask a judge today to throw out all the convictions related to the Central Park wilding attacks, law enforcement sources told the Daily News last night.

And last and most definitely least, from The New York Joke Post:

CLEARED

Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau is expected to ask a judge today to throw out all the convictions against five youths who confessed to sexually assaulting a jogger during a 1989 "wilding" spree in Central Park, police sources told The Post.

{Don't bother believing this preposterous story from the nutjobs at the Post!}

Northern Eyes Look at the Central Park 5 Case

Aaron returns with the biting wit and a new domain. He also sets his site on today's court proceedings [via the Globe & Mail] :

Nothing in that story about problems between communities. We're a color-blind society, you know.

Defense attorneys, like Canandians and people of color, have no idea what they're talking about, obviously.

UPDATE: Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau has recommended that all of the convictions against Anton McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Yusef Salaam, and Kharey Wise — not just for the rape of Patricia Meili, but the 7 assault and robbery victims throughout that infamous night — be vacated. It remains to be seen if Judge Charles Tejada will immediately set aside the wrongful, racially-motivated convictions or wait until his self-imposed target date of February 6, 2002.

Tim Sullivan, the VP of programming at Court-TV and author of the authoriative book of the two trials of the Central Park 5, Unequal Verdicts: The Central
Park Jogger Trials, hopes to have the papers filed by Morgenthau later today.

I expect white media to be foaming at the mouth by now and can't wait to read what the New York Joke will write tomorrow.

Decison Day, Part III

(Probably) My last update on the case today —

Newsday: DA Drops All Convictions in Jogger Case

Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau today asked a judge to toss out all the convictions against the five men in the Central Park jogger case.

Loudly chanting and carrying signs that read, "Justice For Central Park 5," and "Overturn Convictions," about 60 demonstrators braved a snowstorm to press their case today.

Court TV: Prosecutors expect to call for Central Park jogger convictions to be vacated

Supporters of five men convicted in the 1989 rape of a jogger in Central Park demonstrated outside a courthouse Thursday as the district attorney was deciding whether to recommend that a judge throw out the convictions.

The recommendation would be an extraordinary turn in one of the city's most notorious crimes. The case was reopened earlier this year after a convicted rapist confessed to the crime and DNA backed his claim.

(Check out Court TV's interesting movie, The Interrogation of Michael Crowe, which ironically focuses on the phenomena of false confessions and unscrupulous police interviewing tactics.)

Roone Arledge, 1931 - 2002

Broadcast Icon Roone Arledge Dies

In a long and distinguished career spanning four decades, Arledge played a key role in revolutionizing how news and sporting events are covered and watched around the world.

"Roone Arledge revolutionized television and with it the way people see and understand the world," ABCNEWS President David L. Westin said. "A true creator, Roone invented many of television's most enduring and important programs, all the while fostering the brilliant careers of generations of the most talented men and women to work in front of or behind a television camera..."

The Quotable (Information) Diva

I miss reading Cecily's thoughtful words and navigating to her links of interests. That's why I'm so glad she's back!

Just a snippet:

I've been waffling all term, wondering whether going to library school was the best use of my time, questioning whether I was meant to be a librarian. After writing that paragraph, and after re-reading it now, I'm more certain than ever that I've found my true calling.

And while the wheels are churning towards a war with on Iraq, she quotes former US President Jimmy Carter during his Nobel acceptance speech:

The Peacemaker -- "The bond of our common humanity is stronger than the divisiveness of our fears and prejudices. God gives us the capacity for choice. We can choose to alleviate suffering. We can choose to work together for peace. We can make changes — and we must."

Read the rest of Jimmy Carter's Nobel Lecture.

Reading Is Fundamental

Manhattan DA's Press Release: December 5, 2002 —

Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau announced today that his Office has filed a response to the defense motions in the cases against ANTRON McCRAY, KEVIN RICHARDSON, YUSEF SALAAM, RAYMOND SANTANA and KHAREY WISE. The District Attorney has recommended that, as a result of newly discovered evidence, all convictions of the five defendants be vacated. The District Attorney's Office has determined that, pending the Court's final decision, the Office will move to dismiss the indictments, as no useful purpose would be served by a retrial of the defendants for any crimes stemming from events on the evening of April 19, 1989.

The decision leading to today's recommendation was the result of an exhaustive investigation that began after the District Attorney's Office received DNA confirmation in early May, 2002 of the involvement of Matias Reyes, a convicted murderer and serial rapist, in the attack on a female jogger in Central Park on April 19, 1989.

The defendants were convicted originally by juries at two trials based on the evidence available at that time. According to the District Attorney's response, the newly discovered evidence creates a probability that if that evidence had been available at trial, the verdicts would have been more favorable to the defendants. Therefore, in light of the new evidence, the District Attorney's Office is recommending that all convictions be vacated.

The District Attorney's filed response is available as a PDF or WORD file.

I'll read the entire report over the weekend and will post a large report on Monday, probably.

The Quotable Racist

[from Mikhaela's News Blog ] :

I want to tell you, ladies and gentleman, that there's not enough troops in the army to force the Southern people to break down segregation and admit the nigger race into our theatres, into our swimming pools, into our homes and into our churches. — Strom Thurmond during a 1948 presidential campaign speech

Or if you don't want to believe Lott's and Strom's critics, listen to it for yourself at NPR.

An Early Xmas for the Central Park 5?

A Manhattan judge plans to issue his decision Thursday on whether to throw out the convictions against the five young men in the Central Park jogger case. State Supreme Court Justice Charles Tejada has called the defense attorneys and prosecutors to his courtroom at 10:30 a.m. for his written ruling, according to court spokesman David Bookstaver. The judge is expected to vacate the convictions against the five men in one of the most notorious cases in New York history: the near-fatal rape and assault on an investment banker on April 19, 1989, as well as for their assaults on other people in the park and rioting that night.

Should the convictions be vacated later this morning, it would be the just and right thing to do — for once in this case!

I will definitely be writing about the hearing and reactions to it.

One Last Desparate Act Before Freedom

A state judge is expected today to vacate the convictions of five men in the Central Park jogger attack — but the police detectives' union said it will ask an appeals court to stop him.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Charles Tejada will issue a written decision at a 10:30a.m. hearing, said court spokesman David Bookstaver.

Bookstaver refused to discuss the ruling further. But on Dec. 5, prosecutors told the judge they believed the verdicts should be overturned.

"I expect the judge to do the right thing," said defense lawyer Eric Seiff.

But Michael Paladino, the vice president of the 15,000-member Detectives' Endowment Association, said the union's lawyers would go to court to seek an injunction at 9:30 a.m. today.

It's ridiculous of the Det's Union to even consider the court injunction. They should finally see the light: they were a part and parcel of the railroad justice in this case. Lawyers for the Central Park 5 should file civil suits against the NYPD and Manhattan DA's office immediately.

For Once, Stanley Crouch is Right

It is now almost exactly four years since I wrote the first of a number of columns on Sen. Trent Lott and the residue of red in his neck. Over the last four years since I called for his resignation, little has been made of Lott and the things he has said and the people with whom he has associated.

But now, with the piling on so thorough, we can see where we are.

One of the things the Lott affair has proven is there is a double standard in the media, as I observed back in those days when Lott had only to make a curt statement and be assured that no one in the media would push the issue of his association with the pro-white Council of Conservative Citizens.

If he had been black and associated with a racist black group, he would have been harassed out of office, especially if he had said, as Lott did to the citizens council in 1992, that it had the right philosophy and was moving in the right direction and that "our children" would benefit.

It tears at my heart to agree with Crouch — the man can be such an ass sometimes — but, he's entirely on-point regarding the double standard re: L'affaire Lott. Still, I'm waiting for a Democrat to tell off his fellow party members for their duplicitous ravings. All too often Dems are given a free ride when it comes to race and their handling of the hot button issue. From Clinton, to Zell Miller, to Robert Byrd and others that escape my memory right now.

I don't have the energy, nor the willpower to debate that issue though. Maybe another time and another scandal.

Justice Begins!

I was a bit worried for quite some time that Judge Tejada would allow the unfair, racially-motivated convictions of the Central Park 5 to stand. But once Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau agreed with their lawyers' motion to vacate the convictions, the handwriting was on the wall:

Throughout the reinvigorated investigation (and honestly, during the original firestorm the case ignited), Newsday provided the best, most even coverage of the case:

Judge Tosses Central Park Jogger Convictions

Twelve years after they were found guilty of the 1989 attack on the Central Park jogger, a Manhattan judge today threw out all the convictions against the five young men jailed for the notorious crime and the assaults on others in the park that night.

"Motion is granted,” state Supreme Court Justice Charles J. Tejada matter of factly told defense lawyers, family members and their supporters and a horde of media in his 100 Centre Street courtroom this morning, referring to a defense motion to vacate the convictions. “Everyone have a very merry Christmas and happy new year.”

Whoops and cheers erupted.

“This should have happened over 13 years ago because all the evidence was here then,” Salaam said. “People put on a blind eye.”

Newsday also has excerpts from the ruling, along with audio from Sharonne Salaam (and others) and key dates throughout the case.

Jim Dwyer at the New York Times continues to provide good coverage of the case as well:

Thirteen years after a woman jogging in Central Park was savagely beaten, raped and left for dead by what was believed to have been a pack of rioting Harlem teenagers, a Manhattan judge threw out all of the convictions today of the five young men whose prosecution was based on their own detailed but ultimately unreliable confessions.

In one final, extraordinary ruling that took less than 10 minutes to deliver, Justice Charles J. Tejada of the State Supreme Court concurred with motions made by defense attorneys and the Manhattan District attorney to vacate the convictions.

Justice Tejada told the court: "After careful consideration of all the papers and all the arguments made in the papers presented by all parties, and for the reasons in my written statement, the motions are granted as to all the convictions."

Technically, by vacating the convictions, Justice Tejada's ruling made possible a new trial. But Assistant District Attorney Peter Casolaro, speaking for the prosecutors, immediately responded: "All the indictments will be dismissed," thereby foregoing the possibility of another trial.

Justice Tejada then replied, "The motion is granted. Have a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year."

The Times also has complete coverage of the case including a graphic entitled Five Lives Interrupted.

The Daily News adds its own (biased, racially-tinged) two-cents:

Finally cleared Thursday in one of the city’s most heinous crimes, the five defendants in the Central Park jogger case could return to court with civil suits tied to the years they lost behind bars since the 1989 “wilding” attack.

A Manhattan courtroom reverberated with cheers and applause as a judge dropped the convictions and dismissed the indictments against the five. The Manhattan district attorney said there would be no retrial.

I damn sure wouldn't call clearing the convictions after 5 — 13 years behind bars and a public lynch-mob mentality for crimes I didn't commit a "Christmas gift" like the Snooze did.

I'm not even considering adding anything from the New York Joke Post or any conservafuckers (just yet?). Time will tell.

Update: NBC's New York affiliate, Newschannel 4, weighs in on the case and reports on the failed attempt by assholes of the Detectives' Endowment Association (the Police Detectives' union) to block the exoneration fo the Central Park 5:

Tejada's decision came after lawyers from the Detectives' Endowment Association, the police detectives' union, unsuccessfully tried to block his ruling.

And All That

I'm too tired to update for the remainder of the year. Barring major news, I leave you with this:

Happy Holidays!