United States, the uncomplete dream. The long march of African Americans, Robert Pac
\chapter{United States, the uncomplete dream. The long march of African Americans}
\chapterauthor{Robert Pac}
What happened to Martin Luther King's dream that he was talking about in August 1963, in Washington, in front of 250,000 black and white people neck and neck?
@ -17,8 +19,6 @@ Although officially abandoned for 20 years, this program continues to be impleme
Today, there are no more large national and structured black organizations, no more charismatic leaders, no more large mass movements.
\section{A victory called into question}
@ -96,17 +96,15 @@ Harlem, for example, is the place in the world where crime is the highest. Delin
It kills six times more than in the rest of New York or Chicago. And, for most of these crimes, the motives or perpetrators will never be known.
Black men are seven times more likely to be murdered than a white man. A black man living in Harlem is less likely to reach age 65 than a bangladeshi resident.
“According to studies, you have less sleep, you are more likely to be obese and to have hypertension. This is not only due to poverty.
Your shortest and most painful life is, to a large extent, the anxieties caused by being black in America. ”(315)
Your shortest and most painful life is, to a large extent, the anxieties caused by being black in America. ”\footnote{Andrew Hacker in \emph{Two Nations, Charles Scribner’s Son}. Macmillan Publishing Company, New York, 1992.}
Regarding the Los Angeles riots of April 1992, 1 New York Times editorial of May 7, 1992 states that “the Los Angeles fires illuminate with a harsh and new light the way America draws a line under certain places ...
Worse still, America is drawing a line under people: a generation of young black people.”
On a project for a so-called “reform” of social assistance in the early 80s:
“This is not a welfare reform, it's a plan to turn ghettos into vast cemeteries — because there is no work.
The aim of this legislation is to ensure that entire layers of minorities die, because this decrepit capitalist system no longer needs it. ”(316)
315 Andrew Hacker in \emph{Two Nations, Charles Scribner’s Son}. Macmillan Publishing Company, New York, 1992.
316 Genocide USA, \emph{Workers Vanguard} n° 463, 21 octobre 1988.
\begin{quote}
\enquote{This is not a welfare reform, it's a plan to turn ghettos into vast cemeteries — because there is no work.
The aim of this legislation is to ensure that entire layers of minorities die, because this decrepit capitalist system no longer needs it.}\end{quote}\footnote{Genocide USA, \emph{Workers Vanguard} n° 463, 21 octobre 1988.}
\section{Drugs}
@ -157,9 +155,11 @@ It becomes so during pregnancy, in the womb of its mother who takes drugs, using
“Drug addiction has direct and multiple effects on pregnancy. One in ten children born in Harlem is underweight than average.
At the maternity ward of the Grand Hospital in Harlem, out of 3,000 thousand births, the rate of drugged infants is 15\%. They are called “cocaine babies.”
Two months premature, they weigh 600 grams less than other children at this stage and are three times more likely to die in their early years.
In the same institution, the rate of miscarriages is twice as high as the average.” (317)
In the same institution, the rate of miscarriages is twice as high as the average.” \footnote{\emph{L’Humanité}, February 22 1990.}
“Crack damages the developing fetus much more than heroin or other hard drugs.” (318)
\begin{quote}
\enquote{Crack damages the developing fetus much more than heroin or other hard drugs.}
\end{quote}\footnote{\emph{New York Post}, May 9 , 1990.}
The “cocaine baby” that escapes infant mortality will suffer throughout its short life from the direct and multiple effects of drug addiction on pregnancy:
epilepsy, paralysis, malformations, motor and mental delays, feverish agitation, incommunicability...
@ -168,11 +168,7 @@ epilepsy, paralysis, malformations, motor and mental delays, feverish agitation,
For many “cocaine babies” who survive, their first experience in life is the agony caused by the “withdrawal” of cocaine. They suffer horribly.
They are so sensitive that they cannot be handled or fed normally. They stir their limbs endlessly, looking for relief.
Even the most hardened of medical specialists cannot bear the intolerable screams of these babies.
“Never in my medical career have I seen such suffering as cocaine,” the director of maternity at General Hospital in the District of Columbia told the Wall Street Journal. “” (319)
317 \emph{L’Humanité}, February 22 1990.
318 \emph{New York Post}, May 9 , 1990.
319 \emph{International Herald Tribune}, July 29/30 1981.
“Never in my medical career have I seen such suffering as cocaine,” the director of maternity at General Hospital in the District of Columbia told the Wall Street Journal.” \footnote{\emph{International Herald Tribune}, July 29/30 1981.}
\emph{The genocide}
@ -182,7 +178,7 @@ To this question put to three members of the Detroit City Council, infamous for
“It is a capitalist industry and a means of psychological action.” “Drugs are first and foremost a source of money.
But it was introduced into the black community to fight the Civil Rights movement. It is a new form of slavery, as in the last century, alcohol among the Indians.
It must be noted that, if it also wreaks havoc on whites, it remains better controlled.”
After discussing the social causes of drug addiction, a third local elected official adds: “... But we must not forget that drugs keep the people quiet. ” (320)
After discussing the social causes of drug addiction, a third local elected official adds: “... But we must not forget that drugs keep the people quiet. ”\footnote{Quoted in \emph{L’Humanité}, November 8 1988.}
Remarks by Leonard McNeil of the American Friends Service Committee collected at a conference on crack cocaine at the Tenderloin District of San Francisco on April 27, 1990 and reported by Recovering Issue 18, June 1990:
“But “crack”, added to the short life expectancy among black men, the high infant mortality rate, the disproportionate percentage of blacks incarcerated or killed by the police, the homeless, the unemployed, life in the midst of toxic waste, AIDS and the lack of health facilities clearly show a deliberate offensive against minorities.”
@ -190,15 +186,17 @@ Remarks by Leonard McNeil of the American Friends Service Committee collected at
During the same conference, Daniel Sheehan of the Christic Institute developed the theory that a market for crack was intentionally created by the U.S. government to secure profits by controlling the manufacture and importation of drugs.
These profits are used to finance illegal operations such as the supply of arms to the contras (of Nicaragua).
“The fact that African-Americans have become the target of the 'war on drugs' and are essentially condemned for this problem, is part of a strategy to blame the victims,” Sheehan says, “in order to ward off suspicion from the real culprits:
suppliers and members of government who are trying to disintegrate minority communities and perhaps even destroy them.”
\begin{quote}
\enquote{The fact that African-Americans have become the target of the 'war on drugs' and are essentially condemned for this problem, is part of a strategy to blame the victims,” Sheehan says, “in order to ward off suspicion from the real culprits:
suppliers and members of government who are trying to disintegrate minority communities and perhaps even destroy them.}
\end{quote}
“I'm scared. We will jeopardize the future of an entire generation of people who will not be able to find their place in society and become productive members,” says Dr. Sterling Williams, Director of the Department of Obstetrics at Harlem Hospital. 321
“I'm scared. We will jeopardize the future of an entire generation of people who will not be able to find their place in society and become productive members,” says Dr. Sterling Williams, Director of the Department of Obstetrics at Harlem Hospital.\footnote{\emph{New York Post}, May 9 1990}
The federal government estimates that by the year 2000, there could be between 1 and 4 million children exposed to crack cocaine in the United States.
And that at least 100,000 would live in the five neighborhoods of New York City (322).
And that at least 100,000 would live in the five neighborhoods of New York City \footnote{\emph{New York Post}, May 8 1990.}.
An April 21, 1990 article in the Oakland Tribune shows unambiguously that the war on drugs has become a war against the African-American community.(323)
An April 21, 1990 article in the Oakland Tribune shows unambiguously that the war on drugs has become a war against the African-American community.\footnote{\emph{Peoples Daily World}, May 3 1990.}
In August 1996, the Californian San Jose Mercury News published a resounding investigation by a reporter of the newspaper, Gary Webb, accusing the CIA of being at the origin, during the 80s, of the introduction of “crack”, the “cocaine of the poor”, in the black ghettos of American cities.
Titled “Dark Alliance” and quickly circulated on the newspaper's website, the investigation accused Nicaraguan drug traffickers of having put on the market, in Los Angeles, large quantities of “crack” to finance, in cahoots with the CIA, the resistance of the “contras” to the Sandinista regime.
It had caused considerable emotion in the black community and led to the opening of an internal CIA investigation.
@ -209,12 +207,6 @@ But Jerry Ceppos, the editor, wrote:
Despite this (spontaneous?) about-face of the San Jose Mercury News, we see, as many African-American sociologists and activists believe, that the trade in “crack”, cocaine and heroin, like AIDS, are all elements of a secret and unspeakable conspiracy on the part of the government and the CIA to exterminate a large part of the black population.
320 Quoted in \emph{L’Humanité}, November 8 1988.
321 \emph{New York Post}, May 9 1990
322 \emph{New York Post}, May 8 1990.
323 \emph{Peoples Daily World}, May 3 1990.
\section{police brutalities}
@ -231,7 +223,7 @@ But on other occasions, officers beat suspects with lead pipes, batons, American
Sometimes other suspects were forced to watch the brutality through the mirrors and the police officers told them that they would suffer the same fate if they did not cooperate with the police. ”
Murder is usually used without provocation and very frequently. Murder is most often justified by claiming that the police were attacked by the victim and therefore fired in self-defence.
To a journalist for the French daily Le Matin, a police officer from the 28th sector in Harlem said: “When you kill someone, the case is closed directly.” (324).
To a journalist for the French daily Le Matin, a police officer from the 28th sector in Harlem said: “When you kill someone, the case is closed directly.” \footnote{Le Matin, supplément, December 29/30 1979.}.
From 1968 to the present, the judicial system has been systematically used to justify assassinations committed by law enforcement and law enforcement agencies against members of minorities.
Let us recall just a few examples:
@ -246,11 +238,12 @@ The objectives of the government's programme cannot be mistaken when looking at
The P.38 revolver was replaced in many sectors by the super-powerful Magnum P.357. These pistols are capable of passing through the engine block of an automobile.
This means that the use of this weapon in urban areas can easily cause many victims, the same projectile can pass through the bodies of several people in line.
“New York City police officers will begin changing their P.38-caliber revolvers to 9-caliber semi-automatic pistols this fall.
This decision reflects a change in the position of the Department, which had previously refused to use more powerful and faster weapons.” (325).
\begin{quote}
\enquote{New York City police officers will begin changing their P.38-caliber revolvers to 9-caliber semi-automatic pistols this fall.
This decision reflects a change in the position of the Department, which had previously refused to use more powerful and faster weapons.} \end{quote} \footnote{International Herald Tribune, August 23 1993.}.
The standard equipment of many patrol cars features the 12-gauge riot rifle that can fire dum-dum bullets as well as chevrotines
(each cartridge contains a charge of 9 pellets the size of a P.32 caliber projectile) (326).
(each cartridge contains a charge of 9 pellets the size of a P.32 caliber projectile)\footnote{Center for Research on Criminal Justice, Berkeley, California, The Iron Fist and the Velvet Glove.}.
These rifles are called “riot control” because their 45-centimeter barrel allows them to cover a wide angle of fire, killing or wounding indifferently.
@ -258,35 +251,32 @@ With such weapons, and in the repressive context of the American political syste
45 to 55 percent of those killed by police are African-Americans. In Chicago and Philadelphia, more than 70 percent of those killed by police are black.
324 Le Matin, supplément, December 29/30 1979.
325 International Herald Tribune, August 23 1993.
326 Center for Research on Criminal Justice, Berkeley, California, The Iron Fist and the Velvet Glove.
\section{Justice and prisons}
“These are your creations, uncle: chains and sticks. You created them four hundred years ago and you use them to this day.
\begin{quote}
\enquote{These are your creations, uncle: chains and sticks. You created them four hundred years ago and you use them to this day.
You created them. But they represent only a fraction of your barbarity, my uncle. You used the tree and the rope to hang it.
You used the knife to chastise him while he struggled with the rope to catch his breath.
You used fire to make it squirm even more, because hanging and castration were not enough fun for you.
Then you used something else — another of your creations — this thing you called the law.
It was written by you and for you and those of your kind, and any man who was not of your kind had to violate it sooner or later... ” (327).
It was written by you and for you and those of your kind, and any man who was not of your kind had to violate it sooner or later...} \end{quote} \footnote{In \emph{Par la petite porte}(by the little door), by Ernest J. Gaines, Liana Levi Éditeur, 1996.}.
The fruit of a long history, American racism does not lie only in the minds of whites, it is institutionalized in all the workings of American society.
And particularly in the criminal justice system. The most obvious sign of this racism is the racial composition of this system.
In a country where 20\% of citizens are of non-European origin, the criminal justice system is composed of 95\% of people of European origin.
“In the most usual case, the black person suspected of having committed a crime is arrested by a white police officer, presented to a white judge, a white prosecutor and a white jury, in a court whose proceedings are recorded by white clerks.
\begin{quote}
\enquote{In the most usual case, the black person suspected of having committed a crime is arrested by a white police officer, presented to a white judge, a white prosecutor and a white jury, in a court whose proceedings are recorded by white clerks.
The usual place of the black in this judicial system in the hands of the whites is the box of the accused.
Such a situation convinces him that justice is an instrument of oppression in the hands of whites and that this situation can only influence the application of justice.
This can only result in discrimination in prosecution and convictions.
And even when whites acting in the justice system have no land biases, the cultural and class barriers that stand between them and the defendants invariably place the latter at a disadvantage. ” (328)
And even when whites acting in the justice system have no land biases, the cultural and class barriers that stand between them and the defendants invariably place the latter at a disadvantage.} \end{quote}\footnote{Lennox Hinds, \emph{in Illusion of Justice}, University of Iowa, 1978.}
As a result of this racist justice, nearly half (48\%) of the 1,630,940 people who inhabit penitentiaries, state and municipal prisons are African-Americans, while they represent only 12\% of the population.
The same proportion of blacks are among the 3,350 death row inmates currently on “death row.”
Blacks are imprisoned in the United States much more than in South Africa during the apartheid era: 3,109 per 100,000 compared to 729 in South Africa (329).
Blacks are imprisoned in the United States much more than in South Africa during the apartheid era: 3,109 per 100,000 compared to 729 in South Africa \footnote{Sentencing Project 1991.}.
UA study of this situation shows that there is no relationship between the delinquency rate of blacks (even if it is high) and the rate of their imprisonment, nor is there a relationship with the proportion of blacks living in a state.
On a general level, we discover that the doubling of the prison rate observed over the past five years in the United States has nothing to do with crime, which has not increased in the same proportions (it has even decreased in the last two years according to the triumphant reports of the Department of Justice).
@ -323,17 +313,10 @@ How can we not see in this policy of sidelining the society of African-Americans
More than half of the deaths of prisoners in the northeastern states of the United States in 1991 were caused by AIDS, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Nationally, 28 per cent of the 1,863 prisoners who died in custody were victims of AIDS.
In New Jersey, 69\% of inmate deaths were AIDS-related, as were 66\% in New York, 44\% in Florida, 33\% in Maryland, and 30\% in North Carolina and Massachusetts (330).
In New Jersey, 69\% of inmate deaths were AIDS-related, as were 66\% in New York, 44\% in Florida, 33\% in Maryland, and 30\% in North Carolina and Massachusetts \footnote{\emph{International Herald Tribune}, September 14 1993.}.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, reports that AIDS cases are on the rise in U.S. prisons.
5,279 prisoners were infected with AIDS in 1994, or 5.2 cases per 1,000 prisoners, almost six times the rate in the general adult population of 0.9 per 1,000 (331).
327 In \emph{Par la petite porte}(by the little door), by Ernest J. Gaines, Liana Levi Éditeur, 1996.
328 Lennox Hinds, \emph{in Illusion of Justice}, University of Iowa, 1978.
329 Sentencing Project 1991.
330 \emph{International Herald Tribune}, September 14 1993.
331 \emph{International Herald Tribune}, April 6/7 1996.
5,279 prisoners were infected with AIDS in 1994, or 5.2 cases per 1,000 prisoners, almost six times the rate in the general adult population of 0.9 per 1,000 \footnote{\emph{International Herald Tribune}, April 6/7 1996.}.
\section{ The “ Crime Bill ”}
@ -342,16 +325,15 @@ The Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, reports that
On 19 November 1993, the Senate adopted a major “Crime Bill” which proposes, inter alia, to extend the scope of the death penalty to more than 60 new crimes.
These include the killing of federal officials, genocide, sabotage resulting in train derailments, the murder of U.S. citizens abroad, and murders committed with a firearm carried beyond state limits.
“This “crime bill,” which also includes a so-called “three tricks and you are out” provision and billions of dollars for prisons and the prison administration, is so draconian that neither Reagan nor Bush could have passed it.
\begin{quote}
\enquote{This “crime bill,” which also includes a so-called “three tricks and you are out” provision and billions of dollars for prisons and the prison administration, is so draconian that neither Reagan nor Bush could have passed it.
In its essence, the project is a public employment program that mobilizes more than \$30 billion for white workers.
This is a social program if ever there was one and one that reflects the socio-political and economic evolution of the United States. ”(332).
This is a social program if ever there was one and one that reflects the socio-political and economic evolution of the United States.}\end{quote}\footnote{Mumia Abu Jamal in \emph{Live from the Death Row}, Éditions La Découverte, 1996.}.
During the debate on this bill, senators voted by 52 votes to 41 to adjourn consideration of a proposed amendment to prohibit the execution of juvenile offenders.
By its vote of 314 to 111, the House of Representatives followed the Senate's positions on capital punishment.
332 Mumia Abu Jamal in \emph{Live from the Death Row}, Éditions La Découverte, 1996.
\section{Baseball and Justice}
@ -360,8 +342,8 @@ In March 1995, Jerry D. Williams, 25, two children, Californian and Black, stole
Inspired by a rule of the basic bail game “Three strikes and you're out”, this law stipulates that repeat offenders convicted twice, are liable, during a third appearance before a judge, to a sentence of 25 years in prison to life, without the possibility of parole.
This is the case with Williams.
A slice of pizza is worth 25 years of imprisonment, like a hold-up, like rape, like murder. As one L'Humanité journalist noted:
“The baseball* determines American jurisprudence, we can fear in the coming years that the convicts will be purely and simply handed over to the circus lions.”
A slice of pizza is worth 25 years of imprisonment, like a hold-up, like rape, like murder. As one journalist of /emph{L'Humanité} noted:
“The baseball\rfootnote{Base bail in the original, very likely typo so corrected in the translation} determines American jurisprudence, we can fear in the coming years that the convicts will be purely and simply handed over to the circus lions.”
\section{Prison conditions}
@ -374,9 +356,10 @@ The result of this study was the subject of a report entitled “The Myth of Hum
More than 70 percent of prisoners who responded to this survey said severe physical and psychological brutality was the norm in maximum security prisons in the United States.
Solitary confinement, suppression of “privileges” and physical brutality are the usual practices in most high-security prisons.
“Physical abuse has a beginning and an end, while psychological abuse affects every moment. Even the most hardened are affected by every little detail of these abuses:
\begin{quote}
\enquote{Physical abuse has a beginning and an end, while psychological abuse affects every moment. Even the most hardened are affected by every little detail of these abuses:
a glance, a new schedule, a change of food, a letter delivered late, a visit refused, an observation on the content of the mail.
Details that can have multiple reasons and provoke serious disciplinary action. ”
Details that can have multiple reasons and provoke serious disciplinary action.} \end{quote}
While the practice of solitary confinement is considered appropriate and legal by courts and prison authorities, it is perhaps the most devastating method of psychological abuse.
Although prison officials maintain that the majority of prisoners spend only a few days in solitary confinement, the survey of prisoners reveals that this punishment is most often suffered for years.
@ -456,7 +439,7 @@ It is observed that, as with other penalties, the American justice system establ
“We note that in Florida and Texas, blacks guilty of murdering whites were respectively 5 to 6 times more likely to be sentenced to death than whites who killed other whites.
In Florida, blacks responsible for murdering whites were 40 times more likely to be sentenced to death than those who killed blacks.”
Most of the blacks who are on “death row” have been charged with the murder of a white man.
“Never has a white person been executed for raping a black woman when 54 percent of blacks who raped white women were executed between 1930 and 1967 and 89 percent of the men executed for rape were black.” (333)
“Never has a white person been executed for raping a black woman when 54 percent of blacks who raped white women were executed between 1930 and 1967 and 89 percent of the men executed for rape were black.” \footnote{Amnesty International, Report on death penalty 1987.}
Let us add that in the United States, on a general level, the death penalty particularly affects the poor, 60\% of convicts are unemployed at the time of their arrest; 65\% are non-specialty;
50\% have not completed the 1st cycle studies; 90\% are too poor to afford a lawyer.
@ -472,14 +455,10 @@ The height of the horror is that in case of error (or error in quotation marks),
In November 1985, the American Civil Rights Association (ACLU) revealed that 25 people have been mistakenly executed in the United States since the turn of the century for crimes they had not committed or had not even existed.
We know Sacco and Vanzetti well, the Rosenbergs or Willie McGee. But how many others have been in their case that we do not know? Such human rights violations cannot be kept silent.
333 Amnesty International, Report on death penalty 1987.
\section{Executions of minors}
In October 1991, Amnesty International stated that the United States executes more minors than any country in the world, apart from Iraq and Iran.
Between 1989 and 1994, only five other countries executed minors under the age of 18 at the time of the crime:
@ -494,12 +473,13 @@ Similarly, according to Article 4, paragraph 5, of the American Convention on Hu
The U.S. government signed both treaties in 1977, but has yet to ratify them.
“Despite these laws, only 9 US states maintaining the death penalty prohibit its application to people under the age of 18.
\begin{quote}
\enquote{Despite these laws, only 9 US states maintaining the death penalty prohibit its application to people under the age of 18.
[...] In 17 states, legislation allows for the sentencing to death of minors under the age of 18.
This limit is set either by legislation on capital punishment or by laws specifying the age at which minors, like adults, may be tried by the criminal courts.
This age limit is 10 years in Indiana and Vermont, 12 years in Montana, 13 years in Mississippi, 14 years in Alabama, Idaho, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina and Utah, 15 years in Arkansas, Louisiana and Virginia, 16 years in Nevada and 17 years in Texas, in Georgia and New Hampshire.
Eleven other states did not specify any age limit. (334) ”
Eleven other states did not specify any age limit.} \end{quote}\footnote{Amnesty International, Report on death penalty 1987.} ”
As with adults, race has an influence on the death penalty in many states.
In Texas, eight of the nine minors on death row reported by Amnesty International in a January 1994 report were black or Hispanic-American, as were Curtis Harris and Ruben Cantu, the two minors executed in that state in 1993.
@ -510,20 +490,16 @@ They do not assert the influence of the environment and do not mention mitigatin
In a 1991 study of young people sentenced to death in the United States, Amnesty International found that the majority of them came from particularly disadvantaged families.
Most of them had suffered severe physical or sexual violence and had below-average intelligence, or suffered from mental illness or brain damage.
Finally, many did not have adequate defence during their trial (335).
“It has been found that, in some States, juveniles facing the death penalty are automatically tried by the ordinary courts in the absence of any individual assessment of the accused's capacity to be tried as an adult.
In other cases, it is the fact that the juvenile justice system does not have institutions that can accommodate those sentenced to long sentences that seems, more than the maturity of the accused, to have been the main reason for referral to an ordinary court. ” (336)
“In a 1989 ruling that found the execution of minors between the ages of 16 and 17 acceptable, the Supreme Court observed that international standards were not relevant to “American moral standards.”
Shouldn't we aspire to raise American moral standards to the level of recognized international human rights standards? ” (337)
Finally, many did not have adequate defence during their trial\footnote{Amnesty International : United States, Minors on “death row” (Index A I : AMR 51/23/91), publié en 1991.}.
334 Amnesty International, Report on death penalty 1987.
335 Amnesty International : United States, Minors on “death row” (Index A I : AMR 51/23/91), publié en 1991.
336 Greenwald Hélène B., Capital Punishment for Minors : An Height Amendment Analysis, in \emph{Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology}, Volume 74, n° 74, 1983.
337 Amnesty International, internal document, London, january 1994.
\begin{quote}
\enquote{It has been found that, in some States, juveniles facing the death penalty are automatically tried by the ordinary courts in the absence of any individual assessment of the accused's capacity to be tried as an adult.
In other cases, it is the fact that the juvenile justice system does not have institutions that can accommodate those sentenced to long sentences that seems, more than the maturity of the accused, to have been the main reason for referral to an ordinary court. \end{quote} \footnote{Greenwald Hélène B., Capital Punishment for Minors : An Height Amendment Analysis, in \emph{Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology}, Volume 74, n° 74, 1983.}
\begin{quote}
\enquote{In a 1989 ruling that found the execution of minors between the ages of 16 and 17 acceptable, the Supreme Court observed that international standards were not relevant to “American moral standards.”
Shouldn't we aspire to raise American moral standards to the level of recognized international human rights standards?}
\end{quote} \footnote{Amnesty International, internal document, London, january 1994.}
\section{Executions of persons suffering from mental disorders and mental retardation}
@ -551,8 +527,7 @@ A member of the Council of Pardons later indicated that Jerome Bowden would have
Thus Jerome Bowden, who was twelve years old mentally and who did not even understand what constituted a conviction and that death, as a punitive measure, meant nothing to him, had been deemed too intelligent to live!
/sect
ion{Control Units}
/section{Control Units}
Located in southern Illinois, Marion Penitentiary opened in 1963 to replace Alcatraz, which closed the same year.
It is the most severe of the security prisons in the federal system. It was in Marion that the Control Unit (CU) began operating in July 1972.
@ -631,7 +606,7 @@ While in prison, Geronimo was charged with theft and the murder of a white woman
Convicted on 28 July 1972, he was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Geronimo has always maintained his innocence and claimed that the case was fabricated by the FBI as part of Operation COINTELPRO and that, on the day of the murder in question, he was 600 kilometers from the scene of the crime, at a Black Panthers rally in Oakland.
Moreover, the FBI, which constantly monitored him, had the trace in its files.
However, when Geronimo requested, under Freedom of Information Act 338, that the FBI provide this document, the FBI refused to do so.
However, when Geronimo requested, under Freedom of Information Act \footnote{The Freedom of Information Act, passed by Congress in 1966 and amended in 1974 in a liberal sense, guarantees every American citizen the right of access to “records” and other “information” in the possession of authorities that would or would have harmed him.}, that the FBI provide this document, the FBI refused to do so.
Geronimo was found guilty on the testimony of the victim's husband. The latter admitted to having seen the aggressor only once, four years earlier, and for a few moments.
However, he identified Geronimo as the murderer, although he described the latter, a few weeks after the murder, as a very tall and very black man, while Geronimo is rather small and his complexion is close to that of an Indian (hence his nickname).
@ -646,9 +621,6 @@ The FBI and the Los Angeles Police Department had worked together and exchanged
Geronimo's release is a victory. His victory. That of his lawyers and all those, in the United States and around the world, who campaigned for his release.
And also an immense encouragement to continue the struggles for the release of other political prisoners in the United States.
338 The Freedom of Information Act, passed by Congress in 1966 and amended in 1974 in a liberal sense, guarantees every American citizen the right of access to “records” and other “information” in the possession of authorities that would or would have harmed him.
\section{Leonard Peltier}
@ -661,7 +633,7 @@ The charges for which he was incarcerated, as well as the “evidence” that le
Yet, to date, no court has been able to prove his guilt.
On the contrary, during his trials and appeals, many pieces of evidence were gathered to prove the FBI's misconduct.
In an October 31, 1975 teletype, FBI ballistics experts report that none of the bullets found at the scene of the shooting could match the rifle belonging to Leonard Peltier.
This evidence was removed from the file and only reappeared, along with other documents, thanks to the Freedom of Information Act 339.
This evidence was removed from the file and only reappeared, along with other documents, thanks to the Freedom of Information Act \footnote{The Freedom of Information Act, passed by Congress in 1966 and amended in 1974 in a liberal sense, guarantees every American citizen the right of access to “records” and other “information” in the possession of authorities that would or would have harmed him.}.
In addition, the FBI used false depositions to obtain Leonard Peltier's extradition from Canada to the United States, a serious violation of international law and the extradition treaty between the two countries.
In light of new evidence of the reprehensible attitude and inappropriate tactics employed in Leonard Peltier's prosecution, Attorney General Lynn Crooks admitted on November 9 before the Eighth Court of Appeals in Saint Paul, Minnesota: “We cannot prove who killed these officers.”
However, this same court refused, by granting a review of the trial that would have proved Peltier's innocence and prove the embezzlement of the FBI and the US government in this case.
@ -671,8 +643,6 @@ In March 1996, despite the prosecutor's favourable opinion, the Federal Parole O
Deprived of the necessary care, Leonard Peltier has lost the use of one eye and his general condition remains worrying.
The only hope left for Leonard Peltier is in the hands of President Clinton, who has not yet responded to Leonardo's request for a presidential pardon in 1993.
339 The Freedom of Information Act, passed by Congress in 1966 and amended in 1974 in a liberal sense, guarantees every American citizen the right of access to “records” and other “information” in the possession of authorities that would or would have harmed him.
\section{Mumia Abu Jamal}
@ -715,6 +685,3 @@ Robert Pac
Robert Pac is a journalist, engaged for more than 25 years in the struggle alongside blacks, Indians and members of other ethnic minorities in the three Americas.
He is the author of \emph{Les guerres indiennes aujourd'hui}(Indians wars today) published by Messidor.
*Base bail in the original, very likely typo so corrected in the translation
BBOCANON
2 years ago