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| Making America As Good As Its Promise |
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| Written by Roger Madison Jr. | |
| Monday, 23 February 2009 | |
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Under the theme, “Making America As Good As Its Promise,” the symposium will capture the essence of what it has meant for African Americans to be enlightened, encouraged, and empowered by these solution-driven conversations over the years. The symposium is free and open to the public. Advance registration is required online at www.tavistalks.com. Smiley and attorney Raymond Brown will moderate the discussion that will be broadcast live to millions of viewers on C-SPAN. The 2009 symposium will feature two panel discussions from 8:00 AM – 11:30 AM and 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM Pacific Time. In addition, a series of conversations scheduled for Friday, Feb. 27, geared toward issues important to high school and college students will be held at the University of Southern California (USC) and selected high schools in Los Angeles. For the 2009 symposium, Tavis Smiley Presents has woven the past and present by inviting panelists from the original symposium which was held on the campus of USC. Those panelists include Danny Glover, Nikki Giovanni, Na′im Akbar, Michael Eric Dyson, Lani Guinier, Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., Danny Bakewell, Sr., Jawanza Kunjufu, Les Brown, Charles Ogletree, Randall Robinson, Al Sharpton, Iyanla Vanzant, Julianne Malveaux, Maxine Waters, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, and Cornel West. Other participants in this year’s forum include—Arlene Holt Baker, Karen Bass, Peter Harvey, Van Jones, Erica Williams, Emilie Townes, and Marc Morial.
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Brother Enoch,
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Your outrage about the judge in PA is understood. I don't understand what that has to do with Tavis. I have been watching the gathering of talking heads for many years at the "State of the Black Union." What I have observed is that Tavis has invited his guests to a "conversation" and challenged them and all who watch to "take action." If there is a failing, it is not Tavis, who never claimed to be an activist. He is a journalist. The failing is with all the so-called thought-leaders and activists who come and go without making any real difference. His book was never intended to be a book of solutions, but a "framework for focusing our actions" based in input from those who contributed to the content. He invited us to make covenants with one another to affect real outcomes. Sadly, that has not ben the result of his invitation. Similarly, we at iZania invited others to offer solutions based on the framework. While I agree that the "conversation" have not been very fruitful, those of us who are solution-oriented can (if we choose)focus on one of the 10 covenant areas and work at the solutions. For example, I have chosen to focus on education and closing the digital divide. Others have chosen to focus on justice, or housing. The framework allows us to channel our efforts -- again, if we choose to do so. Some have chosen to criticize Tavis rather than get busy with solutions. So, as far as I am concerned, the question is not what Tavis is going to do about the judges, but what are we going to do to leverage the platform he has provided to work with others to make sure it doesn't happen again. If his platform is not acceptable, choose another. There is too much work to be done to spend time attacking one another. report abuse
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My critque of the State of Black America has everything to do with Tavis Smiley and Third World press. I am marketing my book in total contrast to The endeavors of Tavis Smiley.
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I have nothing personal against the brother, it is strictly marketing. My book "Undercover Smart" and "The Covenant with Black America book" are mirrors of each other in that they both address the same subject matters. I have a vested interest to point out how one book fails at providing practical application and how another book succeeds. I venture to say that perhaps unlike you I have read both books and I make my comparision based on my comparision and knowledge. I also know the history and orgins of, The State of black America union conferences and they are offsprings from the book, "The Covenant with Black America. My book is a better book and my strategy is a better strategy therefore I avail myself at every opportunity to point out the failures of "The Covenant with Black America and any any components that derive from the initial premise of the book. Sincerely, Enoch Mubarak President/CEO Mubarak Inter-Prizes www.mubarakinter-prizes.com report abuse
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Tavis Smiley’s State of the Black Union (SOBU), one of the most anticipated annual events for millions of African Americans during the last decade, will return to Los Angeles—the site of the first symposium—in celebration of its 10th anniversary on February 28, 2009, at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
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THE COVENANT WITH BLACK AMERICA IS ALL TALK AND NO ACTION.
The following story below would be unbelievable if you never knew it was True.
Two corrupt judges in Pennsylvania received cash for sending 2,000 youth to jail
The more children they sent to jail--the more money they got!
Judges received $2.6 million in kickbacks while imprisoning children who often had no access to a lawyer. Jailing Kids for Cash
Tuesday 17 February 2009 by: Amy Goodman, Truthdig.com
As many as 5,000 children in Pennsylvania have been found guilty, and up to 2,000 of them jailed, by two corrupt judges who received kickbacks from the builders and owners of private prison facilities that benefited. The two judges pleaded guilty in a stunning case of greed and corruption that is still unfolding.
Judges Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and Michael T. Conahan received $2.6 million in kickbacks while imprisoning children who often had no access to a lawyer. The case offers an extraordinary glimpse into the shameful private prison industry that is flourishing in the United States.
Take the story of Jamie Quinn. When she was 14 years old, she was imprisoned for almost a year. Jamie, now 18, described the incident that led to her incarceration: "I got into an argument with one of my friends. And all that happened was just a basic fight. She slapped me in the face, and I did the same thing back. There [were] no marks, no witnesses, nothing. It was just her word against my word."
Jamie was placed in one of the two controversial facilities, PA Child Care, then bounced around to several other locations. The 11-month imprisonment had a devastating impact on her. She told me: "People looked at me different when I came out, thought I was a bad person, because I was gone for so long. My family started splitting up ... because I was away and got locked up. I'm still struggling in school, because the schooling system in facilities like these places [are] just horrible."
She began cutting herself, blaming medication that she was forced to take: "I was never depressed, I was never put on meds before. I went there, and they just started putting meds on me, and I didn't even know what they were. They said if I didn't take them, I wasn't following my program." She was hospitalized three times.
Jamie Quinn is just one of thousands that these two corrupt judges locked up. The Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center got involved when Hillary Transue was sent away for three months for posting a Web site parodying the a*sistant principal at her school. Hillary clearly marked the Web page as a joke. The a*sistant principal didn't find it funny, apparently, and Hillary faced the notoriously harsh Judge Ciavarella.
As Bob Schwartz of the Juvenile Law Center told me: "Hillary had, unknown to her, signed a paper, her mother had signed a paper, giving up her right to a lawyer. That made the 90-second hearing that she had in front of Judge Ciavarella pretty much of a kangaroo court." The JLC found that in half of the juvenile cases in Luzerne County, defendants had waived their right to an attorney. Judge Ciavarella repeatedly ignored recommendations for leniency from both prosecutors and probation officers. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court heard the JLC's case, then the FBI began an investigation, which resulted in the two judges entering guilty-plea agreements last week for tax evasion and wire fraud.
They are expected to serve seven years in federal prison. Two separate cla*s-action lawsuits have been filed on behalf of the imprisoned children.
This scandal involves just one county in the U.S., and one relatively small private prison company. According to The Sentencing Project, "the United States is the world's leader in incarceration with 2.1 million people currently in the nation's prisons or jails-a 500 percent increase over the past thirty years." The Wall Street Journal reports that "[p]rison companies are preparing for a wave of new business as the economic downturn makes it increasingly difficult for federal and state government officials to build and operate their own jails."
Our children need education and opportunity, not incarceration. Let the kids of Luzerne County imprisoned for profit by corrupt judges teach us a lesson. As young Jamie Quinn said of her 11-month imprisonment, "It just makes me really question other authority figures and people that we're supposed to look up to and trust."
WHEN YOU GET THERE SOMEONE PLEASE BE SURE TO ASK Tavis Smiley?s State of the Black Union ABOUT WHAT young Jamie Quinn said.
http://livinginblack.ning.com/forum/topics/the-ongoing-war-agaisnt-our