Nancy LockhartApril 25, 2010 at 7:59pm
Subject: 4/25 SCOTT SISTERS UPDATE ~ By Sister Marpessa
Greetings all,
Mrs. Rasco recently learned that Jamie's condition is unchanged and
that when last they spoke she was being worked up for a possible
urinary tract infection. She was mentally strong, however, and very
grateful that her mother and supporters are sticking by she and
Gladys through all that they have suffered.
MDOC Commissioner Christopher Epps, whom we've been contacting
for months regarding the disastrous level of Jamie's care and who's
been steadily misinforming people that she's not as sick as we've
regularly documented, even after she had to be hospitalized several
times for high toxicity and infections that almost took her life, is
being HONORED as the KEYNOTE SPEAKER by the Jackson
County, MS NAACP at their upcoming banquet on April 30, 2010!
Link: http://www.facebook.com/l/aadef;www.gulflive.com/sendthispage/sendthispage.ssf?http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-living/2010/04/christopher_epps_to_speak_at_freedom_fund_banquet.html
How could this branch, which is actually portrayed as an activist branch
that has courageously taken on the police dept. and most recently
the fire dept., completely ignore the sickeningly outrageous case of the Scott
Sisters! And to add insult to injury, laud Christopher Epps, who covers up the
low-budget, some-timey care that denies Jamie Scott regular medications,
regular dialysis, and the specific diet she has been told repeatedly that
she needs to maintain any semblance of health. The medical care is said
by inmates there to be abysmal on every level, and particularly so for Jamie
Scott, with end stage kidney failure!
This is a smack in the face to Mrs. Rasco, to whom Epps made false
promises of relief for Jamie, as well as Jamie and Gladys Scott, their
supporters, and the community at large! This organization should be fighting
on the front lines for justice for the Scott Sisters and not inviting Christopher
Epps to some banquet! And what of the national NAACP, why are they
NOT responding to the many requests that have been made of them for
the past 15 years to become involved in this case!
This is the final indignity and must not go unchallenged. This bureaucrat
should not pompously sit up there picking his teeth and pontificating
while Jamie Scott lay suffering in one of the very prison cells that he
oversees, a prison cell that she (nor her sister) should even be in!
Please contact the president of the Jackson County, Mississippi NAACP,
Curly Clark, and ask him:
* Why is the NAACP distinguishing a man who would allow a woman to
deteriorate in a prison on his watch until she is now at end stage of kidney
failure?
* Why does the NAACP want to hear from a man that won't permit this same,
very seriously ill woman to be housed in the Medical Bldg. on the grounds of
that facility so that she can be cared for by her sister and instead has
her housed in a mold-infested, damp, breeding ground for the infections
which have repeatedly threatened her life?
Ask Jackson County NAACP President, Curly Clark, and State President,
Derrick Johnson, why they are not involved in the fight for justice for the
Mississippi Scott Sisters, a shocking and internationally known atrocity
occurring right in their own backyard!
This entire event should be protested if Epps remains on the program
and attendees given refunds for their $30 tickets!
Curly Clark, President, Jackson County NAACP
228-762-9692
Derrick Johnson, State President
Mississippi State Conference NAACP
1072 West J.R. Lynch Street
Jackson, MS 39203
Phone: http://www.facebook.com/l/aadef;601.353.6906
Fax: http://www.facebook.com/l/aadef;601.353.1565
Website: http://www.facebook.com/l/aadef;www.naacpms.org
===================
Further comments from Nancy Lockhart:
"In Charleston South Carolina - A Supervisor of The Charleston Place Hotel - tied a hangman's noose and placed it on an elderly Black employee's neck - Gentleman contacted the NAACP - no assistance because Charleston Place Hotel Hosts the yearly fund raising breakfast free of charge for the NAACP every year - How Do I know? - I made the case public, I wrote the press release and conducted the press conference.
http://www.facebook.com/l/aadef;www.forbes.com/feeds/afx/2008/02/08/afx4635027.html
I'm rather disturbed when individuals ask, have you contacted the NAACP, ACLU, SCLC, and blah, blah, blah. Hell yes they have been contacted, haven't just been rocking in a chair for the past 5 years 7 months with the Scott Sisters Case. Join the mass e-mail campaign to the NAACP in protest of EPPS being guest speaker at the freedom fund banquet!
See Free The Scott Sisters Group Page or, http://www.facebook.com/l/aadef;www.freethescottsisters.blogspot.com
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
New Prison Study: Race and Racism Placed at Center of Why U.S. Imprisons So Many of Its Citizens
AlterNet / By Liliana Segura
Two criminologists have concluded, in a new study investigating public attitudes behind harsh sentencing, that the warehousing of African Americans and other minorities is no accident. Rather, "racial resentments are inextricably entwined in public punitiveness." In other words, racism and the rise of "tough on crime" policies go hand in hand.
James Unnever of the University of South Florida-Sarasota and Francis Cullen of the University of Cincinnati acknowledge the "lengthy roster" of previous studies on race and the U.S. prison system; yet theirs manages to contribute something crucial to the current debate: "… [G]iven the large body of research that documents a substantive association between punitiveness and racial animus," they write, "it is somewhat disconcerting that theories of the mass-incarceration movement do not place race and racism at the center of their explanation for why the United States imprisons so many of its citizens."
Liliana Segura Continues
Two criminologists have concluded, in a new study investigating public attitudes behind harsh sentencing, that the warehousing of African Americans and other minorities is no accident. Rather, "racial resentments are inextricably entwined in public punitiveness." In other words, racism and the rise of "tough on crime" policies go hand in hand.
James Unnever of the University of South Florida-Sarasota and Francis Cullen of the University of Cincinnati acknowledge the "lengthy roster" of previous studies on race and the U.S. prison system; yet theirs manages to contribute something crucial to the current debate: "… [G]iven the large body of research that documents a substantive association between punitiveness and racial animus," they write, "it is somewhat disconcerting that theories of the mass-incarceration movement do not place race and racism at the center of their explanation for why the United States imprisons so many of its citizens."
Liliana Segura Continues
Monday, April 19, 2010
Update: Jamie Scott, Mississippi Prisoner; Severely Ill Scott Wakened by Warden, Ordered to Work
Nancy LockhartApril 19, 2010 at 1:00pm
Subject: UPDATE: 4/19 ~ Jamie Scott Ordered To Scrub Prison Walls with One Arm - From Sis. Marpessa
Jamie Scott called her mother this morning and informed
her that Warden Holman woke her from sleep, demanding
to know what her mother was posting on the internet
regarding mold on the walls and leaking in her unit.
She got up and showed him the mold all over the walls
as well as sewage that was coming up out of the toilets
and the spiders overrunning the unit.
The warden then told Jamie (who only has the use of one
arm) to scrub down the walls, to which she refused! Jamie
told him that her mother is posting the truth and would
continue to post about the disgusting conditions of the unit
and how it was making her sicker and more prone to
infection, and that all of those years of mold would need
more than scrubbing anyway. She told him if she was
allowed to lay there and die that he hasn't seen anything
yet and would never hear the last of her mother!
The other women were awakened by the Warden and told
to scrub the mold off of the walls and they also refused!
They told the Warden that they were glad that everybody
is finding out about their horrible living conditions and that
the building needs to be torn down! No matter how the prison
tries to hide it, the truth will continue to be told!
One prison doctor has diagnosed Jamie with an infection
and another has not, but she has the discoloration that
is a hallmark of recurrent infection. She clarified that
it was determined that she was only on Heparin while in
the hospital and that it had been discontinued.
PLEASE PARTICIPATE in e-mailing our press release to at
least three press contacts as often as possible! It's at:
http://www.facebook.com/l/387a0;www.scribd.com/doc/30178263/Scott-Sisters-Press-Release
Many newspapers can be reached by e-mail or contact form
at http://www.facebook.com/l/387a0;www.usnpl.com/ - please also contact other forms
of media that you can easily find info for. We need a whole
lot of help to attract as much attention to this case as
possible to truly make a difference!
Thank you all, don't let up!!
--------------
Subject: UPDATE: 4/19 ~ Jamie Scott Ordered To Scrub Prison Walls with One Arm - From Sis. Marpessa
Jamie Scott called her mother this morning and informed
her that Warden Holman woke her from sleep, demanding
to know what her mother was posting on the internet
regarding mold on the walls and leaking in her unit.
She got up and showed him the mold all over the walls
as well as sewage that was coming up out of the toilets
and the spiders overrunning the unit.
The warden then told Jamie (who only has the use of one
arm) to scrub down the walls, to which she refused! Jamie
told him that her mother is posting the truth and would
continue to post about the disgusting conditions of the unit
and how it was making her sicker and more prone to
infection, and that all of those years of mold would need
more than scrubbing anyway. She told him if she was
allowed to lay there and die that he hasn't seen anything
yet and would never hear the last of her mother!
The other women were awakened by the Warden and told
to scrub the mold off of the walls and they also refused!
They told the Warden that they were glad that everybody
is finding out about their horrible living conditions and that
the building needs to be torn down! No matter how the prison
tries to hide it, the truth will continue to be told!
One prison doctor has diagnosed Jamie with an infection
and another has not, but she has the discoloration that
is a hallmark of recurrent infection. She clarified that
it was determined that she was only on Heparin while in
the hospital and that it had been discontinued.
PLEASE PARTICIPATE in e-mailing our press release to at
least three press contacts as often as possible! It's at:
http://www.facebook.com/l/387a0;www.scribd.com/doc/30178263/Scott-Sisters-Press-Release
Many newspapers can be reached by e-mail or contact form
at http://www.facebook.com/l/387a0;www.usnpl.com/ - please also contact other forms
of media that you can easily find info for. We need a whole
lot of help to attract as much attention to this case as
possible to truly make a difference!
Thank you all, don't let up!!
--------------
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Federal Judge to Mississippi: Cease School Segregation
US District Judge Tom Lee has given the Walthall County School District in Mississippi 30 days to amend its student transfer policy and ordered an immediate halt to the alleged "clustering" of white students into certain classes in Tylertown, Miss., elementary schools.
"The district shall cease using race in the assignment of students to classrooms in a manner that results in the racial segregation of students," Judge Lee said in his eight-page order.
"The district shall randomly assign students to classrooms at the Tylertown Elementary Schools through the use of a student management software program," the judge said.
The action stems from a federal desegregation order issued in August 1970 – nearly 40 years ago. The case was closed for lack of activity in 2001.
In 2007, lawyers with the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division contacted the Mississippi school district to monitor its compliance with the 1970 desegregation order. The action revealed two alleged violations.
The district was allowing more than 300 students – most of them white – to transfer from their assigned schools to a predominately white school, the Salem Attendance Center, outside their residential zone, according to court documents.
The second alleged violation involved grouping white students into a few designated classes at three other schools in Tylertown. The action created a significant number of all-black classrooms at each elementary grade level, documents say.
“It is unacceptable for school districts to act in a way that encourages or tolerates the resegregation of public schools,” said Thomas Perez, who heads the Civil Rights Division.
Warren Richey of the Christian Science Monitor continues:
"The district shall cease using race in the assignment of students to classrooms in a manner that results in the racial segregation of students," Judge Lee said in his eight-page order.
"The district shall randomly assign students to classrooms at the Tylertown Elementary Schools through the use of a student management software program," the judge said.
The action stems from a federal desegregation order issued in August 1970 – nearly 40 years ago. The case was closed for lack of activity in 2001.
In 2007, lawyers with the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division contacted the Mississippi school district to monitor its compliance with the 1970 desegregation order. The action revealed two alleged violations.
The district was allowing more than 300 students – most of them white – to transfer from their assigned schools to a predominately white school, the Salem Attendance Center, outside their residential zone, according to court documents.
The second alleged violation involved grouping white students into a few designated classes at three other schools in Tylertown. The action created a significant number of all-black classrooms at each elementary grade level, documents say.
“It is unacceptable for school districts to act in a way that encourages or tolerates the resegregation of public schools,” said Thomas Perez, who heads the Civil Rights Division.
Warren Richey of the Christian Science Monitor continues:
Monday, April 12, 2010
Massy Coal Miners Organize to Fight Back As Their Cohorts Keep Dying; civil rights violated
Mining is now much less labor intensive than in days past. But it is still dangerous. I know this personally, because I have lived in two mining communities, Elko and Ely Nevada.
But miners don't die so often in these two Nevada gold mines. Safety is a concern with Barrick, Newmont, Anglo Gold and most prominently by the union members who work the mines. These mines are the names that I grew up with. And never had there been a mining disaster in modern times at these Nevada mines like the coal mining disaster we all read about last with with Massy Mines in Virginia.
If you read about these events, it is apparent that miners keep dying in the Upper Branch Mine -- a mine that is repeatedly been fined for safety violations, three times as recently as two weeks before the tragedy. The mine sidewalls have cracked and collapsed. The ventilation system does not work properly.
Yet Massey and its belligerent, tea-bagging CEO Don Blankenship stonewalls repeatedly appeal and challenge Mine Safety and Health Administration findings, and routinely fail to pay penalties. So far Massey has paid only $2,676 of the over $188,000 in fines, writes Michael Berkowitz in today's Huffington Post:
Berkowitz continues in "Standing Up For Coal Miners; today's Huffington Post:
* * * * *
At his Labor Day anti-union rally last year, Massey CEO Don Blankenship attacked the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), claiming it "seeks power over coal miners." He mocked both "Washington politicians" and local elected officials who attempt to ensure miner safety, calling their efforts "as silly as global warming"
Read more --
But miners don't die so often in these two Nevada gold mines. Safety is a concern with Barrick, Newmont, Anglo Gold and most prominently by the union members who work the mines. These mines are the names that I grew up with. And never had there been a mining disaster in modern times at these Nevada mines like the coal mining disaster we all read about last with with Massy Mines in Virginia.
If you read about these events, it is apparent that miners keep dying in the Upper Branch Mine -- a mine that is repeatedly been fined for safety violations, three times as recently as two weeks before the tragedy. The mine sidewalls have cracked and collapsed. The ventilation system does not work properly.
Yet Massey and its belligerent, tea-bagging CEO Don Blankenship stonewalls repeatedly appeal and challenge Mine Safety and Health Administration findings, and routinely fail to pay penalties. So far Massey has paid only $2,676 of the over $188,000 in fines, writes Michael Berkowitz in today's Huffington Post:
"I remember as a kid," he said, "my dad strapping his gun on in the morning and going with John L. Lewis to organize in the mines."... I was a young professor. He was my student. I had been recruited to teach history at Pikeville College. He was an older African American student who had been recruited to play basketball. I thought I was going as part of the Civil Rights Movement and worked with unemployed and disabled Black and White coal miners until our Eastern Kentucky Welfare Rights Center was burned to the ground.* * * * *
Berkowitz continues in "Standing Up For Coal Miners; today's Huffington Post:
* * * * *
At his Labor Day anti-union rally last year, Massey CEO Don Blankenship attacked the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), claiming it "seeks power over coal miners." He mocked both "Washington politicians" and local elected officials who attempt to ensure miner safety, calling their efforts "as silly as global warming"
Read more --
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Clyburn likens new health care law to rights act
Saturday, April 10, 2010
COLUMBIA -- U.S. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn said Friday that the new health care law is the Civil Rights Act of the 21st century because it ends discrimination of individuals with chronic and catastrophic illnesses.
The S.C. Democrat made the comparison before about 400 people attending the University of South Carolina's third annual series on health care disparities, a lecture that bears Clyburn's name.
As with the Civil Rights Act, which gave black Americans equal rights, Clyburn said Congress will need to revisit the health care law and make changes over the years. The law will become fully effective in 2014, when 32 million more Americans, including about 500,000 South Carolinians, receive health insurance, writes Yvonne Wenger for the Post & Courier.
Wenger's report continues --
COLUMBIA -- U.S. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn said Friday that the new health care law is the Civil Rights Act of the 21st century because it ends discrimination of individuals with chronic and catastrophic illnesses.
The S.C. Democrat made the comparison before about 400 people attending the University of South Carolina's third annual series on health care disparities, a lecture that bears Clyburn's name.
As with the Civil Rights Act, which gave black Americans equal rights, Clyburn said Congress will need to revisit the health care law and make changes over the years. The law will become fully effective in 2014, when 32 million more Americans, including about 500,000 South Carolinians, receive health insurance, writes Yvonne Wenger for the Post & Courier.
Wenger's report continues --
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Update on Mississippi Scott Sisters; Nancy Lockhart: You Can Send a Letter to Gov. Haley Barbour
Important Update on Mississippi Scott Sisters
Nancy Lockhart
April 5 at 6:35 pm:
Jamie Scott was returned to her regular jail cell at CMCF in 2A B Zone on approximately March 30. A permanent fistula was placed in her arm, however she still has the painful catheter in her groin area. Jamie was told this will remain there for about 6 more weeks as her arm heals and her veins become strong enough to take the dialysis.
After surgery her potassium spiked and she had vomiting and seizure. She has been stable since that time as far as we have been able to determine. One of the doctors who examined Jamie told her that she is at stage 5 kidney failure,which is the worst and considered end stage, and that in the "free" world she would qualify to be on the list for a kidney transplant. Other testing confirmed this and concur that it is the fault of MDOC because they should have caught it much sooner than when it reached stage 5, especially in light of Jamie's constant medical complaints and their denial or shuffling of her medications.
MDOC should not have been placing those temporary catheters into her neck instead of placing a shunt in her arm before now, but they were basically taking the cheap way out. Jamie needs to be RELEASED because the prison cannot be trusted to give her ANY SEMBLANCE of adequate medical care, particularly in her advanced stage of disease!
As has been posted previously, Dr. Gloria Perry stated that Jamie is not a candidate for transplant! Jamie's sister and other family members have offered to be tested for compatibility, yet been denied by MDOC. In a Mississippi Clarion Ledge article on March 18, Commissioner Epps was quoted as stating: "We've got a lot of sick people in Mississippi," he said. "Prison is just a subculture of the culture. When they come in to us, unfortunately, many times they haven't gotten treatment until we get them." All told, Epps said MDOC has 258 male and female inmates with HIV or AIDS.
But it doesn't end there. Altogether there are 5,621 inmates with medical conditions ranging from failing kidneys to heart disease."Those are some staggering numbers for a population of 21,000 people," he said.He said he hopes the department can "get by" spending $50 million this year on medical costs. Some inmates with complicated medical problems are released, he said. "I just signed off on 72 persons for medical release," he said.
Neither Jamie nor Mrs. Rasco have received any information to indicate whether or not Jamie's name might be on this list.
======
Free The Scott Sisters Now in Mississippi is collecting 10,000 signatures on the below letter, so please support and pass them on! Please copy and paste the below, sign and return to Atty Lumumba's office as instructed,this is very important so please participate!!
FREE THE SCOTT SISTERS NOW
Information Line: 1-888-600-5311
Governor Haley Barbour
P. O. Box 139
Jackson, MS 39205
RE: The Scott Sisters
Dear Governor Barbour:
I would like to bring your attention to the case of Jamie and Gladys Scott. These sisters have served more than 15 years of a double life term where no one was murdered or injured. State’s witnesses have testified to their innocence. Jamie Scott’s kidneys have failed and her health is fading fast.
We need your help now. Mississippi needs to know that those of us who believe in justice and human rights are prepared to take a stand for the Scott Sisters.
FREE THE SCOTT SISTERS NOW!!!!!
Signed,
(Your Name)
Truly Concerned Name: ______________________________
Address: ____________________________________________
Please forward this letter of support to:
Free the Scott Sisters
c/o Attorney Chokwe Lumumba
440 N. Mill Street Jackson, MS 39205
Monday, April 5, 2010
House Plans to Resurrect Law Requiring 'Gay' Hires
ON CAPITOL HILL
House plans to resurrect law requiring 'gay' hires
Fresh off health-care victory, Dems target Christian employers
H.R. 3017, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2009, or ENDA, makes it unlawful for government agencies or businesses with more than 15 employees to refuse hire or promotion of anyone based on “gender-related identity, appearance or mannerisms or other gender-related characteristics of an individual, with or without regard to the individual’s designated sex at birth.”
The bill does make exceptions for the U.S. military, religious organizations and some businesses with non-profit 501(c) designations, but makes no provisions for business owners’ consciences. A small construction company that wanted to maintain a Christian reputation, for example, could be sued if it refused to hire transvestites, writes Drew Zahn of WorldNetDaily.
Continued --
House plans to resurrect law requiring 'gay' hires
Fresh off health-care victory, Dems target Christian employers
H.R. 3017, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2009, or ENDA, makes it unlawful for government agencies or businesses with more than 15 employees to refuse hire or promotion of anyone based on “gender-related identity, appearance or mannerisms or other gender-related characteristics of an individual, with or without regard to the individual’s designated sex at birth.”
The bill does make exceptions for the U.S. military, religious organizations and some businesses with non-profit 501(c) designations, but makes no provisions for business owners’ consciences. A small construction company that wanted to maintain a Christian reputation, for example, could be sued if it refused to hire transvestites, writes Drew Zahn of WorldNetDaily.
Continued --
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)