>changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
>Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message
>to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
>
>
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2000 00:06:48 -0400
>Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
>Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
>Subject: [WW] Legal Lynchings Under Fire
>Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the June 15, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>COUNTDOWN TO SAVE GARY GRAHAM: LEGAL LYNCHINGS
>UNDER FIRE
>
>By Elijah Crane
>
>The struggle to save the life of Shaka Sankofa, formerly
>known as Gary Graham, continues to build momentum and win
>popular support. Sankofa is a death-row prisoner and Black
>political activist at the Terrell Unit in Livingston,
>Texas. Efforts persist to stop his execution--scheduled for
>June 22--and present evidence of his innocence.
>
>After a two-day trial in 1981, Sankofa was convicted of
>capital murder and sentenced to death based solely on the
>coaxed testimony of a single witness.
>
>Six eyewitnesses describe Bobby Lambert's killer as being
>about a foot shorter than Sankofa with significantly
>different features. Four of those witnesses have taken and
>passed lie detector tests confirming these facts.
>
>Sankofa has been fighting for a new trial to present this
>evidence, but has been denied every appeal.
>
>Only 17 years old at the time of his arrest, Shaka Sankofa
>is one of more than 70 people on death row who were
>juveniles at the time of the alleged crimes. The U.S. has
>executed 16 such people, more than the rest of the world
>combined. Half of the executions have occurred in Texas.
>
>National days of action to stop the execution of Shaka
>Sankofa and abolish the death penalty have been called for
>June 16-19. These actions fall on the anniversary of
>Juneteenth, the days slaves in Texas learned of the
>Emancipation Proclamation.
>
>Demonstrations have been planned in cities all over the
>world. Some have already taken place in Texas and
>elsewhere, garnering popular support.
>
>Endorsers of this call include: International Concerned
>Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, Texas Death Penalty
>Abolition Movement, Shaka Sankofa/Gary Graham Justice
>Coalition, Millions for Mumia/International Action Center,
>the Rev. Al Sharpton, the Rev. Herbert Daughtry, Rainbow
>Flags for Mumia, United American Indians of New England,
>New York Free Mumia Coalition, Lesbian and Gay Insurgence,
>Australian Bisexual Network, Campaign to End the Death
>Penalty, California Coalition for Women Prisoners, and many
>others.
>
>Texas Gov. George W. Bush's Republican presidential
>campaign is the focus of protests in many cities. Both Bush
>and his Democratic opponent, Vice President Al Gore,
>support the death penalty.
>
>Readers can call Millions for Mumia/IAC at (212) 633-6646
>or visit the Web site www.mumia2000.org for more
>information.
>
>MEDIA COVERAGE GROWS
>
>Media coverage of the death-penalty debate has been
>erupting for several weeks. The June 1 edition of the
>Amsterdam News carried three articles related to the death
>penalty, including a "Call for a National Moratorium" from
>the Black Press of America.
>
>Several articles on capital punishment have recently
>appeared in the New York Times. And the June 12 issue of
>Newsweek featured a cover story on DNA testing and the
>death penalty. Most of these articles refer to both Mumia
>Abu-Jamal and Shaka Sankofa.
>
>The Newsweek article discussed the significance of DNA
>testing for prisoners accused of "rape-murder." More than
>70 people have been found innocent as a result of DNA
>testing. Even some who support the death penalty now say
>they are in favor of instituting national DNA testing
>whenever a case allows for it.
>
>While this would be a welcome development, it must be
>noted that DNA testing is only helpful to those convicted
>of rape, which constitutes a small percentage of the death-
>row population.
>
>Newsweek also highlighted the exorbitant number of people
>put to death in Texas, pointing out that Bush has presided
>over 131 executions. The story went on to call attention to
>the many injustices in the case of Shaka Sankofa.
>
>BUSH BENDS TO PRESSURE
>
>One week after being forced to come out in favor of DNA
>testing, Bush granted a 30-day reprieve to Ricky McGinn
>just minutes before he was to be lethally injected on June
>1. This was the first time in his five years as governor
>that Bush has intervened in a death sentence. McGinn is
>hoping that DNA testing will prove that he is not guilty of
>the rape and murder for which he was convicted in 1995.
>
>In another first, on June 2 Gov. Jim Gilmore of Virginia--
>the state with the second most executions--ordered new DNA
>testing in the case of Earl Washington Jr., another man
>convicted of rape and murder. Washington had already been
>taken off death row.
>
>On June 5, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the death
>sentence of Victor Hugo Saldano, a prisoner in Texas. The
>ruling came after lawyers for the state admitted that the
>death sentence resulted from the racist testimony of
>psychologist Walter Quijano.
>
>The so-called "expert" testified that Saldano's race "was
>a factor weighing in favor of future dangerousness."
>
>Saldano is a citizen of Argentina. The Argentine
>government and 10 other Latin American countries had urged
>the Supreme Court to review Saldano's case after repeated
>appeals to Bush were ignored.
>
>Since 1988, nine out of every 10 federal death penalty
>defendants have been Black or Latino. And while the number
>of Black and white people who are murdered each year is
>equal, 80 percent of Black death-row prisoners are executed
>for allegedly killing white people and only six white
>prisoners have been put to death for killing Black people
>since 1977.
>
>Despite government statistics that show violent crime is
>down 30 percent, this year's state-sanctioned murders are
>expected to exceed last year's total of 98--the highest
>number of executions per year to date.
>
> - END -
>
>(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to
>copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
>changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
>Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message
>to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
>
>
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2000 00:06:48 -0400
>Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
>Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
>Subject: [WW] Houston: Activists Arrested At Graham Protest
>Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the June 15, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>HOUSTON: ACTIVISTS ARRESTED AT GRAHAM PROTEST
>
>By Workers World Houston bureau
>
>Houston police arrested three activists at a May 31
>demonstration to stop the execution of Shaka Sankofa,
>formerly known as Gary Graham. During the march two young
>women carrying the lead banner were handcuffed, put in a
>police car and taken away. They were later released.
>
>A third protester, Gloria Rubac, was arrested while trying
>to photograph the police assault on the two young women.
>She spent three days in the Harris County jail.
>
>Chickpea, an organizer of Houstonians United for Mumia,
>was one of those carrying the banner. "There were 100 or
>more protesters at the rally in front of the new criminal
>`injustice' center, and roughly 40 on the march," she said.
>
>"After we had crossed Main Street, the cops showed up en
>masse . they went overboard and arrested us."
>
>Rubac--a leader of the Texas Death Penalty Abolition
>Movement--is one of the city's best-known death-penalty
>opponents. She told Workers World, "The sergeant and
>lieutenant both admitted that they knew who I was, had seen
>me at demonstrations and weren't going to let me go with a
>class-c misdemeanor."
>
>Minister Robert Muhammad of the Nation of Islam, Anthony
>Freddie of the Shaka Sankofa/Gary Graham Justice Coalition
>and others worked to secure her release.
>
>Rubac was charged with "interfering with a peace officer,"
>a class-b misdemeanor.
>
>She said: "Their singling me out is an attack on Gary
>[Graham], on the anti-death-penalty movement, and on
>everyone who's on death row. They know I'm an advocate for
>death-row prisoners. That's why they targeted me."
>
>Rubac is scheduled to appear in court June 8.
>
>While police tried unsuccessfully to intimidate Shaka
>Sankofa's supporters, Texas Gov. George W. Bush was bending
>to political pressure to grant a 30-day stay of execution
>to Ricky McGinn. McGinn, a white prisoner, sought the right
>to a DNA test.
>
>Bush granted the reprieve June 1, just 20 minutes before
>McGinn was to have died.
>
>PANEL: `SANKOFA IS INNOCENT'
>
>On June 3, a nine-member panel called the Texas Community
>Parole Board convened at the Thurgood Marshall School of
>Law at Texas Southern University to consider Shaka
>Sankofa's case. The panel, assembled by the National
>Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N'COBRA),
>included Geronimo ji Jaga Pratt, a former Black Panther who
>was wrongfully imprisoned in California for 25 years.
>
>Ashanti Chimurenga presented Sankofa's case to the panel.
>"The state of Texas is on the verge of killing an innocent
>man," she said.
>
>Chimurenga said only one of the several eyewitnesses
>identified 17-year-old Gary Graham as the shooter of Bobby
>Lambert in 1981. That witness couldn't identify Graham in a
>police photo array, but picked him out of a lineup the next
>day.
>
>Graham was the only person from the photo array who
>appeared in the lineup. "This procedure, riddled with
>improprieties, is what put Gary Graham on death row," she
>argued.
>
>Other eyewitnesses have said Graham was not the shooter.
>But they weren't called to testify at his trial.
>
>The panelists concluded that Sankofa/ Graham didn't
>receive a fair trial. "The evidence overwhelmingly shows a
>deliberate frame-up," said ji Jaga, "which is all too
>commonplace."
>
>On June 3 in Austin, 75 people protested outside the
>governor's mansion. "It's really important to stand
>shoulder-to-shoulder with Gary as he faces execution at the
>end of the month," lawyer Rob Owen told the crowd.
>
>"If the governor persuades the public through the media
>that DNA testing is the only thing that will separate the
>innocent from the guilty, then we are going to kill a lot
>of innocent people," he said. "There are a lot of people on
>death row because of the testimony of one eyewitness."
>
> - END -
>
>(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to
>copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
>changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
>Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message
>to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
>
>
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2000 00:06:49 -0400
>Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
>Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
>Subject: [WW] Continuing Key Martin's Revolutionary Legacy
>Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the June 15, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>VIDEO FUND ESTABLISHED: CONTINUING KEY MARTIN'S
>REVOLUTIONARY LEGACY
>
>By Donna Goodman
>
>Workers World Party and activists from around the world
>will be celebrating the life and legacy of Key Martin at
>3:30 p.m. on June 11 with a public memorial at New York's
>Fashion Institute of Technology. Martin was a beloved and
>respected comrade and leader of the Party who died March 18
>at the age of 56.
>
>Key had a long revolutionary career, beginning as a leader
>of the militant wing of the 1960s anti-war movement. Among
>his more recent accomplishments was the Peoples Video
>Network, an activist news organization that reports events
>the corporate media would like to bury.
>
>Key believed in the power of video to move people to
>action, and organized PVN in order to portray people not as
>victims of unfortunate circumstances but as actors
>organized together to change society.
>
>His video work took him to Haiti, Cuba and most recently
>South Africa. He went behind the walls of U.S. prisons to
>interview Mumia Abu-Jamal and other political prisoners.
>And he covered countless picket lines and demonstrations.
>
>At the time of his death, Key was working on two major
>video projects--"Chris Hani Viva," on the life of the
>martyred South African Communist Party leader, and "The
>Battle against the WTO, from South Africa to Seattle," a
>first-hand report on the struggle against the World Trade
>Organization.
>
>"Chris Hani Viva" will be a feature-length documentary
>about the life and work of the legendary anti-apartheid
>leader. Hani was assassinated in 1993 in one of the final,
>brutal acts of the dying apartheid regime. His murder
>shocked the country and was a catalyst for the elections
>that swept the African National Congress into office and
>began the process of dismantling apartheid.
>
>Key knew Chris Hani and made it his mission to tell his
>story to the world. "Chris Hani Viva" includes interviews
>with key leaders of the South African liberation movement
>and archival footage of the struggle. "Chris Hani Viva"
>will have its world premier at Harlem's Apollo Theater. It
>will also be shown in South Africa and England.
>
>"The Battle against the WTO, from South Africa to Seattle"
>brings to light the international fight against corporate
>greed. It spans from South Africa, staggering under the
>weight of the AIDS epidemic, to Seattle, where youth and
>labor united against the transnational corporations.
>
>The documentary tells the story of the monumental struggle
>for affordable medical treatment waged by the Congress of
>South African Trade Unions, the South African Communist
>Party and the ANC against the WTO and the international
>pharmaceutical industry.
>
>"The Battle against the WTO" will provide a powerful
>indictment of those who have profited so handsomely from
>high drug prices while preventing Africa from coping with
>the AIDS pandemic. And, with its dramatic footage of last
>year's "Battle of Seattle," it will show the potential for
>unity and internationalism displayed by youth and labor in
>this country.
>
>Key spent long hours shooting, editing and marketing both
>projects. But to get these important works before the
>public, PVN needs an infusion of funds for equipment,
>travel, production and distribution costs.
>
>In order to complete these projects, Peoples Video Network
>has established the Key Martin PVN Fund. Workers World
>joins PVN in asking readers and supporters to contribute
>generously to this fund. Donations may be sent to Peoples
>Rights Fund, 39 West 14th Street, Suite 206, New York, NY
>10011.
>
> - END -
>
>(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to
>copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
>changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
>Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message
>to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
>
>
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2000 00:06:50 -0400
>Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
>Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
>Subject: [WW] When Will Elian & his Family Get to go Home?
>Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the June 15, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>500,000 WOMEN MARCH IN HAVANA: WHEN WILL ELIAN AND
>HIS FAMILY GET TO GO HOME?
>
>By Gloria La Riva
>
>How long will the charade of U.S. justice continue in
>Elian Gonzalez's case? How much longer will Elian and his
>family be held against their will?
>
>When the ruling came down from the 11th Circuit Court in
>Atlanta on June 1 affirming the Immigration department's
>decision to reject "asylum" for the six-year-old, the hope
>was that he and his family could fly back to Cuba before
>the day was done.
>
>Instead, Elian was ordered to remain in the U.S. for at
>least 21 more days. The court gave the Miami right wing 14
>days to file appeals against the ruling and kept alive a
>court injunction to hold Elian. The injunction that has
>forced Elian to remain in the U.S. since the day of his
>rescue from Miami on April 22 will continue seven days
>beyond the appeals deadline.
>
>This new delay is one more in a string of seemingly
>endless maneuvers that have kept Elian prisoner in the so-
>called "free world" for more than six months.
>
>The people of Cuba--who have carried out extraordinary
>mobilizations for Elian--responded to the Gonzalez family's
>continued detention by holding a mass march and rally the
>next morning in Havana.
>
>Over 500,000 Cuban women and children marched to the U.S.
>Interests Section to demand the family's immediate freedom.
>They chanted, "Stop the lies, return Elian!" as they
>marched by the U.S. diplomatic presence in Cuba.
>
>A rally followed just yards away. A permanent rally site
>called the "Jose Marti Anti-Imperialist Open Tribunal" has
>been set up in front of the U.S. Interests Section.
>
>So impressive was the women's action that every major
>international news service--including the Associated Press,
>Reuters and the French Press Agency--commented on its
>spectacular character. CNN called the march "unprecedented"
>and showed part of it live.
>
>WHAT THE COURT SAID--AND DIDN'T SAY
>
>It's important to understand what the 11th Circuit Court
>decision said and didn't say. The three-judge panel's
>decision was made on a narrow basis. It said the only issue
>at hand was the separation of powers of the U.S.
>government's branches.
>
>It ruled that the INS--as an agency of the executive
>branch--has discretion in deciding how to handle asylum
>questions where there is ambiguity in interpreting the law,
>in this case, 8 U.S.C., Section 1158(a)(1).
>
>That section of the law was the main basis of the right-
>wing argument to keep Elian here: "Any alien . may apply
>for asylum."
>
>However, while the court affirmed Juan Miguel Gonzalez's
>right as a parent to determine his son's interests, it did
>little else in his favor.
>
>The judges refused his request to have Lazaro Gonzalez
>removed as "best friend," a court term that has given the
>right-wing uncle standing to press his legal claims. The
>court thus gave Elian's former kidnappers the power to
>continue their psychological abuse and deny the family's
>right as Cuban citizens to return home.
>
>An official statement by the Cuban government after the
>decision said: "Although it is clear that the majority of
>U.S. people and world opinion were hoping for a quick and
>just solution, today a ruling was made that still grants
>rights and privileges to an imposter who has defied orders
>of the authorities and the laws of the country where he
>lives. .
>
>"Now, in fact, not only is Elian kidnapped in the U.S.,
>but his father, stepmother and little brother Hianny as
>well. Our people have the right to demand the family's
>immediate freedom and return to Cuba. To detain them in the
>United States is the consequence of a cruel and
>unjustifiable vengeance on the part of the Mafia [Miami
>right wing] and its allies.
>
>"But it is also the despicable aim and foolish hope of the
>highest government authorities and politicians of that
>country to buy a Cuban father, whom they've humiliated and
>offended without limit. He, however, has proved himself to
>be honest, dignified and incorruptible."
>
>There is nothing left to discuss. Elian, Juan Miguel,
>Nercy and Hianny should be home now. But this case involves
>Cuba, and even a six-year-old boy is not spared from being
>punished for living in a country that has dared to be
>independent of the U.S., that dares to defend socialism.
>
>When Elian finally returns to Cuba, it won't be because of
>"justice" in U.S. courts. It will be because the Cuban
>people, like those on the half-million women's march, have
>made a solemn promise to fight for Elian until he is free,
>and because millions more in the U.S. and around the world
>became disgusted with the right-wing kidnapping of this
>small child.
>
> - END -
>
>(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to
>copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
>changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
>Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message
>to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
>
>
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