Did you know that your alderman, 8^th Ward Alderman Michelle Harris, is trying to infiltrate your neighborhood with a low income Section 8 Senior housing unit? This structure, Montclare Calumet Heights Senior Building, will be 134 units, 7 story tall building, scheduled to be built at 9329 to 9429 S. Stony Island Ave. Community residents are furiously angry about her plans; don’t want it, have held community meetings to protest it, and have attended meetings in City Hall with the Community Development Commission and the Chicago Plan Commission, all to no avail. Many residents are angry about the alderman’s plans. And to add fire to an already sensitive situation, both committees consisted primarily of Caucasians who sided with the alderman. Are we going to let people who don’t live in our community call the shots for us and say what is best for our community? However, there are many residents who are not aware of the alderman’s terrible plans.

There will be a press conference in front of the alderman’s office, 8539 S. Cottage Grove Ave., on April 25, 2018 at 1 P.M. There will be a protest in front of the site (day yet to be determined). Call the alderman’s office (773 874-3300) and tell her you don’t want it in the community.

Come out and let your voices be heard.

The unfair shooting and brutalization of Oswald Jay Lewis

Nationwide (BlackNews.com) — On August 26, 2014, U.S. Marshals and NYPD executed a late-night arrest in Queens, NY on a 24-year old warrant from Virgina. Inside the Queens apartment was Oswald Lewis, the individual named in the arrest warrant. After Lewis’ violent seizure by marshals he was never given his Miranda rights. He laid on the pavement, handcuffed to his injured wrist until an ambulance arrived.

Oswald Lewis’ civil complaint case #1:16 1057 (KAM JO) reveals in detail how marshals re-entered the residence and fabricated the evidence to make it appear as if Lewis was the initial aggressor. Law enforcement then made numerous false statements to media and in an affidavit to the grand jury. And testimonial statements all inconsistent to nearly all of the evidence.

Lewis spent just 2 days in Jamaica Queens hospital for his injuries, even though hospital records show he needed at least 7 days. Instead, Lewis was removed from the hospital by marshals in a horrific condition with the facial injuries shown above, a bleed- ing wrist with nerve tendons protruding from his left wrist caused by the marshal’s handcuffs and a 40 caliber bullet still lodged in his left elbow. Lewis was taken to the federal Metropolitan Detention Center MDC in Brooklyn NY and placed in solitary confinement for over 50 days while law enforcement narratives started the process to his unlawful conviction.

Court Records show it took one year to remove the bullet from Lewis’ elbow after he made numerous complaints. The Oswald Lewis they arrested for the 24-year old non-violent warrant was not even the correct Oswald Lewis.

Lewis was not just shot and arrested, his constitutional rights were denied. Court records show (case#14-523-iLG) Oswald’s paid attorney was denied the right to be his counsel or act as his standby. Lewis was then forced to represent himself and yelled out in court, “You’re not giving me a fair chance to defend myself.”

The record shows the material evidence from professor peter Deforest was also precluded and Mr. Lewis never got an opportunity to testify or cross examine all the law enforcement on the government witness list who made prior inconsistent statements. Lewis’ most crucial evidence to prove his innocence was precluded because the court appointed attorney (whom Lewis fired) filed the motion for the witness late. Even in light of the exculpatory findings the forensic expert revealed and the serious charges Lewis faced, the court never considered the material testimony.

Three affidavits in support of Mr. Lewis (2255 appeal) to vacate his conviction have been submitted. See more on the Lewis case and video at www.oswaldlewis.com.

In repeated instances and even in the rare circumstance that a law enforcement officer is charged with criminal activity pertaining to police brutality, law enforcement officers continue to be acquitted or the jury deadlocks. The lack of consequences may contribute to undeterred instances of police brutality.

In over 60 years, the issue of law enforcement brutality shows no improvement and is still unresolved. The current trend shows there’s a continuous tendency to stereotype Black people as being more dangerous than other races. With that attitude, there’s a reliance upon force that goes beyond what is necessary to accomplish police duty. This is the dangerous culture of law enforcement that helps foster the problem.

Photo Caption:

Oswald Jay Lewis, before and after being shot and arrested by police

Former Hammond Cop Michael Solan Previously Framed Another Man, & Jury Issued a $9 Million verdict against the City

CHICAGO, IL – Two Lake County, IN men, wrongfully imprisoned for a combined 42 years following a 1989 rape, filed suit today against former officers from the Hammond Indiana Police Department and the Indiana State Police Laboratory for allegedly framing them for the crime until DNA evidence exonerated them.

According to the suit, police fabricated statements for jailhouse informants, conducted unduly suggestive photo-identification procedures with the victim in order to manipulate a wrongful identification of Mr. Pinkins, fabricated reports regarding forensic analysis of evidence, and withheld exculpatory evidence indicating that other individuals were responsible for the crimes.  This law enforcement misconduct produced wrongful convictions which collectively spanned more than four decades in prison.

DNA evidence conclusively shows that Mr. Pinkins and Mr. Glenn did not rape the victim in this case and are entirely innocent of the charges that they were wrongfully convicted of committing.  Roosevelt Glenn was wrongfully convicted in 1993 and sentenced to 36 years in prison.  Mr. Glenn spent 17 years behind bars before he was paroled.  He was finally exonerated on January 30, 2017.

Darryl Pinkins was wrongfully convicted in 1991 and sentenced to 75 years in prison.  Mr. Pinkins was exonerated on April 25, 2016, having spent more than 25 years wrongfully imprisoned.

Glenn and Pinkins are represented by attorneys Arthur Loevy, Jon Loevy, Tara Thompson, Vince Field and Elliot Slosar of Loevy & Loevy Attorneys at Law. Glenn, Pinkins and their attorneys will discuss the new suit at a 12 pm, Wednesday, April 18th press conference at Loevy & Loevy, 311 N. Aberdeen St., 3^rd Floor, Chicago.

Loevy & Loevy is one of the nation’s largest civil rights law firms, and over the past decade has won more multi-million dollar jury verdicts than any other civil rights law firm in the country. A copy of the suit, Roosevelt Glenn and Darryl Pinkins v. City of Hammond, IN, et al., is available here.

JVP-Chicago is the local branch of Jewish Voice for Peace (www.jvp.org), a national, grassroots organization inspired by Jewish tradition to work for a just and lasting peace according to principles of human rights, equality, and international law for all the people of Israel and Palestine. Jewish Voice for Peace has over 200,000 online supporters, over 60 chapters, a youth wing, a Rabbinic Council, an Artist Council, an Academic Advisory Council, and an Advisory Board made up of leading U.S. intellectuals and artists.

Black Leaders Need to Acknowledge that Margaret Sangler, founder of Planned Parenthood, was a White supremacist and should be denoced

By Rev. Clenard H. Childress, Jr.

Nationwide (BlackNews.com) — Aqunda Okeyo, who while serving as the Communications Chair for the March for Racial Justice, made an incendiary and thought-provoking observation when she boldly proclaimed, “If we want to end White Supremacy, White America needs to step it up.”

I partially agree based on the premise that one believes that White Supremacy is the chief culprit then certainly unbiased White Americans would then become the primary agents designated to initiate change. This equation is also true when it comes to our police departments’ crisis with police brutality. There is not a department in the country where existing – and some retired officers – are not unaware of the officers who should not be wearing the uniform. Police know where the cancer is on the force, yet too often, due to their dedication to their fraternal order, they protect malignant officers, remaining silent regarding their abuses. Thus, the issue of police brutality continues at the detriment of good officers and is a grave injustice to the citizens they are called to serve and protect.

In similar fashion, such negligence and betrayal of its citizens, whom these institutions were to serve and advance, is clearly seen by the alliances of the NAACP, Congressional Black Caucus, Rainbow Coalition, National Action Network, and Democrat Party. Each of these much-vaunted organizations need to explain their absolute refusal to denounce White Supremist, Margaret Sanger, for her policies and comments; comments such as “colored people are human weeds and need to be exterminated… reckless breeders… spawning… human beings who never should have been born…” Margaret Sanger, “Pivot of Civilization,” referring to immigrants and poor people. Sanger was in her time the leading advocate of the eugenics movement, specifically of negative eugenics, which promoted the reduction of sexual reproduction and sterilization of people with undesired traits or economic conditions. “The most merciful thing that a large family does to one of its infant members is to kill it.” Margaret Sanger, “Women and the New Race” (Eugenics Publ. Co., 1920, 1923).

What was a large family? Any home with more than two children! If my parents had been seduced by Margaret Sanger’s ideology, I would not be writing this essay and you might not be reading this if your parents had more than two children as mine did. Then Ms. Okeyo went on to make this comment,

“When we conflate white supremacy with white nationalism, extremism becomes the only form of white supremacy which we recognize and are expected to denounce. The young men who paraded through a Virginia town with Tiki Torches and finely pressed khakis were products of white supremacy: white nationalists, alt-right, Nazis, Klansman and the like. You don’t have to wear a white hood to be a white supremacist.”

Wow, I just know I have found a friend in Ms. Okeyo! I’m sure she will join with me in denouncing Margaret Sanger and her policies of sterilization and abortion being perpetrated this very moment against people of color, and others they deem undesirable, by her founding organization, Planned Parenthood. Your own words demand we are expected to denounce “White Supremacy” not only undetectable but certainly its blatant propagation. Surely, Ms. Okeyo, the March for Racial Justice would publicly denounce anyone who was a frequent speaker at Ku Klux Klan rallies and received letters of thanks and commendations from the most renown racist of the 20th century, Adolf Hitler. No, she didn’t wear a hood, and was not ashamed to speak her bigotry openly, locally, and internationally, and is answerable for the death of millions.

White America needs to step it up? No, Black Leadership needs to stop ‘Bowing to Baal’ by cottoning-up to the lie that racism is regulated by one political party while ignoring their Judeo-Christian principles, and the God who brought them up out of Egypt. Ms. Okeyo, you quoted Martin Luther King. Did you know, Martin Luther King, in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, called “Infanticide,” – infant killing – evil? Did you know that? Isn’t it amazing that the Prophet of our generation, the most credible civil rights leader of all time, called evil what Democrats put in their platform, and call good? Don’t you see the incongruity of this, Ms. Okeyo? Margaret Sanger clearly was a White Supremist, and we should expect persons involved in civil rights and racial justice, to denounce and demand Sanger’s removal from the Public Square. If you don’t, because of your refusal, you should be considered frauds and charlatans for pimping the African American community, just as do many of the allied institutions already mentioned above. You clearly have another agenda and it’s not Racial Justice but probably another greedy ploy for more political power at the sake of principle. So, will you stand for true justice, or will you be like the other political pimps, like Hillary Clinton, who cries about not getting enough of the Black vote, yet received the Margaret Sanger Award given by Planned Parenthood, whose very policies makes them the leading killer of Black People. Aren’t these the same voters she is culpable of killing off? Amazing!

Racial Justice can only be achieved when the rule of law and its definition apply to everyone excluding no one, no race, or no party.

Photo Caption: Margaret Sanger addressing a group of KKK members in the early 1900’s

Watch the following videos:

Sanger Nazi Germany – “The Most Merciful Thing a Large Family Does to One of its Infant Members”
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl262HQWGis

PBS Documentary – “Sanger Clearly Was a White Supremacist”
www.pbs.org/video/anti-abortion-crusaders-bbrnh3/

Hillary Clinton — “Margaret Sanger Award Given by Planned Parenthood”
www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-xvehg9d88
Rev. Dr. Clenard H. Childress, Jr. is the founder of www.BlackGenocide.org – a movement designed to reach the Afro-American community with the truth about abortion.

 Statement from Speaker Madigan

SPRINGFIELD, IL – House Speaker Michael J. Madigan issued the following statement Thursday, following a meeting between legislative leaders and the governor:

“Today I advised the governor and the other leaders that we are already at work on the Fiscal Year 2019 budget with our colleagues across the aisle, just as we did a year ago when Republicans and Democrats stood together to end the Rauner budget crisis. If the governor is finally ready to accept responsibility for the management of the state and be an honest partner in trying to pass a budget, we welcome him to this process.

“In the past, Governor Rauner has resorted to severe cuts targeting women, children and the elderly.  Democrats cannot accept this. If the governor’s agenda is to push more of his extreme cuts to health care, senior services, and resources for our most at-risk residents, or if he intends to again move the goalposts and create chaos, he should stay on the sidelines and allow serious leaders to continue working cooperatively to address the challenges facing our state.”

Nationwide (BlackNews.com) — Beyoncé, through her BeyGOOD initiative, has established the Homecoming Scholars Award Program for students attending Xavier University, Wilberforce University, Tuskegee University and Bethune-Cookman University – all Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

Beyoncé announced the program when she made history at the 2018 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival by becoming the first Black woman to headline in the festival’s 19-year run.

The show, with its homage to excellence in education, was a celebration of the homecoming weekend experience, the highest display of college pride. The energy-filled production put the spotlight on art and culture, mixing the ancient and the modern, which resonated masterfully through the marching band, performance art, choir and dance. It was the impetus to mark her second scholarship program.

One winner from each school will win a scholarship award for the academic year for study in various fields.

The Homecoming Scholars Award Program will expand to all qualifying students at the four universities, regardless of gender. The disciplines will include literature, creative arts, African- American studies, science, education, business, communications, social sciences, computer science and engineering. All applicants must maintain a 3.5 GPA or above. All finalists and winners will be selected by the universities. Winners will be announced in the summer.

The deadline for this scholarship is usually in June of each year, and the award amount is usually $25,000.

For more details and/or to apply, visit:
www.scholarshipsonline.org/2018/04/beyonce-homecoming-scholars-award.html

To view hundreds of other 2018 scholarships, visit:
www.ScholarshipsOnline.org

SPRINGFIELD, IL — Illinois State Senator Kwame Raoul (D-Chicago 13^th) passed legislation today that puts in place a series of reforms to the state’s workers’ compensation program.

“We refuse to participate in a race to the bottom when it comes to workers’ compensation rights,” Raoul said. “We put in place a series of extremely successful reforms several years ago. Now we need to hold insurance companies accountable and ensure they are passing on savings to employers and workers.”

The measure makes several changes to Illinois’ workers’ compensation system, including: requiring electronic billing for workers’ compensation claims, allowing first responders to receive benefits the day after their accident, creating an evidence-based prescription drug formulary and changing the way insurance companies set rates with the Illinois Department of Insurance.

Raoul worked with the Illinois Manufacturer’s Association and other stakeholders on the Senate’s overhaul of the workers’ compensation program in 2011. Since then, the state’s employers have saved more than $315 million in workers’ compensation premiums.

The measure passed today includes a provision empowering the Department of Insurance to ensure savings from these and past reforms are passed on to employers. Other key components of the measure include:

·         clarification that an American Medical Association impairment report is not required to award benefits or reach a settlement, although a report may be utilized when reaching a decision

·         penalties for unreasonable delay in authorizing medical treatment

·         classification of hip and shoulder injuries as leg and arm injuries, respectively

These reforms are the result of bipartisan, bicameral negotiations. Today’s measure is identical to legislation that passed the House and the Senate last year. Although several provisions in the legislation reflected recommendations from Gov. Bruce Rauner – including controlling money spent on prescription drugs and clarifying the use of AMA guidelines – he vetoed the measure when it reached his desk.

Senate Bill 2863 passed 34-21 and moves to the House for consideration.