The Hole

Ronald Reagan Made the War on Drugs a Race to Incarcerate.

I’m not soft on crime which became popular with the McGovern wing of the Democratic Party. When they came of age in the 1960s and early 70s. Actions have consequences and so forth and when we hurt innocent people intentionally and otherwise. There are consequences that must be paid so people know not to do that even if the offender never learns their lesson. This might sound Conservative or old-fashioned but it’s not it’s just plain commonsense. The question is what consequences should come with what crimes. And you can be dumb on crime by being too soft but you also can be dumb on crime by being too tough. So what you should so instead is have the sanctions fit the crimes so they are justified. So you wouldn’t give a known rapist who enjoys raping women and girls community service. With no time served in jail or prison. You would give them a real prison sentence and get them the help that they need. So they do not rape women again if they are released from prison. But you also do not send a shoplifter away for life in prison or long prison sentences who are petty thieves to maximum security prison. Again the sanction should fit the crime.

To use kids as an example, your kid spills his milk. You do not slap them in the head for that. What you do is tell them to be more careful next time and to cleanup their mess. Your kid beats up their little brother and just attacks them for no good reason. You don’t tell them to stop and not do it again and leave it that. You ground them or take away some of their privileges or something. Anger-management that sorta thing so they do not attack their brother again in the future. If these same principles were applied to our criminal justice system. We wouldn’t have two million or more people in the criminal justice system in the United States. Because drug-offenders and other nonviolent-offenders who aren’t real threats to society if threats at all. Perhaps just petty thieves wouldn’t be in prison or they would be in minimum-security learning a trade so they can make a good living. Legitimately and not have to steal to survive.

The whole tough on crime approach from the 1980s and 1990s would’ve been a good idea. If it was just applied to real criminals especially violent-criminals. Organize-criminals, mobsters, gang-bangers to use as examples. But it became a dumb on crime approach when it was applied to everyone especially in the War on Drugs and how we treat other nonviolent-offenders. And we’ve been paying a heavy price for it as tax-payers ever since.

That’s almost as good as the Republicans putting up against Obama the dude who lost to the guy who lost to Obama in 2008. Wow.

That’s not really that important, though. I think it’s kind of fucked up that Kerry said while visiting countries in Europe that, “In America, we have the right to be stupid.” While I agree, I wouldn’t say that to non-Americans. Just like I wouldn’t say “White people are tight asses” to people who weren’t white. It may be true, sure, but you don’t say negative truths about a people like that unless you’re talking to those people. And I probably wouldn’t tell a chick, “Yeah, when you talk, all guys are thinking about is using a certain part of their body to shut you up…” [Some chicks]

Gitmo Prison

There is a prison located in Cuba which is owned and operated by the United States Military. It holds some 140 to 160 prisoners and in the past 13 years has actually tried* seven of them. Notice the asterisk by “tried”. We’re holding there a bunch of people who are accused of having ties to Al-Queda… some are even accused of being directly tied to 9/11. They are accused of being tied to Al-Queda and 9/11. Are they?

To be honest, we don’t know. And we’ll probably never know. Not at this rate. At a rate of 7 trials every 13 years, it will take somewhere around 300 years for us to try everyone we’re holding there. So the odds are that… anyone in Gitmo… is going to die in Gitmo without ever being given a trial.

Aren’t you glad we live in a country where the military is free to arrest you and throw you in a foreign prison and hold you there the rest of your life without a trial? Yay, for free countries!

That’s a wonderful picture of a Gitmo prisoner being “escorted” somewhere. Yay for freedom!

Yay, freedom! … I don’t think this is from Gitmo. This is probably an Abu-Ghraib pic that got mixed in.

Curious why this person needs to be carried on a stretcher? Me too.

Want to read a very revealing document about the use of malaria vaccinations at Gitmo as a method to torture prisoners? It was written by a team of doctors who did extensive studies about the use of malaria prevention drugs (and their hideous side effects in large quantities) at Gitmo. It can be downloaded here, on my mediafire account where I keep a bunch of stuff the government really doesn’t want you to know about. Here is some stuff about the destruction of torture videos. Here is some stuff about Project MK-ULTRA–the CIA’s torture/hypnosis programs of the 50s to the 80s. The entire folder of the 70ish 100% official, legitimate government documents can be downloaded here.

My heart goes out to everyone who is in prison right now for a non-violent offense. We throw people into prison like it’s no big deal, and we usually do it over stupid shit. We don’t stop to think about the fact that a prison sentence isn’t a simple sentence of incarceration. Sentencing a person to prison is sentencing a person to a concrete and steel jungle where survival is the order of the day, where drugs dominate the culture, where one joins a gang or dies, where rape, murder, and torture are the way of life. We don’t sentence people to solitary confinement when we sentence them to prison; we throw them in a place where they are, in all likelihood, going to get the shit beat out of them and fucked out of them just hours after arrival… Even if they simply are in trouble for selling pot or cocaine or something completely non-violent.

And American prisons are rapidly becoming a for profit industry. It was bad enough when the government was housing people in such conditions, but now people are housing others in such conditions and making money off of the slave labor involved. Read the Constitution; Slavery is illegal except as punishment for a crime. Once you are thrown into prison, you become the property of the state–or the corporation which owns the prison. You are no longer free. You are a slave. That is the American prison system. If you’re okay with any part of this or the above paragraph, then go ahead and go to sleep tonight without stressing it. But if this stuff about our prison system bothers you… Talk about it. Bring it to the public’s attention.

A person is not measured on how they treat their superiors or even in how they treat their equals. A person is measured by how they treat their inferiors, their subordinates. A society cannot be judged by how it treats the most powerful or noblest members of their society but in how it treats the weakest or worst members of its society. We can’t call ourselves “good and righteous” because we have a lot of charities, because we have a Democracy, or because we volunteer at homeless shelters. We can only call ourselves “good and righteous” when the worst members of our society are treated with the same basic dignity and human rights of the best members of society.

This doesn’t affect me; nor do I expect it to ever affect me. I’m not a criminal, nor am I likely to be framed for anything. But it bothers me–deeply–knowing that there are men and women right now in prisons–whether guilty or not of whatever crime–who are fighting for their lives, being raped, being attacked by gangs, and doing whatever they have to just to survive in a system our society created. So much in society and human existence has evolved for the better in the past few centuries, but the prison system remains the same as it was when the French stormed the Bastille in the French Revolution… and since long before that. We’ve updated everything else; now let’s update our prison system.

Gitmo

But Gitmo, and military prisons like it which are less well-known, break my heart in ways that common American prisons can’t. At least the people in prisons on American soil were given trials to determine their guilt before they were thrown in prison. At least the people in prisons on American soil aren’t being experimented on (see the above documents for FACTS uncovered by independent doctors). At least the people in prisons on American soil aren’t surrounded by the military constantly, threateningly, and intimidatingly. It’s tragic.

It would be tragic if this was happening in prisons controlled by the 1980s Soviet Union. It would be tragic if this was happening in the theocratic Islamic nations of the Middle East. It would be tragic if this was happening in “known Human Rights violator” China. And it probably is happening in all those places.

But we’re the United States! We’re supposed to be the Land of the Free, the Home of the Brave! We’re supposed to be the beacon of hope, Liberty, and Justice! We are supposed to be a Democracy which values peace, truth, and human rights! We are supposed to be a shining example of Freedom and Constitutional Rights!

And we’re spitting on all of that with prisons like Gitmo. When we throw people in foreign military prisons based on mere accusations, we are spitting on everything that we claim to hold dear. We can say all day long that we love Freedom, Liberty, and Justice. But it doesn’t mean a goddamned thing if we drop Freedom, Liberty, and Justice, and allow foreign military prisons to hold people who never receive trials based on mere accusations just because…

Because what, exactly? Ron Paul has frequently cited in his books examples of civil courts within the United States putting to trial people who were accused of having ties to 9/11 or Al-Queda and got convictions. If these people are guilty, then why do we refuse to give them a trial? There’s no danger in allowing a civilian court to try them. We must have faith in our Justice System to convict people who are guilty. 

And to set free people who are not.

But how will we know if someone is guilty or not? With a trial and with evidence, of course! We should know whether these people are guilty before we start chucking them into prison. We shouldn’t suspect people are guilty. We shouldn’t accuse them of being guilty and have them thrown into prison based on the accusation. Anyone can be accused of anything! And if there’s never a trial, then that “someone” accused of “something” will never be found not guilty. This could easily apply to you. 

Especially with the government making laws like the NDAA and making legal cases for using drones to kill American citizens. These factors all add up into something that is very, very dangerous–and distinctly undemocratic. There’s nothing Democratic about the government passing a law which gives it the power to use the military as a police force within the United States. There’s nothing Democratic about the government passing a law which gives it the power to indefinitely detain American citizens and deny them their right to a trial. There’s nothing Democratic about opening prisons in foreign countries–away from the prying eyes of the public–and throwing into those prisons people who were accused of something but will not ever be tried…

And these seven Gitmo trials I mentioned earlier? These aren’t “trials” as you and I understand them. These are trials before military tribunals, not trials before a “jury of peers.” These are trials overseen by military judges, deliberated by military lawyers, and adjourned by military judges. There’s nothing Democratic about these trials. There’s nothing fair about these trials.

And they are censored. No one from the media is allowed in the courtroom. Instead, people from the media have to go into a soundproof room and watch the trial on a television and hear the trial through the television. There is a 40 second delay between what happens in the trial and what the media hears. They have the delay because the Judge and several other people can kill the feed for whatever reason they want, and censor that information from getting to the media.

Read about it here.

Now that we are trying one of the alleged key figures of 9/11, there is some strange shit going on at Gitmo. Earlier this month, the audio feed was cut to the media room–and no one knows who cut the feed. This is the United States military we’re talking about; there was no glitch or short (and no one is suggesting it was a glitch or short; I just threw that in so that you’d know if you, the reader, thought maybe it was). The Judge–Colonel James Pohl–said:

Note, for the record, that the 40 second delay was initiated not by me. If some external body is turning things off, if someone is turning the commissions off under their own view of what things ought to be, with no reason or explanation, then we are going to have a little meeting about who turns that light on or off.

I didn’t mention it, but when the censor button is hit–cutting the feed to the media room–a red light on the Judge’s desk begins to flash. That’s how they became aware that they were being censored by an external element. This happened nearly a month ago, and we still do not have a clue who the external body monitoring the trial was. Who is censoring the trial? Why did they censor the trial? What was said? Why was it censored?

And don’t give me that “national security” bullshit. Dude’s been in prison for over a decade–he doesn’t know anything current that would be a national security issue. Even if he did, I don’t buy into the whole “Sometimes the government has to keep secrets” crap. In order for a Democracy to work, its government must not have secrets. A government with no secrets can’t make enemies who would want to do the people harm. The only reason our government “needs” secrets is because it keeps doing shit that it doesn’t tell us about and that it isn’t allowed to do.

And possibly because they’ve had contact with aliens. The story of Roswell opens more questions than it answers, but–as always–there is insufficient evidence for me to form a “belief” one way or another. So I simply say, “I don’t know; it’s strange.” I mean, come on. One day a lowly soldier unauthorized to speak to the media says they captured a UFO and the next day officials say it’s a weather balloon?! I’m no expert, and I don’t have any military training, but I can tell the difference–easily–between a weather balloon and a UFO.

Anyway.

The very fact that elements within the government are censoring a trial should concern you. Hell, it should terrify you and make you angry. The very fact that they are openly censoring a trial–since the Judge can press the button–should anger you. But then, on top of that, is the fact that someone external to the trial is censoring information…? How bad do things have to get before you people say it has gone too far? Here’s a hint: It’s gone too far!

And that’s not even the worst of the stuff at Gitmo. People–lawyers, soldiers, and prisoners–have found microphones hidden in places where microphones shouldn’t be: like in private rooms where defense lawyers meet with their clients. Excuse me? Microphones in the defense room? In a Democracy?! 

How have we allowed this to happen? How have we allowed things to get this badly out of our control? How did we allow our beloved Democracy to become so corrupted from the great principles on which it was built?

And Dick Cheney

The fact that people like Dick Cheney exist terrifies me. I used to (used to = before I watched The Daily Show with Jon Stewart tonight) believe that Dick Cheney knew what he was doing. By which I mean, he knew that he was a Fascist working toward the goal of world domination. And I believed that he knew that he was a fucked up person who did horrible, horrible things to achieve those goals. But after watching Jon Stewart tonight, I realized…

Dick Cheney doesn’t know he’s a bad person. And that’s what scares me. See, I can handle the nutjob sociopaths who get into politics because they’re Fascists who want power. I can handle them because I understand them. They’re simple. They’re power-hungry, they’re malevolent, and they are generally aware of that. But I don’t handle people like Dick Cheney will.

Dick Cheney genuinely believes he’s a good person. Dick Cheney genuinely believes that it’s perfectly okay to torture people (because waterboarding is torture). He truly believes that he did the right thing in ordering human beings to be tortured. He truly believes that the world is a better place because of his decisions and influence as Vice President.

Wow. That’s terrifying. I find it terrifying in exactly the same way that I find terrifying those “Christians” out there who also “believe” in the Big Bang Theory and Evolution. I find people who are capable of believing things which are directly contradicted by reality to be terrifying. These are the kinds of people who are so convinced in what they feel that they have become capable of completely shutting off sensory input. And that… terrifies me. In ways I cannot describe.

That’s why I like and respect Fundamentalist Christians. I respect those Christians who stand up and say, “I believe the Holy Bible is the true Word of God and that scientists were tricked by the Devil into believing the Big Bang and Evolution and all that hooba-jooba.” I respect those guys, because they don’t ignore sensory information. They know the Big Bang Theory is there; they know Evolution is there; they know the evidence to support these theories is obviously there. They deny none of this. They accept all of this. However, they believe that the evidence was planted there by the Devil (or whatever) so isn’t reliable. I can respect that. What I can’t respect are people who say they are Christians but who ignore large chunks of the Bible–like the Bible’s creation account, Noah’s Ark, that we have to accept Jesus to go to Heaven.

The vast majority of Christians I’ve met in my lifetime (virtually everyone I’ve ever met) has told me that they are Christians who “believe that [Yahweh] doesn’t care what you believe in, as long as you believe in something…” That aggravates me to no end. Christianity is really simple. If you believe the Bible is the 100% Word of God, you are a Christian. If you do not believe that 100% of the Bible is literally true, then you are not a Christian–you are a pantheist/deist/agnostic who gets most of their ideas about “god” from the Bible. But certainly not a Christian.

Christianity isn’t a set of beliefs you can mix and match from until you come to a belief about “God” that works for you. Christianity is a canonized system of beliefs with specific rules, specific teachings, and specific laws. If you don’t follow that system of beliefs exactly–within the many denominations that have sprung from the massively contradictory book that is the Holy Bible–then you are not a Christian. 

CHRISTIANITY ISN’T A BUFFET WHERE YOU CAN WALK UP AND DOWN THE AISLES PICKING ONLY THE DISHES THAT LOOK APPETIZING TO YOU AND IGNORING ALL THE DISHES THAT DO NOT. IF YOU’RE TRYING TO DO THAT WITH CHRISTIANITY, THEN YOU ARE NOT A CHRISTIAN. IT’S THAT SIMPLE.

It’s odd that I, as a non-Christian, have to point that out. But the fact is that most “Christians” that I’ve met in my life… aren’t Christians. They simply believe that there is a god. They’ve given this god some characteristics that are supported by parts of the Bible, and they’ve generally given this god of theirs some characteristics that are not supported by the Bible. That’s fine if you want to do that. But if you do that, then you’re not a Christian. “Christianity” isn’t the only way you can believe in a god. If you want to believe in a god, go for it (though there’s no reason to); I don’t care (much). But understand that the choices are not “Christian” or “Atheist.” 

So I have a hard time respecting those kinds of people because they pretend that reality doesn’t contradict them. Like Dick Cheney and his beliefs that he’s a good person, that he did the right thing, and that the world is a better place because of his Vice Presidency. All evidence is to the contrary. The evidence which supports the accusation that Dick Cheney had an active hand in either ALLOWING or EXECUTING the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 is conclusive. 

But even without that, there’s still the fact that he happily ordered torture to take place under his watch. I can’t imagine ever authorizing a human being to be tortured, no matter what that human had done. I wouldn’t have allowed the Biblical warlord Joshua, the legendary Adolph Hitler, or Osama Bin Laden or anyone else to be tortured. Hammurabi’s Code is no longer relevant; we do not live our lives based on a 3,000 BC set of laws like “An eye for an eye…” There is no justification for torture. None.

• There is no justification for torture. None.
• There is no justification for murder. None.
• There is no justification for the state of the American Prison system. None.
• There is no justification for imprisoning a living being without first giving that being a trial and having guilt proven beyond the shadow of a reasonable doubt.
• There is only one justification for war: a state launching a nuclear or massively biological weapon against another state.
• There is no justification for the restriction of the Liberties or Freedoms–through Legislation, force, or regulation–of a person or a people who have committed no crimes. None.
• There is no justification for a paper currency. None.
• There is no justification for the destruction of the right to privacy. None.

If we lived our lives and governed our society based on the above principles… the world would be so much better. It would take about a decade after the United States stopped preventing World Peace for there to be World Peace. It wouldn’t be instantaneous. There is a lot of stuff that has to be settled first–namely the Middle East Crisis.

Let’s be realistic here. Does anyone see a happy ending to the Middle East Crisis? Ever? At any point in the future of our species? 1,000 years from now? 10,000 years from now? No one does. As long as the nation known as Israel exists, the Middle East Crisis will persist.

What if I told you that the sole reason that we put Israel where it is was to create the Middle East Crisis? Giant multibillion dollar, multinational corporations which had been mobilized for the efforts of World War 2 were about to have their Gravy Train derailed. The entire country had become militant. Everything we produced was produced for the military. A lot of companies became very, very wealthy because of World War 2. And with the end of World War 2, that gravy train was about to disappear.

So a new war was created. One which would last forever. The United Nations came together in the 1940s just a year or two after the end of WW2 and stole a lot of land from Palestinian nations then gave that land to Jews. The Jews called their new country “Israel” and moved in and proceeded to slaughter and exile the Palestinians who lived there. Imagine how we would react if Texas was given to Mexico, then the Mexican government went into Texas and started killing and driving out all the Texans, replacing them with Mexicans? There are metric assloads of evidence out there to support this. This is exactly how it happened. No exaggeration; no slant.

And the United States wasn’t the only country with a mobilized industry that wanted to keep pumping out arms that the People were paying for. Russia had such an industry as well. Enter the Cold War and an arms race between two giant nations which had just been allies and had mobilized their nations against a common enemy. The American People didn’t want the terrifying arms race. The Russian People didn’t want the terrifying arms race. No one enjoyed having the threat of nuclear war hanging over their heads every second of every day. 

The American Government–now filled with politicians with direct ties to these multibillion dollar companies–and the Russian Government–now filled with politicians with direct ties to these multibillion ruple companies–wanted this arms race. The arms race meant both sides were pouring massive amounts of money into weapons.

There was a lot of money to be made in the Supply of arms. There is a lot of money to be made in the Supply of arms. Having the country ready to return to normal, all that money was going to stop coming… With their greed–a condition we see clearly rampant in the United States today, as huge companies merge to become Too Big To Fail so they can take reckless bets and rip off the tax payers if they lose–these companies only had to create the Demand. 

And creating the Demand was easy. We’ve been creating the Demand since World War 2. We’ve been involved in over seventy countries since 1980 alone (a previous blog I wrote listed them all–the information is available on a Wikipedia page) and have been involved in at least 50 conflicts throughout the world. And then there are the big ones that we can’t forget: Korea, Vietnam, Iraq Part 2, Afghanistan, Libya… All of these wars set up in such a way that they cannot end. Read the rules of engagement for the Vietnam War some time. They make no sense if the goal was to win the war. But if the goal was simply to fight the war indefinitely, then the rules of engagement make absolute, perfect sense.

So yeah. If we pulled our troops out of the 700+ military bases we have scattered throughout the world in dozens and dozens of countries… If we began exporting food, medicine, clothing, and shelter instead of exporting death… If we stopped meddling in the affairs of other nations… If we stopped trying to police the world, if we stopped our military adventures, if we gave up this crazy-ass idea that it’s our duty to help people by bombing them… Then it would take less than 10 years for World Peace to dominate the world.

Sure, Israel as a nation would no longer exist. I want to point out, though, no Palestinian leader has ever said they wanted to exterminate the Jews. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, widely regarded as the most anti-Semitic person alive, has said that “Israel does not have a right to exist.” He has never said or implied that the JEWS do not have a right to exist. There are Jews in Iran. There are Jews in Saudi Arabia; in Pakistan; in Egypt; in Libya. Know what else? There are Christians in Iran, too. No official leader of any Muslim country has ever said they wanted/needed/should wipe out everyone who wasn’t a Muslim.

Please read the above paragraph several times. Let it sink in.

They’ve said the nation doesn’t have a right to exist. And they’re right. That land was stolen from them less than 70 years ago and given to a people whose religion flies in the face of theirs. They don’t want these people dead, though. They simply want their land back. And if the United States would get out of the way and let the world do what it wanted to do, then they would get their land back. There would be a war, yes; obviously. The Jews wouldn’t just say, “Okay, you can have it.” But after the war, things would die down, and there would be peace. There would be casualties in the war, of course, and we certainly had a hand in creating the war because we stole the land and gave it away, but we have to choose what is Right now, even if our grandparents didn’t.

No Backseat Drivers, Dad!

When we evaluate the world with a fresh, novice perspective, taking in everything that is exactly as it is, examining every cultural system, every governmental system, every socioeconomic system… It becomes clear very quickly that… our parents and grandparents fucked up this world badly and none of it was necessary–none of it is necessary. We could put a stop to all of it–all the wars, all the hatred, all the ignorance, most of the suffering, all of the unhappiness–simply through force of will. One act, one gesture: “Fuck this.”

Our parents and grandparents took this planet from their parents and grandparents and they kept it on the path their parents and grandparents’ parents and grandparents had placed it on–all the way back to when mankind first settled into villages with the discovery of Agriculture. And we can look back–all the way back to the dawn of civilization–and see clearly that the only reason our parents and grandparents did what they did was because their parents and grandparents had done what they did–and so on. We were placed on a path long ago, and each generation has handed off the keys to the car to the next generation and has said, “You have to stay on this path! You have to finish what we started! You can’t turn away! You have to achieve the goals that we set for you!” And each generation has obeyed blindly, merrily bouncing along that dirt road all the way to the destruction of the planet and any semblance of actual Liberty or Peace…

The modern American thinks Liberty means obeying the millions of regulations of the Federal Government and its unaccountable, faceless bureaucracies. The modern American thinks Liberty means being free to do something if the Federal Government has allowed it and if they acquire the proper licenses and pay the appropriate Taxes. The modern American thinks Peace is some dream idea that hovers just outside the reach of our planet, an unfortunate reality brought upon by their depressed realization that “It’s just the way the world is…”

No, it’s not. The world isn’t just one way or another way. The world is what we make of it. We’ve made it into this awful, horrible, wretched place full of bombings, unmanned aircraft belonging to a “free people” dropping bombs on civilian weddings. We’ve made it into this awful, horrible, wretched place full of wars, starving children, homeless men, women, and children while 1% of the world’s population owns 60% of the world’s wealth. We’ve made it into this awful, horrible, wretched place where our leaders cannot be reached by email, text, phone, or letter to even hear our grievances, much less address them, where we are allowed very specific “freedoms” as long as we pay the government enough money to acquire their permission to exercise those freedoms. We’ve made the world into what it is.

We can make it into something else.

And we can’t make it into something else by following the policies of George Bush, Barack Obama, John McCain, Hilary Clinton, Bill Clinton, John Kerry, etc. We can only make the world a better place by following the policies of Ron Paul, of Ludwig Von Mises, of Friedrich Hayek, of Friedrich Nietzche (mostly), and–not to place myself on the level these guys are on or anything of the sort–the simple bullet list you’ll find above. That is how we make World Peace. That is how we make Freedom. That is how we make Prosperity. That is how we ensure Posterity. Not with the drone policies of Barack Obama, not with the torture policies of George W. Bush. With three simple principles: Peace, Liberty, and Sound Currency.

But this is our world now–or soon to be. Our parents and grandparents are starting to hand over the keys to this planet, and they are telling us that we must stay on the path that they have put us on. “Too much is at stake!” they tell us. “We are doing what is RIGHT!” they tell us–even as our hearts tell us that war is wrong, that indefinite incarceration without a trial is wrong. “Think of the greater good!” they tell us. And they tell us this because they are afraid. They are afraid of tolerance, of acceptance, of Liberty, of Peace, of Sound Currency. They are afraid of what would happen if everyone was free to think for themselves without the state beginning indoctrination programs of children at 5 years old. They have lived inside the status quo their entire lives, and the idea of stepping out of that and into the unknown terrifies them to the core–it terrifies them so much that they can’t even admit that it’s a possibility.

Surely you know this to be true. You may even be one of those people thinking, “That would never happen… You must be dreaming…” That is fear running through your mind, shutting down your ability to accept the unknown. You fear, so you convince yourself that the idea is not possible; it’s not feasible or practical. Do not be controlled by fear. All it takes is for people to come together–away from fear. That’s it. And I might be a dreamer. But I’m not the only one. And there’s a funny thing about dreamers. They have the tendency to drag their dreams into reality.

It may not ever happen. You may be right. Human beings might not be capable of putting aside their differences and noticing that they have 50 similarities for each difference. But I don’t care. I don’t write blogs like this because I want to change the world (though I would love to); I don’t write blogs like this because I want to be the next Thomas Paine or Martin Luther King, Jr. I write blogs like this because I want people to know that the world can be changed. I write blogs like this because I want people to know that the world should be changed. I write blogs like this because I want people to know that… there is a better way. I write blogs like this because I want people to know that if there is a Heaven, then it is one that we must create.

And if we don’t? … If we don’t, then we’ll never colonize a planet outside of our solar system. If we don’t, then we’ll never even visit another galaxy. If we don’t, then we’ll annihilate ourselves or doom ourselves to everlasting totalitarian governments due to the depletion of life-sustaining resources. If we don’t, then humankind will not make it in the long run. We’ll never know what lies beyond the horizon of the universe–we’ll never even know if there is a horizon of the universe.

We are now in the process of taking the keys from our parents and grandparents. And they are telling us, out of fear of change and the unknown, to stay on the path they put us on. It’s time to tell them that we don’t allow backseat drivers. It’s time to tell them, “No. You had your chance to shape the world. You gave us this wretched, horrible place. You fucked things up so badly that our grandchildren are already fucked if we stay on the path you put us on. We’ve seen exactly what the world looks like when you run things. And we don’t like it. We hate it. There’s famine, disease, war, death, murder, torture, unnecessary incarcerations, countless regulations, no Liberty at all, wacky distributions of wealth [1% of the world owns 60% of the world's resources... WHAT?!], paper currencies that steal from us, governments that tax us into oblivion while they fail–not only do they fail at the goals they are supposed to be striving for per the Constitution–but they also fail at goals they set for themselves which they shouldn’t even be trying to accomplish in the first place because it gets in the way of our lives, and our lives are more important than the policies of the fucking government!”

“OUR LIVES. NOT the government’s. OUR lives. These are OUR lives to be lived as WE decide in a world that WE craft based on OUR needs and OUR desires. Not YOUR desires. We’ve seen your desires. They are petty, greedy, vengeful, and destructive of not only others but of yourselves! We have seen the systems you put in place to tell you how to live, to tell you how to think, to tell you what to think, and we have seen the people those systems create. We want nothing to do with them. We want a world full of loving, peace-loving, free, equal, and prosperous people, not a world full of terrified homogenized zombies who live at the mercy of corporations, in fear of the governments of a ‘free people’, in anger at the inane distribution of wealth, and in despair at the hopelessness of the task before them: to change the world or perish. Oh, we have seen your world, and we have seen your path–and we have seen the destination to which your path leads. And we will not subject ourselves to be tyrannized, oppressed, and mistreated by the dead and the dying when we have a Future to look to–a future of OUR lives, our children’s lives, and our grandchildren’s lives.”

No backseat drivers. They’ve had their chance. They have. I don’t like the idea of restricting any rights or liberties, but the truth is… We’ve seen their world. They’ve carried us much closer to absolute destruction than any sane, rational population would. The truth is that they had the entire 20th century to do things their way–and look where that has brought us! Look at the madness in the world, the injustice, the hatred, the bigotry, the fear, the terror, the death, the pain, and the suffering!

Now know that YOU can stop it. You and no one else. You alone have the power to shape the world. Use that power to craft a BETTER world, one that our parents and grandparents couldn’t envision because they were too afraid of change. If we allow ourselves to be dictated by the fear of change, then ruin and devastation await us. 

Awaken and rise.

Feel free to gain more insight through the information on this site, as well as check out the links in the last tab. It’s never too late to make a change, join the movement NOW!

Below are quotes from the late Barbara A. Thurmond of Augusta, Georgia – who examined the violence issue from all sides – and realized that it is a complex issue that requires a team effort to fix.

Stop the Violence Activist Barbara Thurmond co-founded Blacks Against Black Crime, Inc. in June 1991 with her sister Earnestine Covington.

Barbara Thurmond stood tall for human rights, victim’s rights, civil rights, stopping the violence, equity in education and banning assault weapons – and she also believed in personal responsibility for one’s actions and the need for firm family values taught by parents when children are small.

Thurmond also recognized that many external factors contribute to the violence in African-American communities like racism, poverty, no jobs, drugs, lack of education, and in many cases an apparent lack of respect for the preciousness of human life.

Thurmond and her group were sometimes labeled racist and polarizing but she loved everyone and fought for the lives of black youth – and all people.

Those who  accused Thurmond and the group of those charges, often refused to look at the entire picture of the violence crisis.

“We are realists,” Thurmond said.

“Volunteers working to save people from their own destruction,” she said.

Editor’s note: Barbara Thurmond was a mentor and a very wise person – and her quotes are just as important today in addressing black on black violence – and all violent crime – that persists as a leading cause of death and incarceration especially for young black men.

Barbara Thurmond fought for the rights of the crime victims who survive – and the thousands of blacks who have died in Augusta because of violence (just since the death of MLK) and the millions who have died across America

She tried to protect the children of all races:

“They were not just numbers – they were our lovers, our friends, sisters, brothers.

They were our sons and daughters.”

—
The quotes and thoughts of the late stop the violence advocate Barbara A Thurmond:
—

“In 1997 in Augusta, 79 percent of the homicides were the result of gun violence. Every two seconds a gun comes off the assembly line in America.”

In one year in America, 5,285 children were killed by handguns

Georgia wears the title of the gun belt and the gun-running state of the nation”

—

Keep assault weapons off streets – ban assault weapons

(The federal ban on assault weapons expired in Sept. 2004 – and efforts for a new ban has yet to even be voted on by U.S. lawmakers)

“The AK-47, Tec-9 and the Uzi are weapons of mass destruction used in America’s most notorious massacres.

Police are out-gunned – assault weapons are a threat to the safety of our dedicated police officers and the public.

Assault weapons are made to kill many people at one time.

Georgia is a high-volume gun state.

In 2003 Georgia ranked fourth in the nation in the number of high-crime gun stores that are responsible for at least 200 crimes between 1996 and 2000.

We need sensible gun laws, enforcement of existing laws and concerted local efforts to make our city, state and nation safer.

Blacks Against Black Crimes, Inc. joins with the Million Mom March, Georgians for Gun Safety and the Brady Campaign for Handgun Control in supporting the assault weapon ban and all efforts to reduce firearm injuries and death.

Why would anyone want these weapons back on the streets of America?”

—

“What has not changed is the disproportionate number of blacks who die as the result of violence.

We must address the leading cause of death of African-Americans.

It is painfully obvious to me that black-on-black homicide is a threat to African-Americans in Augusta.

African-Americans are six times more likely to be murdered than whites in Augusta.

Homicides account for more deaths of black men ages 25-44 than does heart disease, cancer or diabetes.

We cannot continue to ignore black-on-black homicides – Ignoring the problem won’t make it go away.

Black leaders, this is our war and we must stay on the battlefield, armed with courage, truth, persistence and faith.

Voting, economic empowerment and the removal of the Confederate flag are all important issues; issues that we all must be concerned about.”

—

“I was disappointed to learn that the Richmond County Board of Education decided to pull “Kaffir Boy” (by Mark Mathabane) from the reading list of a literature class at Hephzibah High School after complaints from a parent.

I was drawn into the daily lives of a people who lived in hideous conditions under apartheid. The unjustified humiliation and degradation are difficult for most people to fathom.

We must not take this powerful degradation out of context and denigrate the spirit in which it was written. Like other indescribable evils of the past, we don’t want to discuss the politics of the horror.

As African-Americans, we are too comfortable. We have to be angry when others denigrate our struggle.”

—

“What other group of people would have their people lead the homicide list every year and not address it?

When I see 10 out of 15 are black that has an impact on me.

We are raising awareness of gun violence, working on stricter gun laws and educating the public. It has made our community safer.

It’s important to keep our movement alive.”

—

“There is a cultural acceptance of violent behavior.

There is a certain amount of lawlessness allowed in the black community.

There is a culture of African Americans that I don’t understand — their feelings about life and death are different.

They abide by their own set of rules.

There’s still too much black-on-black crime.”

—

“There are a disproportionate number of African-Americans in prisons in the state of Georgia.

We make up 30 percent of the state’s population and 70 percent of the state’s prison population.

Until that problem changes, we will not support any amendments or bills that will keep people in prison longer.

Those who commit crimes need to be accountable and responsible for their actions – but when young people are sentenced to 20 to 25 years for nonviolent offenses that is a crime committed against their souls.”

—

“We are here to remember the 36 people who lost their lives in 1996 to senseless acts of violence.

They were not just numbers – they were our lovers, our friends, sisters, brothers.

They were our sons and daughters.”

—

“What we’ve learned about the Legislature is that you’ve got a bunch of folks who go to Atlanta and forget the people they represent.

It might not be different for us, but we’re going to try.”

—

“In 1995 Senate Bill 109 proposed that sales of handguns be limited to no more than one gun per person per month.

Who wants to buy more than one gun a month?

A person who has a criminal record and cannot purchase handguns finds someone who is clean to make the purchases, paying him, say, $40 profit on each gun.

That’s gunrunning.

Georgia leads the nation in gunrunning.

It is legal to buy large quantities of guns in the state of Georgia.

We can speculate that these guns were used for shootings, robberies and drug deals.

Over the years far too many guns recovered from crimes in other states have been traced back to Georgia.

It is estimated that the cost of firearm injuries in the United States per year is $20.4 billion.

And although the cost is high, the emotional toll on victims and their families cannot be measured in dollars.

How long will the state of Georgia continue to contribute to the great sorrow felt by the families of those killed or wounded by Georgia’s guns?

In 1991, Blacks Against Black Crimes, Inc. identified the easy accessibility of guns as a contributing factor to the epidemic of black-on-black violence.

In the effort to fight for better gun control, we joined Georgians Against Gun Violence, Handgun Control, Inc. and The Million Mom March.

We have worked tirelessly over the years with the above organizations by making monetary contributions and supporting gun legislation at the state and federal level.

We are in an ongoing battle with the National Rifle Association for sensible gun control.”

—

“During this century, American justice has been a mockery for black people.

Black males have the highest victimization rate of any group.

This has been proven true once again.

Black males (are) victimized over and over again – first by the killer and then by the criminal justice system.

The moment the decision was made to release the accused killer on a $50,000 bond, the family would also feel victimized again and their pain intensified.

When the criminal justice system fails to keep murder suspects behind bars, it has a marked impact on the victim’s family and community.

When those who have killed are allowed to move freely about the community, without immediate consequences for their inappropriate behavior, it sends the wrong message to impressionable minds.

It’s the opinion of Blacks Against Black Crimes, Inc. that injustice and double standards within the justice system are contributing factors to black-on-black violence.”

—

“Ten years ago on a hot day in June, my sister and I were motivated by fear to bring attention to the epidemic of black-on-black violence.

In 1991, Augusta/Richmond County had the highest homicide rate ever recorded.

Ninety seven percent of these homicides were blacks killed by other blacks.

We understood early on that black-on-black violence was bigger than one brother killing another.

One of the many facts we identified was the injustice and double standards of the criminal justice system.

Historically, blacks had not been punished harshly enough for killing other blacks, and we were convinced that this contributed to the epidemic of black-on-black violence.

We needed to understand the terms “murder,” “voluntary manslaughter,” “plea bargain” and bonding criteria.

Ten years ago Blacks Against Black Crimes, Inc.  dared to dream of a world in which all crime victims and their families are treated with compassion and dignity.

In 1993 we met with District Attorney Danny Craig to voice our concerns about the lack of prosecution of black-on-black homicides.

He listens to the voices of all crime victims and has prosecuted homicide cases equitably.

We have seen more murder convictions for black-on-black homicide.

We believe this has contributed to the decline in these incidents.

Compared with 10 years ago, we are a much better system and a safer community.

We pay tribute to Sheila Stahl, director of the Victims Assistance Department of the Augusta Richmond County judicial system.

Our collective dream of victims’ justice is built upon the painful realization of the nightmare that crime has wreaked on our community.

At times funeral homes contact us when victims are without funds for burial.

We contact Victims Assistance and they help families apply for funds.

We communicate with the office weekly, sometimes daily.

Together we share the burden of those whose losses are immeasurable, and who feel such a tremendous obligation to stand for the rights of their loved ones.

Their pain and suffering are our incentives to continue efforts to prevent crime. Black crime victims are no longer nameless, faceless entities.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s the type of killings changed; they were more random, different from the Saturday-night brawls and crimes of passion.

We saw in the 1970s that killers were younger, cold-blooded, and without conscience or remorse.

Why had African Americans become the victims and victimizers?

In the 1980s we experienced the President Reagan-induced poverty, an increase in cocaine use and the introduction of crack cocaine.

One year after the introduction of crack cocaine, gun manufacturers increased their production by 42 percent.

The lethality of firearms escalated from low-caliber to high-caliber revolvers and semi-automatics.

The media has severely damaged the African-American image by desensitizing young people to violence and death as it continues to glamorize illegitimacy.

Is there a connection between the disproportionate number of blacks assigned to special education and the disproportionate number of black male victimizers?

Those in special education are unable to feel good about themselves, are labeled stupid, robbed of self-esteem, and feel nothing is expected of them.

It is part of an instilled inferiority and dehumanization process.

This can lead to dropping out of schools, illiteracy, unemployment, poverty and ultimately criminal activity.

To blame others would be easy, but we knew if we were to truly make a difference, it would take honesty.

We had to take a critical self-inventory and analysis.

In the 1970s and 1980s, middle class blacks fled the inner city, leaving it without positive role models.

Too many black intellectuals have refused to remain in some visible way connected to black cultural life and the social misery of the underclass.

The Urban Institute in Washington, D.C. defines the underclass family as headed by a single female, members are welfare dependent, marginally educated, chronically unemployed and engaged in repeated patterns of criminal deviance.

The act of creating new life is taken so lightly that school children sing about it.

Repetition becomes a fact, and it condemns young mothers to a life of poverty, poor education and welfare.

It is difficult for a single, teen-age mother to promote psycho-social development in her children when she is deprived of that development.

We must take responsibility for our own behavior in order to change things that are wrong.

If we improve our community, we improve our city.

If we improve our city, we improve our state and nation.

Blacks Against Black Crimes, Inc.  has been labeled racist and accused of causing polarization.

We are volunteers working to save people from their own destruction.

We are realists.

We see things as they are and not the way we would like them to be.

We joined with organizations across the state and nation and will stand with anyone if they stand for what is right for all.

Our focus has been and continues to be advocating for black homicide victims.

We ask for continued support of this city as we continue our passionate efforts to reduce crime and violence.”

—

“Two years ago 40-year-old David Holt was murdered.

This was a heinous crime.

The family, friends, co-workers and indeed the greater Augusta community suffered a terrible loss.

On June 1, 22-year-old Shanta White and her unborn child were murdered.

This also was a heinous crime.

On the night she was killed, her family lost their future.

Everything that Shanta and her unborn child would have been is now gone forever.

What do these two crimes have in common?

Both cases were assigned to the same investigator.

Both killers are still at large.

Both victims were employed by the same company.

Both victims were children of God, made in his image.

Until their killer(s) are brought to justice, their families cannot begin the healing process.

That is where the similarities end.

Sam’s Club, the common employer, has offered a $400,000 reward for information that would lead to the arrest and conviction of (white male) David Holt’s killer(s).

The Sheriff’s Department mailed a questionnaire to several zip codes seeking information on the murder of Mr. Holt.

What about (black female) Shanta White and her unborn child?

Who is willing to come forward and offer a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of her killer(s)?

We know that offering reward money is no cure-all for crime and violence, but it is one of many tools used by law enforcers as they work to solve and prevent crime, apprehend criminals and bring them to justice.”

—

“The highly publicized school shootings in a period of 18 months include: Springfield, Oregon; Fayetteville, Tennessee; Edinboro, Pennsylvania; Jonesboro, Arkansas; Paducah, Kentucky; Pearl, Mississippi; and Littleton, Colorado.

In these incidents Americans have been shown another face of youth violence, white suburban males.

These shootings have prompted federal lawmakers to address the issue of gun violence in America.

Republicans and Democrats debate daily the issue of gun control.

Newspapers, magazines and television news shows are flooded with articles on gun violence.

The Justice Policy Institute estimates that 900 black youths were killed in the United States during the 18 months since the school shootings began.

It has been estimated that between 1985-1995 – 75,000 black males were slain in the United States.

If 75,000 hearses were lined up, they would stretch approximately 300 miles.

Ironically, this is comparable to the distance between Augusta and Birmingham, the cradle of the civil rights movement.

Such disparate treatment of victims is obvious and leaves many questions unanswered.

For instance, where were the outrage, the politicians, the media and the nation’s search for answers on how to end youth violence?

We are not insensitive to the tragedy in Littleton.

In fact, we have sympathy for the victims and their families regardless of race.

However, as a nation we must be as outraged over the death of 900 black males as we are about the tragedy at Columbine High School.

The nation must focus on violent crime prevention for all youth.

Until that day Blacks Against Black Crime, Inc. will be the voice for black crime victims.”

—

“National Crime Victims Rights week is being observed through April 25.

During this time, organizations that assist victims of violent crime in Augusta have joined together to promote greater public awareness about the rights and needs of crime victims.

The theme of this year’s observance is “Victims Right’s Right for America.”

Blacks Against Black Crime, Inc. are an advocate for all victims of all crimes, regardless of race, gender, socio-economic status or religious influences.

The thrust of our focus is victims of black on black homicide.

Historically the judicial system has not been sensitive to black crime victims.

Since 1991 Blacks Against Black Crime, Inc. has assisted victims in our area.

Among the many services offered by the group are counseling, education, and financial assistance for burial and referral to other agencies.

Last year in Augusta there were 28 homicides.

Crime is no longer “someone else’s” problem because tomorrow that “someone else” might be someone you know or love.”

—

“This week is National Crime Victims’ Rights Week in America.

Proclaimed by the president and governors across our country, the theme for this special commemoration is “Let Victims’ Rights Ring Across America.”

It is a special week dedicated to those who have been injured and killed by criminal victimization.

It is also a time to recognize and reflect upon the many accomplishments on the local, state, and federal levels that have improved rights and services extended to crime victims in our nation.

For whom does the bell of victimization toll?

Each year in America, nearly 39 million individuals become victims of crime.

Sadly, statistics show that for over half of these victims, it is not the first time nor will it be the last.

Becoming a victim of crime has become a rite of passage in our violent nation.

The National Education Association reports that each day in America, 100,000 children carry guns to school, 260,000 children miss class because of the fear of being physically harmed and 40 students are killed or injured by firearms.”

—

“We have much to celebrate.

Fourteen years ago, Blacks Against Black Crime, Inc. was organized to serve this community and ensure fundamental rights for all crime victims.

Since 1994, we have seen crime victims and their families treated with compassion and dignity.

There are more than 10,000 community- and system-based organizations that help victims in the aftermath of crime.

And more than 32,000 laws have been passed at the federal and state levels that define and protect victims’ rights.

Yet there remains much work to be done, and many challenges that will put our shared values to test.

We must remain vigilant in our efforts to guarantee the same values that offer help and hope to victims of crime.

When you value justice for all people who live in America, you value victim rights and services.

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. told our nation that “if we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover those precious values – that all reality hinges on moral foundations, and that all reality has spiritual control.”

The moral foundation of the victim-assistance field is one of compassion and caring, justice and equal rights.

The bricks and mortar we have used to create a nation that values justice, individual and community safety have fueled our efforts for more than 14 years.

These values are our vision for a future in which rights and services for victims and survivors of crime are not the exception to the rule, but the rule itself.

All Augustans have reasons to be thankful.

Homicides continue to decline each year, particularly black-on-black homicides.

In 2004, Augusta-Richmond county homicides were at an all-time low: 14 homicides were recorded.

Black males continue to make up the majority of slaying victims, causing us to focus on causes of crime in the black community.

As encouraging as this progress is, much work needs to be done.

Simply stated, we need to recommit ourselves and intensify our efforts.

Sororities, fraternities, community-based organizations, educators, religious leaders, churches and mentors are doing great works with the youth in Augusta; your hard work and dedication have contributed to this decline.

No matter what is going on in the world, our children have to succeed; our communities have to be made whole.”

—

“Most people in America will be a victim of or witness to a crime in their lifetime.

Crime victims need to feel safe in reporting crimes.

Crime victims need the protection of their core rights to information and notification, protection, participation, and restitution.

Many victims never report crime because of trauma and fear – damaging victims’ abilities to focus, function and work.

We have much work to do to validate the harm (crime victims) have endured.

Listen to their voices and concerns.

Protect their rights as victims.

Lives are irrevocably changed (in violent crimes) like the robbery victim who is left a paraplegic, the family whose breadwinner is murdered, the battered woman who hides her bruises in hopes of hiding her chronic suffering, and the child-abuse victims who hear the threats of their abusers and never disclose their victimization.

Victims and survivors of crime (must be) assured that they are not responsible for what happened, and that the persons who hurt them will be brought to justice.”

—

“Sen. Don Cheeks, R-Augusta, used his “position of influence to have a convicted sex offender not register with the state’s sex offenders’ registry.”

(Those) in positions of power and authority often manipulate laws.

The real tragedy (are political favors) at a time when children need help.

(Political favors mean) not holding offenders responsible for their actions.

Legislators have made at least 5,500 contacts on behalf of prisoners and parolees in a custom that benefits whites primarily (in a Georgia) inmate population that is two-thirds black.

In Georgia slavery days the laws were manipulated by white plantation owners to ensure cotton was picked.

The white boss would go to the prosecutor and judge on Monday, following the weekend killing of a black by another black, and he would tell them not to prosecute the killer, because he needed the able body back at work to toil in the fields.

This practice had a lasting effect on black people and to this day, we continue to feel the effect of political favors.”

—

“I can’t get used to the stupidity and senselessness.

A baby-mama drama, a fragile ego and a gun are ingredients for a homicide.

Repetitious childbearing out of wedlock by different partners is taken too lightly in our society.

The mothers will use these children as a way of manipulating the daddies and, more often than not, it has deadly consequences.

It’s easy to blame the victim for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The purpose of a gun is to kill.

When a person makes a conscious decision to carry a loaded gun, the decision has been made to kill.”

—

“An example of courage”

Augusta Chronicle Editorial Honoring the Life of Barbara A. Thurmond

Courage defined the life of Barbara Ann Thurmond, whose funeral services are being held today at Augusta’s Tabernacle Baptist Church.

She died much too young at age 56, but in that brief life she displayed enough courage for many lifetimes.

One could even say she wrote the book on courage.

Joy in my Heart: My Journey From Hopelessness to Happiness, released two years ago, recounted the pain, trials and tribulations she suffered after being diagnosed with a spinal cord tumor in 1983 that forced her into a wheelchair as a paraplegic.

Though Mrs. Thurmond was debilitated physically, she refused to let the illness defeat her feisty spirit and enduring spirituality.

“The wheelchair never set boundaries on her,” said one friend.

Indeed, the physical challenge simply spurred her to triumphs in other areas of her life.

Disgusted by homicides in her community, Mrs. Thurmond and her sister, Earnestine Covington, founded Blacks Against Black Crime Inc. in 1991 to combat Richmond County’s rising violent crime rate.

It took considerable personal courage for the sisters to base such a group in their Augusta neighborhood, and to work with law enforcement, yet they did just that.

And they were effective too.

District Attorney Danny Craig credits Mrs. Thurmond’s leadership for playing a key role in cutting Augusta’s crime rate to one of the lowest in the state.

“She was effective and never afraid to tell the entire community to ‘Stop the violence,’ ” said Terence Dicks, a longtime friend and fellow organization member.

Mrs. Thurmond’s courage was an inspiration to our community.

We join her family and wide circle of friends in mourning her passing.

She will be sorely missed.

——-
Scroll down for more on Barbara Thurmond words captured for us in newspaper articles, guest editorials and letters to the editor to the Augusta Chronicle
——-

Mankind still has the need to continue with murder across America:

Augusta, Georgia Area Homicides Database and Map Created by the Augusta Chronicle
From 2005 to present
Killings in Richmond County, Columbia County, and Aiken County, South Carolina
Victims/Courts/Stats/Race/Gender
http://chronicle.augusta.com/data/homicides
More homicide victims stories:
http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/crime-courts/2010-06-11/homicides
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2000/11/19/met_301784.shtml

Augusta Chronicle series on homicides in the Augusta area:

Nichole Campbell, of Augusta stands by the graves of her murdered brothers.
They died 8 years apart.
Nicole frequently visits the church cemetery where her brothers, Anthony and Sergio, are buried. Augusta Chronicle Photo by Corey Perrine/Staff

Impact of homicide goes beyond victims, killers
Saturday, June 12, 2010
By Mike Wynn
Staff Writer
http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/crime-courts/2010-06-12/impact-homicide-goes-beyond-victims-killers

Too many young Augustans have been shot in the head – or murdered in some other brutal fashion.
Holding an X-ray of a patient whose head has a bullet lodged in it, is Dr. Michael Hawkins, who has led the Medical College of Georgia’s trauma unit for 20 years.
He said there is no easy way to tell family members about violent deaths.
Augusta Chronicle Photo by Jackie Ricciardi/Staff

Who commits homicides?
Suspects in killings often have records
Sunday, June 13, 2010
By Sandy Hodson
Staff Writer
http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/crime-courts/2010-06-13/suspects-killings-often-have-records

Due to the violence including the murders of three local law enforcement officers, parents in the Augusta, Georgia area often worry if it is safe enough outside for the children to go play.
Makayla and Alaina Dowling play with a bucket of cool water outside their home in T&S Mobile Home Park in Aiken, South Carolina.
Their father, Eric Dowling, says that the neighborhood has improved enough that he will allow his daughters to play outside.
Photo by Zach Boyden-Holmes/Staff

Where do homicides happen?
“Residential areas see more crime”
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
By Adam Folk
Staff Writer
http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/aiken/2010-06-15/residential-areas-see-more-crime

Employers, employees often become victims
June 19, 2003
By Vicky Eckenrode
Staff Writer
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2003/06/19/bus_378865.shtml
Contact reporter Vicky Eckenrode
706-823-3227
vicky.eckenrode@augustachronicle.com
——-
Editor’s note: Below is more info on the above quotes from various stories, guest editorials and letters to the editor involving Barbara Thurmond and printed in the Augusta Chronicle:
——-

“Raps Georgia law protecting gun industry”
Barbara Thurmond says the National Rifle Association owns the Republican Party and all our legislators
3/4/99
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1999/03/04/op_255148.shtml

In the wake of record violence in Augusta, Barbara Thurmond wrote a 1999 guest editorial because Georgia “passed a law prohibiting cities from suing gun manufacturers” an act proving that National Rifle Association owns state lawmakers.

“In 1997 in Augusta, 79 percent of the homicides were the result of gun violence.

Every two seconds a gun comes off the assembly line in America.

In one year in America, 5,285 children were killed by handguns,” Thurmond wrote adding gun violence is a problem in Augusta, Atlanta and other U.S. cities.

Thurmond applauded Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell’s “to hold gun manufacturers responsible for the madness and may-hem caused by guns in Atlanta” and other Georgia cities.

Georgia wears “the title of the gun belt and the gun-running state of the nation,” Thurmond said.

“The National Rifle Association own the Republican Party and “own our legislators,” she wrote
——-

“Kaffir Boy is insightful novel”
9/19/04
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2004/09/19/let_428935.shtml

Banned in Augusta schools:

“Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youth’s Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa” by Mark Mathabane

In 2004, Barbara Thurmond wrote a letter to the editor because the school board banned a book about Apartheid:

I was disappointed to learn that the Richmond County Board of Education decided to pull “Kaffir Boy” from the reading list of a literature class at Hephzibah High School after complaints from a parent.

Calling “Mark Mathabane’s inspiring, moving and inspiring story “one of triumph and the resilience of the human spirit,” Thurmond was upset school board member Ken Echols called the book filth, sickening and unacceptable and demanded it banned because of only one sexual reference in the 339-page story about triumph over Apartheid.

At issue, is “sex acts between soldiers and boys” because “boys offered their bodies in exchange for food.”

“I was drawn into the daily lives of a people who lived in hideous conditions under apartheid,” Thurmond said. “The unjustified humiliation and degradation are difficult for most people to fathom.”

Apartheid is “strict racial segregation” in South Africa “to maintain social, economic and cultural dominance by the white minority,” she said.

“We must not take this powerful degradation out of context and denigrate the spirit in which it was written.”

Thurmond asked if the ban is “about sex or is it about politics?”

“Like other indescribable evils of the past, we don’t want to discuss the politics of the horror.”

“As African-Americans, we are too comfortable. We have to be angry when others denigrate our struggle,” she said. “I am an African-American who has made the connection to Africa.”
——-

“Black leaders see range of Kerry support”
10/22/04
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2004/10/22/met_432015.shtml
By Staff Writer Dena Levitz

In a news story about the 2004 Presidential campaign between Senator John Kerry and George W. Bush, Barbara Thurmond said she’d vote for Kerry but had no real attachment to him – a sentiment King-Era Democrats have expressed because they feel Democratic politicians – like their Republican opponents – are out of touch with voters and bought off by special interests – counter to human rights and compassion.

Like other Augusta black leaders, Thurmond said the important issues in 2004 were:

The economy

Loss of jobs overseas

Improving funding for the No Child Left Behind Act

The Iraq War
——-

“Black slayings lead homicide data”
1/22/03
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2003/01/22/met_365849.shtml
By Staff Writer Greg Rickabaugh

In a January 2003 story entitled “Black slayings lead homicide,” Barbara Thurmond, the president of Augusta-based Blacks Against Black Crime Inc., said the unabated killings are the reason her organization continues its education campaign.

“What other group of people would have their people lead the homicide list every year and not address it?” she asked. “When I see 10 out of 15 (are black), that has an impact on me.”

While the numbers show that a high number of slaying victims are black men, there are actually fewer being killed each year in Richmond County.

In 1998, 21 blacks – 17 of them men – were homicide victims.

In 2002, that number was cut in half.

Ms. Thurmond remembers years with more than 60 slayings, most of them of blacks.

She believes her group’s outreach to prosecutors and neighborhood organizations is among the reasons for the drop in black homicides.

“Of course, to those families who lost a loved one” the murder rate “decrease doesn’t mean anything,” she said. “We are raising awareness of gun violence, working on stricter gun laws and educating the public. It has made our community safer.”

15 Augusta murders in 2002:

The 11 black murder victims:
Gary Collins, 46; Anthony Campbell Jr., 26; Johnny Henderson, 42; Henry L. Murray III, 22; Betty Lou Abraham, 71; Alvin L. Cummings, 56; Carlton Lamb Jr., 34; Marcus D. Taylor, 28; Daniel Samilpa, 47;Thomas Dyson Jr., 31; Aldreco O. Booker, 27;

The four white murder victims:
Stephanie Nicole Burnett, 16; Wanda Graham, 45; James Henry Williams, 38; Marty Thomas Gibson, 48;
——-

“Service remembers local victims of violent crimes”
4/28/02
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2002/04/28/met_341064.shtml
By Staff Writer Timothy Cox

Blacks Against Black Crime, Inc. held a victims’ rights program and candlelight homage to recent Augusta murder victims in April 2002 as part of the annual National Crime Victim Rights week.

Violent behavior has increased in America due to a “lack of respect and discipline” because “we have lost control of our children” triggering a “more violent society” that can only be fixed by good parenting and community action, said guest speaker Clarence Davis, a longtime Maryland lawmaker who grew up in rural Washington, Georgia.

Among the 2002 Augusta murder victims remembered with candles were college student Niteka Wesbey and father -to-be Rodney Johnson.

Blacks Against Black Crime is the only victims’ rights group in the Augusta area, said co-founder Barbara Thurmond.

“It’s important to keep our movement alive” even though there’s been a recent but temporary decrease in Augusta violent crimes, she said.
——-

“Augustans remember 25 victims”
5/1/99
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1999/05/01/met_260373.shtml
By Court Reporter/Staff Writer Sandy Hodson

In May 1999, Blacks Against Black Crime, Inc. held a victim’s rights ceremony to remember the 25 murder victims in Augusta during 1998.

Among those remembered was shooting victim 21-year-old Tyrone Cathcart Jr. – and the murder victim’s mother Patricia Colon vowed to join the group that provides services and assistance to crime victims because “all this killing has to stop” and something positive has come out of his death.”
——-

Augusta, Georgia  double killer Antonio Ruffin has already killed once, when he was free to kill again.

“Speaker probes crime in black community”
7/27/99
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1999/07/27/met_266527.shtml
By Crime Reporter/ Staff Writer Meghan Gourley

Barbara Thurmond was not surprised that 27-year-old convicted murderer Antonio Ruffin had killed before he slaughtered Michael Young.

If Ruffin had gone to prison in 1991 for beating a black man to death – he would not have been free to murder of Michael Young less than 8 years later.

When Ruffin was finally was sentenced to life in prison in July 1999, his criminal record included drugs, assault and an involuntary manslaughter conviction in which he received 10 years of probation for using a pipe to beat to death another man.

“There is a cultural acceptance of violent behavior,” said Ms. Thurmond, president of Blacks Against Black Crime told the Augusta Kiwanis Club. “There is a certain amount of lawlessness allowed in the black community.”

The nonprofit Blacks Against Black Crime identifies problems that contribute to the disproportionate number of black victims, aid families of victims and help fight crime.

Violent criminals in black communities often come from single-parent households, and many of them are brought up without values and accountability, Thurmond said.

“There is a culture of African Americans that I don’t understand — their feelings about life and death are different,” she said. “They abide by their own set of rules.”

Blacks are further victimized by the court system, she said.

Blacks are not held accountable often enough – such as with the case of Antonio Ruffin – and they are often released from jail, committing more crimes.

Thurmond found disparities among bond amounts.

The lowest bonds were set in black-on-black crimes, and the highest were black-on-white crimes.

More info on Augusta’s double killer – Convicted murderer Antonio Wellington Ruffin:

Born in 1971, Antonio Wellington Ruffin is serving “life” for a 1999 Augusta murder that included the charges of firearm possession by a convicted felon and possession of firearm during a crime.

Ruffin was 20 years old when he received probation for a killing in 1991 – and after violating that probation by killing again in 1999 – he received a longer sentence for cocaine possession (7 years) than the conviction for involuntary manslaughter (less than 6 years).

Georgia Department of Corrections:
http://www.dcor.state.ga.us
http://www.dcor.state.ga.us/GDC/OffenderQuery/jsp/OffQryForm.jsp
http://www.dcor.state.ga.us/contactus/jsp/form.jsp
404-656-4661

Georgia State Department of Pardons and Paroles and the Office of Victim Services
http://www.pap.state.ga.us
http://www.pap.state.ga.us/ParoleeDatabase
VictimServices@pap.state.ga.us

The Georgia Corrections and Parole Board Victim Information Program (V.I.P.):
http://www.pap.state.ga.us/opencms/export/sites/default/victims_services/VIP_Program.html
1-800-593-9474
——-

Local crime rate falls but not rape, sexual assault
December 29, 1998
By Staff Writers Chasiti Kirkland, Emily Sollie, Tom Corwin and Jason B. Smith
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1998/12/29/met_248658.shtml

Barbara Thurmond said a decline in crime is more than just numbers as it means that her son, George, and other young men in Augusta did not become a statistic.

“It means lives were saved,” said Ms. Thurmond, president and co-founder of Blacks Against Black Crime, Inc.

Following the national trend of declining crime rates, 7 percent fewer violent crimes reported during 1997 in Augusta.

During 1998 in Richmond and Aiken counties violent crime declined over 1997 for most violent crimes, except for rape, also mirroring a national trend. In Columbia County crime declined except for murder due to two incidents of multiple homicides.

“I hate statistics,” said Richmond County sheriff’s Chief Deputy Ronald Strength said.

“Numbers are very volatile. They’re like the stock market. No one can control crime. The numbers might be down this year, and everyone’s patting you on the back, but they might go up again next year.”

And people have not caught on to the decrease and probably do not feel safer, Ms. Thurmond said.

“There’s a lot of hype about crime,” Ms. Thurmond said.

There has been progress, after all there were 50 Augusta murders in 1991, the year Blacks Against Black Crime was founded, said Thurmond, whose group works on preventing crime.

“We started out of fear – thankfully, today I can say things are better and we’re all happy about that,” Thurmond said. “But there’s still too much black-on-black crime.”
——-

State senate proposes to abolish parole
1/27/98
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1998/01/27/met_221389.shtml

By Lawrence Viele, Staff Writer Tracie Powell contributed to this article and members of the Morris News Service

ATLANTA – Augustans protested in front of the Municipal Building after the Georgia Senate approved a constitutional amendment to kill parole as of July 1999.

While they don’t condone crime, the protestors are against abolition of parole because blacks make up a huge part of the Georgia Prison population..

“There is a disproportionate number of African-Americans in prisons in the state of Georgia,” said Barbara Thurmond, president of Blacks Against Black Crime, a victim-advocacy group.

“We make up 30 percent of the state’s population and 70 percent of the state’s prison population. Until that changes, we will not support any amendments or bills that will keep people in prison longer,” Ms. Thurmond said.

“Those who commit crimes need to be accountable and responsible for their actions,” Thurmond said. “But when young people are sentenced to 20 to 25 years for nonviolent offenses, that is a crime committed against their souls.”

The Senate Republican proposal abolishes parole for all crimes, but Democratic leadership want to determine which crimes fit under the no-parole mandate that still must be passed by the house.
——-

Black youths gather, carry on unity goal
9/27/98
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1998/09/27/met_240185.shtml

About 100 black youths gathered in May Park in Augusta during September 1998 at a follow-up event to the Million Youth Movement.

“We have an unfinished agenda,” said Terence Dicks, assistant director of “Think Big ’98,” a program designed by Blacks Against Black Crime Inc. to reduce adolescent violence and drug abuse.

“We have not finished business,” said Mr. Dicks, one of several speakers urging the audience to continue the work of the Million Youth Movement.

“We have got to keep going. I ask all of you who are active right now to remember us on Oct. 16, the anniversary of the Million Man March,” Dicks said.
——-

‘They were our sons and daughters’
By Augusta Chronicle Staff Writer
4/14/97
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1997/04/14/met_206781.shtml

In remembrance of those slain in the Augusta area, 36 white candles burned in crystal votives during April 1997 at the Good Shepherd Baptist Church with each flame a life extinguished by homicide in 1996.

“We are here to remember the 36 people who lost their lives in 1996 to senseless acts of violence,” said Blacks Against Black Crime, Inc. co-founder Barbara Thurmond at a memorial service commemorating murder victims from Richmond and Columbia counties.

“They were not just numbers, they were our lovers, our friends, sisters, brothers,” she said. “They were our sons and daughters.”

Seven months earlier after an evening church service, Linda Washington returned home to the awful, heart-wrenching news that her only son had been murdered.

Beloved son and father, who dreamed of enlisting in the Army, Michael “Connie” Washington, 20, was gunned down Sept. 4, 1996 while searching for a friend.

“My son’s life was gone,” said Mrs. Washington with pain in her voice “His dreams and hopes were gone.”

“He’s not just a statistic, Connie “was loved and he loved.”

In an effort to galvanize the community against violence, about 115 people gathered to remember.

“A lot of these people died at a very young age” pursuing the violent lives espoused by popular movies and musicians, said Terence Dicks, treasurer of Blacks Against Black Crimes.

“Death is the wrong way to go towards immortality,” Mr. Dicks said.
——–

To ensure constitutionality, Georgia lawmakers re-work bill that would keep accused murderers behind bars until trial
By Augusta Chronicle Staff Writer
2/09/97
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1997/02/09/met_203762.shtml

In the face of criticism that it is unconstitutional, lawmakers are re-working a proposal to keep accused Georgia murderers behind bars until they can be tried.

The Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits excessive bail or fines.

“The wait is a little hard,” said Barbara Thurmond, co-founder of Blacks Against Black Crime, Inc. – an Augusta anti-violence group that has been pushing for the bill.

“I really do understand though,” she said. “When you’re talking about something that affects people’s constitutional rights it gets a little sticky.”

Augusta Judicial Circuit District Attorney Danny Craig, who is writing the bill for Rep. Henry Howard, D-Augusta, said the bill needs to be rewritten to make sure it will be constitutional.

Mr. Craig said the bill would help keep violent offenders from repeating their crimes while out on bail.

“There is simply no reason that the community should be subjected to having this violent killer in their midst,” he said.
——-

Bill would keep suspects behind bars
1/16/97
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1997/01/16/met_202644.shtml

Former Augusta police officer Frank Howard found a system that did not work when he tried to get justice for the killer of his 17-year-old daughter in 1992.

Mr. Howard and other members of Blacks Against Black Crime – a local anti-violence organization – are working with state Rep. Henry Howard to introduce a bill that would keep people charged with murder behind bars until they can be tried.

After Howard’s daughter was shot to death in July 1992, accused killer Catara Hill was freed from jail on $15,000 bail.

“It was like they were saying my daughter’s life was only worth $15,000.”

Mr. Howard waited for months while the trial was repeatedly postponed because the trials of incarcerated defendants took precedence while Ms. Hill was free to walk the streets.

The bill would reassure the community that dangerous offenders would be taken off the streets and could reduce the number of revenge killings, said Barbara Thurmond, head of Blacks Against Black Crime.

“Part of me died with her that day. That’s why I’m working so hard now,” Mr. Howard said, who had lost faith in the criminal justice system.

Mr. Howard took part in anti-violence drives and led a petition on the bail issue two years ago.

“What this seems to suggest is that we really think you’re guilty and we’re going to treat you that way until you can presume otherwise,” said attorney David Watkins.

Calling the bill unconstitutional, Augusta attorney Jack E. Boone, Jr. said the bill also doesn’t take into account the defendant’s record or the circumstances of the crime.”

The U.S. Constitution Eighth Amendment prohibits excessive bail or fines.
——-

Locals await State Legislature consideration of no-bond bill for murderers
1/12/97
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1997/01/12/met_202458.shtml

Shortly after Phalonda Howard was murdered in July 1992, her killer walked out of jail after posting a $15,000 bond.

Even though the killer was eventually sent to prison, Howard’s killer was allowed to roam the streets – thus delaying her trial and exposing the public to possibly more violence including retaliation and new crimes.

For those reasons, people charged with murder should not be out on bail, said Ms. Thurmond, co-founder of the Augusta based nonprofit anti-violence group Blacks Against Black Crime, Inc.

Ms. Thurmond has been working with state Rep. Henry Howard to introduce a bill to keep people charged with murder and manslaughter in jail until they can be tried in court.

Defense lawyers and other legal groups will fight the bill to keep accused murderers in jail.

“What we’ve learned about the Legislature is that you’ve got a bunch of folks who go to Atlanta and forget the people they represent,” she said. “It might not be different for us, but we’re going to try.”
——-

‘Georgia gunrunners take toll on state’
Augusta Chronicle Guest Editorial by Barbara A. Thurmond, president of Blacks Against Crimes, Inc. in Augusta
11/09/02
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2002/11/09/let_357661.shtml

In 1995 Senate Bill 109 proposed that sales of handguns be limited to no more than one gun per person per month.

Who wants to buy more than one gun a month?

A person who has a criminal record and cannot purchase handguns finds someone who is clean to make the purchases, paying him, say, $40 profit on each gun.

That’s gunrunning.

Georgia leads the nation in gunrunning.

It is legal to buy large quantities of guns in the state of Georgia.

According to The Augusta Chronicle Oct. 25, “Erich Olaf Tate pleaded guilty to conspiracy to traffic guns,” the agent said.

He said between 100 and 200 guns were taken to New York over a period of two to three years.

We can speculate that these guns were used for shootings, robberies and drug deals.

Over the years far too many guns recovered from crimes in other states have been traced back to Georgia.

The cost per firearm fatality is higher than any other type of fatal injury or for any of the four leading causes of death.

It is estimated that the cost of firearm injuries in the United States per year is $20.4 billion.

Taxpayers pay most of these bills.

And although the cost is high, the emotional toll on victims and their families cannot be measured in dollars.

How long will the state of Georgia continue to contribute to the great sorrow felt by the families of those killed or wounded by Georgia’s guns?

In 1991, Blacks Against Black Crimes identified the easy accessibility of guns as a contributing factor to the epidemic of black-on-black violence.

In the effort to fight for better gun control, we joined Georgians Against Gun Violence, Handgun Control, Inc. and The Million Mom March.

We have worked tirelessly over the years with the above organizations by making monetary contributions and supporting gun legislation at the state and federal level.

We are in an ongoing battle with the National Rifle Association for sensible gun control.
——-

‘Justice system unfair to blacks’
Augusta Chronicle Guest Editorial by Barbara A. Thurmond, president of Blacks Against Black Crime, Inc. in Augusta
6/08/02
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2002/06/08/let_343083.shtml

According to the May 19 Augusta Chronicle, Superior Court Judge William D. Jennings III agreed to set bond for Rufus Owens, the alleged killer of Anthony Campbell Jr.

Although Mr. Owens is facing murder and weapon charges, he was granted a $50,000 bond.

During this century, American justice has been a mockery for black people.

Black males have the highest victimization rate of any group.

This has been proven true once again.

Mr. Campbell is one of those black males, victimized over and over again – first by the killer and then by the criminal justice system.

The moment the decision was made to release the accused killer on a $50,000 bond, the family would also feel victimized again and their pain intensified.

When the criminal justice system fails to keep murder suspects behind bars, it has a marked impact on the victim’s family and community.

When those who have killed are allowed to move freely about the community, without immediate consequences for their inappropriate behavior, it sends the wrong message to impressionable minds.

One year ago, Cedric Jackson was allegedly killed by Claude Wiggleton, Jr.

A year later, this case has not been resolved and the defendant has remained out of jail after posting a $40,000 bond.

It is the opinion of Blacks Against Black Crimes that injustice and double standards within the justice system are contributing factors to black-on-black violence.

Editor’s note: Updates since Barbara Thurmond wrote her guest editorial

Richmond County jury rules shooting death of Cedric Jackson is justifiable homicide in acquitting former Augusta police detective’s son Claude Wiggleton, Jr. of voluntary manslaughter.

Meanwhile …

Still free on bond and awaiting trial, drunk murder suspect Rufus Owens Jr., 28, of Augusta was killed in March 2003 when he flipped his SUV in an early morning drunk driving accident in south Augusta – and luckily did not kill anyone else.
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2003/03/31/met_474794.shtml

He died about 10 months after Barbara Thurmond wrote this guest editorial.

The victim – Mr. Anthony Campbell, Jr. – was shot at his home after an argument over a slumber party.

In a tragic twist, the victim’s brother – Sergio Campbell – was murdered in an unrelated shooting 8 years later (2010) at the age of 22.

Augusta brothers are both murdered in unrelated incidents eight years apart: Mr. Anthony Campbell, Jr.  and – Sergio Campbell

The first in an argument about a slumber party and the second in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant.
http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/crime-courts/2010-06-12/impact-homicide-goes-beyond-victims-killers
——-

‘A decade of advocacy for black homicide victims brings changes to system’
Augusta Chronicle Guest Editorial by Barbara A. Thurmond, president and co-founder of Blacks Against Black Crime, Inc.
7/18/01
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2001/07/18/op_319437.shtml

TEN YEARS AGO on a hot day in June, my sister and I were motivated by fear to bring attention to the epidemic of black-on-black violence.

In 1991, Augusta/Richmond County had the highest homicide rate ever recorded.

Ninety seven percent of these homicides were blacks killed by other blacks.

We understood early on that black-on-black violence was bigger than one brother killing another.

One of the many facts we identified was the injustice and double standards of the criminal justice system.

Historically, blacks had not been punished harshly enough for killing other blacks, and we were convinced that this contributed to the epidemic of black-on-black violence.

In 1991 the average bond for a black defendant in a black-on-black killing was $20,000.

This aspect of the criminal justice system has changed.

In 2001, for example, a 24-year-old man was released on $100,000 bond after the murder of a 42-year-old victim.

Defendants are spending more time in jail as the result of more trials.

Initially we met with Judge William Fleming in an effort to understand the system.

We needed to understand the terms “murder,” “voluntary manslaughter,” “plea bargain” and bonding criteria.

TEN YEARS AGO Blacks Against Black Crime dared to dream of a world in which all crime victims and their families are treated with compassion and dignity.

In 1993 we met with District Attorney Danny Craig to voice our concerns about the lack of prosecution of black-on-black homicides.

He listens to the voices of all crime victims and has prosecuted homicide cases equitably.

We have seen more murder convictions for black-on-black homicide.

We believe this has contributed to the decline in these incidents.

Compared with 10 years ago, we are a much better system and a safer community.

We pay tribute to Sheila Stahl, director of the Victims Assistance Department of the Augusta Richmond County judicial system.

Our collective dream of victims’ justice is built upon the painful realization of the nightmare that crime has wreaked on our community.

At times funeral homes contact us when victims are without funds for burial.

We contact Victims Assistance and they help families apply for funds.

We communicate with the office weekly, sometimes daily.

TOGETHER WE share the burden of those whose losses are immeasurable, and who feel such a tremendous obligation to stand for the rights of their loved ones.

Their pain and suffering are our incentives to continue efforts to prevent crime. Black crime victims are no longer nameless, faceless entities.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s the type of killings changed; they were more random, different from the Saturday-night brawls and crimes of passion.

We saw in the 1970s that killers were younger, cold-blooded, and without conscience or remorse.

How did we get to this place?

Why had African Americans become the victims and victimizers?

In the 1980s we experienced the President Reagan-induced poverty, an increase in cocaine use and the introduction of crack cocaine.

One year after the introduction of crack cocaine, gun manufacturers increased their production by 42 percent.

The lethality of firearms escalated from low-caliber to high-caliber revolvers and semi-automatics.

The media has severely damaged the African-American image by desensitizing young people to violence and death as it continues to glamorize illegitimacy.

IS THERE A connection between the disproportionate number of blacks assigned to special education and the disproportionate number of black male victimizers?

Those in special education are unable to feel good about themselves, are labeled stupid, robbed of self-esteem, and feel nothing is expected of them.

It is part of an instilled inferiority and dehumanization process.

This can lead to dropping out of schools, illiteracy, unemployment, poverty and ultimately criminal activity.

To blame others would be easy, but we knew if we were to truly make a difference, it would take honesty.

We had to take a critical self-inventory and analysis.

In the 1970s and 1980s, middle class blacks fled the inner city, leaving it without positive role models.

Too many black intellectuals have refused to remain in some visible way connected to black cultural life and the social misery of the underclass.

THE URBAN Institute in Washington, D.C. defines the underclass family as headed by a single female, members are welfare dependent, marginally educated, chronically unemployed and engaged in repeated patterns of criminal deviance.

The act of creating new life is taken so lightly that school children sing about it.

Repetition becomes a fact, and it condemns young mothers to a life of poverty, poor education and welfare.

It is difficult for a single, teen-age mother to promote psycho-social development in her children when she is deprived of that development.

We must take responsibility for our own behavior in order to change things that are wrong.

If we improve our community, we improve our city.

If we improve our city, we improve our state and nation.

Blacks Against Black Crime has been labeled racist and accused of causing polarization.

We are volunteers working to save people from their own destruction.

We are realists.

We see things as they are and not the way we would like them to be.

We joined with organizations across the state and nation and will stand with anyone if they stand for what is right for all.

THE LAST 10 years have been challenging.

The sacrifices have been many.

Our focus has been and continues to be advocating for black homicide victims.

We ask for continued support of this city as we continue our passionate efforts to reduce crime and violence.
——-

‘Why no reward for White’s killer’
Augusta Chronicle Guest Editorial by Barbara A. Thurmond, president of Blacks Against Black Crime, Inc.
7/18/00
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2000/07/18/edi_292917.shtml

Two years ago 40-year-old David Holt was murdered.

This was a heinous crime.

The family, friends, co-workers and indeed the greater Augusta community suffered a terrible loss.

On June 1, 22-year-old Shanta White and her unborn child were murdered.

This also was a heinous crime.

On the night she was killed, her family lost their future.

Everything that Shanta and her unborn child would have been is now gone forever.

What do these two crimes have in common?

Both cases were assigned to the same investigator.

Both killers are still at large.

Both victims were employed by the same company.

Both victims were children of God, made in his image.

Until their killer(s) are brought to justice, their families cannot begin the healing process.

That is where the similarities end.

Sam’s Club, the common employer, has offered a $400,000 reward for information that would lead to the arrest and conviction of (white male) David Holt’s killer(s).

The Sheriff’s Department mailed a questionnaire to several zip codes seeking information on the murder of Mr. Holt.

What about (black female) Shanta White and her unborn child?

Who is willing to come forward and offer a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of her killer(s)?

We know that offering reward money is no cure-all for crime and violence, but it is one of many tools used by law enforcers as they work to solve and prevent crime, apprehend criminals and bring them to justice.
——-

‘Claims racist response to violence’
Augusta Chronicle Guest Editorial by Barbara A. Thurmond, president of Blacks Against Black Crimes, Inc.
7/05/99
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1999/07/05/edi_265057.shtml

Although juvenile crime is down in America, the media reports give a different impression.

The highly publicized school shootings in a period of 18 months include: Springfield, Ore.; Fayetteville, Tenn.; Edinboro, Penn.; Jonesboro, Ark; Paducah, Ky.; Pearl, Miss., and Littleton, Colo.

In these incidents Americans have been shown another face of youth violence, white suburban males.

These shootings have prompted federal lawmakers to address the issue of gun violence in America.

Republicans and Democrats debate daily the issue of gun control.

Newspapers, magazines and television news shows are flooded with articles on gun violence.

In contrast, Vincent Schiraidi, director of the Justice Policy Institute, estimates that 900 black youths were killed in the United States during the 18 months since the school shootings began.

In addition, according to an article published in the Baltimore Sun, it has been estimated that between 1985-1995 – 75,000 black males were slain in the United States.

If 75,000 hearses were lined up, they would stretch approximately 300 miles.

Ironically, this is comparable to the distance between Augusta and Birmingham, the cradle of the civil rights movement.

Such disparate treatment of victims is obvious and leaves many questions unanswered.

For instance, where were the outrage, the politicians, the media and the nation’s search for answers on how to end youth violence?

We are not insensitive to the tragedy in Littleton.

In fact, we have sympathy for the victims and their families regardless of race.

However, as a nation we must be as outraged over the death of 900 black males as we are about the tragedy at Columbine High School.

The nation must focus on violent crime prevention for all youth.

Until that day Blacks Against Black Crimes will be the voice for black crime victims.
——-

‘Marks Crime Victims Rights Week’
Augusta Chronicle Guest Editorial by Barbara A. Thurmond
4-23-98
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1998/04/23/op_226616.shtm

National Crime Victims Rights week is being observed through April 25.

During this time, organizations that assist victims of violent crime in Augusta have joined together to promote greater public awareness about the rights and needs of crime victims.

The theme of this year’s observance is “Victims Right’s Right for America.”

Remember too, that Blacks Against Black Crimes are an advocate for all victims of all crimes, regardless of race, gender, socio-economic status or religious influences.

The thrust of our focus is victims of black on black homicide, because historically the judicial system has not been sensitive to black crime victims.

Since 1991 Blacks Against Black Crimes has assisted victims in our area.

Among the many services offered by the group are counseling, education, and financial assistance for burial and referral to other agencies.

Last year in Augusta there were 28 homicides.

Crime is no longer “someone else’s” problem because tomorrow that “someone else” might be someone you know or love.
——-

‘Plugs victims’ rights; cites statistics’
Augusta Chronicle Guest Editorial by Barbara A. Thurmond, president of Blacks Against Black Crimes, Inc.
4-14-97
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1997/04/14/edi_206791.shtml

This week is National Crime Victims’ Rights Week in America.

Proclaimed by the president and governors across our country, the theme for this special commemoration is “Let Victims’ Rights Ring Across America.”

It is a special week dedicated to those who have been injured and killed by criminal victimization.

It is also a time to recognize and reflect upon the many accomplishments on the local, state, and federal levels that have improved rights and services extended to crime victims in our nation.

For whom does the bell of victimization toll?

Each year in America, nearly 39 million individuals become victims of crime.

Sadly, statistics show that for over half of these victims, it is not the first time nor will it be the last.

Becoming a victim of crime has become a rite of passage in our violent nation.

For example, the National Education Association reports that each day in America, 100,000 children carry guns to school, 260,000 children miss class because of the fear of being physically harmed and 40 students are killed or injured by firearms.
——-

Asks ‘Baby Face’ to sing different tune
Augusta Chronicle Guest Editorial by Terence A. Dicks, spokesperson for Blacks Against Black Crime, Inc.
6/18/97
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1997/06/18/edi_210076.shtml

After 378 years of struggle and resistance against forces ranging from legal slavery to systemic assaults through education, environmental and judicial means, African-Americans continue to rise to the occasion.

In the wake of redistricting of our Southern-most areas to the church burnings across this country, we now face genocide through our music.

That force which once gave us hope now claims our youngest talent through homicide – i.e. Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls.

This is a frontal assault on black youth in a serious time of welfare reform, and a record breaking epidemic of teen pregnancy – but along comes the song “My Baby’s Daddy,” by B-Rock and The Biz.

No other self-respecting people would allow this song to feed a corrupt spirit that already affects our youth.

One only needs to look at the break down of the black family, the disrespect for the black church, and an increase of black on black violence to see that these lyrics are harmful, undermining, and self-destructive.

Please join with us as we respond to producer Kenneth “Baby Face” Edmonds, who was recently cited by Time as one of the 25 most influential people in the country.

Let us let him know that we would like for him to use his influence in another way.
——-

‘Victim assistance is stronger’
Augusta Chronicle Letter to the Editor by Barbara Thurmond, founder and president of Blacks Against Black Crimes, Inc.
4/03/05
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2005/04/03/let_449223.shtml

We have much to celebrate.

Fourteen years ago, Blacks Against Black Crimes Inc. was organized to serve this community and ensure fundamental rights for all crime victims.

Since 1994, we have seen crime victims and their families treated with compassion and dignity.

There are more than 10,000 community- and system-based organizations that help victims in the aftermath of crime.

And more than 32,000 laws have been passed at the federal and state levels that define and protect victims’ rights.

Yet there remains much work to be done, and many challenges that will put our shared values to test.

We must remain vigilant in our efforts to guarantee the same values that offer help and hope to victims of crime; when you value justice for all people who live in America, you value victim rights and services.

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. told our nation that “if we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover those precious values – that all reality hinges on moral foundations, and that all reality has spiritual control.”

The moral foundation of the victim-assistance field is one of compassion and caring, justice and equal rights.

The bricks and mortar we have used to create a nation that values justice, individual and community safety have fueled our efforts for more than 14 years.

These values are our vision for a future in which rights and services for victims and survivors of crime are not the exception to the rule, but the rule itself.

As the “father of the victim-impact statement,” James Rowland once said, “Justice will not be served until victims’ rights are not just observed annually, but practiced daily.”
——-

‘Homicide decline should inspire’
Augusta Chronicle Letter to the Editor by Barbara A. Thurmond, co-founder and president of Blacks Against Black Crime, Inc.
2/23/05
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2005/02/23/let_444380.shtml

All Augustans have reasons to be thankful.

Homicides continue to decline each year, particularly black-on-black homicides.

In 2004, Augusta-Richmond county homicides were at an all-time low: 14 homicides were recorded.

Black males continue to make up the majority of slaying victims, causing us to focus on causes of crime in the black community.

As encouraging as this progress is, much work needs to be done. Simply stated, we need to recommit ourselves and intensify our efforts.

Sororities, fraternities, community-based organizations, educators, religious leaders, churches and mentors are doing great works with the youth in Augusta; your hard work and dedication have contributed to this decline.

No matter what is going on in the world, our children have to succeed; our communities have to be made whole.
——-

‘Keep assault weapons off streets’
Augusta Chronicle Letter to the Editor by Barbara A. Thurmond, co-founder and president of Blacks Against Black Crime, Inc.
7/31/04
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2004/07/31/let_423842.shtml

(The federal ban on assault weapons expired in Sept. 2004 – and efforts for a new ban has yet to even be voted on by U.S. lawmakers)

Pleading for the renewal of the “ban on assault weapons,” Barbara Thurmond noted that “these weapons of mass destruction” have been used in “America’s most notorious massacres” like the 1999 Columbine High School death spree and the “2003 D.C. sniper shootings.”

“The AK-47, Tec-9 and the Uzi” have caused our police to be “outgunned” and are a continued “threat to the safety of our dedicated police officers and the public,” Thurmond wrote in a July 2004 letter to the editor.

“Assault weapons are made to kill many people at one time,” Thurmond stated.

“Georgia is a high-volume gun state,” Thurmond said, citing a survey by “Americans for Gun Safety” that concluded in “2003 Georgia ranked fourth in the nation in the number of high-crime gun stores” that sold weapons “responsible for at least 200″ crimes between 1996 and 2000.

“We need sensible gun laws, enforcement of existing laws and concerted local efforts to make our city, state and nation safer,” she wrote.

“Blacks Against Black Crimes, Inc. joins with the Million Mom March, Georgians for Gun Safety and the Brady Campaign for Handgun Control in supporting the assault weapon ban and all efforts to reduce firearm injuries and death.”

Thurmond asked:

“Why would anyone want these weapons back on the streets of America?”
——-

‘Be mindful of victims’ rights’
Augusta Chronicle Letter to the Editor by Barbara A. Thurmond, co-founder and president of Blacks Against Black Crime, Inc.
4/16/04
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2004/04/16/let_412349.shtml

“Most people in America will be a victim of or witness to a crime in their lifetime,” stated Barbara Thurmond in an April 2004 letter to the editor adding violence and terrorism have a “profound effect on feelings of safety and security.”

Noting the annual April National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, Thurmond stated crime victims “need to feel safe in reporting crimes” and need the protection of their “core rights to information and notification, protection, participation, and restitution.”

“Many victims never report crime because of trauma and fear” and many suffer a devastating psychological impact “damaging victims’ abilities to focus, function and work,” Thurmond wrote.

“We have much work to do to validate the harm (crime victims) have endured” and listen to “their voices and concerns” while protecting “their rights as victims,” she said.

“Lives are irrevocably changed” during violent crimes like “the robbery victim who is left a paraplegic, the family whose breadwinner is murdered, the battered woman who hides her bruises in hopes of hiding her chronic suffering, and the child-abuse victims who hear the threats of their abusers and never disclose their victimization,” Thurmond wrote.

“Victims and survivors of crime” need to be “assured that they are not responsible for what happened, and that the persons who hurt them will be brought to justice,” Thurmond stated.
——-

“Stop exercising political favors”
Augusta Chronicle Letter to the Editor by Barbara A. Thurmond, co-founder and president of Blacks Against Black Crime, Inc.
2/18/03
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2003/02/18/let_376096.shtml

Noting that Sen. Don Cheeks, R-Augusta, used his “position of influence to have a convicted sex offender not register with the state’s sex offenders’ registry,” Thurmond stated she was further alarmed that those “in positions of power and authority” often “manipulate laws” during a time when children are in the midst of a violence crisis.

“The real tragedy,” Thurmond stated, is the political favors continue “at a time when children need help” but instead see examples of lawmakers doing political favors and therefore not “holding offenders responsible for their actions.”

She cited an Atlanta Journal-Constitution story that revealed in the previous five years state “legislators have made at least 5,500 contacts on behalf of prisoners and parolees” in a “custom (that) benefits whites primarily” in a Georgia “inmate population (that) is two-thirds black.”

Thurmond stated in the February 2003 letter to the editor that in Georgia’s slavery days the laws were manipulated by white plantation owners to ensure cotton was picked.

“The white boss would go to the prosecutor and judge on Monday, following the weekend killing of a black by another black, and he would tell them not to prosecute the killer, because he needed the able body back at work to toil in the fields,” Thurmond wrote.

“This practice had a lasting effect on black people and to this day, we continue to feel the effect of political favors,” stated Thurmond fearing children are the next group to suffer from political favors.
——-

“Jury’s ‘not-guilty’ verdict appalls and perplexes observer”
Augusta Chronicle Letter to the Editor by Barbara A. Thurmond, co-founder and president of Blacks Against Black Crime, Inc.
9/16/02
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2002/09/16/let_352959.shtml

After attending a decade of black on black murder trials in Augusta, Barbara Thurmond said she “can’t get used to the stupidity and senselessness” of the violence.

“A baby-mama drama, a fragile ego and a gun are ingredients for a homicide,” she wrote in a September 2002 letter to the editor.

“Repetitious childbearing out of wedlock by different partners is taken too lightly in our society,” said Thurmond who believed proper parenting and a sense of personal responsibility would prevent black on black crime.

“The mothers will use these children as a way of manipulating the daddies and, more often than not, it has deadly consequences,” wrote Thurmond – upset that a jury found a father not guilty in the shooting death the unarmed boyfriend of his “baby’s mama” in an incident that also saw “the baby hit his head on the wall” during an altercation.

“It’s easy to blame the victim for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“The purpose of a gun is to kill,” Thurmond wrote – describing some gun-toting black males as having a “fragile ego” who are “craving respect.”

“When a person makes a conscious decision to carry a loaded gun, the decision has been made to kill,” Thurmond stated.

An advocate for getting assault weapons and handguns off the streets, Thurmond said she agrees with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference that “guns are bad news, and they bring sad news.”
——-

“Black-on-black homicide should remain a priority issue” in Augusta Chronicle
Augusta Chronicle Letter to the Editor by Barbara A. Thurmond, co-founder and president of Blacks Against Black Crime, Inc.
3-7-02
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2002/03/07/let_337310.shtml

“What has not changed is the disproportionate number of blacks who die as the result of violence,” said Barbara Thurmond in a March 2002 letter to the editor reacting to a drop in the crime rate. “We must address the leading cause of death of African-Americans.”

Thurmond said it is “painfully obvious to me” that “black-on-black homicide is a threat to African-Americans in Augusta.”

“African-Americans are six times more likely to be murdered than whites” in Augusta, said Thurmond who did her own investigation and calculations – after a newspaper article on murders did not take race into account – concluding there was not a pattern to violence in Augusta. “Homicides account for more deaths of black men ages 25-44 than does heart disease, cancer or diabetes.”

“We cannot continue to ignore black-on-black homicides – Ignoring the problem won’t make it go away,” she wrote

“Black leaders, this is our war and we must stay on the battlefield, armed with courage, truth, persistence and faith,” Thurmond stated listing some of the underlying causes of black on black violence. “Voting, economic empowerment and the removal of the Confederate flag are all important issues; issues that we all must be concerned about.”
——-

Raps paper for “lack of objectivity”
Augusta Chronicle Letter to the Editor by Barbara A. Thurmond, president of Blacks Against Black Crime, Inc.
4/3/00
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2000/04/03/edi_285922.shtml

According to the March 12 Chronicle, Christopher Andrews died of cardiac wounds at the Medical College of Georgia Hospital after allegedly being stabbed by Alicia Hall.

I’m a lay person without a law degree, but because of the commitment to the cause of victims’ rights, I’ve had to familiarize myself with the process of reaching a verdict in a case such as this.

When did The Chronicle become prosecutor, jury and judge? What happened to objective reporting?

I have no opinion on the case due to the fact that evidence hasn’t been presented in a court of law.

All I’ve read is hearsay, pro and con, in favor of the victim and defendant.

Mr. Andrews has a right to have his case heard in a court of law before a verdict is reached.

It is unfair and manipulative of the media to render a verdict of self-defense. To do this is extended victimization of Mr. Andrews.

Let’s allow the judicial system to do its job.

I feel that District Attorney Danny Craig is capable of getting to the truth.

We expect newspapers to report facts and information, saving opinions for the editorial page.

(Editor’s note: The Augusta Chronicle quoted Alicia Hall’s mother, who said the attack on Christopher Andrews was in self-defense.)
——-

“Campaign to protest crime fulfills co-founder’s dream”
Remembering Barbara Thurmond Book and Goals Augusta Chronicle
10/18/06
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2006/10/18/met_100934.shtml

“Don’t stop – the kids need you,” said Barbara Thurmond’s mother Lillian – during an October 2006 service at New Creation Missionary Baptist Church that kicked off her daughter Barbara Thurmond’s last wish – a 40-day campaign of prayer and fasting to protest crime in Augusta.
——

“An example of courage”
2006 Augusta Chronicle Editorial Honoring the Life of Barbara A. Thurmond 9/01/06
By Augusta Chronicle Editorial Staff
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2006/09/01/edi_94880.shtml

Courage defined the life of Barbara Ann Thurmond, whose funeral services are being held today at Augusta’s Tabernacle Baptist Church.

She died much too young at age 56, but in that brief life she displayed enough courage for many lifetimes.

One could even say she wrote the book on courage.

Joy in my Heart: My Journey From Hopelessness to Happiness, released two years ago, recounted the pain, trials and tribulations she suffered after being diagnosed with a spinal cord tumor in 1983 that forced her into a wheelchair as a paraplegic.

Though Mrs. Thurmond was debilitated physically, she refused to let the illness defeat her feisty spirit and enduring spirituality.

“The wheelchair never set boundaries on her,” said one friend.

Indeed, the physical challenge simply spurred her to triumphs in other areas of her life.

Disgusted by homicides in her community, Mrs. Thurmond and her sister, Earnestine Covington, founded Blacks Against Black Crime Inc. in 1991 to combat Richmond County’s rising violent crime rate.

It took considerable personal courage for the sisters to base such a group in their Augusta neighborhood, and to work with law enforcement, yet they did just that.

And they were effective too.

District Attorney Danny Craig credits Mrs. Thurmond’s leadership for playing a key role in cutting Augusta’s crime rate to one of the lowest in the state.

“She was effective and never afraid to tell the entire community to ‘Stop the violence,’ ” said Terence Dicks, a longtime friend and fellow organization member.

Mrs. Thurmond’s courage was an inspiration to our community.

We join her family and wide circle of friends in mourning her passing.

She will be sorely missed.
——-

Remembering Barbara Thurmond, James Brown ‘Music, sermon energizes audience at MLK celebration’
Augusta Chronicle story By Staff Writer Sylvia Cooper
1/16/07
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2007/01/16/met_112649.shtml

Music, prayers, speeches, a rousing sermon and memorial tributes marked the official 14th annual Martin L. King, Jr. Memorial Observance CSRA is Monday at Beulah Grove Baptist Church.

Greetings were given by Beulah Grove’s pastor, the Rev. Sam Davis; Augusta Commissioner Bernard Harper; Imam Mohamad Alhomsi, Dr. Jim Cruickshanke, the CEO of St. Joseph’s Hospital; Rabbi Robert G. Klensin of the Congregation Children of Israel; and Augusta Mayor Deke Copenhaver.

Mr. Copenhaver told the crowd that as he was leaving a breakfast earlier in the day, a reporter asked, “Are we living the dream in Augusta, Ga.?”

“And my answer to the question was, ‘We are beginning to live the dream in Augusta, Ga.,’ ” Mr. Copenhaver said.

“My goal is for Augusta, Ga., to be the living embodiment of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream, and I know working together we can and will get there.”

The mayor said he was committed to working with the Rev. Larry Fryer to get a King statue for Augusta.

The keynote speaker, the Rev. Frank K. Kennedy Jr., pastor of Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church in Lanett, Ala., had the crowd of more than a thousand on its feet with his sermon about the importance of being authentic and the need everyone has for “a lifetime guarantee of roadside assistance.”

The program included a special commemoration for James Brown and memorial tributes to Coretta Scott King; Rosa Parks; Barbara Thurmond, a co-founder of Augusta’s Blacks Against Black Crime Inc.; Pat Jones, the director of the Augusta Youth Center; Juvenile Court Judge Herbert E. Kernaghan Jr.; longtime State Court Judge James E. Slayton; and longtime Richmond County school board member B.J. Annis.

Reach Sylvia Cooper at (706) 823-3228 or sylvia.cooper@augustachronicle.com

Normal
0

false
false
false

EN-US
X-NONE
X-NONE

/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Table Normal”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:”";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0in;
mso-para-margin-right:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0in;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:”Calibri”,”sans-serif”;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”;}

Augusta, Georgia Area Homicides Database and Map Created by the Augusta Chronicle

From 2005 to present

Killings in Richmond County, Columbia County, and Aiken County, South Carolina

Victims/Courts/Stats/Race/Gender

http://chronicle.augusta.com/data/homicides

More homicide victims stories:

http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/crime-courts/2010-06-11/homicides

http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2000/11/19/met_301784.shtml

Augusta Chronicle series on homicides in the Augusta area:

Impact of homicide goes beyond victims, killers

Saturday, June 12, 2010

By Mike Wynn

Staff Writer

http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/crime-courts/2010-06-12/impact-homicide-goes-beyond-victims-killers

Photos:

Nichole Campbell, of Augusta stands by the graves of her murdered brothers.

They died 8 years apart.

Nicole frequently visits the church cemetery where her brothers, Anthony and Sergio, are buried.

Augusta Chronicle Photo by Corey Perrine/Staff

Dr. Michael Hawkins, who has led Medical College of Georgia’s trauma unit for 20 years, shows the X-ray of a patient whose head has a bullet lodged in it.

He said there is no easy way to tell family members about violent deaths.

Augusta Chronicle Photo by Jackie Ricciardi/Staff

Who commits homicides?

Suspects in killings often have records

Sunday, June 13, 2010

By Sandy Hodson

Staff Writer

http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/crime-courts/2010-06-13/suspects-killings-often-have-records

Where do homicides happen?

“Residential areas see more crime”

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

By Adam Folk

Staff Writer

http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/aiken/2010-06-15/residential-areas-see-more-crime

Photos:

Makayla and Alaina Dowling play with a bucket of cool water outside their home in T&S Mobile Home Park in Aiken, S.C.

Their father, Eric Dowling, says that the neighborhood has improved enough that he will allow his daughters to play outside.

Photo by Zach Boyden-Holmes/Staff

Employers, employees often become victims

June 19, 2003

By Vicky Eckenrode

Staff Writer

http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2003/06/19/bus_378865.shtml

Contact reporter Vicky Eckenrode

706-823-3227

vicky.eckenrode@augustachronicle.com

——-

December 29, 1998
By Staff Writers Chasiti Kirkland, Emily Sollie, Tom Corwin and Jason B. Smith

• The great Levon Helm, former drummer for The Band and lead singer on such classics as “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” “Up on Cripple Creek,” and “Ophelia,” died last week at the age of 71. Helm helped put The Band (originally The Hawks) together, as the backing band for Ronnie Hawkins and then Bob Dylan, and Martin Scorcese famously turned their last concert into the best concert film of all-time (which Helm personally was not a fan of). Helm then went on to his own great solo career. Robbie Robertson, who reached out to Helm while the latter was sick, and Bob Dylan were among the many grief-stricken by Helm’s death.

• Mitch Hurwitz discusses the upcoming new season of Arrested Development. Speaking of which, in honor of Fox’s 25th anniversary (celebrated yesterday), what are the 10 best shows it cancelled prematurely? And its best overall?

• Julian Assange launched his new talk show (watch out, Conan!), which was roundly mocked by the media for not featuring Amy Winehouse’s relatives.

• The Mets’ hot start hasn’t kept Elena Kagan from bashing them in her opinions.

• Another piece on America’s incarceration problem. Speaking of incarceration, here is some fascinating bargaining in a prisoner’s dilemma game show.

• Take a look at shakin’ 3D 1930s Paris.

• Will Wilkinson reviews two happiness tips and takes down Michael Sandel.

• Dannaer Fields, Bobby Clark, and William Allen KILLED April 6, 2012, Tusla, OK | more
• Trayvon Martin, KILLED February 26, 2012 in Sanford, Fl | more
• James Anderson KILLED June 26, 2011 in Jackson, Miss | more
• Danroy (DJ) Henry Jr., KILLED October 17, 2010 in Thornwood, NY | more
• James Brisette and Charles Madison along with those wounded in the Danziger Bridge Victims, 2 KILLED 4 WOUNDED September 4, 2005 in New Orleans, LA | more
• Amadou Diallo, KILLED February 4, 1999 in New York, NY | more
• James Byrd, Jr. BRUTALLY MURDERED June 7, 1998 in Jasper TX | more
• Fred Hampton, KILLED December 4, 1969 in Chicago, IL | more
• Emmett Till, ACCUSED AND KILLED August 24th-August 28th, 1955 in Money, Miss | more
• The Scottsboro Boys, ACCUSED AND TORMENTED SINCE March 25, 1936 in Scottsboro, AL | more

Justice is a blind goddess

To this we blacks are wise:

Her bandage hides two festering sores

That once perhaps were eyes.

Langston Hughes penned this and other poems in the wake of the Scottsboro case; the legal lynching that supported the indisputably false claims of two white women who alleged that they were gang raped by nine black teens onboard a Southern railroad freight train headed from Chattanooga to Memphis in 1931.  Despite flawed eye-witness testimony, contrary medical evidence, and the sworn testimony of Ruby Bates, one of the accusers, that she had never been raped let alone touched or even spoken to by any of the defendants, the trials proceeded with guilty verdict after guilty verdict being handed down by all white judges and juries.  Altogether the Scottsboro Boys as these young men came to be called spent years of their lives in Alabama prisons experiencing first hand the horrors of the American prison system and Jim Crow justice.  Being innocent was as inconsequential then, as being young, black and alive is today.

In 1931 it took twelve days for the Scottsboro Boys to be accused, arrested and on trial for their lives, and they were innocent.  Yet it took forty-six days for George Zimmerman to be arrested and charged with killing unarmed Trayvon Martin.

So as supporters and mourners, pundits and politicians discuss the charges of second degree murder against George Zimmerman, I am reminded about those who came before him, the murderers who beat, bludgeoned and drowned Emmett Till; the accusers who sent innocent boys to jail and defamed their character to protect a lie; the badges and bullets that recklessly smoked out the lives of DJ Henry, the Danziger Bridge victims, Amadou Diallo,  and Fred Hampton; and the miscreants who hunt and kill black people for sport.

I am reminded that our life upon this earth is but a breath and that for many in black America this is a bare life.  It is a life lived in juvenile detention halls, prison industrial complexes, urban and rural ghettos, underfunded schools, public housing projects and low paying jobs.  Spaces set outside of the political/moral life of the larger society .  And this bare life subjects us to modes of violence that are steeped in the middle passage, the plantation economy and the Fugitive Slave Act.  You see every generation that comes of age in America has to unlearn these legacies, least they be doomed to repeat them over, and over again.

As the mother of a son, a black boy, I am reminded that he will one day be 17, 18, and 19 years old.  That he will one day walk down a street, perhaps alone, and so to me the President’s comments don’t seem so strange.  What is strange to me is that many would rather focus on the bounty placed on George Zimmerman by the New Black Panther Party, or question black-on-black crime statistics rather than the fact that Trayvon Martin was not the first nor the last victim on this list.

I am sorely reminded of the irony, that statistically many young black people have  the same if not fewer life chances in an emancipated, post-civil rights, supposedly post-racial America than their ancestors did in the aftermath of the Civil War (more).  Finally, I am reminded in my closing thoughts, that this list is incomplete.  That there are hundreds of other names, victims of violence, men women and children who suffered not because of what they said, or did, or wore but because the color of their skin so incited others to violence.

 Sincerely,

Prude

(Re)sources

Hughes, L. (1956). I Wonder As I Wander:  An Autobiographical Journey. New York, NY, Hill and Wang.

Alexander, M. (2010). The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration In the Age of Colorblindness. Jackson, Tenn, The New Press.

DANZIGER VICTIMS-

James Brissette Jr., 17 – killed

Ronald Madison, 40 – killed

Susan Bartholomew – wounded

Leonard Bartholomew III – wounded

Lesha Bartholomew, 17 – wounded

Jose Holmes, 19 – wounded

“Negroes who have lived South know the dread of being caught alone upon the streets in white neighborhoods after the sun has set. In such a simple situation as this the plight of the Negro in America is graphically symbolized. While white strangers may be in these neighborhoods trying to get home, they can pass unmolested. But the color of a Negro’s skin makes him easily recognizable, makes him suspect, converts him into a defenseless target.” The Ethics of Living Jim Crow, Richard Wright-1937

2012 National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Conference is June 18-20, 2012 in Arlington, VA

2012 38^th National Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA) Conference will be held August 19-22, 2012 in San Diego

The April 4th Revisited: National Youth Violence Prevention Conference was held on April 4, 2012 at the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta

2012 Blacks Against Black Crimes, Inc. Annual Violence Awareness Program event was held on Saturday, April 21, 2012 at the Beulah Grove Community Resource Center in Augusta, Georgia

2012 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week was April 22-28, 2012

Excerpts from book “Joy in my Heart: My Journey from Hopelessness to Happiness” by Barbara Thurmond published by AuthorHouse in 2003 in paperback and hardcover

Editor’s Note: My dear friend and mentor Barbara Thurmond would have been embarrassed by this tribute to her efforts – feeling it is much more important for us to concentrate on the issues of black-on-black violence and victim’s rights – and I agree.
Hope this and subsequent posts do both.

By Rev. Terence A. Dicks and Greg Peterson

(Augusta, Georgia) — Former Neonatal ICU nurse and longtime community activist Barbara A. Thurmond hoped to stem the killing of children, teens and others in African American neighborhoods across Augusta, Georgia — and co-founded a group with her sister that aimed to stop black-on-black violence during an especially violent time in the city’s history that claimed the lives of many youth.

From a wheelchair that confined her body (but not her heart), Ms. Barbara Thurmond stood tall in her effort to stop the violence that was killing Augusta’s youth — an effort that lived on after her death.

Founded in June 1991, the anti-violence group Blacks Against Black Crimes, Inc. was the brainchild of Thurmond and her sister, Earnestine Covington.

After years of escalating violence in Augusta’s black communities that peaked several times, the pair started the group when Augusta had its highest murder rate ever — and 97 percent was black-on-black – and in a tragic irony many occurred on Martin Luther King Boulevard.

Ten years after the creation of Blacks Against Black Crimes, Inc., Thurmond said the antiviolence group “dared to dream of a world in which all crime victims and their families are treated with compassion and dignity.”

Thurmond said in addition to stopping violence and getting guns off the streets, one of the related problems was the embedded racism in Augusta that allows blacks to be treated differently by authorities and in public perception.

“We understood early on that black on black violence was bigger than one brother killing another,” Thurmond said. “One of the many facts we identified was the injustice and double standards of the criminal justice system.”

Barbara Thurmond

Barbara Thurmond added that “the media has severely damaged the African American image.”

The various forms of violent media “desensitizes young people to violence and death and it continues to glamorize illegitimacy,” she said

Thurmond ask the important question “is there a connection between the disproportionate number of blacks assigned to special education and the disproportionate number of black male victimizers?”

“I ‘live in the hood’ and when I want to find out what is going on in a situation of conflict, I know who my contacts are — they trust me and I trust them,” Thurmond said.

“All children will grow up in an environment made better through adequate medical care, child care and education in supportive and responsible families free from poverty, abuse and crime”

“If only Ms. Thurmond were alive today maybe the black-on-black violence in Augusta could be reduced because of her spirit and love for people”

— said Rev. Terence A. Dicks of Augusta, a member of Blacks Against Black Crimes, Inc. from 1991 to 2006 and served as the group’s chief financial officer from 1995 to 2002.

Augusta Chronicle photo of Barbara Thurmond used in an October 2006 story by Nikasha Dicks, Augusta Chronicle reporter, entitled “Campaign to protest crime fulfills co-founder’s dream” about the Thurmond’s death.

Thurmond, who passed away in August 2006, “was disturbed at black on black crime” in the early 90′s.

It led her to form an organization to bring awareness to the problem — and despite her illness, she never left the fight,” states a news story about her death by WRDW TV-12 in North Augusta, South Carolina.

Thurmond was “a rare individual with rare insights,” the News 12 story pointed out.

That crime problem is just as scary nationwide causing many civil rights leaders to speak out again the crime rate.

“We just decided to call it what it was,” Thurmond stated in 1997. “We were blacks who were addressing the epidemic of black on black crime.”

People should “turn to each other and not on each other,” said civil rights leader and former Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) President Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery.

July 1999 Augusta Chronicle photo of Barbara Thurmond (right) for July 27, 1999 article entitled “Crime in Black Community” written by Augusta Chronicle Crime Reporter Meghan Gourley

Thurmond was very concerned at the number of African American males involved in violence and the rate they were dying, according to Dicks, who calls Thurmond as a “friend and a mentor and a comrade.”

“She was in a wheelchair – and she could not walk – but did more than any minister, any educator and any professional I ever met,” Dicks said.

1997 Augusta Chronicle photo of Barbara Thurmond for a January 12, 1997 story entitled “Locals await Legislature” about the brutal murder of Phalonda Howard of Augusta.
Thurmond is sitting next to a “stop the Killing” campaign poster

The Augusta anti-violence group was formed because of the alarming increase in violent and non-violent crimes that involve African Americans under the age of 30 — and way to often in their teens — perpetrating crimes against other African American youth, adults and the elderly.

“Group members starting to get the same feelings we got back in the 80′s (when the crime rate spiked) that there is something wrong including there are too many shootings,” Dicks said.

“Even today, there are too many dead bodies showing up in the African American Community in Augusta and across the United States,” Rev. Dicks said with a heavy heart.

Police say that similar groups are needed across the country to battle the problem and save youth from dying and going to prison.

Barbara Thurmond (left), President of Blacks Against Black Crime. Inc., listens to Dr. Bill Reese (right) discuss crime prevention an “Out-Smart Crime” Community Resources and Crime Prevention Conference held on April 1, 1999 at Augusta State University in Augusta, Georgia.

Barbara Thurmond said communities can become safer when prosecutors, victim rights advocates and neighborhood groups work together

“We pay tribute to Sheila Stahl, director of the Victims Assistance Department of the Augusta Richmond County judicial system,” Thurmond said in a guest editorial in the Augusta Chronicle.

Richmond County District Attorney Danny Craig “listens to the voices of all crime victims and has prosecuted homicide cases equitably, Thurmond said.

“We have seen more murder convictions for black-on-black homicide” and “this has contributed to the decline” in violent crime

Sheila Stahl (left) listens to other panelists at a 1991 Crime Prevention Conference in Augusta, Georgia. Stahl was the director of the Victims Assistance Department of the Augusta Richmond County judicial system.

“Compared with 10 years ago, we are a much better system and a safer community,” Thurmond stated in July 2001.

Our collective dream of victims’ justice is built upon the painful realization of the nightmare that crime has wreaked on our community.

Stahl and Thurmond both were among the many panelists for a Community Resources and Crime Prevention Conference held on April 1, 1999 at Augusta State University that included many speakers and a logo stating “Out-Smart Crime.”

Program for April 1999 “Out-Smart Crime” Community Resources and Crime Prevention Conference in Augusta. Georgia.

Before her death in August 2006 Thurmond wrote a book about her life in a wheelchair, her love for Augusta’s youth – and all humanity.

Entitled “Joy in my Heart: My Journey from Hopelessness to Happiness” — Thurmond wrote the book of memoirs to explain the struggles in her life that empowered and inspired her efforts stop the raging violence in African American communities across the Augusta area.

“I am honored and grateful that Barbara Thurmond saw fit to make me part of her book that sadly depicts black on black youth violence in Augusta, GA,” said Rev. Terence A. Dicks of Augusta, who is part of of the book written by Barbara Thurmond.

Thurmond was one of five women in the U.S. who received the Essence Award from Essence Magazine as “women who go above and beyond” involving community involvement and volunteerism.

Thurmond was selected as the $10,000 grand prize winner of the 2001 Women of Wonder (WOW) contest – given to an African-American woman between the ages of 25 and 54 who has made a significant impact in the lives of others – and sponsored by the Aunt Jemima® Brand of Quaker Foods and Beverages in partnership with the National Council of Negro Women, Inc.

The “unselfish efforts” of Barbara Thurmond “to fight crime in her community and seek healing for crime victims epitomizes the spirit of the Women of Wonder contest,” said Pamela Jordan, spokesperson for Aunt Jemima.

Thurmond was given the National Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA) Award in 2006.

Barbara Thurmond was baptized at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Augusta at an early age.

She received her early education from the Richmond County School System and was a proud graduate of Lucy C. Laney High School Class of 1968.

Barbara was employed as a Neonatal ICU Nurse at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta — and a Neurology nurse at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Institute in New York, New York from which she medically retired.

Some Blacks Against Black Crimes activities included: victim’s rights advocacy, the “Stop the Killing” campaign, college scholarships and the “Think Bigger” programs in Jennings Homes, Gilbert Manor and Underwood Homes.

Some of the organizations that recognized her work included: Essence Magazine, The National Council of Negro Women, the Georgia Black Legislative Caucus, the Georgia House of Representatives, the State of Georgia and the City of Augusta.

Barbara was born to Mrs. Lillian C. Thurmond of Augusta, Georgia and the late Mr. Ernest Thurmond.

(Scroll down to see more information about Thurmond’s life, news coverage about her efforts, her many honors/awards, her family and other information)

——-

Barbara Thurmond took her crusade against black-on-black violence to the public through articles, stories, and guest editorials in The Augusta Chronicle newspaper in Augusta, Georgia

The Augusta Chronicle newspaper also wrote editorials about the causes created by Thurmond and many others who helped – and the paper memorialized the courageous activist following her untimely death.

Stop the violence activist Barbara A. Thurmond of Augusta, Georgia co-founded Blacks Against Black Crime, Inc. with her sister Earnestine Covington in June 1991.

http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/89297580?access_key=key-2nny5yvqnamzdixtx5l1

Part of an Augusta Chronicle Editorial reacting to the August 2006 death of Barbara Thurmond

Courage defined the life of Barbara Ann Thurmond, whose funeral services are being held today at Augusta’s Tabernacle Baptist Church.

She died much too young at age 56, but in that brief life she displayed enough courage for many lifetimes.

One could even say she wrote the book on courage.

“Joy in my Heart: My Journey From Hopelessness to Happiness,” released two years ago, recounted the pain, trials and tribulations she suffered after being diagnosed with a spinal cord tumor in 1983 that forced her into a wheelchair as a paraplegic.

Though Mrs. Thurmond was debilitated physically, she refused to let the illness defeat her feisty spirit and enduring spirituality.

“The wheelchair never set boundaries on her,” said one friend.

——-

The Renée Olubunmi Rondeau Peace Foundation Website Has a Tribute to Barbara Thurmond on its website
http://www.rorpf.org

The Renée Olubunmi Rondeau Peace Foundation (RORPF) was formed by Elaine and Gordon Rondeau of Augusta, Georgia in August, 1997 after the murder of their daughter, Renée on the 31^st of October, 1994.

National Coalition of Victims In Action
(NCVIA) is a component of the Renée Olubunmi Rondeau Peace Foundation
The memorial to Barbara Thurmond on the NCVIA Board of Directors page recognizes her efforts with the “Tools for Change” project:

http://www.rorpf.org/NCVIA%20Board%20of%20Directors.htm

Barbara Thurmond Memoriam by National Coalition of Victims in Action (NCVIA) Board of Directors:

http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/88124569?access_key=key-agz4wzy54glvpch2ywm

Georgia Lawmakers honored Barbara Thurmond for her crusade against violence and for protecting children

Barbara Thurmond Honored in 2005 by Georgia House of Representatives in House Resolution 2267:

http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/88115176?access_key=key-1aiqagtmxbn7iqas9a1o

Barbara Thurmond

Barbara Thurmond was honored in 2005 by the Georgia House of Representatives in a resolution sponsored by Georgia Rep. Henry Howard and Georgia Rep. Quincy Murphy, both Democrats of Augusta:
http://www1.legis.ga.gov/legis/2005_06/fulltext/hr2267.htm
http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20052006/64234.pdf
(Scroll down to read the full text or click on the above links)

Georgia House of Representatives Resolution 2267

Sponsored by Georgia State Representative Henry “Wayne” Howard, (D-Augusta) District 121 and Georgia State Representative William “Quincy” Murphy (D-Augusta) District 120

A RESOLUTION

Honoring Barbara Thurmond for her commitment to helping victims of violent crimes

WHEREAS, Barbara Thurmond was recently nominated to receive the National Organization for Victim Assistance Award for 2006 which is presented annually to recognize the extraordinary accomplishments of individuals and programs in the victims’ movement; and

WHEREAS, Barbara has done outstanding work in service to victims of crime in Richmond County, Georgia, and also has done a fantastic job as the Executive Director of Blacks against Black Crimes, Inc.; and

WHEREAS, a nurse by profession, she retired at the age of 34 as a result of a catastrophic illness and she continues to be a voice for victims and survivors even though she is confined to a wheelchair; and

WHEREAS, she has been a comfort and inspiration to hundreds of victims and their families with whom she has worked to obtain victims’ justice and assistance and she is also a survivor of a homicide victim, her stepdaughter, Tina; and

WHEREAS, Barbara has received the Essence Award from Essence Magazine and was selected as one of five women in the United States “who go above and beyond,” based upon her community involvement and volunteerism, by the National Council of Negro Women; and

WHEREAS, she is a member of the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Augusta, Georgia, the Black Heritage Commission, the Central Savannah River Area Girl Scouts, Handgun Control, Inc., Able/Disabled, the Association of Georgians With Disabilities, and other organizations too numerous to list.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES that the members of this body honor Barbara Thurmond for her tireless efforts in support of the victims of violent crime and their survivors.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Clerk of the House of Representatives is authorized and directed to transmit an appropriate copy of this resolution to Barbara Thurmond.
——-

Barbara Thurmond of Augusta, Georgia was the $10,000 grand prize winner of the 2001 Women of Wonder (WOW) contest involving African-American woman between the ages of 25 and 54 who make a significant impact in the lives of others.

Sponsors: Aunt Jemima® Brand of Quaker Foods and Beverages and the National Council of Negro Women, Inc.

Thurmond received her prize during a ceremony at the NCNW National Headquarters in Washington D.C.

Thurmond was nominated by her daughter, Aquanetta Betts, and was chosen from thousands of nominees because of her tireless efforts to fight black-on-black crime and seek justice for crime victims and their families.

Thurmond founded Blacks Against Crimes, Inc.; launched a “Stop the Killing” movement that identified the causes of black-on-black violence; was director of “Think Bigger,” a monthly program developed to reduce youth violence and drug abuse; used the media to raise awareness of the problem, organized a speakers bureau, was an advocate for victims’ rights and was a member of ten additional community boards without compensation.

“Ms. Thurmond is a woman whose relentless fight for empowerment makes her a woman of wonder,” said Dr. Dorothy I. Height, Chairperson and NCNW President Emerita.

The “unselfish efforts” of Barbara Thurmond “to fight crime in her community and seek healing for crime victims epitomizes the spirit of the Women of Wonder contest,” said Pamela Jordan, spokesperson for Aunt Jemima.

“The ten-year partnership between the National Council of Negro Women, Inc. and the Aunt Jemima® Brand of The Quaker Oats Company has helped us celebrate the positive influence of African-American women, not only on our communities, but on the world,” Dr. Height said.

http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/89283080?access_key=key-r9j6j6jzl37kclj9m44
http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/89283015?access_key=key-1ydtwlu0me5ibz2zgll0

Augusta, Georgia Television Station WRDW TV-12 stories about the stop the violence efforts of Blacks Against Black Crimes, Inc. Founder Barbara A. Thurmond of Augusta, Georgia

TV-12 did stories about the admirable causes created by Thurmond and many others who helped in the fight – and the TV station memorialized the courageous activist following her untimely death.

Stop the Violence Activist Barbara A. Thurmond of Augusta, Georgia co-founded Blacks Against Black Crime, Inc. with her sister Earnestine Covington in June 1991.

The WRDW-TV station is technically located across the Savannah River in North Augusta, South Carolina.

We thank WRDW-TV for its many stories about Barbara Thurmond – and this .pdf is a compilation of the TV-12 news stories.

http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/89300225?access_key=key-14jh8fqt33i653esnhgi

WRDW TV-12 (North Augusta, South Carolina) coverage remembering the accomplishments of Barbara Thurmond upon word of her death in August 2006
http://www.wrdw.com/home/headlines/3753382.html

Blacks Against Black Crimes Founder’s Message Lives On

Barbara Thurmond was disturbed at black on black crime in the early 90′s.
It led her to form an organization to bring awareness to the problem…and despite her illness, she never left the fight.

By Reporter Domonique Benn
August 28, 2006

People who knew Barbara Thurmond say she was a rare individual with rare insights.

The retired nurse co-founded Blacks Against Black Crimes back in 1991.

The people who helped her bring awareness want to secure her legacy as they continue to fight black on black crime.

Barbara Thurmond was disturbed at black on black crime in the early 90′s.

It led her to form an organization to bring awareness to the problem…and despite her illness, she never left the fight.

Now, with Thurmond’s death, others are left to carry the torch.

Blacks Against Black Crimes formed in 1991.

At the time, Augusta had its highest murder rate ever.

97 percent were black on black.

Organization member Terence Dicks says he’s seeing a mirror image.

“Actually, we are almost back to where we were,” he says.

Barbara Thurmond, founder of Blacks Against Black Crimes, Inc., found a disturbing trend back in the early 90′s.

“We just decided to call it what it was,” she said in 1997.

“What it was, we were blacks who were addressing the epidemic of black on black crime.”

“She was really concerned at the number of African American males and the rate they were dying,” Dicks says.

And some say it is slowly becoming an epidemic again, with recent murders and violence on Martin Luther King Boulevard, Eve Street, Pepperidge, and a gas station shooting.

Investigator Richard Roundtree says all of them were crimes committed by blacks on blacks.

“Right now it’s still a problem,” he says. “We have a lot of violent acts happening in our community. Unfortunately they are within some racial structure.”

“There are those of us who are starting to get the same feelings we got back in the 80′s that there is something wrong,” Dicks says, “that there are too many dead bodies showing up that there are too many shootings.”

So they’re picking up the pace once again, this time without Barbara Thurmond…the woman who left too soon, but never left anything undone.

The Sheriff’s Department agrees that more organizations like Blacks Against Black Crimes are needed in the community to help with the fight.

Barbara Thurmond’s funeral is set for later this week.
—

TV-12 coverage of the Barbara Thurmond “Farewell to an Angel”
http://www.wrdw.com/home/headlines/3809441.html

Augusta Remembers an Angel: Barbara Thurmond

Today, family, friends, and city leaders paid their last respects to a woman who spent much of her life fighting black on black crime and challenged the community to stand up.

By Reporter Domonique Benn
September 1, 2006

The city has proclaimed September 1 a day of mourning on behalf of Barbara Thurmond and her works on behalf of the community.

Today, family, friends, and city leaders paid their last respects to a woman who spent much of her life fighting black on black crime and challenged the community to stand up.

Barbara Thurmond was challenged herself, but she did not allow her disability to handicap her life.

Former mayoral candidate Willie Mays and Mayor Pro Tem Marion Williams both called Thurmond friend.

“My friend Barbara was a person who owned a wheelchair, but that wheelchair did not own Barbara,” said Willie Mays.

“When she got ill, she still continued to fight to change the structure of the community as to what’s going on,” Marion Williams said.

A disturbing trend was going on in Augusta during the early 90′s, and it was Barbara Thurmond who worked to end black on black crime.

Sheriff Ronnie Strength calls her a friend of the sheriff’s office.

“It was a great concern of hers, and it’s a great concern of all of ours,” he said. “I just hope somebody picks up where she left off.”

“Because of her concern for her community, violent crimes went down and victim respect went up,” said Rep. Quincy Murphy.

But there will be big shoes to fill. Thurmond leaves behind a rich legacy.

District attorney Danny Craig met Thurmond soon after she began Blacks Against Black Crimes, Inc.

“They went to government, schools, neighborhoods and they went to the streets,” he recalled.

“She did not allow her situation to take charge of her life,” said Thurmond’s cousin, Melvin Ivey.

“A few mornings ago our angel got her wings and just in eternity with her best friend the one who understood her and the one she never took her hand from,” Mays said.

Even after her death, today at her funeral, Thurmond was awarded a National Victims’ Assistance Award.
—

TV-12 coverage of anti-violence goals and dreams of the late Barbara Thurmond and the effort by churches to stem violence
http://www.wrdw.com/home/headlines/4413161.html

Local Churches Fight Violence With Prayer, Fasting

Local churches unite to fight increasing black on black crime.
It was the dying wish of Augusta’s Barbara Thurmond, a longtime crime fighter.
Today, it’s a reality.

By Reporter Stephanie Baker
October 16, 2006

Local churches unite to fight increasing black on black crime.

It was the dying wish of Augusta’s Barbara Thurmond, a longtime crime fighter.

Today, it’s a reality.

The group Blacks against Black Crime says the problem is out of control, and that’s why they’re kicking off a 40 day prayer vigil at New Creation Baptist Church.

The group’s leader says the goal is to remind people through prayer to value human life.

All the recent crime has a single mother living in fear.

Janice Dukes recently found herself face to face with the barrel of a gun…while her baby was in the car.

She says she was robbed at gunpoint in the Burger King drive-thru.

“All the time you always got to watch your back,” she told News 12.

“Ever since it happened I’m in after dark…and that shouldn’t have to be.”

Frank Johnson, president of Blacks against Black Crime, Inc., says crimes like that are part of an alarming trend.

“Folks are starting to devalue human life…and devaluing life is what we’re against,” he said.

Sgt. Richard Roundtree says black on black crimes are happening more often in areas with high African American populations, like Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and Cooney Circle off Olive Road.

Those crimes continue to rise, with ten this weekend alone…including a shooting, a stabbing, and a drive-by shooting.

“Anytime you introduce a weapon into any situation, there’s potential for loss of life…and that’s our concern,” Sgt. Roundtree told News 12.

The sheriff’s office reports more than 2000 violent crimes in recent months, from simple assault to homicide.

That’s why Frank Johnson is turning to prayer.

“Right now we’re stopping to seek God’s guidance to see how God would solve this,” he said.

“We just need the community to come together,” said Janice Dukes.

They’re looking to God and the community to make black on black crime scenes a thing of the past.

The group is passing out Bible verses encouraging people to respect others. They’re also calling for a fast.

Everyone across the area is invited to participate in the prayer and the fast.
——-

The HEART of Barbara Thurmond

Barbara Thurmond and Blacks Against Blacks Crimes, Inc. joined with other organizations to create a innovation project called HEART (Health, Education Augusta Richmond Tools) – that was designed to improve the troubled aspects of African-American life and focused on communities suffering most under the negative effects of the disparities in health outcomes and treatment like African Americans and Latinos.

Those involved in the project included Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and community representatives, Blacks Against Blacks Crimes, Inc.; a pilot grant from the Southeast Community Research Center Tools for Change Project; funded by the Healthcare Georgia Foundation; Augusta-Richmond County Community Partnership for Children and Families, Inc.

HEART prioritized health issues, research and collect data in an effort to implement effective programs to improve health disparities in the black community to “make our city a better place in which to live” and is “crucial to the health and future of the African-American Community,” said Barbara Thurmond, Blacks Against Blacks Crimes, Inc. president.

Issues included environmental pollutants and waste sites created by local industries, high rates of cancer and other illnesses, poverty, crime, violence, and racism, and access to acceptable healthcare.

“Together we can make a difference in the lives of a substantial number of people,” said Thurmond, shortly before her untimely death.

The info on the project was explained in the Community Cornerstone (Winter/Spring 2005) A quarterly newsletter of the Augusta-Richmond County Community Partnership for Children and Families, Inc.

http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/89284717?access_key=key-2n7dhne5ggw378um5vz1

——-

Barbara Thurmond, The Kwanzaa Gallery and the The African American Experience

Barbara Thurmond was involved in Family and Community: The African American Experience by the Kwanzaa Gallery Founder/Instructor Frank M. Johnson, Sr. of Augusta, Georgia.

http://www.kwanzaagallery.org/Family&Community.pps

The Kwanzaa Gallery, Inc.
“In Order To Make the Dream Real:
The Dreamer Must Awaken, Then Go To Work”

The Kwanzaa Gallery, Inc.
1419 Champion Pines Lane
Fort Gordon, Georgia
30909

http://www.kwanzaagallery.org
http://www.att.net/scripts/community.dll?ep=16&groupid=206&ck=&ver=hb2.1

The Kwanzaa Gallery, Inc. is a family owned, nonprofit corporation, created to address the issues and concerns that affect the capability of the African American people to contribute toward a productive, cohesive, diverse society.
The Kwanzaa Gallery, Inc Founder and CEO Frank M. Johnson, Sr. is a graduate of Kansas State University.
A decorated military Vietnam Era veteran, Mr. Johnson has majored in Business Organizational and Human Resource Management.
Mr. Johnson is a co-founder of the Augusta Black Chamber of Commerce, the Augusta Summit of African American Business Enterprises, the CSRA African American Association, and graduate of the Department of Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute.

706-737-4747 (Business)
706-615-3859 (Cell)
706-787-1467 (fax)
rites@bellsouth.net
Family And Community: The African American Experience

Dedicated to the Work Started by Carter G. Woodson:

Carter G. Woodson

Think Bigger, Stop the Miseducation, Stop the Madness, Stop the Killing

The Family and Community: The African American Experience PowerPoint Presentation includes Barbara Thurmond of Augusta.
http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/88263878?access_key=key-1e47jpoufrp4rj3yxup5

Before her death in 2006 Barbara Thurmond wrote a book about her love for Augusta’s youth and all humanity.

Entitled “Joy in my Heart: My Journey from Hopelessness to Happiness,” the book chronicles her experiences and explains the efforts stop the raging violence in African American communities across the Augusta area.

“Joy in my Heart: My Journey from Hopelessness to Happiness“

Paperback
Publisher: AuthorHouse

ISBN-13: 9781410769237
ISBN-10: 1410769232
8/14/2003 published
584 pages

Hardcover
Publisher: AuthorHouse

ISBN-13: 9781410769244
ISBN-10: 1410769240
8/1/2003 published
580 pages

AuthorHouse:
http://www.authorhouse.com

——-

The 2012 Blacks Against Black Crimes, Inc. Annual Violence Awareness Program event was held on Saturday, April 21, 2012 at the Beulah Grove Community Resource Center in Augusta, Georgia.

Here are the TV news stories about the 2012 Blacks Against Black Crimes, Inc. Annual Violence Awareness Program in Augusta, Georgia

WAGT NBC 26: Blacks Against Black Crime, Inc. Tackles Issue of Violence by Courtney Khondabi, reporter for NBC Augusta
http://www2.nbc26.tv/news/2012/apr/22/black-against-black-crime-inc-tackles-issue-violen-ar-3653326
http://nbc26.tv/ar/3653326/

NBC 26′s Courtney Khondabi reports on Blacks Against Black Crimes, Inc. as they tackle local violence

http://vp.mgnetwork.net/viewer.swf?u=dc907c86de2c102f8fb5001ec92a4a0d&z=AGT&embed_player=1

Blacks Against Black Crimes Inc. Tackles Local Violence by Jillian Benfield, reporter for WJBF News Channel 6
April 22, 2012
http://www2.wjbf.com/news/2012/apr/22/black-against-black-crimes-inc-tackles-local-viole-ar-3653550
http://wjbf.com/vi/127749/
http://video.wjbf.com/v/55629272/black-against-black-crimes-inc-tackles-local-violence.htm

A group focused on black on black crimes in the Augusta area is revamping their efforts.
Blacks Against Black Crimes, Inc. held a forum on April 21, 2012 to discuss ways to stop the violence and assist crime victims as part of the 2012 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week.
Video still photo by WJBF News Channel 6′s Jillian Benfield who covered the story

Augusta, GA – A group focused on black on black crimes is revamping their efforts.
Blacks Against Black Crimes Inc. held a forum this weekend to discuss ways to stop the violence as part of national crime week.
This group says we see it too often in Richmond County…a black man dying at the hands of another black man.
“Any violence is too much, but the things happening in Augusta is horrendous.” Kirby Turner is the Augusta Chapter President of Blacks Against Black Crimes, Inc.
He says since the 90′s, they have been trying to reach out to all community members to find ways to stop the violence.
“We hear about the shootings, we hear about the cuttings, the stabbings, but what we’re not talking about is the mental abuse, the things that people are going through that’s causing them to get to that point.”
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 2008 the prison and jail population was 60% African American.
According to the Black on Black Crime Coalition, 43% of all murder victims in 2007 were African American, 93 % of whom were killed by other African Americans.
“I put it a lot as hatred and ignorance,” says Turner.
Turner says they try to focus on programs like this one to make a dent in those numbers. Turner says this group wants to get even more involved in our county, especially in the schools.
They hope that by educating children while they’re young, Richmond County will have a safer future.

http://vp.mgnetwork.net/viewer.swf?u=78499d68dec0102f8fb5001ec92a4a0d&z=JBF&embed_player=1

http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/89385306?access_key=key-ara26xw5ybif9uro0tb

Blacks Against Black Crimes, Inc. Annual Violence Awareness Program event on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/events/387956301234646

The following information from Mr. Kirby L. Turner should be of great importance to everyone who cares about our youth – and there should be similar efforts and campaigns across the South, our major cities, the entire United States and, in fact, The World!

Facebook page about the event has been created by Kirby L. Turner
https://www.facebook.com/events/387956301234646
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1585117503

Beulah Grove Community Resource Center
1446 Lee Beard Way
Augusta, GA
30901-3414

706-722-4999 (office)

Kirby L. Turner

Kirby L. Turner stated and posted a very important message to all who are concerned about our youth:

“The whole world is having problems.

In the CSRA we as a hole are having the most and the most importance, Why?

I am glad you asked, The crimes here are in our faces and it must STOP!

Blacks Against Black Crimes, Inc. holds an Annual Violence Awareness Program.

We want to give those who have had violence in their lives a chance to express themselves and WE show them some LOVE.

Kirby L. Turner
kltinc@earthlink.net
https://www.facebook.com/events/387956301234646

——-
Related Links and information about Barbara Thurmond’s church and favorite pastors:
——-

Augusta, Chicago, Presidential politics, The Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III and the late Barbara Thurmond

By Greg Peterson with info/quotes directly from Wikipedia and an unedited part of a story in the Augusta Chronicle written by Staff Writer Dena Levitz that includes quotes from Moss and Thurmond

In 1997, The Rev. Otis B. Moss III moved to Augusta, Georgia – where he’d spend almost a decade – as pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church, originally founded in 1885 as Beulah Baptist Church.

The church served as a local base during the Civil Rights Movement.

Stop the violence and victim’s right advocate Barbara A. Thurmond attended Tabernacle Baptist Church and Moss was her favorite pastor.

On Friday, September 1, 2006, Rev. Moss III would officiate at the funeral of Barbara Thurmond – following her untimely death on August 25, 2006 at the Medical College of Georgia.

Funeral services for Thurmond were held at 11 a.m. on Friday, September 1, 2006 inside her Tabernacle Baptist Church.

Even while the community mourned the loss of Thurmond and her fight to protect children, Rev. Moss III just made the decision to leave Augusta after two important and destiny-laden job offers.

One offer was to succeed his father – Rev. Otis Moss, Jr. – as pastor of the Olivet Institutional Baptist Church in Cleveland, Ohio.

The other offer was to move to Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ, an 8,500-member United Church of Christ megachurch to become the successor of the popular but controversial Reverend Jeremiah Wright – who was destined for national controversy over his no holds barred blunt sermons because one of his flock was soon-to-be President Barack Obama.

After prayer and fasting, Moss says he felt God’s call was for him to go to Chicago in June 2006, initially as Wright’s assistant.
This also meant changing from leading a Baptist Church to being pastor at the United Church of Christ (UCC).

Wright gave his last sermons as pastor on February 10, 2008.

After some guest sermons, Moss took the pulpit on March 9, 2008

Then-Senator Barack Obama and family were members of Trinity United Church of Christ, and on March 13, during his 2008 presidential campaign a controversy broke out over racially and politically charged sermons by retiring Pastor Wright.

National Public Radio story about the Reverend Jeremiah Wright entitled “Following in Footsteps of a Controversial Minister”
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88607509

While Obama’s candidacy had brought attention to the church, this brought even more attention to it.

Moss is a board member of popular magazine “The Christian Century.”

In an October 22, 2004 Augusta Chronicle story that included quotes from Barbara Thurmond, Rev. Moss was asked his opinions about the presidential campaign between incumbent Republican Georgia W. Bush and Democratic contender Sen. John F. Kerry – just two weeks before the General Election.

The “South’s Oldest Newspaper–Established 1785” the Augusta Chronicle is the star of a southern newspaper chain well-known for its right-wing editorials.

The Augusta Chronicle story was entitled “Black leaders see range of Kerry support” (10/22/04) and was written by Staff Writer Dena Levitz.

Below are excerpts from the story – to read the entire story click on this link:
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2004/10/22/met_432015.shtml

The Rev. Otis B. Moss III, the pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church, said there are some black Augustans who will vote for Mr. Bush because of his opposition to gay marriage, but overall he thinks Mr. Kerry’s stock is actually rising in the black community.

Throughout the summer the sentiment was very much against Mr. Bush, but not really in favor of Mr. Kerry because he was not connecting with black voters and their issues, the Rev. Moss said.

In the past month, though, ambivalence toward Mr. Kerry appears to be turning to support, mainly because of a few recent events, the Rev. Moss said.

“They’re upset about the attacks by (Bush adviser) Karl Rove’s team on Kerry in reference to his service in the Vietnam War.

They saw it as an attack on them and anyone who thought the war was not completely right,” the Rev. Moss said.

That the president did not attend the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People convention also turned black voters on to Mr. Kerry, he said.

Barbara Thurmond, the president of Blacks Against Black Crime Inc., a local nonprofit agency, said her vote is undoubtedly going to Mr. Kerry, although she has no real attachment to him.

What Ms. Thurmond said she does care about is the economy, the loss of jobs overseas and improving funding for the No Child Left Behind Act – three issues that arose when black community leaders were interviewed.

Another deciding issue among black voters is the war in Iraq.

This sense of betrayal extends to both parties, which is why blacks struggle to find a candidate they can get behind, the Rev. Moss said.

“Republicans distance themselves from issues of affirmative action, freedoms and civil liberties,” he said. “Democrats take our vote for granted to try to get the support of the soccer mom.”

Still, the Rev. Moss said the swell of negativity against the sitting president will propel a large number of black voters to the polls, even young black voters.
Wikipedia page about the 2004 Presidential Election:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2004
—

The Historic Tabernacle Baptist Church in Augusta, Georgia: Barbara Thurmond loved her church and pastor

Photo by David William Reed

Beautiful photo of the Historic Tabernacle Baptist Church in Augusta, Georgia taken on April 3, 2011 by David William Reed of Norcross, Georgia (via flickr – username davidwilliamreed)

Tabernacle Baptist Church
Augusta, Georgia
http://www.tbcaugusta.org
http://www.tbcaugusta.org/staff.asp

The Reverend Charles E. Goodman, Jr. serves as the Senior Pastor/Teacher of The Historic Tabernacle Baptist Church in Augusta, GA.
Pastor Goodman is a native of North Carolina.

The church was founded in 1885 by the Reverend Dr. Charles Thomas Walker (1858-1921) – who was described as a noble thinker, writer and preacher.
Born a slave and orphaned at the age of 8, Rev. Walker overcame obstacles to become “an ordained Baptist minister, a writer, a newspaper publisher, a speaker and some say one of the most influential men and theologian in America at the turn of the century.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kHA6vvEoqk
http://negroartist.com/writings/Civil%20War%20era%20and%20post%20Civil%20War/Life%20of%20Charles%20T.%20Walker,%20D.D.pdf
http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/floyd/floyd.html
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=14243569

The Historic Tabernacle Baptist Church in Augusta, Georgia
Photo by Rebecca Rogers

Tabernacle Baptist Church
1223 Laney-Walker Boulevard
Augusta, GA
30901

706-724-1230 (church office)
706-724-1231 (fax)

Sunday morning services
8 a.m. Worship services
9:30 a.m. Sunday school
11 a.m. Worship services
—

The Rev. Otis B. Moss III
Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago:
http://www.trinitychicago.org
http://www.trinitychicago.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=25&Itemid=40
http://www.trinitychicago.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=27

Trinity United Church of Christ
400 West 95th Street
Chicago, Illinois
60628

773-962-5650 (church)
773-962-0164 (fax)
info@TrinityChicago.org

Church Office Hours:
Monday – Friday: 11:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Saturday: 12:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Reception Desk Hours:
Monday – Friday: 11:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Saturday: 9:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Sundays: 6:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Akiba Bookstore
400 West 95th Street
Chicago, Illinois
60628

Akiba Bookstore:
773-962-5660
888-962-5660

AKIBA Bookstore Hours:
Monday – Thursday – 5:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Friday – 5:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Saturday – 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Sunday – Following All Worship Services

The Rev. Otis B. Moss III
Former Pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church in Augusta, Georgia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otis_Moss_III

Rev. Otis B. Moss III is named pastor of the nationally-renowned Trinity United Church of Christ (UCC) in Chicago
http://www.chicagodefender.com/article-4703-the-rev-otis-moss-iii-to-be-installed-at-trinity-church.html
—

The Reverend Dr. Otis Moss, Jr.:

Friend of U.S. Presidents, highly respect black leader, after 33 years of service Moss retired in 2008 from Olivet Institutional Baptist Church in Cleveland, 1956 graduate of Morehouse College in Atlanta, served for over 10 years as chair of the Morehouse College Board of Trustees; serves on the Morehouse board’s executive committee; board member and regional director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), presently serves President Barack Obama on the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnership Council, was the special guest of former President Bill Clinton at the 1994 Peace Treaty signing between Israel and Jordan, was co-pastor with Rev. Martin Luther King, Sr. at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA – and appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show to discuss Current Trends in Religion.
His son – the Rev. Otis B. Moss III – served as Barbara Thurmond’s pastor in Augusta and had moved to a major position in Chicago when she died and he returned to officiate Thurmond’s funeral.
http://www.morehouse.edu/about/boardbios/omoss.html
http://centralumchurch.com/docsfor200/drmoss.pdf
http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/biography.asp?bioindex=1049&category=religionMakers
http://www.dorothycottoninstitute.org/about-dorothy-cotton-institute/dci-dorothy-cotton-institute-national-advisors/rev-dr-otis-moss-jr/

The Rev. Otis B. Moss III celebrated Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with a multifaith gathering on February 23, 2012 at Amherst College:
https://www.amherst.edu/aboutamherst/projects/campus_challenge/video/node/382844

The Rev. Otis B. Moss III is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rev-otis-moss-iii
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rev-otis-moss-iii/blue-note-gospel_b_1126621.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rev-otis-moss-iii/christianity-faith_b_1178369.html

http://day1.org/1443-the_rev_otis_moss_iii

The Rev. Otis Moss III speaks out about Tragic Teen Murders in Chicago and the official youtube page of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk9QQpd1_ns
http://www.youtube.com/TRINITYCHGO

“Redemption in a red light district: Messages of hope, healing, and empowerment” by Rev. Otis B. Moss III (2000) 128 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Redemption-red-light-district-empowerment/dp/1885066759
http://books.google.com/books/about/Redemption_in_a_red_light_district.html?id=IK9pAAAACAAJ

FOUR-G Publishers
Winter Park, Florida
http://isbndb.com/d/publisher/four_g_publishers.html

ISBN:
1885066759
ISBN-13:
9781885066756

Subjects: Baptists
—

“We Have Nothing to Lose” by Rev. Otis Moss III (Jan 15, 2010) – Unabridged, Audio Edition Available at Audible.com
—

“Preach!: The Power and Purpose Behind Our Praise” by Rev. Otis Moss III, Rev. Otis Moss, Jr. and Andrew Young (Jun 30, 2012)
Pilgrim Press, 96 pages

ISBN:
082981907X
ISBN-13:
9780829819076

Subjects: Religion, Sermons, Christian
—

“We Are All Trayvon Martin” by Rev. Otis Moss III (Apr 13, 2012)
“We must dismantle the fraternity of racism and build an altar of love and justice,” writes the pastor of President Obama’s former church
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/13/we-are-all-trayvon-martin.html

Rev. Otis Moss III wrote:

Trayvon Martin was violated by the cruelty of gun violence, but was violated again by privilege, power, and the cruelty of a system that believes black boys, whether on the honor roll or college bound, are suspect.
Black boys in hoodies are aesthetically and unconsciously calling for violent action.

Black boys who do not “acquiesce” to strange men without “judicial” authority asking for information or a passbook are considered instigators.
Black boys who are late to school, or laugh with friends, and engage in silly teenage behavior are “examples of gangster culture.”

None of my white friends will ever have to worry about his or her child in the same manner.
My son, smart, creative, funny, caring and witty, will be viewed as a threat, suspect or suspicious, by certain sectors of society.
——-

The Richmond County School Board Bans Books

Barbara Thurmond opposes banning books and ideas – especially when the book is important lesson to the black youth of our nation

Barbara Thurmond was deeply disappointed in the narrow views of the Richmond County Board of Education when in 2004 it voted to ban the acclaimed book “Kaffir Boy” by Mark Mathabane – about overcoming the evils of Apartheid – because of one innocuous but painfully accurate sexual reference in the 339 page book.

The book “Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youth’s Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa” is a 1986 autobiography by Mark Mathabane about his life under the South African apartheid regime.

Author Mark Mathabane

Mark Mathabane describes the utter horror and brutality of the apartheid system in the 60s and 70s and how he escaped.

Despite being a poor black youth from the township Alexandra, Mathabane developed into a well-known tennis player.
Mr. Mark Mathabane details how young black children dealt with humiliating racism and stereotypes fostered by South African apartheid.
Because of his quest for education and talent, Mathabane rose out of “despair and destitution and make something of himself,” Wikipedia states.

“Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youth’s Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa” by Mark Mathabane

http://mathabane.com
http://mathabane.com/mark_mathabane_books.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaffir_Boy
http://www.amazon.com/Kaffir-Boy-Autobiography-The-Youths-Apartheid/dp/0684848287
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/kaffir-boy-mathabane/1100534091
http://books.simonandschuster.com/Kaffir-Boy/Mark-Mathabane/9780684848280
http://www.shmoop.com/kaffir-boy
http://www.classzone.com/novelguides/litcons/kaffir/guide.cfm
——-

Honoring two community servants and victim’s rights advocate who Barbara Thurmond respected: Then-D.A. Superior Court Judge Danny Craig and D.A.’s office victim assistant coordinator Sheila Stahl:

Former Augusta Judicial Circuit District Attorney and Superior Court Judge Danny Craig – whom Barbara Thurmond said – put victims first and gave long terms to violent offenders

Barbara Thurmond recognized then-Augusta Judicial Circuit District Attorney Danny Craig for helping to reduce black-on-black violence because he implemented some of the requests of her group resulting in “a much better system and a safer community.”

Craig listened to “the voices of all crime victims and has prosecuted homicide cases equitably,” Thurmond said. “We have seen more murder convictions for black-on-black homicide” and “this has contributed to the decline” in violent crime.

After first being elected in 1993, Craig served District Attorney of the Augusta Judicial Circuit for about 15 years.

If Barbara were alive today – she’d still be contacting Craig, who is now a superior court judge.

Former Augusta Judicial Circuit D.A. Danny Craig raises his hand on Monday, February 18, 2008 in the Georgia Senate chamber of the Capitol in Atlanta to take the oath of office for Augusta Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judge. Mr. Craig’s wife Crystal Craig watches holding a Bible. (Morris News Service Photo by Walter C. Jones) http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2008/02/19/met_187864.shtml

In Feb. 2008, Craig became a Superior Court Judge – appointed by the governor to replace 11-year Judge Neal Dickert who resigned and returned to private law practice.

Assistant D.A. Rebecca “Ashley” Wright to replace Craig as District Attorney in 2008 and she has won re-election since.

Superior Court Judge Danny Craig handles domestic, civil and criminal cases for Richmond, Columbia and Burke Counties in east Georgia.

http://www.wrdw.com/home/headlines/15669567.html
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2008/02/19/met_187864.shtml

Always willing to serve, Judge Craig has portrayed well-known local figures of the past during Historic Augusta’s “Walk With the Spirits” cemetery tours including at Summerville Cemetery and Magnolia Cemetery, one of Augusta’s oldest cemeteries.
Judge Craig’s historical portrayals included a famous Augusta, Georgia father and son:

The Rev. James Sanford Lamar (1829-1908), the pastor of First Christian Church, publisher of The Christian Union and later associate editor of the Christian Standard (wrote “Organon of Scripture: Or the Inductive Method of Biblical Interpretation”).

Joseph Rucker Lamar (1857-1916), an Augusta lawyer and United States Supreme Court Justice in the early 20th century who died after only five years on the court (Dec. 17, 1910 – Jan. 2, 1916) after falling into ill-health – dying only 8 years after his father.

Superior Court Judge Daniel J. Craig
735 James Brown Blvd.
Suite 4206
Augusta, Georgia
30901

Teresa Thompson, Secretary

706-821-2365 (office)
706-721-1091 (fax)
http://www.augustaga.gov/index.aspx?NID=1257
Court Calendar by County
Richmond County Calendars
Columbia County Calendars
Burke County Calendars

Barbara Thurmond requested paying tribute to victim’s right advocate Sheila Stahl of Augusta, Georgia – who worked for then-D.A. Danny Craig:

Richmond County District Attorney’s office Victim Assistance coordinator Sheila Stahl (right) talks with Jason Glista (left), the husband of serial murder victim Marni Glista, before the arraignment hearing for mass murderer Reinaldo Rivera at the Augusta Law Enforcement Center.
Reinaldo Rivera sits on Georgia’s Death Row awaiting execution for the murder and rape of four Augusta area women: Army Sgt. Marni Glista, 21, who died on Sept. 9, 2000; Tabitha Bosdell, 17; Melissa Dingess, 17; and Tiffaney Wilson, 17.
Photo by Jonathan Ernst, Augusta Chronicle Staff

Honoring Sheila Stahl, who was director of the Victims Assistance Department of the Augusta-Richmond County judicial system until February 2002.
Stahl worked feverishly on many levels to help victims of crime:
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1997/07/11/met_211177.shtml
http://murderpedia.org/male.R/r/rivera-reinaldo-photos-1.htm
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2000/01/02/met_277233.shtml
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2009/02/01/liv_509727.shtml
http://chronicle.augusta.com/images/headlines/110400/slideshow2/slide11.html
——-

Barbara Thurmond was a big advocate for preventing crimes and helping victims and believed in those who protect and help sexual assault, rape and domestic violence victims – and among those leaders in the Augusta area is Anne Ealick-Henry:

Rape Crisis and Sexual Assault Services (RCSAS) at University Hospital in Augusta, Georgia
http://www.universityhealth.org/body.cfm?id=38115&action=detail&ref=45

Anne Ealick-Henry, executive director
aealickhenry@uh.org
706-774-2740 (office)
706-774-8759 (fax)

Anytime of the day or night victims of rape and sexual assault can call these numbers:
706-724-5200 (24-Hour Crisis Line in Augusta)
National Sexual Assault Hotline:
1-800-656-HOPE (4673)

Check the RCSAS Calendar of Events for specific dates of events and other information or call 706-724-5200

Rape Crisis and Sexual Assault Services
University Hospital
1350 Walton Way
Augusta, Georgia
30901

Facebook page for the Rape Crisis and Sexual Assault Services (RCSAS) in Augusta
Building a community free of sexual violence
http://www.facebook.com/RCSAS/info
http://www.facebook.com/RCSAS

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month:
http://www.justice.gov/usao/gas/pr/2010/21SexualAssaultAwarenessMonth.pdf

April 2012 Sexual Assault Awareness Month events held in Augusta:
16th Annual Take Back the Night Rally and Walk to Prevent Sexual Violence

Augusta State University brings awareness to sexual assault
ASU counselor Shannon Nix at 706-737-1471
http://www.asupr.com/asureport/2012/04/asu-brings-awareness-to-sexual-assault
http://guides.aug.edu/saam
http://www.asubellringer.com/students-unite-against-sexual-violence/

The National Sexual Violence Resource Center: Sexual Assault Awareness Month
2012 national Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) campaign
http://www.nsvrc.org/saam

http://www.nsvrc.org/blog/saam

http://www.facebook.com/nsvrc
http://www.youtube.com/nsvrc

Vimeo page for National Sexual Violence Resource Center
http://vimeo.com/nsvrc

https://twitter.com/#!/nsvrc
@NSVRC
The National Sexual Violence Resource Center provides information about sexual violence through collaboration, prevention and resources.

The Georgia Network to End Sexual Assault
http://www.gnesa.org

Sexual Assault

• RAINN (Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network)
• National Sexual Violence Resource Center
• California Coalition Against Sexual Assault
• Refuge House (Florida)
• Alabama Coalition Against Rape
• Georgia Bureau of Investigation Sex Offender Registry Search Page

Domestic Violence

• Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence
• Georgia Commission on Family Violence
• National Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Child Abuse

• Child Advocacy Centers of Georgia
• Prevent Child Abuse Georgia
• National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect

Child Sexual Abuse and Incest

• National Sexual Violence Resource Center
• National Alliance to End Sexual Violence
• National Center for Victims of Crimes
• Rape Abuse Incest National Network

Victim Assistance

• NOVA (National Organization for Victim Assistance)

Political Activism

• NOW (National Organization for Women)
• National Womens Political Caucus
• Feminist.com
• Planned Parenthood

Allied Groups

• Men Stopping Violence
• American Association of University Women
• Criminal Justice Coordinating Council

http://www.cdc.gov/injury/anniversary/index.html?s_cid=injury20ann_102

Georgia Alliance of Community Hospitals
http://www.gach.org
http://www.gach.org/snews.php?n=64&Sexual_Assault_Awareness_Month_Activities_to_Include_16th_annual_Take_Back_the_Night_Rally_and_Walk_to_Prevent_Sexual_Violence

Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence
http://gcadv.org

Women in Philanthropy Awards 2012: Grant Awards were given in March 2012 to five Augusta groups including $40,000 to Rape Crisis and Sexual Assault Services and SafeHomes of Augusta for counseling and support groups for the victims of sexual assault
http://chronicle.augusta.com/latest-news/2012-03-23/women-philanthropy-awards-grants-5-augusta-groups

Anne Ealick-Henry

Anne Ealick-Henry is on the Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia, Inc. Board of Directors Development Committee
http://www.gshg.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=216&Itemid=185

Ms. Ealick-Henry is the executive director of Rape Crisis and Sexual Assault Services at University Hospital in Augusta.

She serves on the board of directors of Prevent Child Abuse Augusta and the Georgia Network (Coalition) to End Sexual Assault as well as on the Rape Crisis and Sexual Services Advisory Board; state advisory committee for Prevent Child Abuse Georgia; the Augusta Judicial Circuit Domestic Violence Task Force and Sexual Assault Protocol Committee.

She is a past board member of the Georgia Network to End Sexual Assault.

Ms. Ealick-Henry has a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology from Augusta College.

Her scouting career began early on as a Brownie; she remained active through Senior Girl Scouts and has volunteered as a troop leader and service unit manager.
She was a board member of the Girl Scouts of Central Savannah River Council, serving a term as first vice president, and received the Girl Scout Thanks Badge in 2006.

An Augusta resident, Ms. Ealick-Henry has just served a one-year term on the board of directors for the Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia, Inc.

Ms. Ealick-Henry serves on the 2011-2012 Community Advisory Board of the Junior League of Augusta, Georgia
http://www.jlaugusta.org/augusta/npo.jsp?pg=detail33
—

Georgia Rep. Henry “Wayne” Howard, (D-Augusta) District 121
http://www.house.ga.gov/representatives/en-US/member.aspx?Member=131&Session=21
http://appweb.augustaga.gov/WEBLINK8/DocView.aspx?id=21446&page=1&dbid=0
http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Henry_Howard

Georgia Rep. William “Quincy” Murphy (D-Augusta) District 120
http://www1.legis.ga.gov/legis/2009_10/house/bios/murphyQuincy/murphyQuincyBio.htm
http://www.house.ga.gov/representatives/en-US/member.aspx?Member=177&Session=21
http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Quincy_Murphy
—

The Federal Assault Weapons Ban (AWB) (or Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act) was a subtitle of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994

The 10-year ban on assault weapons expired on September 13, 2004
Despite many attempts to renew the federal assault weapons ban – no bill has reached the floor of the U.S. Congress for a vote.

The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence
http://www.bradycenter.org

Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
http://www.bradycampaign.org

Facebook page of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
http://www.facebook.com/bradycampaign

Twitter site of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
@bradybuzz
We want an America free of gun violence.
We educate about the dangers of guns in homes.
We honor victims and advocate for strong laws.
Strong Gun Laws Work!
https://twitter.com/#!/bradybuzz

Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence Shocking and Tragic Gun Death and Injury Stats:
http://www.bradycampaign.org/xshare/Facts/Gun_Death_and_Injury_Stat_Sheet_2008__2009_FINAL.pdf

Wikipedia page about the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brady_Campaign

Wikipedia page on the Million Mom March/Rally on Mother’s Day, Sun., May 14, 2000:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Million_Mom_March

Facebook page of the Million Mom March
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Million-Mom-March-Mothers-Day-2011-in-Washington-DC/153380204718360

Million Mom March
http://www.millionmommarch.com
http://www.bradycampaign.org/chapters/

To create a Million Mom March Chapter email:
mmmchapters@bradymail.org

Greater Atlanta Million Mom March Chapter
Valerie, President
Email the Chapter
Donate to the Atlanta Chapter
Click here to help us build in other areas of Georgia
Click here for Georgia state gun laws

—

The Urban Institute
Washington, D.C.
http://www.urban.org/index.cfm
http://www.urban.org/about/contact.cfm
http://www.urban.org/about/officers-and-trustees.cfm

Urban Institute
2100 M Street, N.W.
Washington, DC
20037

202-833-7200 (office)

—

Nonprofit Georgians for Gun Safety
http://www.georgiansforgunsafety.org
http://www.georgiansforgunsafety.org/links

Georgians for Gun Safety
http://georgiansforgunsafety.com
info@georgiansforgunsafety.com

Americans for Gun Safety Foundation info on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americans_for_Gun_Safety_Foundation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firearm_safety

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI):
http://www.fbi.gov

Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI):
http://gbi.georgia.gov

FBI links to the official U.S. states and tribal Sex Offender Lists/Registry:
http://www.fbi.gov/scams-safety/registry

State of Georgia sex offender registry:
http://gbi.georgia.gov/00/channel_faq/0,2627,67862954_86708497,00.html
http://gbi.georgia.gov/00/channel_modifieddate/0,2096,67862954_87983024,00.html
http://services.georgia.gov/gbi/gbisor/SORSearch.jsp

State of Georgia list of state agencies:
http://www.georgia.gov/00/topic_index_channel/0,2092,4802_937045,00.html

The Official Directory of State Patrol and State Police was founded, built and is managed by Senior Sergeant (Retired) Terrance D. Martin.
Sergeant Martin retired in 1994 from the Vermont State Police after 28 years.
http://www.statetroopersdirectory.com
Click HERE for Main Menu
Click HERE for Personal Home Page

—

Honoring Mr. James Rowland, Father of the Victim-Impact Statement:

• Founding member of the National Organization for Victim Assistance
• Former Director of the California Department of Corrections
• Former Director of the California Youth Authority
• Founding Chair of the American Correctional Association’s Task Force on Victims of Crime
• Former deputy sheriff in San Bernardino County, California

Interview with Mr. James Rowland:

An Oral History of the Crime Victim Assistance Field – Video and Audio Archive hosted by the University of Akron and Justice Solutions
http://vroh.uakron.edu/summaries/Rowland.php

Justice Solutions:
http://www.justicesolutions.org

National Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA): Championing Dignity and Compassion for Victims of Crime and Crisis
http://www.trynova.org

National Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA)
510 King Street, Suite 424
Alexandria, VA
22314

Victim assistance:
800-879-6682 (800-TRY-NOVA)
If you are having a life threatening emergency, please call 911
http://www.trynova.org/help-crisis-victim/overview

703-535-6682 (office)
703-535-5500 (fax)

38^th National Organization for Victim Assistance Conference
http://www.trynova.org/conference
http://youtu.be/hjojws493gE

The nationally and internationally recognized NOVA Conference has been providing quality training in victim assistance and crisis response since 1975.
This annual training resource involving four days of over 100 skill-based workshops, plenary events and networking opportunities.

Patti LaBelle sings the National Anthem at the Opening Ceremonies of the 2011 37th NOVA Conference, August 15, 2011, Philadelphia

2012 NOVA Conference is August 19-22, 2012 in San Diego

Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina
1380 Harbor Island Drive
San Diego, California
92101

Office of Victims of Crime (OVC):
OVC is one of seven components within the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.
Joye E. Frost, Acting Director
http://www.ovc.gov

2012 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week
http://www.crimevictims.gov

2012 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week
April 22-28, 2012
Letter From OVC
Letter From NCVC
At A Glance
Frequently Asked Questions
Resource Guide Overview
Maximizing Communication and Awareness
Resource Guide Artwork
Working with the Media
Landmarks in Victims’ Rights and Services
Statistical Overviews
Additional Resources

Order Online:
Resource Guide
Theme Poster (Free Guide/Poster but $5 S&H total cost)

U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) aka Justice Dept.:
http://www.justice.gov

http://www.justice.gov/spanish

http://www.facebook.com/DOJ
http://www.youtube.com/TheJusticeDepartment

Official DOJ Twitter account:
https://twitter.com/#!/TheJusticeDept
@TheJusticeDept
DOJ does not collect comments or messages through this account.
Learn more at:
http://justice.gov/privacy-file.htm

Office of the Attorney General
202-514-2001

United States Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr.
http://www.justice.gov/ag

U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC
20530-0001

Department of Justice Main Switchboard
202-514-2000

Office of the Attorney General Public Comment Line
202-353-1555
Directory of Department Officials
Report a Crime
Get a Job
Locate a Prison, Inmate, or Sex Offender
Apply for a Grant
Submit a Complaint
Report Waste, Fraud, Abuse or Misconduct to the Inspector General

National Institute of Justice (NIJ):
http://www.nij.gov

The 2012 NIJ Conference
June 18-20, 2012

Marriott Crystal Gateway
Arlington, VA
Register now

The theme for 2012:
Turning to Science
Enhancing justice
Improving safety
Reducing costs

Questions about June 2012 National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Conference:
email Maureen McGough
maureen.q.mcgough@usdoj.gov

South Carolina Crime Victims’ Council: The Voice for South Carolina Crime Victims
http://www.sccvc.org

Your Victim Impact Statement:
http://www.sccvc.org/sccvc/documents/Your_Victim_Impact_Statement.pdf

South Carolina Crime Victims’ Council (SCCVC) Office
1900 Broad River Road
Columbia, SC
29210-7047

803 413-5040 (voice)
803-359-3900 (fax)
Directions To SCCVC Office
email SCCVC Executive Director Laura Slade Hudson
laurahudson@sccvc.org

South Carolina
Mothers Against Drunk Driving of South Carolina (MADD)
South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault
SCIway – South Carolina Information Highway
National
N.C. Victim Assistance Network
N.C. Victim Assistance Network Newsletters
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
National Center for Missing Adults
National Crime Victim Law Institute
Federal
Federal Agencies/Resources Bureau of Justice Assistance
Bureau of Justice Statistics
Federal Bureau of Investigation
FBI Kidnap and Missing Persons
National Archive of Criminal Justice Data
National Criminal Justice Reference Service
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
National Institute of Corrections
National Institute of Justice
National Sex Offender Registry
Office for Victims of Crime
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services
Office of Justice Programs
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
Office on Violence Against Women
Supreme Court of the United States
U.S. Department of Justice
U.S. Dept. of State: Bureau of Consular Affairs, Overseas Citizens Services Victim Assistance
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs National Center on PTSD
U.S. House of Representatives Victims’ Rights Caucus

International
Victim Assistance Online
The International Victimology Website
——-

Walton Options for Independent Living:
For People With Disabilities, the Options are Endless
http://www.waltonoptions.org
http://www.waltonoptions.org/aboutus.html
WJBF TV-6 news story on an open house at Walton Rehabilitation Health System in Augusta (April 25, 2012):
http://www2.wjbf.com/news/2012/apr/25/walton-rehabilitation-health-system-behavioral-med-ar-3675481

http://www.facebook.com/people/Walton-Options/100000117375027

Georgia:
Walton Options
948 Walton Way
Augusta, Georgia
30901

706-724-6262 (office)
706-724-6729 (fax 1)
706-724-4404 (fax 2)
Relay: 711

South Carolina:
Walton Options
325 Georgia Avenue
North Augusta, South Carolina
29841

803-279-9611 (office)
803-279-9135 (fax)
Relay: 711
—

Tools for Life
Georgia’s Assistive Technology Act Program
Options for greater freedom by increasing access to – and acquisition of – assistive technology (AT) devices and services for Georgians of all ages and disabilities so they can live, learn, work, and play independently in communities of their choice

http://www.gatfl.org
http://www.gatfl.org/ContactUs/TFLTeam.aspx
http://www.gatfl.org/ContactUs.aspx
http://www.gatfl.org/TFLNetwork.aspx
http://www.gatfl.org/TFLNetwork/Augusta.aspx

Tools for Life:
Info@gatfl.org
1-800-497-8665
Your Local Assistive Technology Resource Center (ATRC)

Principal Investigator Joy Kniskern
Joy@gatfl.org
—

Jim Cherry Teacher Center (JCTC):
Providing professional learning, technical assistance and coaching for school systems on a variety of topics related to students with disabilities including:
http://www.teampeachtreebikes.com/glrsTEMP/index.php
http://www.teampeachtreebikes.com/glrsTEMP/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3&Itemid=3
http://www.teampeachtreebikes.com/glrsTEMP/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3

The Georgia Learning Resources System (GLRS) is a network of seventeen centers throughout Georgia that provide training and resources to educators and parents of students with disabilities.
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
http://www.glrs.org

GLRS locations across Georgia:
http://www.glrs.org/location.htm

East Georgia GLRS
http://team.glrs.org/ecglrs
GLRS East Georgia office in Augusta
1-800-282-7552
Systems Served: Burke, Columbia, Emanuel, Glascock, Jefferson, Jenkins, Lincoln, McDuffie, Richmond, Taliaferro, Warren and Wilkes Counties

Richmond County Board of Education
East Central Georgia Learning Resources System
Central office
864 Broad Street
Augusta, Georgia
30901

706-826-1128 (office)
706-826-1010 (office)
706-826-4624 (fax)
Jessie Stewart, Director ext. 3479
Kathy Ellis, Program Specialist ext. 3476
Patricia Smith, AYP Specialist
Emma Whiters, Graduate First! Collaboration Coach
Clarisa Lee, Secretary ext. 3475

http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/georgia-learning-resources-system

Association of Georgians With Disabilities
http://www.endeavorfreedom.org/Art83.htm

RESNA (Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America) Technical Assistance Project, a federally funded project of the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), U.S. Department of Education
http://www.resna.org
http://www.empowermentzone.com/tech_dir.txt

Able-Disabled Advocacy
http://able2work.org
——-

Barbara Thurmond believed that youth organizations are vital to helping to raise well-rounded positive children and teens – our future adults – and spoke often of her love for the benefits of the Girl Scouts in the Augusta area and across the world:

Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia, Inc. – formerly Central Savannah River Council of the Girl Scouts in the Augusta area
http://www.gshg.org

Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia, Inc.
1325 Greene Street
Augusta, Georgia
30901

706-774-0505 (office)
706-774-0045 (fax)

Cheryl Hecker
checker@gshg.org
http://www.gshg.org
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Girl-Scouts-of-Historic-Georgia/89606809766
http://www.youtube.com/user/GirlScoutsGA

Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia, Inc. on twitter
https://twitter.com/#!/gagirlscouts
@GAGirlScouts
Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia builds girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place

——-

Black children need the support of parents
Photo courtesy Voice of Detroit

Voice of Detroit: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought
“Black Crimes Against Black Humanity”
Posted on 04/19/2011 by Diane Bukowski

Voice of Detroit contributing editor Greg Thrasher

By Greg Thrasher
http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/04/19/black-crimes-against-black-humanity

“Do blacks care about black on black crime?”
Jan. 2009 story

Ta-Nehisi Coates

By Ta-Nehisi Coates, a senior editor for The Atlantic, where he writes about culture, politics, and social issues for TheAtlantic.com and the magazine. He is the author of the memoir The Beautiful Struggle.
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2009/01/do-blacks-care-about-black-on-black-crime/6557/

An organization similar to the anti-violence group founded by Barbara Thurmond and Earnestine Covington in Augusta, Georgia:

Center for Healing Hearts and Spirits: Black-on-Black Crime Coalition
http://www.hhscenter.org/bonbstat.html

America’s Black Holocaust Museum educates the public about the ongoing injustices endured by people of African heritage in America
http://www.abhmuseum.org

An op-ed on black-on-black crime in the New York Times:
Playing the Violence Card By Khalil Gibran Muhammad, Op-Ed Contributor
April 5, 2012
If Barbara Thurmond had written this op-ed, she would have concentrated more on personal responsibility.
So while the author concentrates on solving the societal problems related to black-on-black crime – (that Barbara would also agree with) – she would want us to take more personal responsibility in solving the problem – like proper parenting, strong family values and much more.
However, Barbara would also say that we must work together to come up with solutions – and that the opinion of everyone who cares – must be heard.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/06/opinion/playing-the-violence-card.html
—

Stop the Killing Campaigns:

Stop The Killing Campaign For “A Better Brooklyn”
http://www.facebook.com/abetterbrooklyn

Story on Peace Week Against Violence in New York City and the effort to Stop the Killing from Black Radio Network: Rap music mogul Russell Simmons called for “all senseless killings and street violence to end because law enforcement can’t do it alone.”
http://www.blackradionetwork.com/stop_the_killing_campaign_launched_

SKSW Campaign (the Global Campaign to Stop Killing and Stoning Women)
http://www.wikigender.org/index.php/The_Global_Campaign_to_Stop_Killing_and_Stoning_Women
http://www.violenceisnotourculture.org/home1

Stop Political Killings Campaign
http://www.kilusangmayouno.org/taxonomy/term/15/0?page=3

Save the Children: Stop the killing in Syria petition
http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/get-involved/campaigns/stop-the-killing-in-syria

Save the Children
http://www.savethechildren.org
——-

Remembering Stop the Violence and Killing advocate Barbara A. Thurmond through her stories, letters to the editor and editorials in Augusta Chronicle:

This Augusta Chronicle photo of a murder scene is similar to other countless murder sites that happen daily in American cities and are all too common in inner city locations – and that saddened the late Barbara Thurmond, co-founder of Blacks Against Black Crime, Inc.
Similar death scenes happen every week and sometimes several times a week just in the Augusta, Georgia area.
Please do what you can to stop the violence in your community.

Black slayings lead homicide data by Greg Rickabaugh
have what I would call promising leads,” the major said. Barbara Thurmond, the president of Augusta-based Blacks Against Black Crime Inc., said the killings are the reason her organization continues its education campaign. “What other group
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2003/01/22/met_365849.shtml

Celebrating the lives of Barbara A. Thurmond and others who are anti-violence leaders: Music, sermon stir audience at celebration
Brown and memorial tributes to Coretta Scott King; Rosa Parks; Barbara Thurmond, a co-founder of Augusta’s Blacks Against Black Crime Inc.; Pat Jones, the director of the Augusta Youth Center; Juvenile Court Judge Herbert E. Kernaghan, Jr.
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2007/01/16/met_112649.shtml

Campaign to protest crime fulfills co-founder’s dream
all the churches, fellowship with them and let them know that we are here,” said Frank Johnson, the head of Blacks Against Black Crime Inc. Ms. Thurmond, a co-founder of the organization, died Aug. 25. She had founded the organization to
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2006/10/18/met_100934.shtml

Across the Area: Vigil to be held for violence in Augusta
to kick off a 40-day prayer vigil in response to killings and gun violence in Augusta.
Frank Johnson, the head of the group, said the group founded by the late Barbara Thurmond is asking all churches in the area to join in the vigil.
Ms. Thurmond, 56, a graduate of Lucy C. Laney High School, died this summer.
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2006/10/15/met_100596.shtml

Keep reaching for the dream
Monday, Jan. 15, 2007
(4 and a half months after the death of Barbara Thurmond)
it’s time we cared about how every neighborhood looks and feels to live in.
That we need to keep the spirit of Barbara Thurmond alive, and end black-on-black crime in Augusta.
Dr. King might chuckle about sounding old and all, but that
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2007/01/15/edi_112384.shtml

Raps Georgia law protecting gun industry
Augusta, Georgia. How long will Georgia wear the title of the gun belt and the gun-running state of the nation? Not only does the National Rifle Association own the Republican Party, they also own our legislators. Barbara Thurmond, Augusta
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1999/03/04/op_255148.shtml

Augusta Chronicle photo of teacher Edward Maner and authors from a February 20, 2005 story entitled “Book fairs teach value of reading” by Staff Writer Greg Rickabaugh about the Murphey Middle School annual Family and Community Book Fair:
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2005/02/20/met_443864.shtml
Pictured above are Murphey Middle School teacher and author Edward Maner (right) who got local authors Eunice Harris (from left), Christine Deriso and Rich Everitt to come to the school’s book fair. Photo by Augusta Chronicle staff photographer Rob Carr.
Worried about the growing problem of illiteracy in public schools, teacher Edward Maner at Murphey Middle School helps organize annual book fairs at the struggling school that saw nearly half the pupils not pass state requirements in 2004 for reading and language arts.
Maner suggested the school literacy committee invite authors to the school in an annual event that has been growing ever since including 40 authors in 2005.
There is “a problem with reading in our public schools,” Maner said.
“People are reading on a lower level. The only way that is going to improve is to read, to push and emphasize reading”
The school-sponsored Family and Community Book Fair allows pupils, parents and the public to meet book authors from the Augusta area and the Southeast, Mr. Maner said.
The students met writers and were given suggested reading including author Barbara Thurmond, who wrote “Joy in My Heart: My Journey From Hopelessness to Happiness.”

It appears the book fairs and other education efforts has helped the students at Murphey Middle School in Augusta based on 2010 state test scores for grades 6 – 8:

http://www.trulia.com/schools/GA-Augusta/Murphey_Middle_School

Book fairs teach value of reading
Worried about the growing problem of illiteracy in public schools, Murphey Middle School teacher Edward Maner has organized annual book fairs at the struggling school, where nearly half the pupils did not pass state requirements for reading and language arts last year. Manner attracted 10 authors to the fair the first year, and 20 the next year. Now, he has 40 authors for the third annual event including author Barbara Thurmond, who wrote “Joy in My Heart: My Journey From Hopelessness to Happiness” and her pastor, The Rev. Otis Moss III, author of “Redemption in a Red Light District.” Among the other authors set to appear are poetry author Eunice Harris and former WAGT-TV anchor Rich Everitt, who wrote Falling Stars: Air Crashes that Filled Rock & Roll Heaven. A list of authors and their work: Donna Brown: The Essence of Innocence … Undeniable Betrayal … Unforgiven Love; Arimae Burrell: Looking Back with Love; Cynthia Butler: The Beginning of Forever; Lucinda Clark: View From the Middle of the Road Where the Greenest Grass Grows; Cathy Cobb: Creations of FireKawand Crawford: Love, Loyalty and Dangerous Games; Ruth Crawford: The Woods Afire; Jewel Daniels: The Enterprising Entrepreneur; Sam Davis: When the Multitude Comes; Christine Deriso: Dreams to Grow On; Rich Everitt: Falling Stars: Air Crashes that Filled Rock & Roll Heaven; Barbara Franklin: Turning Around; Gregory Fuller: From Bliss to a Blizzard; Kenneth Gainous: Be a Contender, Not Just a Contestant!; Elouise Golphin: Poetry for All Reasons; Patrick Green: Son Down; Cornell Harris: Dare 2 Dream Like King; Eunice Harris: Love Pearls; Ira Harrison: Acts of Joy; Marti Healy: The God Dog Connection; Walter Lamb: So You Think You Are A Good Citizen; Mattie Lawson: From Colored Water Till Now; Willie Lewis: Purple Patches Down On The Side Of The Road; Stanley Lott: Slavery and the U.S. Government; Phyllis Maclay: A Bone for the Dog; Edward Maner: Looking at Real Life through the Eyes of an American Bad Boy; Elaine Mitchell: Powerful Words of Wisdom; Wayne O’Bryant: Who is Rael?; Yadira Payne: Out of the Rain; Sylvia Ramsey: Pulse Points of a Woman’s World; John Rigdon: Battle of Aiken; Lynette Samuel: The Middle is the Best Part!; Jayme Smalley: As the Butterbeans Boil; Gerald Smith: Black American Series – Augusta, Georgia; Jerry Smith: It’s Still Time to Stop Blaming the White Man; Henry Summerall Jr.: Glorify God With Your Body; Candy Williams: You Knew I Was an Addict; Michael Williams: An Extension of Time to Die for: Maylee’s Nightmare
Auto download copy of Augusta Chronicle story courtesy SylvialRamsey.com: “Book fairs teach value of reading” by Staff Writer Greg Rickabaugh about the Murphey Middle School annual Family and Community Book Fair
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2005/02/20/met_443864.shtml

‘Kaffir Boy’ is insightful novel
denigrate our struggle. I am an African-American who has made the connection to Africa. Although I have not made the physical journey, I have made the mental journey with the hope of one day making the physical one. Barbara Thurmond Augusta
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2004/09/19/let_428935.shtml

“They were our sons and daughters”
pursuing the violent lives espoused by popular movies and musicians, said Terence Dicks, treasurer of Blacks Against Black Crimes. “Death is the wrong way to go towards immortality,” Mr. Dicks said. The Rev. Oscar Brown, pastor of
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1997/04/14/met_265057.shtml

Augusta anti-violence group, the district attorney seek bill to prevent accused killers from being released on bond before trial
Constitution prohibits excessive bail or fines. “The wait is a little hard,” said Barbara Thurmond of Blacks Against Black Crime – a local anti-violence group that has been pushing for the bill. “I really do understand though,” she said.
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1997/02/09/met_203762.shtml

Lawmakers re-work Georgia no parole bill to ensure constitutionality
will be constitutional. The Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits excessive bail or fines. Blacks Against Black Crime – a local anti-violence organization – is working with Mr. Howard on the bill. Mr. Howard said he hopes
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1997/02/02/met_203466.shtml

Killer of former cop’s teen daughter – is paroled in 2011 – about 19 years after she committed murder:
Former Augusta Police officer becomes activist after his daughter’s murder – and then is shot himself in drive-by shooting

Above is an Augusta Chronicle photo from January 1997 of activist and former Augusta cop Frank Howard – seen holding the photo of his murdered teen daughter Phalonda Howard.

17-year-old Phalonda Howard was murdered nearly 6 years earlier in July 1992 by a teen – Catara Levelle Hill.

While awaiting her murder trial, Hill was free on the streets of Augusta on a $15,000 bail on a murder charge – thus delaying her trial in the death of 17-year-old Phalonda Howard of Augusta.

Killer Catara Hill was freed from jail – and allowed to walk the streets – while awaiting her murder trial for killing Frank Howard’s teenage daughter Phalonda.

The photo of Frank Howard holding his daughter’s photo is for January 16, 1997 Augusta Chronicle story entitled “Bill would keep suspects behind bars.”

Of course, Howard did not realize that he would be shot and wounded nearly 5 years after this photo was taken while he was an activist with Blacks Against Black Crime, Inc. and its future president.

The story is about a bill introduced by Georgia State Rep. Henry Howard of Augusta that would keep people charged with murder behind bars until they can be tried.

Ms. Hill was eventually convicted – and reconvicted – for the murder, but the four-year ordeal tested Mr. Howard’s Christian faith.

Mr. Howard eventually forgave Ms. Hill for his daughter’s death but used the tragedy to help other victims of violent crime.

The bill would reassure the community that dangerous offenders would be taken off the streets and could reduce the number of revenge killings, said Barbara Thurmond, head of Blacks Against Black Crime, Inc.

“Part of me died with her that day. That’s why I’m working so hard now,” said Mr. Howard in the Augusta Chronicle news story.

Meanwhile in a tragic irony, Frank Howard – a former Augusta Police officer – was wounded in the chest during a November 9, 2001 drive-by shooting by Glenn W. Stephenson, 41, who was charged with two counts of aggravated assault and a weapons violation.

Frank Howard was shot by Glenn W. Stephenson during November 2001  – while driving home Stephenson’s estranged wife – Jacqueline Stephenson, who had a restraining order against her estranged husband.

Mr. Stephenson already was facing charges of aggravated stalking and making harassing telephone calls before the shooting, Assistant District Attorney Charles Weigle said.

And as often happens the nightmare for victim’s continues – as convicted killer Catara Levelle Hill was paroled by the state of Georgia on May 31, 2011 at the age of 37.

The parole comes bout 19 years after Hill murdered 17-year-old Phalonda Howard.

Hill lists an address in Cornelia, Georgia – and must report to a parole office in Clarkesville, Georgia (706-754-6701).

She is 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighs 160 pounds – as Georgia gambles she will never kill again.

Above is a State of Georgia parole photo of convicted Augusta teen killer Catara Levelle Hill – paroled about 19 years after she murdered 17-year-old Phalonda Howard.
And as often happens, killer Catara Levelle Hill was paroled by the state of Georgia on May 31, 2011 at the age of 37.

Hill’s parole came some 19 years after the July 1992 murder of 17-year-old Phalonda Howard of Augusta, the beloved daughter of a former Augusta cop.

Hill said she shot Phalonda Howard because she “was running her mouth off.”

Hill lists a parole address in Cornelia, Georgia – and must report to a state parole office in Clarkesville, Georgia (706-754-6701).

She is 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighs 160 pounds – as Georgia gambles she will never kill again.

Bill would keep suspects behind bars
that system. Mr. Howard and other members of Blacks Against Black Crime – a local anti-violence organization – are…revenge killings, said Barbara Thurmond, head of Blacks Against Black Crime, Inc. “Part of me died with her that day.
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1997/01/16/met_202644.shtml

Blacks Against Black Crime, Inc. Activist Frank Howard Shot in Chest on Nov. 18, 2001 in Car During Drive-by Shooting:
Victim Frank Howard is Activist With Blacks Against Black Crime, Inc. and a Former Augusta Police Officer

Blacks Against Black Crime Activist Frank Howard Shot; Howard is a former Augusta Police Officer
Superior Court Judge Robert L. Allgood granted Jacqueline Stephenson a restraining order against her estranged husband. Mr. Howard, an activist with Blacks Against Black Crime and a former city police officer, was driving Ms. Stephenson home when, investigators say, Mr. Stephenson…
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2001/11/18/met_327505.shtml

Locals Crusaders Against Violence Await Legislature
though the killer was eventually sent to prison, it still bothers Barbara Thurmond. Ms. Thurmond – head of Blacks Against Black Crime, a nonprofit anti-violence group based in Augusta – doesn’t think people charged with murder should be out…
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1997/01/12/met_202458.shtml

State senate proposes to abolish parole #1
disproportionate number of African-Americans in prisons in the state of Georgia,” said Barbara Thurmond, president of Blacks Against Black Crime, a victim-advocacy group. “We make up 30 percent of the state’s population and 70 percent of the state’s
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1998/01/27/met_221387.shtml

State senate proposes to abolish parole #2
disproportionate number of African-Americans in prisons in the state of Georgia,” said Barbara Thurmond, president of Blacks Against Black Crime, a victim-advocacy group. “We make up 30 percent of the state’s population and 70 percent of the state’s
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1998/01/27/met_221389.shtml

Local crime rate falls
did not become a statistic. “It means lives were saved,” said Ms. Thurmond, president and co-founder of Blacks Against Black Crime. Augusta appears to be following the national trend of declining crime rates. There were 7 percent fewer violent…
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1998/12/29/met_248658.shtml

Augusta Chronicle photo from a May 1, 1999 story entitled “Augustans remember 25 victims” by Staff Writer Sandy Hodson, who covers courts for The Augusta Chronicle
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1999/05/01/met_260373.shtml
Patricia Colon (pictured) remembers every word of her last conversation with her 21-year-old son, Tyrone Cathcart, Jr. on April 26, 1998 – neither realized he would soon be dead.
Colon felt a sharp pain in the back of her head just before her telephone rang with the even more painful news of the murder of her son who was shot in the head in his manufactured home in Plantation Acres in Hephzibah.
Eleven days after Mr. Cathcart was killed, his fiancée gave birth to a baby boy – for whom the now dead father had bought an Easter basket for just before the murder.
The slaying remained unsolved for four years, but in 2002 Richmond County Sheriff’s Department investigators never stopped probing the murder case.
One of the original suspects, 24-year-old Frank Thomas Harewood of Augusta was charged with felony murder, malice murder and felony possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2002/11/13/met_358217.shtml
The disposition of case is hazy because Harewood’s name doesn’t appear in on-line state of Georgia prison records or in news stories.
Strangely however, 4 years later, a man with the same name and address, but wrong age, was sentenced under the First Offender Act to four years’ probation, fined $1,850 for possession of cocaine.
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2006/11/30/ric_106435.shtml

Augustans remember 25 victims
21-year-old Tyrone Cathcart, Jr and 24 other Augusta residents slain in 1998 will be remembered at a dinner to commemorate National Crime Victims’ Rights Week at an event sponsored by the Augusta chapter of Blacks Against Black Crime, Inc. – that provides services and assistance to crime victims.
Patricia Colon, the mother of murder victim Tyrone Cathcart, Jr  will attend the dinner and hopes to work with Blacks Against Black Crime, talking to young people because “all this killing has to stop.”
“I don’t have any answers but I think a lot of positive has come out of his death for his friends. But for us, it’s just a loss,” Colon said.
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1999/05/01/met_260373.shtml

Speaker probes crime in black community #2
behavior,” said Ms. Thurmond, president of Blacks Against Black Crime. She spoke at Monday’s meeting of the Augusta…would not have been out to kill Mr. Young. Blacks Against Black Crime, started in 1991 by Ms. Thurmond, is a nonprofit…
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1999/07/27/met_266527.shtml

Speaker probes crime in black community #1
behavior,” said Ms. Thurmond, president of Blacks Against Black Crime. She spoke at Monday’s meeting of the Augusta…would not have been out to kill Mr. Young. Blacks Against Black Crime, started in 1991 by Ms. Thurmond, is a nonprofit…
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1999/07/27/met_266528.shtml

Augusta Chronicle photo of Maryland lawmaker Clarence Davis for an April 28, 2002 story entitled “Service remembers local victims of violent crimes” by Staff Writer Timothy Cox. http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2002/04/28/met_341064.shtml
Reared in rural Washington, Georgia in the early 1950s, lawmaker Clarence Davis easily recognizes the changes in America’s violent behavior telling about 100 people at a victims’ rights program – inside the Beulah Grove Community Resource Center – that the lack of respect and discipline has been a large part of creating more a violent society.
Parents and society “have lost control of our children,” said Mr. Davis, a 20-year Maryland state delegate who now lives in Baltimore.
During the National Crime Victim Rights Week breakfast sponsored by Augusta-based Blacks On Black Crime, Inc., Mr. Davis said Baltimore became known for its homicide and crack-cocaine statistics in the early 90’s, so he called Vietnam War buddies and confronted neighborhood thugs.
“It’s time for the community to take matters in hand,” he said.
“They started calling us vigilantes,” after the men knocked on the doors of those suspected of criminal activity – adding approach was successful and that crime has since subsided in Baltimore.
“Our goal is a safe, sound community, and we must open our eyes,” Mr. Davis said. “We have the power to make a difference.”
The candlelight homage was held to remember local homicide victims in the past two years.

Augusta Chronicle photo of a candlelight homage that was held to remember local homicide victims in Augusta during a National Crime Victim Rights Week breakfast sponsored by Augusta-based Blacks On Black Crime, Inc. that was taken for April 28, 2002 story entitled “Service remembers local victims of violent crimes” by Staff Writer Timothy Cox:
Deadra Williams, 26, and daughter Tierra, 18 months, lit a candle to honor Ms. Williams’ boyfriend and the child’s father, Rodney Johnson, who was shot and killed behind the S&S Cafeteria on Walton Way in November 2001.
Candles were lit to remember Niteka Wesbey, a college student caught in a cross-fire during a gang-related apartment shooting in November 2000.
Barbara Thurmond, who co-founded Blacks Against Black Crime in 1991, said her group is the only victims’ rights movement in Augusta-Richmond County.
“Although crime has decreased here, it’s important to keep our movement alive,” she said.

Service remembers local victims of violent crimes
cross-fire during a gang-related apartment shooting in November 2000. Barbara Thurmond, who co-founded Blacks Against Black Crime in 1991, said her group is the only victims’ rights movement in Augusta-Richmond County. “Although crime…
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2002/04/28/met_341064.shtml

Black leaders see range of Kerry support
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) convention also turned black voters on to Mr. Kerry, he said. Barbara Thurmond, the president of Blacks Against Black Crime Inc., a local nonprofit agency, said her vote is undoubtedly going to Mr. Kerry, although she has no real
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2004/10/22/met_432015.shtml

—

Augusta Chronicle Editorial: Courageous Barbara A. Thurmond Fought to Prevent Violence Crimes by Augusta Chronicle Editorial Staff:

An example of courage
life. Disgusted by homicides in her community, Mrs. Thurmond and her sister, Earnestine Covington, founded Blacks Against Black Crime Inc. in 1991 to combat Richmond County’s rising violent crime rate. It took considerable personal courage…
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2006/09/01/edi_94880.shtml

—

Barbara A. Thurmond Guest Editorials in Augusta Chronicle:

Georgia gunrunners take toll on state
contribute to the great sorrow felt by the families of those killed or wounded by Georgia’s guns? In 1991, Blacks Against Black Crimes identified the easy accessibility of guns as a contributing factor to the epidemic of black-on-black violence…
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2002/11/09/let_357661.shtml

Justice system unfair to blacks
posting a $40,000 bond. It is the opinion of Blacks Against Black Crimes that injustice and double standards within the…Editor’s note: The writer is the president of Blacks Against Black Crime Inc. in Augusta.)
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2002/06/08/let_343083.shtml

A decade of advocacy for black homicide victims brings changes to system
criteria. TEN YEARS AGO Blacks Against Black Crime dared to dream of a world…improve our state and nation. Blacks Against Black Crime has been labeled racist…president and co-founder of Blacks Against Black Crime, Inc.)
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2001/07/18/op_319437.shtml

Why no reward for White’s killer?
is one of many tools used by law enforcers as they work to solve and prevent crime, apprehend criminals and bring them to justice. Barbara Thurmond, Augusta (Editors’ note: The author is president of Blacks Against Black Crime, Inc.)
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2000/07/18/edi_292917.shtml

Claims racist response to violence
crime prevention for all youth. Until that day Blacks Against Black Crimes will be the voice for black crime victims. Barbara…Editor’s note: The writer is president of Blacks Against Black Crimes Inc.)
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1999/07/05/edi_265057.shtml

Augusta Chronicle Photo from a Sept. 27, 1998 story entitled “Black youths gather, carry on unity goal” as about 100 black youths gathered in May Park in Augusta for a follow-up event to the Million Youth Movement.
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1998/09/27/met_240185.shtml
Alexander Smith (pictured), chairman of the event’s organizing committee, said the Labor Day weekend Million Youth Movement in Atlanta was organized by black leaders to promote unity among the nation’s black youth who were given marching orders, an agenda and a platform to “empower our youth, first and foremost spiritually, politically, socially, economically and academically” and “empower our youth to take control of their destiny.”
“We have an unfinished agenda,” said Terence Dicks, assistant director of “Think Big ’98,” a program designed by Blacks Against Black Crime Inc. to reduce adolescent violence and drug abuse.
“We have not finished business,” Mr. Dicks told the crowd. “We have got to keep going. I ask all of you who are active right now to remember us on Oct. 16, the anniversary of the Million Man March.”

Black youths gather, carry on unity goal
“We have an unfinished agenda,” said Terence Dicks, assistant director of “Think Big ’98,” a program designed by Blacks Against Black Crime Inc. to reduce adolescent violence and drug abuse. “We have not finished business,” Mr. Dicks told the crowd. “We have got to keep going. I ask all of you who are active right now to remember us on Oct. 16, the anniversary of the Million Man March.”
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1998/09/27/met_240185.shtml

Ask `Baby Face’ to sing different tune by Terence Dicks for Barbara Thurmond
25 most influential people in the country. Let us let him know that we would like for him to use his influence in another way. Terence A. Dicks, Augusta (Editor’s note: The writer is a spokesperson for Blacks Against Black Crime.)
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1997/06/18/edi_210076.shtml

Marks Crime Victims Rights Week
Right’s Right for America.” Remember too, that Blacks Against Black Crimes are an advocate for all victims of all crimes…sensitive to black crime victims. Since 1991 Blacks Against Black Crimes has assisted victims in our area. Among the…
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1998/04/23/op_226616.shtml

Plugs victims’ rights; cites statistics
school, 260,000 children miss class because of the fear of being physically harmed and 40 students are killed or injured by firearms. Barbara Thurmond, Augusta (Editor’s note: The writer is president of Blacks Against Black Crimes.)
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1997/04/14/edi_206791.shtml

—

Barbara A. Thurmond “Letter to the Editor” printed in Augusta Chronicle:

Victim assistance is stronger
have much to celebrate. Fourteen years ago, Blacks Against Black Crimes Inc. was organized to serve this community and…The writer is the founder and president of Blacks Against Black Crimes Inc.)
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2005/04/03/let_449223.shtml

Homicide decline should inspire
decline. No matter what is going on in the world, our children have to succeed; our communities have to be made whole. Barbara Thurmond, Augusta (Editor’s note: The writer is a co-founder and president of Blacks Against Black Crime.)
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2005/02/23/let_444380.shtml

Keep assault weapons off streets
no choice but to keep his word on this issue. Blacks Against Black Crimes, Inc. joins with the Million Mom March, Georgians…Thurmond Augusta (Editor’s note: The writer represents Blacks Against Black Crimes Inc., an Augusta organization.)
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2004/07/31/let_423842.shtml

Be mindful of victims’ rights
hurt them will be brought to justice. Barbara Thurmond, Augusta (Editor’s note: The writer represents Blacks Against Black Crimes Inc., an Augusta organization.)
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2004/04/16/let_412349.shtml

Stop exercising political favors
political favors. We would hate to have children be the next group of people to suffer as the result of political favors. Barbara Thurmond, Augusta (Editor’s note: The writer is the president of Blacks Against Black Crimes, Inc.)
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2003/02/18/let_376096.shtml

Jury’s ‘not-guilty’ verdict appalls and perplexes observer
not guilty of manslaughter. Though, the jurors believed that the defendant was justified in killing the victim. Barbara Thurmond, Augusta (Editor’s note: The writer is the president of Blacks Against Black Crime Inc. in Augusta.)
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2002/09/16/let_352959.shtml

Black-on-black homicide should remain a priority issue
prevented. In Augusta in 1991, 66 homicides were black-on-black. In Augusta in 2001, 13 homicides were black-on-black. Barbara Thurmond, Augusta (Editor’s note: The author is the president of Blacks Against Black Crime, Inc.)
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2002/03/07/let_337310.shtml

Activist Barbara A Thurmond raps paper for ‘lack of objectivity’
saving opinions for the editorial page. Barbara Thurmond, Augusta (Editor’s note: The author is president of Blacks Against Black Crime Inc. The Chronicle quoted Alicia Hall’s mother, who said the attack on Christopher Andrews was in self-defense…
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2000/04/03/edi_285922.shtml

Augusta Chronicle Editorials that mention group Blacks Against Black Crimes, Inc:

How to curb youth crime
watches. Then they can reach out to social agencies and institutions – churches, PTAs, Safe Streets Inc., Blacks Against Black Crime Inc., etc. – that exist to help communities become more safe, civil, livable and proud. There’s plenty…
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2004/09/19/edi_428921.shtml

—

Promoting then-upcoming events involving group Blacks Against Black Crimes, Inc – Augusta Chronicle “Across the Area” section:

Area briefs: Victim’s Rights Dinner Scheduled in Augusta
Victims’ rights dinner scheduled To commemorate National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, the Augusta organization Blacks Against Black Crimes Inc. will hold a victims’ rights dinner at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Peter S. Knox Center, 326 Greene St…
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1999/04/30/met_260275.shtml

Across the area: Vigil Will be Held for Violence in Augusta
will take place from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday. Vigil will be held for violence in Augusta Blacks Against Black Crime Inc. and New Creation Missionary Baptist Church will hold a special service tonight to kick off a 40-day prayer…
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2006/10/16/met_100718.shtml

Across the area: Vigil to be Held for Stopping Violence in Augusta
breakfast and memorial service will be held at 9:30 a.m. today. Vigil to be held for violence in Augusta Blacks Against Black Crime Inc. and New Creation Missionary Baptist Church will hold a special service Monday night to kick off a 40-day…
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2006/10/15/met_100596.shtml

Across the area: Rally to be Held to Fight Slayings and Gun Violence in Augusta
slayings and gun violence that have occurred in the area this year, according to Frank Johnson, the president of Blacks Against Black Crime Inc. The rally is set for 7 p.m. Dec. 5, 2006 at Second New Hope Baptist Church, 1035 10th St. For more information…
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2006/11/27/met_106131.shtml

Across the area: Rally to be Held to Fight Slayings and Gun Violence in Augusta
gun violence that has occurred in the Augusta area this year, according to Frank Johnson, the president of Blacks Against Black Crime Inc. The rally is set for 7 p.m. Dec. 5, 2006 at Second New Hope Baptist Church, 1035 10th St. A number of area…
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2006/11/26/met_106011.shtml

Across the area: Rally to be Held to Fight Slayings and Gun Violence in Augusta
gun violence that have occurred in the Augusta area this year, according to Frank Johnson, the president of Blacks Against Black Crime Inc. The rally is set for 7 p.m. Dec. 5, 2006 at Second New Hope Baptist Church, 1035 10th Street. A number…
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2006/11/20/met_105219.shtml

—-

Augusta Chronicle stories with others involved with group Blacks Against Black Crimes, Inc.:

March had impact, black leaders say
responsibility of their homes and getting involved in civic activities,” said John Covington, acting president of Blacks Against Black Crime. “But it hasn’t been that effective (in) to trying to get the point across to other members of the community…
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1996/10/14/met_199972.shtml

—

Obits: Remembering Activist Barbara A. Thurmond who tried to protect the lives of children from violence

Barbara A. Thurmond (AUGUSTA, Ga.)
In 1991, she and her sister were inspired to create Blacks Against Black Crimes, Inc. The motivation was the number of homicides in the black community.
Some Blacks Against Black Crimes activities included: victim’s rights advocacy…
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2006/09/01/obi_94962.shtml

Barbara A. Thurmond (AUGUSTA, Ga.)
Trinity Baptist Church Cemetery, Tignall, GA. Ms. Thurmond was an Author and Founder of the Organization, Blacks Against Black Crime, Inc. Survivors are her mother, Mrs. Lillian Cade Thurmond; one son, Mr. George (Deidra) Johnson, II…
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2006/08/31/obi_94788.shtml

Barbara A. Thurmond (AUGUSTA, Ga.)
AUGUSTA, Ga. – Entered into rest Friday, August 25, 2006 at the Medical College of Georgia, Ms. Barbara A. Thurmond of Cornell Drive. Funeral services will be held Friday, September 1, 2006 at 11:00 a.m. from Tabernacle
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2006/08/30/obi_94596.shtml

Barbara A. Thurmond (AUGUSTA, Ga.)
AUGUSTA, Ga. – Entered into rest Friday, August 25, 2006 at the Medical College of Georgia, Ms. Barbara.
Thurmond of Cornell Drive.
Funeral services will be held Friday, September 1, 2006 at 11:00 a.m. from Tabernacle
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2006/08/30/obi_94623.shtml

Barbara Thurmond left memories that will be forever cherished in the hearts of her loved ones:

Her mother: Mrs. Lillian C. Thurmond of Augusta, Georgia

Her son: George (Deidra) Johnson of Trenton, South Carolina

Two daughters: Antoinette (Rev. Da’Henri) Thurmond of Augusta, Georgia and Aquanetta (James) Betts of Pikesville, Maryland

One brother: Darrell Thurmond of Augusta, Georgia

One sister: Earnestine (John) Covington of Augusta, Georgia

Four grandchildren: Da’Henri Ramsey Thurmond, Jr., Barbara Maxine Thurmond, Evan Tanks Johnson and Bailie Tanks Johnson

One nephew: Ernest (Angie) Covington

One niece: Ericka (Jessie) Covington-Wright

Plus numerous cousins, other relatives and special friends.

Funeral arrangements were handled by:

W. H. Mays Mortuary
1221 James Brown Boulevard
Augusta, GA

(706) 722-6401

—

Since the death of Barbara Thurmond numerous efforts have been started to stop youth violence including by the children of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in April 2012.

April 4th Revisited: National Youth Violence Prevention Conference was held on April 4, 2012 at the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta:

Honoring Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with projects to protect children from violence
King Center CEO Bernice King and Martin Luther King, III have created separate youth violence prevention projects with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) , The Carter Presidential Center, The Prevention Institute and The Martin Luther King, III Institute for Social Justice and Human Rights, Inc.

Press Release:
http://www.preventioninstitute.org/press/press-releases/848-martin-luther-king-jr-legacy-embodied-in-launch-of-new-initiative-for-community-peace-and-thriving-youth.html

The King Center and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have expanded their 2008 partnership to prevent youth violence and address health threats that disproportionately impact minorities and the low-income.

“The King Center’s partnership with the CDC has tremendous potential for reducing youth violence and helping to correct these disparities, through educational outreach and using the King Center’s resources to promote community awareness, action, and mobilization,” said King Center CEO Bernice King

http://www.thekingcenter.org

http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention

http://atlanta.cbslocal.com/2012/04/04/king-center-and-cdc-expand-partnership-to-prevent-youth-violence

Martin Luther King, III Institute for Social Justice and Human Rights, Inc.:
Saving Lives and Building Dreams

Martin Luther King, III
P. O. Box 2625
Atlanta, Georgia
30301

404-478-7185 (office)
http://www.mlkiii.org
mlk3press@yahoo.com

http://www.facebook.com/MLKingIII
http://www.Facebook.com/SavingLivesBuildingDreams

Saving Lives and Building Dreams 2012 on twitter
https://twitter.com/#!/savinglives12
@savinglives12
Prevention Institute and the Martin Luther King, III Institute for Social Justice and Human Rights, Inc. present April 4th Revisited: Saving Lives and Building Dreams, a day of youth peace and non-violence.

The mission of The Martin Luther King, III Institute for Social Justice and Human Rights, Inc. is to be an international vehicle for social justice and human rights for education, advocacy and direct social activism to identify and apply innovative solutions to address the evils of oppression, racism, poverty, slavery and militarism.

The Prevention Institute:

Prevention Institute
221 Oak Street
Oakland, CA
94607

510-444-7738 (office)
Prevent@preventioninstitute.org

The Prevention Institute in Oakland, California is a national non-profit dedicated to placing prevention at the center of efforts to improve community health, equity and well-being
http://www.preventioninstitute.org
http://www.facebook.com/PreventionInstitute.org

Prevention Institute on Twitter
https://twitter.com/#!/search/%40preventioninst
@preventioninst
Prevention Institute aligns strategy, policy and collaboration to build health, foster equity and eliminate injury where people live, work, learn and play

The Carter Center (President Jimmy Carter):
Waging Peace, Fighting Disease, Building Hope
http://www.cartercenter.org
http://www.cartercenter.org/about/contact.html

The Carter Center
One Copenhill
453 Freedom Parkway
Atlanta, GA
30307

404-420-5100
800-550-3560
carterweb@emory.edu

http://blog.cartercenter.org
http://cartercenter.org/news/multimedia/rss.html
http://cartercenter.org/news/multimedia/podcasts/index.html

http://www.facebook.com/cartercenter

The Carter Center on twitter:
https://twitter.com/#!/CarterCenter
@CarterCenter
Founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter & Rosalynn Carter with @EmoryUniversity, the Center wages peace, fights disease, & builds hope worldwide

“Ultimately, the work of The Carter Center is about helping people achieve better opportunities and watching hope take root where it languished before,” said President Jimmy Carter.

The Carter Center, in partnership with Emory University, is guided by a fundamental commitment to human rights and the alleviation of human suffering; it seeks to prevent and resolve conflicts, enhance freedom and democracy, and improve health.

Georgia Coalition to End Sexual Assault

The Mis-Education of the Negro [Paperback]

Carter G. Woodson

The Green Equity Toolkit:

Standards and Strategies for Advancing Race, Gender and Economic Equity in the Green Economy

The Authors of the Green Equity Toolkit:

Yvonne Yen Liu   and   Terry Keleher

Green Equity Toolkit Webinar:

Applied Research Center:
Racial Justice Through Media, Research and Activism

http://www.ARC.org

Applied Research Center
900 Alice Street
Suite 400
Oakland, CA
94607

510-653-3415

Applied Research Center:
Rinku Sen, Executive Director
Dominique Apollo, Research Director
Christina Chen, Research Assistant
Jonathan C. Yee, Research Assistant
Kathryn Duggan, Copy Editor
Hatty Lee, Art and Design Director
Debayani Kar, Communications Manager
Regina Acebo, Network Coordinator
Channing Kennedy, Multimedia Production Associate

Advisory Committee:
Elena Foshay, Research Associate, Apollo Alliance
Stacy Ho, Policy Associate, Green for All
Rubén Lizardo, Associate Director, PolicyLink
Billy Parish, Co-Founder, Energy Action Coalition and Fellow at Ashoka
Raquel Pinderhughes, Professor of Urban Studies and Planning, San Francisco State University
Chris Rabb, Visiting Researcher, The Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, Fellow at Demos
Jeff Rickert, Director, AFL-CIO Green Jobs Center
Juhu Thukral, Director of Law and Advocacy, The Opportunity Agenda
Hashim Yeomans-Benford, Community Organizer, Miami Workers Center

Scroll down to read a portion of the Green Toolkit and important related links

——-

TreutCo Training Grassroots Leaders for Green Jobs

Homero Leon, Jr., pro bono attorney Georgia Legal Services Program
hleon@glsp.org

Marcia Watson, volunteer for Georgia Legal Services Program
MWatson@glsp.org

Wallace Little, educator in Truetlen County
wallacelittle@hotmail.com

TreutCo Training Grassroots Leaders for Green Jobs is a project of the historic nonprofit:

Treutlen County Community Sewing Center, Inc.
c/o Cora Johnson, Executive Director
104 Martin Luther King Drive
Soperton, Georgia
30457

912-529-6238 (office)

Honoring Ms. Cora Lee Johnson, president and founder of Treutlen County Community Sewing Center, Inc. and TreutCo Training Grassroots Leaders for Green Jobs:

Cora Lee Johnson, member of the Southern Partners Fund
http://www.spfund.org/Members/tabid/55/Default.aspx
http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/ga/rcdi.htm

Cora Lee Johnson is featured in two books that honor women who have dared to dream and have made a great difference in American and World history:

“I Dream a World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America“
Photography by Pulitzer Prize-winner Brian Lanker
Edited by Barbara Summers
Foreword by Maya Angelou

“Women of Courage: Inspiring Stories from the Women Who Lived Them“
By Katherine Martin

(Scroll down to see more about the books, reviews and media coverage)

Cora Lee Johnson of Soperton, Georgia testified about “the struggle to obtain better housing, health care and nutrition” while testifying about “Economic Adjustment and Marginalization” during a summit about the “Global Campaign for Women’s Human Rights.”

The conference was entitled “From Vienna to Beijing: Copenhagen Hearing on Economic Justice and Women’s Human Rights” at the “United Nations World Summit On Social Development” in Copenhagen in March 1995

To read the original .pdf document with the testimony by Cora Lee Johnson click on this link:

Cora Lee Johnson testifies in Copenhagen
http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu/globalcenter/publications/copen.pdf

Cora Lee Johnson, founder of the Treutlen County Community Sewing Center, was featured in Mother Jones Magazine in January 1988

Article about Cora Lee Johnson in Mother Jones Magazine click on this link:
http://books.google.com/books?id=L-cDAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PT32&ots=U4HADOlQkL&dq=Treutlen%20County%20Community%20Sewing%20Center%20georgia&pg=PT31#v=twopage&q&f=false

Cora Lee Johnson, a native of Treutlen County and lifelong resident of the State of Georgia, has spent the better part of her adult life as a dedicated Christian, advocating for the rights and the better quality of life for poor people.

Through the Treutlen County Community Sewing Center, which she founded, Ms. Johnson is providing training for low-income women to acquire and develop skills for jobs in the local clothing factories.

As a result of her efforts, the poor people of Treutlen County are enjoying subsidized housing, a welfare center for food stamp recipients and a health clinic.

Cora also travels around the country to other communities inspiring others to work to improve their lives.

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/It%27s+Official.+Glory+Foods+Southern+Selections+Is+a+Winner!+New…-a020471138

The Georgia Legal Services Program is building the capacities of rural nonprofit organizations, including the Treutlen County Community Sewing Center in Soperton, to build affordable housing, develop micro enterprises, and provide green job training for low-income residents.
—

Recognizing the talents and green projects by Van Jones, senior fellow at the Center For American Progress and a senior policy advisor at Green For All

Author/Green Jobs Advocate Van Jones:

Green Jobs advocate Van Jones wrote “Rebuild The Dream” – and the New York Times bestseller “The Green-Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems“

“Those of us working to reinvent and rebuild the American Dream are ‘deep patriots’ – We are truly fighting for ‘liberty and justice for all.’ Not for some. For everybody.

We believe that everyone deserves access to the American dream.

“You and I have seen our share of ‘cheap patriots’ — the ones who want to help the wealthiest Americans to shortchange America’s government on tax day. The ones who sing ‘America the Beautiful’ – but do nothing to defend her beauty from big polluters. The ones who hide their bigotry behind the flag, rather than ensuring that all Americans receive the promises of life, liberty, and equal protection under the law”
— Van Jones

Get your free “Rebuild the Dream” sticker click here to get yours.

email Rebuild the Dream
info@rebuildthedream.com

His website VanJones.net states the book makes “the case that government should make it easier for private sector innovation” adding that Jones believes in pro-business, market-based ideas.

Jones is a “former Obama White House advisor” and a champion for strengthening the American economy, our energy security and creating jobs,” his websites state.

Jones served as the “Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation” at the “White House Council on Environmental Quality.”

He has been instrumental in successful partnerships with green businesses and served on the board of a national business association.

Van Jones
“The Green Collar Economy: In Search of Eco-Equity” in Applied Research Center’s “Compact for Racial Justice – An Agenda for Fairness and Unity”
Applied Research Center
http://www.arc.org/images/fr08/arc_compact_11209.pdf
http://www.arc.org

http://vanjones.net
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Jones
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/van-jones
https://twitter.com/#!/VanJones68
@VanJones68

Van Jones book entitled “The Green-Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems” on Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/Green-Collar-Economy-Solution-Problems/dp/0061650757
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Green_Collar_Economy

Official website of the Van Jones book entitled “Rebuild the Dream“
http://www.rebuildthedream.com

“Rebuild The Dream” on Twitter:
http://www.RebuildTheDream.com
@RebuildDream

——-

Join our Green Grassroots Team:

Homero Leon, Jr.
Atlanta, Georgia
770-309-6216
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/homero-leon/32/b99/695

Rev. Terence A. Dicks
Augusta, Georgia
706-306-5731

“Claiming A Street Named King” on YouTube
News Story: Terence Dicks appointed chairman of Augusta Human Relations Commission
Terence Dicks on Facebook
Terence Dicks on Flickr – PhotoStream
Terence Dicks on Flickr – Profile
Terence Dicks on Google
Terence Dicks on LinkedIn
Terence Dicks on MySpace
Terence Dicks on Twitter
Terence Dicks on Viddler
Terence Dicks on Yahoo

Thank you to partners like Dr. Yomi Noibi, ECO-Action Exec. Dir. (see more below)

Green Technology:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_technology

http://www.green-technology.org
http://www.green-technology.org/what.htm

Electric Vehicles from Solar Power
Using solar energy, electric vehicles get an energy charge at an autonomous mobile station (Photovoltaic ombrière SUDI) in November 2010.

Photo by Wikipedia username Tatmouss aka Russet Grebe and in French Grèbe Roussâtre
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ombri%C3%A8re_SUDI_-_Sustainable_Urban_Design_%26_Innovation.jpg
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utilisateur:Tatmouss

Solar Power:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power

Wind Power:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power

Desalinization:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desalination

——-

Selected and some updated information from the Green Toolkit about Green Jobs and the Green Economy

The emerging Green Economy holds the potential to transform our entire economy and environment toward much-needed stability and sustainability.

An expansive notion of green sector development recognizes that nature has no boundaries.

It applies not only to what is thought of as organic but also to the built environment, including our full communities and the people living in them.

The concept of green is eco-friendly and people-friendly.

It is holistic and humane.

An equitable notion of green sector development and employment recognizes that ecosystems are inclusive and interconnected.

It strives to evenly distribute opportunities, benefits and safeguards.

If we leave any part behind, it affects the whole.

Green for All, a national organization working to build an inclusive Green Economy offers the definition of green-collar jobs as “well-paid, career track jobs that contribute directly to preserving or enhancing environmental quality.

If a job improves the environment, but doesn’t provide a family supporting wage or a career ladder to move low-income workers into higher-skilled occupations, it is not a green-collar job.

In addition to preserving the earth, the following benefits also apply:

• Green Jobs pay higher wages than the wages paid in comparable conventional gray jobs

• Green Jobs are harder to export

• Green Jobs are more likely to be unionized

In addition to protecting and improving the environment, Green Jobs can be a boon to economic recovery and stimulus.

They provide a potential solution for millions of workers who find themselves unemployed and under-employed due to the economic downturn.

The Apollo Alliance concluded that up to five million jobs could be created with a national investment in energy efficiency and renewable energy of $500 billion over 10 years.

A report prepared for the United Nations environment program concluded that every $1 billion in the U.S.

Government spending in green initiatives would lead to approximately 30,000 job years in this country, which is a 20 percent increase in job creation over traditional economic stimulus measures.

The emerging Green Economy is characterized by environmental protection and energy efficiency, community self reliance and well-being, and stability and sustainability.

This contrasts with the traditional Gray Economy, which is characterized by environmental degradation, wastefulness, fossil fuel dependency, human exploitation and economic instability.

Green Jobs fall into 12 occupational sectors, including some familiar to the Gray Economy such as transportation and others new to the Green Economy such as weatherization.

The sectors span the economy, from agriculture and forestry to government and regulatory.

A report by the National Center for O*Net Development, prepared for the Department Of Labor (DOL) and other workforce agencies, further categorizes these occupations based on whether they are:

1. Existing gray jobs with increased demand in the Green Economy

2. Jobs requiring enhanced green skills, also known as green enhanced skills

3. Entirely new jobs or what O*Net named green new and emerging occupations.

O*NET Resource Center is created for the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration by the National Center for O*NET Development.
http://www.onetcenter.org
http://www.onetcenter.org/green.html
http://www.onetcenter.org/dl_files/GreenRef.pdf
email O*NET Customer Service

Wind Turbines Provided Endless Wind Power:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power
Off shore wind turbines bathed in mist and warm autumnal sunshine in Oct. 2007.
The turbines are located on Burbo Bank about 4 miles offshore
Photo from geograph.org.uk
Photo by Steve Fareham
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pretty_flamingos_-_geograph.org.uk_-_578705.jpg

The promise of eco-equity:

What is equity?

What are equitable policies?

Equity is a principle that calls for fairness, inclusion and justice.

It can be distinguished from the principle of diversity, which is primarily about variety.

Equitable policies often require concrete actions and steps beyond simply making everyone “equal before the law,” and accordingly are designed to take appropriate account of historical and contemporary injustices and unequal outcomes.

Gray Economy:

The Green Economy encompasses the economic activity related to reducing the use of fossil fuels, decreasing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, increasing the efficiency of energy usage, recycling materials, and developing and adopting renewable sources of energy.

The conventional Gray Economy, often contrasted with the emerging Green Economy, is characterized by a post-industrial revolution model where profits are routinely permitted to be derived from the pollution of air, water and land; the exploitation and under-compensation of workers; the creation of environmental-related illnesses; the disproportionate dumping of toxins in low-income communities of color; and the creation of wealth stratification and deep poverty.

Although there are dramatic differences between the gray and green economies, there are too many instances where so-called Green Jobs are low-wage and dead-end, where women and people of color are excluded, and where working conditions are unsafe and workers’ rights are ignored.

When policymakers and green firms don’t consciously weave equity into a strategy for developing the Green Economy – the resulting Green Jobs are not guaranteed to be any more equitable or sustainable than jobs in the Gray Economy.

Yet, the federal and local governments that are funding green job initiatives are not building equity considerations explicitly into their planning and development process.

To maximize the opportunities and benefits of the Green Economy, we must think of green development expansively and equitably.

Otherwise, we could easily end up reconstituting the Gray Economy with a tint of green, instead of replacing the gray with true green.

Without equity standards, the potential Green Economy continues to be gray in five areas:

• Green Pathways, But Not Career Pathways:
Much of the literature on “green-collar jobs” focuses on low-skill, entry-level work that does not require previous experience or education.

Many of these jobs are accessible to men and women who have barriers to employment.

Although these jobs may function well as entry-level jobs into the Green Economy, continued training, education and certification must be made available to people who have employment barriers to ensure that they are able to advance within their workplace or their chosen profession.

Without explicit measures for advancement, people of color and women will likely remain at the bottom of the career ladder.

• Green Job Training Charade:

Historically, people of color and women have too often been trained for entry-level, low-quality jobs.

Since the 1980s, much of the federal funding for workforce development has supported training over actual job creation.

For example, under the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA), training is funded but actual jobs are not.

Therefore, young and adult workers graduate from training without a job awaiting them.

In addition, training programs and providers haven’t been linked to union apprenticeship programs.

As a result, graduates have been unable to secure specialized skill jobs or the pathways they provide into the middle class.

Training providers for high-quality jobs must make workforce development accessible to groups who are most structurally disadvantaged in our society.

• Bad Green Jobs:

Green Jobs suffer from the same abuses that pervade the Gray Economy.

In some cases, so-called “Green Jobs” have paid even lower wages and offered fewer opportunities for collective representative than their gray counterparts.

A 2009 good jobs first report found that existing Green Jobs are not more likely to be represented by a labor union or provide safe and healthy working conditions for their employees.

Although green wages can be higher than those paid for comparable gray jobs – an hourly wage for a “green job” can be as low as $8.

For example, that’s what a Los Angeles recycling center paid its mostly undocumented immigrant workforce.

A family comprised of an adult and one child would need to make more than double that per hour ($19) in order to sustain itself in that region.

Exclusionary Employment:

A look at the existing race and gender demographics comprising the Green Economy reveals vast race and gender disparities.

White men dominate green occupations across all sectors, according to 2008 census data.

Analysis by the women of color policy network showed that black and Latinos comprise less than 30 percent of those employed in green industries and occupations.

Gender disparities are even starker.

Black women are employed in only 1.5 percent of jobs in the energy sector, and it’s even worse for Latino and Asian women, who are employed at 1.0 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.

• White Executives in Green Firms:

Applied Research Center (ARC) analyzed racial demographics of employees in executive and management positions in green sectors.

Two sectors that expect huge growth in the Green Economy – construction and energy – exhibit vast racial disparities.

Construction is dominated by white executives, with 90.5 percent of construction companies led by whites, but only 7.1 percent led by Latinos, 0.9 percent by Asians and 0.8 percent by blacks.

In the energy sector, 90.9 percent of energy companies are led by whites, 3.8 percent by Latinos, 3.1 percent by blacks and 1.8 percent by Asians.

When creating Green Jobs, our eyes must be on quality and equity.

We must consciously strive, and concretely plan, to achieve racial, gender and economic equity.

The communities most traditionally marginalized by our society, and those most adversely affected by the recession — people of color, women, and low-income and moderate-income families — deserve priority attention when creating new opportunities.

This toolkit provides a guide for incorporating racial, gender and economic equity into the design, implementation and evaluation of initiatives involving Green Jobs.

If equity factors prominently into the equation, an expanded Green Economy has tremendous potential to positively transform all our communities, sustain our whole environment and lift the quality of all our lives.

But this won’t happen by chance.

We must organize to ensure that equity — gender, racial and economic equity — is central to green principles and practice.

“The world we dream of has more than just a stable, healthy climate. We dream of a society that also takes care of its people, where no one is left behind and everyone has a chance to succeed. That society upholds three basic principles: equal protection for all, equal opportunity for all, and reverence for all creation.”

—Van Jones, The Green Collar Economy

This toolkit provides a framework for explicitly addressing race, gender and economic equity in initiatives involving green-collar jobs.

Because institutions at all levels routinely (albeit often unintentionally) replicate such inequities, advancing equity requires commitment, conscious attention and concrete steps.

This toolkit provides guidance for designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating initiatives that establish green-collar jobs.

It can be applied to the public and/or private sector, in both for-profit and nonprofit organizations.

Each job’s program is unique, with its own funding stream, development and implementation entities, and applicable state and federal laws.

Accordingly, the following suggested practices will need to be adapted to fit each specific initiative.

This toolkit focuses on Green Jobs initiated in the public arena:
Jobs created by cities or counties or those funded by federal or state monies won by green contractors.

First, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), enacted in February 2009, will disburse $787 billion in stimulus funds over the next 10 years, with most of the money allocated in 2009–2010.

• More than $200 billion was earmarked for programs that would directly or indirectly generate Green Jobs
• $100 billion reserved for transportation and infrastructure
• $48 billion for workforce development and education
• $41 billion for programs relating to energy
• $20 billion towards tax incentives for solar, wind and other forms of green energy

Stimulus funds recipients must comply with all anti-discrimination statutes, regulations and executive orders.

The public jobs provide avenues to demand accountability, transparency and equity in spending.

Using various public accountability provisions, equity advocates can exert pressure on elected officials and administrators to ensure that green projects are created, funded, administered, regulated and monitored in ways that produce equitable outcomes.

Advocates can also ask private-sector businesses or organizations to voluntarily comply with suggested equity principles, practices and desired outcomes.

Public entities can also be asked to require compliance from private entities that are being publicly funded or regulated.

How to use this toolkit

Build Community Support for Equity

• Develop a broad base of community residents and advocates who are willing to advocate for race, gender and economic equity in local green-jobs initiatives

• Ask allies to adopt the equity principles

• Develop a coalition to work on behalf of green equity

• Develop publicity and public support for gender, race and economic equity in green-jobs initiatives.

• Highlight existing inequities to demonstrate the need for new approaches

• Support the development and promotion of equitable funding proposals

• Publicly critique proposals that ignore or fall short on equity considerations

• Actively monitor program implementation to ensure that equity plans are being carried out effectively

• Ask for full reporting on progress and results

• Participate in developing and evaluating program performance and advocate for needed changes

Solar Power:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power

Solúcar PS10 is the first solar thermal power plant based on tower in the world that generates electricity in a commercial way.
Source: Solúcar PS10
Photo taken in September 2007 by Wikipedia username afloresm aka Alejandro Flores in Sevilla, Spain
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PS10_solar_power_tower.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/people/74424373

Engage Public Officials in Equity

• Ask public officials and entities responsible for Green-Jobs decisions to commit to using the success indicators

• Ask public officials and involved entities to adopt your proposed practices, desired outcomes and success indicators

• Be sure all plans have concrete goals, milestones and timetables for achieving equity, with ample funding, enforcement and support

• Ask public officials and involved entities to adopt a participatory process for making decisions about green-jobs proposals, with ample opportunities for public input and review, especially from key stakeholders such as marginalized communities

• Ask public officials and involved entities to commit to comprehensive data collection — disaggregated by gender, race and socioeconomic status — so that programs can be effectively monitored and evaluated

Stay informed

• Continue to connect with equity advocates in different communities to stay abreast of innovative and best practices

In the future, ARC and its allies will be creating additional resources to supplement this toolkit. Periodically check the ARC website for future content such as case studies, model policies, research reports and additional advocacy tools

Equal opportunity and Fair Treatment:

• All people are afforded full and fair access to all opportunities and benefits, free of bias and barriers, with all programs designed to be inclusive and representative of the demographics of the communities in which they are based.

Excellence and Efficacy:

• Jobs are high-quality, and job programs are highly effective and specifically tailored to building strong skills and career paths for marginalized communities, so as to maximize the shared benefits and transformative potential of the Green Economy

Health and Wellness:

• The health, safety and well-being of all individuals and communities are maximized, with active attention to eliminating existing disparities.

• Human rights and workers’ rights all employees and community residents are guaranteed basic rights and respect, including the right to organize and engage in collective advocacy.

Sustainability and security:

• Households and communities are provided the support and protections needed for longterm economic security and environmental sustenance.

This includes affordable housing, access to public transportation and proximity to a high-quality education for children.

Transparency and Accountability:

• Openness and fairness are maintained in all phases of planning, decision-making, program development, implementation, documentation and evaluation, with public participation of community stakeholders, particularly those most disadvantaged.

Equity goals

Green Jobs should be good jobs that not only improve the environmental health of our communities and nation, but also pay sustainable wages and benefits to the worker, provide a safe and healthy work environment, and enable the employee to advocate for his or her interests collectively through participation in a union.

Green Jobs are also pathways into stable careers, where employees can start at an entry-level job and work their way up with more experience and skills.

Economic Equity:

• Increase economic stability and reduce poverty by ensuring that economically disadvantaged people and communities have full and fair access to high-quality jobs, improved community services and environment, access to affordable housing and public transportation, and expanded opportunities

Gender Equity:

• Create opportunities and outcomes that ensure that women have full and fair access to all jobs and contracts, and that all benefits and burdens are shared and bias-free.

Racial Equity:

• Create opportunities and outcomes that ensure that people of color have full and fair access to all jobs and contracts, and that all benefits and burdens are shared and bias-free.

Disadvantaged communities with barriers to employment disadvantaged communities with barriers to employment disadvantaged communities include people with low incomes, women, people of color, at-risk youth, people who lack a high school degree or GED, people with prior convictions, immigrants and refugees of varying status, youth of color, public-assistance recipients, people who have been chronically unemployed or underemployed, parents with childcare needs, under-skilled job-seekers, people with disabilities and other vulnerable communities.

Equity outcomes

• Transparent and participatory planning and evaluation process

The implementation of a fully transparent and participatory process for equitable green job creation should be seen as an outcome itself.

Without explicit attention to race and gender equity, and ample participation in planning by people of color and women, we can predict from past experience that the jobs created will not be inclusive and equitable.

Transparency includes comprehensive equity data collection that includes data disaggregated by race, gender and socioeconomic status.

This data should be fully accessible, searchable and mappable.

A participatory planning process includes the development of ample opportunities for input and review during program development and evaluation, especially by disadvantaged community stakeholders.

• Maximization and equitable distribution of high-quality jobs

The number of high-quality jobs that are created and filled should be maximized and incentivized, with an aim to distribute them proportionally by race, gender and income level.

High-quality jobs are those that meet or exceed prevailing wage standards, include full and sustainable benefits such as health insurance and retirement funding, involve safe working conditions, are generally full-time, have clear career tracks and may be represented by a union.

Low-quality jobs, which should be minimized, are those that pay minimal state or federal wages with few or no benefits, may be temporary or part-time and are generally non-union.

Parity goals should be based on the race, gender and income-level composition of green job holders, relative to the demographics of the local community site.

For example, striving for racial parity in hiring in a local community with a racial composition of 60 percent people of color would call for significant progress in reaching that 60 percent goal for new-hires and contracts provided to people of color, especially signatories of a master agreement.

• Expansion of employer-sponsored benefits

The quantity and quality of employer-sponsored benefits, as well as the number of disadvantaged people with access to these benefits should be expanded.

Employer-sponsored benefits include such things as health and disability insurance, retirement funding, vacation and holidays, childcare and transportation supports.

• Elimination of employment barriers and bias faced by disadvantaged communities

Programs will take concrete and successful actions to eliminate barriers and to provide full access to disadvantaged communities.

To do so, it is essential to adequately fund and offer high-quality training programs, job-placement programs and other needed supports to targeted populations.

• Expansion and fulfillment of race and gender parity goals in contracting

Equitable green job initiatives can aspire to the proportional awarding and distribution of all contracts relative to the racial, gender and income-level composition of the communities they serve.

Although strict racial quotas in public contracting and hiring are prohibited by U.S. Supreme Court case law, making significant progress toward, and ultimately reaching, racial and gender parity goals is an essential outcome for an equitable green-jobs initiative.

• Significant expansion of green entrepreneurship in target populations

Disadvantaged communities need to be seeded with meaningful opportunities to start their own green social enterprises that advance Eco-equity.

Social entrepreneurship should operate with an equity screen and be supported with startup capital by banks and the government only if they provide needed goods and/or services to their community.

This helps to restore the wealth that many communities have lost since the great recession or never gained because of the lack of opportunity in our built environment.

A May 2009 report by ARC showed that the sub-prime crisis and ensuing foreclosure debacle has robbed millions of families of color of their homes, and home-ownership was the primary form of security and wealth-building in many communities.

• Creation of healthy and safe workplaces and surrounding environment

Measurable improvements in health, safety and environment must be made that maximize shared well-being through protection and prevention, while minimizing injuries, risks and disparities.

Green job initiatives should be consciously designed to eliminate and prevent any adverse or inequitable health and safety impacts.

• Maximization and equitable distribution of local hiring, contracting and high-level career jobs

The number of local residents and contractors should be maximized (local hires and contracts are those that are provided to people in the local community).

The number of career jobs that are created and filled should be maximized, incentivized and proportionally distributed by race, gender and income level, while the number of low-quality and temporary jobs should be minimized (a career job is a full-time, high-quality job that includes advancement, increasing compensation, permanence and pathways to greater opportunities. It provides long-term economic security to households and communities).

• Expanded educational opportunities and workforce development for disadvantaged communities

High-quality educational opportunities, training programs, and professional-development and workforce-development services should be created that are affordable and accessible to disadvantaged communities.

These programs must emphasize job-readiness skills that connect people to actual available high quality jobs.

Green-Jobs initiatives should also contribute positively to local community development by, for example, expanding affordable housing in healthy environments where families and children can thrive.

Residential weatherization and green buildings must be made accessible to working families of color and households headed by single women.

Housing and public transportation options should be well-planned to minimize costs and commute time, so that the combined shelter and transit costs don’t exceed 40 percent of a family’s take-home pay.

Desalinization:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desalination

View across a reverse osmosis desalination plant in July 2010.
Photo by James Grellier
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Reverse_osmosis_desalination_plant.JPG

Invisible capital: A barrier for businesses owned by people of color and women

The next generation of social enterprises must be designed to benefit all people and the full communities they serve, including those most disadvantaged

Shared prosperity and communal wealth-building are the foundations of green enterprises that embrace Eco-equity.

Outdated or ineffective programs that target disadvantaged communities but don’t address the entrepreneurial and socio-political barriers built up by enduring structural inequality must be replaced with programs that include entrepreneurial literacy, meaningful institutional collaboration, strong curricula and sufficient funding.

——-

The exalted status of entrepreneurs and small businesses is part and parcel of the myth of meritocracy and the American dream, explains author, writer, consultant and speaker Chris Rabb in his book “Invisible Capital: How Unseen Forces Shape Entrepreneurial Opportunity.”

A Chicago native, Rabb is a visiting Researcher at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and a Demos Fellow.

Rabb coined the term “invisible capital” to represent “the unseen forces that dramatically impact entrepreneurial viability when a good attitude, a great idea, and hard work simply aren’t enough,” according to a Google bio.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demos_%28U.S._think_tank%29

http://www.invisiblecapital.com

http://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Capital-Unseen-Entrepreneurial-Opportunity/dp/1605093076

http://books.google.com/books/about/Invisible_Capital.html?id=-C4Gwixa5EcC
http://www.invisiblecapital.com/abouttheauthor

——-

Equal opportunity:

These federal laws, won by the civil rights movement, were designed to ensure equal access to federally funded programs, employment and an education, regardless of race, ethnicity or gender.

Discrimination is defined in two ways:

(1) As individual or programmatic acts that intentionally exclude certain groups
(2) Acts or practices that have a disparate impact on a group.

These laws, in theory, are very powerful, but in practice, are still imperfect and leave many groups unprotected.

They are also insufficiently enforced, and the burden of evidence is great.

Nevertheless, they provide an opportunity to achieve demands for equity already guaranteed in our laws.

Those that ignore federal requirements risk losing their funding, a tactic also known as the clawback.

Therefore, much of the first equity goal for racial and gender parity in the Green Economy is a federally protected and mandated right accorded to all in this country, explicitly based on race, ethnicity and gender.

Affirmative action

President Obama signed Executive Order 11246 which requires the use of affirmative action in hiring contractors who receive a certain amount of federal funds.

This handle, federal in scope, applies only to the construction sector.

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs maintains meticulous participation goals for racial groups and women, and carefully distinguishes the goals from racial or gender quotas.

As with anti-discrimination laws, this is difficult to enforce because contractors are expected to comply in “good faith.”

Because enforcement mechanisms are weak – community-based documentation, organizing and advocacy for government accountability – is important for generating public scrutiny of both government and corporate actions.

The Clawback

The clawback is a strategy defined by good jobs first when a government takes steps to recoup subsidies paid to a company that does not fulfill its job creation or other promises.

Community and labor organizers have successfully used this tactic in stopping federally funded corporate initiatives that adversely affect community residents or workers.

Local Hiring and Training

A variety of project-based handles have been used to overcome barriers to green employment for people of color, women, ex-prisoners and public assistance recipients.

These handles can be used alone – or in combination with other local or federal handles.

For example, Best Value Contracting (BVC) is a method used by local governments to stipulate requirements for winning contract bids, beyond just low cost.

BVCs can be used to create equity in green contracts and rewards high-quality standards.

• Pennsylvania’s public works projects use BVC in their Requests For Proposals (RFPS), awarding points to those they refer to as “disadvantaged businesses” this qualification is granted to businesses that are certified as small business enterprises owned by persons of color or women; and to businesses that “have suffered chronic and substantial racial or ethnic prejudice or cultural bias in the U.S. due to the business person’s color, ethnic origin, or gender” which “must have negatively impacted the business’ establishment or growth”

• Washington’s regional transit development includes a requirement that contractors use Project Labor Agreements (PLAS) in their RFPS.

• Madison, Wisconsin, enacted a BVC ordinance in 2006, which allowed the city to require contractors to prequalify themselves by presenting the city with an affirmative action plan.

Wage and Hour Standards

There is a variety of both federal and local handles in this category.

The preeminent regulation on the books is the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which prescribes that workers must receive at least the federal prevailing minimum wage per hour and overtime of one-and-a-half times the rate of the regular rate.

Unfortunately, this area suffers from weak enforcement: the General Accountability Office (GAO) and a report by Los Angeles labor educators recently exposed pervasive wage theft and an ineffective response system by the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division.

Other handles in this category include the Davis-Bacon Act, which requires payment of prevailing wages — this legislation is federal in scope but applies only to construction sectors.

Living wage ordinances are local in scope, applying to employers who receive local government funding.

They are being enacted through organizing campaigns in over 120 cities.

Safety and health standards

This federal handle was enacted by the Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1970 and enforced by OSHA under the DOL.

As the name suggests, the act establishes enforceable health and safety standards for various occupations.

Employers who do not meet these standards can be subject to sanctions.

However, for this law to be effective, inspection and enforcement are key, both of which are often lacking unless communities engage in effective organizing and advocacy to ensure compliance.

Labor Peace Agreements

The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) of 1935 protects the rights of workers to organize in order to bargain collectively for pay and working conditions.

Employer infractions of NLRA are now considered part of the cost of doing business, and workers are finding it harder than ever to unionize their workplaces.

However, local labor peace agreements have been brokered that protect the fundamental right of a worker to self-organize.

Oregon Tradeswomen partnered in the Clean Energy Works initiative in Portland, Oregon.
Photo courtesy of Green For All
Via Green Equity Toolkit

Oregon enacted the Worker Freedom Act, which made it illegal for bosses to punish employees who refuse to attend captive audience meetings, where the employers proselytize against labor unions to their workers before a union election.

Some 39 similar bills have been pushed through state chambers in New Hampshire, Michigan, Vermont, Colorado and West Virginia by labor and community organizers.

Labor Laws and Labor Unions:

National Labor Relations Act

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs the National Labor Relations Act on July 9, 1935. Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins (right) looks on.

National Labor Relations Act
http://www.nlrb.gov/national-labor-relations-act
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Labor_Relations_Act

National Labor Relations Board (NRLB)
http://www.nlrb.gov

AFL-CIO and others support the Employee Free Choice Act that would update the NRLA (Link to AFL-CIO website)

Legislative Guide Chapter 3: Freedom to Form a Union
http://www.aflcio.org/content/download/1726/15543/file/legislative_guide_chap3.pdf
Wikipedia page about the Employee Free Choice Act:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employee_Free_Choice_Act

Scroll down for more union-related information including the AFL-CIO and Working America

Green startups

Various programs and tax incentives exist to incubate and encourage green entrepreneurial initiatives.

Most are federal in scope; some are state-specific.

Some focus on encouraging people of color and women to start their own green business.

—

An example of a Green Jobs training initiative is in Oakland, California

The Oakland Green Corps was created through collaboration between the Ella Baker Center For Human Rights, the city of Oakland and non-profit training providers.

The program, based on the Pinderhughes Model, aims to provide green pathways out of poverty for youth who face barriers to employment.

Students are provided with job training and ongoing support services, as well as on-the-job training.

The three-month program includes the following:

• Basic literacy in math and English

• Life skills and job readiness training

• Environmental sustainability and environmental justice

• Financial management

• OSHA safety training certification

• Labor unions 101 and how to get into apprenticeship programs

• Other support services, such as childcare and transportation stipends

• Paid on-the-job training for three four-week rotations, where students earn $9 per hour

Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and Oakland Green Jobs Corps:
http://www.EllaBakerCenter.org
http://www.facebook.com/ellabakercenter
https://twitter.com/#!/ellabakercenter

Jakada Imani, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights Executive Director

http://www.youtube.com/ellabakercenter
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ellabakercenter

—

Models of urban farms that provide fresh foods for their community as well as an avenue for community wealth-building are proliferating across the country, from Brooklyn to San Francisco

A good example, in the heart of the national former automobile manufacturing center, is the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network (DBCFSN), a coalition working together to build a green oasis of food security in Detroit’s black community.

The program includes the following components:

• Influencing public policy

• Promoting urban agriculture

• Encouraging cooperative buying

• Promoting healthy eating habits

• Promoting equitable and sustainable public policy

• Facilitating mutual support and collective action among members

• Encouraging youth to pursue careers in agriculture, aquaculture, animal husbandry, bee-keeping and other food-related industries.

Their key program is the founding and operation of D-Town Farm, a two-acre model urban farm located in Rouge Park in northwestern Detroit.

The farm consists of organic vegetable plots, two beehives, a hoop house for year-round food production and a composting operation, according to their website.

Detroit Black Community Food Security Network
3800 Puritan
Detroit, MI
48238

1-313-345-3663

Detroit Black Community Food Security Network and their three areas of activities: Urban agriculture, policy development and cooperative buying
http://detroitblackfoodsecurity.org/index.html

Detroit related sites:
African Food Basket
The Black Oaks Center
Detroit Food Policy Council
Fair Food Network
Great Lakes Bioneers
Growing Food and Justice for All Initiative
Growing Power
HABESHA, Inc.
Save Black Farmers
Food Security article by DBCFSN’s own Dr. Monica White

—

In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Green Economy innovator Will Allen was profiled in the September-October 2008 issue of Colorlines Magazine.

With his daughter Erika, he founded an organization named Growing Power to promote food justice through urban farming in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

In 2012, Will Allen received the Security Benefit Corporation Award for Outstanding Service in Public Education.

Growing Power operates an urban farm that grows and sells organic fruits and vegetables popular in black southern cuisine and in local Hmong and Oneida Indian communities.

The farm also distributes their produce to the community through a market basket program, where for $12, a family receives a bag of organic foods weekly.

Unique to Allen’s farm is the innovation of an aquaponics program, to raise tilapia fish in tanks with water filtered by the vegetables.

The fish waste, which is rich in nutrients, is then used to fertilize the plants.

“It’s about reinventing the way food is grown, showing people that we could do it in urban areas too,” Erika Allen told Colorlines. “We’re working to provide the fertility and systems so that you can grow anywhere from rooftops to parking lots and containers, so that people can be self-sufficient in their food needs.”

The NEA Foundation presented Will Allen, CEO of Growing Power, Inc, with the 2012 Security Benefit Corporation Award for Outstanding Service in Public Education

http://www.neafoundation.org/pages/educators/awards/the-award-for-outstanding-service-to-public-education
http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781592407101

Growing Power, Inc.:
http://www.GrowingPower.org
http://www.facebook.com/growingpower
https://twitter.com/#!/growingpower
http://www.flickr.com/photos/growingpower
http://www.growingpower.org/blog

Growing Power, Inc.
Milwaukee Headquarters
5500 W. Silver Spring Drive
Milwaukee, WI
53218

414-527-1546 (office)
414-527-1908 (fax)

Growing Power, Inc.
Chicago Projects Office
3333 S. Iron Street
Chicago, IL
60608

773-376-8882 (office)

—

Grim Labor stats:

• More than 70 percent of the population is white and the poverty rate is well below the national average.

• The New York Times reported states with the worst unemployment rates created very little jobs with stimulus monies.

Michigan, which has one of the nation’s worst unemployment rates (at 15.3 percent in September 2009) created or saved 400 jobs, according to the times.

Nevada, with the second highest rate at 13.3 percent, reported only 159 jobs, and Rhode Island only six.

Of course, no data is available regarding who the recipients of those jobs were, or their race, gender or economic need.

This is the worst economic downturn our country has experienced since the recession of the early 1980s and is flirting dangerously to parallel the Great Depression of the 1930s.

What will our generation remember when we look back at this time?

Did we seize the opportunity of the great recession to bring about a green transformation to sustain all peoples, especially those most distressed?

We must act together to demand tracking equity data in the recovery, green or otherwise.

Below there are many more important links and information in the Green Equity ToolKit – but first – workers of America must unite under the Power of Unions:

Support Labor Unions:

AFL-CIO ON Evil Georgia Senate Bill 469:
http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Political-Action-Legislation/Proposed-Georgia-Law-Makes-Picketing-Illegal-Sit-Downs-a-Felony

AFL-CIO Georgia webpages:
Mission Statement

The Georgia AFL-CIO is the state federation of labor representing over 80,000 members of more than 220 unions throughout Georgia.
The mission of the Georgia AFL-CIO is to improve the lives of working families – to bring economic justice to the workplace and social justice to our state and the nation
http://www.ga.aflcio.org/georgialabor

AFL-CIO National Homepage:
http://www.aflcio.org

AFL-CIO on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/aflcio

AFL-CIO on Twitter
https://twitter.com/#!/AFLCIO
@AFLCIO
The AFL-CIO, America’s Union Movement.

Read AFL-CIO blog for daily updates on news important to working families
http://blog.aflcio.org

AFL-CIO President Richard L. Trumka on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/#!/richardtrumka
@RichardTrumka

Representing more than 12M workers promoting workplace rights, a voice on the job and economic fairness for all working people

AFL-CIO on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/AFLCIONow

AFL-CIO photos on flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/afl-cio/

AFL-CIO RSS feed link:
http://www.aflcio.org/rss/feed/Blog

Working America homepage:
http://www.workingamerica.org

Georgia AFL-CIO
http://georgiaunions.org
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001676434256
https://twitter.com/#!/georgiaunions

State of Georgia Federation:

Georgia State AFL-CIO
501 Pulliam St., S.W.
Suite 549
Atlanta, GA
30311

http://www.ga.aflcio.org/georgialabor
404-525-2793 (office)
404-525-5983 (fax)

——-

Albany/Southwest Georgia Labor Council, AFL-CIO
500 Cordele Road
Albany, GA
31705

http://ga.aflcio.org/78
229-432-0799 (office)
229-435-3273 (fax)

Meetings:
5:30 p.m.
3rd Monday

UA Local 72 Union Hall
1900 Clark Ave.
Albany, GA

——-

Atlanta-North Georgia Labor Council, AFL-CIO
501 Pulliam St., S.W.
Suite 517
Atlanta, GA
30312

http://www.ga.aflcio.org/atlclc
404-525-3559 (office)
678-623-0158 (fax)

Meetings:
6 p.m.
2nd Wednesday

IBEW Auditorium
501 Pulliam St., S.W.
Atlanta, GA

——-

Augusta Federation of Trades, AFL-CIO
1250 Reynolds St.
Augusta, GA
30901

http://ga.aflcio.org/augusta
706-722-6357 (office)
706-724-9792 (fax)

Meetings:
6 p.m.
1st Thursday

1250 Reynolds St.
Augusta, GA

——-

Central Georgia Federation of Trades and Labor Council
501 Pulliam St.
Suite 511
Atlanta, GA
30312

http://ga.aflcio.org/82
404-584-0005 (office)
404-584-0009 (fax)

Meetings:
6 p.m.
1st Thursday

IBEW Union Hall
1046 Patterson St.
Macon, GA

——-

Savannah Regional Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO
P.O. Box 22654
Savannah, GA
31403

http://www.savannahclc.org
912-507-8037 (office)
425-650-9374 (fax)

Meetings:
5:30 p.m.
1st Wednesday

IBEW
508 Union Hall
1526 Dean Foret Road
Savannah, GA

——-

South Georgia Labor Council, AFL-CIO
P.O. Box 1447
Valdosta, GA
31603

http://ga.aflcio.org/85
229-559-7108 (office)

Meetings:
7 p.m.
3rd Monday

CWA Union Hall
111 Howard St.
Valdosta, GA

——-

Southeast Georgia Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO
P.O. Box 5772
St. Marys, GA
31558

http://ga.aflcio.org/86
912-882-9377 (office)
912-882-4882 (fax)

Meetings:
5 p.m.
1st Thursday

TWU Local 526
107 Industrial Drive
Suite B
Saint Marys, GA

——-

U.S. Labor Against the War:
http://uslaboragainstwar.org

Contact info:
http://uslaboragainstwar.org/contactus.php

Mission Statement:
http://uslaboragainstwar.org/article.php?id=4499

Key Wiki
http://keywiki.org/images/0/00/Uslaw.JPG
http://keywiki.org/index.php/US_Labor_Against_the_War

Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/LA-US-Labor-Against-War/244991928872304

List of Affiliate unions, more:
http://www.pennfedbmwe.org/docs/reference/us_law/Affiliations.082508.pdf

202-521-5265

USLAW
1718 M Street N.W. #153
Washington, DC
20036

U.S. Labor Against the War is a national organization of affiliated unions, labor councils, regional labor bodies, allied constituency group organizations, worker centers, ad hoc labor antiwar committees and other labor groups.
It was founded in January of 2003 to organize in the labor movement to prevent the war launched by President Bush in March of 2003.

U.S. Labor Against the War is a partner organization of the Institute for Policy Studies.

USLAW was founded at a Chicago conference in January of 2003 by between 125 and 200 delegates from unions, labor councils, regional and state labor bodies, allied constituency groups, labor antiwar committees, worker centers and other labor organizations.

http://declarationofpeace.org/endorsements/us-labor-against-the-war
http://peacenews.org/2012/02/military-union-busting-thats-disgusting-us-labor-against-the-war
http://www.1199seiu.org/support_u_s_labor_against_the_war_wisconsin_teachers_union_leader_at_1199_hq_nov_10

WorkingAmerica.org has been updated with more resources to help you make a difference.
More member voices: Our 3 million members are front and center. You can vote on your priorities and hear stories from people like you.
The issues that matter: Get the latest information on issues like good jobs, health care and education, with frequently updated posts from our Main Street blog.
The chance to take action: Get involved with campaigns like Not Your ATM, the Bad Boss Contest and the 9 Demands of the 99%.
State by state, the difference we make: At our state pages, you can get the latest news on what’s happening in your state and the victories our members are winning for working families.
Member benefits: Find out what Working America membership means for you with a clear explanation of the discounts, services and resources we offer.

Bring Your Family and Friends to Working America

Working America: Building Worker Power in Cities and States

Working America: Building a Better Future for Working Families – Community Affiliate of the AFL-CIO

Working American on Facebook
Working America
http://www.workingamerica.org
Working America Main Street Blog
http://www.workingamerica.org/blog

I am Working America:
http://www.iamworkingamerica.com
I am Working America on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/#!/WorkingAmerica

AFL/CIO
http://www.aflcio.org

Friends and Family Campaign for Working America

Working America
815 16th St., N.W.
Washington, D.C.
20006

Contact:
Christian Norton
Communications Director
Working America

http://www.workingamerica.org
202-637-5137
info@workingamerica.org

Job contact:
http://www.workingamerica.org/about/jobs.cfm
Fill out the form
Send a cover letter and résumé
workamerjobs@aflcio.org
“Canvass Organizer” in subject line

Colorado:

Denver Office
140 Sheridan Blvd. #201
Denver, CO
80226

303-935-2776
denver@workingamerica.org

Florida:

Orlando Office
231 East Colonial Drive
Suite 100
Orlando, Florida
32801

407-835-9797
orlando@workingamerica.org

Maine:

Maine Office
999 Forest Ave.
Suite 207
Portland, ME
04103

207-541-9415
maine@workingamerica.org

Michigan:

Michigan Office
210 Collingwood Drive
Suite 200
Ann Arbor, MI
48103

734-222-6496
annarbor@workingamerica.org

Minnesota:

Twin Cities Office
4407 East Lake St.
Minneapolis, MN
55406

612-331-5800
twincities@workingamerica.org

New Mexico:

New Mexico Office
3228 Los Arboles Ave NE #A
Albuquerque, NM
87107

505-255-2127
newmexico@workingamerica.org

Ohio:

Cleveland Office
2529 Detroit Ave
Cleveland, OH
44113

216-781-0376
cleveland@workingamerica.org

Columbus Office
460 E. Main St.
Columbus, OH
43215

614-223-2194
columbus@workingamerica.org

Oregon:

Portland Office
10 N Russell Street
Suite 150
Portland, OR
97227

503-224-1004
portland@workingamerica.org

Pennsylvania:

Philadelphia Office
3031 Bldg A Walton Road
Suite 302
Plymouth Meeting, PA
19462

610-940-5848
philly@workingamerica.org

Pittsburgh Office
60 Blvd. of the Allies
Suite 210
Pittsburgh, PA
15222

412-471-0285
pittsburgh@workingamerica.org

Washington:

Seattle Office
820 NE 45th St
Seattle, WA 98105

206-632-7734
seattlephones@workingamerica.org

Wisconsin:

Milwaukee Office
WI State AFL-CIO
6333 W. Blue Mound Rd.
Milwaukee, WI
53213

414-257-9433
milwaukee@workingamerica.org
——-

Green-Collar Jobs Overview and other related links:

Georgia Grassroots Nonprofits Unite!
A Green Leadership Initiative
From Atlanta, Georgia to Augusta, Georgia
“Integrate the Green”

“The Solar Retrofit”
Georgia nonprofits replacing costly old electric water heaters with efficient low-cost solar powered water heaters.
Good for the folks and good for our environment.

Great Green Ideas
The creation of “Green Jobs” in your community

Green Grassroots Team in Georgia:
Minority-Owned Green Businesses across Georgia including Atlanta and Augusta

http://claimingastreetnamedking.wordpress.com/2012/03/11/GrassrootsNonprofitsUnite_GeorgiaGreenLeadershipInitiative
http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/84897769?access_key=key-105vw5c7sn76vz2p1ix9

Georgia Green Grassroots Team:

Homero Leon, Jr.
Atlanta, Georgia
770-309-6216
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/homero-leon/32/b99/695

Rev. Terence A. Dicks
Augusta, Georgia
706-306-5731
TerenceDicks@gmail.com

“Claiming A Street Named King” on YouTube
News Story: Terence Dicks appointed chairman of Augusta Human Relations Commission
Terence Dicks on Facebook
Terence Dicks on Flickr – PhotoStream
Terence Dicks on Flickr – Profile
Terence Dicks on Google
Terence Dicks on LinkedIn
Terence Dicks on MySpace
Terence Dicks on Twitter
Terence Dicks on Viddler
Terence Dicks on Yahoo

Step One:
Community Education about the Green Economy and Green Energy, to raise consciousness, workshops, literature, meetings, advocate, educate, inspire, motivate, etc.

Step Two:
Create and develop a Green Enterprise locally, like a weatherization of homes, retrofitting solar water heaters.
Do a Business Plan.
Find investors, Angel Investors, Government Funders, Donors, and Foundations

Step Three:
Attract Green Industry to the region with minority ownership. At least part minority ownership.
Seek funding from sources like initiatives announced by Pres. Obama and the feds.

Georgia Green Grassroots Team offers thanks to partners like Dr. Yomi Noibi, executive director of Environmental Community Action, Inc. (ECO-Action).

“ECO-Action is committed to working with vulnerable communities to ensure safe and healthy environments“

                           — Dr. Yomi Noibi, executive director of Environmental Community Action, Inc. (ECO-Action)

Dr. Yomi Noibi
yomi@eco-act.org
404-584-6499
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/yomi-noibi/8/b0b/bbb
http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=26645759

ECO-Action
http://www.eco-act.org

Environmental Community Action is located in the Grant Park neighborhood in Southeast Atlanta

ECO-Action
250 Georgia Avenue, SE
Suite 309
Atlanta, GA
30312

ECO-Action
http://www.eco-act.org

ECO-Action Blog
http://eco-act.blogspot.com
ECO-Action on Myspace
http://www.Myspace.com/eco_act

——-

Green for All
http://www.greenforall.org
http://www.greenforall.org/resources/green-collar-jobs-overview
http://www.greenforall.org/blog
https://www.facebook.com/greenforall
https://twitter.com/#!/greenforall
http://www.youtube.com/GREENFORALL
http://www.flickr.com/photos/green4all

Green for All
1611 Telegraph Avenue, Suite 600
Oakland, California
94612

510-663-6500
Contact Green for All

The Building Trades Union AFL-CIO
http://www.bctd.org
http://www.facebook.com/AmericasBuildingTradesUnions

“Ensuring that Green Jobs are Quality Jobs”
Center for Community Innovation
April 2009
http://communityinnovation.berkeley.edu/reports/green%20jobs.pdf

Edward B. Barber
“A Global Green New Deal”
United Nations Environment Programme report
April 2009
http://www.unep.org/greeneconomy/portals/30/docs/GGND-Report-April2009.pdf

“Greening of the World of Work: Implications for O*NET-SOC and New and Emerging Occupation”
O*NET Research and Technical Reports
February 2009
http://www.onetcenter.org/reports/Green.html

Raquel Pinderhughes
“Green Collar Jobs: An Analysis of the Capacity of Bay Area Green Businesses to Provide High Quality Work Force Opportunities for Low-Income Men and Women with Barriers to Employment”
2007
http://bss.sfsu.edu/raquelrp/documents/v13FullReport.pdf

“Green Jobs: A Pathway to a Strong Middle Class”
Office of the Vice President of the United States
Middle Class Task Force Staff Report
February 2009
http://www.whitehouse.gov/assets/documents/mctf_one_staff_report_final.pdf

Phil Mattera
“High Road or Low Road? Job Quality in the New Green Economy”
Good Jobs First
February 2009
http://www.goodjobsfirst.org/pdf/gjfgreenjobsrpt.pdf

Nicole C. Mason
“Race, Gender and the Recession: Job Creation and Employment”
Women of Color Policy Network
May 2009
http://wagner.nyu.edu/wocpn/reports/Race_Gender_and_the_Recession_Job_Creation

“The Green Collar Economy: In Search of Eco-Equity” in Applied Research Center’s “Compact for Racial Justice – An Agenda for Fairness and Unity” by Van Jones
Applied Research Center
November 2008
http://www.arc.org/images/fr08/arc_compact_11209.pdf
http://www.arc.org

“Ensuring that Green Jobs are Quality Jobs”
Center for Community Innovation
April 2009
http://communityinnovation.berkeley.edu/reports/green%20jobs.pdf

“Bringing Home the Green Recovery: A User’s Guide”
PolicyLink and Green for All
http://www.policylink.org/atf/cf/%7B97C6D565-BB43-406D-A6D5-ECA3BBF35AF0%7D/BringingHometheGreenRecovery.pdf

“Ensuring Equal Opportunity in Our Nation’s Economic Recovery Efforts”
The Opportunity Agenda
May 2009
http://fairrecovery.org/OMBGuidanceFINAL.pdf

Amaad Rivera
“The Silent Depression: The State of the Dream 2009”
United for a Fair Economy
January 2009
http://www.faireconomy.org/files/pdf/state_of_dream_2009.pdf

Dedrick Muhammad and Barbara Ehrenreich
“The Recession’s Racial Divide”
Institute for Policy Studies
September 2009
http://www.ips-dc.org/articles/the_recessions_racial_divide

“Labor Law Reform, One State at a Time”
http://www.labornotes.org/node/2392

National Labor Relations Board (NRLB)
http://www.nlrb.gov

“Broken laws, unprotected workers: Violations of employment and labor laws in America’s cities”
September 2009
http://www.UnprotectedWorkers.org

The Davis-Bacon and Related Acts (DBRA)
http://www.DOL.gov/compliance/laws/comp-dbra.htm

U.S. Department of Labor
http://www.DOL.gov

Recovery.gov is the U.S. government’s official website that provides easy access to data related to Recovery Act spending and allows for the reporting of potential fraud, waste, and abuse
http://www.Recovery.Gov

Report Fraud, Waste and Abuse
http://www.recovery.gov/Contact/ReportFraud/Pages/Report_Fraud.aspx

Applied Research Center (ARC): Racial Justice Through Media, Research and Activism

http://www.arc.org
http://www.ARC.org/greenjobs
http://www.arc.org/content/blogsection/4/200
http://www.facebook.com/arc.org