Dover Delaware, 2012

On October 6, 2012 in Dover Delaware this blogger was confronted with claims of a lynching, an attempted lynching and a cover up that were not immediately credible ... Here is my weblog as I struggle to place in some kind of order all the information coming in since then. Although the topics in this blog have grown beyond the original case, still ongoing and unsolved to the minds of many, the focus is the same. Equal protection under the law.

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Trouble at San Jose University

  Gregory Johnson Jr. was killed at San Jose State University in 2008 in an apparent lynching that is officially a 'suicide'. Now we have received a report of an attempted lynching of a 17 year old student at SJSU, complete with an apparent cover up.

  On the Doug Beatty Show, listen live at 9:00 p.m. EST on 11/23/2013 or listen to the podcast later with this link: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thedougbeattyshow/2013/11/24/trouble-at-san-jose-state-university

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

White Skinned Privilege (again)

Tuesday May 14, 2013 at 820 N. French Street in Wilmington, fourth floor library of the Professional Employee Relations Board at a hearing for Dr. Jahi Issa v AAUP ( professor's union at Delaware State University).

 Dr. Issa has charged the AAUP with not properly representing him when he was arrested, suspended, and fired from his job as an associate professor at Delaware State University.

  The AAUP is contesting these charges and the matter is before the Professional Employee Relations Board.  Hearing officer Charlie Long presided over yesterday's proceedings.

  Mssrs. Goldlust and Keating Esquires represented the AAUP, also at the table was Dr. Steve Newton former president of the AAUP at Delaware State University.

 Dr. Issa objected to the status and standing of AAUP attorney Justin Keating. Dr. Issa's correspondence he introduced indicates that Mr. Keating represented him on behalf of the AAUP and was with him when Dr. Issa got a letter of termination on August 17, 2012.

 By his own admission Mr. Keating was not admitted to the bar in Delaware and had no standing to practice law. Telling a union member that you are their attorney appears to be practicing law, and regulations are consistent with this position.

  Mr. Keating also asked the Professional Employee Relations Board to grant the AAUP an extension for a response to Dr. Issa's complaint admitting that he was not licensed to practice in Delaware and at the same time stating that he was doing so by representing the AAUP.

 Accordingly complaints have been made to the appropriate authorities. Because of the pending complaints, it would appear to be a rules violation for the law firm that AAUP attorney Mr. Goldlust belongs to to grant Mr. Keating pro hoc status.

 So most of this hearing was Dr. Issa objecting to the status and standing of Mr. Keating to represent AAUP, and Dr. Issa demanding a default judgement according to published PERB rules because the respondent did not file a timely response.

 Ironically the AAUP is claiming that Dr. Issa did not file a timely response. Dr. Issa isn't concerned with this allegation and is confident that he can supply evidence and case law to refute this point.

  Perhaps the most interesting outcome yesterday was Dr. Issa filing a motion to restrict white-skinned privilege. It was provocative but accurate. Initially I had advised against this motion but given the obvious bias of PERB to the AAUP it was appropriate.

 Ironically Dr. Issa was assisted by Mr. EShed Alston a licensed legal professional and paralegal. Mr. Alston has been cited and fined for practicing law in Delaware without a license. Perhaps if Mr. Alston was a white skinned person like Justice Keating and not an African American he could have gotten away with it?

 At the end of the day hearing officer Charlie Long for PERB decided that the issue of whether or not rules had been broken by AAUP and PERB in allowing Mr. Keating to represent AAUP without being a licensed attorney and granting him an extension instead of giving Dr. Issa his default judgement doesn't materially affect Dr. Issa's case.

 Say again? If rules and procedures had been followed Dr. Issa would have prevailed already, so how does allowing Mr. Keating status and standing contrary to established rules not affect Dr. Issa's case? It should be over right now and resolved in Dr. Issa's favor.

 The Delaware State University AAUP former president Dr. Newton is also a blogger and a board member of the Delaware Libertarian party. More on that later as information develops. For now it will suffice that Steve Newton attacked another blog exactly seven days after said blog allowed me a guest post in favor of Dr. Issa.

   Interestingly enough on the Delaware Politics post I wrote supporting Dr. Issa there was an anonymous person commenting that seemed hell bent on casting Dr. Issa in a false light, suggesting that Dr. Issa should have been hauled off by the police for his views, and apparently having all kinds of inside information.

 Dr. Newton is also white.



Tuesday, April 30, 2013

A good day to be white


I'm sitting in the courtroom, listening to a case review of Delaware v Issa. This is to determine if there are any more issues to be dealt with before the state proceeds with false charges against Dr. Jahi Issa, arrested while leading his students outside the Martin Luther King Student Center intending to attend a public board meeting.

  Dr. Issa was accosted, manhandled, and ultimately arrested ( after being hospitalized ) by DSU campus police. The Chief himself was the chief attacker. For those just tuning in, the allegation by  Cheif Downes is that he only touched Dr. Issa on the shoulder in a calming manner whereupon Dr. Issa spat profanity and struck him in the chest with an elbow blow. Hence 'offensive touching' charges.

  Dr. Issa then 'pulled away' and fell to the ground, hence resisting arrest. In fact EMS was summoned, found Dr. Issa's blood pressure dangerously elevated and had him admitted to the hospital. I guess trying to stay alive is resisting arrest.

 In any case here's the video which clearly shows that Chief Downes did touch Dr. Issa in an offensive manner, he did touch him other than in a 'calming manner' and Dr. Issa didn't hit or shove anyone.




Perhaps the most chilling part of the case review was when Judge Welch said that the equestrian protest of 2010 couldn't really supply evidence of disparate treatment because the equestrian team was ordered to disperse and did so.

  A couple of points. Let's take the Judge at his word ( bad idea, but play along ). Dr. Issa never had the opportunity to comply with such an order, none was ever given. The police simply grabbed him and hauled him off. He wasn't doing anything to warrant that and the police admitted they had no probable cause to detain him when they put their hands on him.

 Number two, the state is insisting that there are no records of the equestrian protest so how does the Judge know this? If I followed correctly DSU's general counsel told him. Said counsel wasn't at the equestrian protest either so second hand heresay at best, from the bench. In fact Dr. Issa and other witnesses who were present at the 2010 equestrian protest will testify that no such dispersal ever occured.

 It was a good day to be white, unfortunately for him Dr. Issa isn't.

  Then to put a cherry on top, Delaware Family Services basically kidnapped Dr. Issa's nine year old son and tried to bring more false charges against him. Fortunately Dr. Issa's wife was able to intervene and get her son to a doctor who found that the boy was un-injured. Otherwise the state was trying to go after Dr. Issa for child abuse.

  A school nurse filed a false report saying that the young boy had blood in his ear canal, bruising on his throat consistent with being strangled, and bruised swollen ribs from being beaten. Somehow interrogating the boy in a room full of strangers the state thought they had enough to go after Mrs. Issa and get her to sign documents. Bad guess.

 The boy's family doctor examined him that very day without finding any signs of injury. So now that's another matter that must be dealt with. A school nurse that falsifies reports is not a joke, Dr. Issa will file the paperwork because he is a parent and doesn't want this to happen to other parents.

  Which brings me to the point of this post. Dr. Issa is fighting for his rights, the rights of others, and at this point his very survival. While undocumented immigrants can count on our social safety net, Dr. Issa's family is being denied food stamps and medical care he needs to keep them whole while he fights the charges against him.

  Right now, Dr. Issa needs one thousand dollars to purchase court transcripts of his criminal trial. The state won't let him file in forma pauperis because he has an attorney ( who hasn't been paid in a while ) even though he has been made indigent by the entity charging him, namely the state.

  Without the transcripts whatever the judge or state prosecutor 'recalls' from earlier proceedings will stand, so these transcripts are vital for his defense.

Please join your humble respondent in donating to Dr. Issa's legal defense fund.  This is serious, I know times are tight and there are plenty of worthy causes. Helping a man who's fighting for the first amendment, education, against lynchings, and who never refuses to help others is one of them. 


  There is a paypal button at http://hbcuinstitute.org 

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Dred Scott is back on the Docket in Delaware! In 2013



  I have blogged about the parallels between Dred Scott and Dr. Jahi "Dred Scott" Issa before. For those who aren't familiar with the case:

In Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393 (1856), Mr. Chief Justice Taney delivered
the opinion of the court that included the following statement. "In the opinion of the
court, the legislation and histories of the times, and the language used in the Declaration
of Independence, show, that neither the class of persons who had been imported as
slaves, nor their descendants, whether they had become free or not, were then
acknowledged as a part of the people, nor intended to be included in the general words
used in that memorable instrument."

  I cut and pasted that from Dr. Issa's Attorney's latest communication to Judge Charles W. Welch III in the matter of Delaware v Issa. The document can be viewed in it's entirety here. https://docs.goohttps://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/550912_4201248110051_15889289_n.jpggle.com/file/d/1d5fPQTax-RHvDbxwnrXpo3sveIEF-Z2zQ-HBoflF9QEHMt5ON-aduKV3HhP7/edit

  When I was a child living in Alexandria Virginia witnessing the riots after the murder of Dr. King I had no idea what was really transpiring. After being a teenager in the 1970's, serving in the Navy, and growing up with the modern civil rights movement there was no way I would have believed that we would still be fighting this fight in 2013.

  There is no way you could have convinced me that young black men would be suspiciously hanging by their own belts from trees in the Capitol City of a sitting United States Vice Presidents home state, and no public outcry. I would have never believed that a man could survive an attempted lynching to be mocked and ignored by the local police due to his own criminal past and skin color.

 It would have been impossible to convince me that a walking abuse of public trust like Chief Downes and his little sycophant Patrolman Buchwald would be bold enough to try and cook up a false story against a professor in front of students with cell phones recording the event.

  There are no words for these two abusers of the public trust, they testified under oath that Dr. Issa struck the Chief and all that Chief Downes did was touch Dr. Issa in a 'calming manner'. Both of those assertions are disproved by a video record of the event. To wit:

 


 I would have never believed that a sitting judge would go along with this conspiracy to pervert justice. Yet here we are, in Beau Biden's state and Joe Biden's backyard discussing Dred Scott in official court documents. Attorney Sam Guy perhaps summed the case up with this paragraph from the document linked above:
But for Dr. Issa's belief that as a black man that he could exercise 1st Amendment
rights while standing near the Martin Luther King Student Center and Medgar Evers Hall
on the campus of DSU, an HBCU, where he was employed, DSU employees including
Mr. Downes would have never have illegally and offensively put his hands on Dr. Issa.

  Words fail me at this point. Hopefully I'll get my act together in time to discuss this on Sunday evening at 10:00 p.m. EST on our blogtalkradio show. You can listen to some of our shows with the embedded player on this blog or visit http://blogtalkradio.com/douglasbeatty . Thanks for stopping by.

  Dr. Issa has been financially devastated by these events. Please consider a contribution to his legal defense fund. You can use paypal at http://hbcuinstitute.org




Monday, February 4, 2013

White Supremacy in the Delaware Court system?

 On December 4, 2012 there was a pretrial motion hearing in the case of Delaware V Dr. Jahi Issa. Dr. Issa was not allowed to present any witnesses, the hearing was recessed after the state's witnesses were presented.



 Exalted Cyclops, er, um I mean Kent County Court of Common Pleas Judge Welch promised to give a continuance date with a week. Never happened. Seven weeks went by with no word.

  Two key witnesses coincidentally left their jobs at Delaware State University while Dr. Issa and his attorney waited patiently for a continuation date so they could present their evidence in the motion hearing.

  Finally on February 1, 2013 the Judge made a ruling on the pretrial motion without any presentation from the defense. Apparently in Delaware the Judges don't want to hear anything from "Negroes". This is shocking even for Delaware: https://docs.google.com/file/d/1ylfxg-Q4cDHWXsEACRRPIn9-j6Bo9gPHVft4EaqRkCMQXzlzRKj55QeOjFr-/edit?usp=sharing

  In his ruling the Judge dismissed the charge of disorderly conduct, but his finding of 'facts' supported charges of offensive touching and resisting arrest going to trial.

 The Judge's opinion stated as fact that Dr. Issa pushed the police chief, and refused to be handcuffed. This is contrary to testimony given. Officer Buchwald did not testify that he tried to handcuff Dr. Issa to the best of my recollection.

  In any case, the video shown here refutes the testimony of the Delaware State University Public Safety Chief Downes and Patrolman Buchwald. They both testified under oath that Chief Downes only touched Dr. Issa on the shoulder in a calming manner and that Dr. Issa responded by striking the Chief with an elbow or forearm blow depending on whose testimony we are referring to. I call Bullshit. Check out the video of the event and you tell me.



  The Judge finds that Dr. Issa resisted arrest by pulling away from the officers and falling to the ground. Not considered was the fact that EMS was called to the scene, found Dr. Issa's blood pressure ( over 200 ) to be dangerous and Dr. Issa was in fact admitted to the hospital from the emergency room.

  While having one of the charges dropped is good news, Judge Welch ruling on the motion without allowing the defense to present any evidence is troubling.

  I'm puzzled as to why the state of Delaware is even pretending to have a judicial process here. Wondering when people are going to wake up to the white supremacy that is pervasive in the first state. Totally at a loss as to how this 'Judge' can look in a mirror.

  It would appear that old school white supremacy in Delaware is alive and well. Please consider contributing to Dr. Issa's legal defense fund http://hbcuinstitute.org


Thursday, January 17, 2013

We Came, We marched....

 On the eighty fourth anniversary of the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I was privileged to join other concerned Americans in a march on Dover Delaware to protest civil rights violations in Delaware and to call for a revival for the message and mission of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

  We met at a parking lot across the highway from Delaware University to gather and brief on the day's activities. The Best Buy manager promptly called the Dover City P.D. on us. They responded to that complaint, unlike the complaint of Henry J. Fordham on 21 September 2012












 

    Then we marched across the highway to protest outside the gates of Delaware State University. Alton Maddox and several others including myself gave brief speeches. This was a dedicated group of hardcore civil rights activists that didn't mind standing in the cold rain to make a point.




  
    After breaking for lunch we marched from 105 S. New Street in Dover to legislative hall and gathered on the west steps.
 

     Again we had an array of speakers take the bullhorn and deliver their message. The governor had scheduled his inauguration on legislative mall but moved it to a middle school ostensibly due to weather. It was raining civil rights activists.

    Pam Africa was giving a passionate oratory when the governor returned to legislative hall and we understand he used the back door rather than hear us and introduce himself. Perhaps poetic?

  Dr. Issa and myself want to thank all of the activists and concerned Americans who put their lives on hold to come to Delaware and celebrate the birth of  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., protest civil rights violations everywhere especially in the First State, and speak out against injustice everywhere.

  Media coverage was scant, and we would like to thank those principled local reporters who covered the event.

  We don't think that Governor Markell and Attorney General Biden are taking us seriously. This time we came with a small group of activist leaders and did not seek national media attention. It was an opportunity for our public servants to reach out and start a dialogue. Silence is deafening.

  We will be happy to do this again with mass participation and national attention. Our salaries ( zero ) remain unaffected. Stay tuned because it will be going down.

     



  

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

January 15, 2013 March on Dover


January 15, 2013

MARCH ON DOVER DELAWARE

9 AM Breakfast (TBA)

10:45AM-12PM
Drop Fraudulent Charges Against Dr. Issa!
We Will meet outside the Delaware State University Gates on Rt 13 Hwy in the Parking lot of Best Buy.


1:45 PM we will meet on New Street to March to Legislative Mall




DR. MLK SPEAKERS
2PM-4PM


___________
5-7PM
MLK Lecture at Kent County Library
Dr. Jeffery Perry


Editor of Theodore Allen's Invention of the White Race

http://www.jeffreybperry.net/



DR. MLK SPEAKERS
2PM-4PM
Dover, Delaware Legislative Mall
Jan 15, 2013
PAM AFRICA
Pam Africa is the coordinator for the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal 
The Rev. Cortly "C.D." Witherspoon
                      President of Baltimore's Southern Christian Leadership Conference

Cortly "C.D." Witherspoon

 HOWARD UNIVERSITY'S STUDENTS AGAINST MASS INCARCERATION





New Calvary Baptist Church in Montclair, NJ.





Robert Molly

 


Doug Beatty


Doug is a local Political Activist
(Doug 's father Ned Beatty is an American actor who has appeared in more than 100 films and has been nominated for an Academy Award).


Denice Johnson
Her son Gregory was lynched at San Jose State University





Tony Riddick
Tony's mother Eline was sterilized by the state of North Carolina at the age of 14




Ricardo Jones


Mr. Jones spent more than 20 years in the United States Army. He earned a Bronze Star for his bravery in Battle during the Iraqi War. He is a former Federal-Senior EEOC Investigator.