Who is
ready to fight for justice for Kwadir Felton and who is going to ‘sit this one
out’?As the nation rises to demand
justice for those who have been felled by police bullet and police hands, by
police who have not been brought to justice, when is NJ going to stand up FOR
ONE OF ITS OWN who SURVIVED the police bullet to the head, ended up BLINDED FOR
LIFE and was set up on FALSE GUN CHARGES and TRUMPED UP CONSPIRACY CHARGES, now
serving 16 YEARS at NJ’s Southwoods facility.
Black
Lives DO Matter.Kwadir’s Life
Matters!His life has been seriously
harmed in the loss of his sight and the loss of his freedom.The police who put a bullet in his head at
close range is free.As the movement for
justice grows, as we chant that we got our HANDS UP – DON’T SHOOT and that we
CAN’T BREATHE . . . lets also add remember that Kwadir CAN’T SEE!
We need
to now reassemble the team to fight for Kwadir’s Freedom – to support the legal
position for the appeals process.We all
know that the true court of justice is in the street – including the virtual
and the physical street – we need to make a clear demonstration of power of NJ’s
justice community that it stands WITH KWADIR FELTON in the appeal for a new trial.
What is
needed now are:
1. NJ as
well as national and international human rights activists that are prepared to
rally in support of his appeal.Those
interested in joining the Justice for Kwadir Felton Committee should contact
Renee Felton at ladyd4407@yahoo.com
.Let Renee get dozens of e-mails a day from those who are looking for ways
to support the demand for appeal of the conviction and a new trial for Kwadir.
2.
Bloggers who can use their access to blog sites to write about the situation.You can interview Renee and arrange that
through e-mail address: ladyd4407@yahoo.com
.Renee can also put you in contact with Kwadir’s appeal attorney and you
can likely get some more background on the grounds for appeal for your writing.If you have access to a blog site, please
consider reblog of the two recent articles on the situation:
3. Once
a press release is ready on the appeal, assist in sharing the press release
with news outlets and following up to make sure the story gets some air play in
the mainstream, Black and other alternative media.
4. Everybody
can easily share and retweet the link to this CALL TO ACTION for Kwadir – in forums,
groups, via e-mail, twitter and however you participate in social
networking.You can also set up links to
this call or write your own call to action for support.We need to develop a core of support and
around that a groundswell to demand justice for Kwadir.
5.
There no doubt will continue to be rallies around NJ demanding justice in the
many cases of police killing and brutality that are continuing daily.Make Justice for Kwadir part of the rallying
cry.Invite Renee Felton (or other
Kwadir supporters) to speak on the topic at your events.
6.
Make your own self educated on the case by reading up – in addition to the
links given above, additional background is here.Be also encouraged to share this link.
Understanding that there are numerous cases and more
added to the list every day, NJ needs to rally for its own.Kwadir needs to know that we are out here
fighting for him and the powers that be that will decide on the appeal need to
know that this case is one more primary concern for those of us who consider
ourselves on the side of justice.We can
help make this happen but we need to be educated, engaged and in motion.LETS FREE KWADIR!
Those who know me are aware that I am struggling with the
recent loss of my younger brother who perished – struck by a vehicle – on
September 12.This Christmas is a blue
one for me as are many moments, hours, days.I am sure many others have suffered various losses of their own and
understand that Christmas most certainly is NOT the most wonderful time of the
year – it is a time for great sorrow for those who suffered losses and great
feelings of inadequacy and shame for some who live hand to mouth and feel
pressure to spend money they do not have.
That said I do want to express some things that make me
happier or that make me feel better about myself.
At the start of 2014 I pledged to myself to do a better job as an activist and
to attempt to make an effective contribution to “the struggle” – at least once
per month.
I am not sure that I accomplished that but I was able to
lend a hand to various efforts.More
importantly – this work has brought me into contact with a growing milieu of
activists, organizers and revolutionaries – meeting many face to face and
working with others through various social and other networking.
These are two natural highs that I have experienced this
past year . . . the feeling of accomplishment and reflection on the
accomplishment in helping to promote more effective struggle and the feeling of
connection between myself and others . . . that I have (hopefully) increased my
trust-ability to some, that folks have a desire to work together with me, to
join organizations and efforts that I am part of, to participate in projects
that I am engaged in – and to occasionally share some words of friendship and
some laughs.It is a gush and a rush!
One of the first things I attempted to accomplish early this
year was an attempt to mobilize folks for the sentencing hearing of Kwadir
Felton – a situation I was made aware of by the writings of Margaret Kimberley
and Rania Khalek.The initial attempts
to mobilize were somewhat befuddled by changing dates and my inability to
mobilize significant interest.However –
eventually I was contacted by Kwadir’s mother Renee, made contact with his
attorney Brooke Barrett and later became successful in at least drumming up
some blog articles and participating with Renee in some outreach meetings.We also through our organization Decarcerate
the Garden State were able to help Renee resolve a visitation rights violation
by the prison authorities at Southwoods State where Kwadir is held.
The next idea I had was to pitch in with the Newark effort
to thwart the school privatization plans by Christie and his puppet Cami
Anderson – the state appointed usurper-intendent of Newark schools.My goal was initially to try to interest the
national media, that was doing a lot of reporting about Christie’s Bridge-gate
– to recognize the much bigger scandal and more harmful of the Newark
privatization as a tentacle of the corruption that surrounds the decadent
Christie regime.While I was unable to
interest the “mainstream media” I was able to connect with a handful of
national bloggers who were helpful in bringing some national attention to the
issue.
One of which, Michele Mattisons, who I have become virtual friends with – we
chat regularly, have had a couple of phone conversations and even talk about
non – revo stuff occasionally.Another
who I corresponded with frequently initially was Martin King – who’s real name
I still do not know – but he coached and advised much of my initial efforts for
Newark.
A big part of the experience of assisting with the outreach was the connection
I made with probably literally over 100 Newark activists, organizers, concerned
parents, teachers . . . most of them people I had not known previously.When I went to the first event I attended in
Newark, a school board meeting (first one after Cami Anderson'sr walk out) there was a woman
who told me people already knew who I was (and told me that I was “loved”
lol).I was able to meet many of the
movers of the movement against privatization working with MIcheal Dixon, Newark
Students Union, New Caucus and others and the Rutgers based FTA to organize a well
attended panel discussion in New Brunswick in support of the Newark efforts.A highlight of my involvement was a spring
rally at the Statehouse and my son’s performance of a song we wrote for the
occasion there called Reformers of Schools to the tune of Bob Dylan’s Masters
of War.
Then came the accusation against Syria of use of chemical
weapons – largely speculative and definitely not proven.There was discussion of imminent war on Syria
and I worked with Madelyn Hoffman, Debra Key, Margaret Kimberley on a “Street
Discussion” at the fountain in New Brunswick on the topic of opposing the war
on Syria.Son Rob provided Music
background to the event.It was at this
event that I first met personally Carlene and her partner Lawrence.
As the year progressed, there was discussion of marijuana
legalization and I started ranting on Facebook that if NJ is going to legalize
that it was important to include decarceration (and conviction relief) to any
law that passes.Chris Redwood and
Milton Conway joined in.Soon I
organized a street discussion on the topic in New Brunswick working with
Carlene, Renee Felton came in from Jersey City, Ken Wolski a leader of the
Medical Marijuana movement and Skot V. a victim of arrest for his legal use of
medical marijuana.The turn out was not
great but it helped set up a model for a similar event more directly focused on
decarceration that followed in Newark.
Cassandra Dock who was unable to come down for the New
Brunswick event nonetheless offered to help get the ball rolling in
Newark.With Her, Milton Conway, Ruben
Mendez and See Asia as well as several others, we had an initial meeting of
what would become the Committee to Decarcerate the Garden State.We ended up organizing our first main event
which was a Street Panel Discussion on the steps of Newark City Hall on the
topic of decarceration – joined by Peoples Organization for Progress with Jo
Ann Sims active participation and the Newark Anti Violence Coalition. Newark’s
youthful Micheal Hobbs also was prominently involved in these efforts.Of course critical to the success of this
event was keynote speaker Johanna Fernandez: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lgTuEiyvDI
The event also drew support from the marijuana legalization
movement, particularly Kyle Moore, and the 15 NOW minimum wage increase
movement, particularly Brian Powers (who at midnight on the eve of the kick off
event designed and printed our banner!)
Later in the summer we took our decarceration efforts to the
streets of New Brunswick with street petitioning and music performances.There I met personally for the first time
David Rutherford who has since been elected to the Plainfield School Board – he
also blogs on Plainfield and related matters for the Plaifield View – he wrote
this piece documenting our efforts:
Isabel Rodriguez, good friend of son Robert was also most
helpful at the event as was Dev Ranjo and Brian Powers of the 15 Now movement.
Shortly thereafter at David Rutherford’s urging we joined an
anti-violence event in Plainfield organized by the youth group KYSS calling for
an end to the fratricidal street killings.We put together a meeting after the event at a local pizza shop to share
our NJ Decarcerator paper and plan for a decarceration event in
Plainfield.Circumstances (explained
shortly) interrupted what was the initial plan but it is still on the agenda,
working with Sabrina Elise, Amanda Garcia , Nia Lovelee, Bishop Nappyhead, Dwight Eric
Massey, Josh Howard and others.
Of course as per my tradition for the last 6 years my spring through summer was
full of the usual triathlon events.One
of them though is of particular note, activist Joe Arcoleo who I had crossed
paths with in the 80s around Central America solidarity work and labor /
community issues was preparing for his town’s (Denville) triathlon and as he
swam in the lake the race would occur, he suffered a heart attack and
drowned.Hearing of the tragedy I signed
up for that race and I completed it in his honor.It was my first mournful triathlon – usually you
have an internal celebration when you finish and share in the athletic commraderie
with the other finishers but I was all
alone at this one after the race thinking that while everyone else is happy –
he should be there with us but that he was missing.
Then my own tragedy struck, on September 12 – my younger
brother Danny Witanek was cut down in a tragic accident at the youthful age of
51 and my life and much of the activist planning I was working on went down the
tubes.I got the call from my Mom at
5:30 am and I had to partake in the dreadful activity of driving up to North
Jersey where it happened to retrieve his bags from where he was staying and his
wallet from the police station.I still
totally can not deal with it.I walk
around in public half the time trying to keep from bawling my eyes out. OF course writing this during the “season to
be jolly” – I have the blues for Christmas and I know my family will be
struggling through these days.
Shortly after his demise – I was already signed up for a
half iron man triathlon which is a 70 mile ordeal – I opted to stay in it thinking
it would be more depressing to bag it.It proved to be a feat that was physically as well as emotionally
trying.
Shortly thereafter – still licking my wounds from my brother’s
demise (which is still true every single day) I came across the news that the
administration at Rider University where
my son is a piano major at Westminster Choir College was trying to force
concessions and threatening to force a strike on the professors there.At first it was just a letter I pounded out
to the University president.Soon I sent
the letter to the professors that were negotiating with the administration and
THEY LOVED IT.They put it up at their
website and I converted it to a petition.They also posted the video of my son’s performance of a Rzewski fantasy
on Which Side Are You On that my son had video recorded.
My son and I ended up coordinating student / parent support
for the faculty -a factor the
administration was not ready for.The
faculty was tightly united but I also believe our muscle helped bring about a
positive result.Son Rob and I ended up
being the only two “civilians” honored at their contract verification session.
I was mixed in getting involved in this so soon after the
loss of my brother but it also proved as a distraction from constantly dwelling
on it.The win in the struggle was also
a mixed bag – I did not get the elation that was deserved for having
contributed to an actual battle that had been won because it meant losing the
distraction and going back to troubling fixation on Danny’s exit.
October rolled in and son Rob and I joined the Cannabis
Conference on behalf of Decarcerate the Garden State Committee – and Isaebel
Rodriguez.None of us actually imbibe –
they never inhaled and I never exhaled.My purpose in participating was to inject the politics of decarceration
into the marijuana legalization struggle.Rob provided background music for the smoke out at 4:20 on the day of
the event.
It was my first direct work
with Ed Forchion aka Weedman and it was Kyle Moore who initially had told me
about the event at the July 30 Decarceration Street Panel in Newark that was
responsible for engaging our participation.We broke bread with the weed crew at a down town restaurant where I got
to hang with them and meet some of the others including Dudeist Priest,
Wordsmith Williams, Claudia Litost, Amanda Panda and others.I suggested the possibility of doing some
combined events on campuses connecting the war on drugs and the mass
incarceration issue.]
Over the summer I had been contacted by Dr. Justice about
doing a decarceration event in Newark.
She told me her story about having been set up and incarcerated on bogus
charges due to her challenges to corrupt elements in the Democratic Party
machine.She invited Decarcerate the
Garden State to participate in the event which occurred at Metropolitan Baptist
Church in Newark.While she did most of
the set up for the event, I assisted with a press release and outreach for it.It was a tremendously successful event – here
is a full report.I also had the
pleasure of working with Munirah Bomani on this event.
There was a chilling experience I had in the lead up to this
event on my way to an organizing meeting at REFAL center – 1 block from that
site actually when I heard 6 gunshots ring out.It turns out that there were two victims – both ending up dead.I wrote about the connection of the violence
to decarceration work in the following article:
Since, we have held a meeting coordinated by Gary Frazier
and with participation of Queneke King in Camden and we are working on putting
together a panel discussion on mass incarceration scheduled for January 24 in
Camden at the Ferry Library.(Weedman
made an appearance with his colorful van). I am also working with the Plainfied crew
mentioned earlier on getting a similar event together there.
There are also random little short term projects I took up
in between some of these occurrences, for example, Nyambi Ali was coordinating
signatures for a petition against a tuition hike at Brookdale Community College
so I spent a couple of hours social networking with her – trying to connect her
to student and other activists around NJ.Not sure how many signatures she got out of it – I do not think too many
but it was a rewarding experience to interact with her in that regard.
Also I attempted to rally my childhood home town against the placement of toxic mud piles along the Rahway RIver - ran about 10 miles delivering a flier I had drafted. The Carteret folks like on the page but are unready to make their moves.
The nuts and bolts of the interactions I have had with those
named in this article, and many probably hundreds of others in the past year,
have provided me with sincere elation – and thinking back on some of these
accomplishments has given me strength and perseverance.It does seem that this sort of involvement is
helping me to deal with the tremendous emptiness of having lost a brother.
I also often think about the folks mentioned here (and many
others) and the efforts they all represent and it helps stir in my mind schemes
and plots of projects I might be able to do with them in the coming
year(s).If I have not mentioned you it
does not mean that our work together was any less important than those that are
mentioned – only that I have probably forgotten some of the details.I hope that I have begun to earn some trust
and helped build some trust between people through these efforts as developing
better trust will help lead to increased convergence of efforts and hopefully
eventually – unity – without such we are lost.
In addition to all of the above events, in the past year, I
have contributed to:
A petition demanding the passage of the NJ Decarceration Act that will bring
about 50% reduction of NJ’s decarcerated population over 4 years.
I am not going to wish everyone a merry Christmas – the holiday
is too full of emotional trappings (over family loss) and economic
pressure.
Instead my hope and wish is for a more effective year of
effective organizing and a little bit of a lucky wind in our direction in our
struggles for system change in 2015.You
all have helped me this year and you all inspire ideas and schemes in my head
for projects to pursue in the coming year.The movement is my therapy and is helping me avert the fixation on my
own family loss – which is no more significant than the losses many others have
suffered and continue to suffer.
TO ALL MY BELOVED COLLEAGUES. .. COMRADES . . . LET 2015 BE
OUR YEAR!
