Showing posts with label Politics and Current Events. Show all posts

PEMG and NYOIL present: Beneath the Surface

Published Friday, December 3, 2010 at 9:17 AM by Catch Wreck

NYOIL and PEMG are putting together a new series called Beneath the Surface. In the pilot, NYOIL sits down with Ant Rich, Head of Urban A&R at Jive Records to discuss the current state of the music industry. Definitely an interesting conversation..

Jailbirds

Published Monday, November 22, 2010 at 8:17 PM by Catch Wreck

Via Pen and Sword Political Pirates Blog

Video / Info Graphic by Frank Chimero for Good Magazine visualizing some of the horrifying stats about U.S. prisons

Zeitgeist: Moving Forward | Official Trailer

Published Friday, November 12, 2010 at 10:31 AM by Catch Wreck

Conspiracy theorists rejoice! The third installment in the holy trinity of spooky documentaries is on the way! I'm no zealot, but the Zeitgeist series certainly raises some interesting points. To be honest I never made it through part two in its entirety but I am certainly interested in seeing what part 3 has to offer.

Zeitgeist: Moving Forward | Official Trailer- [ Extended ] from ZeitgeistMovie.com on Vimeo.

Serj Tankian on Tavis Smiley 10/12/10

Published Tuesday, October 19, 2010 at 3:58 AM by Catch Wreck

System of a Down's Serj Tankian sits down with Tavis Smiley to discuss art, activism, and Tankian's new solo project, Imperfect Melodies..

Watch the full episode. See more Tavis Smiley.

Chris Faraone Takes on Corruption in the Prison System

Published Thursday, September 9, 2010 at 5:16 AM by Catch Wreck

The reform-proof prison

Why Massachusetts' correctional system hasn't gotten any better

By CHRIS FARAONE | September 8, 2010

In March 2004, Kathleen Dennehy was hired as the new Department of Correction (DOC) commissioner. The first woman ever to hold the job, she had served nearly 30 years in the system, working as a deputy commissioner and before that as superintendent of the women's prison in Framingham. The challenges before Dennehy were grave; in August 2003, defrocked Catholic priest and serial child rapist John Geoghan was strangled to death by a white supremacist in his cell at the Souza Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, casting a negative light on the department.

In response to the subsequent uproar, then-governor Mitt Romney and his secretary of public safety, Ed Flynn, tapped Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger to head an investigatory panel, the Governor's Commission on Corrections Reform (GCCR). The final Harshbarger report concluded that Geoghan had been severely harassed at Walpole, where the priest was initially held, and that at Shirley, Geoghan had landed in a vulnerable cell block as a result of officers citing him for unwarranted disciplinary infractions.

The Harshbarger report was ugly, and over the next three years, the DOC's Office of Investigative Services struck officers with 312 charges of misconduct, resulting in the firing of more than 100 guards across the department. Seventy-three officers were found guilty of illegally assaulting convicts, and 98 were found to have participated in illicit sexual misconduct with prisoners. The report also proposed strategies for purging the DOC of rogue guards deemed unwilling to accept the department's heightened standards. The Massachusetts Correction Officers Federated Union (MCOFU) fought hard against the DOC's crusade, directing much of its spite at the woman who Romney chose to spearhead the invigorated state prison reform effort.

From the beginning of her tenure as commissioner, Dennehy clashed with union loyalists intent on maintaining the status quo. Reps from the Massachusetts Correction Officers Federated Union (MCOFU) declined to show up at initial meetings to draft a new department vision statement, and, five months after Dennehy's start, officers hit her with a vote of no confidence. But in the years that followed, until Governor Patrick replaced her with Harold Clarke in 2007, it got worse: Dennehy reported that her car tires were slashed during one prison visit; union members followed her with an inflatable rat and hired private investigators to pursue her; and an underground officer newsletter caricatured the commissioner performing oral sex.

READ: "Troubled Over Bridgewater," by Chris Faraone

It's no surprise that Dennehy locked ideological horns with the union. MCOFU's then-president Steve Kenneway had just completed a tour in Iraq, where he served at Abu Ghraib as an Army reservist. When the notorious Baghdad prison came under scrutiny for outrageous human-rights violations that were exposed in a series of incriminating pictures, Kenneway publicly defended his military comrades, stating that he never witnessed a single inappropriate interrogation. Dennehy, on the other hand, was tasked in to lead the biggest Massachusetts jail reform initiative in 40 years.

One proposed change that was met with vitriol by union members pertained to system-wide disciplinary and grievance processes. Historically, convict complaints had little chance of reaching DOC administrators beyond prison walls, as each facility operated as its own fiefdom in which investigations of prisoner abuse were discreetly addressed or completely ignored. Dennehy sought increased accountability, not only in how grievances were handled, but for officers who abused their power. Only third party DOC administrators, she believed, could admonish rogue officers.

Read the Full Story Here: http://thephoenix.com/Boston/news/108112-reform-proof-prison/#ixzz0z289Fvj6

New Sites!

Published Friday, July 2, 2010 at 6:52 AM by Catch Wreck

We goin blog crazy out here! Just set up a couple sites to focus on networking and movement-building.

Young Gifted and Black was actually set up a few years ago, when myself and many of the young artists of color in Boston came together for a show that eventually grew into a movement. We never did much with the website until now, but the hope is to use this site to turn YGB into a global movement with young artists of color all over the world.

United in Resistance is a blog that we setup after the powerful video conference with Gaza. With this site we would like to continue the dialogue we began with the video conference and also promote Afro-Arab unity and solidarity.

Shout to Palestine!

Published Wednesday, June 23, 2010 at 8:11 AM by Catch Wreck

If ten years ago somebody told me that I would be able to talk to people across the world via a live video feed on a TV screen and a microphone, I would've thought they were crazy. If they told me the live video feed would be located in Dudley Square and be used to talk to people in Gaza in Palestine, I would've really thought they were crazy. However yesterday morning I did just that, thanks to Jamarhl Crawford, John Ewing and the work of the Virtual Street Corners project.

Normally Virtual Street Corners connects Dudley Square in Roxbury with Coolidge Corner in Brookline: Two areas in Boston only two miles apart with virtually no interaction with each other until this project.

Yesterday, however, Dudley and Coolidge Corner got to connect with students in the Gaza strip, via the video chat and an organization called Tida that works to connect Palestine with the world at large.

The conversation covered everything from politics, current events, education, the arts, daily life, and of course, World Cup Soccer (We are both supporting the African and Latin American teams).

One of the students shared a rap in Arabic. I could not understand a word of what he said, but his flow was definitely on point and I would love to work with him in the future. I shared with them my verse from 'Thug Survival' about the police. Also, I got to hear a beautiful poem about the struggle in Palestine, from one of the young ladies in the group. I had known there was Hip Hop and poetry in Palestine from a documentary I watched called Slingshot Hip Hop and also from meeting DAM in Boston when they performed here, but I did not know that the talent was so outspread!

After more than an hour of conversing, it became apparent we (young people in the States and in Palestine) have a lot more in common then we realize. By the end of the broadcast we were anxious to continue the conversation, and stay connected. It is absolutely amazing how far technology has come and how we can use it as a tool to connect with the world.

Click here to read what the conversation was like from the perspective of Amal Murtaja who participated in the convo from the Gaza side.

Also, Live from Gaza is a blog run by Lina, who also participated in the convo and is a great source of information on what is going on in the Gaza strip.

10KStrong in Boston Globe

Published Tuesday, June 22, 2010 at 1:08 PM by Catch Wreck

Rally addresses neighborhood violence, drugs

Youths suggest more activities to occupy peers

Jesse Winfrey (left) greets Mercedes Reid at the 10,000 Strong Boston event on Father’s Day. Activists and politicians spoke. (Pat Greenhouse/ Globe Staff)

By Jack Nicas

Globe Correspondent / June 21, 2010

To 21-year-old Jesse Winfrey, growing up in Roxbury was not easy. There were few summer jobs, and fewer alternatives to the streets. Drugs and guns were just a part of life.

“You’d be hard-pressed to find somebody my age who’s not somehow connected to the negative lifestyle,’’ said Winfrey, who spends much of his time writing rap lyrics about the issues afflicting his community. “Just living here, knowing people, you get automatically involved.’’

Three weeks ago, his friend Ivol Brown was stabbed to death in Mattapan, one of four teens killed in the city last month.

Last week, Winfrey was in a corner store near his home when he heard gunshots outside.

“Had I left my house two minutes later,’’ he said, “I could have been dead.’’

But there is hope for a better Boston, Winfrey and four other Roxbury youths said yesterday at an antiviolence event at Franklin Park.

And the solutions can be simple, they said.

“More community centers where kids can go hang out together and break down these barriers with kids from different neighborhoods,’’ said Jeremy Rodriguez, 19, a student at College Bound Dorchester.

“And we need more jobs for the youths,’’ Winfrey said. “There’s a three-month period with no school and a lot of kids just have nothing to do. There’s got to be something to keep their minds active.’’

The discussion intensified when the topic of guns came up. All five blamed lax laws for the influx of firearms in the city’s poorer neighborhoods.

“There’s 12-year-olds walking around with guns, that’s how easy it is,’’ said Santiago Rivera, 20, who wore a shirt memorializing his friend Paola Castillo, a pregnant woman who was shot dead at her 18th birthday party in Hyde Park last fall.

Getting rid of guns “wouldn’t solve all the problems, but it would make a big difference,’’ he said.

The five men, all members of advocacy groups, were just a sample of the young activists at the third annual 10,000 Strong Boston, a gathering aimed at addressing the challenges in the black, Latino, and Cape Verdean communities.

The event’s founder, Jamarhl Crawford, a 39-year-old activist who greets everyone by saying “Peace,’’ said solving the city’s corruption is key to solving its problems.

“The cries for peace are great, but we need to recognize the cries should really be for justice,’’ he said.

The important questions aren’t being asked, he said, such as, “Where are the kids getting all these guns from?’’

Che Furiga, the mother of Terrence S. Kelley, an 18-year-old gunned down in Dorchester on May 28, said fewer guns and more summer jobs would help, but nothing is as important as good parenting.

“I have a 4-year-old and I’m going to protect him with all that I can,’’ she said. “And I hope everyone else starts protecting their children and starts schooling their children on the things happening out here, so we can just stop this. Stop the nonsense.’’

Noting that it was Father’s Day, Governor Deval Patrick called men to action during his speech at the event, asking them to step up not only for their own children, but also for children without fathers.

“There’s a need for adults to start acting like adults,’’ he told the Globe later. “We need to start intervening, and paying more attention to our kids.’’

Jack Nicas can be reached at jnicas@globe.com.

Grinding

Published Friday, June 11, 2010 at 4:09 PM by Catch Wreck

In a Hood near you.. (Boston)

Been a Long time..

Published Monday, April 12, 2010 at 9:32 AM by Catch Wreck

..I shouldn't leave you, without some strong blogs to read through. I know I keep saying I'ma get better at keeping this updated but it doesn't seem to have worked thus far. With a million and one things currently on my plate its been difficult but I haven't forgotten the many loyal readers who frequent this blog.

Its been utter chaos the past couple weeks and I have some good and also some very unfortunate news. Beginning with the bad news I am saddened to share that yet another young black male was shot and killed by Boston Police last weekend. 19 year old Manuel DaVeiga was at a memorial for his friend who was recently killed before police chased and eventually shot and killed him, making him the 17th victim of Boston Police gunfire since 1995. My thoughts and prayers go out to his friends and family, as well as the entire city of Boston as we gear up for what we all hope to be a peaceful Summer.

For updates on the situation check the Blackstonian and VOL.

Haiti

Published Saturday, January 16, 2010 at 8:09 PM by Catch Wreck

Due to the recent earthquake disaster taking place in Haiti, I will be donating all proceeds from the sales of Violence Transformed to the relief effort. My thoughts and prayers go out to my Haitian brothers and sisters suffering as a result of this tragedy. As difficult as it is to watch the disturbing images on television and hear the horrifying reports, we can all help out and contribute in different ways. I commend Wyclef for stepping up to the plate and trying to help and I encourage everyone to contribute whatever they can to Yele Haiti. We will get through this together! ....Oh and Pat Roberson, you are the devil, go to hell.