Fox News Republican debate in Greenville

... last night at the Peace Center, was rowdier than I expected.

I refer to the action outside the venue, where us scruffy anarchists and sign-carriers were assembled under the watchful eye of Greenville's Finest. In addition, it was Cinco de Mayo and downtown Greenville was packed with inebriated revellers.

I was verbally assaulted upon arrival, as a drunken right-winger asked me if I knew what L stood for????? He was leering/grimacing at me, and if there had been no cops around, I think there is an even chance he would have hit me.

I answered, "Love!"

He sneered. (I know he was thinking some variation of: Damned hippies!) He shouted in my face, stinking of beer, that it stood for LIBERAL and LIAR.

"I think it stands for love," I repeated. He wasn't having any.

"One reason! Just ONE! That you hate Fox News!"

I thought a second, "Glenn Beck," I answered.

"What about him?" he demanded, red-faced.

"He's insane," I answered.

"You just said A LOT about yourself just now!" he half-grimaced at me, yelling, "You just said A LOT!!!"

"I hope so!" I smiled, and backed away from him. In doing so, I nearly backed into Mark Sanford, about 3 feet away, babbling into a microphone. (((scream))) I turned in the other direction, as a low-country accented woman with hair piled high, accosted me. "You have NEVAH seen Fox News, if you believe that! NEVAH!" Republican onlookers offered some scattered applause, and I shouted, "I've seen far TOO much of it!"--the Ron Paul boys guffawed, as various other Republicans filing into the Peace Center offered some boos.

The overt hostility reminded me of the old days of you-know-who back in 1980, the last time a Republican screamed at me over a sign.

The Greenville News accounts of the Fox News debate are here and here, but the links may not work... as stated before, they usually nab me by the end of the day. A Republican account (warning, not safe for liberals, click at your own risk!) is here, in which Herman Cain (!), the black conservative former CEO of Godfather's Pizza, is regarded as the winner. The other participants were Tim Pawlenty, Rick Santorum, Gary Johnson and the redoubtable Ron Paul.

The Ron Paul people are just so likeable and INVOLVED, you can't help but get enmeshed in conversation with them. Most are respectful of all views, unlike the nutjobs who verbally assaulted me upon arrival. All stopped and complimented our anti-war signs. And I think it DOES matter that they seem like nice people.

When I heard that during the debate, Ron Paul had actually proposed legalizing prostitution, marijuana and even heroin and bringing all the troops home from God-knows-where, well, I was practically ready to sign on... even as I worry he would destroy the social-service safety net and Medicare. The sheer BALLS of talking this way on Fox News; you just want to reward him. Damn, why don't the other candidates (including the president and everyone on the left) TALK LIKE THIS??? They talk about money, money, save money, but where are they gonna GET that money? Dr Paul has figured it out; he doesn't talk about saving money without, you know, talking about where that money will actually come from, as Lindsey Graham and other pro-war neocon hacks do.

Suddenly, the hypocrisy of the Republican Party is shown in stark relief, and as I said, you just want to give the dude a medal.

Keep holding their feet to the fire, Dr Paul. It's fun to watch them squirm.

In fairness, former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson also offered an anti-war line, so good for him.

~*~

Photos below:

1) Ron Paul supporter I talked to for about 15 minutes, very nice person.

2) Fox News people wait for their close-ups. (Those TV-lights are incredible; I need to take them with me from now on, particularly whenever I shoot photos at night!)

They deliberately backed their chairs up to a turn lane on the corner, so we couldn't get right in back of them with our signs. Cagey!

3) Herman Cain supporter. A Fox News poll at the end of the evening, declared Cain the winner of the debate.

4) Police.

5) Demonstrators.

6) Gregg Jocoy, my co-organizer and co-chair of South Carolina Green Party. Yeah! The anti-war sign got mentioned on TV, woot!

7) and 8) Rev. David Kennedy and his group Chimuranga, added some fire to the sidewalk action.

And more photos HERE.

~*~

The death of Richard 'Jabo' Johnson, Pt. 2

The Greenville Journal, a free weekly newspaper mostly specializing in real estate advertising, photographs of squeaky-clean high school kids who win scholarships, and notices about new businesses colonizing the area, has actually attempted some investigative journalism. Unfortunately, no link (!), so I actually have to type this out of the newspaper, the old-fashioned way.

I also apologize for not having a photo of Jabo, but I still can't locate one.

The suspicious death of Richard 'Jabo' Johnson continues to divide the small hamlet/quasi-suburb of Fountain Inn. The Greenville Journal article (by Lyn Riddle) is titled A City Divided (I think it's something of a stretch to call Fountain Inn, population 7500, a city, but you get the idea) and subtitled: Young man's death stirs unrest in Fountain Inn.

A disturbing account of racial discord lying just beneath the surface, suddenly and forcefully brought out into the open:

...the death of a young black man in city jail cell No. 1 has peeled back the neat facade of Greenville County's southernmost city and exposed a lingering division between its people.

It would be too easy to say the divide was between blacks and whites, for there have been whites who have complained about the Police Department and its tactics. Some, like the Rev. David Kennedy, who years ago waged a successful public relations campaign against the Redneck Shop and its Ku Klux Klan Museum in Laurens county, believe it is more about the haves and have-nots.

"I've had whites to call me and ask me to fight for them," he said.

Residents have claimed they have been harassed routinely by police, insulted and threatened. City administrator Eddie Case declined to comment until a State Law Enforcement Division investigation into the death is complete.

The town of about 7500 people has experienced two protests against the police and more are planned. The Rev. Jesse Jackson and 20 local residents, including the mother of the man who died, toured the jail, measuring its bars and trying to see how a healthy man of average height could hang himself from them.

"This has exposed some problems on the fundamental level," said Wanza Bates, the city's only female, only black Council member.

The SLED investigation into Jabo's death continues. As I reported earlier, the Justice Department is in town, taking statements about the July 29 death of Jabo while in police custody. I heard numerous rumors when I attended the September 27th rally, including one account that the police had wanted Jabo as an informant, and that he had repeatedly refused.

And then, there were the counter-demonstrators (see above link), who have gone on the offensive:

It has been a point-counterpoint battle of wills, from the streets to the Council chambers. Councilwoman Bates circulated a letter seeking information on how the police deal with residents. Police officers' wives have gone door-to-door; asking for positive comments. City Council meetings, in part, have turned into a slugfest.

The Greenville County Coroner's office ruled Jabo's death a suicide in September. Most in Fountain Inn's black community do not believe that Jabo intentionally killed himself, particularly in such a short period of time (allegedly an hour or less) after being locked up. His mother says it just wasn't him:

His mother has said he had much to live for, including a fiancee and a job he was to start the day after he died. Jackson and Kennedy say Johnson had suspicious marks on his body, especially, Kennedy said, on his back and arms.

Official details of the bust (for marijuana and cocaine possession) are as follows:

Johnson was booked at the Fountain Inn Law Enforcement Center at 10:57 pm July 29, according to a police incident report obtained through the Coroner's Office. He and a friend had been picked up outside his grandmother's house on Boyd Street in an area known as Sanctified Hill, a predominantly black neighborhood on the southern side of the city.

The friend, Andre Pendermon, was released. Johnson was put in one of the city's four jail cells.

In their incident reports, the two police officers who arrested Johnson said they searched him and put him in a cell while they talked to Pendermon. When Officer Brian Steele returned at about 11:40 pm, he found Johnson hanging by a t-shirt, his back against the bars. He lifted him off and attempted CPR, according to his report.

EMS arrived at 11:44 pm, and Johnson was taken to Hillcrest Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 12:25 am. The autopsy (performed by Dr. Erik Christensen at Greenville Memorial) found that Johnson died of asphyxia due to hanging, complicated by acute intoxication with alcohol, cocaine and marijuana.

The article does not mention Hattie Anita Johnson's (Jabo's mother) claims that she was not permitted to see her son for almost three days after his death, as she said at the rally. The rallies have been pretty rowdy events, and the one I attended nearly turned into a confrontation between (white) police supporters and (black) protesters, in front of the Fountain Inn Law Enforcement center. Rev. Kennedy's initial application for a protest on August 30 was denied. He claims the white counter-demonstrators did not apply for a permit, as he was forced to do:

"They should go by the same rules I do," he said.

Meanwhile, at the September 13 meeting of the City Council, Judy Ladnier, whose husband is a Fountain Inn police officer, challenged Bates' right to circulate a letter on city stationery asking for complaints about the police.

"Ms. Bates, if you don't trust any of these employees, then you don't need to be here with them. You need to move on out of town," Ladnier said, according to the meeting's minutes.

She said townspeople are fed up. Officers have been slandered, cursed at and flipped off, she said.

Which townspeople are those? You mean the white townspeople?

Is it true what I heard at the rally, that there are NO black police officers in Fountain Inn, a town with a sizable black population?

Why doesn't this article tell us that? (Well, baby steps, I guess. I am still amazed they attempted to cover this story at all.) Back to Judy Ladnier:

"My husband jogs and he's been chased down by carloads that are screaming out the windows," she said, before calling Bates an embarrassment.

Sarah McBride, also the wife of an officer, said she was ashamed to call herself a citizen of Fountain Inn because of what she termed slander against officers and the protests that have taken place. She called Johnson's death tragic, but said his death was not the fault of officers.

"The fact that no one seems to have taken into consideration that this person was a local drug addict being arrested and charged with several narcotic-related charges several times, just really confuses me," she said.

Okay, mini-civics lesson for the confused Ms. McBride, who doesn't sound like a fan of LAW AND ORDER, in any of it's many incarnations:

1) Just because someone uses drugs, does not make them an addict or a dealer, or "dangerous" at all.

2) All people, drug addicts/dealers included, are entitled to rights under the law, and that includes the right not to be hanged.

How many phone calls was Jabo allowed? What precisely were the charges, and why did they decide to pick him up when they did? Did these particular police officers already know him and talk to him previously, and if so, what about? Did any other police officers ever talk to him, and what about? Why was his mother not contacted immediately? (At the rally, it was said that they did not contact her, although Fountain Inn law enforcement claims that they did.) Is SLED going to share this information, when they discover it, or not?

Wisely, Councilwoman Wanza Bates did not respond to the outbursts directed at her during the Council sessions. She has continued in her work to find out the truth, and to empower local people. South Carolina Law In Action recently sponsored a legal seminar for Fountain Inn residents, explaining their rights.

And the DoJ investigation continues, also. Let's hope we get to the bottom of this.

Can we all handle the truth?

----------------
Listening to: The Clash - The Guns of Brixton
via FoxyTunes

Jail death protest in Fountain Inn

Graphic from epodunk.com


Yes, I'll be there.



Jail death protest in Fountain Inn
New Beginning Missionary Baptist Church in Laurens County leading protest



By Nathaniel Cary
STAFF WRITER, Greenville News
Updated: Thursday, September 27, 2007 - 11:38 am

A local human rights group plans to protest outside of Fountain Inn's Police Department tonight.

The group, Schimuranga, led by Rev. David Kennedy, will hold a demonstration in connection with the death of a black Fountain Inn man at the Fountain Inn jail July 29.

The protest is the latest in a string of demonstrations over the death of Richard Javis Johnson, 25, who died at the jail when he was found hanged by his long sleeved T-shirt 30-40 minutes after he was booked on a crack cocaine charge.

Johnson's family members said they didn't think he would have hanged himself, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson toured the jail last week and said he'd seen photos that looked like Johnson had been beaten to death.

Fountain Inn police have declined to discuss specifics of the case, but said they will be cleared of any wrongdoing after the investigation. The State Law Enforcement Division is investigating and has said it won't release details for up to five more months.

The demonstration will be held 6-8 p.m. in downtown Fountain Inn, said Councilwoman Wanza Bates.

Schimuranga, a group started out of Kennedy's church, New Beginning Missionary Baptist Church in Laurens County, was organized to protest injustice to the black community, Kennedy said.

"We are holding this demonstration to expose institutionalized racism in the city of Fountain Inn," Kennedy said.

And before anyone criticizes Jesse for ambulance-chasing, being a glory-hound, etc, it's important to add that he is FROM GREENVILLE and comes to South Carolina frequently to visit his mother and extended family.

And a good thing, too:

Jesse Jackson Comments On Inmate's Death

UPDATED: 9:03 am EDT September 18, 2007

FOUNTAIN INN, S.C. -- Rev. Jesse Jackson was in the Upstate Monday, and commented on a controversy over the death of an inmate found hanged in his cell.

Jackson and members of the Rainbow Push Coalition toured the Fountain Inn jail this morning. The visit comes after the hanging death of inmate Richard Johnson in July. Officials have said that Johnson hanged himself, but some family members and supporters have said that officers were responsible for his death.

After Monday's tour, Jackson told reporters that he thinks that the dimensions of the cell would not make it possible for Johnson to hang himself.

Johnson's mother, Anita Johnson, said that the coroner's officer refused to let her see her son's body.

"I was denied to see his body at the hospital," Johnson said. "The hospital said I couldn't see him, the coroner said I couldn't see him, and the Fountain Inn Police Department said me and my family could not see my son."

Fountain Inn Police Chief Keith Morton said that he and other officers tried to call Johnson after her son's death, but could not reach her. Morton said they also drove around to different places trying to track her down. By the time they were able to reach her, they said Johnson's body had been turned over to the coroner.

Greenville County Deputy Coroner Ken Coppins said, "....because it was an in-custody death, our protocol was to seal the body bag and nobody opens it until autopsy so that evidence that needs to be collected is collected that morning at autopsy."

Coppins said that he gave his number to Anita Johnson, but because she did not have a phone, she called three times but never left a number.

Less than 24 hours after Johnson's death, his body was turned over to the Fletcher Mortuary in Fountain Inn. Coppins said he can't explain why Anita Johnson then waited until three days later to see her son there.

Jackson said, "You need to see for yourself to see how impossible it would have been to tie something around your neck and drop three inches and be suicide."

He said it appeared to him that Johnson was beaten to death, based on markings on the body. But the coroner's officer said it is common for doctors to remove pieces of skin during the autopsy.

Morton said, "Mr. Jackson is welcome to his opinion, but once again, all the information was collected by independent agencies and they'll make the determination on the cause of death."

City Official Solicits Complaints From Citizens

City Councilwoman Wanza Bates is soliciting complaints from the citizens of Fountain Inn regarding the police and is passing them on to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.

Bates said. "People feel that they're being inappropriately treated and we need to do something about that. The city of Fountain Inn needs to do something about that."

She said, "I'm hoping that we have the appropriate policies, regulations, procedures in the city of Fountain Inn so that citizens feel safe so that when a police officer stops them, that they are appropriately stopping them, that they are not harassing them, that they are not physically abusing them. These are the natures of the stories I've been told."

News 4 has learned that SLED confirms receiving something of this nature, but there is no official investigation.

Later Monday, Jackson went to Clemson, encouraging people to register to vote. Jackson was in Simpsonville on Sunday night pushing the vote.

He and the Rainbow Push Coalition visited Bethlehem Baptist Church as part of Jackson's 12-city voter education tour across the state.

The Greenville NAACP is also investigating the death of Richard Javis 'Jabo' Johnson while in police custody in Fountain Inn.