162652008

As The Reverend Al Sharpton said in Jena, there are Jenas all over the United States. Toledo Ohio is another of our nation's Jenas and deserves the utmost attention. Like Jena, the catalyst for the trouble in Toledo begins at a high school with overt racist provocations. Like Jena the authorities handled the situation through the lens of racial preference, waging a campaign of repression and defamation against the community. Whereas white students hung 3 nooses in a tree to intimidate and insult black students, the city of Toledo allowed a full detachment of uniformed Neo-Nazis to protest "black crime" at a largely black high school in a largely black working class community. To add insult to injury a largely white police force was sent to guard these Nazis. A peaceful counter rally was organized across from the high school by an ethnically diverse coalition of regional activists. The rally was well attended by several hundred mostly young community members and anti-racists from other areas of the Mid-West. The rally was peaceful, but at a certain point an African American young person from the community threw eggs over the heads of the white police officers at the hate spewing Neo Nazis. Here, just like in Jena we see a systemic, racist, overreaction on behalf of the authorities that never seems to end. Nearly instantaneously the police charged on horseback, into the crowd of anti-racist protesters. This was accompanied by the officers raining tear gas onto the largely youthful, local crowd. Many of the elders of the community had been watching the protest from porches and windows. As the community witnessed its conscious, opinionated young people being attacked, in their own community, for having the good sense to heckle something as obviously wrong as Nazism, they could not sit by. As the police arrested people at random the community reacted in the incident that came to be known in the media as the "Toledo Riot". The police arrested over 110 people, many of them juveniles. In the course of the rioting, another young person, 17 year old Olajadai Crenshaw allegedly destroyed the lock on a local bar. Later, the bar was looted and burned to the ground by the angry community. Olajadai, for this act was not reprimanded in a way that is at all proportionate to the crime. He was tried as an adult and sentenced to 8 years in prison, 2 years of which he has already served. Let us not forget that Michael Bell was unjustly charged with attempted murder and was facing 15 years. At worst Olajidai destroyed an inanimate object and will now sacrifice many of the best years of his youth as a result. Another case is that of Lassandra Burrwell, a wife and mother of nine who allegedly threw a brick through the windshield of a police cruiser. The courts, showing a complete disrespect for her children and husband sentenced her to 5 years in prison, a sentence grossly disproportionate to any crime she could possibly have committed. All of the defendants in the crime were slighted into railroad plea bargains. The low income nature of many of those involved made protracted court cases seem impossible. The prosecutor in the cases said he would recommend light sentences in exchange for the pleas of the defendants. However the judge is in no way obliged to follow these recommendations, and often issued harsh sentences. Many community leaders enacted a very successful local petition campaign, which may have spared many more juveniles from adult sentences. This however, is a minor success which did not equal the community's signatures of support. As the prejudiced municipal authorities thought there troubles around this incident would be behind them, a new local light of protest emerged: Donnell Summers, a young African American man who was arrested at random by the attacking police as he tried to peacefully protest as part of the initial rally against racism, decided to attempt to fight his trumped up charges. He had a felony count of Aggravated Riot. The charge implies that Donnell participated in some sort of violence, which he did not. With the help of his family and small groups of supporters across the country who found out about his case, he rescinded his initial plea. Unfortunately he and his family thought they saw a light at the end of the tunnel which was a mere illusion fabricated by a court system that hoped to prevent the growing publicity around the case. The courts dropped Donnell's felony which caused him great relief. Donnell hoped to volunteer as a little league baseball coach, and a felony on his record would've made this dream impossible. Now facing the misdemeanor, non-violent charge of "riot" Donnell and his attorney felt comfortable about the possibility that they may be looking at community service if they plead. It should be noted that Donnell had already accrued thousands in debt to a previous attorney. Once again however, we saw the judge issue his own harsh sentence. Donnell was given a 6 month suspended prison sentence, 3 years probation, and a 3 month work release jail sentence. Once he turned himself in to this institution to serve his 3 months his troubles began again. He was denied clearance to leave the facility to pursue work. He has been reprimanded for abusing over the counter Motrin which he brought into the facility with him. He could not understand how it was possible to abuse Motrin and was told that he ought to have read the rule book. He explained that he was never issued a rule book, and then received one after the fact. Furthermore, his jailers told him that his conviction was a felony causing him to be treated differently than if it were a misdemeanor. His attorney had to bring court documentation to the facility proving that he did not have a felony conviction so that his treatment would be changed. Despite this Donnell was still not given his work clearance. He realized that they were waiting for his opportunity to work to expire so that he could serve the remainder of his sentence in prison. Desperate, realizing that his good name had been ruined, that his community would not receive justice, that the right to peaceful protest was being stripped from Americans, and that the courts refused to recognize blacks as participants in the political process, he has decided to give up everything for a final act of protest. Two weeks ago Donnell walked out of his work release facility and did not return. He hopes to use his status as a fugitive to give a new jolt of publicity to the plight of the African American community in Toledo. He realizes that this leaves him with few legal options. He also realizes that his risky act of non-violent civil disobedience must garner enough attention to make his likely eventual imprisonment worth it. Please don't let his efforts go on in vain!At the root of this issue is the fact that the City of Toledo is incapable of recognizing black folks from certain parts of town as political actors. This includes the city's mayor in 2005 who was black himself. His orientation was towards big business, not social justice. Black folks were arrested in October 2005 for protesting hate, and again in December of that year when the Nazis were allowed to return to the city. This time things were totally non-violent and there were a greater proportion of white supporters. However, police still arrested over twenty people. Many again, were black. Four of the people arrested were white anti-racist from Chicago. They were arrested in the city for gathering at a library before the protest ever began. They were able to sue the city and have all their charges dropped. The support of these anti-racists from Chicago is greatly appreciated, as the struggle against racism ought to be the cause of all people. However, their treatment by the city was markedly different than that given to the local black residents. They were recognized as being arrested for acting in a political capacity. They were able to secure competent legal representation. Conversely, many of those arrested in October 2005 on riot related charges had to submit to drug testing indefinitely before being granted reasonable bond (many people had bonds in excess of $30,000.) Donnell Summers submitted urine samples twice a week for 6 months after his arrest on riot charges. He never failed a single drug test. We believe this was done to humiliate the community and associate them with unrelated crimes in the eyes of the public. All these things were part of the price for daring to take direct political action. The power of the people to come together and rectify situations such as this was evidenced recently in the massive mobilizations in support of the Jena 6. As people descended on Louisiana, Olajidai Crenshaw's mother, Kay voiced support for her son at a rally in solidarity with the Jena 6 that took place in Toledo. "There are Jena's everywhere" she said. This is something that black folks and their allies realized simultaneously all over the country on September 20th. Let us get justice in order to make sure that the movements for human rights in the United States really does visit all of our nation's Jena's