2010 Codhill Poetry Chapbook Award
Prize: $1000 cash prize and fifty copies
Judge: Pauline Uchmanowicz
Manuscripts are judged anonymously. Codhill Press will consider all finalists for publication. Please see our Chapbook Award 2009 page for a list of last year's winner and finalists.
Guidelines
The competition is open to any poet who writes in English. Previously published poems with proper acknowledgement are acceptable. Translations and previously self-published books are not eligible.
Poets should submit twenty to thirty pages (no more than one poem per page) plus SASE for contest results and $25 reading fee. Manuscripts should be on good quality white paper, paginated consecutively, with a table of contents and acknowledgements and bound with a clip. Include two cover pages, one with the title of the manuscript alone, and a second with your name, address, phone number, and email address, together with the title. Your name must not appear anywhere else on the manuscript.
Entries must be postmarked by November 30, 2010.
No UPS or FedEx. You may include a SASE postcard for confirmation. Manuscripts will not be returned. Simultaneous submissions to other publishers are permitted, but Codhill Press must be notified immediately if the manuscript is accepted elsewhere.
Mail manuscript and entry fee to:
Pauline Uchmanowicz
Codhill Poetry Chapbook Award
P.O. Box 280
Bloomington, NY 12411-0280
Contest Procedures and Ethical Concerns.
Codhill Press is committed to safeguarding the integrity of its contest. You should not enter if you have studied with the judge or received her help in shaping a manuscript. Similarly, in order to avoid any impropriety, the judge is instructed to set aside any manuscript she has had a hand in creating. Codhill subscribes to the CLMP contest code of ethics, and agrees to
1. conduct our contest as ethically as possible and to address any unethical behavior on the part of our readers, judges, or editors;
2. provide clear and specific contest guidelines--defining conflict of interest for all parties involved; and
3. make the mechanics of the selection process available to the public.
Additional considerations.
Before you submit a manuscript to the Codhill competition, please read the work of the poets we publish. We publish a diversity of approaches, from the formal to the openly experimental. Codhill has published books by poets in academe and by poets having no connection to academics. We have published books that are accessible and ones that are abstract and demanding--and the range between. All publications rely on vivid language use, a musicality, technique, importance of content, and a willingness to take risks.
via codhill.com
Guidelines
Subito Press of the University of Colorado invites submissions to its annual book competition. We will publish two books of innovative writing, one each of fiction and poetry.
Submissions will be accepted from June 1 to August 14, 2010 (postmark date).
Submit manuscripts of up to 70 pages of poetry or up to 100 pages of (double spaced) fiction along with a $20 reading fee (make checks payable to Subito Press) and an SASE for notification of results. Manuscripts should include two cover sheets: one with title only, the other with title, author's name, address, e-mail, and phone number. All submissions will be judged anonymously by the creative writing faculty at the University of Colorado; friends, relatives, and former students of University of Colorado creative writing faculty are not eligible. Simultaneous submissions are ok; please notify Subito immediately if your ms. is accepted elsewhere. Winners will give a reading at the University of Colorado in the Spring of 2010. Notification of winners will occur by January of 2010.
Send mss. to:
Subito Press
Department of English
226 UCB
Boulder, Colorado 80309-0226CLMP Contest Code of Ethics
Subito Press adheres to the Council of Literary Magazines & Presses Contest Code of Ethics: CLMP's community of independent literary publishers believes that ethical contests serve our shared goal: to connect writers and readers by publishing exceptional writing. We believe that intent to act ethically, clarity of guidelines, and transparency of process form the foundation of an ethical contest. To that end, we agree to 1) conduct our contests as ethically as possible and to address any unethical behavior on the part of our readers, judges, or editors; 2) to provide clear and specific contest guidelines—defining conflict of interest for all parties involved; and 3) to make the mechanics of our selection process available to the public. This Code recognizes that different contest models produce different results, but that each model can be run ethically. We have adopted this Code to reinforce our integrity and dedication as a publishing community and to ensure that our contests contribute to a vibrant literary heritage.
via subitopress.org
First Annual Platypus Prize
An Anthology of The Best College Writing: 2009-2010
THE PLATYPUS PRIZE recognizes U.S. college students whose innovative writing demonstrates excellence in creative intent, conception and execution. Our goal is to recognize aspiring writers who explore creative possibilities far beyond the traditional literary process and product. We welcome submissions from students outside of creative writing programs.WE STRONGLY ENCOURAGE writing, in any genre, that investigates the visual aspects of text and incorporates mixed media and/or multimedia in order to comment on contemporary expressions of narrative as they relate to the way we live now -- or may live later. CDs, DVDs, URLs and use of color are also encouraged.
WINNERS will be published in the anthology. Each will receive a copy of the full-color book published by Jaded Ibis Press and distributed through Amazon.com, Jaded Ibis Productions, and other literary distribution channels. One Editor's Choice Award receives $100. Press releases listing each winner's name, academic major and school will be sent to print and digital U.S. newspapers, magazines and other media outlets.
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS: Writers must be or have been enrolled in a Bachelors, Masters, or PhD program in any discipline in a U.S. college, or in a Community College, at any time between January 2009 and December 2010. Enrollment will be verified through your school's records office.
AESTHETIC STATEMENT: Include a short paragraph discussing your creative process and/or conceptual intent regarding your entry. Aesthetic Statements of winners will also be published in the anthology. For statement examples, see fiction contributions at In Posse Review: Issue 26
FORMATS: Text and Text + Image submissions must be sent as a .pdf or .doc attachment. CDs, DVDs and URLs may be sent as a URL link. Please keep in mind that the anthology's print dimensions will be 8" x 10" with 1" margins, though page bleeds are accepted. Feel free to submit your writing as you would like it to appear in the final anthology. That is, do not double-space or use standard margins unless that is how you wish your writing to look. If your innovative writing is text only, with no special formatting or images, please indicate so at the top of your manuscript. For best results, .jpgs should be at least 300 dpi resolution at 100% size when ready for publishing; you may compress your entry as long as compression does not interfere with our reading/viewing of your work.
LENGTH: Minumum = 1 page. Maximum = 50 pages, though bear in mind that unusually long works may affect judge's final decision. Excerpts from novels or novellas illuminating the work's innovation are welcome and do not have to be self-contained.DEADLINE: December 31, 2010.
ENTRY FEE: $10 per submission submitted through PayPal. Jaded Ibis Productions is a PayPal Verified Merchant, for more secure shopping. (See "Pay Entry Fee" below.)
2010 GUEST EDITOR: Doug Rice is the author of Skin Prayer: Fragments of Abject Memory; Blood of Mugwump: A Tiresian Tale of Incest; and A Good Cuntboy is Hard to Find. He teaches literary theory, film theory and creative writing at Sacramento State University.SERIES EDITOR: Debra Di Blasi is Publisher-in-Chief at Jaded Ibis Press and president of Jaded Ibis Productions. She is an award-winning fiction writer and screenwriter who frequently lectures on 21st Century narrative forms. Complete bio at www.debradiblasi.com
ENTRY / ELIGIBILITY FORM is emailed to you for completion upon receipt of your entry.EMAIL ADDRESS: Type "Platypus Prize" in the Subject line and attach your Entry to: platypusprize@jadedibisproductions.com
QUESTIONS: If your entry falls outside of these specifications and you have questions regarding this or any of these guidelines, please don't hesitate to email us at platypus@jadedibisproductions.com, with the word "Questions" in the Subject line.
PAY ENTRY FEE
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Writers chronicle Africa in sync with World Cup
July 7, 2010 | 10:15 am
Writers of African descent from Europe and America are winding their way across Africa; they're joining African authors who are writing about their experiences, all in coordination with the World Cup. It's for Pilgrimages, a project of the Chinua Achebe Center for African Writers and Artists, sponsored by several foundations. Right now, the authors are contributing to a group blog; in the future, each will publish a book of nonfiction about his or her travels.
Southern California-based Chris Abani is one of 15 authors who are participating. Abani, a poet and novelist who teaches at UC Riverside, is the award-winning author of the acclaimed novella "Song for Night." He begins his story of a man in the stands at a World Cup game this way:
The light is brittle from the floodlights, the night colder than any African night should be, the Vuvuzelas are blaring at full volume, and Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg is a riot of color as the fans arrive giving the stands the look of a bedazzled sweater. The game is the US versus Slovenia and the South African fans are torn between supporting the USA, who they love and Slovenia who are the underdogs in the game.
Seated in the stands among the screaming fans is Eric Akunda a Kenya-born US citizen. Like so many fans from around the world, Eric has come to watch the world cup, but unlike many of the other fans, he is on a special mission. He is here to make his son’s dreams come true in a most unusual but heartbreakingly beautiful way.
While Abani is in South Africa, which is hosting the World Cup, not all of the authors have Johannesburg as a destination. Victor LaValle, author of "Big Machine," is in Uganda -- he grew up in New York, the son of a Ugandan mother. "My mother and uncle and cousins have stories about their Uganda, but part of the reason I’m excited for this journey is that now I get the chance to have my own experience. To see the country through my eyes," writes LaValle. "As the summary of my trip suggests, I plan to spend time talking with the faithful. But I will be going to the pork joints and the night clubs, too. I believe a man can love the Lord and still enjoy a cold bottle of Heineken."
The books written by the participants, the website says, "will be the most significant single addition to the continent's archive of literary knowledge since the African Writer's Series founded in the 1960s." The site continues:
At a moment in time when the whole continent is more visible to its inhabitants and to the rest of the world than at any other since independence, PILGRIMAGES will reintroduce Africans to the literary world in the same form that so many outside writers have employed to create a distorted idea of us to the world.
To keep up with these far-flung and individual stories from master African storytellers, visit Pilgrimages.org.
-- Carolyn Kellogg
twitter.com/paperhausPhoto: Chris Abani in 2007. Credit: Annie Wells / Los Angeles Times
"Why Palestinians Can't Buy Land." Fox's Reena Ninan interviews the director of Ir Amim, Yudith Oppenheimer, and is told to [expletive deleted] by Jlem mayor Nir Barkat.
via mondoweiss.net
Toxic Dispersants Near Gulf Harm Humans and Wildlife
Tuesday 13 July 2010
by: Dahr Jamail and Erika Blumenfeld, t r u t h o u t | Photo Essay
(Photo: Erika Blumenfeld)My eyes are burning as I type this. We've just returned from spending the day down in Barataria, located about an hour's drive south of New Orleans. The community of fishermen is swimming in oil. Within minutes of arriving, our eyes begin to burn and we begin to feel dizzy from airborne chemicals from the oil and dispersant.
Like most of the rest of the Louisiana estuary, the further south one drives, the more one enters a culture that lives, eats, breaths and loves the water. Moss-laden oak trees, some with trunks more than four feet in diameter, line the road in places, before quickly giving way to canals, bayous and swamps that lap against the pavement.
Photo by Erika Blumenfeld © 2010
We went to Barataria to meet with Tracy Kuhns, the executive director of Louisiana Bayoukeeper, a group whose goal is "To engage and empower coastal communities for the purpose of promoting sustainable management of Coastal Louisiana's Bayou Country and its natural resources for the benefit of all citizens." Tracy, who is also a member of the Louisiana Shrimp Association, is talking rapidly before I can get my recorder started.
Tracy is concerned about the dispersant BP has been using on the oil.
The dispersants Tracy references are Corexit 9500 and Corexit 9527, both of which BP has used and continues to use (more than 1,400,000 gallons to date and counting) to disperse crude oil on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico and near the wellhead 5,000 feet below the surface where the volcano of oil gushes toxicity into the Gulf. The pathways of exposure are inhalation, ingestion, skin and eye contact. Health impacts include headaches; nausea; vomiting; diarrhea; abdominal pains; dizziness; chest pains and tightness; irritation of eyes, nose, throat and lungs; difficulty breathing; respiratory system damage; skin irrigation and sensitization; hypertension; central nervous system depression; neurotoxic effects; genetic damage and mutations; cardiac arrhythmia and cardiovascular damage; among several others.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) latest analysis of dispersant toxicity released in the document "Comparative Toxicity of Eight Oil Dispersant Products on Two Gulf of Mexico Aquatic Test Species," Corexit 9500, at a concentration of 42 parts per million, killed 50 percent of mysid shrimp tested.
Tracy tells us of the 44 reports for exemption BP has been issued to use dispersant. She and her husband Mike, who are both fisherpersons, are tortured by what they are witnessing where they live, fish, work and play.
"Just days ago Barataria Bay was full of oil," Tracy informs us, while sweeping an arm out toward the south, where the large Bay sits, toxified, "Then they hit it with dispersants and the oil goes to the bottom. But then during the day, it heats up and the oil bubbles up to the surface."
Tracy, like many other shrimpers with whom I will soon speak, refers to this effect as that similar to a "Lava lamp."
"The oil, after they hit it with dispersants, moves around beneath the surface and they can't track it," she continues, "they are using dispersants so they can minimize their liability."
She shows us several photos and video clips on her computer. In some, a whitish foam lines marsh areas. Others show an emulsified, off-white paste floating atop water. Several times over the next hours that we talk, Tracy complains of a persistent headache she can't get rid of and feeling nauseous. She also complains of feeling "out of it" often.
Barely two hours after our arrival, I pull Erika aside. My eyes are burning with pain, I feel dizzy and lightheaded. "So are mine and so do I," she says, "And my skin burns. Look at this." She turns her head and one of her cheeks has a light-red rash.
Pressure pulses against my forehead and I can feel my heartbeat in my nose. We are both already exhibiting several symptoms of exposure to the dispersant. I'm shocked by the rapidity of the onset of symptoms.
But we're in the majority, because according to every shrimper with whom we talk today, everyone has some, or more commonly, most, of the symptoms of exposure.
Tracy, who, given her position, is up on what most of the shrimpers in the area are up to, is as up to date on how the community is being affected as anyone. She informs us that most of the fishermen are now working for BP laying out boom. "If you're not doing this cleanup work, you're not working," she says, "They feel like they are helping by doing clean up work and they can't stand to just sit here and not do something to help. They feel helpless sitting at home and that's when the depression, suicide and drinking kick in."
Our conversation never veers too far in another direction before it comes back to the air quality and water. This is a given, because the longer we sit with our eyes open and breathing air into our lungs, the more our eyes burn and the pulsing headache and dizziness increase.
"Bad air moves in off the bay anytime the wind is from the south or southeast," Tracy adds, "and we're trying to get BP to have air monitors on the boats of the fishermen who are helping clean up, but they won't do it." Kim Chauvin, from Chauvin, Louisiana, has gotten NOAA to put an air monitor on her husband's boat in the Gulf.
Tracy's passion for the Gulf and marine eco-systems it supports is always evident. "90 percent of the species in the Gulf of Mexico spend some part of their lives in the Louisiana estuaries," she adds, "BP is killing our hope of getting these restocked for the future."
Her concerns mirror, almost exactly, those of Paul Orr. Just a few days ago, in Baton Rouge, we visited the offices of the Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper, a group focused on keeping the lower Mississippi River pollution-free.
"This is the second most important delta in the Western Hemisphere and one of the most important deltas on the planet," Orr said during an interview, "And we just have no idea what this amount of oil in this close of proximity to the delta could do. The decision was made to use the dispersants intensively to sink the oil - the rationale to minimize shore impacts at all cost. But now it seems like the real reason they've been doing that is to get the oil to disappear because if it was staying on the surface, at least you could collect it, even if it starts impacting the shore in some way. But now we have an unknown millions of barrels of oil floating around in the water column and sticking to the sea floor. We may not ever know some of the long-term damages."
Tracy embarks on a longer explanation of the horrible timing of the BP oil disaster (as if there would ever be "better" timing) and how the massive amounts of oil and dispersant cascading into the estuary has basically annihilated much of this year's brown and white shrimp populations. She then goes on to inform us of milky, subsurface clouds of dispersed oil that have been floating around in their canals since early June and micelles comprised of oil surrounded by dispersant that turn into mist when boats pass through it. "You can't help but breathe it in when this happens," she adds, "Every time we ride out in the bay your chest tightens for days ... I still have it. And if you can smell it, you've already been overexposed. And the fish, their gills are as affected by this as our lungs are. But BP and the government keep saying they don't want to scare the public with this stuff, so they are trying to keep it quiet."
But all anyone needs to do is come down here. To Barataria, Lafitte, and numerous other small fishing communities in the marshland of southeast Louisiana. Your eyes will burn. You will smell the oil and sheen. Your chest will tighten and your heartbeat will be felt in your head after just a few hours, tops. BP and the government cannot hide this. And it is worsening by tens of thousands of barrels of Louisiana sweet crude and untold thousands of gallons of dispersant every day.
The denials from BP, the Obama administration, the Coast Guard, and other governmental organizations like NOAA are what enrage Tracy more than anything else. In fact, BP is having response workers in Mississippi and Alabama go through metal detectors so they can't even take their cell phones out with them when they go and do their response work.
"We're living here and see this everyday. You can't tell us we don't have the BP cough that we've never had before. It makes us feel like the government thinks we are stupid little toddlers and that concerns me. They are constantly telling us not to be afraid and that is what scares the hell out of me. We shouldn't have to trade our estuary and our kid's lives to protect someone else's investment. We shouldn't have to trade ourselves."
I breach the question of what she and her husband Mike Roberts are going to do. Mike has been shrimping and crabbing here for more than 35 years. His anguish is written all over his face. They know as well as anyone how incredibly toxified their home is now. "How can anyone just leave their home and never come back again," she asks me back. "My grandson cries if he has to leave the bayou. He's been trawling since he was in diapers. This summer he's 12 and was supposed to be learning more navigation skills. Now he can't, so he's like a little lost soul."
Tracy has been working with eco-activists and fisherfolk in all five Gulf states. She says the BP catastrophe has transcended all usual barriers that usually keep people at odds with one another. "This transcends all other issues because everyone must breath this air. We are all connected by this water. And now we're all connected by BP's oil. We all know what's going on. What planet do they live on in Washington D.C.? Not this one. They need to come here and breath this shit everyday and swim in this soup and tell us it's just fine. All the kids around here have rashes, asthma problems, ear infections and the majority of our fishermen are out there working in this stuff 24/7 because it's now the only job in town and they're all getting sick."
Tracy is distraught. She pauses and looks out to the nearby canal, then looks back at us. "We're seeing crabs crawling out of the water. We've never seen this before. Ever. Why are crabs trying to escape from the water?"
She learned of the crabs from her friend Gene Hickman. Gene, a commercial and charter fisherman, lives with his wife Vicky a short ways down the road. Gene and Vicky come over.
Photo by Erika Blumenfeld © 2010
Gene has cancer and decided not to work for BP in the response effort so as not to make himself more sick. Gene shows me a video he took on Thursday, at night, of dozens of crabs crawling out of the canal onto his bulkhead.
I'd long since heard of the dispersant poisoning the water as well as removing oxygen from it. Many toxicologists have already stated that Corexit is much more harmful to human and marine life health than we've been told. Marine toxicologist Dr. Susan Shaw has written: "Corexit is particularly toxic. It contains petroleum solvents and a chemical that, when ingested, ruptures red blood cells and causes internal bleeding. It is also bioaccumulative, meaning its concentration intensifies as it moves up the food chain."
On July 9, in an interview with CNN, Dr. Shaw said this of the toxic soup that is the combination of oil and dispersants: "Shrimpers [were] throwing their nets into water ... [then] water from the nets splashed on [one's] skin.... [He experienced a] headache that lasted 3 weeks ... heart palpitations ... muscle spasms ... bleeding from the rectum ... And that's what Corexit does, it ruptures red blood cells, causes internal bleeding and liver and kidney damage.... This stuff is so toxic combined ... not the oil or dispersants alone.... Very, very toxic and goes right through skin."
A June 30 story in The Guardian informed us, "Scientists are confronting growing evidence that BP's ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico is creating oxygen-depleted 'dead zones' where fish and other marine life cannot survive."
Two research voyages of independent scientists detected "what were described as 'astonishingly high' levels of methane, or natural gas, bubbling from the well site, setting off a chain of reactions that suck the oxygen out of the water." In the article, Larry Crowder, a marine biologist, said, "The animals are already voting with their fins to get away from where the oil spill is and where potentially there is oxygen depletion. When you begin to see animals changing their distribution that is telling you about the quality of water further offshore. Basically, the fish are moving closer to shore to try to get to better water."
Samantha Joye, a scientist at the University of Georgia studying the effects of the spill at depth, has said that the ruptured well was producing up to 50 percent as much methane and other gases as oil.
"Joye said her preliminary findings suggested the high volume of methane coming out of the well could upset the ocean food chain," The Guardian continued, "such high concentrations, it is feared, would trigger the growth of microbes, which break up the methane, but also gobble up oxygen needed by marine life to survive, driving out other living things.
"Joye said the methane was settling in a 200-meter layer of the water column, between depths of 1,000 to 1,300 meters in concentrations that were already threatening oxygen levels.
"That water can go completely anoxic [extremely low oxygen] and that is a pretty serious situation for any oxygen-requiring organism. We haven't seen zero-oxygen water but there is certainly enough gas in the water to draw oxygen down to zero," she said.
"It could wreak havoc with those communities that require oxygen," Joye said, wiping out plankton and other organisms at the bottom of the food chain."
I'm horrified by the video. Tears well in my eyes. Gene takes one look at my face and says, "It's not natural for crabs to come out of the water like this. They never want to come out of the water if they can help it. They are trying to escape."
Tracy chimes in. "We are seeing this all over the Gulf now - dolphins, fish, running from the dispersant and oil because they can't breath. Marine life knows to run out of the way, but we don't."
Gene tells us, "This is ripping my heart to pieces. I'm living in high anxiety." Vicky says that BP and the government are playing down the disaster, when in reality, "anything out there should not be eaten" while pointing out to the water.
Disturbingly, the day after Gene filmed the crabs fleeing the water, residents living near Lake Pontchartrain reported finding thousands of dead fish and crabs in the canals near their homes.
We drive over to Gene and Vicky's after they inform us of dead crabs and fish floating in sheen-covered water by their boat. Outside their mobile home, from which they are about to be evicted, Gene walks us over to where his boat sits in a nearby bayou.
Photo by Erika Blumenfeld © 2010
Dead crabs float in a sheen of oil. It is a toxic soup of stench and death that fouls the air and burns my nose. As I stand looking on in horror, with more tears welling up in my eyes, Gene says, "I'm 52 years old and I've never seen crabs crawl out of the water at night. I also saw shrimp swimming in little circles on the surface."
Vicky, standing nearby, says, "I think this is just the beginning. This is just the small stuff. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Over time bigger and bigger stuff will be washing up here."
Gene looks out to the water, to nearby Bayou Rigolettes and holds back tears as he says, "I smell oil all the time. It's like it's stuck in my nose. You know why all this hits so close to home? See those crab traps?"
Photo by Erika Blumenfeld © 2010
"I guess those are relics now," Gene says. "I can't fish now and probably won't ever be able to again, so where does this leave me? I feel like that old Indian from that old commercial, who looks out at all the garbage and pollution and sees his whole world polluted. That's how I feel now."
Photo by Erika Blumenfeld © 2010
The day before, in Chalmette, Louisiana, I spoke with Dr. Riki Ott. Dr. Ott is a marine toxicologist and Exxon Valdez survivor who has been monitoring BP's actions and how they are affecting what we know about the damage the oil disaster is causing and threats posed to those working in the polluted zone.
"This is a hazardous waste cleanup," she told me as we sat in the city hall chambers where she was soon to hold a public forum, "BP needs to be evacuating the Gulf coast and paying for that, in addition to costs for relocating people and compensating them for what they've lost."
It is that serious. My eyes still burn and my chest is tight, long after we exited the toxic soup of air and water that is south of New Orleans. Toxic chemicals from dispersed oil and the dispersant itself now permeate all the air, leaves, water and wildlife of the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and parts of Florida and Texas. You are breathing this same air as you read this.
The only question is, how many parts per million of toxics are now in your lungs as well?
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Dahr Jamail, an independent journalist, is the author of "The Will to Resist: Soldiers Who Refuse to Fight in Iraq and Afghanistan," (Haymarket Books, 2009), and "Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches From an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq," (Haymarket Books, 2007). Jamail reported from occupied Iraq for nine months as well as from Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Turkey over the last five years.
Erika Blumenfeld is an internationally exhibiting artist and Guggenheim Fellow with a BFA in Photography from Parsons School of Design. She is known for her Light Recordings series, and her ambitious work The Polar Project, a series of environment-focused artworks that document the environment of Antarctica and the Arctic. Blumenfeld’s installations have been exhibited widely in galleries and museums in the US and abroad, and have been featured in /Art In America/, /ARTnews/ and more than half a dozen books. She is posting her photographs of the Gulf Coast on her blog.
via truth-out.org
Oscar Grant: The Trial, The Verdict
& What the Mainstream Press Covered Up
by Davey D
Oscar Grant's Uncle and Min. Keith Muhammad Sat July 10 Oakland, Ca: There was a press conference held at True Vine Church Here organizers along with the Oscar Grant family returned from Los Angeles and gave a Community Report Back. They go in on the jury and the press.
Minister Keith Muhammad started off by presenting a detailed break down of what took place in the courtroom. Here are the links below..followed by a brief summary of what was talked about…
http://www.swift.fm/mrdaveyd/song/50228/ pt1
http://www.swift.fm/mrdaveyd/song/50231/ pt2
http://www.swift.fm/mrdaveyd/song/50226/ pt3
Minister Keith talked about the jury and the way they deliberated. He noted the instructions given to the jury and the steps they were supposed to take in determining a verdict. He explained the delays that took place and what they met. He noted the instructions Judge Robert Perry gave to them. Folks need to hear this portion of the press conference and keep in mind many of the concerns that Minister Keith and the Grant family raise around how quickly the jury returned a verdict. On many levels, it seems the jury didn’t fully deliberate at all.
The issue of the jury’s racial make up is talked about and how the lack of African-Americans raised cause for concern and impacted the verdict. Los Angeles is almost 25% white but was 75% on the jury. The claim that there were no Black jurors available was outlandish. Minister Keith outlines what Judge Robert Perry insisted upon in terms of selecting a jury. Many people felt the prosecutor David Stein dropped the ball. As was pointed during this press conference, he was handcuffed by the specific instructions and method dictated by Judge Perry…
What’s most troubling is what was not reported by the mainstream press around both the jury deliberation and instruction. They also spoke about how harshly the family was treated when the jury was finally reached a verdict. They weren’t even allowed in the courtroom, by callous guards..
Below is the link to the podcast detailing the Jury selection and deliberation as well as how the family was treated in court. Minister Keith also lays out some key issues that were presented in court but covered up by mainstream media… What should be noted was during his presentation much of the mainstream local media was present from KPIX to ABC etc..I would encourage folks to listen to the presentation which is in 2 parts and see if any of this is reported. Ask yourself why it hasn’t been in the news.
http://www.swift.fm/mrdaveyd/song/50228/
The Harsh Treament of Oscar Grant’s Friends Both That Night & On the Stand
Killer cop Johannes Mehsersle
In pt2 of the Community Report back… Minister Keith lays out the under reported treatment of Oscar Grant’s friends who sat on the platform and witnessed their friend be killed in front of them. He talks about the harsh treatment they received by the police including taunts after Grant was killed. He explains how the young men some as young as 15 were handcuffed and made to sit in jail handcuffed for over 6 hours after Grant was killed and then informed that they were NOT arrested and were free to go.. This is beyond heartbreakingMinister Keith details the testimony the boys gave in court and the video footage they took while on the platform. Key aspects to the boys testimony including how the Johannes Mehserle‘s defense attorney Michael Rains tried to mock them and assassinate their character when they took the stand. Hearing about what Oscar Grant’s friends endured is beyond troubling.
Also included are details around the judge’s treatment. The boys when seeing the video broke down in court and the jury was instructed to leave.. They did not want their tears to impact the jury. With Mehserle the jury was allowed to stay when he cried. Minister Keith also explains how Mehserle was coached on how to cry..
Included in this portion is a lot of other key elements the mainstream press witnessed and was presented yet decided not to include in any of their reports. The most glaring was the behavior of Mehserle’s partners and them using racial epithets..
They also lay out the role, the money spent and conflicting testimony delivered by the expensive expert witnesses that Mehserle brought forth. He spent 65k on one witnesses who attempted to tell everyone the dozens of videos showing Grant’s shooting were unreliable and inconclusive.
He spent 50k on another expert witness a former cop named Greg Meyer who tried to tell us that Mehserle meant to use his taser. What the mainstream press ommited was showing how Mehserle ion several occasion brandish his taser that night in attempts to taunt and intimidate Grant and his friends who were never charged with anything or legally arrested. Grant took a picture of Mehserle holding the taser two minutes before was killed.
Lying cops Marysol Domenici and Tony Pirone
It was also pointed out that the officers and media claimed that Grants friends were out of control and threatening, however none of the videos or police reports indicate this.What was also glaring were the lies told by Mehserle’s partners Tony Pirone and Marysol Dominci.
Below is the podcast to part 2.. This is very detailed,,pay close attention..please pass it around.
http://www.swift.fm/mrdaveyd/song/50231/
Uncle Bobby Speaks to the Letter of Apology Released by Johannes Mehserle
Cephus Johnson aka Uncle Bobby is the uncle to Oscar Grant. Here he talks emphatically about the ‘apology letter’ sent by Johannes Mehserle. He says its garbage and fake. He explains that the letter was never addressed to him, Oscar’s mother Wanda, Tatiyana (Oscar’s daughter) or Sophena (the mother to Oscar’s daughter). He also talks about how Mehserle in his defense chose to assassinate Oscar’s character while invoking the policeman’s bill of rights to keep his hidden.
He noted that the letter was garbage and was as fake as the tears he shed on the stand. He said that Mehserle needs to spend 14 years in jail an then write a letter of apology and give it to the family privately. Cephus also explains the lies Mehserle detailed in his letter including how he attempted to attend to Grants aid after shooting him. Uncle Bobby points out that the video shows Mehserle handcuffing Oscar after he shot him..
Cephus also addresses the issue of violence during protest. he talks about police dressed as undercover agitating the crowds. Its later pointed out tht the family never called for violence. Its unfair to place blame on the family. Below is the podcast of the full press release and interview we did with Cephus Johnson. The video just shows a portion of his remarks.
http://www.swift.fm/mrdaveyd/song/50226/
