Plea to Help the “Central Park 6”
By Alton H. Maddox, Jr.
April 20, 2009 will be twenty years after the illegal arrests of the “Central Park 6”. Two of the young men were actually arrested on April 19, 1989. They would be maliciously prosecuted and wrongfully convicted in 1990. Kharey Wise was released from prison fourteen years later. Innocence is not the question. I represented Michael Briscoe who had been indicted but the indictment was later dismissed on speedy trial grounds.
I had an opportunity to see Sis. Sharonne Salaam at a UAM event on January 2009. We would talk later. I learned from her that the federal lawsuits against New York City and the Manhattan district attorney’s office were on life support.
This was not surprising since Black leaders are terrified of Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau. Compare the estate of Gavin Cato for lack of legal representation to pursue the Hasidic wrongdoers in Crown Heights with a police escort killing young Gavin who was on the sidewalk.
When I was growing up in Georgia, Blacks had to travel to Atlanta to retain Donald Hollowell or travel to Albany to seek legal representation from C.B. King. No similar options are available in New York City. This lack of representation is dated back to the nineteenth century.
My only hope was Councilman Charles Barron. There will be no support from Black lawyers, civil rights leaders, human rights activists, politicians and preachers. Once upon a time, many Black leaders worked for Black people. Today, they work for the Democratic Party.
There will also be no support from any radio host on WLIB-AM, WBLS-FM, WWRL-AM, WRKS-FM and WBAI-FM with the exception of Earl Caldwell. Like prison inmates, Blacks in New York are on lockdown. Most Blacks are clueless, however, as to their status as prisoners. See the speeches of Malcolm X.
With respect to the New York Amsterdam News, the only space I can secure to promote a cause is through my weekly pro bono column. Given the numerous issues that confront our people, this space is insufficient since I can only write about one subject weekly. I would not hold my breath expecting many reporters of the Black media to write about the “Central Park 6”.
Our strategy, therefore, is to initiate a grassroots movement. We are in correspondence with several Black churches with no responses so far. Most churches are eating out of the public trough. Civil rights activists and human rights advocates are similarly situated. People will not bite the hands that feed them. Many of the people that we support financially are double-dipping.
Support for the “Central Park 6” is not a UAM activity. Unless the Black community has gone into chaos, it should be a community effort. Our goal is to collect one hundred thousand signatures and present them to Council Speaker Christine Quinn at noontime on April 20 at City Hall.
On April 22, at 2:00 p.m. at City Hall, Councilman Barron will introduce a resolution demanding immediate compensation for the “Central Park 6”. New York City is a defendant in federal civil rights lawsuits initiated by the Central Park Boys. It can settle these cases without litigation. Compare Amadou Diallo.
We need your immediate support to create a buzz abut the “Central Park 6”. There will be an organizing effort April 1, Wednesday, at 7:30 p.m. and two subsequent Wednesdays at the Elks Plaza, 1068 Harriet Tubman (Fulton Street) nr. Classon Ave. in Brooklyn. Also, there will be a presentation on “Secret Societies and the Obama Administration” on April 1.
In the meantime, you should contact any religious, civil rights, human rights, fraternal, social organizations, sororities, et al. about our community-wide effort and their willingness to support these young men. Consistent with the teachings of Frederick Douglass, we must make a demand on April 20.
After collecting signatures on March 25, UAM filed a complaint with the New York State Commission on Judicial Misconduct against Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Arthur Schack who illegally and summarily arrested attorney Regina Felton in his Brooklyn courtroom and sentenced her to six months on Rikers Island. UAM is demanding the removal of Justice Schack from the bench.
She spent eleven days in prison before she could get anyone to release her. She has been unable to find any Black leader to help her. Compare the unchallenged misconduct of Manhattan ADA Linda Fairstein in the “Central Park 6”. No Black judge would dare send a white, female attorney to prison.
No Black leader had the courage to file a disciplinary complaint against Fairstein although white members of the New York Legislature initiated the disciplinary action against me with no dissent from a Black, political representative in New York. White people have declared war against us. Our response: “Can’t we all get along?”
Obviously, Blacks have no political nor legal representation. There is a difference between political representation and political presence. Blacks can be seen but not heard in New York City. Our leaders are simply political proxies and patsies. They are controlled by remote control.
3/30/09
By Alton H. Maddox, Jr.
April 20, 2009 will be twenty years after the illegal arrests of the “Central Park 6”. Two of the young men were actually arrested on April 19, 1989. They would be maliciously prosecuted and wrongfully convicted in 1990. Kharey Wise was released from prison fourteen years later. Innocence is not the question. I represented Michael Briscoe who had been indicted but the indictment was later dismissed on speedy trial grounds.
I had an opportunity to see Sis. Sharonne Salaam at a UAM event on January 2009. We would talk later. I learned from her that the federal lawsuits against New York City and the Manhattan district attorney’s office were on life support.
This was not surprising since Black leaders are terrified of Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau. Compare the estate of Gavin Cato for lack of legal representation to pursue the Hasidic wrongdoers in Crown Heights with a police escort killing young Gavin who was on the sidewalk.
When I was growing up in Georgia, Blacks had to travel to Atlanta to retain Donald Hollowell or travel to Albany to seek legal representation from C.B. King. No similar options are available in New York City. This lack of representation is dated back to the nineteenth century.
My only hope was Councilman Charles Barron. There will be no support from Black lawyers, civil rights leaders, human rights activists, politicians and preachers. Once upon a time, many Black leaders worked for Black people. Today, they work for the Democratic Party.
There will also be no support from any radio host on WLIB-AM, WBLS-FM, WWRL-AM, WRKS-FM and WBAI-FM with the exception of Earl Caldwell. Like prison inmates, Blacks in New York are on lockdown. Most Blacks are clueless, however, as to their status as prisoners. See the speeches of Malcolm X.
With respect to the New York Amsterdam News, the only space I can secure to promote a cause is through my weekly pro bono column. Given the numerous issues that confront our people, this space is insufficient since I can only write about one subject weekly. I would not hold my breath expecting many reporters of the Black media to write about the “Central Park 6”.
Our strategy, therefore, is to initiate a grassroots movement. We are in correspondence with several Black churches with no responses so far. Most churches are eating out of the public trough. Civil rights activists and human rights advocates are similarly situated. People will not bite the hands that feed them. Many of the people that we support financially are double-dipping.
Support for the “Central Park 6” is not a UAM activity. Unless the Black community has gone into chaos, it should be a community effort. Our goal is to collect one hundred thousand signatures and present them to Council Speaker Christine Quinn at noontime on April 20 at City Hall.
On April 22, at 2:00 p.m. at City Hall, Councilman Barron will introduce a resolution demanding immediate compensation for the “Central Park 6”. New York City is a defendant in federal civil rights lawsuits initiated by the Central Park Boys. It can settle these cases without litigation. Compare Amadou Diallo.
We need your immediate support to create a buzz abut the “Central Park 6”. There will be an organizing effort April 1, Wednesday, at 7:30 p.m. and two subsequent Wednesdays at the Elks Plaza, 1068 Harriet Tubman (Fulton Street) nr. Classon Ave. in Brooklyn. Also, there will be a presentation on “Secret Societies and the Obama Administration” on April 1.
In the meantime, you should contact any religious, civil rights, human rights, fraternal, social organizations, sororities, et al. about our community-wide effort and their willingness to support these young men. Consistent with the teachings of Frederick Douglass, we must make a demand on April 20.
After collecting signatures on March 25, UAM filed a complaint with the New York State Commission on Judicial Misconduct against Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Arthur Schack who illegally and summarily arrested attorney Regina Felton in his Brooklyn courtroom and sentenced her to six months on Rikers Island. UAM is demanding the removal of Justice Schack from the bench.
She spent eleven days in prison before she could get anyone to release her. She has been unable to find any Black leader to help her. Compare the unchallenged misconduct of Manhattan ADA Linda Fairstein in the “Central Park 6”. No Black judge would dare send a white, female attorney to prison.
No Black leader had the courage to file a disciplinary complaint against Fairstein although white members of the New York Legislature initiated the disciplinary action against me with no dissent from a Black, political representative in New York. White people have declared war against us. Our response: “Can’t we all get along?”
Obviously, Blacks have no political nor legal representation. There is a difference between political representation and political presence. Blacks can be seen but not heard in New York City. Our leaders are simply political proxies and patsies. They are controlled by remote control.
3/30/09
posted by Attorney Alton Maddox at 7:47 PM
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