Am News and "Shopping for Justice"By Alton H. Maddox, Jr.
Background Before Jill Nelson wrote about my life in The Washington Post, she travelled to my hometown of Newnan, GA and was told that as a high school student in the early 1960's, I had already fought racial injustice. This was in the heart of the Bible Belt. Jim Crow was running amuck. Acting solo, I integrated the restaurant facilities in Newnan.
I had to leave the University of Georgia Law School in the late 1960's because I spoke out against Jim Crow and established a chapter of Law Student Civil Rights Research Council in a virtually all-white law school. Annually, the university was also celebrating Confederate Day. Blacks had to participate as "slaves."
When I arrived in New York City nearly thirty-seven years ago, I immediately spoke out against racism in the law. Through Cong. Charles Rangel and Secretary of State Basil Paterson, District Attorney Robert Morgenthau summoned me to his office and, in the presence of Drs. Calvin Butts and C. Vernon Mason, warned me to tone down my words.
He told everyone present that I was the "only" Black person in New York City with the guts to openly criticize him. When his office realized that I was, in some circumstances, deaf and dumb, my status went from defense attorney to criminal defendant. It took jury nullification to beat the criminal charges.
No persons in New York City knew me better than Dr. John Henrik Clarke and Bill Tatum. After my permanent suspension from the practice of law, Bill Tatum told me that my uncompromising voice must still be heard in New York City. In short, the New York Amsterdam News always had a space for my writings. This was not the view of Elinor Tatum, however.
Before Bill went to Europe, for an operation to correct a back problem, he asked me to assist his daughter, Elinor Tatum, by writing weekly in the newspaper. She was a neophyte. There would be no pay but there would also be no strings attached. Bill knew that I was my own person: "unbought and unbossed."
When Bill made his transition, I became a holdover at the newspaper and could be asked to leave on minutes notice. I was an at-will investor. Elinor Tatum is no Bill Tatum by any stretch of the imagination. You will never read again a "Koch Must Go" article in the newspaper.
Al SharptonShe has jumped on the bandwagon of the Madison Avenue Initiative which is an association of white advertisers with Rev. Al Sharpton employed to serve as its chief puppet in the Black colony. I was public enemy number one ab initio.
Sharpton is on the public airwaves seven days a week. This is unprecedented. Steve Biko said it best. "The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor are the minds of the oppressed." Madison Avenue Initiative is a propaganda apparatus.
Sharpton makes no hard statements against white supremacy today. His programs poll the Black community, by asking open-ended questions. A snitch plays the same role. White supremacists are taping Blacks to keep a daily barometer on our views.
Elinor Tatum is a co-host on Sharpton's national satellite, radio program every Thursday. She relishes this attention and will not do anything to upset the applecart. To appease Elinor Tatum, you have to appease Sharpton. Neither myself nor Louis Clayton Jones nor his brother, Dr. William A. Jones, has ever seen Sharpton as a leader.
We had to repeatedly save Sharpton when he was unable to save himself. Clayton saved Sharpton from the Mafia for breaching a mob contract. Dr. Jones had to retain attorneys for him and serve as a peacemaker.
I had to defend him against people like Rev. Herbert Daughtry, Councilman Charles Barron, Dr. Calvin Butts, Elombe Brath, Al Vann, Jitu Weusi, December 12, Dr. James McIntosh, Les Payne, and the late Sonny Carson who all swore that he was a government informant.
Recently, Mayor Michael Bloomberg publicly announced that Sharpton's role was to keep the Black colony calm. Previously, I had written repeatedly that Sharpton was engaged in a full-scale pacification program.
Bloomberg has a business relationship with Sharpton and Sharpton gets millions to snuff out any urban rebellion or city-wide boycott. Blacks are like chickens and hogs marching to slaughter. There must be no Black shepherds or watchdogs to protect us. I am being given a pink slip.
Sharpton's Vindictiveness At 9:00 a.m. this past Saturday, I was on an airplane with Dominc Carter and his wife leaving LaGuardia Airport. I want to thank 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, for having my back. Many "friends" will stab you in the back or keep quiet when you are under attack.
Sharpton went on a tirade against me at National Action Network, this past Saturday and was gloating about our looming wrongful eviction from our residence of thirty-three years. This is a judicial hit. One Hundred Blacks attacked Sharpton on public access television for kicking a person when he is down. The program will be aired Wednesday night at Elks Plaza.
It is no coincident that Sharpton launched his tirade on Saturday morning and I received an ultimatum from Elinor Tatum on the following Monday. In the meantime, I e-mailed, on Sunday, a blog entitled "Where is Rev. Al Sharpton?" Of course my neck was already on the chopping block. Madison Avenue Initiative had already reached its verdict.
Several months ago, James Mtume, a co-host on a Sunday program on KISS-FM and a close friend of Sharpton, admitted on the Sunday program that white advertisers had barred them from allowing me to appear on any commercial radio station. "He who pays the piper calls the tune."
Unfortunately, our race has been reduced to far too many back stabbers, hypocrites, cowards and liars. Unless Sharpton is checked by Blacks, no Black attorney should spend a minute representing any Black person without adequate compensation. There is no such thing as free legal advice or free legal representation.
If the client fails to pay, the attorney will pay dearly. This was the situation in People v. Sharpton. Leola and I had to borrow in the five figures to save Sharpton. James Brown and Jesse Jackson did not even attend the four months trial.
Brown was incarcerated but he did testify before the grand jury concerning Sharpton. Don King did appear as a spectator. No friend of Sharpton reached into his or her pocket to help an impoverished attorney during the trial. No person in the world lifted a finger to save him.
Of course, Sharpton believes in rewarding his enemies and punishing his friends. Although his wife and daughter had been roughed up by the NYPD on October 31, I knew that Sharpton would keep quiet. Bloomberg is in charge. I have seen Sharpton give thousands of dollars, as hush money, to persons who have called him a snitch and tried to get him imprisoned.
Cynthia Davis, who pitched a tent outside a prison in Brooklyn when Sharpton was incarcerated, got the boot from National Action Network. When she pitched that tent, I knew that her days were numbered. Sharpton's family is off the plantation of the late Sen. Strom Thurmond, a Dixiecrat. History explains everything.
Elinor Tatum owns the New York Amsterdam News. No master-servant relationship existed between us. Neither one of us could boss the other. She had every right to get rid of a person who is a threat to white supremacy.
I spent hundred of dollars weekly to publish my "opinion" about current affairs. This made me an uncompensated investor in her newspaper. I refused to sanction censorship like I had refused to violate the attorney-client relationship in People v. Sharpton.
Dr. King said "if you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything." Too many of us are prostitutes or cowards. We saw these traits in my "friends" in defense of Tawana Brawley. Today, anyone who writes on the opinion page of the New York Amsterdam News must kowtow to Sharpton and the Madison Avenue Initiative.
Charles Barron Elinor Tatum put Councilman Charles Barron in a trick bag by placing his article this week in a space that was normally reserved for my writing. The inference, hoped to be drawn, is that Barron had replaced me. This placement of his article was designed to undermine the relationship between me and Barron.
Unlike too many of my former clients, Barron and I have stayed on the same page. This Monday, he will be appearing with me in Central Park Towers v. Maddox in Manhattan Housing Court, 111 Centre Street, Rm 823, in Manhattan at 10:00 a.m. Manhattan Housing Court Judge Jean Schneider will be presiding over a kangaroo trial.
Every elected official should be concerned about wrongful evictions in New York City. These routine evictions amount to "Negro Removal." On Wednesday night, Barron will join us at Elks Plaza, 1068 Harriet Tubman (Fulton Street) nr. Classon Ave. in Brooklyn at 7:30 p.m.
Million Dollar Representation Elinor Tatum is correct when she states that my column had to be reduced to 600 words or else. Since I am paying the freight, I also had the right to say "no." Moreover, I counted the words in Armstrong Williams' columns and they routinely exceeded 1,000 words. Moreover, the Republican Party is paying him to confuse Blacks.
Black people are entitled to the best writings. This includes rigorous research and creative writings. Sister Leola Maddox and Sister Sarah Russell also would spend hours each week doing research. I would spend time in law libraries and other specialized research facilities. This burden has been lifted but the liberation movement is the loser.
A six hundred-word essay is like an outline with no substance. I approach any subject like Frederick Douglass did over one hundred years ago. It will take our best minds to get us out of this mess. Soundbytes and nursery rhymes are not enough.
Rev. Al Sharpton's trial on a 67-count indictment could have been finished in three weeks and he would still be doing push-ups for the next forty-eight years in an upstate prison. We would have never known that he was an ingrate.
I chose to give him a million-dollar defense because I embrace a standard of excellence. The trial lasted four months. He was acquitted on all charges. The only person who had to pay for this costly defense was me. The same rationale applied to my writings in the Am News.
Disrespect to the Tatum Family Elinor Tatum has also told inquirers that I had disrespected the Tatum family when I failed to attend Bill's homegoing services. To be sure, I did not attend his homegoing services and I failed to trek down to the funeral home or to meet the family at the family residence.
I try to give a person his or flowers when the person is alive. Bill was no exception. For more than a year, I made at least one hospital visit a week. In Bill's case, Susan Tatum was a gem in standing by her man. No one can question her loyalty. Most of the people who enjoyed prominent positions at the homegoing services never gave Bill flowers during his life.
Elinor Tatum also fails to recognize that I spent my own money to publish an article weekly while also raising the rent and office expenses to keep UAM afloat. Most members refuse to give two cents out of every dollar to UAM. No one donates a dime out of every dollar to liberation.
I am certain that these writings contributed significantly to the current earnings of Am News. Yet, Elinor Tatum would refuse to print any article about UAM in the newspaper. This includes Imhotep Gary Byrd's column. When I would mention UAM in my column, she would respond by saying that the column had to be reduced to keep UAM out of the newspaper.
Bill Tatum is turning over in his grave. I will always respect his vision. Somebody must tell it like it is. This was my mandate from him. Elinor Tatum's response to this situation is garbage. I fear that this newspaper has been compromised after all of Bill's tireless work.
In the meantime, Sharpton should stop talking behind my back and face-off with me in a real debate. Dr. McIntosh should listen. I am still waiting for an answer. I am sure that the world's greatest promoter, Don King, would be willing to book Madison Square Garden and air the debate out on closed-circuit television.
I refuse to believe in coincidences. The lease at 16 Court Street expired on September 30, 2009. Mark Green and his brother SL Green initiated a holdover proceeding. On this past Wednesday, I was given until December 31, 2009 to vacate the premises. The following day, New York Am News severed its relationship with me.
This past Monday, I was told that an impostor without a deed or a rent-stabilized lease could evict us from our residence. The verdict will issue on Monday in Manhattan Housing Court. This is a judicial hit. This same judge ruled in 2002 that a person must own the premises before the court would entertain a dispossess proceeding. This is the law in New York but it can be violated if a Black person poses a threat to white supremacy.
I have sacrificed my whole life for the freedom of my people. I have no regrets. This is difficult when your own people are "deaf, dumb and blind" and live off of myths, lies and fallacies. Neither Malcolm nor Martin nor Medgar was understood or appreciated by their own people. We have been conditioned to hate ourselves and to hate anyone who will stand up to plantation masters. "We sick boss?"