Even though the primary purpose of court.rchp.com is to help people represent themselves in court, self-representation isn’t for everyone. If you have the option to hire an attorney, that may be your best option. Most people have no idea how to select a lawyer.
An ideal lawyer will not just have a string of impressive credentials or gold lettering on his door. He or she will be caring, concerned, and devoted to their work. You need to think carefully before laying your trust in a lawyer after all in some cases your life, future, money or property will be in his hands.
Apart from doing extensive research to shortlist possible lawyers, you must ensure that there is not a conflict of interest, that you understand everything the retainer agreement states, and that you have checked the references and details regarding the practice.
You will know the lawyer you have chosen is the perfect one if:
1. He makes an effort to spend the time to understand your case himself. He will not assign a legal assistant to take facts of the case down.
2. From experience and knowledge, he will know what is relevant and what is not. He will set aside and ignore irrelevant facts, opinions, and personal emotions that cloud the case on hand.
3. She will insist that the footwork for the case be done thoroughly. All facts must be checked for accuracy and solid arguments jotted down with the backing of earlier rulings.
4. He will not just focus on the problem at hand but examine the problem from all sides. This will create a complete picture highlighting all factors of relevance and the different ways one can approach the case.
5. Shee will use her foresight and anticipate moves by the opposition or opinions of the jury or judge and plan way ahead. Like a master chess player, she will plan the case not by the day but by many hearings ahead.
6. He will not waste time beating around the bush or create verbose statements—many words strung together which look impressive but mean nothing. He will insist that the case and its arguments be clearly stated.
7. She will be self-disciplined, thorough, and self-confident. Courteous at all times she will respect you as well as all the staff who work for her.
8. He is recommended by not just his friends and relatives but by other professionals of good standing and from his field.
9. She will not just present to you her victories but be happy to tell you why and how she lost certain cases.
10. She will lay the cards on the table and tell you clearly whether your case stands to win or loose. She will not claim that winning is guaranteed. She will be honest and upfront about her opinions and advice.
The bottom line is that the lawyer must be worthy of your trust. Use your inborn instincts and don’t go by the lawyer’s good looks or a fancy car or office. After all, it is competence in law and in court that is of the essence to you.
The Innocence Project released a report Tuesday alleging that prosecutors across the country are almost never punished when they withhold evidence or commit other forms of misconduct that land innocent people in prison.
The Innocence Project, a nonprofit legal group that represents people seeking exonerations, examined records in Arizona, California, Texas, New York and Pennsylvania, and interviewed a wide assortment of defense lawyers, prosecutors, and legal experts.
In each state, researchers examined court rulings from 2004 through 2008 in which judges found that prosecutors had committed violations such as mischaracterizing evidence or suborning perjury. All told, the researchers discovered 660 findings of prosecutorial error or misconduct. In the overwhelming majority of cases, 527, judges upheld the convictions, finding that the prosecutorial lapse did not impact the fairness of the defendant’s original trial. In 133 cases, convictions were thrown out.
Only one prosecutor was disciplined by any oversight authorities, the report asserts.
The report was issued on the anniversary of a controversial Supreme Court ruling for those trying to achieve justice in the wake of wrongful convictions. In a 5–4 decision in the case known as Connick v. Thompson, the court tossed out a $14-million dollar award by a Louisiana jury to John Thompson, a New Orleans man who served 18 years in prison for a murder and robbery he did not commit.
The majority ruled that while the trial prosecutors had withheld critical evidence of Thompson’s likely innocence – blood samples from the crime scene – the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s office could not be found civilly liable for what the justices essentially determined was the mistake of a handful of employees. The decision hinged on a critical finding: that the District Attorney’s office, and the legal profession in general, provides sufficient training and oversight for all prosecutors.
The Innocence Project study echoes a 2013 ProPublica examination focused on New York City prosecutors. In 2013, ProPublica used a similar methodology to analyze more than a decade’s worth of state and federal court rulings. We found more than two dozen instances in which judges explicitly concluded that city prosecutors had committed harmful misconduct.
Several of the wrongfully convicted people in these cases successfully sued New York City. In recent years, New York City and state have doled out tens of million dollars in settlements stemming from such lawsuits. Former Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes was voted out of office, in part because of wrongful convictions gained through misconduct on the part of his prosecutors or police detectives working with them.
But only one New York City prosecutor, ProPublica’s analysis found, was formally disciplined: Claude Stuart, a former low-level Queens Assistant District Attorney, lost his license. He was involved in three separate conviction reversals.
Just as we found in New York, the Innocence Project’s report found that appellate judges and others almost never report findings of misconduct to state panels and bar associations that are authorized to investigate them.
“In the handful of situations where an investigation is launched,” the report found, “The committees generally failed to properly discipline the prosecutor who committed the misconduct.”
The report concludes with several recommendations on how to improve accountability for prosecutors. It suggests, among other things, that judges ought to mandatorily report all findings of misconduct or error and that state legislatures pass laws requiring prosecutors to turn over all law enforcement material well before trial.
But perhaps most powerful is the report’s introduction, a 2011 letter to then-Attorney General Eric Holder and two national prosecutor associations. It was written in response to the Connick ruling and signed by 19 people whose wrongful convictions were secured in part by prosecutorial misconduct.
“We, the undersigned and our families, have suffered profound harm at the hands of careless, overzealous and unethical prosecutors,” the letter said. “Now that the wrongfully convicted have virtually no meaningful access to the courts to hold prosecutors liable for their misdeeds, we demand to know what you intend to do to put a check on the otherwise unchecked and enormous power that prosecutors wield over the justice system.”
According to the Innocence Project, the Justice Department never responded to the letter.“This story was originally published by ProPublica.
“This story was originally published by ProPublica and is reprinted with permission.
by Natalie Johnson
Republished with permission from the Daily Signal
Residents in a North St. Louis, Mo., community are battling to keep their homes as city officials pursue eminent domain proceedings for a federal project that may not even take hold in the area.
Eminent domain enables the government to take private property for public use as long as the government provides just compensation.
St. Louis officials have begun purchasing property and assessing the value of homes in the region to make way for the potential relocation of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.
The federal government has not yet decided whether it would move the building to the area, leaving residents uncertain about the future of their homes.
The NGA currently resides in South City St. Louis, but officials are hoping the federal government will relocate the building to the city’s north side in an attempt to reverse “decades of divestment.”
John Wright, a policy researcher at the Show-Me Institute, which is based in Missouri and advocates for free-market solutions, said residents he’s spoken to “feel like they’re being thrown under the bus.”
Others have told Wright the project is nothing more than a land clearance project to rid certain types of people from the predominantly black, working-class community.
“What they say is that they want to revitalize the community,” Wright told The Daily Signal. “I don’t know how you revitalize a community by getting rid of everybody who lives in the community and replacing it with a federal spy agency.”
City officials have begun evaluating homes, offering some residents $20,000 to $30,000 for their property, according to Wright. He said that is not nearly enough compensation for individuals to afford another home in a similar low-crime community.
The home of Charlesetta Taylor, that she has lived in for 70 years may be torn down by the city of St. Louis
The houses in the North St. Louis neighborhood were built of brick in the late 19th century. Wright said purchasing a similar Victorian house in the city would cost between $300,000 and $400,000.
“People don’t want to move; they don’t want to leave their community,” he said. “Some of these people have had these houses for generations; some were purchased back in the ’60s. We have retired people on a fixed income who live in these houses, and now they’re going to have to pick up and move, and they don’t know where to go.”
City officials have already begun excavating properties to survey the land and have prevented a grocery store from moving into the area.
Paul Larkin, director of The Heritage Foundation’s project to counter abuse of the criminal law, said even eminent domain proceedings can destroy the value of the land.
“If you have a house and it’s worth $100,000 and the government decides it’s going to take your house, in theory they’re supposed to pay you $100,000,” Larkin told The Daily Signal.
“But if on Jan. 1 they announce they may be taking it, but they’re not sure and they’ve started the eminent domain process, you may no longer have a $100,000 house … because if you sell it to someone, that person is going to be subject to whatever the state wants to do with it.”
Residents in the North St. Louis community have posted anti-eminent domain and anti-NGA signs along with Bible verses around the neighborhood. Wright said one woman posted a biblical verse reading, “Thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s house.”
Wright said the neighborhood, which is already depressed from leveled houses and a shrinking population, is a tight-knit, family-oriented community. Dozens of homeowners could lose their property as early as this summer, forcing families and retired individuals to relocate.
“If they do this here, you’re kicking people out. You’re destroying a community,” he said. “These people don’t know where they’re going to go or what they’re going to do.”
Larkin said residents are never fully compensated for the loss of their homes because the government doesn’t pay for the personal value placed on property.
“Where you live is an important part of who you are. It’s how you define yourself,” he said. “It’s not simply a place that protects you from the elements, it’s not simply a place that has memories for you, but it has a way of becoming a part of who you are as a person, and now they’re going to take this person’s home away from them.”
Over the past few weeks, I had been approached by many people all with the same question: Who will I endorse for President of the United States? I have heard this even more since the launch of the Justice For Tamir Speak Out Tour. I have watched as my fellow mothers that have lost children have chosen a candidate to invest their faith in and I support them in their pursuits of justice for their children, and the people want to know where I stand.
For over a year I have been fighting for justice for my son, Tamir , who was killed by Cleveland police officers Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback. For over a year, I’ve waited to see if any candidate or official, including my state’s governor, would release a plan of action that addressed the failures and inhumane decisions responsible for my son’s death. While I’ve waited, I’ve been speaking out for true action, with changes that would help prevent another tragedy like Tamir’s murder, changes that truly hold these police accountable and give people power in the communities we live in.
As a resident of Cleveland, Ohio, my local and state governments have not only failed my family, they’ve caused us severe trauma. After shooting Tamir, Cleveland police neglected to call aid for my son and handcuffed my daughter, who was trying help her brother. Then the city of Cleveland later tried to charge me for the ambulance ride that was too late to save my son’s life. They said it was a mistake, and no one was held responsible for any of pain they caused my family.
After Tamir’s death, the county prosecutor, Timothy McGinty, an elected official, responsible for seeking justice for Tamir, instead blamed my 12 year old boy for his own death.
All of this happened under the administration of Ohio governor, John Kasich, a 2016 presidential nominee. Ohio’s state government has shown me repeatedly that the people elected to serve have no interest in justice. The loss of Tamir has made it clear to me that Cleveland is deeply invested in a system of injustice. No one has been held responsible for any part of this entire traumatic experience. No one has at least apologized for killing my son. Not a single politician has offered me some substantial support.
While I’ve continued to push my state’s officials towards real changes, several Presidential candidates have said my son’s name in their mouth, using his death as an example of what shouldn’t happen in America. Twelve year old children should never be murdered for playing in a park. But not a single politician: local, state or federal, has taken action to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Instead of plans for justice and accountability, I have been shown several plans for criminal justice reform, none that address my experience of the entire system being guilty. Those plans don’t address the many ways elected officials become exempt to accountability and the legal flaws that allow them to extend that exemption to cops who kill. These plans do not get rid of the trauma of knowing that my tax dollars help pay the salaries of the police officers that killed my son.
As one of the Mothers of the Movement, I know the death of Tamir has shown many just how important police accountability is. I also know it must be a piece of a larger plan to address the deep corruptions that exist in America. The people should be the ones determining what accountability looks like, not prosecutors who work closely with police to deny the people justice. County Prosecutors whose job requires them to believe the police the majority of the time, should not be the same people prosecuting them. Police officers often lie about fearing for their life.
True community oversight of the police is one that evens the balance of power and allows the communities police serve to judge how well they are doing their job. My experience has let me know that the system is working just the way the people in power want it to. That is why I refuse to accept plans or support politicians that offer what they propose as solutions, not informed by us, the community. It’s why I won’t accept plans for more “community police” as positive solutions when it was the police that killed my son. I cannot settle for partial solutions and lip service. I know we need real action, and I refuse to endorse any candidate that offers less.
The FBI definition of terrorism certainly applies to this Oregon group, however, I doubt if they are charged under the terrorism statutes, including 18 U.S.C. § 2332b. We have a double standard in this country that is not only obvious but sickening!
The Washington Post article raised many of the same questions I had about this group of armed men who took over a federal building at a national wildlife refuge in Oregon. Instead of 'terrorist', this group was called "occupiers", "armed activists", "militia men" and "even protesters".
Ammon Bundy (R), talks with Wes Kjar in an office at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon, January 6, 2016.
I heard harsher terms hurled at the Ferguson Protesters than the media seems to be using for the Oregon Terrorist. These terrorist weren't demonstrating the loss of life or civil rights, they were making a claim to land owned by the government.
I can't imagine any situation where a group of armed black men taking over anything for any reason wouldn't be called terrorist.
Even with these type of examples, many would argue 'white privilege' does not exist.
Ammon Bundy, the terrorist's leader, and another 15 defendants pleaded not guilty Wednesday, February 24, 2016, to federal conspiracy charges related to the 41-day occupation of an Oregon wildlife refuge. Several of the accused, however, expressed doubt that they enjoy the presumption of innocence.
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These terrorists seemingly had support from others in their community, so if they request jury trials, which they most likely will, and just one person on that jury votes not guilty, they walk.
The world knows these guys broke the law, they've made statements admitting their actions, however, this is one of those instances where jury nullification may overrule the law.
Unfortunately, black folks don't often get the benefit of jury nullification. Far too many bargain away their freedom through plea agreements. Many people are unaware of jury nullification. Others fail to exercise their right to participate on juries and get out of jury duty. When black people don't serve on juries, we allow the biases of others to decide the fate of black defendants. Black jury participation may have had some impact on mass incarceration of nonviolent drug offenders.
Slave Mentality
I'm not a very religious person, but my father told me about a recent Joel Osteen sermon about the mental attitudes of Israelites while they were slaves in Egypt.
From JoelOsteen.com
When the Israelites were in slavery, they were forced to make bricks all day long. They were given quotas that were almost impossible to meet. And at one point, Pharaoh got upset and had the supervisors take away all the straw they needed for bricks. They had the same quota, but they had to go find their own straw.
No doubt they prayed, “God, please give us straw. God, You know these supervisors are going to get upset. We’re not going to make our quotas.”
They had been pushed down for so long. They had such a limited vision when they were praying for more straw. In effect, they were praying to become a better slave. God said, “That’s too small. I don’t want to make you a better slave. I want to take you totally out of that bondage. I created you as the head and not the tail, the victor and not the victim.”
Today, don’t just pray for improvement in your difficult situation, pray for deliverance from it! See beyond your circumstances and let Him lead you out into the place of victory and abundance!
Joel Osteen starts speaking about abundance at 1:25 and mentions the Israelites near the 2:30 time mark.
Break Free of Mental Slavery
Black folks in America had a similar mental conditioning. After 350 years of slavery and 90 years of Jim Crow and another 50 plus years of institutionalized racism, as a group, many of us still suffer from post traumatic slave syndrome.
All our rights and privileges are defined within the law. You owe it to yourself to learn how to exercise your rights and the rights of your children. Use this site to educate yourself more about the principles of the law, participate in the jury system and political process and fight back against oppression for yourself and your children.
Stop accepting double standards! Until we fight back against double standards that criminalize certain behaviors to mass incarcerate and hold us back economically, we are doomed.
A West Virginia television news station ran a segment, "WSAZ Investigates: A Dose of Reality," showing an EMS supervisor, Chad Ward, responding to a heroin overdose, while wearing a body cam depicting the devastating effect Heroin is having in West Virginia.
This same sort of tragedy is playing out all over the country, including Missouri. I saw many people, including classmates, friends and family members suffer from the effects of drug addiction. Criminalizing drug use and mass incarceration of drug users and addicts compounded the negative effects.
Narcan (Naloxone) is a drug that reverses an overdose, it is creating more concern than comfort according to an EMS professional because "it gives drug users a false sense of security." They are concerned that people who are using or abusing these drugs are going to get into the mindset of "well somebody's going to have Norcan."
Rising Overdose Deaths
Deaths from overdoses of narcotic prescription painkillers more than tripled in the U.S. from 2000 to 2014. These drugs now kill more people than heroin and cocaine combined.
Years ago, many people believed that drugs was a black or brown problem and didn't care as long as their community was not negatively affected. The same was true when crime and murders seemly occurred only in certain areas. However, as mentioned in a previous post, the fastest growing demographic of drug addiction is in white communities. Within the last two years, there have been at least 767 overdose deaths in the St. Louis area. With increasing drug use comes increasing crime.
I was raised in North St. Louis during the seventies and literally saw the decline. During the early 70's, just about any service or product was available in the neighborhood. First there was white flight, then a reduction in city services, then businesses left, drug use increased (some government sanctioned), crime increased, and now the North Side is a shell of it's former self.
Just about all major manufacturing left North City and moved to predominately white communities, often rural areas, far removed from the city. For example, GM manufactured Corvettes at Union and Natural Bridge until 1981, two years later in 1983, GM opened a manufacturing plant in Wentzville, MO.
When manufacturers began leaving black urban areas, no one cared. Once that pattern was established, corporations realized they could "flight" the country and move manufacturing to China and Mexico with little or no repercussions. Now many of the same jobs that left urban areas are now moving out of predominately white areas to other countries. As Martin Luther King once stated, "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
Carrier Corporation is the latest example of this trend, earlier this week, Carrier announced the closure of manufacturing plants in Indiana. Those jobs will be moving to Mexico.
Trump and others have been proposing closing the border, so I guess corporations figure if those workers can not longer come here, they will go there. Remember, closing the borders can work both ways. If the best manufacturing jobs end up in Mexico in the next decade, Americans may not be able to cross the border to get those jobs. Just food for thought. It's easy to be insensitive to economic suffering, when that suffering is not your own.
Economic Predictions
It has been estimate that computerization and robotics will eliminate half of all jobs in the U.S. in less than ten years. That doesn't include the number of jobs lost to other countries.
As economic conditions worsen, drug use will most likely continue to skyrocket. If an ultra conservative candidate gets elected as president, many of the safety nets that currently exist could be reduced or eliminated completely.
West Virginia's coal economy has been devastated because of clean coal regulation and alternative energy. Like most other states, West Virginia, over time reduced social programs and now many people there, in mostly white communities, lack adequate food, housing and health care. Some of these people who now need social services may have been among the very ones who argued for reductions. West Virginia is a window into the future.
Since World War II, the dominant or reserve currency of the world has been the U.S. dollar, but that is changing. Around the time I was born, GM, U.S. Steel, General Electric, Goodyear and AT&T were among the nation's largest employers. Those companies provided good paying jobs and firmly established the middle class. Today, Wal-Mart is the nation's largest private employer; Target, Kroger and Sears are among the top ten largest employers in the country and many of those jobs are part-time low wage positions.
In 1945, there were 41.9 workers supporting each social security retiree; by 2010 there were just 2.9 workers per retiree and as baby boomers continue to age, the numbers will only get worse. This is not a sustainable system. The private pension system is not much better off, that's why some union retirees will see their pensions reduced, some more than half starting in July 2016.
I suspect one of the reasons union organizers were trying so hard to unionize fast food workers and get them pay increases, was to have a fresh supply of dues paying members to shore up union pension funds for existing union retirees.
When the great recession hit, I had a managerial position and reported directly to the company president. I owned four homes and I was the last person worried about a job loss. Things changed! Hopefully you'll use the information presented on this website to prepare yourself in case things also change for you. If you're not prepared for change, the consequence could be devastating.
The City of Cleveland has filed a creditor’s claim against the estate of 12 year old Tamir Rice. The level of insult to Tamir’s family is beyond belief. I can’t imagine even the Ku Klux Klan being callous enough to send a bill after lynching a family member!
After the Cleveland police shot Tamir Rice in a park while holding a toy gun, the officers stood around him for four minutes, until an FBI agent arrived at the scene and gave the boy first aid.
In response to a lawsuit filed by the Rice family against Cleveland, the city claimed that Tamir and his family were responsible for his death and being shot by police when they filed the following responses in court:
“Plaintiffs’ decedent’s injuries, losses, and damages complained of, were directly and proximately caused by the failure of Plaintiffs’ decedent to exercise due care to avoid injury.”… “injuries, losses, and damages complained of, were directly and proximately caused by the acts of Plaintiffs’ decedent, not this Defendant” … “Plaintiffs’ injuries, losses, and damages complained of, were directly and proximately caused by their own acts” …. “Plaintiffs’ claims are barred by the legal doctrines of comparative and contributory negligence. Plaintiffs’ claims are barred by the legal doctrine of assumption of risk.”
How does a twelve year old child assume the risk of his own death by playing with a toy gun? That response was so repulsive and generated such a negative response, Cleveland Mayor, Frank Jackson, apologized.
As insensitive as the lawsuit response was, it pales in comparison to sending this family a bill for murdering their child! Cleveland’s actions are unconscionable. The citizens of Cleveland need to removed any leader or administrator associated with this travesty of justice. Hopefully, Lebron James, will find inspiration from Beyonce’s Super Bowl performance and finally speak up concerning the Tamir Rice incident.
Last month, people in Cleveland were calling on Lebron James to speak on the Tamir Rice situation, however, James responded that he was not up on the situation. This could have just as easily been Lebron’s son, brother or nephew. Police killed 223 unarmed people last year. As stated in our post, “First They Came,” when you don’t speak up for others, there may not be anyone to speak up for you.
Court.rchp.com was created mostly in response to my personal experience with municipal harassment from the City of St. Louis. This harassment occurred after a job loss when I was most vulnerable and least able to afford legal representation. "Kick a man when he's down," is a bully tactic, used by cowards and predators. One of the methods of harassment involved fining me for failure to respond or correct violations for which I was never given notice.
The City of St. Louis has either lost or dismissed every action against me, except one, which is currently before the Missouri Court of Appeals. That case originated during 2013, in St. Louis municipal court, where I lost (just about every case I've won against the city, I first lost in municipal court). I then filed trial de novo, the case was heard in St. Louis Circuit Court by a judge who had previously worked for the St. Louis Convention and Visitor's Commission, I lost.The irony is that the judge was black, personable and I actually liked him, although I didn't like his decision. Many judges appear biased against self-represented (pro se) litigants and this judge had worked for the city. That's why I requested a jury trial, but that request was denied, which is one of my points of appeal. The court of appeals has had the case since early 2015 and the case was recently docketed and submitted on briefs, so I expect a decided soon.
Yesterday, I received a fine assessment of $200 concerning this property for violations that I again received no notices for. Some of the violations appear to be among those being appealed. I am certain that the city must be illegally targeting others. The City of St. Louis has just intensified my desire to spread legal knowledge to everyone. If you believe the city of St. Louis has targeted you unfairly, please contact us and share your story. We may also plan a series of informational pickets at St. Louis Municipal Court, please let us know if you would like to participate.
Fortunately, there is proposed legislation to limit non-traffic municipal ordinance revenue, however, that legislation won't have much effect on St. Louis City, since their budget is over a billion dollars. A ten or twenty percent cap on fines would still allow the City of St. Louis to collect $100 or $200 million in fines. There could also be a $200 fine limit imposed on future municipal violations. My alleged violations, which included failure to paint a fence, were each assessed fines of $500.
Abusive Tactics
The City of St. Louis uses abusive tactics, including stalling, to drag cases out. Their actions force people to repeatedly attend court proceedings for minor violations unless of course they plead guilty and pay the fine. Because this tactic was used against me and I was forced to appear many times in St. Louis municipal court, I was able to witness a pattern of disrespect, abuse and disregard for people's rights that became obvious to not only myself but many others in attendance.
One woman was treated so badly by the judge, she broke down in tears. She was chastised because she didn't have money to pay the fine. It was difficult to watch. If you dare to exercise your rights, you are threatened with increased fines and court costs. Fines are being used not only as revenue generators but also as scare tactics to force people to relinquish their rights. This only works because people allow themselves to be intimated by the system.
I could at least competently assert my rights and defend myself. But as I witnessed people, some who were obviously overwhelmed and seemed desperate, being abused by the courts; I couldn't help but wonder if the city's harsh treatment might create another Cookie Thornton type situation.
Cookie Thornton
Charles Lee "Cookie" Thornton, was a lifelong resident of Meacham Park, an unincorporated, mostly African American community. In 1992, Kirkwood annexed the Meacham Park area. Upon annexation, the municipal codes of Kirkwood became the law for Meacham Park, which had previously lacked municipal codes.
On February 7, 2008, Cookie Thornton fired shots during a Kirkwood city council meeting, that killed five , including two police officers, and wounded two others; one of the two wounded victims, the mayor, later died. Thornton was then shot and killed by police. SuperBowl Sunday will be the eighth anniversary of Thornton's Kirkwood shooting.
St. Louis Magazine published a four-part series about the Kirkwood Shootings, part one of the series, "Why did Cookie Kill?" starts off with:
"In the initial shock, it seemed simple: Cookie Thornton had gone crazy. Then people started commenting, and it seemed even simpler: A black man had gotten fed up with bigotry and taken revenge. Then explanations started coming, and nothing was simple at all"
The complaints that surfaced during the Ferguson Protest about municipal courts were the same sort of things Cookie Thornton complained about. I didn't know Mr. Thornton, so I can't speak to his mental state, but every person has their breaking point. Mr. Thornton pleaded for help for years including at city council meetings about tickets and felt he was being treated unfairly, but it appears he was ignored. If someone had simply helped him better understand the rules of court, his trial de novo appeal rights, and the right to a jury trial, I wonder if he would have had a better outcome.
In 1996, Thornton had begun receiving citations from Kirkwood for violations of city codes. In June 1998, he pleaded guilty to six violations; and agreed to a five-phase plan to bring his property and his paving business into conformance with city codes within two years.
Thornton filed for bankruptcy in December 1999. During the bankruptcy process, he was put on a plan to get out of debt: he would pay $4,425 a month for five years. But Thornton stopped making the payments within four months and moved the portion of his business that had for a while occupied a rental property in a nearby commercially zoned area, back into his residentially zoned neighborhood.
Thornton never paid any of the fines from the 2001 and 2002 Kirkwood code violation cases. Thornton, despite having no education, training or experience in the practice of law, acted as his own attorney. The City of Kirkwood said in a state court memorandum in 2003, that by May 2002, Thornton had pled or was found guilty of more than 100 of 114 charges.
In 2005, the Missouri Court of Appeals opinion dismissing his suit against Kirkwood and Ken Yost for malicious prosecution and civil rights violations termed his brief "largely incomprehensible". After several years of the lawsuits, he declined an offer from the city to let his fines remain unpaid in exchange for dropping his last lawsuit against the city and no longer disrupting council meetings.
The Meacham Park Neighborhood Association (MPNA) met the afternoon following the shooting, February 8. More than 100 people, including Thornton's mother, and a "procession of ministers" who spoke at the meeting. Many spoke sympathetically of Thornton. Elder Harry Jones of Men and Women of Faith Ministries said
"This is something that took place over time, and perhaps it could have been avoided. There always has been a great divide between Kirkwood and Meacham Park."
Thornton's mother spoke last, saying
"We've got to do things the Bible way. I'm sad that this happened."
A blog entry that same day from a minister who used to live and work in Kirkwood provides some background about the relationship between Meacham Park and Kirkwood:
People who had lived in [Meacham Park] for generations were paid to move out so that Wal Mart could move in. [They] were made promises about how the money the city made from Wal Mart would be given to improve the living conditions in Meacham Park. When I met with the MPNA, there were residents who had been organizing and feeling frustrated for quite a while. They felt that the city officials were not following through on their promises and that the Meacham Park residents made a grave mistake in trusting the city officials….we were able to get our hands on some financial documents that flat out proved that the city promised money that they had not paid but there were legal loopholes that seemed insurmountable without a sea of money to devote to legal fees. When I stepped down from my work with Meacham Park, I knew that the frustrations were far from resolved.
In the end, it's always about the money, isn't it? It looks like the only reason Kirkwood was interested in annexing Meacham Park was to profit from a Wal-Mart development that certainly came with other developments. They displaced poor black residents from Meacham Park seemingly without any inconvenience to Kirkwood residents.
A white actor, Joseph Fiennes, has been cast to play Michael Jackson in a British TV production about a fabled road trip made by Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Jackson and Marlon Brando took while trying to get home to Los Angeles from New York after the September 11 terrorist attacks.
The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah, commented: “Are you for real?” “All the drama going on over black actors being ignored, and you’re getting a white actor to play the greatest black pop star of all time.” “And the worst thing is it’s not even like the best white actor,”
Just days ago, we published a post about the Oscars. Maybe white actors playing black characters is one of the reasons blacks are having difficulty being nominated for an Oscar. The Washington Post recently published an article, “100 times a white actor played someone who wasn’t white: Hollywood has moved on from blackface, but it remains terrible at casting people of color.”
On our page about racial bias in mass media, we talked about how actual black heroes have been portrayed as white, including the black marine at ground zero in the movie “World Trade Center.”
During an interview with Oprah, below, Michael Jackson stated, “Why would I want a white child to play me? I’m a black American. I’m proud to be a black American. I am proud of my race. I am proud of who I am.” Jackson makes the comments at around the 23:46 mark in the video. Maybe Jennifer Beals or Halle Berry should have been cast as Elizabeth Taylor, who makes an appearance during the interview; especially since Taylor portrayed Cleopatra, who is speculated to have been of black African ancestry.
Most people reading this don't know me and have most likely never heard of me. Weather I watch or boycott the Oscars won't matter to most people, especially those within the industry. I am not rich, at least not yet, and that fact alone, for many will disqualify my statement.
I do not normally watch the Oscars, because it is usually boring and does not usually include many movies that I'm interested in. I am more interested in movies that include major black characters. The movies I would pick to win are often not nominated. For example, I would have nominated Denzel for John Q instead of Training Day, however, I did enjoy Training Day.
I am curious how Chris Rock will handle this issue and will most likely tune in briefly, but as usual, I probably won't watch the majority of the show. The Oscar controversy will probably result in record-breaking ratings numbers, because people who would not have normally watched, like me, will now watch to see what Chris Rock will say.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is the trade organization that produces the Oscars. Since 1939 the Academy has presented Oscars to those members nominated and voted the best. The Oscars for 87 years have been awarded mostly to white actors and only 15 black actors have received Oscar awards. The entertainment world in general is overwhelmingly white in the United States. Watch any award show and the vast majority of those in attendance will be white and the majority of winners will be white, it's always been that way.
The View guest host Sunny Hostin, a lawyer and tv personality, pointed out that the Academy is 94% Caucasian, and misstated 46% of movie tickets last year were purchased by African-Americans. I'm sure Ms. Hostin was referring to the MPAA Report (pg. 13), that Caucasians purchased 54% of all movies tickets while non-Caucasians (Hispanics 23%, African-Americans 12% and Asians 11%), purchased the other 46%. However, she did make a very strong point about the power of the African-American Dollar.
The Academy has only had five black Oscar hosts in its 87 year history: Sammy Davis Jr. 1972, 1975; Diana Ross 1974; Richard Pryor 1977, 1983; Whoopi Goldberg 1994, 1996, 1999, 2002; Chris Rock 2005, 2016. Whoopi Goldberg and Chris Rock are the only black solo host, Davis, Ross and Pryor were all part of a team of hosts.
The Academy also has its first black female president, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, who was instrumental in removing the restriction of the number of members and initiated a drive to invite over 400 new members, many of whom were young and came from diverse backgrounds. First black producer ever to win Best Picture, Steve McQueen, occurred during Isaacs' first year as president in 2013.
If there was going to be a boycott of the Oscars, it should have happened a long time ago instead of now. The two main voices used to justify a boycott, Jada Pinkett Smith and Spike Lee most likely would not have complained if their movies (Concussion or Chi-Raq would have been the only black movie nominated. However, Will Smith has said even if he was nominated, he would feel the same way. Although I have enjoyed many of Will Smith's movies and consider myself a fan, I'm not sure I believe his statement.
The majority of jobs in the entertainment industry are behind the scenes and many of those positions are good paying jobs, however, blacks are underrepresented. Blacks in front of the camera should be just as upset that people who look like them are not behind the camera, in the graphics department, lighting, editing and a number of other positions.
There are an estimated 45.6 million black people in the United States. If we were a separate country, we would be the 31st most populist country in the world, just behind Spain, Columbia and Kenya. There should be a concerted effort to develop our own information and entertainment companies and institutions.
Bill Cosby ($380 million)
Tyler Perry ($400 million)
Beyonce ($450 million)
Majic Johnson ($500 million)
Mariah Carey ($520 million)
Jay Z ($520 million)
Robert Johnson ($550 million)
Tiger Woods ($600 million)
Diddy ($700 million)
Dr. Dre ($780 million)
Michael Jordan ($1 billion)
Oprah ($3 Billion)
The twelve people above have a combined wealth of $9.4 billion, however, there is not one major black movie studio, record company, broadcast television or distribution network. Years ago Bill Cosby tried to purchase NBC and some believe that ambition led to being crucified in the media. Blacks own just 10 U.S. television stations; less than one percent of all television properties, and less than 2 percent of radio.
Tyler Perry Studios may be on track to becoming a major studio and he has partnered with the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) to produce programming. It’s hard to overstate the influence of filmmaker Tyler Perry on the recent mainstream success of African American movies. From 2005 to 2013, Perry had at least one film in the top 100; in six of those years he had at least two. Tyler Perry’s Diary of a Mad Black Woman, his first feature film, cost less than $6 million to make and grossed more than $50 million domestically.
However, since Discovery and Harpo each own 50% of Oprah Winfrey Network, and Oprah gave at least 10% ownership of Harpo to Jeff Jacobs when he became president of OWN, Oprah can not be considered majority owner of the OWN Network.
Black Celebrities Should Pool Their Resources
The richest black celebrities have enough combined wealth to finance just about any project imaginable. However, the richest celebrities are not the only ones who can collaborate on projects. Many successful black movies have been made on relatively low budgets by Hollywood standard. For example:
The Butler: Budget $30 Million – Grossed $177 Million
I'm not a Hollywood insider, but I suspect that booking the talent, especially "A" list stars add significantly to movie budgets. Celebrity partners could draw a percentage of the profits instead of a salary off the projects they create.
Celebrities who did not make it into the top twelve include:
Shaquille O'Neal ($350 million)
Russell Simmons ($325 million)
Quincy Jones ($310 million)
Floyd Mayweather ($280 million)
LeBron James ($270 million)
50 Cents ($270 million)
Kobe Bryant ($260 million)
Will Smith ($250 million)
Samuel Jackson ($150 million)
R. Kelly ($150 million)
Denzel Washington ($150 million)
Lil Wayne ($135 million)
Rihanna ($120 million)
Snoop Dogg ($120 million)
Ice Cube ($120 million)
Usher ($110 million)
Martin Lawrence ($110 million)
Serena Williams ($100 million)
LL Cool J ($100 million)
Morgan Freeman ($90 million)
Kanye West ($90 million)
Tyra Banks ($90 million)
Jamie Foxx ($85 million)
Pharrell Williams ($80 million)
Venus Williams ($75 million)
Eddie Murphy ($75 million)
Chris Rock ($70 million)
Halle Berry ($70 million)
Sidney Poitier ($65 million)
Queen Latifah ($60 million)
Raven Symone ($53 million)
Alicia Keys ($50 million)
T.I. ($50 million)
John Singleton ($50 million)
Kimora Lee Simmons ($50 million)
Naomi Campbell ($48 million)
Nicki Minaj ($45 million)
Andre 3000 ($45 million)
Dennis Haysbert ($42 million)
Spike Lee ($40 million)
Shonda Rhimes ($40 million)
Eriq La Salle ($40 million)
Don Cheadle ($35 million)
Kandi Burrus ($35 million)
Terrence Howard ($30 million)
Ice T ($30 million)
Vanessa Williams ($28 million)
Kevin Hart ($25 million)
The total combine wealth of the celebrities above is close to $15 billion dollars. Consider the projects that could be created, if some of the black celebrities pooled their talent and a fraction of their resources. Instead of relying on white studios executives to approve projects, they could collaborate and create whatever they want.
United Artists, which became a major movie studio was formed when four white film stars began to talk of forming their own company to better control their own work as well as their futures. There's nothing preventing black celebrities from doing the same thing.
The are a number of "A" list celebrities not included in either list above. Black celebrities with a net worth of less than $25 million we're excluded from the list, but there are many other black celebrities who are worth 5, 10, 15 or 20 million who could just as easily partner with others to get projects off the ground.
After Tamir’s death, the county prosecutor, Timothy McGinty, an elected official, responsible for seeking justice for Tamir, instead blamed my 12 year old boy for his own death.
