Despite holding out hope to the contrary, today police confirmed that a body found Thursday morning was indeed that of Nailah Franklin. She had been missing since September 19.

Her body was found unclothed and no cause of death has been determined. Until the forensic evidence has been processed, police are not ruling her death a homicide. Nailah was identified using dental records.

Yesterday, I held out some hope that she was alive after police admonished that reports of the body being hers were premature. Sadly, today, that flicker of hope was extinguished. As I stated yesterday, let us pray for peace and justice for Nailah Franklin’s family.

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There is a bit of good news in the ongoing saga of the Jena 6. First, it was announced that prosecutor Reed Walters would not appeal the decision to not to try Mychal Bell as an adult and move his case to juvenile court. Second came the news that, after having his bail reduced to $45,000, it was posted and Mychal Bell was able to leave jail after nearly 10 months behind bars.

Rev. Al Sharpton made a statement which sums up this current development quite succinctly:

“Tonight, Mychal can go home, but Mychal is not out of the juvenile process. He goes home because a lot of people left their home and stood up for him.

Let America know — we are not fighting for the right to fight in school. We’re not fighting for the right for kids to beat each other. We’re fighting to say that there must be one level of justice for everybody. And you cannot have adult attempted murder for some, and a fine for others, and call that equal protection under the law. Two wrongs don’t make one civil right.”

So, today, we are seeing a sorting of leveling of justice. However, we still must realize that it took a lot of folks mobilizing to make that happen. Let’s not forget the lessons that are being re-taught in Jena, Louisiana.

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UPDATE: Authorities are now saying that the reports of Nailah’s body being found are premature. According to police, the body found is so badly decomposed that the identification of race is not possible. Also, according to police, no family members have seen the body. I will follow up with more details as they emerge.

Original Post (originally titled “Sad developments in Nailah Franklin saga”): Though authorities have not confirmed this, a family member of Nailah Franklin, a 28-year-old pharmaceutical sale rep missing for a week, is saying that a body found near a nature preserve is indeed hers.

The body was found this morning not far from where her abandoned car was found a few days ago. Her uncle, Jon Merrill, is saying that the body found is Nailah’s.

As stated previously, no suspects have been named but, police are looking at a man she dated briefly. Nailah had filed a complaint against him for threatening phone calls he made to her.

My prayers go out to the family of Nailah Franklin. May they find peace and justice.

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Here’s an ad playing on the Larry Craig scandal. It drives its point home with clarity (and it’s funny, too).

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It seems like Tavis Smiley’s calling out of the GOP frontrunners for skipping a PBS debate at majority-black Morgan State University might have been a tipping point for a Republican party that needs every vote in can get in hopes of hanging on to some power in Washington.

When it was revealed that Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, John McCain and Fred Thompson would all be skipping the PBS debate, GOP stalwarts begin voicing their concerns.  Let’s face it, Tavis Smiley has a long reach.  In addition to his PBS show’s audience, his discontent made the pages of USA Today and he went on the Tonight Show and, in front of a national, majority-white audience,  basically blasted the GOP for idisrepecting minority voters.  Even worse, this was not an isolated incident.  Earlier this summer, all but one candidated, Tom Tancreado, skipped the NAACP Republican forum and Spanish-language network Univision had to cancel their GOP candidates forum when only John McCain agreed to show.

Like I said, this is not a good look for people who claim to want minority votes.

So, over the last few days, some leading Republican figures has spoken out about the shortsightedness of GOP presidential contenders in not courting minority voters. Recently, on Good Morning America, Newt Gingrich felt these candidates where making a huge mistake because “African-Americans have been hurt more by the failures of government” than any other group and he felt that these candidates might be able to show voters that they offer a viable alternative.

The last black Republican to serve in the House, JC Watts, had stronger words:

“I think the best that comes out of stupid decisions like this is that African-Americans might say, ‘Was it because of my skin color?’ Now, maybe it wasn’t, but African-Americans do say, ‘It crossed my mind.’”

He also went on to say the following:

“You kind of scratch your head thinking why are they making decisions like that?” Watts said. He speculated the candidates don’t have any African-American staffers who “could say to them, ‘You’re making a huge mistake strategically by not at least reaching out and talking to this demographic.’”

At any rate, they can count on not getting my vote, yet again.  Republicans b*tch, whine, moan and complain about not getting black support but then pull stunts like these.  They should realize it’s not the black faces at polling places that are the problems — it’s the white faces they see in their mirrors that are the real problem.

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In Chicago, the search for Nailah Franklin intensifies as the feds have been brought in to assist in the search for the 28-year-old pharmaceutical sales rep.

Franklin has been missing since September 16, when she was last seen attending a wedding. She was officially reported missing on September 19.

Police have recovered her car in nearby Hammond, IL and a search of her apartment indicates that both her home and her work laptop are missing.

Though no suspects have been named, police are looking into a man she dated briefly who had made threatening phone calls to her. Franklin filed a police report against him. He also has a protection order against him by another woman and authorities also say he has a criminal background.

The family is offering a $10,000 reward for information about her whereabouts.

Let’s pray for her safe return.

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Over the weekend, a Florida International University student was attacked in what authorities are labeling a hate crime. Stephen Barrett was one of the attendees at a keg party on an island near Florida’s Intracoastal Waterway. As the party was wrapping up, some attendees were trying to catch a ride back to shore. On the way back, the boat’s driver noticed that the boat was overloaded and made his way back to shore.

This is where the problems started.

After making it back to shore, one of the suspects told Barrett, “Get of the boat, n***er.” Heated words were exchanged but, Barrett and two friends got off the boat and waited for another to come along.

By the time Barrett and his friends made it back to shore, the suspect lay in wait for them with baseball bats and they were attacked before they could react.

Here are more details:

Barrett was knocked into the Intracoastal, and several teens tried holding his head under water, according to police reports.

A man fishing nearby called police. Another partygoer ran off and flagged down Bal Harbour Officer Steve Goldberg, who was writing a traffic ticket on Collins Avenue.

”Upon my arrival, I observed approximately 10-15 subjects trying to leave the area in a hurry,” Goldberg wrote in his report. “There were three victims who were hit with bats and one victim was almost drowned . . . while also being beaten.”

Miami-Dade, Surfside, Sunny Isles Beach and Bay Harbor Islands officers also went to the scene.

A bloody baseball bat was taken as evidence. The arrests were made by detectives from Miami-Dade’s Intracoastal station.

The suspects and charges are as follows:

• Miguel Aranda (pictured above), 18, and Gilberto Maakaroun, 17, were both charged with a hate crime, battery and attempted felony murder
• Nicholas Checa, 15, and Marino Biondini, 17, were charged with a hate crime and battery
• Jose Osorio, 21, was charged with aggravated battery and attempted felony murder.

Both Aranda and Osorio remain in jail.

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Bill O’Reilly’s racism shines through yet again. This time, he manages to insult just about every black American due to his amazement that black people can actually be normal and engage in everyday living with a self-respect and civility.

What am I talking about?

Recently, on his radio show, Bill O’Reilly recounted his recent safaris into the jungles of black America in order to bring back news to white America about how the natives live there. Oh, is my sarcasm showing?

Just check out some of the highlights:

“I think black Americans are starting to think more and more for themselves. They’re getting away from the Sharptons and the [Rev. Jesse] Jacksons and the people trying to lead them into a race-based culture. They’re just trying to figure it out. ‘Look, I can make it. If I work hard and get educated, I can make it.”

“Starting” to think for ourselves, huh?

(On go to Sylvia’s Restaurant in Harlem, O’Reilly stated he) “had a great time, and all the people up there are tremendously respectful…I couldn’t get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia’s restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City. I mean, it was exactly the same, even though it’s run by blacks, primarily black patronship.”

“…even though it was run by blacks…”?

Oh, lets not ignore this gem.

“There wasn’t one person in Sylvia’s who was screaming, ‘M-Fer, I want more iced tea.’ You know, I mean, everybody was — it was like going into an Italian restaurant in an all-white suburb in the sense of people were sitting there, and they were ordering and having fun. And there wasn’t any kind of craziness at all.”

What the hell?!!

The bottom line is that Bill O’Reilly has got to be one of the whitest men in America. It is clearly evident that he doesn’t spend any significant time around people of other races, nor does he have to. The ignorance he displayed above only further solidifies this point. However, I am less disturbed by him saying it than I am by the fact that millions listen to him and agree with him.

I have posted the audio below (thanks to Media Matters) for anyone interested in hearing it for themselves.

 

 O'Reilly's surprise at normality of black people: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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I honestly believe that the tactics once used solely to suppress dissent from people of color are now being utilized on the public at large. As black people, we know of the long history of COINTELPRO and its devastating effects on our forward progress as a people but, I believe that, in addition to it being a program, it was also a grand experiment. America didn’t squeal too loudly when it happened to people who didn’t matter much so, perhaps, it might not squeal much if enacted on America as a whole.

In post-9/11 America, we continue to silently accept the erosion of our rights and “experiments” like these continue to go on using people who still don’t matter much as the test subjects.

I say all that to say this — once again, another program has been uncovered that shows us just how badly we can expect our rights to be trampled. During the last Congress, the Posse Comitatus act of 1878 was abolished. You don’t know what it is, you say? Don’t be ashamed — until last year, I didn’t know either. The act basically said that the U.S. military could not be used against U.S. citizens. Now, some in power recognized that U.S. citizens may not easily accept having the last of their rights stripped from them, should martial law be declared so, they had a brilliant idea — they would train members of the clergy to suppress opposition. These groups, known as “Clergy Response Teams”, are U.S. Government-trained ministers who are deployed into areas under martial law to help quiet things down.

Now, just as I hypothesized, people of color were used as the guinea pigs of this experiment. A “Clergy Response Team” was used in New Orleans right after Hurricane Katrina.

Sounds Orwellian, you say? Just check out this excerpt from the piece on them:

Such clergy response teams would walk a tight-rope during martial law between the demands of the government on the one side, versus the wishes of the public on the other. “In a lot of cases, these clergy would already be known in the neighborhoods in which they’re helping to diffuse that situation,” assured Sandy Davis. He serves as the director of the Caddo-Bossier Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.

Yes, you read right — Homeland Security and the clergy working hand-in-hand to “diffuse” these situations.

But, this part is even more chilling:

For the clergy team, one of the biggest tools that they will have in helping calm the public down or to obey the law is the bible itself, specifically Romans 13. Dr. Tuberville elaborated, “because the government’s established by the Lord, you know. And, that’s what we believe in the Christian faith. That’s what’s stated in the scripture.”

A few weeks back, I wrote about how mega-preacher Creflo Dollar had written a letter to his followers admonishing them to be unquestioningly loyal to the guidance of George Bush. Please trust, such calls did not begin or end with Creflo Dollar so, we have to believe that this message was played out in congregations across this country. Now, this program seem to be its next, logical evolutionary step.

Below is the link to the video of KSLA’s story on this program.

See video here

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Of course, when issues of race rise up in this country, there are people on either side. However, when those on that other side cross the line, there should be some accountability. Case in point - the FBI is currently investigating a white supremacist web site which allegedly listed the addresses of five of the “Jena 6″. In their own words, they posted them “in case anyone wants to deliver justice.”

According to an agency spokeswoman, this action “essentially called for their lynching.”

This site is run by the same idiot, Bill White, who posted the address, telephone number and name of the wife of columnist Leonard Pitts, who derided white supremacists for playing the victim card over a carjacking incident involving black suspects and a white victim.

We need to remember that, in cases like this, there are nutcases who come out the woodwork so, we need to remain vigilant and be prepared. Sadly, we are far from where we need to be on issues of race and this latest twist only further solidifies the fact.

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