black…MYstory

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.

Popularity: 44% [?]

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.

Popularity: 30% [?]

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.

Popularity: 23% [?]

The only one of the “Jena 6″ to be convicted, Mychal Bell, remains behind bars tonight, despite the fact that the conviction had been overturned. Lawyers for Bell requested that he be freed while an appeal is being reviewed.

Last week, an appeals judged overturned the conviction for aggravated second-degree battery when he determined that Bell should not have been tried as an adult. Bell was 16 at the time of the beating.

The judge in this case stated that Bell’s juvenile record, which includes two simple battery charges, was the justification for his $90,000 bail.

Participants in the Thursday rally at Jena stated that they expected this outcome and, therefore, continued on with plans for the rally, despite the conviction being overturned last week. It is believed that as many as 20,000 people showed up to protest in a town whose population is some 3,000.

In the end, people are not asking for these young men to get away with a crime. We are just asking that they face the same punishment that white kids would receive in that community under the same circumstances.

Popularity: 35% [?]

Too often, we have heard about what supposedly led up to the the legal issues faced by the young men from Louisiana referred to as the “Jena 6″ but, the story is really not told in its true chronology. If left up to the corporate media, one would gather that the beating of the white student was solely in response to the nooses that were hung from a tree in a schoolyard. However, there are some key details being left out of their telling of it. Here’s a video that succinctly fills in the blanks left by the mainstream press’ recitation of the facts.

Popularity: 13% [?]

As many of us know, six suspects are now in jail for the week-long torture of a black woman in Logan, WV. When the feds stated that the six would not face hate crimes charges, prosecutors stated that they might still face more state charges.

It seems, now, that prosecutors intend to make good on that statement and are considering additional kidnapping and sexual assault charges against these suspects.

We should expect to hear more today about these charges. Personally, I hope they throw the book at them and that these people (and I use the term loosely) end up under the jail.

Popularity: 16% [?]

Okay, let’s just put this out there and be done with it…O.J. Simpson has been arrested in relation to an alleged armed robbery in Las Vegas.

He and a group of men stand accused of breaking into to a hotel room and robbing a man at gunpoint for O.J. Simpson memorabilia. Simpson says he was just getting his property back and that no guns were involved. Regardless, of the use of guns, the way in which the went about getting the memorabilia (back) is suspect.

Thanks for indulging me on this one. Hopefully, I won’t be bringing this up, again.

Popularity: 16% [?]

I still remember how the story of Erica Michelle Marie “Precious Doe” Green affected me. In death, this child received the love that she should have received in life. It all started when I read the story of how a community sort of “adopted” the child whose decapitated body was found dumped in a Kansas City park in 2001. Activists, not knowing her name, dubbed her “Precious Doe” and kept on the fight to bring her killer(s) to justice.

Four years later, on a tip from a relative, the child’s mother, Michelle Johnson, and stepfather, Harrell Johnson, for her killing. According to the details from the investigation, Harrell Johnson, high on drugs, kicked the child for not going to bed. They both left her to die and, later, decapitated her and disposed of the body.

Now, Michelle Johnson has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in relation to the child’s killing. This is part of the plea deal she struck in exchange for her testimony against Harrell Johnson. Prosecutors plan on trying him for first-degree murder and are seeking the death penalty.

So, there is justice, of sorts, for little Erica Green. But, in a really just world, she would still be a little girl with a long life ahead of her.

Popularity: 11% [?]

I’ll admit that I don’t know the ins and outs of federal hate crime legislation but, I am wondering how every last one of the 6 people in custody for the week-long torture, beating and sexual assault of a black woman in West Virginia will get away with not being charged with a hate crime.

It was revealed, today, that one of the suspects, Bobby Brewster, has a previous relationship with the victim. Because the crime was not “random” in nature, this, apparently, negates the use of federal hate crimes charges.

However, the state has said that it will pursue stiffer charges for the suspects. Detailed below are the list of charges:

Frankie Brewster, 49, is charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and giving false information during a felony investigation.

Bobby Brewster, 24, also of Big Creek, is charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and assault during the commission of a felony.

Danny J. Combs, 20, of Harts, is charged with sexual assault and malicious wounding.

Karen Burton, 46, of Chapmanville was charged with malicious wounding, battery and assault during the commission of a felony.

Burton’s daughter, Alisha Burton, 23, and George A. Messer, 27, both of Chapmanville, are charged with assault during the commission of a felony and battery.

The victim, Megan Willams, 20, is currently recuperating in a hospital and may be released in a few days. In the meantime, the suspects are all currently in custody in lieu of the $100,000 bail for each.

Popularity: 16% [?]

There’s some more “good” news on the Jena 6 — another young man has seen his charges reduced.

Robert Bailey saw his charges reduced to aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery. Bailey pleaded not guilty to these charges.

This leaves Bryant Purvis as the only member of this group who was charged as an adult who still facing second-degree murder charges. The charges related to an unnamed youth in the “Jena 6″ have not been revealed.

Again, I am grateful to see the heat being turned up on Jena. Justice is supposed to be blind or, at least, colorblind.

Popularity: 11% [?]