JAM Aiwuyor Commentary

Omarosa Still Can’t Come to the Cookout, But She Can Drop Off Her Tapes

It’s hard to forgive Omarosa Manigault Newman for her participation in selling out the Black community to an administration that is clearly adversarial to any and all forms of civil/human rights. Since she’s has been fired from the Trump Administration she’s attempted reconciliation with the Black community, which has largely gone ignored (and rightfully so). The Trump Administration, at every turn, has sought to strip away all civil rights available that could benefit communities of color.

Since she’s been fired, Omarosa has been showering us in a rain of anti-Trump stories. Yet, she is essentially telling us what we already know. Donald Trump is corrupt. Yes, Omarosa we know. Oil is greasy. Water is wet. None of this is surprising.

But her recordings, bear witness and provide further undeniable proof as to how corrupt the current administration is. It’s poetic, almost Shakespearean, that she is giving Trump exactly what he gives – unfazed, uncontrollable, outbursts of media-hungry commentary. She has been on almost every major news network this week, while she admittedly beats, “Trump at his own game.”

Still, I have no interest in advocating for a person that so easily plays with Black lives. Omarosa’s previous actions show that she is from the Tribe of Kanye aka the selfers. She’s in this fight for herself and always has been. Would we have heard the recordings if she was never fired? Who knows?

However, as much as I dislike her, those tapes are important and downright historic. Her tapes could ultimately be used in the current investigation into the Trump Administration’s unlawful activities. Considering how hard it is to get real justice in this country, we need as much evidence as we can get. Even if it comes from Omarosa.

And yes, I do get a little cozy feeling knowing that a Black woman is giving Trump a taste of his own medicine. I’m listening to every tape. No, she still can’t come to the cookout but she can drop off her tapes. I might, save her a tiny piece of chicken though. And it wouldn’t have sauce on it.

 

Jessica Ann Mitchell Aiwuyor is the founder of Our Legaci Press and the author of Rise and Shine, Dear Heart, a children’s book that provides encouragement to young girls, while showcasing diverse skin tones, shapes and sizes. Rise and Shine, Dear Heart is available for pre-order at OurLegaciPress.com/books.

 

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JAM Aiwuyor Business, Commentary, Race Ethnicity & Culture

Sam’s Club Disaster Proves We Need More Black Owned Businesses

With absolutely no warning given, more than 10,000 people went to work on January 11th only to find, “We’re closed” signs on the windows.

That morning, Walmart suddenly decided to permanently close 26 Sam’s Clubs across America. And they’re closing a total of 63 overall. On the cusp of huge tax cuts granted by the Trump Administration, Walmart had announced that they would increase their employee minimum wage to $11 and give a one-time only $1000 bonus to employees that worked for them 20 years or longer.

All of this was extremely laughable. With the high turnover rate of companies like Walmart, they basically agreed to give bonuses to unicorns and replace a few pennies with nickels.

The biggest lesson here is that they don’t care. By now, I hope most of us know this already. Corporations will use you up and spit you out with a blink of an eye. This time it was Walmart/Sam’s Club but sudden layoffs could happen with any large corporation. There are books, that discuss how American capitalism is basically the offspring of chattel slavery – which would explain corporations’ unwavering belief that the maltreat of employees is not an issue because they suck the life out of you “create jobs.”

And when you’re Black in America, you have to work twice as hard to earn 50% of the same dollar. So, it’s painful to know that so many people’s lives dangle in the balance – only to be discarded at a whim by corporate greed.

Not to be overly simplistic – but this is a reminder of the need for more Black owned businesses. No, this is not a cure all to being overworked and underpaid. Nor is it a cure all to the historic economic disenfranchisement that Black communities face. HOWEVER, a side business that brings in additional income can be a huge help for families living paycheck to paycheck.

Your business does not have to be a large scale operation. I’m talking about a return/reinvention of small businesses that often sustained Black communities in the past. My grandmother used to make arts and crafts and help people with their taxes. My grandfather bought a van one day and started his own taxi company – a business that is still alive today.

Business ownership is not the end all and be all to solving economic issues affecting our communities. However, it is always helpful to have more than one source of income if possible. It doesn’t matter if your business is cutting grass, braiding hair, helping people with their taxes. What ever your skill set is, if you have the ability to start a side business, I strongly advise you to do so. These corporations only care about profits. You are expendable and if they could replace you with a lower paid worker or even a robot they would (as some have already started doing).

It’s also a good idea to research how successful Black business owners of the past became successful. Most people know the name Madam C.J. Walker, but many have no idea how expansive her beauty empire was and that she hired thousands of beauty consultants – helping Black women and men across the country become self employed. These stories serve not only as an inspiration but as a guide for overcoming difficult situations and prospering in the face of adversity by using your own skills and abilities.

In times like these, having the ability to be economically self sufficient can help someone escape the grasp of the poverty line. Yes, we should continue to vote and push our representatives to create laws for living wages, healthcare and public education. BUT,  we can not wait on them to make these an immediate reality. Our political system is so tied to corporate lobbying and donors that impactful changes to the system can take years to develop.

Yes, we need living wages. Yes, we need jobs. And yes, we need a business of our own, right now! Because one thing is for certain, when it comes to corporations – they don’t care about us.

 

“I am a woman who came from the cotton fields of the South. From there I was promoted to the washtub. From there I was promoted to the cook kitchen. And from there I promoted myself into the business of manufacturing hair goods and preparations….I have built my own factory on my own ground.” – Madam C.J. Walker

 

Jessica Ann Mitchell Aiwuyor is the founder of Our Legaci Press. To reach Jessica, email her at OurLegaci@gmail.com. Follow her on Facebook at Facebook.com/JAMAiwuyor.

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JAM Aiwuyor Commentary, Race Ethnicity & Culture

How Innocent People Are Wrongfully Convicted

Wrongfully-Convicted-Of-Murder

“There is nothing funny about a Black man going to prison for something he didn’t do.” My excitement about watching the movie Life was quickly shut down when my mother stated those words. As a 14-year-old, I hadn’t looked at it that way before. Life, starring Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence, was a hit comedy about the antics of two Black men in Mississippi serving life in prison after being wrongfully convicted of murder. She refused to watch it.

The truthful sting of my mother’s response was fully warranted. Being wrongfully convicted of murder happens far more often than people think and can happen to anybody but especially to African Americans. And indeed, there is nothing funny about it.

Even as far back as 1996, the book “Convicted But Innocent: Wrongful Conviction and Public Policy” estimated that there was an output of at least 10,000 wrongful convictions a year. The abstract states, “Even if the American criminal justice system proved 99.5 percent accurate, it would still generate more than 10,000 wrongful convictions a year and these would reflect only serious index crimes.”

More recently the Innocence Project highlighted that studies find,”between 2.3% and 5% of all prisoners in the U.S. are innocent (for context, if just 1% of all prisoners are innocent, that would mean that more than 20,000 innocent people are in prison).”

According to a 2012 report by the National Registry of Exonerations about 2,000 people have been exonerated for wrongful convictions since 1989. Still, this number is in the least bit comforting. As the report notes:

…even 2,000 exonerations over 23 years is a tiny number in a country with 2.3 million people in prisons and jails. If that were the extent of the problem we would be encouraged by these numbers. But it’s not. These cases merely point to a much larger number of tragedies that we do not know about.

So how does this happen?

The Innocence Project lists the leading causes of false convictions as eye-witness misidentification, false confessions, improper forensic evidence and informants. One would think that these components would only lead to rightful convictions but each is severely flawed. For example, in 73% of convictions overturned with DNA, prosecutors used eye-witness accounts. But in many of these accounts there was “cross racial identification,” a known issue because studies show that it’s harder for witnesses to remember the facial details of people from other races.

False confessions are flawed due to pressures to accept plea deals and other coercion tactics. Informants are problematic sources because they are often offered plea deals and dropped charges in exchange for their testimony.

Dateline NBC recently featured a story about Eric Glisson, a man that was wrongfully convicted of murder and served over 17 years in prison. There was no physical evidence, only the words of one “eye-witness” and two other allegedly coerced witnesses. One of these witnesses recanted her testimony stating that she only testified due to police pressure of being threatened with jail time. It took 17 years, but Glisson and his co-defendants were finally freed. A total of five Black and Latino people (four men and one woman) had been in prison for almost two decades for a crime they didn’t commit.

Then there’s the story of The Central Park Five, who were recently awarded $40 million dollars after enduring 7-13 years in prison for a 1989 rape. In 2002, they were exonerated after a confession from the real perpetrator and DNA evidence proved their innocence. In another case, Jonathan Fleming was recently released after spending 24 years in prison for a Brooklyn, NY murder that was committed while he was in Florida.

There are many more stories like these that have yet to be concluded.

I recently learned of a case that hits closer to home. Jean Pierre DeVaughn is the older brother of a friend that I attended college with. Accused of murder-for-hire in the 2005 death of his cousin’s husband, Devaughn has maintained his innocence. He was convicted in 2011 and sentenced to life in prison with an additional 25 years. Having no prior record, he was offered a plea deal but refused to take it, wanting to fully clear his name.

His case is fraught with a series of issues. Devaughn endured an intense interrogation by police, during which a chair was thrown at him, he was taunted and his requests for a lawyer were denied. Additionally, there is no physical evidence linking him to the crime.

According to his defense attorney, a key witness in the first trial testified under the false pretense that Devaughn had accused him of being the murderer. Additionally, racial bias may have tainted jury selection leading to three African Americans being excluded from the jury.

In 2009, Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr. endorsed a letter written to the Fulton County District Attorney Office on Devaughn’s behalf. He is now represented by Janice L. Mathis, lawyer, activist and Vice President of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition Atlanta chapter.

Some may think it a bit presumptuous to believe that Devaughn is innocent, but history has shown us not to ignore pleas for a second look at trials that were once proclaimed to be “open and shut” cases. For now Devaughn waits in a Georgia prison for another chance to prove his freedom. The Supreme Court of Georgia will soon review his case.

Perhaps the most disturbing fact about these cases is this could happen to anyone and exonerations are rare occurrences. Many wrongful convictions include death row prisoners, which is all the more reason to support efforts to end the death penalty.

As an article from Scientific American highlighted, “Since 1973 144 death-sentenced defendants have been exonerated in the U.S. But Gross says that the analysis indicates that at least 340 people would have been put to death unjustly in that same time period.”

According to the Innocence Project, there have been only 316 post-conviction DNA exonorees, with 198 being African Americans. This is a daunting number considering African Americans only make up 13% of the US population. The numbers indicate that there is an overwhelming rate of bias concerning death sentencing for African Americans. Additionally, it’s hard to have many cases reviewed due to destroyed or lost evidence.

Something is devastatingly wrong here in the land of the “free,” especially considering the influence of corporate profits from the prison industrial complex. This is a real life horror story.

There is a perception that criminal convictions among African American youth are inherently just. But the fact is, many convictions stem from not having proper representation, not knowing the full scope of their rights when questioned by the police, being denied their rights and racially biased sentencing. An overwhelming amount of exonorees are Black men and women because an overwhelming amount of this demographic are wrongfully convicted or given harsher sentencing than their counterparts (sometimes even according to skin tone).

What can you do to prevent this from happening?

For now, it’s important to support initiatives like the Innocence Project and the Center on Wrongful Convictions that are doing the work to assist as many wrongfully convicted prisoners as possible. Push for your local jurisdiction to include preventative measures like recorded interrogations, proper and long-term preservation of forensic evidence, and advocating for eye-witness identification reform. 

Please do not republish this article without specific, written permission from Jessica Ann Mitchell.

IMG_0054-ZF-7906-35913-1-001-006Jessica Ann Mitchell is the founder of OurLegaci.com & BlackBloggersConnect.com. To reach JAM, email her at OurLegaci@gmail.com. Follow Jessica @TweetingJAM.

Follow OurLegaci at Facebook.com/OurLegaci.