Tag Archives: United States Department of Justice

Below is an email from Kenneth Chamberlain Jr., whose father, a 68-year-old veteran of the U.S. Marines, was killed in his home by the police in White Plains, NY, on November 19, 2011. Kenneth created his petition on SignOn.org, a new site that allows anyone to start their own online petitions. You can read more about his father’s death here.

We demand justice for Kenneth Chamberlain Sr., a 68-year-old veteran killed in his home by police. Kenneth Chamberlain, Sr., was killed in his home by police.

Kenneth Chamberlain, Sr., was killed in his home by police.

Sign the petition

Dear MoveOn member,

On November 19, 2011, my father, 68-year-old Kenneth Chamberlain Sr., was shot and killed in his home in White Plains, New York.

My father was a 20-year veteran of the Westchester County Department of Corrections and proudly served the United States of America as a Marine. He stood about 5 feet, 9 inches tall, and he suffered from a heart condition.

The events that led to his killing began around 5 a.m., when his medical alert device was accidentally set off, sending a call to the City of White Plains Department of Public Safety. Everything that happened after that was recorded by an audio device installed in my father’s home as part of his medical alert system.

When the police arrived at my father’s home, he and the staff for his medical alert service told them that there was no medical emergency and asked them to leave. And yet they insisted that my father let them into his home, banging loudly on my father’s door for over an hour. On the recording, the police can be heard calling my father a “nigger.”

Ultimately they broke through his apartment door and first shot him with a Taser. He was wearing nothing but boxer shorts when the police began their assault against him. Shortly after that, he was shot with two 40-caliber rounds and killed.

My family is asking the Westchester County District Attorney to bring a criminal indictment, and we call on the United States Department of Justice or the New York State Attorney General to prosecute this as a hate crime.

Will you sign our petition? Click here to sign and please share with your friends:

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=273615&id=38418-17809870-UNjravx&t=3

The petition says:

This petition is regarding the upcoming grand jury hearing in the case of Kenneth Chamberlain Sr., an unarmed elderly black citizen who was shot to death by the White Plains Police Department.

This case not only brings into question the policies and practices of this department; but it is an open question whether it was inevitable, particularly in light of the audio tapes and video tapes witnessed by Mr. Chamberlain’s family members and attorneys where racial slurs and expletives were used before ultimately shooting him twice in the chest and killing him.

It is imperative that those tapes be made available to the grand jury, and that all other evidence be presented as well. I am concerned that secrecy so far—for example, the names of officers involved have not been released—bodes badly for transparency in this case as it moves forward. Nor am I aware of any public statements about the case from elected officials calling for openness.

Members of Mr. Chamberlain’s family and community—and a much wider circle of people who need to know there is fairness in the criminal justice system—seek reassurance that, no matter what the verdict, the process has been open, honest, and just.

We, the undersigned, implore Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore to no longer allow police misconduct, brutality, or criminality to happen in this community and ask that these officers be indicted and charged with murder and civil rights violations.

Will you sign the petition? Click here to add your name, and then pass it along to your friends:

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=273615&id=38418-17809870-UNjravx&t=4

Thanks!

–Kenneth Chamberlain Jr.

The text above was written by Kenneth Chamberlain Jr., not by MoveOn staff, and MoveOn is not responsible for the content. This email was sent through MoveOn’s secure system, and your information has been kept private.

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Stand Up to Mortgage Fraudsters and Big Banks

01/10/2012 Nativegrl77

The Big Banks have a lot to answer for. As their greed and recklessness gave us a devastating financial crisis, they also abused and defrauded consumers. There are 7.5 million homes that have entered the foreclosure process, with another 4.8 million homeowners at risk. It’s time to set things right—and not with a slap on the wrist for bankersand fraudsters.Unfortunately, some state attorneys general are considering just that—a small slap on the wrist, not real accountability. To get the best deal for homeowners, and to make sure the banks are held fully accountable, your voice needs to be heard.

Your attorney general has the power to hold the banks accountable. Tell the AG you want real accountability and not another giveaway.

The collapse of the housing market and widespread abuses of homeowners are holding back our economy. Misconduct by the nation’s biggest banks gave us the financial crisis, and your attorney general has the power to hold them accountable. A deal already is being considered—and we have to get this right. We can’t repeat the mistakes of the bailout process.

Your attorney general will be making a decision soon; tell the AG to put homeowners above banker greed.

In Solidarity,

Manny Herrmann
Online Mobilization Coordinator, AFL-CIO

P.S. Have you checked out Working America‘s 9 Demands of the 99%? View eight commonsense solutions we need to fix the economy, add your own and sign on in support.

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Sex crimes untouched by Arizona sheriff …from Jackie Mahendra, Change.org

12/29/2011 Nativegrl77

Arizona sheriff should resign for ignoring more than 400 sex crimes.

While an Arizona Sheriff named Joe Arpaio declared war on undocumented workers in his county (Maricopa, which includes Phoenix), he failed to investigate more than 400 sex crimes, including some that involved young children.

This isn’t the first time Sheriff Arpaio has brought shame to his office — something John Dougherty knows all too well. John was a journalist at the Phoenix New Times for 13 years, where he investigated Arpaio’s department extensively. John reported on abuses of power, civil rights violations, and millions of dollars in wasted money under Arpaio. Yet when John heard about the Sheriff’s failure to investigate even sex crimes involving children, he knew he had to do more.

John wants Sheriff Joe Arpaio to resign, but he knows that Arpaio won’t go quietly. John needs other Arizona officials to say Joe should go to turn up the pressure on Arpaio to resign.

John started a petition on Change.org that asks the 5 members of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to call for Sheriff Joe Arpaio to resign. Can you add your name to John’s petition to turn up the heat on Sheriff Arpaio?

Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s directive to prioritize traffic stops and military-style raids to find undocumented workers has had chilling results. While people who committed no crimes are arrested, real felons put Phoenix-area residents in danger.

According to the New York Times, one woman repeatedly asked Sheriff Arpaio’s department to “investigate the molestation of her three daughters.” Arpaio’s office wouldn’t budge, and an alleged child molester walks free in Maricopa County as a result.

The US Department of Justice agrees that Arpaio’s office is out of control. In an explosive report issued this week, the government said Sheriff Joe Arpaio has repeatedly broken the law and violated thousands of people’s civil rights. And just this weekend, Arpaio’s office allegedly left a Gulf War veteran brain dead after repeatedly shooting him with a Taser while in custody.

John Dougherty, the reporter who started a petition on Change.org, thinks that momentum is building to force out Sheriff Arpaio. It’s key that pressure comes from the local level, and the best bet to make that happen is with the Maricopa Board of Supervisors. While they can’t fire Arpaio, it would be much-needed fuel on the fire burning under the sheriff if they come out and say Arpaio should resign. And your signature could make the difference.

Join 3,300 other people who have signed John’s petition and demand that local officials call on Sheriff Joe Arpaio to resign for ignoring sex crimes.

Thanks for being a change-maker,

– Jackie and the Change.org team

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

State Voter ID Laws Draw National Scrutiny … what about North Carolina

09/15/2011 Nativegrl77

ABC News’ Michael Ono reports:

The Department of Justice is reviewing, and has the power to reject a controversial new law passed in South Carolina that requires a registered voter to present a government -issued photo ID before his or her vote is counted.

Gov. Nikki Haley signed the bill into law in May and she’s not alone. Four other states have passed similar voter ID laws in 2011, including Wisconsin, Texas, Tennessee and Kansas. But thanks to the DOJ, South Carolina’s law could still be rejected by federal officials.

And while other states have passed voter photo ID laws in the past, the laws passed in 2011 are by far the strictest with the exception of the law passed in 2005 by the state of Indiana.

Section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act empowers the DOJ to review election laws passed in select southern sates as well as Alaska and some counties throughout the country. Crafted in a time of great racial stife, the act was meant to codify the power of the 15th Amendment, which forbids racial discrimination at the polling booth.

South Carolina, which is subject to federal review, is the only state to have petitioned the Obama Justice Department for approval while other states such as Texas opted to clear their law through the D.C. District Court, which is also permitted.

Critics of a stricter photo ID law argue that the requirement will make it tougher for poor and minority voters to cast their ballot while proponents call it a common sense provision.

Voters without the means to produce correct documents or the disabled can verify their identity through an affidavit but many still see the ID requirements as too burdensome.

“A number of state legislatures have taken up these bills and I think that it’s a growing concern nationally that the effect is going to be the suppression of the vote,” said Victoria Middleton, executive director for the South Carolina ACLU.

Republicans, in 2010, swept state legislatures across the country and have used the ensuing authority to pass various controversial measures, including laws that restrict funding to Planned Parenthood at the state level.

As for why the Obama Justice Department might be interested in the South Carolina law, fewer eligible minority voters could hurt the president because they tend to vote Democratic.

“These kinds of voter ID laws could make a difference on the margins and President Obama is fighting for every last percentage he can get,” said David Wasserman, a political analyst for the Cook Political Report.

As many as 11 percent of the voting population, or about 21 million people, do not have access to a government issued ID, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. Still, studies highlighted by the Heritage Foundation show that photo ID laws have no effect on minority voter turnout.

Wisconsin College students voting in their local college towns might also have trouble voting because the new voter ID law in Wisconsin require the ID to show an address that matches their voting precinct when many students will have an ID that comes from their hometown.

“It’s a significant impediment to a lot more casual younger voters,” Wasserman said.

And the college city of Madison, Wis., generates the state’s largest number of Democratic votes, according to Wasserman.

Still, there are many who like the new voter ID laws and disapprove of the DOJ’s inquiry, arguing that the federal government has no business in “pre-clearing” state election laws.

“It’s a historical artifact of the civil rights era,” said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch. “The idea that South Carolina needs to be treated today by the federal government is absurd.”

Hans von Spakovsky, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, said, “The kind of widespread discrimination that occurred just doesn’t happen today.”

Some Democratic politicians aren’t so sure. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois will hold hearings on the new laws today in the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham is the ranking Republican member on that Subcommittee and will attend the hearing.

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immigration news worth reposting …

08/23/2011 Nativegrl77 2 Comments

President Obama announced a common-sense policy change that will make our immigration system fairer and smarter. I’m proud to support it, and I hope you are, too.

Under the administration’s guidance, immigration courts are going to focus on deporting people who have been convicted of crimes or who pose a security risk. This means that the courts will focus less on “low-priority” cases — like young people who were brought here as small children and know no other home, or veterans and military spouses.

So the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice will be reviewing the current deportation caseload, clearing out low-priority cases, and making sure they don’t get into the system in the first place — keeping the focus on cases that will make our country safer. It’s a smart, strategic change. And it will make a difference.

But more comprehensive change requires Congress to act. And we’ll need to build momentum for this fight by raising awareness and demanding action on immigration reform. That starts with getting the word out to our friends and family about this important policy change.

Click here to pass on today’s news.

The Republican presidential candidates are carbon copies of the congressional Republicans who have blocked common-sense change at every turn.

In last week’s Republican debates in Iowa, the candidates talked about walls, as if higher and longer fences could magically resolve this complex issue.

President Obama and the majority of Americans know that the real answer is much more complicated. That’s why he’s directing our immigration courts to focus on the cases that keep our country safe.

There’s a lot more we can do to improve our broken immigration system. President Obama will need us to keep up the pressure on our members of Congress to make that change happen.

Today’s announcement represents important progress that the President can make right now. Show you stand with him by passing on this good news to your friends:

http://my.barackobama.com/Common-Sense-Immigration

Thanks,

Katherine

Katherine Archuleta
National Political Director
Obama for America