[Mpls] RE: Omar

[Dyna]

On Saturday, January 1, 2005, at 09:58 PM, Jennifer L. Rubenzer wrote:

> Is Omar is trying to make himself some sort of victim?  It seems the 
> justice system is working perfectly well.

	I have witnessed the "justice" system in Memphis, and for people of 
color it doesn't work very well at all. I was walking a picket line 
with my union brothers and sisters in Memphis  a couple years ago when 
a "good 'ol boy" scab ran his tractor trailer rig right through a red 
light and hit an elder african american striker. This happened in front 
of several witnesses and the largely black street cops of the Memphis 
PD promptly responded, making a thorough investigation and insuring 
that my assualted union brother received prompt medical care. The 
largely black population of Memphis was outraged and there was talk at 
city hall of prompt and proper prosecution of the scab that assualted 
this peaceful picketer. Then, the "good old boy" southern "justice 
system" went to work... the higher levels of white controlled 
government refused to prosecute the scab who perpetrated this felony 
level assualt and that "good 'ol boy" was never even arrested.

	I witnessed that malfunctioning Memphis "justice system" in this 
century, not the last one. I thusly am deeply concerned for my fellow 
Minneapolitan Omar Jamal's safety in Memphis, and have real doubts that 
he can receive a fair trial there.

> There has been sufficient evidence that he lied when entering the US 
> and entered with false documents, and so he was arrested and charged.

	It looks like Omar is charged with violating the boilerplate small 
print on many federal forms that threatens a penalty of 5 years 
inprisonment or $10,000 fine for lying on said form. You'll find that 
fine print on applications for federal employment and promotion, I have 
no doubt that more than a few federal employees over the years have 
overstated their qualifications a bit, and surely more than a few well 
off taxpayers have fibbed a bit on their federal tax forms. Few of any 
of these folks are ever prosecuted, but when a black immigrant attorney 
is doing a good job of defending his community a thousand mile away 
federal prosecutor decides to "throw the book" at Omar Jamal and 
prosecute him for not one but six aledged violations of this largely 
unenforced law. Meanwhile, we see no investigation, never mind 
prosecution, of say, "good 'ol boy" Postal supervisors who got promoted 
and maybe hired too by perhaps listing bogus qualifications on their 
applications...

> He posted bail and now will go to trial where a jury that is allowed 
> to hear all the facts will decide his guilt or innocence.  As American 
> as apple pie and a system of which to be proud.

	A system we could be proud of if it actually worked- even if Omar 
Jamal did commit the alleged offenses he has been a model citizen since 
then and the charges should be dropped. Meanwhile, the executives of 
the now bankrupt baking company that fleeced Minneapolis years ago 
enjoy their lucrative "golden parachute" severance payments and 
pensions with no prosecution for their questionable SEC filings in 
sight.

> Omar's posts struck me as odd, I hope that his trial is fair and his 
> sentence appropriate...but are updates necessary?

	Yes, because when an attorney and advocate for a minority community is 
singled out for this sort of harassment we are all threatened.

		hanging on in Hawthorne,

			Dyna Sluyter