IS IT TIME TO REPLACE THE LEADERSHIP AT CJTS ??

The emails to dcfplantation@gmail.com from employees of the Department of Children and Families are curious and informative. There are veins of dissatisfaction at Connecticut Juvenile Training School about the leadership. While perusing the emails it is apparent that employees consider Superintendent William Rosenbeck , Assistant Supt. John DiPilla, and scheduler and Supervisor of Operations Staff Dr. Ron Brone as expendable. There are several areas that CJTS employees site as reasons for changing leadership (1) Youth Service Officers signed a petition that caused DCF Commissioner Joette Katz to meet with YSOs. These same YSOs kept Rosenbeck out of the meeting, (2) a resident almost escaped from the facility due to staff not monitoring cameras in the Operations Staff office, (3) The suspension of three YSOs under the guise of Neglect of Duty for watching a computer when the real issue was targeting activist Cornell Lewis -this heavy handed discipline galvanized YSOs over the unfairness of this situation ( Cornell won the arbitration case, the other two returned to work), (4) There are inconsistencies in the scheduling at CJTS, causing YSOs to work two-three shifts in a row, (5) A person with no experience is placed in a position to run the girl's facility called Pueblo House and there is no consistency in how this place is being run. Now this same person hired to run Pueblo House is helping direct organizational structures at CJTS, (6) The mishandling of a transgender youth of color named Jane Doe, plus the escape of Jane during an off grounds therapy session, (7) The targeting off a black female Supervisor by white male leadership that led to filing of hostile workplace charges and racism.

Lastly,  the hushed rumors about  peccadilloes  ( a small sin or fault ) between male leadership with a female in management,  that went on for a period of time before the female was transferred. Now given all that has been discussed in this blog- is there any wonder people want changes in leadership??

contributed by staff writer Ajamu

MARCHING TO THE WRONG PLACES ?

The recent marches in Hartford by people seeking social justice is one way to highlight the taking of lives by police officers in America. Michael Brown / Eric Garner were both killed by white cops that might have viewed these black men as "the other." Well, pip, pip, hooray for all those people taking to the streets and singing-praying or carrying signs. However there is an elephant sitting in the living room of Connecticut that for some reason is ignored by all those seekers of justice. The Department of Children and Families is a strong hold of racial animus. It has come to light -using DCF'S own data- that this organization targets black and Hispanic men for harsher / more frequent discipline than other groups employed at this agency. The last time DCF Plantation blog checked organizers of recent marches did not focus rallies at 505 Hudson Street, nor were there shouts of "black lives matter." Hell, when DCF terminates men of color this is a form of economic and employment death; but do not expect organizers of recent marches to grasp this concept, all they can do is march to the wrong places.
More on this subject in a future story.

story submitted by staff writer Ajamu

MEMBERS OF THE DCF PLANTATION 5 STILL UNDER ATTACK

The unrelenting and insidious attacks against members of the DCF Plantation 5 at Connecticut Juvenile Training School continues. These two people were part of a group that launched that class action lawsuit [ 2010 ] charging bias, racism, gender discrimination among other things against white management at CJTS / DCF. Scott Beck / Cornell Lewis no longer work at the plantation but three remaining member do. And what makes the harassment so weird is that all five members settled the case back in September of 2014. Yet management went after two remaining members and are seeking revenge. One black male named Kevin Strachen is a case in point. Kevin was involved in a hands on restraint in Unit 6B not long ago and for some reason management chose to investigate the incident. Now Kevin did not use excessive force with the male resident, but a Director of Residential Care approached Strachen with these words " let us view the incident on video. We believe the video gives you the opportunity for a teachable moment."

A black female employee ( also part of the lawsuit ) is being singled out for retaliation by white male administrative staff. The female in question has filed numerous complaints about workplace violence against her person. The white male administrator and fellow cohorts formed a cabal with intent to undermine this woman's effectiveness in performing job duties. At this juncture do not expect leaders at the plantation to admit wrong doing towards this two fighters for social freedom. No, white management just continues to perpetuate the kind of racist actions that are causing people to march in the streets all over America.
Have these people learned nothing??

DEAR WHITE PROTESTORS

 

Dear White Protestors

As I walked through the streets of Berkeley tonight listening to the overwhelmingly white crowd chant things like “Whose streets? Our streets!” and “This is what democracy looks like!” I felt uncomfortable. I passed white people holding signs that said “I can’t breathe” and I felt uncomfortable. Then, when we were instructed to sit down in the middle of the main street that runs through downtown Berkeley and were made to listen to a white person on a bullhorn declare “All lives matter!” I felt invisible. Ignored. Forgotten. 

Dear white protestors, this is NOT about you. 

"Whose streets?" As a Black person in this country, I am well aware that the streets belong to white people. I am not empowered or made more safe by hundreds of white people chanting that the streets belong to them. The street in Ferguson where Mike Brown was murdered and lay dead for 4.5 hours should have belonged to him, but it didn’t. He’s dead. He’s not coming back. That’s because the streets belong to white people.

Dear white protestors, this is NOT about you. 

"This is what democracy looks like?" You’re right. Democracy has always meant that (for reasons you’re well aware of but like to pretend you don’t remember or don’t matter anymore) black people are a consistent minority in this country and thus must petition white people for our basic human rights. Democracy means voter ID laws and poll taxes. Democracy in America is a white majority dictating whose voice matters. Democracy is white liberals telling black folks to calm down and go the polls (and vote for Democrat) as if Bob McCulloch isn’t a "democrat." As if Jay Nixon isn’t a democrat. As if our president isn’t Black and it hasn’t done shit to lower the ever mounting body count of Black people gunned down in the streets by police and vigilantes. As if any Black politicians in a non-majority Black district can get elected, much less reelected, without catering to white people’s feelings. I know what democracy looks like and it hasn’t done very much for people who look like me.
 

Dear white protestors, this is NOT about you. 

"All lives matter?" NO THEY DON’T AND THAT’S THE FUCKING POINT! Black people’s lives don’t matter, that’s why I’m out in the streets, to get people to realize that my life has worth. I have to protest to get people to even think about the possibility that if the police or some vigilante gun me down, it’s not because the genetic defects believed inherent in my blackness finally manifested and I had to be put down before I became more of a threat to white america. White america doesn’t need a reminder that "all lives matter," it needs to be made to recognize and respect that Black lives matter. 

It’s Black bodies that are bleeding and dying in the streets. It’s Black bodies that can’t breathe. It’s Black bodies that are seen and treated as threats to whiteness as we shop in Wal-Mart, play in parks outside our homes, walk home with a pack of Skittles, sleep in our beds. It’s Black bodies that have hung like strange fruit from the trees of this nation for centuries. 

Dear white protestors, this is NOT about you. 
 

Stop whitewashing our movement. Stop pretending that “All lives matter” means anything other than “HEY ME TOO! WHAT ABOUT MY WHITE FEELINGS! DISREGARD THE ACTUAL REALITY OF BLEEDING AND DYING BLACK PEOPLE AND CATER TO THE HYPOTHETICAL AND EXTREMELY RARE POSSIBILITY THAT POLICE OR VIGILANTES WOULD BE ABLE TO EXTRAJUDICIALLY MURDER A WHITE PERSON AND FACE NO CONSEQUENCES!” Black people know our lives don’t matter because white people’s hypotheticals matter more than Black people’s reality.
 

Dear white protestors, this is NOT about you. 

Stop cannibalizing our movements with hashtags about every other life but ours. Stop plagiarizing Black people’s actual struggles for fictionalized white pain (I’m looking at you Hunger Games, with your whitewashed protagonist. “The Hanging Tree?” For real?). Stop scrambling to stand atop the growing pile of dead Black bodies to use it as your makeshift platform to secure more privileges and status for yourself. Stop using protests that should be about Black lives to exercise your white angst, break shit under the cover of darkness, and then bask in the bright light of white privilege while Black lives are declared to be worth less than the windows you broke. 
 

Dear white protestors, this is NOT about you. This IS about making Black Lives Matter.  

Our streets shouldn’t be burial grounds for Black people. Black people’s rights shouldn’t be put to a vote. Black people should be allowed to breathe, walk, exist, without fear.

So, if you’re actually here for making Black Lives Matter, put down your “I can’t breathe” signs (because you can, and that’s the point) and pick up one that declares Black Lives Matter (because right now they don’t, andthat’s the point). Get off the ground and stand in solidarity as Black people “die-in” (because it’s not white bodies lying dead on our nation’s streets, and that’s the point). Hand over the bullhorn to a Black person (because your voice doesn’t need a bullhorn to be heard, and that’s the point). 

And please, stop saying #AllLivesMatter…until they actually do. 

Black lives are declared to be worth less than the windows you broke. 

Dear white protestors, this is NOT about you. This IS about making Black Lives Matter.  

Our streets shouldn’t be burial grounds for Black people. Black people’s rights shouldn’t be put to a vote. Black people should be allowed to breathe, walk, exist, without fear.

So, if you’re actually here for making Black Lives Matter, put down your “I can’t breathe” signs (because you can, and that’s the point) and pick up one that declares Black Lives Matter (because right now they don’t, andthat’s the point). Get off the ground and stand in solidarity as Black people “die-in” (because it’s not white bodies lying dead on our nation’s streets, and that’s the point). Hand over the bullhorn to a Black person (because your voice doesn’t need a bullhorn to be heard, and that’s the point). 

And please, stop saying #AllLivesMatter…until they actually do. 

EOPLE AND CATER TO THE HYPOTHETICAL AND EXTREMELY RARE POSSIBILITY THAT POLICE OR VIGILANTES WOULD BE ABLE TO EXTRAJUDICIALLY MURDER A WHITE PERSON AND FACE NO CONSEQUENCES!” Black people know our lives don’t matter because white people’s hypotheticals matter more than Black people’s reality.
 

Dear white protestors, this is NOT about you. 

Stop cannibalizing our movements with hashtags about every other life but ours. Stop plagiarizing Black people’s actual struggles for fictionalized white pain (I’m looking at you Hunger Games, with your whitewashed protagonist. “The Hanging Tree?” For real?). Stop scrambling to stand atop the growing pile of dead Black bodies to use it as your makeshift platform to secure more privileges and status for yourself. Stop using protests that should be about Black lives to exercise your white angst, break shit under the cover of darkness, and then bask in the bright light of white privilege while Black lives are declared to be worth less than the windows you broke. 
 

Dear white protestors, this is NOT about you. This IS about making Black Lives Matter.  

Our streets shouldn’t be burial grounds for Black people. Black people’s rights shouldn’t be put to a vote. Black people should be allowed to breathe, walk, exist, without fear.

So, if you’re actually here for making Black Lives Matter, put down your “I can’t breathe” signs (because you can, and that’s the point) and pick up one that declares Black Lives Matter (because right now they don’t, and that’s the point). Get off the ground and stand in solidarity as Black people “die-in” (because it’s not white bodies lying dead on our nation’s streets, and that’s the point). Hand over the bullhorn to a Black person (because your voice doesn’t need a bullhorn to be heard, and that’s the point). 

And please, stop saying #AllLivesMatter…until they actually do.

This was posted on FaceBook by another person and published here on DCF Plantation Blog.

A CONDITION FOR WHICH THERE IS NO CURE BUT ACTION

A CONDITION FOR WHICH THERE IS NO CURE BUT ACTION

Introduction:

I want to thank Pastor A.J. Johnson for the invitation to speak today at Urban Hope Refuge Church.

  Luis Anglero -18 years old- was tasered August 19, 2014 in Hartford by Hartford Police Dept. officer Shawn Ware. Luis posed no threat –with hands down- but Ware tased him. All of this followed the incidents of Michael Brown being gunned down in Ferguson, Missouri while Eric Garner was choked to death in New York.

  People of color are faced with “a condition for which there is no cure but action.” That is why I helped organize a protest of 100 people that marched into HPD Aug. 28^th demanding justice for Anglero.

Activists read a Manifesto statement telling police what the community wanted—justice and accountability from police. Pastor A.J. Johnson helped champion the cause of Luis. Pastor Johnson knows that in America people of color are facing “a condition for which there is no cure but action.”

  And because of strong community action on Luis Anglero behalf, prosecutors Dec.10^th dropped all charges against this youth.

In conclusion let it be said that the Anglero victory is being claimed by many. However the people that initially paved the way for this victory understand better than most, the oppressed suffer from “a condition for which there is no cure but action.”

 

This speech was given by Cornell Lewis December 14,2014 at Urban Hope Refuge Church in Hartford, Connecticut... on Westland / Barbour Street. The occasion was a community celebration that all charges against Luis Anglero were dismissed.

IF THEY DON'T CARE, THEN WHY SHOULD WE ?

This speech was given by Cornell Lewis the day a Grand Jury decided Police Officer Darren Wilson was not guilty in the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Cornell spoke at the Center Church 675 Gold and Main Streets in Hartford to over 100 people. They stood and applauded when he finished.

Ladies and gentlemen, brothers...sisters, friends...comrades. I thank you for the opportunity to speak here today. The recent shooting of an unarmed black male Michael Brown left large segments of the American population bewildered and numb. Now the Police Officer that killed him has been found not guilty by a Grand Jury of nine whites and three blacks. If they  [ people in power] don't care -about loss of black life or justice- then why should we ?

If they [ power brokers ] don't care about the value of black life, why should we care about the oppressor as human beings ? If they don't care, and ignore the cries for justice [ from blacks, white and Hispanics]. Then why should we care about their protestations concerning property destruction or respecting authority ? If they don't care about trampling on the United States Constitution, expectorating on our First Amendment rights etc. Then why should we care if gun fire crackles in the night in Ferguson from people seeking liberation ?

If they don't care ...
When we march for freedom
If we cry over the bodies dead because of racism
That our prayers go up to God
That people-- black, brown, white, Hispanic, gay / straight are united in overcoming American racism.

Then why should we Care ?

Why not invoke the words of Malcolm X and demand freedom " by any means necessary" in order to gain respect.

Is it not time to "stop praying and singing and start swinging" at the oppressor ?

In conclusion the words of the Anarchist Alexander Berkman from his prison memoirs comes to mind --"all means are justified in the war of humanity against it's enemies."

Thank you.

STORY THAT MAKES YOU THINK !!

December 02, 2014

What Lessons Were Missing in Darren Wilson’s Classrooms?

by Melinda D. Anderson

It’s been a week. The news that Darren Wilson escaped indictment for the murder of Mike Brown – given a head start by a complicit prosecutor – filled me with anguish the night of the announcement. That feeling still reverberates, with a force and intensity that can overwhelm.

With the grand jury decision imminent, my mind went immediately to the studentswho would be walking into classrooms on Tuesday morning. Teachers have a professional responsibility to address situations like Mike Brown and Ferguson in their classrooms. There are necessary and critical lessons to be taught on the interrelated topics of race, bias, privilege, stereotyping, criminal justice and social justice. Thankfully, there are teachers ready to teach this way – prepared to let their classrooms be a repository for their students’ fear and pain, hope and hopelessness.

Yet you can find plenty of teachers and administrators – from the seemingly good-hearted to the horribly misguided – refusing to hold these frank discussions. Whether running from discomfort or rejecting a Black teen’s humanity, these educators refuse to see the harm they are doing to students. Our children deserve teachers willing to create learning experiences that empower and equip young people to disrupt the order of things outside the classroom. That’s the kind of critical-thinking, problem-solving and analytical skills our students need. It’s the kind of lessons I have to believe were missing in Darren Wilson’s classrooms.

How does a 28-year-old man – only about 10 years out of high school – develop such a disconnection from and disregard for Blackness? In what can only be described as a macabre case of the absurd, Wilson now wants to teach “the use of force” to other people. A killer cop wants to teach other people to fear Blackness – to see Black people as “demon” and “it” – something other than human, justified to destroy. Some lessons are better left unlearned. It makes me wonder though what lessons Darren Wilson received growing up.

How many teachers aided and abetted Darren Wilson as he passed through the public education system believing it’s acceptable to “other” – dehumanize – Blackness? And how many teachers who right now reject teaching race and racial injustice are cultivating, nurturing and fostering growth of the next Darren Wilson?

If you’re a teacher and that thought gives you chills, there are a potpourri of resources for addressing Ferguson and racial violence in the classroom. If you’re a teacher and that thought doesn’t give you chills, find new employment.


 

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