Black Woman Convicted On Less Evidence Than Casey , Justice Isn't Color Blind.

Memphis, Tn - After hours of deliberating, a jury has found Shakara Dickens guilty of Manslaughter and Second Degree Murder.

Nine-month-old Lauryn Dickens, the daughter of Shakara Dickens, vanished in 2010, but her body was never found.

Prosecutors argued that Dickens spun a web of lies after her daughter disappeared, waiting a full eight days to file a missing persons report.

Dickens' told police that a white woman in her 40s had come to pick up Lauryn at the father's behest. Shakara couldn't go any further in describing the woman and Lauryn's father denied the claim as well.
The main piece of evidence for the prosecution was a "hit" that police dogs picked up on when searching Dickens' apartment. Though the dogs caught a scent, they did not find any physical evidence.

Read More http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/dpp/news/local/shakara-dickens-guilty-in-daughter's-death-rpt-20120323

Is It Open Season On Young Black Males? Another Teen Shot By A White Man.

When asked by 11Alive’s Jon Shirek who she believed shot and killed her son, Ervin Jefferson, Candy Grimes says that he was trying to protect his family, specifically his younger sister, when he was murdered.

We heard gunshots,” Grimes said in tears. “I seen the dude in the green shirt shoot my son. I seen the guy, he had two hands, and he shot my son.”

Grimes says that after her son was shot, someone ran him over with a car:

By the time I got down there, the car was on top of my son. He was literally under the car. One of them shot him, and one of them ran over him. It’s two of y’all. He’s little. He little. Why y’all just didn’t beat him up, jump on him, why you just didn’t fight him, why you have to shoot him? I just want justice. That’s all I want, I just want justice. He was trying to protect us.”

Dekalb County police confirmed that two private security guards shot and killed Ervin Saturday night after responding to a disturbance outside of his home. They were supposed to be securing the premises of The Village at Wesley Chapel, an apartment complex near the family’s home on Pleasantwood Drive and Wesley Chapel Road.
Authorities released the following statement:

DeKalb Police responded to a Person Shot at the incident location. The responding officers located the victim suffering a gunshot wound to the torso. The victim was transported to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The on scene investigation revealed the victim was shot by security guards who were checking out a suspicious vehicle. The investigation is on-going at this time.
Any follow up related to this incident can be obtained by the PIO during normal business hours.

It is unknown at this time if the guards, who remain unnamed, have been arrested.
Ervin, 18, was the father of a baby girl.

Thirty-one States Have New Jim Crow Voter ID Laws.

Challenges to voter ID laws are building as voters cast ballots in primaries and gear up for the general election this fall.

Thirty-one states have voter identification laws, including eight — Alabama, Kansas, Mississippi, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin — that were enacted or toughened last year. Of the 31 laws, 27 are expected to be in effect for the general election this year, says Meagan Dorsch, spokeswoman for the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), a bipartisan research group. One has been blocked by federal action; three have later effective dates.

Laws requiring voters to show identification at the polls have been around since 1970, but they are becoming more numerous and stringent. Once a voter registration card or utility bill sufficed. Now a growing number of laws require voters to show picture IDs.

Most of the new laws have been passed by Republican legislatures, the NCSL says. Supporters say they are necessary to prevent fraud. Opponents say they keep the poor, minorities and seniors — who often back Democrats — from voting because those groups are less likely than the general population to have government-issued IDs.

The Justice Department and civil liberties groups are challenging laws in several states:

Read More http://m.usatoday.com/article/news/53160530

South Carolina Fighting To Go Back To Jim Crow.

The U.S. Justice Department was wrong to block South Carolina from requiring voters to show government-issued photo identification to vote, the state's top prosecutor argued in a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

Enforcement of the new law "will not disenfranchise any potential South Carolina voter," Attorney General Alan Wilson argues in the suit against U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. "The changes have neither the purpose nor will they have the effect of denying or abridging the right to vote on account of race, color, or membership in a language minority."

The Justice Department in December rejected South Carolina's law requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls, saying tens of thousands of the state's minorities might not be able to cast ballots under the new law because they don't have the right photo ID. It was the first such law to be refused by the federal agency in nearly 20 years.

Read More http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/07/south-carolina-voter-id-law-lawsuit-justice-department_n_1260369.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003