Black Youth Get More Time Than Whites

Black youths arrested in Memphis, Tennessee, were much more likely than white juveniles to be jailed and tried as adults, discriminatory practices that also affect Hispanic youths in other cities, the Justice Department said on Thursday.

A review of 66,000 juvenile court cases in Memphis, where numerous abuses drew Justice Department investigators in 2009, revealed "serious and systemic failures" in the way youthful offenders were treated, Assistant U.S. Attorney General Thomas Perez of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division said.

"We found African-American children treated differently and more harshly," Perez said, summarizing the findings of the department's report in a conference call withreporters.

Black juveniles who were arrested in Memphis and surrounding Shelby County were twice as likely as whites to be detained in jail and twice as likely to be recommended for transfer to adult court, where a conviction generally brings harsher punishment, Perez said.

Juveniles prosecuted as adults are more prone to commit new crimes after release, he said.

In addition to racial and ethnic discrimination, the report said it found other problems in the Memphis and Shelby County juvenile justice system.

The Justice Department said it uncovered failures to protect juvenile suspects from self-incrimination, a pattern of youths arrested without a warrant not getting timely hearings, inadequate protections for detained juveniles who were in danger of harming themselves, and a tendency for jailers to overuse physical restraints on juveniles.

The problems experienced by juveniles in Memphis and Shelby County - which has a population of 928,000, more than half of them black - were singled out by the Justice Department but the area is not alone, Perez said.

Source http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/27/shelby-county-juvenile-court-racism_n_1458718.html

New Law Takes Aim At Black Teens That Want to Sag.

Lawmakers in Tennessee have passed a bill that would prohibit students from showing underwear or body parts in an indecent manner at school, myFOXmemphis reports.

The bill passed overwhelmingly in the Tennessee state Senate and House, and now requires the governor's signature.

Unlike a recent Tennessee bill that failed, the enforcement of this bill doesn't require a ruler or carry penalties of up to $250 and community service, but it does ban saggy pants and clothes that show too much skin on school property.

 Instead, this bill allows school districts to decide the punishment.

Reaction among Memphis high school students were mixed. Student Braden Brooks told myFOXmemphis he is happy the bill was passed, as he feels saggy pants are "degrading."

However, former high school student Ian Moss claims the bill will be ineffective.

"Just grown ups making more rules, gonna break em' anyway," he said.

If approved by Republican Gov. Bill Haslam, the law would take effect on July 1.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/04/04/tennessee-bill-seeks-to-outlaw-sagging-pants-at-schools/#ixzz1r4w6QsWZ

Has The Caylee Anthony Verdict Initiated A Crime Wave Against Children?

From the mother in Massachusetts, Tanicia Goodwin, who tired to kill her two children when she became overwhelmed with being a parent? To Dedorah Bradley, who 11-month old daughter, Lisa Irwin, is missing after the mother cannot remember where her daughter is after a night of drinking. Now here in Memphis, TN, Shakara Dickens is on trial for murdering her daughter, who she said she give to a friend of the baby’s father. Her daughter’s body has yet to be found, but a cadaver dog smelled human remains in the carpet of the car she was driving. Casey Anthony is now the blueprint for mother unmovable rights.

                Last year my son was shot when he was 16 months old, after his mother, Vontrice Lowe and her girlfriend, Daisy Winston got in a fight. They said it was a drive-by shooting. However, how is it that all 13 shot where in just one room in a two-bedroom apartment? No one has been arrested and the police have stopped  looking based totally on the mother’s word of what happen. 

                Just this month, my son, now two received 3^rd degree burn while in the care of the mothers girlfriend, who states the burns came from the bathtub water. My son was injured around 10 am Thursday morning, but wasn’t takes to the hospital until 4 pm Friday evening, 30 hours later. Once again base on the mother’s word, no one has been arrested. The girlfriend still goes to work everyday at Popeye’s, while my son has to continue to go to Le Bonheur Burn Unit for treatment.

                I guess the Casey Anthony defense is taking hold here in Shelby County. Were as long as the mother says they have no ideal of how their child got hurt or end up die, they will get away with it. When will we really begin to protect our children, even from the ones who carried them 9-months? Is a mother’s rights that solid that they can get away with murdering and harming their children and remain free?

Save my son from his mother!!!!

Don’t Let My Son Be The Next Trayvon Martin

My heart goes out to Trayvon Martin and his family.  However, I am here in Memphis, Tennessee fighting to keep my son and family from going through what the Martin family is going through now.

My son Devontay is only two years old; at sixteen (16) months, he was shot in the leg after his mother and her paramour got into a physical altercation. His mother learned that her paramour was cheating on her. This was the first time that the mother and her paramour have been violent with each other. The mother ran over the paramour in her parent’s front yard. In addition, the mother was arrested for assaulting me when she was pregnant with my son.

My son was just released from Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital after sustaining 3^rd degree burns to his entire glan peins, as well as the sulcus and shaft of his penis. There were also burns to the lateral ankles, the back of his thighs and his proximal tibias (his buttocks).  His injuries were ruled non-accidental. Yet now some 21 days after this happen, no one has been arrested.

The Department of Children’s Services have removed my son and his three (3) sisters from the mother’s care TEMPORARILY. In addition, the Department of Children’s Services is now talking about replacing my son with the same people that allowed him to suffer for thirty (30) hours before taking him to the hospital.  Now the Department of Children’s Services is talking about giving custody to the grandmother that told her daughter to lie to the police about how my son received this burns. To a home were my son is just a check to pay for their lifestyle. My son has been through more than any grown man has had to face in his lifetime and he is only 27 months old.

Please tell me must my son become Trayvon and share his fate before someone is willing to stand up and fight for him. I am not going to wait and I need your help to save him before he ends up on CNN.  

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Why Is It So Hard To Protect A Child From His Enemy..His Mother

A Memphis toddler is back in the hospital tonight, less than a year after he was shot.  Once again, he’s at the center of a police investigation.

This time it’s because of burns two year old DeVontay Lowe suffered.

The injuries are suspicious enough that the boy is now in the custody of the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services.

According to Lowe’s father, the toddler has been at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital since Friday.

Severe burns cover the boy from the waist down.

A family member told Lowe’s father that the 2-year-old was burned while taking a bath at his mother’s house where he lives.

The relative said DeVontay turned on the hot water while in the tub causing the burns.

The Department of Children’s Services confirms an abuse/neglect investigation is underway.

It comes less than a year after the boy was shot.

Police say on March 31, 2011, 16-month old DeVontay was shot when someone sprayed the family’s Whitehaven apartment with bullets.

DeVontay was shot in the leg.  His mother, who was holding her son at the time, was not hurt.

Following the attack, witnesses told WREG News Channel 3 that the bullets flew following an argument.

Memphis police say the shooter was never found.

Today, police refused to release details about the latest case citing the on-going investigation.

A spokesperson for the DCS said she could not comment on any past contact the agency had with Lowe’s family, including after last year’s shooting.






Read Morehttp://www.wreg.com/news/wreg-first-shot-now-burned-investigation-underway-into-toddlers-injuries-20120308,0,7850812.story#tugs_story_display

The System Doesn't Care About A Black Man Unless He Is In Handcuffs

Cries of a Helpless Father

            November 29, 2009, my son Davontay was born. I was not allowed to be there because I was not married to the mother and she was in a relationship with someone who does not like me.  By not being there, my name does not appear on his birth certificate and Tennessee Law says I have no rights. Before my son came into this world I was there and have been there every since. I am allowed to see my son, as long as her girlfriend does not feel threaten by me.

            Last summer, my son was shot in the leg while at his mom’s apartment in Whitehaven, in Memphis, TN. He was only 18 months old. Someone shot in one room 13 times, at a couch that the mother sleeps on. At the time, her and her girlfriend was into it. No one has been arrested , nor does anyone have any ideal of who shot my son. At this time, I went to Shelby County Juvenile Court to Establish Paternity Rights (3 times, at $100.00 each time filed ). She receives the paperwork to be in court and I told her of the court dates. She called me the morning of the court dates and told me she was not coming. After going before the Judge, I was told by the Judge, “he would not force her to show up." Child Protective Service places my son back in her care. I went to Shelby County Child Support Service and tried to put myself on child support. I took the DNA test and they sent her the paperwork to bring my son in to take the DNA test. Again, she did not show and nothing was done to stop her from get State Money.

            Now today I sit here typing this letter as my son lays at Le Bonheur Hospital with 3^rd degree burns to his lower body. From what I have learned, is my son was with my baby mother’s girlfriend and that she put him is a tub of hot water. This happens Thursday, March 1, 2012 and they do not bring my son to the hospital until 4 pm Friday evening, March 2, 2012. My son suffer in pain for 24 hours with is private parts and his butt peeling skin. Not his mother nor her girlfriend brought him to the hospital, but his aunt brought him to the hospital and told police and hospital staff that it happen earlier Friday morning and that she had him and he fell into the tub. Hospital staff did not buy this and called Memphis Police Department and Child Protective Services. By the end of the night, after everyone had lied, from my son mother to his grandmother, no one knows the truth.

            Instead of my son’s mother staying by his side, she was more worried about the trouble her girlfriend was in. She did not stay at the hospital with him last night, I did. However, today DCS came to visit, and once again, I was told I had no rights to my son. I asked Le Bonheur Social Worker if they could do a DNA test on my son, and me I was told “NO”.  I have done more than any man can do. The court will not help. The State will not help. Who will help me protect my son?

When will I receive my rights as a father and be able to protect my son? After my son is dies and then I will be, call a “dead beat dad.”

Office gets Caught Trying To Buy Drugs.

Memphis, TN - Federal prosecutors say a 32-year-old Memphis police officer has been charged with trying to buy cocaine while in uniform and driving his patrol car.

The U.S. attorney's office for West Tennessee says Melvin Robinson was arrested Thursday while trying to buy what he believed to be 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of cocaine.

Prosecutors said Friday that Robinson has been charged with attempt to possess a controlled substance with intent to distribute. If convicted on the charges, he faces up to life in prison.

Memphis police say Robinson has been on the force since October 2008. He has been relieved of duty with pay during the investigation.

Court records do not list an attorney for Robinson

Read More http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/dpp/news/local/mpd-officer-arrested-on-drug-charge-mfo-20120127?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter