[act-ma] FW: SIGN ON TO KEEP CHUCK TURNER ON BOSTON CITY COUNCIL AND OUT OF JAIL, and Come Out to Support Chuck Dec 1!
Kevin Heaton
kevwsc at hotmail.com
Wed Nov 24 10:17:23 PST 2010
SUPPORT CHUCK TURNER!
Sign the ONLINE PETITIONS, and come to the Dec 1 SUPPORT
RALLY!
go to iacboston.org/chucktcouncilpetition.html
to
Tell the Boston City Council to KEEP CHUCK ON THE COUNCIL
FOR HIS FULL ELECTED TERM!go to iacboston.org/chucktjudgepetition.html
to
Tell U.S. District Judge Douglas P. Woodlock to KEEP CHUCK
OUT OF JAIL!
Come Out on December 1 for a rally for Chuck at 2:15 in
front of City Hall and at 3 PM to pack Boston City Council
Chambers to support Chuck when the City Council is scheduled
to vote.
To make a donation to help retire the $180,000 debt
owed by his campaign to Chuck and his wife Terri for the
maintenance of the District 7 office in Roxbury, go to the
contributions page at chuckturner.us
On Oct 29 a predominantly white and suburban federal jury falsely
found African-American Boston City Councilor guilty of one count of
attempted extortion and three counts of lying to the FBI. The
community has shown its unwavering support for Chuck, voting for
him, packing the trial and turning out hundreds strong at a rally on
October 30 at the District 7 office in Roxbury. saying "We Stand
with Chuck Turner. Chuck is Innocent! The verdict is the crime!"
In that rally and in a statement on November 1, Chuck appealed to
supporters to write to the City Council requesting them not to
remove him, and to write to Judge Woodlock telling him not to put
Chuck in jail. In it he said:
"Dear Supporters,
All Councilors received an email from Council President Ross saying
that he will schedule a Council meeting to take place on December 1,
2010 at 3 p.m. after the Council meeting to vote on the issue of my
removal from the Council. Since I believe I should have the right to
stay on the City Council until the completion of my term, I would
urge you to send letters to the Councilors urging that they vote
against any motion to remove me from the Council. If they follow
your request and Judge Woodlock agrees to put me on probation, then
there would not seem to be anything blocking me from completing my
term on the Council.
If you prefer letters, please send to Councilor Name, City Hall,
Boston 02201.
I also urge you to send to my City Hall office (Chuck Turner, City
Hall, Boston 02201) letters addressed to Judge Woodlock expressing
the reasons why you think I should be put on probation rather than
spend time in jail. The total time I receive could be 35 years.
Sincerely,
Chuck"
-----------------------------------------
The text of the online petitions follow:
Chuck Turner City Council Petition
http://www.iacboston.org/chucktcouncilpetition.html
Tell the Boston City Council you want Chuck Turner to
serve out the full term for which the people of Roxbury
elected him to represent them.
Please tell the
Boston City Council, with copies to President
Obama, Attorney General Holder, Congressional
leaders, the Massachusetts Congressional
Delegation, Governor Deval Patrick, the U.N.
Secretary General Ban and the media that you want
Chuck Turner to serve the full term to which the
people of Roxbury and his district elected him.
YOUR EMERGENCY ACTION IS NEEDED NOW, before the
Boston City Council votes on Chuck Turner's status
on the Council on December 1! Your presence is
also needed in City Council Chambers, Boston City
Hall, on December 1 at 3 PM to support Chuck!
Sample text (you
will be able to edit it online):
To: Members of the Boston
City Council
cc: President Barack Obama, Attorney General Eric
Holder, Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional
leaders, the Massachusetts congressional delegation,
Gov. Deval Patrick, Mayor Thomas Menino, U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the NAACP, the ACLU,
the Boston Globe, the Boston Herald, the New York
Times, the Associated Press
I am writing to appeal to you to allow City
Councilor Chuck Turner to complete the term to which
the people of Roxbury and District 7 elected him to
represent them. Since his election in 1999, Chuck
Turner has gone beyond the call of duty in
representing his constituents and serving their
needs. He alone among Boston politicians has
maintained a full-time office in Roxbury at his own
expense to serve the residents of the community. He
has devoted his life to community leadership and
service. The Boston City Council should take no
action to remove the chosen representative of the
people of Roxbury and District 7.
Mr. Turner's prosecution must be seen as part of a
national campaign to oust African-American elected
officials by demonizing them and prosecuting them,
whether in congressional hearings or in the courts.
In reality, these officials are singled out for who
they are, for the disenfranchisement of the
communities they represent, and for their outspoken
ideas and points of view. The Boston City Council
need not and should not lend itself to being any
part of this ugly conspiracy.
At a time of massive budget
cutbacks and economic crisis, the people of Roxbury
must not be deprived of their leader and their
voice.
Do not remove Chuck Turner
from the Boston City Council.
Sincerely,
(your signature here)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chuck Turner Judge Woodlock Petition
http://www.iacenter.org/chucktjudgepetition.html
Tell U.S. District
Judge Douglas P. Woodlock that Chuck Turner does
not belong in jail.
Please tell U.S.
District Judge Douglas P. Woodlock, with copies to
the Boston City Council, Mayor Menino, President
Obama, Attorney General Holder, Congressional
leaders, the Massachusetts Congressional
Delegation, Governor Deval Patrick, the U.N.
Secretary General Ban and the media that Chuck
Turner does not belong in jail.
YOUR EMERGENCY
ACTION IS NEEDED NOW!
Sample Text (you will be able to edit
it online):
To: Hon. Douglas P. Woodlock, Judge, U.S. District Court,
Boston
cc: Boston City Council, Mayor Thomas Menino, President
Barack Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, Congressional
Black Caucus, Congressional leaders, the Massachusetts
congressional delegation, Gov. Deval Patrick, U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the NAACP, the ACLU, the
Boston Globe, the Boston Herald, the New York Times, the
Associated Press
I am writing to appeal to you not to sentence Boston City
Councilor Chuck Turner to jail time, but instead to allow
him to continue to serve the community and complete the
term to which the people of Roxbury and District 7 elected
him to represent them. Since his election in 1999, Chuck
Turner has gone beyond the call of duty in representing
his constituents and serving their needs. He alone among
Boston politicians has maintained a full-time office in
Roxbury at his own expense to serve the residents of the
community. He has devoted his life to community leadership
and service. Councilor Turner does not belong in jail.
Mr. Turner's prosecution must be seen as part of a
national campaign to oust African-American elected
officials by demonizing them and prosecuting them, whether
in congressional hearings or in the courts. In reality,
these officials are singled out for who they are, for the
disenfranchisement of the communities they represent, and
for their outspoken ideas and points of view.
At a time of massive budget
cutbacks and economic crisis, the people of Roxbury
must not be deprived of their leader and their voice.
Do not send Chuck Turner to
jail! Allow him to serve the people of Boston by
completing his term on the Boston City Council.
Sincerely,
(your signature here)
------------------------------------------
http://www.iacboston.org/chucktcouncilpetition.html
http://www.iacenter.org/chucktjudgepetition.html
Community
defends City Councilor Chuck Turner
By
Frank Neisser
InternationalAction Center, Boston
Nov
3, 2010
On Oct. 29 a predominantly
white and suburban federal jury falsely found
African-American Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner
guilty of one count of attempted extortion and three
counts of lying to the FBI.
Chuck Turner at Oct. 30 rally
in Roxbury, Mass.
photo:
Steve Kirschbaum
The case was based on an
undercover sting operation and a cooperating witness who
had passed bribes for years, and who himself declared
Turner to be innocent in interviews in the Boston Globe.
The witness condemned the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s
office, saying he thought they were conducting a
corruption investigation, but that he had been used to
bring down two strong progressive African-American
politicians, Turner and State Sen. Dianne Wilkerson,
while no one else was touched. He only testified against
Turner under threat of being jailed for contempt of
court if he didn’t.
This guilty verdict is a
reflection of an alarming, expanding racist conspiracy
to oust African-American elected officials by demonizing
them in congressional hearings or in the courts with
various charges of ethics violations, especially
corruption. In reality, these officials are singled out
for who they are, for the disenfranchised communities
they represent and in some instances, like Turner’s, for
their radical politics.
More than 200 community
residents, activists and supporters expressed their
total solidarity with Turner at a rally in front of his
district office in Roxbury on Oct. 30, saying, “We stand
with Chuck Turner! Say no to FBI/U.S. racist frame-up!
Chuck is innocent! U.S. government guilty! The verdict
is the crime!” Roxbury is a predominantly Black
community in Boston.
The jury never got to hear
from more than 80 witnesses who were prepared to testify
to Turner’s selfless service to the community, asking
nothing for himself.
For every day of the
councilor’s two-week-long trial his supporters packed
the court room, forcing the U.S. District Court to
provide a second courtroom for the overflow. Beginning
with Turner’s arrest two years ago the community has
understood this attack to be a political one on the
entire African-American community and its right of
self-determination to choose its own leaders.
Supporters poured out by the
hundreds in rally after rally. Former U.S. Attorney
General Ramsey Clark, founder of the International
Action Center, came to Boston on Dec. 17 and stood next
to Turner and condemned the nationwide pattern by the
U.S. Attorney’s offices and the FBI of going after
elected officials of color and progressive officials to
remove them from office based on a political agenda.
An online petition demanding
all the politically motivated prosecutions of
progressive politicians and politicians of color be
dropped and that the prosecutors be prosecuted has
generated over 35,000 e-mail messages to Obama
administration officials and congressional leaders.
Support for Turner could not have been clearer than in
the 2009 City Council race, in which he won re-election
with more than 60 percent of the vote.
Strongly refusing to
compromise his politics
At the Oct. 30 rally, Turner
began the program by thanking his supporters and saying
it was their support that gave him strength and serenity
from the beginning.
Turner specifically recognized
the Boston Workers Alliance and the Boston School Bus
Union as being the core of his support throughout. He
spoke from the School Bus Union sound truck, which had
led many motorcades through the community in support of
him.
Turner blamed U.S. Attorney
Michael Sullivan and the FBI for his frame-up. He
expressed his excitement at the progress the
African-American community has made in electing more
people of color to at-large positions on the City
Council. He spoke of having organized all of his life
for the liberation of African-American people. He spoke
of the corruption of a system that was built by unpaid
slave labor in both the North and the South, and cited
the fact that the prison industrial complex is the
fastest growing industry in today’s economy.
Turner invoked Shay’s
Rebellion against bankers’ control of the U.S.
government in the late 1700s, saying that the U.S.
Constitution has been illegal from the start and
protects only the rich and the banks. He called for a
new people’s movement to build economic democracy for
working people of all races and backgrounds. The crowd
was also addressed by Minister Rodney X of the Nation of
Islam and by longtime African-American City Councilor
Charles Yancey.
Yancey called Turner “our
leader” and equated the FBI attack on him to earlier FBI
attacks on W.E.B. DuBois, Malcolm X and Martin Luther
King. Cultural expressions of solidarity were provided
by The Foundation and Gabrilla Ballard.
Love and support for Turner
runs so deep in the Roxbury community that the Boston
Globe was forced to cover the rally with a picture and a
full account showing the depth of community support for
him. The Globe also printed a separate article
interviewing person after person from the community
saying they knew the councilor to be a selfless
dedicated servant of the people, who, alone among city
councilors, has maintained a district office in the
heart of Roxbury, paying the expenses out of his own
pocket.
But the agenda of the real,
racist rulers of the Boston establishment could be seen
in the Boston Globe Oct. 30 editorial on the verdict. It
revealed what they revile him for — that he dares to
speak truth to power, pointing the finger at the Boston
Police chief for the crimes of the police in the
community, daring to say that U.S. soldiers had been
guilty of the rape of Iraqi women, and telling his
constituents the truth that the corporate rulers don’t
want them to hear.
Turner’s supporters are
determined to conduct a broad and tireless campaign to
see that he not spend a single day in jail. Turner is
urging supporters to write letters to Federal District
Judge Douglas P. Woodlock asking that he be put on
probation rather than spend time in jail, so that he can
continue his work as a city councilor. These letters
should be sent to City Councilor Chuck Turner, Boston
City Hall, One City Hall Square, Boston MA 02201.
He is also asking supporters
to write to Boston City Council President Michael Ross
and the members of the Boston City Council at the same
address, and ask them to delay any vote on Turner’s
continued tenure on the Boston City Council until after
he is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 25. Further
information can be found at supportchuckturner.com.
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