Without a struggle, there can be no progress. " - Frederick Douglass

January 19, 2012

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4 Black Men Who Spent Years in Prison Are Cleared of Rape and Murder

4 Black Men Who Spent Years in Prison Are Cleared of Rape and Murder Innocence Project calls for review of cases involving juvenile confessions in Cook County

By Frederick H. Lowe

Four black men have been exonerated for the 1994 rape and murder of a Chicago woman after the Cook County, Ill., State's Attorney announced on Tuesday that it was dismissing the indictments against all the men because of a lack of evidence.

Michael Saunders, Harold Richardson, Vincent Thames and Terrill Swift, who were known as the Englewood Four, spent much of their adult lives and most of their teenage years in prison for the murder of Nina Glover, a sex worker, a crime DNA evidence proved the four men did not commit.  The DNA evidence, however, pointed to Johnny Douglas, a career criminal, who is now deceased. Englewood is a neighborhood on Chicago's South Side.

In November, Judge Paul P. Biedel, presiding criminal court judge, overturned the Englewood four's convictions and ordered new trials for the men.

Anita Alvarez
Anita Alvarez
Anita Alvarez, the Cook County State's Attorney, said her office dropped the charges after an exhaustive review of all the information and the evidence in the case. "We determined that we do not have sufficient evidence that would enable us to meet our burden of proof and proceed with retrials," Alvarez said in a statement.

Maddy deLone, executive director of the Innocence Project, said the men's convictions were based on false convictions obtained through police coercion.

"They were between 15 and 18 when they were arrested, and without a shred of evidence, they were wrongfully convicted and sentenced to 30-40 years in prison," deLone said.  The Innocence Project is a New York-based, national litigation and public policy organization, dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people through DNA testing and reforming.

DeLone charged that the prosecution and the conviction of the Englewood Four and others represent a dangerous pattern in Cook County. The Innocence Project has called for a review of all cases involving juvenile confessions.  Alvarez did not respond to deLone's demand.

"In the past four months, 10 people have been exonerated through DNA testing in Illinois after being unjustly convicted based on confessions they gave as teenagers," deLone said.

DeLone also blasted what she calls Alvarez's intransigence.

"Prosecutors knew for nearly a year that DNA testing implicated a convicted murder and cleared the four men, yet they stood by the wrongful convictions. In that time, more than 70,000 people signed a petition, calling for their exonerations," deLone said.

In response, Alvarez said her office agreed last year to additional DNA testing in this case and that evidence, coupled with additional DNA testing, was completed only recently.

In the winter 2011 edition of "The Innocence Project in Print," The innocence Project severely criticized Alvarez for her refusal to move to overturn wrongful convictions.

"Alvarez's resistance is rare," The Innocence Project wrote. "Most prosecutors move quickly to assist the Innocence Project when confronted with DNA evidence of innocence. In 82 percent of DNA exoneration cases, prosecutors consented to post-conviction DNA testing. Indeed, some district attorney's offices have established special units to uncover wrongful convictions."

All four men have been released from prison. "It's been a long time coming and now that it's over, I just want to take it in," Saunders said.

The Innocence Project, the Center for Wrongful Convictions of Youth, the Exoneration Project of the University of Chicago and Valorem Law Group represented the four men.

Black Men Concentrated in Low-Paying Jobs Regardless of Education

Black Men Concentrated in Low-Paying Jobs Regardless of Education by Frederick H. Lowe
Labor-market segregation consigns black men to low–wage jobs despite their educational achievements and their abilities to interact successfully with customers, according to an Economic Policy Institute Briefing Paper.

“Black men are overrepresented in low-wage jobs and underrepresented in high-wage jobs,” write authors Darrick Hamilton, Algernon Austin and William Darity Jr., in the paper, “Whiter Jobs and Higher Wages: Occupational Segregation and the Lower Wages of Black Men."

NorthStar's Operation Big Vote

NorthStar's Operation Big Vote Wisconsin Judge to Hear Challenge to Voter ID Law

A circuit court  judge this morning will hear the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin challenge to the state's photo ID law, which, if enforced, would prevent large numbers of black voters from casting ballots in the 2012 presidential election.

The judge in Madison will hear arguments beginning at 9:30 am from

 Video of the week

Join the Tuskeegee Airmen in The Red Tails Action Adventure Movie Experience

Black Commercial Pilots Will Sponsor Screenings of “Red Tails”

The Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals (OBAP) will host screenings of “Red Tails” when the movie opens on Friday nationwide.

Westchester, Ill.-based OBAP will host students in Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston, Louisville, Ky., Apple Valley, Calif., and Memphis, Tenn., for ““Red Tails,” a film by director George Lucas about the Tuskegee Airmen, an elite group of African-American pilots trained in the 1940s. “Red Tails” refers to the color of their planes' vertical stabilizer or vertical tail.

The airmen were pioneers in equality and integration of the Armed Forces.

Saturday Math Program in Baltimore Draws Thousands of Students

Saturday Math Program in Baltimore Draws Thousands of Students By Frederick H. Lowe
The Baltimore City Public Schools, a majority African-American school system where the dropout rate is declining and the

Black Actors Win Golden Globe Awards

Black Actors Win Golden Globe Awards Hollywood Foreign Press Association Honors Morgan Freeman

Actors Morgan Freeman, Idris Elba and Octavia Spencer are golden.

Jimmy Castor, Musician and Songwriter, Dies in Las Vegas

Jimmy Castor, Musician and Songwriter, Dies in Las Vegas Soul and funk saxophonist, Jimmy Castor, 71, head of the Jimmy Castor Bunch, died of apparent heart failure in Las Vegas on Monday, according to family members who spoke to the press.

NorthStar's Week In Black History

NorthStar's Week In Black History January 19 through January 25

January 19

1907 ----- The Pittsburgh Courier was founded by Edwin Nathaniel Harlston, a security guard with an avid interest in literature.  By the 1930s, The Courier was one of the most circulated and most influential publications of the day for African Americans along with The Chicago Defender and The Afro-American, published in Baltimore.

The Courier was a strong voice for the African-American community, calling attention to the challenges and injustices facing black Americans.  From its earliest days, The Courier advocated for improvements in education, health care and housing.  The paper was also instrumental in

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