Black Women Barred from "Standing Their Ground"

~ Black Women Are Prosecuted for Self-Defense in the USA ~

Brenda Anderson, a Black lesbian at the time, defended herself against attackers in Texas after she left the check cashers' and went to a movie. She observed a man watching her as she pulled a wad of money out of her pocket at the movie theater's concession stand. Three men followed Brenda as she walked from the theater. When she reached a dark, lonely street, one of them pulled out a gun. She shot two of the men, paralyzing one of them. Brenda was immediately arrested. Her trial centered on her homosexuality rather than her right to self-defense. She was accused of "hating men," although the men were repeat offenders. She was imprisoned in solitary confinement for many years, Brenda Anderson's story in her own words is online at "Dog Justice for Mentally Ill" http://dogjusticeformentallyill.blogspot.com/2014/10/aimi-vs-usa-b-anderson-claimant.html

I read news published by the about Beaulah Montgomery, a White woman who fatally shot two of her seven attackers, and I thought about Brenda. The story about Beaulah was fabricated, but Brenda's story is true. Black women are not allowed to "stand our ground." The world learned that during the prosecution of Marissa Alexander, a Florida woman who was initially sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for firing a warning shot to stop her ex-husband from beating her just days after she had given birth. Brenda Anderson was tortured in solitary confinement for years. As a prisoner, she was even made to undergo surgery on her abdomen without anesthesia. 

Many people are concerned about the tendency that America has to disregard justice in order to incarcerate more people for prison profits and to cover-up abuses of power that are most common regarding people of color and the mentally ill of all races. Prison investors tend to favor arresting people in either category, with or without guilt. But these facts are treated like secrets. As I tried to post this story at Google+, hackers interfered. I then waited through a slowdown virus to post this news at Facebook. The government should prevent hackers from taking over computers belonging to human rights activists, especially if the hackers work for the government. But censorship regarding discrimination and the prison industrial complex is treated like a lawful activity.

Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is against the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), which may be used to stop Americans' freedom of press online. That would limit dissemination of information about the prison industrial complex and other human rights issues. More importantly, Bernie Sanders announced a war against private prisons and jails and has entered a bill in Congress that would end federal contracts with private prison comapnies. Without private prison profiteering, Brenda Anderson and many other women might not have suffered for decades behind bars. Eliminating private prison profiteering, like Sanders plans, is the only way to end mass incarceration in the USA, and exposing injustice such as Anderson experienced is the only way to elicit support for its eradication. Help stop TPP and private prison profiteering in one blow - support Bernie Sanders.

Mary Neal, director
Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill (AIMI)
(678)531-0262

UN CAT Reviews USA: Webcast Nov 12 and 13

By: UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR)

GENEVA, Nov. 6, 2014 - The UN Committee against Torture is due to review the USA on 12 and 13 November in sessions that will be webcast live.

The USA is one of the 156 States parties to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and is required to undergo regular examinations of its record before the Committee of 10 independent experts. The Committee will engage in a dialogue with the US government delegation and also hear from NGOs.

The USA CAT examination of U.S. officials (webcasts) is archived at the link below:
http://www.treatybodywebcast.org/category/webcast-archives/

The United Nations Committee Against Torture Concluding observations on the USA:
http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CAT/Shared%20Documents/USA/INT_CAT_COC_USA_18893_E.pdf

Among the possible issues to be discussed: extraterritorial application of the Convention; CIA’s secret detention, extraordinary rendition and interrogation programme; Guantanamo Bay detainees held indefinitely without charge or trial; investigation and prosecution of those responsible for torture or ill-treatment of detainees; immigration enforcement abuses; death penalty, alleged administration of untested lethal drugs; police brutality; prolonged solitary confinement; protection of prisoners against violence; sexual violence in US military.

Further information and the USA’s report are available at:

http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=930&Lang=en

The Committee will publish its concluding observations here on Friday 28 November.

A news conference is scheduled for Friday 28 November at 14:00 at Palais des Nations in Geneva when the Committee will discuss its concluding observations on the USA and the other countries being reviewed – Sweden, Ukraine, Venezuela, Australia, Burundi, Croatia, and Kazakhstan.

To learn more about the Committee against Torture, please visit: 

http://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/cat/pages/catindex.aspx

Members of Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill ("AIMI") are asked to watch the webcast. You are invited to discuss it during broadcasts on "Human Rights Demand" channel on Blogtalkradio on Nov. 13 at 9pm EST. 

AIMI plans an action in International Court in 2015 involving up to 100 claimants of (i) persons with mental illness and/or drug/alcohol addictions, and (ii) people who were victimized by mentally ill people and/or drug/alcohol addicts who were denied timely, appropriate treatment. We seek restitution for and/or relief from police brutality, prison torture, long-term homelessness, and other discrimination against mentally disabled people in the USA. Visit AIMI-HumanRights for more information at
http://AIMI-HumanRights.blogspot.com

***********

Thank you for giving Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill.

It would be illegal to keep a dog in a tight space 23 hours a day and gas or Taser him for barking. It would be illegal to put a dog in deadly restraint for control. That happens to mentally ill people routinely in the nation's correctional facilities. What happened to Larry Neal?

Mentally Ill Americans Need Dog Justice. Treat mental illness medically, not legally. Support H.R. 3717 "Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act."

AIMI vs. USA - B. Anderson, Claimant

Brenda Anderson, a former female inmate wrote:

MY FEELINGS WERE DEEP AND PERSONAL. FOR I AM MENTALLY ILL. AND I WAS IN TDC ALL MY YOUNG LIFE. BEEN OUT EIGHT YEARS NOW. THEY WILL LIE TO COVER UP THEIR OWN DIRT. BUT I PRAYED FOR THIS DAY TO COME THAT WOULD PUT THEM UNDER INVESTIGATION. I CAN'T WAIT FOR 2015. I WILL KEEP YOU INFORMED AND ALL THE PEOPLE WHO ARE TRYING TO SEEK JUSTICE FOR THE MENTALLY ILL.

WHILE SERVING TIME, THEY TORTURED ME BY PLACING ME IN A CELL FOR YEARS WITH NO WINDOWS AND NO TOILET. I USED THE REST ROOM IN A BIG BUCKET (WITH NO TOILET PAPER). NO BED, A SINK AND MATTRESS ON THE FLOOR. SLEPT ON A BLANKET WITH HOLES IN IT.

I WAS LOCKED BEHIND TWO DOORS, A STEEL DOOR AND BAR CELL DOORS. THEY WOULD USE SHOWING TO PUNISH ME, MEANING THEY WOULD COME GET ME TO SHOWER EVERY THREE DAYS. SOMETIMES FOR WEEKS I ATE OFF THE FLOOR LIKE AN ANIMAL WHENEVER A OFFICER CAME TO WORK IN A BAD MOOD.

IF IT WAS WINTER, I FROZE. IF IT WAS SUMMER, MY CELL FELT LIKE A OVEN. I WOULD HAVE SEIZURES, AND NO ONE CAME TO SEE ABOUT ME. NO TOOTHBRUSH, SOAP, COMB, NOTHING. SURE I COULD HAVE MY BIBLE AND WRITING BOOKS, BUT THE PROBLEM WAS THERE WAS NO LIGHT. THEY SAID IT WAS BROKE.

THEY LET MY MAIL GO OUT BUT NONE CAME IN TO ME. WHENEVER MY FATHER AND FAMILY WOULD COME TO SEE ME, THEY WERE TOLD I HAD GOTTEN INTO SOME TROUBLE AND COULD NOT HAVE VISITORS. THEY WOULD COME AND JUMP ON ME. ONCE, THEY PUT A HOLE IN MY HEAD. IN FACT THEY KNOCKED ME OUT WITH A STEEL SHIELD, AND WHEN I CAME TO, I HAD BLOOD EVERYWHERE ON ME.

I WAS TORTURED PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY UNTIL I FELT LIKE I NO LONGER WANTED TO LIVE SO I WOULDN'T HAVE TO ENDURE THE SUFFERING. BUT SOMETHING INSIDE OF ME WOULDN'T LET ME DIE. THE FEDS CAME AND TOOK ME OUT OF THAT DARK CELL AND DEMANDED THAT THEY PUT ME UP FRONT WITH THE OTHER INMATES.

I WILL STOP NOW 'CAUSE IT OPENS UP WOUNDS OF PAIN IN MY MIND AND SOUL. I STILL WAKE UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT SWEATING AND GRASPING; FOR THE DREAMS FEEL SO REAL. I WILL NEVER BE THE SAME.

I PRAY THEY BE STOPPED AT ALL COST -- EVEN THEIR LIVES. I LOVE YOU, MARY NEAL. MY ONLY WISH IS I WISH THERE HAD BEEN A MARY NEAL WHEN I WAS IN PRISON. THERE'S A LOT MORE, BUT I WILL GET A CHANCE TO TELL THE WHOLE STORY ONE DAY. MAY GOD BE WITH YOU AND OTHERS LIKE YOU.

IN FAITH,
Brenda Anderson

RESPONSE:

My dear friend, I am so sorry you endured such hardships. We look forward to presenting your pain and suffering to the International Court, where we will apply for restorative justice for you. We will also ask the United Nations to issue directives for the USA to stop torturing and killing its mentally ill citizens. Thank you so much for having the courage to LIVE and make it to this day when we will seek justice for you and everyone who is similarly situated. So many others never made it out of the hole, Brenda. We must continue to fight for their sake and for every mentally challenged American who lies naked in dark, cold cells tonight, including some who are dying right now in restraint or by Taser -- or by their own hand. We will continue to victory, Brenda, because we must. 

According to Solitary Watch, the U.S. State Department plans to deny systemic use of solitary confinement in its report to the United Nations and claim that American citizens are protected by the U.S. Constitution from such cruel and unusual punishment. The report says in part:

"The United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) forbids any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person” for the purposes of intimidation, coercion, forced confession, or punishment, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. The United States asserts that it is in all cases in alignment with CAT."

Without reports like ours, Brenda, there will be no Change, because the USA will not willingly acknowledge that there are violations of CAT happening. That is why AIMI is gathering testimony from up to 100 victims and families about torture and wrongful deaths of mentally challenged people to present to the U.N. See our website at http://AIMI-HumanRights.blogspot.com . Thank you for being the courageous advocate for human rights that you are and for sharing your story with us. See the full report about the U.S. response to the U.N. at the link below. Many blessings to you and all our claimants in "AIMI vs. USA".

U.S. Government Tells UN Committee on Torture: “There Is No Systematic Use of Solitary Confinement in the United States”
http://solitarywatch.com/2014/10/14/u-s-government-tells-un-committee-on-torture-there-is-no-systematic-use-of-solitary-confinement-in-the-united-states/

***********

Thank you for giving Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill.

It would be illegal to keep a dog in a tight space 23 hours a day and gas or Taser him for barking. It would be illegal to put a dog in deadly restraint for control. That happens to mentally ill people routinely in the nation's correctional facilities. What happened to Larry Neal?

Mentally Ill Americans Need Dog Justice. Treat mental illness medically, not legally. Please advocate for your congresspersons to pass H.R.3717 - The "Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act." Try to elect people who support human rights and justice for all.