[Antiracism] ANTI-RACIST ACTIONs: please post to list

[Nick Camerota]

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[WMass IAC] IN THIS EMAIL...
* ANTI-RACIST ACTION:
[1] UPDATES ON THE EMERGENCY CAMPAIGN TO STOP THE SEPTEMBER 14 EXECUTION OF 
FRANCES NEWTON IN TEXAS
[2] BACKGROUND MATERIAL & RECENT NEWS COVERAGE CONCERNING THIS CASE, 
including a report from Gloria Rubac of the Texas Death Penalty Abolition 
Movement
[3] IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED TO SAVE FRANCES NEWTON: please sign and 
circulate this online petition
* HAITI:
[4] IAC's HAITI ALERT: please sign online appeal (this section also includes 
news updates)
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ONLY 14 DAYS REMAIN TO SAVE FRANCES NEWTON's LIFE

The mobilization to stop the execution of Frances Newton is in high gear, 
gathering speed and growing daily. Her execution is set for 6 p.m. on 
September 14.

Frances Newton would be the first African American woman executed in Texas 
in over 100 years. Although that state leads the country with 346 of the 979 
executions since 1976, Texas has executed only two other women: Karla Faye 
Tucker and Betty Lou Beets.

DVDs of Frances Newton speaking are being shown at churches and mosques and 
on university campuses. E-mail appeals are going out around the world. 
Houston's Pacifica radio station is broadcasting urgent public service 
announcements to spare Newton's life as part of their programs.
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To order DVDs about Frances Newton or postcards to send Texas' Governor, go 
to http://www.freefrances.org
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Newton’s supporters gathered in Austin, the state capital, on Aug. 27, for a 
march demanding the execution be stopped. Demonstrators marched to the 
governor’s mansion and encircled it with yellow crime scene tape. The 
committee put Gov. Rick Perry on notice that if he allows the execution to 
proceed, he will indeed be guilty of a crime: killing an innocent person.

On Labor Day weekend, the Committee to Free Frances Newton will do outreach 
and visibility at a Houston festival that celebrates, promotes and preserves 
the history and culture of the African American Sunnyside community. 
Organizers expect more than 20,000 to attend.

On Sept. 7, the Committee to Free Frances Newton and the Campaign to End the 
Death Penalty will co-sponsor a forum at the University of Texas in Austin 
on women and the death penalty. Newton’s mother, Jewel Nelms, will be the 
featured speaker.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
[2] BACKGROUND MATERIAL & RECENT NEWS COVERAGE CONCERNING THIS CASE, 
including a report from Gloria Rubac of the Texas Death Penalty Abolition 
Movement

- Background report with links to various sources from the Aug. 27 edition 
of Jurist at
http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2005/08/death-penalty-opponents-work-to-stop.php
- Hitaji Aziz's report in the Aug. 24 SF Bay View, the "National Black 
Newspaper of the Year," at
http://www.sfbayview.com/081705/francesnewton081705.shtml
- "Efforts to halt execution surge," Houston Chronicle, Aug. 21 at
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3318285
- "Newton maintains her innocence, keeps hope," Houston Chronicle, Aug. 25 
at
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3324251
[Houston Chronicle reports may require online regisitration for access.]
- "Lawyers ask Texas to spare condemned woman," AP/CNN, Aug. 25 at
http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/08/25/female.execution.ap/?section=cnn_latest
- "Lawyers fight execution... ," Reuters, Aug. 26 at
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050826/ts_nm/execution_texas_dc&printer=1
- International coverage: "Fight to stop Texas woman's execution," UK 
Guardian, Aug. 26 at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1556667,00.html
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
REPORT BY GLORIA RUBAC, Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement

Houston is Frances Newton’s hometown. Her family still lives in the Acres 
Home neighborhood where she grew up. All over the city people are 
organizing. They are signing postcards to the governor to stop the 
execution.

The Houston district attorney says Newton murdered her husband and two 
children in 1987 for insurance money. The Texas Innocence Network, whose 
attorneys are representing her, say she is innocent, and that there is no 
physical evidence, no motive and no time when she could have killed her 
family.

Her current appeal also stresses that she would not be on death row today if 
not for her court-appointed, totally incompetent attorney, Ron Mock. Mock’s 
representation of Shaka Sankofa in his 1981 trial is one reason Sankofa was 
executed by Texas and then-Gov. George W. Bush in 2000.

The facts have never been presented before a court of law.

The evidence showed that Newton’s husband was shot at point-blank range in 
his temple. His blood and brains spewed out onto the killer, who left drops 
of blood on the carpet into the children’s room where they were shot.

Yet Frances Newton had no blood on her body, her clothing, her car or on 
anything she possessed. The police admit there was no cleanup done in the 
apartment. They also admit that they tested Newton’s hands shortly after the 
murders and that the test showed she had not fired a gun.

The police say there were nitrites from gunpowder at the bottom of the long 
skirt she was wearing. Yet no traces were found on her hands, sleeves or 
sweater. That means she would have had to bend over and shoot from ankle 
height. The test used to determine the presence of nitrites did not 
determine whether they were from gunpowder. Nitrites can also come from 
fertilizer. On the day of the murders, Newton had picked up her daughter at 
her uncle’s house where they had been working in the garden.

Earlier this year, when the current attorneys requested that the court allow 
testing of the skirt to find the source of the nitrites, the request was 
denied because the state’s previous test had destroyed the nitrite evidence. 
Also, the now-discredited Houston Police Crime Lab stored her skirt with her 
murdered family’s clothing, thus cross-contaminating all the evidence.

Frances Newton recently told a Dutch journalist: “It’s been very difficult, 
but knowing that I am innocent, it gives me hope and it gives me courage to 
fight and believe that the truth will come out. I’ve been discouraged by the 
court system and the low standard they hold attorneys to. So to say that I 
have hope in the court system itself, no I can’t say that.”

Organizer Njeri Shakur says: “We agree with Frances that the court system 
does not deserve our faith. But what the committee has faith in is the power 
to make changes through struggle and unity. As Shaka Sankofa, executed in 
Texas on June 22, 2000, said: ‘The odds and the dangers we face in the 
struggle are great. But even greater is the power of the people.’”

In addition to endorsing the IAC's online campaign, support letters can be 
sent to: Frances Newton, #922, Mountain View Unit, 2305 Ransom Road, 
Gatesville, TX 76528. You can also contact Gov. Rick Perry at Office of the 
Governor, PO Box 12428, Austin, TX 78711-2428, Phone: (512) 463-2000, Fax: 
(512) 463-1849.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
[3] YOUR ACTION IS NEEDED NOW! Please join the online IAC campaign to STOP 
THE EXECUTION OF FRANCES NEWTON!

Send emails to Texas Governor Rick Perry, Attorney General Greg Abbott, 
President Bush, Congressional leaders and Senators and Representatives from 
Texas and the Texas State Legislature, the Mayor of Houston and Houston City 
Councilors, The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, U.N. Secy General Kofi 
Anan and your senators and representative, DEMANDING that Frances' execution 
be stopped IMMEDIATELY! Please go to
http://www.iacenter.org/francesnewtoncampaign.shtml
for the following letter to be sent in your name:

Sample Text (you will be able to edit it on the website):
........................................................
Governor Perry, Attorney General Abbott, President Bush, Senators and 
Representatives, Houston Mayor White, Houston City Councilors, and Texas 
Board of Pardons and Paroles:

On September 14, 2005, Frances Newton, AN INNOCENT WOMAN, is scheduled to be 
executed by the state of Texas. If the jury had known the facts that are 
presently known, they would not have found Frances guilty nor given her the 
death sentence. The dubious motive, unrealistic timeline, the police's 
refusal to follow important leads, and most of all, her incompetent counsel, 
all point to the compelling evidence that proves Frances Newton is innocent. 
She has been on death row for 18 years, and you have already granted her a 
120- day stay. But on the basis of new evidence, Frances needs to finally 
have her day in court. We plead to you in good conscience to STOP THE 
EXECUTION OF FRANCES NEWTON.

Sincerely,

--------------------------------
STOP THE EXECUTION OF FRANCES NEWTON CAMPAIGN
International Action Center
39 West 14th Street, Room 206
New York, NY 10011
1-212-633-6646
email: francesnewtoncampaign at iacenter.org
http://www.iacenter.org
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
[4] IAC's HAITI ALERT: please sign online appeal

Please join the International Action Center's online campaign demanding the 
U.S./UN Get Out of Haiti Now, Stop the Massacres, Free All Political 
Prisoners and Return Democratically Elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide 
to Power, by sending emails to President Bush, your senators, your 
congressperson, key congressional leaders and the UN telling them you want 
the U.S., its military and the C.I.A. Out of Haiti NOW!

Background information on Haiti is contained in the full text of the 
petition at http://www.iacenter.org/haiticampaign.shtml

ALSO SEE these updates:
- "U.S. sends guns to Haiti before elections," AP, Aug. 6
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The United States will provide Haitian police with 
firearms and tear gas to aid the fightagainst militants ahead of elections 
this fall, the American ambassador said Friday.
For more, click on or type the URL below:
http://www.gazettetimes.com/articles/2005/08/06/news/nation/satnat04.txt
- "Massacre erupts at USAID game," Washington Times, Aug. 30 at
http://www.washingtontimes.com/functions/print.php?StoryID=20050829-100803-6942r
- AND Anthony Black's background essay, "Haiti's Long Nightmare," at
http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/a-list/2005w34/msg00002.htm
___________________________
This e-mail sent by the
Western Massachusetts
INTERNATIONAL ACTION CENTER
wmassiac at hotmail.com
wmass at nodraftnoway.org
http://www.iacenter.org
http://www.troopsoutnow.org
http://www.peoplejudgebush.org
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Founded in 1992 by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, the 
INTERNATIONAL ACTION CENTER was an initiator of the ANSWER Coalition and 
helped organize the newly formed TROOPS OUT NOW! Coalition. For regular 
local updates on our activities, join our low-volume listserv by clicking 
wmassanswer-subscribe at yahoogroups.com; send the pop-up email to yahoogroups, 
and reply to their verification notice.
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