Opening in limited release on October 18, 2013 comes the story of Solomon Northup a free black man from New York who is sold into slavery in pre-Civil War America. 12 Years a Slave stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Brad Pitt, Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Fassbender,Quvenzhané Wallis, Alfre Woodard , and Paul Giamatti.
Fantastic presentation from anti-corruption activist and co-founder of Global Witness, Charmian Gooch.
By Larry Kaplow
Latin American cartels are fueled by U.S. drug demand so their illegal retail networks often stretch throughout America. And Mexico’s arrest of Miguel Angel Trevino Morales was a reminder that the connections between drug traffickers and the U.S. are not just commercial. They’re also personal.
As NPR’s Carrie Kahn and others noted, Trevino’s formative crime years were during his adolescence in the Dallas area where he joined a local gang. The Dallas Morning News says he still has a mother and sister in Dallas.
The newspaper says that he eventually returned to his native Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, and climbed the murderous criminal ranks.
By the time of his arrest by Mexican Marines early Monday morning, Trevino was alleged to head the Zetas, the most vicious Mexican gang. Known as “Z-40,” “Death” and “Chacal (Jackal),” authorities blame him for beheadings and mass killings in which victims were left dangling from highway overpasses to terrorize residents.
Video of yesterday’s perp walk, showing Trevino in a blue golf shirt, can be found on the website of the Mexican magazine Proceso.
Many Nacros With U.S. Links
Trevino’s not the only notable narco with U.S. origins or strong ties.
One of the most famous and photogenic was U.S.-born Edgar Valdez Villarreal, known as “La Barbie” for his Anglo good looks.
His casual wear and irrepressible smirk while in custody helped launch a Mexican fashion trend for the “Big Pony” Ralph Lauren golf shirts – he wore one after his 2010 arrest.
Read More Latin Drug Bosses And Their Growing American Ties : Parallels : NPR.
Medicine drugs (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
By Tracy Weber and Charles Ornstein
Your doctor hands you a prescription for a blood pressure drug. But is it the right one for you?
You’re searching for a new primary care physician or a specialist. Is there a way you can know whether the doctor is more partial to expensive, brand-name drugs than his peers?
Or say you’ve got to find a nursing home for a loved one. Wouldn’t you want to know if the staff doctor regularly prescribes drugs known to be risky for seniors or overuses psychiatric drugs to sedate residents?
For most of us, evaluating a doctor’s prescribing habits is just about impossible. Even doctors themselves have little way of knowing whether their drug choices fall in line with those of their peers.
Once they graduate from medical schools, physicians often have a tough time keeping up with the latest clinical trials and sorting through the hype on new drugs. Seldom are they monitored to see if they are prescribing appropriately — and there isn’t even universal agreement on what good prescribing is.
This dearth of knowledge and insight matters for both patients and doctors. Drugs are complicated. Most come with side effects and risk-benefit calculations. What may work for one person may be absolutely inappropriate, or even harmful, for someone else.
Read More Why You Should Care About the Drugs Your Doctor Prescribes – ProPublica.
Slave Patrols, the Militias of the Second Amendment (Photo credit: Patrick Feller)
By Thom Hartmann
George Zimmerman kept close watch over his neighborhood. When Black men walked or even drove through the area, he alerted the police, over and over and over again. Finally, exasperated that “they always” got away, he went out on a rainy night armed with a loaded gun and the Stand Your Ground law, looking for anybody who should not be in his largely White neighborhood.
The South has a long history of this sort of thing. They used to be called Slave Patrols.
Prior to the Civil War and Reconstruction, the main way Southern states maintained the institution of slavery was through local and statewide militias, also known as “Slave Patrols.” These Patrols were, in many states, required monthly duty for southern white men between the ages of 17 and 47, be they slave-owners or not.
Slave patrollers traveled, usually on horseback [the modern equivalent would be in a car], through the countryside looking for African-Americans who were “not where they belonged.” When the patrollers found Black people in places where they “did not belong,” punishment ranged from beatings, to repatriation to their slave owners, to death by being whipped, hung or shot.
By Lisa Bloom
Driving to Target on his Sunday grocery run on Feb. 26, 2012, George Zimmerman looked out the window of his S.U.V. and saw a stranger who he instantly concluded was “a real suspicious guy.”
“Punks,” he said, adding an expletive. “They always get away.” There were unsolved burglaries in his community, and as he said in a call he made to the police, “this guy looks like he’s up to no good.” Mr. Zimmerman’s recorded profanity-laden police call became a focal point at his murder trial, but not because of its obvious significance: that Mr. Zimmerman jumped to insulting conclusions about Trayvon Martin primarily on account of Mr. Martin’s race.
What began as a local crime story gained national attention after African-American journalists and civil rights leaders immediately grasped the racial implications of the confrontation between Mr. Zimmerman and Mr. Martin, and ended with Mr. Martin’s death. Mr. Zimmerman’s acquittal on Saturday sparked nationwide civil demonstrations against racial profiling and hate crimes. But in the courtroom, race was a topic carefully controlled by the judge and handled awkwardly by the prosecution team.
In an odd ruling, Judge Debra Nelson decided that the word “profiling” — but not the phrase “racial profiling” — could be used in opening statements. But what other kind of profiling could possibly have been involved here? Could jurors — and the public — seriously imagine that Mr. Zimmerman considered Mr. Martin a criminal solely because he was walking slowly in the rain as he chatted on the phone? Lawyers were free to use the profanity involved in the case over and over again, but initially the “r” word was off limits
Read More Zimmerman Prosecutors Duck the Race Issue – NYTimes.com.
Trayvon Martin Protest – Sanford (Photo credit: werthmedia)
By Gary Younge
Let it be noted that on this day, Saturday 13 July 2013, it was still deemed legal in the US to chase and then shoot dead an unarmed young black man on his way home from the store because you didn’t like the look of him.
The killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin last year was tragic. But in the age of Obama the acquittal of George Zimmerman offers at least that clarity. For the salient facts in this case were not in dispute. On 26 February 2012 Martin was on his way home, minding his own business armed only with a can of iced tea and a bag of Skittles. Zimmerman pursued him, armed with a 9mm handgun, believing him to be a criminal. Martin resisted. They fought. Zimmerman shot him dead.
Who screamed. Who was stronger. Who called whom what and when and why are all details to warm the heart of a cable news producer with 24 hours to fill. Strip them all away and the truth remains that Martin’s heart would still be beating if Zimmerman had not chased him down and shot him.
There is no doubt about who the aggressor was here. It appears that the only reason the two interacted at all, physically or otherwise, is that Zimmerman believed it was his civic duty to apprehend an innocent teenager who caused suspicion by his existence alone.
Appeals for calm in the wake of such a verdict raise the question of what calm there can possibly be in a place where such a verdict is possible. Parents of black boys are not likely to feel calm. Partners of black men are not likely to feel calm. Children with black fathers are not likely to feel calm. Those who now fear violent social disorder must ask themselves whose interests are served by a violent social order in which young black men can be thus slain and discarded.
Read More Open season on black boys after a verdict like this | Gary Younge | Comment is free | The Guardian.
Note: The Guardian is a national daily newspaper in the United Kingdom.
soulbrotherspeaks.com 
Remembering Oscar Grant & Immortalizing Trayvon Martin: Why Do We Need Movies?
Oscar Grant III(1986-2009) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
By Sophie Jacob
Sitting in the Angelika Theatre in downtown New York City on Friday night, waiting for Fruitvale Station to start, I did not know what I was in for.
The movie is about the death of Oscar Grant on New Year’s Day, 2009 in Oakland, California. Grant, an unarmed 22-year-old African-American man, was with friends and his girlfriend on the way home to his daughter from New Year’s festivities when he was shot by a police officer. Having closely followed the Trayvon Martin trial, I felt prepared for the movie. I thought I knew enough about one law-enforcement-on-young-black-male crime to appreciate another.
I was wrong.
The film, by 27-year-old Ryan Coogler, begins with the shaky footage of the actual shooting. Unlike Trayvon Martin’s killing, Grant’s had a subway-station full of witnesses. Camera phone videos surfaced of the murder. The grainy video opened the film. After leaving me shocked and horrified, Oscar Grant, played by Michael B. Jordan, and his girlfriend, Sophina, appear on screen.
As I was taken on a tour of the last day in the life of Grant, I became so emotionally invested in all the characters. I felt such a connection to them that when the shooting occurred later in the movie, I was praying along with his family on screen for him to survive. At the end, when it was revealed the BART officer served just 11 months for his heinous crime, it was too much to handle.
Read More Remembering Oscar Grant & Immortalizing Trayvon Martin: Why Do We Need Movies? By Sophie Jacob | Global Grind.