Testimony concerning oral sex, virgins, a Black man from Texas, and his white friends sounds a lot like the Court-martial of Web Smith at the Coast Guard Academy on June 27, 2006, but it is not. That testimony was about the lynching of a Black man in Jasper, Texas on June 7, 1998. James Byrd's family sat grim-faced in a courtroom as Lawrence Russel Brewer told a stunning tale of how he, John William King and Shawn Allen Berry had cut the throat of James Byrd, then chained his ankles to a pickup truck, and then dragged him 3 miles down a paved road until his body was in pieces. James Byrd was deprived of his life and his liberty because he was Black. Brewer said later "I did it and I am no longer a virgin. It was a rush and I'm still licking my lips for more." He was licking his lips because he said he wanted more oral sex. This was a crime against humanity. It was unnecessary. John William King testified that he "needed to do something dramatic that would attract media attention".
This incident lead to an Emergency Resolution bt the NAACP. (The complete Resolution is printed below).
Could this be what the Court-martial of Web Smith is all about? Is it just to attract media attention? Was Admiral James Van Sice trying to send a message to U. S. Representative Christopher Shays and the Pentagon and the other 3 military academies that this is how the Coast Guard Academy handles sexual assaults? At the very moment that the court-martial of Web Smith is underway, Representative Shay is holding Congressional Hearings in Washington, DC where Coast Guard Rear Admiral Paul J. Higgins and others are giving testimony.
It is strangely ironic that in April 2006 Representative Shays hosted a briefing on Capitol Hill where a former Coast Guard Academy cadet, Caitlin Stopper, told of how her life became an "absolute hell" after she accused a fellow cadet of sexually assaulting her. Ms Stopper said that Academy officials tried to blame her for the alleged attack. Would they do that if the so-called attacker had been Black, like Web Smith?
Well, what happened to that cadet? Who was he? Was he white? Is Web Smith, a Black cadet, being required to pay for the sins of some other cadet who will go on to an illustrious career? Right now, Web Smith is waiting to see if after completing the 4 year course of study he will receive his BS degree, before he is unceremoniously drummed out of the service, and how much time, if any, he will have to serve at Fort Levenworth Federal Prison.
Another Black man goes to jail. And we thought that only drug dealers were being sent to jail decimating the next generation of Black males. Some statistics show that up to 75 percent of Black males between 16 and 35 are either in jail or have been in jail because of drug related offenses. Web Smith thought that he had beat the odds. He thought that he was home free. After all, he is one of the "best and the brightest" that the Black community has produced, and he was about to graduate from one of the finest small colleges in America. His parents, Cleon and Belinda Smith, had done all that they knew how to do to protect their son from a Black mother's worst nightmare in post- Civil War America. Now, he is looking at the possibility of jail time.
America’s “War on Drugs” has cost hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars over the past two decades, yet failed to deliver virtually any measurable or lasting results. A significant reason for this failure is that over the course of the 1990s the federal government began to target its efforts on small time urban drug dealers and marijuana users, rather than on potentially lethal drugs like methamphetamine and the hard-core criminals who deal and traffic in them. This strategy of targeting young Black drug pushers and marijuana users is clogging our courts and swelling the populations of our state prisons and local jails. That is where the young Black men are. They are not on college campuses. They are in jail.
Web Smith was on a college campus. He was about to graduate. Then a young white girl discovered six months after the fact that she really did not want to have sex that night, or to take nude photos, or to exchange intimate Email messages with him. So, because she thinks she has changed her mind, or can't remember who did what to whom on that fateful night long long ago, another Black man's dream is deferred. Oh, to have been in the crowded court room in New London, Connecticut and to hear this young virile Black cadet football player tell the jury, "I wanted to be an officer. I apologize that you have not seen that this week".
What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun, or fester like a sore; and then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over; Like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode???
That is what a few Black observers think. Let's see what some white spectators think. No cadets have been interviewed, but let's see what any of the the Coast Guard Band, and the Academy Parents Association think. It is hard to find an objective person without financial ties to the Academy to interview, but The Norwich Bulletin has come up with a preliminary survey. They have a positive verdict on the lynching of Web Smith.
Former Coast Guard members and others with ties to the Coast Guard Academy are praising the academy's handling of its first court-martial, saying the firm action will help the school's reputation rebound.
Many in the region with ties to the academy said the fact the school did not hide the allegations and followed through with a court martial will help its reputation rebound.
"The academy has excellent processes in place to deal with this," said John Maxham, vice president of development for the academy alumni association. "The most important things is it was handled in the proper fashion."
Judith Buttery, 50, of Oakdale and a former member of the Coast Guard Band, said the rape allegation is something other colleges and universities have dealt with for years.
"It happens so often in every other place," Buttery said. "It's just one of those things the Coast Guard will have to deal with. The Coast Guard Academy will weather this storm."
Chris Morello of Norwich, the Capt. Paul Foyt Chapter co-president of the Coast Guard Academy Parents Association, called the incident disappointing, but was glad the academy handled it well.
"It's disappointing for the best of the cadets that work as hard and are dedicated and disciplined to have a few put a black mark on the school," Morello said. "It's not good to judge anything based on one decision or challenge."
Region VI NAACP Emergency Resolution to Support Jasper, Texas
Whereas, an African American man, James Byrd, Jr., was brutally murdered by being kidnapped, beaten unconscious, spray painted in the face with black paint, tied to the back of a pick-up truck, pants dropped down to his ankles, dragged 2.5 miles over pavement through a rural black community in Jasper County called Huff Creek, leaving his skin, blood, arms, head, genitalia, and other parts of his body strewn along the highway, his remains were dumped in front of a black cemetery; and
Whereas, there have been numerous reported incidents of prisoners or former prisoners who were members of white supremacist organizations committing violent hate crimes against African- Americans; and
Whereas violent hate crimes have been committed against African-Americans or African-American organizations such as the NAACP in most every region of the nation including New York, Texas, Virginia, North Carolina, Illinois, Washington, California, Louisiana; and
Whereas, there are three suspects who have been arrested and charged with the murder of James Byrd, Jr., two of whom have apparent ties to white supremacist organizations in prison and since leaving prison, and tattoos of Black Men hanging from a tree with a duck in a klan uniform nearby,
Now Therefore Be It Resolved that the NAACP pledge to support fundraising efforts to revitalize the Lone Star Community Center in Jasper, Texas, and
Be It Further Resolved that the NAACP support efforts to rename the Lone Star Community Center the James Byrd, Jr. Community Center for Racial Healing, dedicated to promoting civil rights, social justice, education, cultural awareness and economic empowerment; and
Be It Further Resolved that the NAACP requests that the United States Attorney General appoint a racially and geographically diverse Task Force (including citizens) to investigate, monitor and take appropriate action against Hate Crimes committed by prisoners or former prisoners of penal institutions who have past or current allegiances to white supremacist organizations; and
Now Therefore Be It Resolved that the NAACP requests that the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights investigate fully whether there is a shared responsibility for the James Byrd, Jr. murder beyond the three suspects who have been charged criminally and take the necessary criminal or civil action against individuals or groups that aided, assisted or encouraged the persons who committed the crime to do so.
Labels: Cadet Webster Smith.
