Cry Me A River

Leonard Pitts Jr. is a nationally-syndicated columnist, respected journalist, 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary, best-selling author, has his own column in the Miami Herald........and is Black. He is also the target of White Supremacists.

In his column he writes extensively about race, politics and culture. In a recent column titled 'Oppressed' whites? Give me a break in which he referred to the case of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom, a young white couple who were brutally murdered. Although not considered to be a hate crime, five Blacks including a woman were arrested for the crime. The murders made headlines in Knoxville, where the incident happened, but was largely unnoticed in the national press; that is until bloggers jumped on the case as proof that "Black on White" crime is not given the same exposure in the media as "White on Black" crime as in the Duke Lacrosse case. Pitts took exception to this characterization and in his article cited sources that said:

• African Americans and Latinos are underrepresented in news media as victims of crime and significantly overrepresented as perpetrators, based on crime statistics.

• Newspaper articles about white homicide victims are longer and more frequent than those about black ones.

• Interracial violent crime is more likely to be reported even though it is just about the rarest kind of violent crime.

He concluded his article with the following words:

I am likewise unkindly disposed toward the crackpots, incendiaries and flat-out racists who have chosen this tragedy upon which to take an obscene and ludicrous stand. I have four words for them and any other white Americans who feel themselves similarly victimized.

Cry me a river.

This article so angered the white supremacist website Overthrow.com that it posted a video (which can be seen to the right of this column) on its site featuring both Leonard Pitts and his wife and included his full address and phone number. The predictable happened. They received numerous threats. When Pitts' boss, Dave Wilson, Miami Herald Managing Editor/News, sent an email to the owner of the website, Bill White, requesting that Pitts' address and phone number be removed from the video, he got the following reply:

"We have no intention of removing Mr. Pitts' personal information. Frankly, if some loony took the info and killed him, I wouldn't shed a tear. That also goes for your whole newsroom."

A copy of the correspondence and reply was also posted on the Overthrow.com website, this led to hate mail also being directed at Dave Wilson as well, although the vast majority of the hate was reserved for Pitts. When asked, Wilson declined to confirm or deny that Pitts was under police protection and Pitts himself was unavailable for comment. Wilson did say that some the messages were "thoughtful" but others were "very unsettling" in nature. "We did refer some of them to our legal representatives," added the Herald editor. "Our first concern is for Leonard, and we have been in close contact with him."

Wilson said Pitts has the Herald's full support.

"He's a nationally known writer who's not afraid to express his opinion and challenge perceptions. We have every expectation that his column will continue to do that for a long time."

Mike Nifong - Guilty, Disbarred & Dismissed

"We are in unanimous agreement that there is no discipline short of disbarment that would be appropriate in this case"

So said F. Lane Williamson, head of the North Carolina Bar disciplinary committee which found Mike Nifong, Durham County District Attorney, guilty of a myriad of ethics violations in his handling of the Duke Lacrosse rape investigation. The bar's three-member disciplinary panel unanimously found Nifong guilty of fraud, dishonesty, deceit or misrepresentation; of making false statements of material fact before a judge; of making false statements of material fact before bar investigators, and of lying about withholding exculpatory DNA evidence, in all a total of more than two dozen violations.

Even before the decision was announced Mike Nifong said he would be stepping down as District Attorney.

"My presence as the district attorney in Durham is not furthering the cause of justice," Nifong said. "It is not fair for the people in my community to be represented by someone who is not held in high esteem by either the members of the community or members of the profession."

After the committee announced its decision Mike Nifong tendered his resignation to the Governor of North Carolina, Mike Easley, effective July 13, 2007. The Governor said he would have removed Mike Nifong immediately, if he could.

“You are given a lot of power and you can destroy a reputation in moments with just a few words,” said Easley, himself a former prosecutor. “This was much more than a mistake.”

Upon learning of Mike Nifong's intention to stay on as District Attorney for another month Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson wrote an order suspending him immediately saying: There is probable cause to believe that Nifong “has engaged in willful misconduct in office and conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice, which brings the office into disrepute”

Durham County Sheriff Worth Hill went to Nifong's house with a deputy to serve the order: “We took his keys and his badge that gave him access to the building,” Hill said. “We'll make arrangements to help him get his personal belongings later.”

In the meantime the legislators wasted no time in drafting a bill that would give the Governor exactly what he wanted, the power to immediately replace disbarred district attorneys and judges, the bill passed the House 116-0 and now heads for the Senate.

For Mike Nifong his 30 years as a prosecutor is over. However his legal woes are certainly not. The lawyers for the Duke Lacrosse players plan to introduce a motion that would request that the court sanction Nifong with fines and contempt of court. It is also expected that he will be hit with several civil lawsuits from the same lawyers.

With his reputation already in tatters, Mike Nifong has only more trouble facing him down the road, trouble that he brought upon himself. This may be of some consolation to the players whose lives have been shattered by this experience. Vindication is one thing but how do you turn back the clock and forget what you have been through for more than a year? Mike Nifong's actions have adversely affected the lives of the players, their families, their friends, their school and the entire community. How does one atone for so much pain?

What's Next for Mike Nifong?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3neLn81ceY]

To See How it all began to Unfold for Mike Nifong Click Here

To See the Duke Lacrosse Team Vindicated Click Here

Coconuts Banned at Hindu Temple

The Siddhivinayak Temple in Mumbai, India was built to honor the Hindu elephant-headed god of good fortune, Ganesh, it is one of India's most famous temples. Worshippers come from all over and stand for several hours in line with the traditional offerings of flowers and coconuts, waiting patiently for a two minute "Darshan" or meeting. Thousands of people visit this temple daily.

India is also a country that has had many experiences with terrorism. Security measures have been tightened at many temples across the country because of terrorist activities. In Sept 2002, gunmen attacked the Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar killing at least 30 people and wounding more than 100 others. Another 20 people were killed in March 2006, when two bombs exploded in Varanasi, home to the Sankat Mochan Hanuman temple.

Nevertheless it took a lot of people by surprise when officials at the Siddhivinayak Temple announced that they were asking people not to bring in their traditional offerings of coconuts for fear that bombs could be hidden inside them.

"As of today we have asked people not to bring in coconuts," said Subash Mayekar, a trustee at central Mumbai's Siddhivinayak Temple. He said worshippers are also prohibited from bringing floral garlands, but added, "a few flowers in their hands are all right."

"Explosives could be placed inside coconuts and we have to be careful," said Mayekar, adding that the process of searching all the worshippers' offerings was causing long delays. The temple, which already has a bullet proof wall surrounding it, is reputed by the police to be a prime target for terrorists. The banning of coconuts "is just a precautionary measure for the safety of the devotees and the temple"

Worshippers traditionally walk barefoot for many miles to Siddhivinayak Temple hoping their prayers to Ganesh, the god of good fortune, are answered. Nobody was happy with this decision.

"It is sacrilegious not to offer coconuts. It goes against Hindu faith and custom," said S. Ganesan, who has written a book on the temple. "They should instead update their security. If a terrorist wants to create trouble, he does not need a coconut."

Below is a video of the Hindu ceremony of Aarti performed at the The Siddhivinayak Temple
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Part 2 of Aarti at the Siddhivinayak Temple

Part 3 of Aarti at the Siddhivinayak Temple

Sajani Shakya - Child Goddess

Sajani Shakya is a very special 9 year old girl. She is a living goddess. In her country, Nepal, she is worshipped as the earthly manifestation of the Hindu goddess Kali. She is one of only about a dozen children selected for this honor and is in the US on a tour to promote a documentary film about the living goddesses of the Katmandu Valley.

The Kumari or living goddesses are chosen very carefully from a special Buddhist sect to represent a Hindu goddess, demonstrating the harmony of both religions in Nepal. They are chosen very young, around 2yrs old, and must meet the 32 perfections which include the gait of a swan, a body like a banyan tree, even teeth and golden tender skin that has never been scratched.

Marc Hawker, the film's cinematographer and producer, describes the role the Kumari play in Nepalese society:

People go to the goddesses to touch their feet as they are carried through the streets. They give them money as offerings. They visit the goddess's house, where she sits on a small ornate throne, to ask for a better job, better health, a measure of happiness. The girls are not expected to impart wisdom, just blessings.


"It's not about dogma or rules," Hawker said. "People relate to her as a divine being but also as a child: they pray to her, but afterwards they sit and joke with her. There is something very comforting about worshiping a child, something about the cycle of life, about renewal."

Devotees believe that the goddess Kali inhabits the girls, though they do not exhibit unusual behavior, and then the goddess leaves them when they reach puberty. After that, the girls retire with a small pension. They are free to work and marry. "The idea of virginal, pre-menstrual purity, it does seem like a contradiction with worshiping a feminine divine," said Rachel McDermott, associate professor in the department of Asian and Middle Eastern cultures at Barnard College in New York, "but in all this, there is the devotion to purity."

As part of her US tour Sajani Shakya visited Lafayette Elementary School in Washington DC. She answered questions from the kids like:

Question: What do you do for fun? Answer: She plays hide-and-seek, computer games, watches Hindi films

Question: "Are there boy gods?" Answer: There are, but they are not worshiped like the girls.

Question: What do you eat? Answer: She is vegetarian, no chicken, no eggs, no pork........but salmon yes!

Question: What do you want to be? Answer: She wants to be a teacher.

Whitaker's documentary Living Goddesses was filmed during a dramatic moment in Nepalese history. Against the backdrop of a civil war that has taken 13,000 lives, demonstrators stormed the streets, protesting the king and debating the Kumaris' relevance.

The documentary follows Sajani as she blesses devoted passers-by and performs rituals at a yearly festival. Her perks include being worshipped by her parents and receiving offerings of chocolate. But life as a goddess isn't always bliss, apparently. "Sometimes I don't feel like going on my throne when mommy asks me," Sajani said through an interpreter. "I've got to get up so early."

Proving that even though she may be a goddess, there is still a child in there!

PS: Click here for an update on Sajani Shakya who was fired! 

Bob Woolmer was NOT Murdered

Initial reports that Bob Woolmer, Pakistan's cricket coach, was killed in Jamaica, were wrong. This was the conclusion of three international pathologists from Britain, South Africa and Canada who performed independent autopsies on the body. The three all agreed that Bob Woolmer died from heart failure.

"Taking into account his medical history and the findings of the autopsy, it looks very certainly like it's a cardiac cause of death," said Martin, who is head of forensic medicine and toxicology at the University of Cape Town, in a phone interview.

As a result of these findings the murder investigation has been closed. However the Jamaican pathologist, Dr Ere Seshaiah, who did the initial autopsy that prompted the opening of the murder investigation is sticking by his report despite the findings of the three international experts:

"I am sticking to my findings. He was murdered," Dr Ere Seshaiah told The Jamaica Observer. "Woolmer is not a first for me," he said. "I have been doing autopsies here since 1995."

A Jamaican opposition lawmaker, Derrick Smith has called for the firing of Dr. Eke Seshaiah implying his incompetence:

"He led the investigation team down a wrong path," Derrick Smith said in a television interview outside parliament. "Now that we have found out that he has made an error, he should be terminated."

National Security Minister Peter Phillips announced in parliament the government will set up a commission to review the investigation into Woolmer's death. The commission will assess the "appropriateness of the techniques and the standards of professionalism employed by the police investigators as well as the medical and other professional personnel," Phillips said.

Click here to see Video Clip

For previous stories on Bob Woolmer. Click the following: 1.Murder in Jamaica 2. Bob Woolmer Update 3. Woolmer was Drugged