Photog to Appeal Assault Conviction

Toronto Court Rules Against Bruised American

 

A visiting African American photographer who said he was assaulted by Toronto police, then arrested on charges of assaulting the police, has had his day in court — and plans to appeal.

Tonye Allen, also known professionally as TRILOBITE, a photographer of hip-hop celebrities, was convicted Nov. 23 on two counts of assaulting a police officer.

Two other counts of assault and resisting arrest were dismissed.

Justice William R. Wolski of the Ontario Court of Justice gave Allen a conditional discharge on the first charge, placed him on six months’ probation on the second and imposed a five-year prohibition on carrying weapons, the court clerk’s office said on Friday.

“The whole trial was somewhat of a circus,” contended Allen’s fiancée, freelance writer Ann Brown, who testified at the trial and was with Allen during the incident.

“Our lawyer, who had been tied up in a murder case for the last six months, asked to be taken off the case on the first day of the trial,” Brown told Journal-isms. “(There was also a dispute over money, though this had been resolved — his office had misplaced records of our payments.) Anyway, the judge said no and it started.

“Tonye’s lawyer hadn’t even reinterviewed me or Tonye—and hadn’t contacted the witnesses I passed on to him. Thus, the judge said he had to believe the police account. But he didn’t believe the policeman who said Tonye hurt his hand and threw out the two assault charges involving that officer. But he found Tonye guilty of assaulting another officer twice (chest bumping him and spitting on him—neither of which Tonye did). The police also testified I was cursing them out (something I don’t do) and calling them pigs (a term I never use. I think calling police cops is disrespectful).

“Tonye has 6 months probation and had to give a DNA sample, which he verbally protested as an invasion of his privacy. They actually handcuffed him to take the DNA sample,” which is usually done with a pinprick of the finger. “The judge also ruled Tonye would have no criminal record but a police file. We are looking for an appeals lawyer now. Tonye wants his innocence proven in court,” Brown said via e-mail.

Since the Oct. 16, 2006, incident, an e-mail campaign and petition drive have been under way to defend Allen, whose work has appeared in Essence, Vibe, Rolling Stone and the Source magazines and the Village Voice and LA Weekly newspapers. The couple was in Toronto before a planned trip to South Africa.

According to an account by Shirley Hawkins a year ago in the Los Angeles publication Our Weekly, Brown and Allen were attempting to hail a cab after checking out of their hotel when they were approached by one of two police officers in front of the building.

Brown said in the Our Weekly story, “We were in Toronto filing travel stories about the city. We didn’t like the hotel we were in, so we were leaving to check into another hotel.”

The story continued, “Brown said that a policeman approached the couple in his police car and got out. ‘He was really inquisitive,’ recalls Brown. ‘He just started asking us all of these questions,’ Brown said . . . She said that he asked, ‘Who are you? Where are you going? Why are you here?’

“‘I answered, ‘We just checked out of the Econo Lodge and we are trying to catch a cab,'” Brown said. ‘I asked him why he was asking us these questions.’

“Brown said that the policeman, who was from Precinct 51, quickly became agitated and responded, ‘I don’t like your attitude.'” Things escalated verbally. “She said that five [policemen] arrived and approached Tonye. ‘They didn’t even ask Tonye what was going on,’ said Brown. ‘They pulled him down and kicked him. Then they pepper sprayed him.’

“Brown said that one of the other officers began striking Allen’s head and torso with a night stick.

“‘Besides being pepper sprayed, I was beaten three times — on the street, in the hospital, and in the police station while being [strip-searched],’ said Allen,” Hawkins wrote.

Brown is a freelance writer who has used her connections to publicize the story. Her work has appeared in Essence, Black Enterprise, Upscale magazine and the Source, and she is the daughter of ’70s folk-soul singer Bill Withers (“Lean on Me”).

The prosecutor, Crown’s Attorney Neville Golwalla, told Journal-isms he was limited in what he could say about the case since it might be appealed, and suggested a look at the court transcript, which was not immediately available.

Allen’s lawyer, Jason Bogle, a black Canadian who has had his own problems with Toronto police, did not return telephone calls. In January, he had argued forcefully on behalf of his client. “This is a horrific experience that Mr. Allen has endured: Imagine coming to the friendly city of Toronto and ending up in the hospital,” he told Journal-isms then.

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“Today” Hosts Abu-Jamal Lawyer, Slain Cop’s Widow

NBC’s “Today” show on Thursday featured photos touted by defenders of death row prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, a onetime president of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists, as casting doubt on Abu-Jamal’s guilt in the Dec. 9, 1981, slaying of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner.

The top-rated morning show showed the photos as host Matt Lauer interviewed the officer’s widow, Maureen Faulkner, who is promoting “Murdered by Mumia,” a new book she authored with conservative talk show host Michael Smerconish.

Abu-Jamal supporters rallied as the show aired. “Police promptly corralled the protesters into a metal barricaded pen across the street from the Rockefeller Center studio. As the segment on the book was broadcast, NBC briefly showed the protest live on a split screen alongside Mrs. Faulkner,” Sharon Otterman wrote in the New York Times.

Abu-Jamal supporter Hans Bennett wrote afterward, “The photos had been completely ignored by the mainstream media (only published by The SF Bay View, until a Dec. 4 Reuters article reported on a press conference in Philadelphia where the photos were presented . . . along with other evidence of both an unfair trial and innocence, as was also reported by The Black Commentator.”

On the show, which included a report on the case by Rehema Ellis, Lauer said to Faulkner, “Maureen, when you’re ever—when you’re alone—when you’re alone with your thoughts at night, when you even see pictures of the protests like the one we have across the street, does it ever cross your mind that perhaps they’re right?

“Ms. FAULKNER: No.

“LAUER: Do you ever allow yourself to consider the fact that perhaps he didn’t do this?

“Ms. FAULKNER: He murdered my husband in cold blood. And there is no doubt in my mind. Absolutely no doubt. And I wrote this book. It was a therapy for me to get my life in black and white so people can read it. And Michael, thank you, Michael. Michael has been with me for 15 years helping me and standing up and speaking out for me, 15 years.”

Lauer also said, “At times when I hear this debate, I don’t hear people remembering that a police officer was murdered by someone.”

• Mike Celizic, TODAYShow.com contributor: Officer’s widow speaks out on Mumia case

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Ex-Gang Member Sues Network for Showing His Face

“A former gang member alleged Thursday in a lawsuit that a TV talk show failed to obscure his face as promised during a 2005 interview, prompting former cohorts to label him a ‘snitch’ and beat him,” Michael Higgins reported Friday in the Chicago Tribune.

“Richard Sendejas said he agreed to appear on ‘Rocio,’ broadcast by Telemundo of Chicago, in September 2005 on the condition that his identifying features would be rendered unrecognizable.

“Sendejas, who was 17 at the time, ‘spoke candidly about topics such as his involvement with the Latin Kings, why teens join street gangs, the meaning behind different hand signals, as well as other questions,’ said the lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court.

“But when the television program aired in October 2005, Mr. Sendejas’ face and tattoos were not concealed,’ the lawsuit said. ‘Many people who knew him still recognized who he was.’

“. . . The lawsuit names Telemundo of Chicago, Telemundo Network and related companies as defendants. Telemundo officials could not be reached for comment Thursday on the suit.

“. . . Sendejas is seeking more than $550,000 in damages for pain, suffering and other injuries.”

Gonzalez Testifies Against Further Consolidation

Juan D. Gonzalez, New York Daily News columnist and 2002-2004 president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, on Wednesday broke what he said was a 30-year record of not testifying before government committees to oppose further media consolidation. He appeared before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet.

“Today, minorities own just five of the 845 stations which are affiliated with the four major television networks. That’s less than 1%. And radio is hardly much better,” Gonzalez said in his prepared remarks. “A 2006 study by Free Press concluded that minorities owned just 8 percent of the 10,000 commercial radio stations in the country.

“The broadcast industry has one of the poorest levels of minority ownership in American business. Overall minority ownership in the general non-farm sector reached nearly 18% . . . in 2002, the last year for which we have comprehensive government data. That’s five times better than television and twice the level of radio.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin’s “plan to permit expanded cross-ownership by newspapers of television stations places the future of minority ownership in even greater jeopardy,” he said.

“That’s because virtually all minority-owned stations are ranked below the top four in their given markets. Under the Chairman’s plan, all 19 minority-owned stations currently operating in the top 20 markets — the precise markets where cross-ownership would be permitted — would become potential targets for purchase by local daily newspapers.

“Some might ask why we as journalists place so much emphasis on the racial and ethnic composition of media owners. It’s simple. Direct experience has shown us that ownership matters when it comes to diversity in newsroom employment and, more importantly, when it comes to a diversity of voices and meeting the news and information needs of minority communities.”

• Juan Gonzalez testimony on YouTube

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New Imus Sidekick Says She Is There to “Represent”

Comedian Karith Foster, the black woman who is Don Imus’ new sidekick on the latest version of “Imus in the Morning,” tells Tatsha Robertson of Essence.com that “I am here to represent.” Of radio host’s infamous description of the Rutgers women’s basketball team as “nappy-headed ho’s,” Foster said, “He was an old White guy trying to be young and hip and use the modern vernacular. And it wasn’t funny.”

“Someone out there will say that you were hired to save face for Imus,” Robertson told Foster in a q-and-a posted on the Web site of the leading black women’s magazine.

“Your reaction?”

“Well, I am not here to defend the man,” Foster said after a long pause. “I am also not paid to be his policeman. I am here to contribute to a historically entertaining show. I have no issue whatsoever speaking up when I feel the need to. I feel as if I am here to represent. That is another reason I took the job. What an opportunity to be a positive role model, not just for African-Americans and not just for women, but especially African-American women.”

She also said, “I am going to say what I feel. I am going to say what is true to me. I am certainly not up there to hurt or humiliate my people. I am reading some things online that are saying, ‘Oh, they hired two comedians.’ It’s as if we are there just to be funny. The job of a comedian is also to provide social commentary and make people think. That is what I use my comedy for. I get up on stage and show another perspective.”

• Lawrence Aaron, the Record, Hackensack, N.J.: He’s loud, he’s offensive, he’s back
• Merlene Davis, Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader: Imus learns a thing, but not two
• Elmer Smith, Philadelphia Daily News: Imus is back —if anyone cares

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1 in 6 Journalists Who Are Held Have No Charges

“One in six journalists jailed worldwide are being held without any publicly disclosed charge, many for months or years at a time and some in secret locations, the Committee to Protect Journalists has found in a new analysis,” the organization said on Wednesday as World Human Rights Day, observed on Monday, approaches.

“CPJ’s annual worldwide census of imprisoned journalists found 127 behind bars on December 1, a decrease of seven from the 2006 tally,” it said, providing detailed accounts of each imprisoned journalist.

“The drop is due in large part to the release this year of 15 Ethiopian journalists who were either acquitted or pardoned of antistate charges stemming from a broad government crackdown on the press. CPJ and others had waged an intensive advocacy campaign on their behalf.”

Reporters Without Borders, another media advocacy group, noted, “130 journalists are currently jailed worldwide for having tried to keep us informed.

“Sadly, this figure hardly alters. Every year on the same date, Reporters Without Borders gives the same report: Some 30 governments in the world continue to jail journalists whom they consider a nuisance. For these throw-back leaders, imprisonment remains the sole response to criticism from the men and women of the press.

“But this year, the situation has deteriorated still further. Of the 15 detainees in Eritrea, four are believed to have died. These four men have almost certainly lost their lives because of appalling prison conditions. The Eritrean government remains silent about it, despite distressed appeals from the families and friends of these journalists.

“To the figure of 130 imprisoned journalists, should be added six media assistants (interpreters, drivers, technicians, bodyguards and so on.) and 63 cyber-dissidents who are also being held.”

Short Takes

• “The Los Angeles Times released a new poll today, together with Bloomberg, with the headline: ‘1 in 3 would deny illegal immigrants social services,'” Marisa Treviño wrote on Thursday in her Latina Lista blog. “However, as can clearly be seen in the graph, a full 50% feel there’s no issue with undocumented immigrants in their communities. Further, a majority of those polled (54%) didn’t even feel that the immigration issue is the most pressing issue facing the country today.”

• “Since a trio of shotgun blasts killed Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey on Aug. 2, police and prosecutors have charged only one man with the crime: 20-year-old Devaunghndre Broussard, a handyman at Your Black Muslim Bakery, who is expected to be arraigned this morning,” A.C. Thompson, Thomas Peele and Paul T. Rosynsky wrote on Friday for the Chauncey Bailey Project. “But Oakland police records raise questions about whether a second man, a 21-year-old former San Francisco resident with an extensive and violent criminal history, may have played a role in the journalist’s slaying.”
• The Newspaper Association of America has selected this year’s list of 20 people under age 40 “who represent the enthusiasm, talent, hard work and innovation that’s needed to carry the newspaper industry into the future.” They include Swati Gandhi, deputy director of corporate sales at Dow Jones & Co., Pittsburgh; Ron Carey, human resources director of the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch; Tonya Echols, executive director of CoxNet, Cox Newspapers, Atlanta; Sherrye Washington, classified advertising director, the Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.
• “It’s cost them more than $60 million,” Veronica Villafañe wrote Tuesday on her Media Moves blog, “but CaribeVision Holdings has closed the deal on the purchase of six TV stations that make up its network in New York, Miami and Puerto Rico. The stations are: WPXO in New York, WFUN in Miami and WJPX, WIRS, WKPV and WJWN in Puerto Rico.”
• “Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc. today announced the launch of a new YouTube Channel, http://www.YouTube.com/CarlosWatson, featuring clips from the highly acclaimed primetime interview program ‘Conversations with Carlos Watson,’ appearing exclusively on Hearst-Argyle Television’s 29 TV stations around the country,” Hearst-Argyle announced on Tuesday. “Included among the currently available YouTube videos— never before seen by a national audience — are revealing interviews with Sen. Hillary Clinton, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, ‘Desperate Housewives’ star Eva Longoria and a host of other prominent personalities interviewed for the initial two episodes of ‘Conversations with Carlos Watson.'” Watson was formerly a political analyst on CNN.
• Novelist and journalist Elizabeth Atkins,

• Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Larry Wilmore, creator of “The Bernie Mack Show,” will be among those discussing “What is Black? Who is Black? What does it mean to ‘pass?'” on BET’s “Meet the Faith” show at noon Sunday, Eastern time.
• The Communities of Color Leadership Council in the Twin Cities was scheduled to hold a rally and press conference Thursday outside the corporate headquarters of KQRS radio in Minneapolis. “According to an e-mail sent out by the group, the rally is in ‘protest of the many racist remarks over many years toward people of color by KQRS,'” Amy Carlson Gustafson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported. “This is the first time in my history of 55 years in the Twin Cities area that the Native Americans, the African Americans, Somalis, Hmong, Hispanics and the Caucasians have all come together in a coalition of color,” Clyde Bellecourt of the American Indian Movement was quoted as saying.
• The bio of sports anchor Thomas Forester of Orlando’s WOFL-TV, who was suspended indefinitely without pay in September when he called police after a confrontation with his news director, is missing from the station’s Web site, but a Fox spokeswoman told Journal-isms there has been no change in his status.
• Africa’s first international business and financial news channel TV, CNBC Africa, will begin broadcasting from Johannesburg on June 1, South Africa’s Biz Community reported from Cape Town.
• Sabrina Soto is the first Hispanic to host the Home & Garden Television White House Christmas special, which airs Dec. 16, 17 and 25.