June 24, 2009
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Speaking of Racism..
I was recently watching a documentary called “the Farm”, which was made 10 years ago about the Angola Prison in Louisiana, which is the largest maximum security prison in the U.S. In this prison, a man named Vincent Simmons has been given a life sentence for raping a woman 20 years ago. Yet he claims he is innocent, and during his time at Angola, Simmons has been collecting evidence in an attempt to prove his innocence. One piece of evidence he obtained was the original Doctor’s Report which said that the woman was a virgin after she had accused Simmons of raping her. Also, the woman who identified him as being the rapist initially said that “all black people look alike,” so she never would be able to point out the perpetrator. In addition, he has a photo of him next to all of the other suspects, and he is the only man in handcuffs, which is not a legal practice. In the following video, both Simmons and the woman are allowed to present their cases before three justices, as Simmons is up for parol. The woman presents her case first, and the justices tell her, “you can rest assured we’ll keep this boy locked up.” Yet they make this statement before looking at Simmons’ evidence. As a result, Simmons is making an attempt to present his case to the U.S. Supreme Court, where he will hopefully be guaranteed a fair trial.
If you are interested in seeing Vincent Simmons receive a fair trial please sign the petition below. Unfortunately this was the only video I could find, and the subtitles are not in English…
Comments (40)
That’s horrifying. I can’t believe shit like that happens in our country, STILL!
Wow! You took those photos? @@! I mean the one in the xanga photo album! It’s really nice! I am learning photography too! I try hard/____!
Haha, Nice pics? You mean the scenery or me? I am not nice acutally! I am 99% sure that you are talking abou the scenery!=) By the way, I think you are from the USA, right?
@Viewtiful_Justin - I know it’s heart breaking. Thanks for checking it out. Pete
I had to sign it. This is an obvious violation of a defendant’s rights…even more than just a defendant’s right.
How many signatures do you need for this, you know?
@one_more_path - Not too sure, but thanks for signing it and for the rec! Sincerely, Pete
I’ve just signed the petition but then reaolized that being a foreigner in a foreign land, I am probably inelligible and may have made the petition inelligible. Thought I’d share my thoughts with you.
@Lovegrove - Nah I’m sure they appreciate every signature. Thanks for signing! Pete
@pedrothepoet - How did yo get that name? I have it somewhere on my site but can’t find it now.
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I just signed. This is why people who think that racism is dead need to wake up. It’s still alive and well in this country. Some people want to be blind to it, but the sooner people realize it, the sooner we can end it once and for all.
How can one live with themselves knowing they ruined another’s life with such lies? It’s appalling. If this was overturned, she should be put in prison.
@Tanezia_Delight - Thanks for signing the petition.
Pete
@Schloma - Amen brother. Pete
Signed…this is unbelievable…
@Pandiie_Bear - It is. Thanks so much for signing. Pete
Is this the petition?
@aplynch1 - The petition is the link directly above the video. Please sign! Thanks!
Pete
Someone needs to rewrite parts of the petition to grant Vincent Simmons a “fair trial”. The petition is well meant, though to really get through to anyone, the petition’s many grammatical mistakes need to be corrected. Though I signed the petition, I just hate when someone makes stupid, simple mistakes in a situation of such urgent gravity.
Signed. Isn’t it funny she told the only black parole officer that she would not be alone with him? Sounds like one flew over her cuckoo’s nest.
It’s just a sign women rule the planet.. and what’s right and what the truth is and men cannot prevail
I know there are racist things like this that still happen today. I actually should write a blog post about Veda, Texas. There’s reported racial events that happened there in the late 90′s.
If you don’t mind, can I write a post (probably consisting of less than a sentence) and provide a link to signing the petition and your site?
Everyone should have a fair trial. Its terrible that such a miscarriage of justice is being perpetrated here.
If this woman was never raped, what is her motivation for saying that he raped her? After all, if there was a medical report saying she was a virgin after she accused him of rape, then I can only conclude that no rape even took place at all.
I’m very interested in learning more about this. And I will sign this petition. After all, its just to get him a fair trial and there’s no reason to prevent that from happening. The evidence will speak for itself.
@aplynch1 - Yes this petition was the only one I could find. It is not very well written. I feel that Amnesty International needs to find out about this to get some real exposure to this situation. Would you be interested in trying to contact Amnesty International regarding this? – Pete
@Bodhiseeker - Yes she came off as very racist…
@faultymanufacturing - Yeah please do! Thanks for bringing exposure to this! Pete
@tracezilla@lovelyish - Thanks for researching this and signing the petition. Pete
@pedrothepoet - you’re more than welcome! The post is up if you’d like to see it, but its pretty cut and dry. I basically took an excerpt of what you wrote.
@faultymanufacturing - Sounds great!
Thanks for posting this. Very sad. I hope he gets his case heard.
I think you misquoted the board, they said “you rest assured, this board will do its duty”
Still though, it does seem like he has a case..
I wrote the author of the petition last night to bring to her attention the few, though essential grammatical corrections which need to be made to the petition in order for the petition to be taken seriously. I hope she makes the corrections or at least contacts me in regards to this matter. It could be that easy. I hope so anyway.
i wish the petition was better written but i signed it anyway. i really hope it makes a difference.
It’s pathetic that there is still racism in the world.
Wow, that’s horrible.
God have mercy on him and grant a free trial. God have mercy on the accuser.
This blows me away. I am glad I live in canada. Here you do a crime you get charged, but not if they cant prove it. I find United states law allows for the accused to not be accountable, or to be wrongly convicted.
The legal system of this country works fairly well for those who have enough influence to manipulate it in their favor. As to the members of the general public… their trial, regardless of race, is just a sham pretense of getting to the bottom of things. I do not believe that it has ever been any different in the larger picture of things.
If a fellow can get enough of the right people behind him and garner enough influence, the court may be willing to turn its jaundiced eye in the other direction. Sad, but I have been through the court system enough times to be absolutely certain that our legal system is just an expensive sideshow to convince the rest of us that we still have rights.
That’s Louisiana for you.
Welcome to the reality of the “god complex” where men who see themselves as superior to others force their own selfish desires and godless rules upon those who they see as lessor, or even – nothing.
From a people that thought blacks to be something other than human and so did not deserve the rights of animals, less more human rights, this is typical.
I heard a jazz recording back in the late 60′s or early 70′s, and part of the lyrics stated, “the white man’s got a god complex”. This held true in many judgements and even in peoples attitudes and actions back then, and still holds true today; we just use politically correct words, deferance, and indifferance to justify our actions.