!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.! ! ! ! Catt's Claws ... A Feminist Newsletter #72 ... October 03, 1995 ! ! ! !.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.! There were two, gut-twisting, please-let-me-vomit-on-you bigots in that courtroom. There has got to be a special place under *hell* for Johnny Cochran with his Black Muslin in-your-face militancy and for Mark Fuhrman with his Aryan Nation in-your-face militancy. Both would involve decent people in their self-aggrandizing, twisted views. Cochran, through threats to the jury of mostly black women told them they wouldn't dare go back to their homes in black neighborhoods if they convicted. Cochran turned a clear-cut stalking wife-murder into a racial cause celebre that will damage race relations in this country more than anything else we have witnessed in the last 50 years. Thurgood Marshall would have THUNDERED against Cochran's tactics. And Mark Fuhrman seriously injured the reputation of thousands of decent police officers who honestly try to do the right thing, day after day, night after night under extremely dangerous circumstances. They are not all perfect. Some are Mark Fuhrmans. Most aren't. To use an extreme comparision: some priests are child molesters, most aren't. Decent people must say "NO" to this sort of blanket bigotry that allows men with snakes in their minds to subvert justice and our criminal system. Remember, more so-called black on black crimes occur that need police and the justice system protection than black on white or white on black. Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson are dead, brutally, BRUTALLY MURDERED by a man whose own blood - through conclusive DNA testing - proved he did it. The murders had nothing to do with race. It was a simple murder case by an insanely jealous ex-husband. But O.J. Simpson is walking free while his victim's bodies lay rotting in the ground because he approved the dealing of the race card from the bottom of the deck ... although he is a man who lived "white" and was treated with respect by the "white" society who made him a multi-millionaire and welcomed him without prejudice everywhere. Since Catt's Claws author knew that the verdict was obviously an acquittal on Monday night and so wrote to many people on Internet, we would ask you to review the much repeated scene of the courtroom Tuesday both before and during the reading of the verdict and see it as we saw it. Those were not good actors. And a few minutes later, there was a well prepared speech read by his son and we all know - since OJ is functionally not a literate man - it was not prepared by him after the acquital, but prepared well in advance by someone else. IF he cared so much, why didn't he get on the stand and tell his story - demand justice? He would have spoken to the largest TV audience the world has ever known. I fault Judge Lance Ito in the conduct of the trial for one thing: he allowed the jury to keep their notebooks. He should have confiscated them; given them xerox copies and then handed the originals over to the Justice Department for investigation into possible jury tampering and collusion. In less than 3.5 hours that jury elected themselves a foreman, acquitted OJ of TWO murders, and agreed to be silent until their agents could get the best possible monetary returns for their stories. All in 3.5 hours after being FORBIDDEN by law to discuss the case with each other or ANYONE else. If you believe they held to that pledge in face of what they've done, I've got a bridge to sell you. I spent too much of my life watching juries and the courts while I was a newspaper reporter. The speed which with that jury acted makes it suspect. But do try to get to see that scene in the courtroom where OJ exchanges a sly smile with the black male juror who held up his fist to him in the Black Muslim salute. That one juror, at least, did not have guilt or innocence on *his* mind. It's worth the price of admission ... pun intended. And the review by the TV stations and press media has been sickening. Race, race, race ... The guys ignoring again that it was a brutal murder of a wife who dared to try to get away from her insanely possessive husband, color be damned. The TV men kept saying things like the jury was sending a message. Message? Their only purpose and the only message they could legally send was that of guilt or innocence for the crimes of murder. As wrong as our justice system is towards people of color and women, that is not a jury's duty. As a result of all this, I am now asking myself this question over and over and over again: Did I spend a good portion of my life fighting, marching, and protesting for black civil rights to see the Black Muslim bigots take over from white bigots? They say a white person can never experience the fear of living black. Sorry, guys, but try living in a woman's body, black or white. Great goddess, please help me not fall victim to the kind of bigotry shown in that courtroom ... let me continue to believe in the innate decency of people ... we recognize we have failings, but we are trying to be better. WE ARE DOING BETTER. Let me not fall victim to the call for a war between white bigot and black bigot. Let me always curse the darkness that is Mark Fuhrman and Johnny Cochran. I'm sorry Nicole and Ron - I'm so sorry. ....................... * ........................ BTW, I lived in Cleveland, Ohio, at the time of the Sam Shepard murder of HIS wife and no amount of paid propaganda and PR (such as was used in the OJ defense) will ever convince me he didn't do it. He, also, got off (eventually), but lived a life of misery. May OJ receive the same treatment by society that Sam did. Contempt. OJ had a champagne party Tuesday night that many thought was like dancing on the graves of Nicole and Ron. ....................... * ........................ According to FAIR magazines, PBS allows corporations to underwrite shows but bars labor unions from underwriting shows about workers and the labor movement because it would be considered a conflict of interest? Nonprofit organizations are forbidden to spend more than 5% on lobbying while the military-industrial-anti-woman complex is allowed to spend as much as it likes and the Republican controlled congress is trying to widen the gap with new legislation. ....................... * ........................ An Australian study reported by the journalism students of Bond University found that children place in child care don't suffer ill effects from it - just the opposite from an American report. Australian authorities said the difference was the quality of child care which is excellent and higher overall than in America because of the Australian Accreditation System. CC -->> Every U.S. working woman knows the difficulty of finding safe and competent child care that she can afford. She soon finds out that her fetus was sacred, but no one cares about her child. Today, the Republicans in Congress are gutting what child care subsidies we have - and offering lower taxes for big business and their rich campaign contributors. <--cc ....................... * ........................ We're sorry, but somehow we lost the name of the poster of the following email. I didn't realize the "save" of the new email system stripped the mail to just the contents: "Re: fathers' payment of child support in Canada. "There's talk of having the provinces co-operate in getting fathers to pay support (right now if they simply move to another province they "escape" financial responsibly for their children). Some have even suggested not renewing driver's licenses of "dead-beat dads". "Of course, even if they are forced to pay, the amounts are ridiculously small in some provinces. (In one case I know of it's $300/ month for 3 children [!!] in Alberta - and that father is a pediatrician)" CC-->> That ability to chase deadbeat fathers across state lines in the U.S.A. is one of the reasons the Republicans are so mad at Bill Clinton. He has really pushed it. That's one of the reasons they are cutting so much out of the Violence Against Women Act, too. But nothing will work until women unite to ridicule and treat deadbeat, irresponsible men for what they are: trash, whether they are "respected" pediatricians or Speakers of the U.S. House of Representatives or not. That pediatrician should be picketed. How can women take their children to a man who has no respect for his own get? <--cc Oh, bye the bye, isn't it strange that most of the family values advocates on the Republican side have all dumped their first wives to grab trophy wives? Newt Gingrich, who openly cheated on his first wife and didn't want to pay child support; Bob Dole who obviously cheated on his first wife to grab onto Elizabeth; what's-his-two-face from California who did the same thing ... Ah, family values... ....................... * ........................ Beth McCarthy has taken over as director of Saturday Night Live as the producer of the venerable comedy hour hopes to revive it with 6 new writers for its 21st season. Hey Beth, look around for some more writers and chuck those who did the writing *after* the two opening skits. We heard there was another good skit towards the end, but couldn't stick around for another full hour of boredom. It was tooooo bad. Not even the normally raucous audience was responding. And about the two regular actors who were kept ... WHY? ....................... * ........................ Our good correspondent Ken Pope sent this news item. We would appreciate some feedback from people in the legal profession and sex workers: "A man who claimed he was high on drugs when he raped a prostitute at knifepoint and told her to smile as he took photographs of her performing sex acts with him was jailed for 14 years in England. "The case against 44-year-old Christopher Davies is believed to be the first PRIVATE PROSECUTION for rape ever brought in England. "The only other similar case was a civil, not criminal, action for rape. "The current case was brought by two prostitutes, who cannot be named for legal reasons, after the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to proceed on the rapes which occurred in 1992 and 1993. "Davies, of Trinity Square, Margate, Kent, denied two counts of rape, two of indecent assault, two of false imprisonment, two of causing actual bodily harm, and a charge of unlawful wounding. "Earlier this year at Maidstone Crown Court, Kent, he was found guilty of raping, indecently assaulting, falsely imprisoning and causing actual bodily harm to the first prostitute. " He was cleared of raping, falsely imprisoning and wounding the second, but found guilty of indecently assaulting and causing actual bodily harm to her. "He had earlier served 12 months for trying to kidnap a 20-year-old girl. "Judge Anthony Balston said: "This was an extremely serious rape and you remain a danger to women." "Afterwards the first prostitute said: "In order to gain justice myself and another victim started proceedings for a private prosecution. "This is an option most women are unable to take. "It's only been with the collective support of the English Collective of Prostitutes and Women Against Rape but justice has been gained not only for myself but for all women. "This case has proved all women have the right to say no, whatever the circumstances." ....................... * ........................ There are some responsible scientists out there, not just those who work for chemical firms. While most of the research money continues to pour into procedures that stuff a woman's body with foreign substances to replace breasts amputated because of cancer, (and the FDA approves without proper testing) there are a few who are experimenting with ways of using a woman's own cells to create tissue inside the breasts. Experiments were begun last fall at the University of Michigan and at a Charlotte, N.C. hospital. Tissue engineering was pioneered about 12 years ago by two surgeons at Children's Hospital in Boston. A news story quotes the FDA as saying it is leaning in favor of allowing tissue engineering as long as it is for purely structural or cosmetic purposes and uses a person's own cells. Since these breast cells won't produce milk, they probably qualify. And way at the bottom of an extensive story about the tissue engineering the following paragraph was dropped in: "Reprogenesis chairman James McNab estimated that 250,000 women per year, most of them cancer patients, qualify for implants for medical reasons. Currently, about 10 percent of them undergo the operation a year." 250,000 women A YEAR - most are cancer patients ??? And millions of medical research dollars are spent on finding a cure for male hair loss. ....................... * ........................ The lesbians and gays of the Montrose district in Houston are passing around anti-discrimination pledges to business owners in the district and those who do not sign will probably face some sort of boycotts. In a news story, an AP reporter quoted a businessMAN as criticizing the public actions of a lesbian couple in his store. In a story about freshman illiteracy, the AP report quoted a GIRL although most of those forced to take remedial English in college are men. In other words, note sometime how many of the stories about problems that are general to the entire population are particularized to women. ....................... * ........................ Oh, these Republican Congressional people just don't think things through. They've come up with the crackpot idea of privatizing the IRS. If any of you have had unpleasant dealings with the IRS, wait until you meet up with private collection agencies doing your taxes. The dismantling of the IRS is one of the MAIN goals of the quasi- military religious supremacist movement such as led to the bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City. The IRS is opposing the proposal because it would give private debt collectors access to people's confidential financial records and could lead to unfairness in tax enforcement. "I have grave reservations about starting down the path of using private contractors to contact taxpayers regarding their delinquent tax debts," The New York _Times_ quoted IRS Commissioner Margaret Milner Richardson as saying. ....................... * ........................ Domingo Morales, 67, had sex with a prostitute and then refused to pay her. She took out a knife and cut off part of his penis. The police in the Bronx are searching for the prostitute and the missing body part. He is in stable condition. ....................... * ........................ Catt's Claws salutes volunteers Jennifer Gagliardi for posting Catt's Claws through her listserv. ....................... * ........................ Women's rights are young and tender and we must protect them from the plagues of holy hypocrisy and newts. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- >>> Send your ideas, comments, and news to istuber@cswnet.com for inclusion in the Catt's Claws feminist newsletter which will be emailed three times a week: Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. This is NOT an interactive discussion net but an exchange of information and is NOT sponsored by any organization. We are accepting *limited* donations (only what can be spared) to help offset the online costs of posting Catt's Claws. Irene Stuber. PO Box 6185, Hot Springs, AR 71902.<<<<