Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 2 September 2004 — Page 26

Page 26 • The Muncie Times • September 2, 2004

NEWS BRIEFS

continued from page 23. newspapers. ' "I never thought it would happen that one of my family members would get arrested for something that he did not do, but not only arrested for something that he did not do, but he has been convicted and sentenced to seven years for something that he did not do. "I believe that the victim was coached by the DAs office. She said that she had never seen Willie Cochran uhtil he stabbed her with a box-cutter, but it was not him. He was home with me. Asked if he was on any type of medication or if he had a history of mental issues, his mom replied, "There ain’t nothing wrong with Willie. He takes medication sometimes, but he’s got as much sense as anybody, more than some people. "This kind of thing has never happened in my family before, I’ve heard of it happening in other peoples families, and the person is found out to be not guilty, and sometimes the person has already been executed. Willie asked his lawyer Jamie M. Philips, to tell them to give him a lie detector test, but they wouldn't do it." Philips refused to give any details on the case. Answering a Challenge phone call, he said, "I'm sure you are you who you say you are, but I am bound by attorney/client privilege; and until I get a paper signed from the client - not his mother, or his father, or his third cousin twice removed, I can't discuss the case with you. I don't want to speak to a newspaper, and then he sees it and says

'Who told you to shoot your mouth off and talk to the press?' So, until I get a signed piece of paper from him, I can't discuss the case." "I want a public apology from everybody involved in setting Willie up, when they find out that he is not guilty," said the author of her autobiography 'Darker than a Thousand Midnights.' As, she says that the screenplay of the Alabama-to-New York story is being finished up, Harris added "They know that I'm a writer and they've knocked me down in my writing - but they didn't knock me out, I'm swinging stronger than ever." Tyion Washington steps up to plate for Black issues during RNC He didn’t mean to organize a March and rally during the Republican National Convention. After all, he’s just an ordinary guy who doesn’t come from any political organization - in fact; he’s sat out many an election because he didn’t see anyone he wanted to vote for. Meantime, Washington is a father, CoPresident of Black Waxx Recordings, speaks to youth against violence and is a member of the Coalition of Artists and Activists. Like many people, he’s appalled at the way Bush and his cronies are misleading the American people and menacing other nations, causing them to hate the U.S. more and more. He believes that Bush is sending this country’s youth - a disproportionate number of them Black and Latino - to fight and die for unjust causes. “While everybody is

hurt by bad governmental policies,” he declared, “we all know that people of color communities are always hurt the worst. ‘They catch a cold; we get pneumonia’ as the saying goes.” Therefore, when Washington heard that the Republicans were coming to New York, he knew he had to speak out. With that in mind, he went to a couple of meetings of well-established organizations planning protests during the convention. “The only thing was,” he stated, “as I looked around the rooms, I saw hardly any other Black faces. I wondered where are all the people who look like me?” He went home and resolved to organize a March and rally in Harlem where - in the context of opposing the war/occupation in Iraq and other heinous deeds of this Republican administration - his people could come out and see their own concerns dealt with. Concerns that he believed would receive all too little attention at most other protests during the convention. Concerns like the need for jobs, housing, education, healthcare, and reparations, as well as an end to police brutality, the so-called war on drugs, harassment of immigrants, shortchanging of war veterans, and maltreatment of those incarcerated right here in U.S. prisons. As he envisioned it, too, instead of just a long list of speakers railing against the system, he wanted to have socially conscious artists and entertainers deliver their message artistically through music, poetry, dance and the visual arts. Plus, he wanted the event to be so safe that

he and everyone else could bring their whole families - from young children to grandmothers - without fear of injury. His hope was to create an atmosphere that’s definitely serious about the issues but is also festive and generates a positive energy. When Washington pitched his idea to Shawna Glover, Co-President of Black Waxx Recordings, she was immediately enthusiastic. After all, she founded Black Waxx in 1992 as a socially conscious music company. The whole purpose of the label is to put out music with a message, music that provokes thought. “Because we’re a grassroots company, we’ve been reaching out to people in the community for years,” Glover commented. “We see what our people are going through, with so many literally at the survival level. We don’t have the equality we should have, and we need to fight for that always.” Tylon Washington began gathering around him some fine people with experience at this kind of work. They came up with a name: the Artists & Activists United For Peace Coalition (AAUP). Together, they began planning an event geared toward the participation not only of people of color - Black, Latino, Chinese, Arab and more - but people of conscience of every age, background and religion. “We hope all people of goodwill will come and express their opposition to the Bush administration constructively in a positive atmosphere,” stated Washington. At the event, Council Member and Mayoral candidate Charles

Barron will be the Lead Dignitary, and long-time peace activist, the Rev. Herbert Daughtry, will also be featured. Radio pioneer and legend Bob Law will host. To name just a few of the other participants, there are Chuck D of Public Enemy; Nellie Bailey with the Harlem Tenants Council; Ronald Casanova, Organizer for the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign, NY; Lee Siu Hin of the National Immigrant Solidarity Network; Council Members Margarita Lopez, John Liu, Kendall Stewart, Yvette Clarke and Letitia James; CURE; N’COBRA; International ANSWER; Still We Rise; Black Veterans for Social Justice and the Universal Nubian Association. Just some of the artists expected to perform are Camille Yarbrough, Wise Intelligent of Poor Righteous Teachers, Abiodun Oyewole from The Last Poets, Soundproof from Buck Productions and Menes with the band Shanto. Visual artists Seth Tobecman, Meres and other aerosol artists from 5 Pointz will be displaying their artwork as well. Performing her unique brand of revolutionary-soul will be Black Waxx’s very own Nana Soul, who is also AAUP’s official spokesperson. She states, “This event is going to bring attention to some important issues, and the more information we put out there, the more we have a chance of waking people up. While we might not have all the answers to all the problems, the first step is to wake up and realize there is a problem.” continue on page 27.