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National Commission To
STOP the NEW VIOLENCE
Address by
Charles Quinn Muhammad
April 8, 2000
To Mr. Lyndon LaRouche, and the Schiller Institute, and to Mr. Dennis Speed, and all of those who have worked so hard to bring this issue before the world, it is an honor and a privilege to be asked to be a part of this Commission on New Violence.
As we consider what has been said by Mr. LaRouche, as well as some of the panelists here today, we understand that we have a moral obligation to stand, and to express to the society that what is happening in America, is something that we can stop, if we lend our hearts and our minds to do so.
On Aug. 22, 1992, our son, Andre Jones, was stopped at a routine sobriety check, or road block, in Brandon, Mississippi, which is located about 12 miles south of Jackson. Within 19 hours, our son was hung in a Simpson County jail, in Mendenhall, Mississippi. The officials said that he hung himself with his own shoelaces. Of course, we know that our son was taken out of that jail, on that night, and he was hung, and brought back into the jail, and hung up again in a dingy shower stall. And since that time, we have been fighting for justice on behalf of Andre.
But, not just on behalf of Andre alone, but on behalf of your sons, your husbands, your uncles, your relatives. Because we recognized that it is not just Andre who has become a victim of such hideous crime—it has been many others. Our case in Mississippi uncovered that, within a five-year period, from 1987 to 1993, over 48 others had been found in Mississippi jails, {hung}, black men, white men, black females, white females.
We found out that this is a new form of lynching, that has been revisited to Mississippi. As you know, with the recent profiling of young, black men throughout this country, the story that we're expressing here today, is a story that many of you may have. So, it is only right for us to be a part of this Commission. Later this evening, we would like to share, in detail, some of the aspects of our case that will include many of the characteristics that we are hearing in some of the other issues around the New Violence that is occurring in America.
We recognize that if we don't make a stand, that it will continue to happen. And I say that, because, on Feb. 2, a young man by the name of Michael Chambers, in Desoto, Mississippi, was arrested because of ”domestic disturbance.'' Within less than 24 hours, he was found hung with a bedsheet. So, this has not stopped. And as we travel throughout America, and share our story with the community, a mother stands up in the audience, someone stands up and says, “This Happened to my son, but I couldn't do anything about it—I didn't know what to do; I was just overwhelmed with the pain of losing my child.” From Detroit, Michigan to Los Angeles, California, we receive calls from mothers who had lost their child the same way. So, we looked at this, and we said that this is a new form of lynching in America.
So, this is why we're here. My wife is here, my daughter is here, and we're here as a family, because we are the results of the effects of what happens, when you lose a son, or lose a child, in a way that is not right, very unfair, and our son deserves justice as well as the 48 others, and the un-nameless others throughout this country. So, we would like to say again, thank you, Mr. LaRouche, thank you, Schiller Institute, for asking us to be a part of this very important commission.
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schiller@schillerinstitute.org
The Schiller Institute
PO BOX 20244
Washington, DC 20041-0244
703-297-8368
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