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John White should have been respected as a model American citizen, husband, father and upstanding member of his community. He did all the right things, worked hard, raised himself up by his bootstraps and sought to give his family a decent home in a decent neighborhood.




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How much more of this must Black America stand? How long must a people suffer a long train of abuses and usurpations? At what point in this course of human events will it become necessary for one people, Black people, to dissolve the bonds that connect them to their former slave masters and embrace their full God-given humanity?
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He rose at 3:30 a.m. to go to work as a construction supervisor in New York, but his appearance would make you think of a college professor, not someone in the construction industry. His American Dream became a nightmare when five drunken White teens showed up at his Long Island home one late night, threatening his son, vowing to rape his wife and refusing to leave the family alone.

Mr. White did the American thing; he exercised the right to protect his home, his life and his loved ones. He thought just showing a gun would end his trouble with the White mob. But a sudden move by an intoxicated 17-year-old, who wasn’t old enough to drink in the first place, apparently turned a confrontation into a tragedy. Mr. White, 54, says young Daniel Cicciaro lunged for the gun and it went off. The single shot killed the White youth, which resulted in the arrest and conviction of the 54-year-old Black man for manslaughter in the second degree.

The jury initially deadlocked on a verdict, but with Christmas days away and pressure from a judge, it took just 40 minutes for a deadlocked jury to become a jury with a unanimous guilty verdict. Now two White jurors are lamenting their decisions, saying pressure from the judge and fellow jurors pushed them into doing the wrong thing.

Where was justice?

Joe Horn, a White man from Pasadena, Texas, shot and killed two Latino immigrants who were allegedly breaking into a neighbor’s home. Mr. Horn was on the phone with a 911 dispatcher, and promised to shoot the alleged burglars, who were not on his property. The dispatcher told Mr. Horn not to go outside and that an unmarked police vehicle was present. “Here it goes buddy, you hear the shotgun clicking and I am going,� says Mr. Horn, according to a transcript of the 911 call. A shotgun is heard being cocked and Mr. Horn is heard outside. “Boom! You’re dead,� he shouts. A loud bang is heard. Since the November shooting, Mr. Horn has not been charged with a crime, or even arrested.

“Where does the line form to pin a medal on Joe Horn? I want to get in line,� wrote one letter to a newspaper cited in a media report. Another letter read, “Let’s get rid of the police force and just hire Joe Horn!� The shooting came shortly after a recently passed Texas law that expanded the right to use deadly force. The law allows the use of deadly force to protect ones property or to stop night time arson, burglary, robbery, theft or criminal mischief. But the author of the bill, a Republican, has said the bill was intended to allow people to protect themselves, their families and property—not a neighbor’s home.

A medal for Joe Horn, who disobeyed a 911 dispatcher’s instruction to remain in his home and was told an unmarked police car was nearby, and a possible five to 15-year jail sentence for John White standing in his driveway trying to protect his home and family. And, another potential eight years for firing an unlicensed weapon.

No justice for a man who expresses sadness at the senseless loss of a young life and who calls someone who threatened to assault him and rape his wife “a child of God.�

No justice for the Black man.

No justice for a man who heard tales of KKK night riders and lynchings from his grandfather. No justice for a man whose people have suffered domestic terrorism from the time their feet set foot on American soil.

No justice for a man whose people have been hung from trees, drowned in lakes and rivers, beaten, abused, bombed, burned, and tortured.

No justice for the children of slaves who have suffered untold cruelty at the hands of their slave masters and their slave masters’ children. No justice for a people who have been failed by the federal government, state government and local government.

How much more of this must Black America stand? How long must a people suffer a long train of abuses and usurpations? At what point in this course of human events will it become necessary for one people, Black people, to dissolve the bonds that connect them to their former slave masters and embrace their full God-given humanity?

The time is now. The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan asked this question on October 16 during his address marking the 12th anniversary of the Million Man March. He asked if it was better to continue to suffer under a people that have never shown love for us or to strike out on our own with a God who loves us dearly.

Every time Black America tries to access the rights that Whites say we have, such as the right to self defense, we find that we have no rights. The constitution and the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness never seem to be accorded to us.

Our so-called citizenship is an empty promise devoid of the respect and security that true citizenship confers on its holder.

We cannot continue to suffer like this; it is time to leave our former masters and create a new reality, a reality that will offer freedom, justice and equality for all who embrace it.

It’s time to separate.

Our Native American brothers of the Lakota Nation recently declared their intention to revoke all treaties with the U.S. government, treaties that have not been respected and promises that have not been kept. They have also had enough of the suffering, death and deprivation under the hands of White America.

Leaving the slave master may be a fearful thing for a 21st century, high-tech slave, still dependent on his master. But for free thinking Black men and women, it is a viable solution to a 400-year-old problem. We deserve to be free, we just need to be strong enough to embrace our freedom.

Am I the only person surprised that we are past the 6 week mark, with no GJ in sight?

DoubleJ wrote:I have a friend (who shall remain nameless) that is visiting Colombia. He had quite the eye-opening perspective on the country as a whole, and how things are down there.
here's a sampling of his observations from research and first hand accounts.

I know where the not-so-great parts of the city are and I will be avoiding them as best I can. I’m going to be carrying a dummy wallet (a wallet in my back pocket with a few $1 bills, monopoly money I printed off the internet, and those fake credit cards you get in the mail) wherever I go. I’m pretty much expecting to be robbed at knife or gunpoint at some point during this trip so my plan is to throw the wallet one way and run the other way.
At least five Americans were kidnapped in 2004, and at least one in 2005.
The concept of due process, shall we say, escapes the justice system there. Respect the police as if they are gods.
They have assassins on motorcycles, I forget the Spanish term, but from COP 40,000 to COP 100,000 you can have anyone shot. This is a reality in Colombia and Venezuela as well. So basically, my life is worth about $20 in Colombia as anyone can be marked for death for the Colombian equivalent of $20 - $50. In Medellin the people take care of themselves. The guy who causes problems is normally found dead. The authorities are told that he was a bad guy, and that is the end of it. Must have been a suicide. No crime.

yeah, so the Colombians crying for justice for a couple of bums that were commiting crimes doesn't exactly sit well with me...

Sadly, this is much of the world. I used to carry dummy wallets all over 5 continents. The only place scarier than columbia is maybe Brazil.

Only took 10 seconds of reading the article before the race card was played.

lawrnk wrote:
''Whatever someone is doing wrong, the only ones who have the right to prosecute them, to put them in prison, are the authorities," said Jairo Riascos, a cousin of Hernando Riascos Torres. ''The only thing we want is for the authorities to bring charges because he didn't kill two animals; he killed two human beings."

Nah, I'm going with animals.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5383422.html

Colombian community here, abroad weighs in on slayings
Horn shootings draw attention of foreign media


By JAMES PINKERTON
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

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''License to Kill," reads the headline in Colombia's largest news magazine.

The recent news story, however, was not about endemic drug-related violence in this South American nation, but a double-homicide that has riled Houston.

The slayings of two Colombians by a Pasadena homeowner last month during a burglary has upset Colombians in Houston, and has consular officials closely monitoring the ongoing criminal investigation.

''Whatever they were doing, I don't think it was right what this guy did," said Jorge Herrera, owner of the Colombia Cargo shipping company and a Houston resident for 27 years. ''To me, it's a racial deal."

Two black men from Colombia — Diego Ortiz, 30, and Hernando Riascos Torres, 38 — were shot Nov. 14 by Pasadena computer consultant Joe Horn, who is 61 and white. The deceased, both illegal immigrants, were shot from behind as they left a house next to Horn's residence that they had broken into.

Colombian officials in Houston ''will be very attentive to the case," said Consul General Maria Cristina Chirolla who expressed confidence authorities here will conduct an ''honest and truthful" investigation.

''I have faith in American justice," said Chirolla, a former federal drug prosecutor who has worked with U.S. officials. ''We are respectful of the investigations that are being made by the authorities, and we believe the results will tell us exactly what happened."

Horn has received an outpouring of support from people hailing him as a hero for his actions. Others, however, have said he should be charged in the deaths of the two men.


Large community
Colombians comprise one of the largest community of South American immigrants in Harris County, with the Census Bureau estimating there were 23,317 residents of Colombian origin here in 2006.

In Colombia, the Houston slayings were featured in the Dec. 8 issue of Semana, the nation's largest weekly news magazine, which carried a story under the headline ''License to Kill." The daily newspaper El Pais in Cali used the headline ''Firearms in the Household Divide Americans" in its story about the controversy generated by the killings.

A number of Colombians residing in Houston contacted last week said Horn had a right to defend himself from attack. But they questioned the use of deadly force against burglars who were fleeing a neighbor's home with police on the way.

''They weren't invading his house," said Herrera. ''It was the neighbor's house, and even though he was protecting the neighbors, he had already called 911. He knew the police were on the way."

Fabio Longas, a Colombian businessman, said he wasn't familiar with all the details of the case. ''But I don't think you should shoot someone in the back," he said.

Chirolla, the top Colombian diplomat here, said she hopes the inquiry will resolve the issue of whether the shooting of her two countrymen was lawful.

''The great question is, 'does a person have a right to kill other people only because he suspects them?'; and moreover, when these people had their backs to him and were unarmed," Chirolla said.

The consul questioned why Horn did not stay in his home, as advised by 911 dispatchers. ''We should always be respectful of the police and have confidence in what they tell us and don't take justice, as in this case, into our own hands," she said.


Vigilantism opposed
It was a sentiment expressed by a number of Colombians, including relatives and friends of the two slain men who want to see Horn prosecuted.

''Whatever someone is doing wrong, the only ones who have the right to prosecute them, to put them in prison, are the authorities," said Jairo Riascos, a cousin of Hernando Riascos Torres. ''The only thing we want is for the authorities to bring charges because he didn't kill two animals; he killed two human beings."

Marling Quiñonez, a 30-year-old Colombian native, said she lived with Diego Ortiz for six months before his death and described him as quiet ''and a very good guy, a sweet man."

She said Ortiz leaves behind an 8-month-old infant in Houston, as well as an 11-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter in Colombia from a previous relationship.

Pasadena police and federal authorities said both men were in the country illegally, and they are trying to determine if they were members of a burglary and fake identity ring. Riascos Torres had been deported to Colombia in 1999, after a cocaine-related conviction.

But local Colombians say whatever crimes the two men committed, they were not deserving of death.

''Nobody has the right to cut short a life," said Lucia Hernandez. ''From what I heard, they weren't harming anyone. What they were doing was bad, but they didn't deserve to have their lives shortened."

Anyone know what the normal length of time before someone goes to the GJ?

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5374078.html

Falkenberg: Property outweighing people in Horn case


By LISA FALKENBERG
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

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In Joe Horn's now-infamous 911 call reporting the burglary of his neighbor's home last month, there's a particularly disturbing refrain that made many of us cringe.

"I'm not going to let them get away with this," the Pasadena homeowner tells the dispatcher several times in various ways in the moments before he shot to death the two burglars, Miguel Antonio DeJesus, 28, and Diego Ortiz, 30.

To many of us, Horn's preoccupation with stopping the crime and recovering the stolen property — "a bag of loot," as Horn described it — seemed irrational and vengeful rather than heroic.

We agreed with the dispatcher, who repeatedly pleaded with the 61-year-old computer consultant to keep himself and his shotgun safe inside his own house while police headed to the scene.

"Ain't no property worth shooting somebody over," the dispatcher told Horn.


Property vs. human life
Human life is worth more than property. It seems like a universal truth. But apparently not in Texas, or other states with similar laws.


Over the past week, I've researched the Texas Penal Code and discovered some provisions that were surprising even to this fifth-generation Texan.

The law of our land seems to place more value on the property being stolen — even if it belongs to a neighbor — than on the life of the burglar stealing it.

A review of our state's protection-of-property statutes suggests that Horn's repeated declarations about not letting the burglars "get away with it" may be the words that ultimately set him free.

If Horn doesn't get indicted, don't blame the grand jury. And don't blame Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal. Blame the section of Chapter 9 of the Penal Code that deals with protection of property.


Justifiable homicide
Under the section, which has been in place at least since 1973, a person is justified in using deadly force to protect a neighbor's property from burglary if the person "reasonably believes" deadly force is immediately necessary to stop the burglars from escaping with the stolen property. It's also justified if the shooter "reasonably believes" that "the land or property cannot be protected or recovered by any other means."


Now, one might argue that, since the dispatcher told Horn that police were on their way, Horn should have reasonably believed authorities would nab the bad guys.

But the escalating anxiety in Horn's voice as he sees the burglars emerge from his neighbor's window with the goods, and his reiteration that "they're getting away" moments before he fires his 12-gauge may indicate to a grand jury that Horn didn't believe police would arrive in time.

Rosenthal wouldn't discuss the particulars of the Horn case, which he is still waiting to receive from Pasadena police. And police haven't revealed all the facts. A police spokesman disclosed last week that, according to a plainclothes detective who witnessed the Nov. 14 shootings, Horn shot the two men in the back after they'd ventured into his front yard.

The fact that they were on his yard may provide Horn with even more protection.

Rosenthal said he won't let the controversy surrounding the case influence his office's handling of it.

And the prosecutor won't make a recommendation to the grand jury, which Rosenthal said is standard for such cases.

"We'll take it to a grand jury; we'll present it straight up, and whatever the grand jury does, we'll follow it. And if they decide they want to indict the guy, we'll handle it and we'll suffer the slings and arrows, but that's part of the territory," Rosenthal said.

Even if they don't indict him, it doesn't mean Horn's actions were morally right. He chose to kill; he didn't have to. His own life and property were not in danger until he confronted the burglars.

There's a difference between what we can do and what we should do. Without careful judgment and discretion, the law can be a dangerous thing.

The same law that may protect Horn from indictment could also protect someone who, in the dark of night, discovers a group of teenage girls wrapping his front yard trees with toilet paper.

To a rational person, this is a harmless prank. Under Texas law, in a world without discretion, the girls are engaging in criminal mischief and the homeowner would be justified in mowing them down with a shotgun.

Photoman wrote:"We will turn it over to the district attorney in a couple of weeks after we do an extensive review for quality control."

Doesn't that just give you the heebie-jeebies?!

Maybe they fear a GJ will be too occupied with Christmas and let him walk? Who knows...

Molon_labe wrote:

I say the badguys were scumbags..they were caught robbing...goodguys get a freeby...if you don't take other peoples stuff you don't get shot

They were a bunch of scum bag illegal thieves

Man, I pray they get you on the Grand Jury!

Well, this is not good news for Joe if it was in the back. That doesn't change my support for him though.

I'm torn on this. I think is Jesse "race card" Jackson wants to come protest, he needs to see we don't play that stuff here.

stevie_d_64 wrote:

frankie_the_yankee wrote:Bill O'Reilly is doing a story on QX's protest at Joe Horn's house, and on the counter protest. It will be on tonight's show. Should be some good video.

Saw that this morning...This is exactly what they want...They want it to go national in a big way...

Unless Mr. Horns neighborhood works fast...Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are going to be the next visitors...

I would prefer no one be able to exploit or defend this anymore in that subdivision...

We've made our statement, and it was done very effectively...Let the rest of them drag it out for all the wrong reasons...

But be prepared...If Mr. Horn is no-billed, you can rest assured its not going to be accepted by the Q10, J.J. and Al crowd unfortunately...And that probability alone is going to weigh heavy on any legal proceeding, and the politics of the issue that are being wrongly exploited will interfere with any resolution to this crisis...

flb_78 wrote:I just can't believe that 32 people (22% of who voted), want Joe Horn to be prosecuted for murder or homicide.

Maybe they are non registered users?

zigzag wrote:The point in all of this as in all human existence is , Leave us alone and live in peace. Happy holidays.

and a Merry Christmas to you!

I heard last week it would go to the GJ tommorow, now it is 10 days before the DA decides I read.