(NCBL): an association of lawyers, scholars, judges, legal workers, law students and legal activists. Our mission is to serve as the legal arm of the movement for Black Liberation, to protect human rights, to achieve self-determination of Africa and African Communities [in the Diaspora] and to work in coalition to assist in ending oppression of all peoples. NCBL is a bar association but its program concerns matters of critical concern to the broader Black community.
NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF BLACK LAWYERS CONDEMNS AFRICOM
The National Conference of Black Lawyers (NCBL) has issued a call to all young people of African descent to boycott the U.S. military to ensure that they will not be ordered to carry out missions on behalf of Africa Command (Africom), or any military unit or program engaged in violating international law, committing crimes against humanity, or committing crimes of any kind that threaten the peace of any continent. Africom is a rapidly developing initiative that is intended to consolidate and expand the U.S. military presence in Africa. NCBL has concluded that Africom’s mission infringes on the sovereignty of African states due to the particularity of Africa’s history and Africa’s current economic and political relationship to the United States. Further, Africom is likely to violate international law standards that protect rights to self-determination and that prohibit unprovoked military aggression."We believe that Africom is nothing more than a device to ensure that the U.S. oil industry will continue to have unfettered access to Africa’s vast supplies of oil," said Mark P. Fancher, an NCBL spokesman. "If anyone in Africa interferes with U.S. oil operations, we suspect that they will be given the terrorist label and then targeted for military attacks."
NCBL has also announced its commitment to finding pro bono legal representation for people of African descent who are already enlisted military personnel, and who choose to defy orders to participate in Africom operations. "We are not asking anyone to disobey orders, but if they choose to do so because of conscience, we will stand with them and do all that we can to assist," Fancher said. "We believe it is unconscionable for people of African descent to be forced to participate in the destabilization and exploitation of their ancestral homeland – particularly when their ancestors were enslaved and kidnapped from that continent."
In a memorandum (attached) NCBL has detailed a history of crimes committed by the U.S. in Africa. These crimes have included, among others: mercenary attacks, the overthrow of democratic governments, and complicity in assassinations. Fancher said these crimes were apparently part of cold war strategies and measures taken to protect the interests of multi-national corporations. He added that Africom threatens to provide a means for more direct and less covert interference with the internal affairs of African states. "This is illegal, immoral and destined to become the focal point of Pan-African opposition," he said.
Read the Memorandom (PDF)
Crack Cocaine Reform
“There has been more activity on the issue of crack cocaine reform in the past two weeks than there has been in the past two decades!” That was the sense of long-standing NCBL member Nkechi Taifa, on the heels of a unanimous decision by the U.S. Sentencing Commission to make its adjustment to the sentencing guidelines for federal crack cocaine cases retroactive, which followed a 7-2 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court which broadened judicial discretion to impose more reasonable sentences in crack cases. “Now,” she states, “the only stumbling block to complete reform of the 100-to-1 quantity disparity between powder and crack cocaine is the mandatory minimum statute. The ball is in Congress’s court, front and square. Congress must now expeditiously step up to the plate and legislatively fix this decades-long crack in the U.S. justice system.”Read the Full Article (PDF)
Michael Tarif & Evelyn Warren
Attorney Michael Tarif Warren and his wife Evelyn were driving along Vanderbilt Avenue around 6:00 pm, when they witnessed NYPD officers "kicking and stomping" a handcuffed young black man. The Warrens pulled over to help. Mr. Warren said "We saw a young kid being chased by a horde of policemen across a McDonald's parking lot. They tackled him and immediately put handcuffs on him. Then Sergeant Talvy, who appeared to be in charge, began kicking him in the head and ribs, and stomping him on the neck." The other police officers followed suit.Read the Full Article (PDF)
International Tribunal on Katrina and Rita
The National Conference of Black Lawyers joins the Peoples Hurricane Relief Fund, the Mississippi Disaster Relief Coalition, the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, and the US Human Rights Network and others in convening an International Tribunal on Katrina and Rita. This tribunal will be held in New Orleans August 29 through September 2, 2007. For more information visit the International Tribunal website at www.internationaltribunal.org.
NCBL Supplemental Katrina Memo (PDF)