Uhurus link weekend death to new stadium proposal

The Uhurus just posted the below announcement on Craig's list. In short, the Uhurus claim that the death of 17-year-old Javon Dawson this weekend is tied to the Rays' plan to build a new waterfront baseball stadium. The group is planning a June 22 "information conference" to announce their opposition to the ballpark plans.

“Not one more black life!”

Uhuru Movement leads protest against St. Petersburg, FL police killing of 17-year-old Javon Dawson

Come out Sunday, June 22 to an informational conference exposing St. Pete’s new waterfront stadium plan and its connection to the police containment and impoverishment of the African community. Sunday, June 22 at 2:00 pm at the Uhuru House, 1245 18th Avenue South, St. Petersburg.

The murder of Javon Dawson is tied to the city of St. Petersburg’s plans for a new baseball stadium on the waterfront, part of efforts to gentrify and disperse the historically African community and turn St. Petersburg into an enclave for wealthy white people.

Javon Dawson was much loved by his family, friends and classmates at Gibbs High School where he was a sophomore. Those close to him describe him as “good,” “friendly and fun,” and “upstanding.”

Dawson was gunned down in the back by St. Petersburg police officer Terrance Nemeth on Saturday night, June 7 at a high school graduation party.

Dawson had no police record, something the media always drags through the papers to try to slander the character of the victims and justify the crimes of the police.

Nevertheless the police and media are working overtime to criminalize the young man. The police insinuate that Dawson had a gun, even as all witnesses have stated that was clearly not the case.

According to the statements of those at the scene, Dawson took two shots in the back while his hands were up. When Javon collapsed a friend who approached him to try to stop the bleeding was pepper sprayed by police. Other friends and relatives were threatened with their own lives if they attempted to aid Dawson in any way. The teen-agers were distraught as they helplessly watched their friend suffering on the ground.

Jennifer Bowen, in whose front yard Javon Dawson died, stated, “I was hysterical. I lost it. I thought, ‘Oh my god, this is somebody’s child!’”

As of the Monday following the murder, Javon Dawson’s body has yet to be released to the grieving family with no explanations.

The murder of Javon Dawson follows other brutal police killings in St. Petersburg, including the murder of 18-year-old TyRon Lewis during a traffic stop in 1996, followed by the sheriff’s murders of 17-year-old Marquell McCullough in 2004 and Jarrell Walker in 2005.

The list of young black men murdered or brutalized by police in this country is long: Sean Bell and Amadou Diallo in New York, the brutal police beatings of African men in Philadelphia seen on TV videos recently, the torture of African men in Chicago jails, to name just a few. It’s nothing new—an every day occurrence, a public policy of police containment that reportedly has left more young black victims since 2003 than U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq.

The day after the murder the weekly Sunday 4 pm meeting at the Uhuru House was packed with community members wanting to struggle for justice for Javon Dawson. Family members spoke out and a demonstration was planned for early Monday morning in front of the police station.

Chairman Omali Yeshitela summed up that the murder of Dawson is tied to the city of St. Petersburg’s plans for a new baseball stadium on the waterfront, part of efforts to gentrify and disperse the historically African community and turn St. Petersburg into an enclave for wealthy white people.

While some in the white community are against the plans for a new stadium for their own reasons, no one but the Uhuru Movement is protesting the price the African community is paying in a city that wants to remove all “undesirables.”

At the police station on Monday in front of about 40 demonstrators and several media representatives, Uhuru Movement leader Yeshitela stated, "You can't keep killing our young people and expect nothing to come of it as a consequence!”

The police murders of African people are part of a policy of police containment that targets and criminalizes African working class communities and turns them into communities under siege similar to Sadr City in Iraq or Cite de Soleil in Haiti where a hostile military presence guns down the population at will.

All over the country white people are complicit with these containment policies enacted by military-type police forces who work to sanitize communities for highly lucrative white gentrification and development. African communities are under assault with 50% unemployment for young people, a constant menacing police presence, over a million African people in prison and schools that provide no meaningful education.

America is built on slavery, lynchings, Jim Crow—terror against African people for the economic benefit of white people. Constant escalation of police presence against a targeted population will not bring peace to any society that lives at the expense of another. Only economic development, social justice, reparations and political power in the hands of the African will bring peace, unity and security to our cities and towns.

Comments

[St. Pete Resident]

Ummmm . . .yea . . . no.

It is my honor to be the first to call "bull$*it" on the Uhurus and their paranoid ramblings.

Whatever gets your picure in the paper "Omali".

[Stadium maybe!!]

Stunning.

[Ray F]

wow...

and POWW is associated with these loons???

I think the kid getting shot by a police officer is terrible, but come on???

This has got to be the biggest line of b.s. I have ever heard.

What's next? Link 7-11 bathroom grafitti clean-up costs to escalating gas prices???

[Thomas]

What if the Rays changed the design of the stadium and made the sail black?

[Will Ferrell]

No Cowbell jokes this time. This is really, really sick, using a kids death and tragedy as a political tool to further your agenda along. Anyone associated with pushing this forward as an argument should really look at themselves in the mirror and shudder at their lack of basic humanity.

[Paul]

Just when we thought we'd seen and heard everything. The only thing that could make this nuttier is Rick K. telling Omali how he's silly, ignorant and has no facts... lol. Now that would complete the picture.

[Ray F]

The Uhurus just "jumped the shark".

[Clear Direction]

Ray F,

I do not believe P.O.W.W. has any connection at all to this group! If you have evidence to the contrary please share it with the group.

Otherwise keep your salatious comments to yourself.

This is a tragity and should not be politicized by side of the stadium debate!

Shame on you Ray F

[Thomas]

Dude,

Seriously - take a remedial reading course. It's a satirical comment.

A child was shot. That is tragic. Associating it to the Rays stadium plan is an overreaction by a grieving community at best; shameless political grandstanding at worst.

[Rick K to Paul, the bigoted]

Paul's post at 1:46 pm is IDIOTIC!

Paul's attempt to lie about posts made by me just so happens to EXACTLY mirror practically all posts by the loons in the ANTI movement. (Which is not to say perfectly sane and reasonable people cannot be opposed to these paired redevelopment proposals.)

For whatever reason, there are those in the ANTI movement who cannot fathom the idea of the citizens in St. Pete deciding these issues after considering the relevant facts. These thugs, liars and cheats, (of which Paul is one, now) INSIST on muddying the waters with all sorts of fake arguments, false claims, unsupported "facts," and other "facts" that are either opinions, or nothing other than complete fantasies.

Often, when posts appear in these blogs attempting to fool people with fake "facts," I willingly jump in and let people know that the fake "facts" aren't facts at all.

Some examples include the claims that the Trop Field redevelopment will require tens of millions in environmental remediation, or that loads of manatees will be murdered by construction on the waterfront, or that the Ray's voluntary $150,000,000 upfront contribution is actually PUBLIC money. (I could go on).

For Paul to attempt to sweep my posts seeking to expose lies and fakery with anything whatsoever even remotely related to these explosive issues of racial conflict in St. Petersburg is highly offensive, and demonstrative of Paul's credibility.

Paul, is there no limit to how low you will stoop? Is there no dirty trick you will refuse to employ in your effort to trick the people of St. Pete?

Why can't you shut up and let honest and open discussion take place?

[get-smart]

See, The city is afraid of these thugs!

The city is being held hostage by the Rays and now the Uhrurus.

So, where is the NAACP and Urban League on this deal? I guess the Rays will have to pay them mo' money before they will come out from under their beds.

If a white man complained about all the blacks moving in and destroying his neighborhood and property value he would be branded a racist!

[Ray F]

clear,

Yeah man take a pill. Jeez.

[Clear Direction]

RayF,

I am waiting to hear how "P.O.W.W. is associated" with this group"

[Clear Direction]

RayF,

I am waiting to hear how "P.O.W.W. is associated" with this group"

[Ray F]

whoa, whoa, whoa...

If I was Aaron, I would take this thread off as quick as possible. This is gonna get out of hand fast.

For the record- How many people FOR or AGAINST agree that race and the death of the young man has nothing to do with the stadium plan???

I

[Paul]

I feel so shamed Rick. (that is sarcasm) However, since this blog is about the Uhuru's and the sad lose of a life, I'll forgo my comment/response to you, for another blog and another time.

[Ray F]

Clear Distinction,

go to google- type in the search box:

uhuru POWW

It says the news was delivered by a member of POWW.

[Stadium maybe!!]

Rick I don't think Paul was being all that serious with his comments.. I think you're overreacting a bit... Furthermore, there are people that argue for their side, and do so in a such a way that is so freaking consistently annoying that those that actually agree with their point are starting to just want to root for the other side just to shut them up. You're one of those people.

[Stadium maybe!!]

Are you kidding Ray? That is completely ridiculous if POWW is involved.

[Ray F]

All I know is I remember reading that when the Uhurus said they were opposed to the plan that it was reported by a member of POWW. Now call it affilliation or whatever, I just used that as the word.

If you type in what i said- that's what the original blog thread read.

[Thomas]

Rick,

There is nothing bigoted in Paul's post. You're just inaccurately slandering... again.

The reason Paul made the comment is that everyone thinks you are a joke. You're not a champion of truth; you're a fraud and a spin doctor; you have no credibility because of the absurd things you post. That's why Paul was able to walk you like the village idiot.

To hammer that point home, you did exactly what Paul humorously predicted you would do. You are the living, breathing, butt of the joke.

Boom, Outta Here!

[Dave in St Pete]

Ray F,

Just did your search "uhuru POWW" and came up with NADA. 8 pages of Troxler blog, that's it.

Post a link if you're going to make an accusation.

[Lead By Example]

The Rays have their roster the second most black athletes of any MLB team and they just used the number one pick in the draft on a high school kid that just happens to be black. Many people in sports think that the Rays made a mistake by picking this kid when there was a white kid that is graduating from college who is rated higher than him.

http://www.tampabay.com/sports/baseball/rays/article458453.ece

The Rays are an example of what other organizations should strive to be.

Go Rays!

[Ray F]

correction:

type: uhurus POWW

with an 's'. And like I said, the original blog thread said that the announcement was made by a member of POWW.

[Rodney King]

can't we all just get along at the new waterfront stadium?

[Aaron Sharockman]

let me try to put all this to rest.

The Times (it was another reporter) learned, whenever it was, that the Uhurus were planning to announce their opposition of the Rays' stadium from a member of POWW. The Times posted that information on this blog. Then that member of POWW called back and said that though the Uhurus were planning a press conference and invited POWW to participate, POWW had not decided whether or not it would attend. I think that's when we decided to alter the blog...

So to sum up.

* Uhurus and POWW both oppose stadium.
* Times learned Uhurus planned to oppose stadium from POWW
* POWW and uhurus don't seem to be aligned in any way than they both oppose the stadium.

[Walt]

One last word: The other reporter originally heard it from someone who is NOT a member of POWW. That person heard it from a Sierra Club list-serve, since they were also invited to the PANEL DISCUSSION (the Sierra Club is not connected to the Uhurus either, except in that they also oppose the stadium), not a "press conference," since no one had mentioned a press conference, until Aaron printed it.

Someone from POWW confirmed the PANEL DISCUSSION and the invitation to the first reporter.

Once the real story was known, Aaron removed any mention of POWW from his entry. Check google, as Ray suggests.

That's it... whole story. Remember the game of telephone??

[Mal]

I thought reporters kept thier sources to themselves? Also my thoughts and prayers go out to Javon's family and friends.

[Jon McPhee]

Aaron, good luck un-ringing the cowbell. You'll have about as much luck as the people who try to counter the slander that Barak Obama is a closet Arab terrorist mole.

This Internet medium is so great and so smart that a search engine will no doubt be able to pull up a fragment of the previous sentence (guess which one?) as added cumulative proof of the truth of the original Big Lie.

Unlike what's going on in the rooms off the corridors of our government buildings, and in restaurants and maybe even the Rays owners' offices, not to mention law firm conference rooms, the stuff that gets blogged up here has little to do with the result of this subsidy play by the Rays owners.

[Jon McPhee]

And I hear that the Rays owners are aligned with the late Bear Stearns, and with the grotesquely leveraged investment bankers at Goldman Sachs.

[Jake]

$100M invested in Midtown and all we get are stories like this. Unbelievable. Glad to see my tax dollars at work! Less money to aid pro sports and more money to aid community improvement projects like Midtown. We don't need to redevelop the Trop to increase tax revenue, we just need to annex Lealman.

[Shame]

If you do improvements such as the sweetbay at 22st with city incentive, the renovation of Manhatten casino, Childs park pool, Wilwood Recreation center, Childspark YMCA sponsored by St. Pete, Jordan park housing, Jamestown housing, and new street scapes over half the southside, they call this gentrification.

They also make Baker into a villian when he has dumped money into midtown like a leaky toilet. Oh and his deputy mayor is Goliath Davis advocate for the black neighborhood and former police chief. They never point to him with their anti-world, anti-police talk, only the white guy Baker They have been given the opportunity to work with the city and have chosen to alienate themselves.

There's no winning this aurgument.

[Stadium maybe!!]

Do you think Fans for Waterfront Stadium will put making an enclave for wealthy white people on their website? It might sway some people? I'm not sayin, I'm just sayin.

[Reggin Brown]

we need to get some reparashuns fo slavery!
praise to Allah

Uhuru Nation Foeva

any you crackas ring a cowbell and i finna go upside yo head wif da kwikness

[TyRon Lewis]

much luv to my bruva Javon ... maybe whitey will do da rite thang and name the necks gym afta you

[M Kimathi]

Uhuru! The same thing happens here in the UK. They use stop and search, police brutality, deaths in police custody, immigration to terrorise the African community. We get absolutely no economic development or social justice!

Go Uhuru go! This time until it's won!
The UK front of the African Revolution has gatz your back!

[Javon Dawson]

Wasssup bruva Kimathi from the homeland???

much luv, props & R-E-S-P-E-C-T to the Uhuru Spearchucka Solidarity

c ya on the flip side

PEACE OUT

[Jon McPhee]

Aaron, any regrets for starting this hare? Or letting it run? And does it seem that the pro-subsidy crowd has a problem with skin color? The city could be a better place, but not by giving hundreds of millions to genteel guys in expensive suits just because they know how to talk sweet and pay for pretty pictures..

[Black Master]

Clear Direction..you assclown! Thier are many groups that are against the stadium....That doesn't mean the groups are joining. And Yes.....rid the blacks out of downtown and crime will decrease...LESS BLACKS WILL BE KILLING LESS BLACKS!!!
Thats right..... blacks kill other Blacks faster than any whiteman!!
Go Blackie!!

[Smack Blaster]

We should build the stadium over Uhurus Clubhouse. Tons of steel and concrete should shut those African Spear-throwering killers up!! POWER TO THE WHITE PEOPLE. STOP GIVING BLACKS MONEY! NO MORE POLICE PROTECTION. PUT ALL BLACKS IN PRISION!! KILL BLACKIE!!!

[since1962]

ST PETE TIMES
THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE
THINGS HAVE NOT CHANGED MUCH
FOR SOME
SINCE 1962!!

[John]

Wow....Aaron, free speech is one thing but this not acceptable behavior. People all over the US read this blog.

Embarrasing.

[since1962]

No matter how one feels about the stadium issue or uhurus, the unregulated, UNDENOUNCED (by both bloggers & TIMES) racially offensive speech on this blog is a shamefull reflecion of the city,inhabitants and media at a time when a death has occured for which some have questions. I would expect as much effort spent on the stadium issue to be spent DENOUNCING OVERT HATE unless this IS who we/YOU are!

[Chuck]

I agree. It is very embarrassing that people from all over the country are finding out about the Uhurus.

[Micah Mills]

Imagine the peace and brotherhood we'd all experience if the dome were on the waterfront.

movethedome.com

[Dr_Dug]

Hey movethedome..Imagine the peace and brotherhood we'd all experience if the Rays would quit trying to steal from the people of St.Pete. NO NEW WATERFRONT STADIUM

[Dr_Dug]

Lead By Example...? Reguarding post at 2:30.
Your an assclown!!
Typical anti-white, anti--American Bigot stance!!
Why would the Rays pick someone who is LESS Qualified? Because he's Black...or Un-qualified..? Another reason to Vote NO!!

[since1962]

Hope you people havn't reproduced and passed on your "wisdom" to unfortunate children who must exist in the real world.
Build the stadium
Don't build it but
keep your racism to yourself.

[harold]

I keep checking to see who wrote the main entry asd is says Aaron posted Did Aaron write this tripe.?
This is the most despicable type of writing . it requires no facts and any who would disagree are easily labeld bigots. This is offensive and racist. Worse, it seems as if Aaorn is just trying to pander to a "Politically Correct" sensationalist mind set. Just ruined all his writing for me
Last time reading this blog. If I want baseless inflammatory writing Ill read the St Pete Times
OUT

[Harold]

UHH Nevermind
I reread it for the 5th time and realised Aaron Just Posted the tripe.
But >>>>>
Why?

[since1962]

Read something OTHER than the sports section once in awhile and perhaps remedial rereading 5 times will not be required to comrehend if not empathise.

[Harold]

Hey Since 1962
You seem to be a bit agressive towards me. I wonder why?
Mommie not hold you as a child?
I admitted my mistake.
I didnt say I wasnt empathetic towards the death of a child But I dont see the connection between the two.
You seem to imply that honest open truthful disagreement is wrong at some moral level.
I'll take your little reading challange slick.I'll match my degree and reading against you and raise it 6 years.
By the way, was your original entry an attempt at Haiku?

[since1962]

Harold
Read June 14 11:23Am post
5 times
If the stadium and the shooting are unrelated then why not JUST SAY THAT without the other overt and thinly veiled racict rants. No wonder conspiracy theories gain traction.
AGAIN I CHALLENGE the bloggers to state that this IS NOT who WE ARE in ST PETE in the 21st century.

[Nikki]

You read it.....you consider the source.....you roll your eyes.....it is now to the point where I can do nothing but laugh at the absurdity of any and all claims made by the Uhurus.. So, thanks for the laugh...again

[Nikki]

You read it.....you consider the source.....you roll your eyes.....it is now to the point where I can do nothing but laugh at the absurdity of any and all claims made by the Uhurus.. So, thanks for the laugh...again