Black Women Unjustly Convicted In Campaign to Clear Out Manhattan’s West Village for Gentrification

December 10th, 2007

I came across this store a little back, and am glad to finally get a chance to speak on it.

Lesbians sentenced for self-defense
All-white jury convicts Black women

By Imani Henry
New York
Published Jun 21, 2007 2:58 AM
On June 14, four African-American

women—Venice Brown (19), Terrain Dandridge (20), Patreese Johnson (20) and Renata Hill (24)—received sentences ranging from three-and-a-half to 11 years in prison. None of them had previous criminal records. Two of them are parents of small children.

Christopher Square in the West Village

Their crime? Defending themselves from a physical attack by a man who held them down and choked them, ripped hair from their scalps, spat on them, and threatened to sexually assault them—all because they are lesbians [editors note: I think saying it’s just because they’re lesbians is a simplification].
The mere fact that any victim of a bigoted attack would be arrested, jailed and then convicted for self-defense is an outrage.

The New York Times offers more facts of the incident along with coverage of the verdict.

“But one of the women, Patreese Johnson, 19, was acquitted of attempted murder, the most serious charge in the case…Along with gang assault, the jury found Ms. Johnson, who is 4-foot-11 and weighs less than 100 pounds, guilty of first-degree assault, which carries the same penalty of 5 to 25 years in prison as the attempted murder charge.

The young women sobbed and wailed ”No-oo!” ”Mommy!” and ”I didn’t do it!” as Justice Edward J. McLaughlin of State Supreme Court in Manhattan ordered them jailed until their sentencing next month…”

This Edge New York article does a better job of getting to the heart of the matter; most especially explaining why the authorities took such an aggressive posture. They were part of the wrong demographics of people, and for the benefit of the wealthy whites recertifying urban America, they want to send a message to certain groups of folks, that you’re no longer wanted in these areas. I’ve reported on the same phenomena locally here in Nashville in my local paper.

Some question the media’s reporting of the events and the subsequent case: The New York Post’s headline screamed “Attack of the Killer Lesbians.” Four of the young women were subsequently convicted and face up to 15 years in prison.

Stephen Goldstein of Garden State Equality, the largest gay-rights organization in New Jersey, where the women lived, believes that the coverage is no oincidence. “There’s a bigger picture here,” he aid. “This is a test of the LGBT community to stand by the African-American community. In all my years as an activist in New Jersey, I have never been so heartbroken as when the hate crimes against Sakia Gunn and Shani Baraka never received the same media attention that Matthew Shepard’s murder received. It’s a double standard based on race and we have a moral obligation to ask about the facts that drove these women to do what they did.”…

She [Sakia Gunn] and her friend revoked the advances of two men. When they attacked, she fought back and was stabbed. She, like the group of lesbians in the Buckle case, came to New York City to hang out at the Hudson River pier at the western edge of Christopher Street.

“A lot of youth do come from Newark, because there isn’t much for them in Jersey,” says Bran Fenner, Co-Director of Fabulous Independent Educated Radicals for Community Empowerment, known as FIERCE. “The population of TLGB youth of color is really large but there aren’t many outlets that cater to their specific needs.”

That need for a friendly atmosphere has made the pier a haven for gay youth for decades. However, renovations to the pier, making it part of the Hudson River Park that will eventually extend from the Battery at the southern tip of Manhattan all the way to the top of the island in Inwood, have changed the atmosphere. Some say it’s better, but for the minority LGBT youth, it’s probably for the worse.

With the spiffed-up, cleaner, fixed-up pier comes a set of park rules and a curfew. That curfew continues to be a topic of hot debate, a singular point in an ongoing battle between the residents and the kids that hang out there.

Unfortunately these woman have already been convicted; but upon vetting the facts we need to take up this with the same fury we address Jena 6, and have brought about favorable results. But what we really need to address is the fact that this shit is typical.



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One Response to “Black Women Unjustly Convicted In Campaign to Clear Out Manhattan’s West Village for Gentrification”

  1. D. Yobachi Boswell on December 10th, 2007 2:42 pm | link

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  • D. Yobachi Boswell

  • Yobachi Boswell is creator and publisher of BlackPerspecitve.net. I’m a writer, activist and political watcher based in Nashville, Tennessee. I’ve also been know to do some spoken word and MCing in my day.

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