An Artist’s Benefit for Rene Gonzalez

Saturday, December 10, 2011: A fundraiser for artist Rene Gonzalez of the Cuban 5 takes place at Casa de Las Americas (182 East 111 Street, between Lexington & Third Avenues), in East Harlem, starting at 2 p.m., and featuring four of the poets who founded the Nuyorican Poetry Movement – Americo Casiano, Sandra Maria Esteves, Jesus Papoleto Melendez, and Louis Reyes Rivera.

Highlighting the event is a special viewing of Saul Landau’s documentary, Will the Real Terrorist Please Stand Up!, which chronicles half a century of hostile US-Cuba relations with the story of the Cuban 5 (intelligence agents sent to penetrate exiled Cuban terrorist groups based in Miami; the five agents were subsequently arrested, tried and sentenced to life imprisonment, once they revealed the activities of the Miami exiles and U.S. government collusion). The film highlights decades of assassinations and sabotage carried out under the auspices of U.S. intelligence agencies, with actual footage of interviews with leading terrorists, now in the 80s, recounting their activities.

Rene Gonzalez of the Cuban 5 was released on parole and returned to Miami, a city of Cubans hostile to the Castro Government. Gonzalez, who has not seen his wife in 13 years, is literally forced to serve parole time in Miami instead of being permitted to return home to Cuba.

Sponsored by the Popular Education Project to Free the Cuban 5, Saturday’s program is part of several attempts to raise money for Gonzalez’s transition from prison to the outside. Suggested Donation: $5 to $10 per person. No one will be turned away! Take the 6 train to E. 110 Street.

African-American – News December 9, 2011

Al Sharpton Spearheads Multi-City Rally (WDBZ-AM Cincinnati)
As African American unemployment hovers at a dismal 15 percent and voter ID laws threaten to undermine the political power of millions of Blacks and Latinos, Rev.
Minority groups sue to block state redistricting plan (Detroit News)
Minority advocacy groups have filed a lawsuit against Gov. Rick Snyder and the Michigan legislative redistricting plan for Detroit seats he signed into law in August.

MSNBC Gives Platform to Former NAACP Chief to Blast Voter ID Laws As ‘Racist In Intent’ (NewsBusters)
All this week MSNBC is giving Politics Nation host Al Sharpton a platform to attack voter ID laws as a move to “Block the Vote” and keep black voters from the polls.

Black group targets corporations over voting laws (WDBO-AM Orlando)
An online advocacy group wants corporations that market to African Americans to stop giving money to a conservative organization working for stricter voting laws.

North Jersey man accused of trying to lure girls for sex (Asbury Park Press Online)
It is a rare day when Al Sharpton emerges as the voice of sagacity, but when Newt Gingrich has the… HACKENSACK – Authorities have accused a New Jersey man with trying to lure a dozen girls into his car over two months in Bergen County.

Grace Boggs: Reviving the Lost City (Yes! Magazine)
HOW TO BREAK THROUGH: “We must be convinced that the power of ideas is greater than that of the Pentagon and political parties.

* Gov. Andrew Cuomo threatened Republican Assembly members that if they did not vote unanimously for his tax plan, he would campaign in the district of every member who voted no, the Times Union reports: http://bit.ly/vorK59

* Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver tells the Times he is reluctant to make any more budget cuts this year after the new tax plan cut the states budget gap to $2 billion: http://nyti.ms/vhFmCi

* Two state agencies created a gerrymandered map of unemployment around the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn to help Forest City Ratner get a low-interest loan from Chinese investors, the Atlantic Yards Report says: http://bit.ly/tZAuMN

* The New York City Council has returned to its newly renovated chambers in City Hall, the Times reports, but the reporters who cover it are still exiled to a temporary trailer in front of the building: http://nyti.ms/skpYde

* The Erie County Legislature abruptly delayed approving a new $1.4 million annual lease in a building owned by Republican Carl Paladino after Democratic Executive-elect Mark Poloncarz asked to review the deal, the Buffalo News says: http://bit.ly/vvD4EP

* The city of Rye will ban stores from giving plastic bags to customers starting in May, and Mamaroneck and White Plains are considering similar bans, the Journal News reports: http://lohud.us/uwMqnG