Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality

Today on DefendersLIVE Part 2 of 2-part interview with Lois Leveen, author of "The Secrets of Mary Bowser"- Continuing the conversation about Mary Bowser's work with Elizabeth Van Lew as a Civil War Union spy in the White House of the Confederacy. Why would an educated, free Black woman in Philadelphia risk all to return to the city of her birth, and her enslavement, to do this work? How is a culture of secret-keeping a key to survival while enslaved as well as in espionage... Why symbolic truth is as important for the oppressed as it is for the oppressor... Tune in at 12 noon - live streamed at WRIR.org or on your radio at 97.3 FM (LP). You can hear past shows at DefendersLIVEradio.blogspot.com (2011-2012) and Radio4all.net (2011 and earlier) Comments or questions? Email defenderslivehost@gmail.com

Emergency Court Watch: All Out for Ashley Williams, Tues. June 19 at 3pm Attention Defenders & Friends!! The Coalition for Justice has just learned that Judge Richard Taylor has scheduled the sentencing hearing for Ashley Williams. for tomorrow, June 19, 2012, at 3pm, at the John Marshall Courts Building, 400 N. 9th Street. We do not know the room number, but it will be posted in the lobby. It is critical that everyone who can attend this hearing. We must speak out against this miscarriage of justice! Supporters include the Coalition for Justice, VA NAACP, Defenders, and Alliance for Progressive Values. For background on the case, visit DefendersFJE.org

Today on DefendersLIVE: part 1 of 2 part interview with Lois Leveen, author of "The Secrets of Mary Bowser"- A conversation about this historical novel based on the limited historical record available about her work with Elizabeth Van Lew as a Civil War Union spy in the White House of the Confederacy providing information to the Union Army from the desk of Jefferson Davis... Why would an educated free Black woman in Philadelphia risk all to return to the city of her birth, and her enslavement, to do this work? Tune in at 12 noon - live streamed at WRIR.org or on your radio at 97.3 FM (LP). More on DefendersLIVE at defendersliveradio.blogspot.com

UPDATE ON THE ASHLEY WILLIAMS CASE – The court hearing to decide on Ms. Williams' request to be represented by attorney Pauline Ewald will NOT take place this Monday, June 4. What will happen Monday – by email – will be deciding the DATE for the court hearing. We should know that date by Monday afternoon, and will post and send out the information. An explanation: A June 4 hearing is listed on the Virginia Courts Case Information website ( http://ping.fm/DiYZP), the standard site reporters use to find out the progress of cases. But Ms. Ewald has told us that an actual hearing will not take place on that day. There has been confusion about hearings in the past, so, just to double-check, I stopped by the court clerk's office yesterday, and was told the same thing. Hopefully, everyone who had planned to attend a June 4 hearing will be able to make the new date. If Ms. Williams is granted her request, Ms. Ewald will then ask the court to allow Ms. Williams to withdraw her guilty p...

DefendersLIVE May 28: On Tuesday, May 22, a group of prisoners held in Virginia's notorious Red Onion Super-Max prison began a hunger strike to demand that the Virginia Department of Corrections (DOC) follow its own regulations in regard to meals, sanitation, isolation, safety and procedures for processing prisoner grievances. To support these courageous prisoners, a press conference was held Wed., May 23 at 11 a.m. outside DOC headquarters in Richmond, sponsored by the Richmond chapter of SPARC (Supporting Prisoners and Advocating for Radical Change). (See: http://ping.fm/C1S0U). SPARC members Isis Hodari, Adam Ryan and Joshua DePaolis provided an update and background on this struggle and SPARC's goals for radical change in our nation's prison industrial system. LINKS virginiaprisonstrike.blogspot.com sparcva.wordpress.com EVENTS Solidarity with Red Onion State Prison Hunger Strikers - Letter-Writing Party - http://ping.fm/cdVva Vigil in Solidarity with Hunger Strikers -...

MONEY FOR JOBS, HEALTHCARE and EDUCATION ... NOT FOR WAR (and certainly not multiple wars): Ashley Williams: 9 am, Monday, June 4, in Courtroom 302 of the John Marshall Courts Building, 400 N. 9th St. in downtown Richmond. Young mother unjustly convicted of starving her child to death seeks the right to the legal counsel of her choice - see Va Defender report on Court Watch tab above. May 25 - Court date for 33 women’s rights protesters arrested at Capitol Mayor's Anti-Poverty Commission hearings  TONIGHT : 6-8pm at Calhoun Center in Gilpin Court WED, 6-8pm at Southside Community Center Richmond Public Schools Rezoning Hearings - 6:30 pm on May 29 at George Wythe High School (4314 Crutchfield St., 23225, 804-780-5037) and May 31 at John Marshall High School (4225 Old Brook Rd, 23227) . RPS School Board Meeting scheduled for June 18 at 7pm at City Hall, 900 E. Marshall St.   June 15: Targeted Regulations of Abortion Providers (TRAP) Hearing in Glen Allen Dept. ...

DefendersLIVE today: Part 2 of the Interview with Naseem Rakha, journalist and author of The Crying Tree, a novel about the death penalty and its impact on the victim, the workers, the guilty, and its essential impotence as a crime prevention tool in our society. Noon on 97.3 LP FM and live streamed on www.WRIR.org.