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The Work of Friends of Justice: An Introduction
Written by Alan Bean
Friends of Justice, the organization I lead, has been in existence for twenty-two years. In that time, I have never attempted to compress the full scope of our work into one presentation. But I'm going to try it today. Or, I will come as close to telling the complete story as is humanly possible. I will be oversimplifying complex matters and leaving out a lot of important information. I will confine myself to just four cases we have impacted. This isn't just about what happened in Tulia, Texas, Jena, Louisiana, or Winona Mississippi; the legal train wrecks I will be describing are symptomatic of a systemic problem.
Walter Brueggemann
At root, the problem is theological. According to Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann, "The prophetic tasks of the church are to tell the truth in a society that lives in illusion, grieve in a society that practices denial, and express hope in a society that lives in despair."
Brueggemann isn't saying that there are bad people out there who live in illusion, who practice denial, and who, consequently, live in despair. He is saying we're all like that. Criminals are like that, sheriffs and district attorneys are like that, judges and jurors are like that, and religious people who show up for church every Sunday are like that.
We tend to think of court rooms and church sanctuaries as places where good people confront bad people. The criminal justice system assumes that police officers, prosecutors, judges and jurors can be trusted to act in good faith, to exercise sound judgement, and to dispense clear-eyed justice. But if Brueggemann is right, we should expect our courtrooms (and our churches) to be staggering under the weight of illusion, denial and despair. And, if that's true, justice will elude us as often as not.
Early in my work with Friends of Justice, I concluded that white racial resentment is the most powerful force in American politics, American religion, and the American criminal justice system. I'm not saying that white racial resentment is the only factor in play; it is simply the most powerful.
John Grisham started out as a Mississippi lawyer, but quickly realized he could make a lot more money churning out legal thrillers.
"I grew up in the Jim Crow South," Grisham recently told the New York Times. "A very segregated, racist society was almost in my DNA . . . The Baptist Church was that way too back then. I've come a long way. I have a lot of friends and even kinfolk who never tried to move beyond the racism. But I try every day. It's been an ongoing, gradual transformation."
Grisham went on to say that, until he understood the culture of his raising, he couldn't understand what was happening in the courtroom. The same could be said about our churches.
Friends of Justice came into being quite by accident. In 1999, law enforcement announced that forty-seven men and women had been arrested in the Texas Panhandle town of Tulia.
The local newspaper called the defendants "a cancer on the community". The headline read, "Tulia's streets cleared of garbage".
I had moved to Tulia a year earlier with my wife, Nancy. Our daughter, Lydia was entering college; our son Adam was in High school while Amos was in Junior High. Tulia was Nancy's home town.
We were soon followed by Nancy's parents, Charles and Patricia Kiker. They too had grown up in the countryside around Tulia and had decided to retire there. Nancy and I came along for the ride.
Our initial concern with the drug sting was theological. We assumed that everyone was guilty as charged, but, as the saying goes, "God don't make no garbage!" Referring to the defendants as human trash and "scumbags" was offensive to us.
It was also clear that the newspaper editor didn't know any more about the men and women arrested in the drug bust than we did. But he thought he knew them. And if he thought that, so did everybody else in town.
Charles and Patricia Kiker
So, we did a little poking around. The names and addresses of the defendants were all listed in the newspaper, so we decided to talk to their families. And that's when we encountered a counter-narrative. Many of the people arrested said they had never met the undercover officer in question. Others, suspicious that the skinny stranger was "the law", had run him off when he kept asking for drugs.
It was quickly apparent that the defendants were either Black or were immersed in the local Black community.
Then we talked to a sympathetic defense attorney. He told us the undercover officer had been arrested in the middle of the eighteen-month operation by the very sheriff who had hired him. It seemed he had left his last job in law enforcement owing local merchants over $10,000. When the undercover man told the sheriff in Swisher County that he had "taken care of it" he was sent back to the streets, no questions asked.
John Cornyn with Tom Coleman
Finally, we learned that nothing connected the defendants to the little baggies of drugs displayed at trial but the uncorroborated word of the undercover cop.
The cases quickly went to trial. Juries handed down the maximum sentences allowed by law: twenty-five years, forty-five years, sixty years, ninety years. One man was given six consecutive ninety-nine-year sentences. After that, people started lining up for plea bargains.
No one was surprised when Senator John Cornyn named Tom Coleman "Texas Lawman of the Year."
Friends of Justice began as the Beans, the Kikers, a four-hundred-pound farmer, and several dozen family members of the accused, people like Freddie Brookins, who lost a son and Thelma Johnson, who was related to half the accused in one way or another. We met at the Beans home every Sunday night, singing spirituals, reading letters from prison and plotting our response.
Friends of Justice gathered at the Bean home on Sunday nights
The big question was why anyone with a lick of sense would believe the dim-witted undercover agent. Even when juries learned of his legal problems, they hung on his every word.
When people see the world through a racist lens, they will approach every criminal case with certain pre-conceptions which, taken together, constitute a false narrative. If the accused is guilty as charged, a false narrative can double a sentence. If the accused is innocent, the false narrative issues in a wrongful conviction.
Hog Farmer, Joe Moore, was sentenced to 90 years in prison.
In Tulia, the false narrative went something like this. There was a time when people worked hard for a living, but nowadays everybody's just looking for a handout, especially young Black males. They're too lazy to work, so they mess around with white girls and they sell drugs for easy money. And nobody does anything about it.
Friends of Justice counters false narratives with counter-narratives that tell the truth, grieve with those who grieve, and point the way to hope.
I am NOT a lawyer. By training and experience, I am a pastor, a hospice chaplain and a church historian. The work Friends of Justice does is no substitute for skilled legal representation. But a good counter-narrative takes hundreds of hours of investigation, research and reflection, and few lawyers have time for that. Even if they did, courtroom protocol places strict limits on the kind of story you can tell.
A good counter-narrative requires researching the racial history of the community (facts that are considered legally irrelevant). Tulia was a largely monochrome community until irrigated agriculture revolutionized the economy at mid-century. A sudden need for field labor brought share croppers from East Texas. They lived in abandoned shacks and railway cars and subsisted in third-world conditions across the tracks in a ramshackle community white folks called the Sunset Addition (when they were feeling polite).
When agriculture was automated and the irrigation water began to recede, the need for farm labor plummeted. Young people tried to find greener pastures, but many remained. Tulia was all they knew. Many were celebrated for their exploits on the football field and the basketball court, but after graduation, they were instantly regarded as potential criminals. Those who couldn't make it in the city, returned, bouncing from one part-time seasonal job to the next.
Then came the war on drugs. Tulia received a grant from the narcotics task force in Amarillo and hired the only man who interviewed for the $17,000 yearly salary.
We mailed our counter-narrative to the Texas Observer and waited. A reporter, fresh out of journalism school, wrote a feature-length article. Two sisters from Manhattan worked our narrative into a brief documentary. Vanita Gupta, now the associate Attorney General, had just graduated from law school when she viewed the documentary. Vanita came to Tulia and returned to New York with a suitcase-full of evidence which she shared with the Legal Defense Fund of the NAACP. Then Bob Herbert, a columnist with the New York Times wrote sixteen separate columns on the story.
Before it was over, two of the most prestigious law firms in America were working for the Tulia defendants on pro bono basis.
While all this was going on, Nancy and I welcomed three school-age children, orphaned by the drug sting, into our home. Friends of Justice made repeated trips to Austin to lobby for criminal justice reform, once with a Greyhound bus full of Tulia children. We sang all the way to the capitol.
On the second anniversary of the drug sting, we held a Never Again rally in Tulia. At midnight, 300 people from all over America prayed on the courthouse steps in Tulia.
On the Second Anniversary of the drug sting, we held a Never Again Rally in Tulia.
At the conclusion of a week-long evidentiary hearing at the Swisher County Courthouse, visiting Judge Ron Chapman found that undercover agent Tom Coleman was "not credible under oath."
In an event covered by a wide range of media outlets, the Tulia defendants were released and paid $5 million in compensation. Tom Coleman was indicted for perjury.
A few weeks later, I accompanied three of the defendants to a reception with the Congressional Black Caucus. The highlight was watching these young men dancing with Maxine Waters.
By the time the national media latched onto the story, nobody knew about Friends of Justice. And yet, had we not created a credible counter-narrative, nothing would have happened. Tom Coleman would still be 1999's Texas Lawman of the Year. This is a predictable pattern. The counter-narratives we create are best understood as a foundation for other builders. In most cases, overturning a wrongful conviction requires national media attention, dedicated pro bono legal work, and some good luck. And when the media people and the attorneys have played their part in the process, they are credited with victory. When the house is built, nobody comments on the foundation. Learning to work without recognition is a prerequisite for the work we do. The first time our efforts were overlooked, it really stung. Now, we see it as an unavoidable part of the process.
After six years of struggle in Tulia, I was ready to get back to my normal life, when I received a call from Ann Colomb. Ann and three of her sons had been charged with running a multi-million-dollar drug operation out of their modest FHA bungalow in Church Point, a community just north of Lafayette, Louisiana.
Since Nancy and I were attending a conference in New Orleans, we arranged to meet there. While Nancy played with two-year-old Mariah, I visited with Ann and her daughter, Jennifer.
The story they told had a familiar ring. Ann's sons, Edward and Danny, appeared to be the primary targets. Danny had set school records as a running back a few years earlier, while Edward had excelled at basketball. Both boys were at the center of a large social circle of white and Black students, and in a highly segregated town, this made them dangerous.
In subsequent visits to Church Point, I visited with some of the girls Anne's sons had dated back in the day. They told me how their parents threatened to disown them. One girl was placed in a Catholic school in a neighboring town so she couldn't date Black boys.
The police harassment had been unremitting. On several occasions, Edward and Danny had been arrested and charged with drug-related crimes. Defense attorneys told the boys to accept plea bargains, but Anne wouldn't have it. Eventually, charges would be dropped for lack of evidence; local officials had been bluffing.
All the evidence in the case came from thirty-one federal prison inmates scattered throughout Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. They had once been part of a massive Houston drug ring that controlled the crack cocaine traffic in the Lafayette area, and were serving multi-decade sentences without parole. But they could cut their sentences by providing information the government could use to bust other dealers.
Anne's sons came to the attention of the feds when Brett Grayson, an assistant US Attorney in Lafayette, hired a retired police officer who once worked in Church Point. Grayson was on the lookout for easy targets (narcotics conspiracy cases are easy to prosecute once you get the hang of it). His assistant told him about Anne Colomb and her sons. The two men travelled to a string of federal prisons asking inmates if they had anything on Anne's boys.
Because this was a federal case, the government had to furnish defense counsel with all the letters that changed hands between inmates. Two things were clear as I read this correspondence: first, none of these men possessed real knowledge of Anne's boys. Second, they intended to remedy that problem.
In these letters, inmates asked one another for information that would enable them to cobble together a believable story. They were sharing dates and times so their accounts would harmonize.
The judge in the case, Tucker Melancon, didn't want this kind of testimony in his courtroom; but he was overruled by a panel of fifth circuit judges. The government promised to drop the charges against Anne if her sons would take a plea bargain. True to character, she refused the deal.
I told Anne that a case this insanely weak would never go before a jury. But one morning, Anne called, her voice shaking with emotion. "We're going to trial in two days," she said. I jumped in the car and headed for Louisiana.
The trial unfolded over ten days. If the witnesses were all telling the truth, the Colomb family would have raked in at least five million dollars from their nefarious activities. Yet, to cite just one example, Danny was driving a car during this period that was so old his friends had to push him before it would start. Danny was working construction during the day and going to trade school at night: hardly the M.O. of a drug kingpin.
I had been blogging about the case for months, but had been unable to stir up much media interest. So, when court adjourned for the day, I would drive to the downtown library and tap out a report on one of their computers. After a couple of days, the online edition of the Lafayette newspaper started linking to my posts and a lively online debate ensued. Most readers were certain that everyone was guilty as charged because, if they weren't, they wouldn't be on trial.
Danny and Edward were both married, and their wives and children sat stoically in the courtroom fearing the worst. Danny, a devout Catholic, began each day in prayer at the church down the street from the courthouse. They were staying brave for one another, but the sense of desperation was growing.
Midway through the parade of inmate witnesses, the prosecutor received a letter from Quinn Alex, a Texas inmate. Alex was angry. Working through his girlfriend in the free world, he had paid another inmate $2200 for information about the Colombs. But his cellmate had been transferred without providing any information, so Quinn Alex hadn't been able to testify. He wanted his money back.
In accordance with legal protocol, Quinn Alex's letter was shared with defense counsel. They moved for a mistrial. The judge, certain that the Fifth Circuit would overrule him, demanded that Quinn Alex be brought to Lafayette, but he allowed the trial to continue.
The night before the verdict, just as I was ready to nod off, I was gripped by the painful realization that Anne and her sons were doomed. I felt it in my bones. Slipping out of Anne's guest bed, I knelt on the carpeted floor and prayed. The next morning, Anne got herself dressed for court, and we drove to the federal courthouse in Lafayette. There was little conversation.
All four defendants were found guilty and sentenced to between ten and twenty years without parole. The prosecutor announced that, because the Colomb home had been the center of a massive drug ring, he intended to seize it. A collective gasp, followed by a groan, filled the courtroom. Wives, husbands and children were glued to one another in grief.
I spent the rest of that night shuttling from home to home. The grief was palpable. We were praying for a miracle.
Quinn Alex, the federal inmate who had been cheated out of $2200, remained in custody in Lafayette. When he expressed curiosity about the trial, someone printed off my blog posts. Then Danny invited him to an impromptu Bible study.
"I don't think you're no drug dealer," Alex told Danny, "And I can't believe your mama is either."
Returning to his cell, Quinn Alex wrote a letter to Danny's defense attorney describing secret gatherings in which inmates shared information. He admitted that neither he, nor any of the government's witnesses, had any first-hand knowledge of Anne and her boys.
A hearing into the matter took place August 31, 2006. The government and defense counsel both had their say. The judge asked the prosecutor if he thought his witnesses were credible. The prosecutor said he didn't worry too much about witness credibility; that was for the jury to assess. Judge Melancon ordered Anne, Danny, Edward and Sammie released immediately.
Natasha Colomb embraced her Edward and Elizabeth Davis rushed to her Danny. Elizabeth, who was carrying Danny's child, hadn't been able to stay in the house Danny had built for her while he was locked up. Now she took the ring she had been wearing close to her heart and placed it back on Danny's finger where it belonged.
"Hey y'all," Danny called out, "we need to thank God for this miracle." Thirty men, women, and children joined hands in a big circle. Danny led us in a short, workingman's prayer followed by the familiar words, "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name . . ."
A few days later, Judge Melancon released his written ruling. "Occurrences in this case," he said, "suggest that a systemic problem may exist within the penal facilities operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. In the view of the trial judge, the issues raised herein are so substantial and grave that those who have the power and the authority to do so need to address them."
The case never attracted much media interest. Radley Balko, then with Reason magazine, now with the Washington Post, wrote a feature story. More significantly, the case attracted considerable attention in the legal world. In 2018, Alexandra Natapoff, a nationally recognized authority on inmate testimony, used the Colomb case as a chilling illustration of how things can go wrong. "The Colomb case," she wrote, "is just one example of how the use of criminal informants, and jailhouse informants in particular, distorts large swaths of our criminal justice process.
On the same day Anne Colomb and her boys were vindicated, a routine school assembly unfolded at the high school in Jena, Louisiana. In accordance with local custom, Black students sat on one side of the school auditorium; white students on the other. When the principal asked if the students had any questions, a freshman asked if it was okay for Black students like him to sit under the tree on the white side of the quad during lunch hour. Since there was no formal rule designating the tree in question as a "white tree", the principal said, "of course".
The following day, September 1, 2006, three nooses were found hanging from the tree in the quad. Two of the nooses were black and one was gold: the Jena High School colors.
On Tuesday night, September 5, 2006, a group of black parents convened at the L&A Missionary Baptist Church in Jena to discuss their response to what they considered a hate crime and an act of intimidation.
When Black students staged an impromptu protest under the tree on Wednesday, September 6, 2006, a school assembly was hastily convened. Flanked by police officers, District Attorney Reed Walters warned Black students that additional unrest would be treated as a criminal matter. According to multiple witnesses, the District Attorney warned the student protestors that, "I can make your lives disappear with a stroke of my pen."
On Thursday, September 7th, police officers patrolled the halls of Jena High School and on Friday, September 8th, the school was placed on full lockdown. Confrontations between Black and white students went off-campus as sporadic fights broke out between Black football players and members of the all-white rodeo team.
The tension in the community ratcheted up in late November when, late one Thursday night, someone set fire to the academic wing of the school. In the white community, it was widely believed (wrongly, it turned out) that Black students were the culprits.
During the weekend, a white student threatened several Black football players with a sawed-off shotgun. On another occasion, a Black student attempting to enter a community dance was assaulted by white students wielding beer bottles. He was punched and kicked before adults broke up the fight.
When classes resumed the following Monday, the atmosphere was toxic. Shortly after the lunch hour, Justin Barker, a white student from the same social circle that hung the nooses at the beginning of the school year, was knocked to the ground and, witnesses said, kicked and stomped by several Black students.
Within an hour, six Black males had been arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit second-degree murder—charges carrying a maximum sentence of life in prison.
It was at this point that Friends of Justice was asked to investigate. I told the attorney who called me that I wouldn't be intruding into the situation unless the parents of the accused students asked me directly. Within five minutes, they were on the phone, begging me to come to Jena.
Upon arrival, I made a tour of the white community, asking the editor of the Jena Times, the pastor of First Baptist Church, and anyone else I could find to give me their understanding of the situation. They were convinced that the defendants were all guilty as charged.
I dropped by the courthouse and asked for court records on the case which, to my delight, included all the hand-written eye witness accounts taken from the students and teachers who witnessed the scene. I paid an exorbitant price for photocopies and went to my motel room. Some of the witnesses named one or more of the accused, but several other Black students were named, and many witnesses said it happened so quickly they had no idea who was responsible.
Justin Barker, though badly bruised, was examined and released from the hospital the same day.
In the Black community, the defendants were already being called "the Jena 6". They all denied involvement.
Having read the eye witness statements, I had no opinion as to guilt or innocence. What concerned me was that the assault on Justin Barker was being considered in pristine isolation from the toxic environment in which it occurred. It was as if the Black students just decided to pick on a randomly-selected white student for the fun of it.
The more I learned from Black parents and students, the more convinced I became that the failure of white school officials to take the concerns of the Black community seriously had precipitated a dangerous social situation. If guilt could be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, I felt, the defendants should be punished; but they certainly didn't deserve charges which, if sustained, would place them in prison for a quarter century without parole.
I composed a counter-narrative titled "Responding to the Crisis in Jena, Louisiana" and sent it to journalists who had written seriously about racial justice. Next, I called up the Southern Poverty Law Center and asked if they would foot the bill for a first-rate civil rights attorney. As word spread through the advocacy community, other attorneys asked to get involved. Before long, each defendant had first-rate legal representation and a coordinated legal strategy was in the works. Working with the local Black community, I organized bi-weekly protest meetings at a local Black Baptist church and travelled to Baton Rouge to meet with the Louisiana NAACP, then organized a local chapter in Jena.
Then Howard Witt, a reporter from the Chicago Tribune, called me up. He had read my account, he said, and would like to do a story. Witt flew to the central Louisiana town of 3,000, conducted a round of interviews, and wrote a story which closely followed my initial account. He would file a dozen additional stories before he was done. With a compelling counter-narrative on the table, DA Reed Walters was forced to scale back the charges against the Jena 6 again and again.
Then my narrative hit the Black blogosphere. The story seemed to capture the imagination of Black churches and college students across the nation. People could relate to the plight of the Jena 6 because something similar had happened to a brother, a boyfriend, a cousin, or a close associate.
On September 20, 2007, fifty thousand people riding in buses descended on tiny little Jena. So many people flocked to the town that highways were jammed for miles around. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton were there, as were a list of Black rappers and media celebrities I had never heard of. Most protesters wore black T-shirts emblazoned with graphic portrayals of the school yard tree. The event, though chaotic at times, was completely non-violent.
Overwhelmed by the publicity, the DA stipulated that if the defendants would apologize to Justin Barker and pay his modest medical bills, he would drop the charges. Defense attorneys told their clients to take the deal. Instead of wasting away in prison, the students known as the Jena 6 went on to college and are now working as college football coaches, teachers, off shore oil workers and trainers. One young man, Theo Shaw, is now practicing law in Washington DC.
The Jena 6 story became an issue in the 2008 Democratic primary as both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama released statements of concern. "When a noose hangs from a schoolyard tree in the 21st century," Obama said, "and young men are treated in a way that is not equal nor just, it is not just an offense to the people of Jena or to the African-American community, it is an offense to the ideals we hold as Americans. I renew my call for the District Attorney to drop the excessive charges filed in this case, and I will continue my decades-long fight against injustice and division as President."
After giving a presentation on the Jena 6 at a legal conference in New Orleans, an attorney asked me if I would mind looking into the case of a young man from Winona, Mississippi. Curtis Flowers stood accused of murdering four innocent people at a furniture store back in 1996. He had been to trial five times on the same charges. Winona, the attorney informed me, was the town where civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer was beaten half to death back in 1963.
All-white juries quickly convicted Curtis, but the Mississippi Supreme Court vacated two convictions because Evans broke the rules to keep people of color off the jury.
Then a jury was selected comprised of five Blacks and seven whites. All five Black jurors voted to acquit; all seven white jurors voted to convict.
In the fifth trial in 2008, James Bibbs, a Black school principal, was the only hold-out against conviction. The DA was so incensed, he hauled Bibbs in front of the judge and accused him of perjury. The charges were eventually thrown out, but Winona's Black community got the message.
Curtis Flowers had worked at Tardy Furniture for three days, but was replaced when he didn't return for work after the July 4th weekend. According to the state's theory of the crime, Flowers was so incensed by this news that he stole a handgun from the glove compartment of a car, walked half a mile to the scene of the crime, murdered four people in cold blood, then returned home by a different route.
The state's case against Flowers consisted of a dozen witnesses who claimed to have seen him on the morning of the murder walking to or from the crime scene. In addition, an inmate at Parchman prison testified that Curtis had admitted to the crime while the two men were locked up together. He recanted this testimony, apologizing to the Flowers family, then returned to his original story.
Only later did we learn that investigators had gone door-to-door along the suspected route, holding a picture of Curtis Flowers in one hand, and a leaflet promising $30,000 dollars for information leading to a conviction in the other.
After spending several weeks reading five lengthy trial transcripts, interviewing family members, local media, neighbors, and defense counsel, I was convinced that Curtis was innocent. Whoever committed this dreadful crime, I concluded, was a broken soul who killed because he liked it.
A good-natured gospel singer from a devout family, Curtis Flowers didn't fit the cold-killer profile, but only the Black community knew that. White residents easily concluded that Flowers was just another one of those Black thugs they had seen on television.
When Curtis went to trial for the sixth time in June of 2010, seating was divided along racial lines and the atmosphere was tense.
I had traveled to Winona with my daughter, Lydia (then a sociology professor at Baylor) and we were joined by Lili Ibarra, a young attorney from Boston who had helped us with the Tulia case. We stayed at the Holiday Inn until Lola Flowers insisted we stay with her.
I had been able to interest CNN in the case, so Lola and Archie Flowers and the victims' families were allowed to give statements to a national audience. The sight of a CNN truck parked outside the courthouse, I was told, had unnerved the judge and prosecutor. Still, when a jury of eleven whites was seated, I knew the outcome. I had seen this movie before.
Every night, I wrote a blog post describing the drama inside the courtroom. A young Black attorney working with the defense was stopped by police as she drove to the courthouse. Apparently, a professionally-dressed Black woman made the officer nervous. When she complained to the judge, he accused her of inventing the incident for the media.
I could tell from the nasty comments that some of the victims' families were reading my stuff. One man, accompanied by two of his sons, started questioning my motives to my face. He referred to Lydia and Lilly as my harem. He had the luxury of venting; I did not.
Lola and Archie Flowers had been visiting Curtis every two weeks (as often as Parchman prison allowed), and, when Curtis was convicted and led from the courtroom, they continued this practice. Moments after the trial ended, the local sheriff approached me. "If I was you," he drawled, "I'd get out of town as quickly as possible." Lydia and I complied.
An increasingly conservative Mississippi Supreme Court upheld the conviction and the case entered the federal appeals arena. Now Curtis was being represented by some of the best legal minds in the business. They researched the case by reading trial transcripts supplemented by my counter-narrative.
I kept writing about the case, eventually producing over thirty lengthy blog posts about the social and historical context of the case. I saw what happened to Curtis as an extension of the civil rights struggle in the Mississippi Delta.
Then, in late 2016, I received a call from Madelleine Baron. She and her team had produced a highly-regarded podcast called In the Dark. They had read everything I had written on the case and were planning to devote an entire season to the Flowers saga. They spent two full days with me in Arlington, plying me with questions.
A team of four investigators camped out in Winona for the better part of a year. They interviewed and re-interviewed all the witnesses, family members of the victims, and dozens of people on both sides of racial divide. They followed my narrative, arriving at conclusions that were obvious to anyone who had examined the story closely.
Eventually, one of the state's eye witnesses recanted, then another. They told the police they weren't sure if they saw Curtis on the morning of the crime, but after repeated interviews, they had caved to pressure. Once their names were signed to a witness statement, they were threatened with perjury if they changed the story.
In the end, even the jailhouse snitch admitted that he concocted a false narrative in exchange for lenient treatment.
By the time In the Dark was through, virtually every eye witness had recanted their testimony. Twenty episodes had been downloaded by an astounding 40 million listeners and In the Dark was the recipient of the prestigious Peabody award.
The Supreme Court reversed Flowers' conviction on the basis of racial bias. "The State's relentless, determined effort to rid the jury of black individuals," the majority opinion read, "strongly suggests that the State wanted to try Flowers before a jury with as few black jurors as possible, and ideally before an all-white jury."
Eventually, a beleaguered Doug Evans kicked the case over to the Mississippi Attorney General, all charges were dropped and, twenty-one years after his initial arrest, Curtis Flowers was a free man.
Only then did the national media take an interest. Suddenly, every venue from Sixty Minutes to the New York Times wanted a piece of the action.
Tragically, Lola Flowers died just days after the Supreme Court ruling. I talked to her by phone on the last night of her life. She was in pain, she told me, "But I know Curtis is coming home, and that's all that matters." The state of Mississippi wouldn't allow Mr. Flowers to attend his mothers' funeral. But he's back in the free world, adjusting to cell phones, and spending as much time fishing as he can spare. "It relaxes me," he told me in mid-June. "It keeps my mind off my troubles."
In 2021, Curtis Flowers sued prosecutor Doug Evans. In November of 2022, Evans ran for County Judge but was soundly defeated.
There is a tendency to blame what happened in Tulia, Church Point, Jena and Winona on villainous prosecutors, but it takes a village to convict an innocent man. It is tempting to believe these communities are isolated pools of vestigial racism, backwater throwbacks to an era that is mercifully dead and gone. But these cases, and recent Supreme Court decisions, speak to the social sickness of this present moment.
Yes, our churches should pay more attention to the criminal justice system. No question. But we will never do that until we acknowledge our own brokenness. "The Church must come out of its stagnation," Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote from a gestapo prison cell. "We must move out again into the open air of intellectual discussion with the world, and risk saying controversial things, if we are to get down to the serious problems of life."
We are not the solution; the gospel of Jesus Christ is the solution. And so, I leave you with Brother Brueggemann's prophetic tasks of the church: "to tell the truth in a society that lives in illusion, grieve in a society that practices denial, and express hope in a society that lives in despair."
December 12, 2022 December 12, 2022 · Posted in Uncategorized ·
3 thoughts on "The Work of Friends of Justice: An Introduction"
wkdawson says:
Wow, working quietly on so many cases. Thank you for your service. It really makes me feel proud to be a fellow Baptist, for once.
Rita Wells Clarke says:
Mr. Bean, Alan – I am enormously grateful to you for keeping me on your list…..whatever "list" that may be. However, before I read this (I just now scanned it), I'm going to need some good rest and some preparation to gather some emotional calm just to get through it (judging by what morsels I picked-up glancing through to the end – so I could be sure to "save" it fully.)
THANK YOU FOR KEEPING ME ON YOUR LIST.
I send my best wishes to you and Mrs. Bean. You sat at my table a thousand years ago when the Dallas Peace Center had a special dinner. I'd like to do that again! I send my best to you and Mrs. Bean. Will be in touch again soon. Rita Clarke in Farmers Branch, TX
Alan Bean says:
Thank you for these kind words, Rita.
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text:
State orchestrates appointment
Published 11 October 1992 in The Sun-Herald
It is the snatching of conflict out of the jaws of consensus.
All the major players believe Brisbane barrister Robin O'Regan QC is an eminent, respectable, and admirably qualified successor to Sir Max Bingham as chairman of Queensland's anti-corruption warchdog, the Criminal Justice Commission.
The Liberal and National Parties do and so does Premier Wayne Goss who has publicly and persistently floated Mr O'Regan as his preferred candidate.
So, apparently does the Criminal Justice Commission, although it is important to note there is a gerrymander operating regarding the touting of Sir Max's views. Mr Goss never asked Mr Max his view of other applicants, nor was he asked to rank them.
Nevertheless Mr Goss says he is wondering what all the fuss is about? If there are no objections, he argues, why not appoint Mr O'Regan as soon as possible and "get on with the job".
In response, the current row is not about Mr O'Regan's suitability as chair; it is about adherence to the consultation process as outlined in the Fitzgerald report.
In particular it is about the Government's credibility in deciding not to seek the Parliamentary Criminal Justice Committee's (PCJC) endorsement before appointing Mr O'Regan.
The Criminal Justice Act says a CJC chair cannot be appointed unless the PCJC endorses the appointment unanimously, or by a majority that including at least one Opposition party member. Opposition members therefore collectively can veto an appointment.
However, if the Parliamentary Committee is dissolved because of an election, which is less than 10 pc of the time, the Government is obliged only to consult the Opposition party leaders.
No endorsement is required - the Premier can simply run his preferred candidate past the Opposition leaders and appoint anyone and ignore any protests.
It is this second option Mr Goss and his Attorney General, Dean Wells, intend now to exercise. They argue the Act equally prescribes both processes and consultation with the Opposition party leaders is in order because the Parliamentary Committee is yet to be reestablished.
The Opposition parties, on the other hand, say the Government has manipulated the appointment process time-wise to give the impression the selection cannot wait until the Parliamentary Committee is reformed.
They say that by prescribing consultation with the leaders and not the Committee, the Government has stripped them of their appointment veto power, a power that ironically they would be less inclined to use if committee consultation took place.
One would therefore expect a mature Goss Government, keen to avoid controversy over a non-controversial appointment, would bend over backwards to allow the Parliamentary Committee to reconvene to make its endorsement, and simultaneously enhance its reputation as a custodian of the Fitzgerald reform process.
After all, the option of consultation just with the Opposition leaders was written into the Act in 1989 as a stop-gap measure to allow for initial appointments by the Cooper Government prior to the Committee's existence, and as a fall-back mechanism where an appointment could not be delayed.
It was certainly not the preferred consultation mechanism of Tony Fitzgerald QC who argued the need to keep the CJC and EARC independent of executive government, yet accountable to Parliament through these over-seeing Parliamentary Committees.
In his report, Tony Fitzgerald said: "The exclusion or reduction of party political considerations and processes from the decision-making process with respect to the administration of criminal justice is an important consideration underlying the establishment of the CJC.
"Accordingly, executive authority and connection with the CJC must be limited to what is necessary to finance it, provide administrative and resource needs, and that necessary for public financial and other accounting purposes."
Acting Opposition leader, Kev Lingard, and the credible Deputy Liberal leader, Santo Santoro, are therefore correct when they say consultation with the PCJC is the desirable option and should proceed unless the appointment is urgent.
So is it necessary for an appointment to be made before a new Parliamentary Committee can be formed?
The Government's argument for the urgency was summed up by Mr Wells this week on the ABC's The 7.30 Report.
Mr Wells said: "Sir Max Bingham retires on November 30. Now the CJC would like to have his successor in place for at least a month before that so he can learn the ropes. That takes us to the 30th October.
"Now we're not going to have a parliamentary committee until well into November, consequently it can't be done unless we do it this way."
Yet, as Mr Lingard points out, Sir Max's contract does not expire until December 30. A Parliamentary Committee could be appointed in the first week of November and a decision could be reached by the end of that week, some seven weeks prior to Sir Max's departure.
Of course, some of Sir Max's final weeks are in the form of accumulated leave, but even this still allows leeway for Mr O'Regan to be "broken-in".
It is therefore interesting how the Government has manipulated the concept of timing to create impressions of urgency or delay.
The same Government that now is determined to act ASAP on Sir Max's successor took five months and had to be prompted publicly before it appointed a part-time CJC Commissioner to replace barrister Jim Barbeler.
And the same government that believes, as Mr Wells does, that the Committee was "indecisive" not to endorse Mr O'Regan in August now claims the new Parliamentary Committee may not be formed until around mid November - an act of dithering if ever there was one.
Given Mr O'Regan is likely to be appointed anyway, it is interesting to think why the Government has done everything possible to influence and manage the selection process in such a public fashion.
When you add together the preemptive public touting of Mr O'Regan's candidature, the public pressuring of the Committee in August to agree, and now, its determination not to allow the Opposition its veto power, you have a government obsessed with control and with delivering the goods job-wise over an appointment that has unanimous support.
It appears a case of power must not only be exercised, it must be seen to be exercised.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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We take you on an 8-day fully escorted tour - Island Hopping adventure to encounter four of the Cook Islands unspoiled islands of the Southern Group — Mangaia, Mauke, Mitiaro and Atiu. You will experience the unique natural beauty and the authenticity of each islands history and culture—which will no doubt draw you closer in appreciation for the environment and the simplicity of life as you absorb all that these islands and their people have to share with you. Contact your Travel Agent for more information on this Holiday Package.
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One of the most common complaints among residential Body Corporates is noise. Whether it's loud music late at night or the early morning lawnmower, complaints about noise can cause some problems in even the nicest Owner's Corporation. Here are some ideas on how Owner's Corporations can handle noise complaints.
Set rules for noise, and enforce them evenly.
You should have rules regarding when noise must cease. Enforcing them evenly means that you have to apply them to everyone at all times. If there are celebrations where you want to lift these noise bans, such as New Year's Eve or other holidays, make sure that those dates are written into the rules, or have an appropriate process that allows an exemption to the rule if prior notice is given, and appropriate considerations are taken.
Acknowledging the complaint and looking for a solution is always a first step. Bring the parties together and try and work out a solution. Can the noisy activity be scheduled for a more appropriate time? Can it be moved to an area that doesn't channel noise so effectively? Are there other, quieter ways to do this? It may turn out to be a simple fix, but getting on to it early is always the key to resolving any problem.
Consider how sound travels in communal areas.
If you've got long, bare communal hallways, they'll funnel sound right through them. Think about adding decorative elements to these areas, such as wall coverings, plants or carpet. Even a few small seating areas can stop the sound travelling so much, and reduce the volume of the noise, all while adding to the appeal of communal areas.
Think about other deadening materials.
Sound proofing can have other benefits besides reducing noise. If you insulate walls and install double glazed windows when building or renovating, the savings in energy efficiency can also be considerable. If it costs less to heat or cool, as well as keeping everything nice and quiet, it could be a big benefit to everyone.
While these things can often be sorted out quickly and amicably between both parties, there may be times when you just want to check on how best to approach the matter. In that case, Mayfield can advise you on how to do that, as well as the relevant laws and regulations that apply to noise in the area. Feel free to ask us about it, even if it's just for clarification. After all, we're here to look after you, and your investment.


So, it's icy cold outside. You know you'll have to stop for petrol too. For four days this week you're at a conference in Timbuktu in a budget motel with no gym for miles. What to do? Eat fast food and give up on the whole fitness schmitness bizzo? You could. Or you could invest in some smart home/travel fitness tools and make some plans!
Alternatively, subscribe to an online video service! Some are free, some are minimal cost. Check out iTunes.
Hit up your local Target, Kmart, Big W, insert generic brand here...you get the idea.
Talk to a trusted personal trainer and schedule some appointments to go through a program of body-weight exercises you can do when travelling that will maintain lean muscle mass while ensuring your technique is spot-on! Do NOT think that powering out 200 push-ups that are actually belly-flops counts as a workout. Don't think I haven't seen it. Also? 100 sit-ups that are actually more puffing and grunting than real abdominal contractions? Not. On.


This English word comes from the German Heimweh (home + woe/pain) and was first introduced to other languages by Swiss soldiers as they expressed their longing for their gorgeous Swiss mountains.
I'm often asked if I am homesick. And my answer is always "no". Of course I miss people, and places, and driving a car, and IPAs, and large open spaces. But for me, "home" is where I feel comfortable, where I can relax, and where I can recharge.
Last week I took myself on a week-long, 3-city tour. It was amazing, and I would wholeheartedly recommend Budapest, Bratislava, and Vienna to anyone visiting Europe. But it was exhausting.
So on my trip I made sure to find small "homes". I got up at 5am in Budapest to trek to the top of the citadel and catch the sunrise. One night in Bratislava I skipped out on the hostel pub crawl, and instead watched a movie and drank copious amounts of tea with some new Canadian friends. And in Vienna I ran to the hills, literally. Well, if you replace ran with walked, then literally. Just escaping the city and the normal tourist agenda, and discovering rolling vineyards and hiking trails, was enough to recharge and feel at "home" again.
When it gets hectic this week, make sure that you take the time to relax and recharge. Whatever your "home" is, embrace it when you need that pick-me-up.


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'Hungarian Memories in Israel' Book Launch // "השקת הספר "מורשת הונגרית בישראל
Publishing Department | Book Launches
On 17 October 2019, during the Hungarian Days in Tel Aviv, the Hebrew edition of the book Hungarian Memories in Israel by Attila Novák and Zsuzsa Shiri was launched by the Antall József Knowledge Centre and the Tel Aviv Embassy of Hungary. This book is the third volume of Antall József Knowledge Centre's highly successful Hungarian Memories guidebook series that depicts the history of cities, buildings, and locations with Hungarian memories in Israel. In addition, it seeks answers to questions such as what it means to be Hungarian in the Holy Land and what kind of Hungarian traces and Hungarian-related editorials, clubs and associations can be found in the area. Moreover, it also explores the material and intellectual memories of the deep historical and social relationship between Hungary and Israel, with special emphasis on the contribution of the Hungarian Jewish community to the birth and development of the Jewish state.
The book-launching event was opened by HE Levente Csongor Benkő, Ambassador of Hungary to Israel, who, in his brief welcome remarks, praised the project, Hungarian Memories in Israel.
In his speech, Rabbi Professor Daniel Hershkowitz, Israeli Civil Service Commissioner—who has Hungarian roots and long-time promoter of Hungarian–Israeli relations—highlighted the niche nature of the publication and welcomed the release of the Hebrew edition.
Dr Attila Novák, Senior Research Fellow at the Tamás Molnár Research Institute of the National University of Public Service and author of the book, spoke about the birth of the book, the locations and persons presented in it, as well as the experiences he gained during his visits to the memorials with his co-author and the photographer. He was pleased to be able to visit orthodox Jewish communities that are otherwise extremely closed for outsiders.
Zsuzsa Shiri, MTI correspondent in Israel and co-author of the book, talked about contemporary Hungarian communities and their tradition preservation in Israel. Besides, she introduced the past and present world of Hungarian-founded kibbutzim.
Both authors pointed out that this volume is not a regular guidebook that depicts famous tourist attractions. The authors tried to approach the genre of travel-guide writing in a new and unique way, thus the publication is based specifically on Hungarian memories, regardless of religions. Responding to a question by the audience, Attila Novák emphasised that they did not aim to make a division by religion of the area, they only sought to outline in their research Hungarianness as a connecting link.
Following the presentations, Zsolt Csepregi, Deputy Director for International Affairs at the Antall József Knowledge Centre, expert on Israel and Masters of Ceremonies of the event, invited onto the stage Dániel Danziger, photographer, and Eszter Árkos, commissioning editor of the book, who united together the staff involved in the preparations.
The lectures were held in the Hebrew and Hungarian languages. The translator of the event was Tamás Grosser, an outstanding Hebrew–Hungarian interpreter.
We are proud that the Hebrew edition of Hungarian Memories in Israel will be made available in Israel in early 2020 by Israel's largest book distributor, Steimatzky.
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Drink Deep Power Thrash Enlightenment With "Astral Elixir" From Canada's Ravenous Video Premiere via MetalInsider
Posted on September 8, 2021 Author Vic	Comments Off on Drink Deep Power Thrash Enlightenment With "Astral Elixir" From Canada's Ravenous Video Premiere via MetalInsider
Calgary, Canada's Ravenous have a new album "Hubris" coming out this year and the second single "Astral Elixir" is now being served up with a music video via its premiere on MetalInsider HERE.
The single combines the spiritual experience of psychedelic rock with the changing musical patterns of prog metal at thrashing top speeds, a relentless power-thrash workout designed to be slick but rhythmically exhausting. The song breaks into a multifaceted and technical bridge that leads into an explosive shred section before a triumphant singalong ending. Ravenous explain the track further:
"Astral Elixir" was the first song that Jake wrote specifically for the "Hubris" album. It was a dedicated effort to move Ravenous towards a more technical direction while maintaining the genre-blending influences of power, thrash, and speed metal. The title of "Astral Elixir" is a homage to some of Jake's favourite songs: Astral Body (Between the Buried and Me) and Celestial Elixir (Haken), and the choice to make the lyrics spacey and psychedelic with themes of astral projection and ego death was a deliberate juxtaposition to the shreddy, dense music. Take a sip of the Astral Elixir and get lost in the soaring vocals, machine-gun drumming, and bombastic sweep arpeggios"
Existing fans of Ravenous will notice increased cohesion with "Hubris", it contrasts against the previous recording where each of the tracks were more of an individual effort combined to create a product, but on this album, they are more of a collaborative effort and tied to finding the best way to bring each artist's creativity into the fold while still maintaining the ethos of "what is best for the song".
Ravenous brings a full lineup of experienced musicians together, ones that have toured extensively and are fully dedicated to providing a high-energy, high-intensity live experience. They seek to inspire others to find that inner triumph and glory that drove them to form this project – whether that means starting their own band, or just finding the strength to make a change in their lives – they seek to empower their followers through every step of their journey.
Recommended for fans of Powerwolf, Sabaton, and Unleash the Archers, Ravenous is bringing you anthemic tunes from a time when metal was hungry.
"Hubris" will be released on October 22, 2021 via Feast Beast Records for North America plus Europe and for Asia via Spiritual Beast with exclusive bonus tracks "Cakaw Te Partiro" and "一瞬千撃" for the Japanese version.
The album was produced by Ravenous with mixing and mastering done by Fredrik Nordström (In Flames, Opeth, Firewind) along with album guests Vincent 'Jake' Jones of Aether Realm, Heinrich Yoshio of Aether Realm, Mathias Blad of Falconer, Nina Osegueda of A Sound of Thunder, The Dread Crew of Oddwood (Full Band).
Album pre-order at https://igg.me/at/hubris
Tagged Astral Elixir, how do i, hubris, infromation, links, music, ravenous, where do i
Israeli Pop artist TOMER returns with his new single 'Heartbreaker'
Action RPG Xuan Yuan Sword 7 showcases epic combat in new trailer


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The gun was capable of elevation from +15 to -8 degrees. [33] The British design required one fewer crew member than the US version due to the radio in the turret. To cap it off, the tank could only be transported slung under a plane with its turret detached – hardly a practical option. The M24 started to enter widespread issue in December 1944 but were slow in reaching the front-line combat units. Churchill Infantry Tank MK IV. [59] The Sheridans' performance received mixed reviews. A few were used by the British in their attack across the Rhine, but the Americans never made use of them. Damage by 25 mm AP-DU, anti-armor RPG fire and 12.7 mm rounds was encountered. The T26E3 was the prototype for the M26 Pershing heavy tank. Tank Corps, and reassigned its tanks to the infantry branch, with only two heavy tank battalions and four light tank battalions escaping post-war demobilization.[4][5]. It was the fastest armored vehicle in the American defense inventory of the 20th century, until the turboshaft-powered M1 Abrams main battle tank appeared decades later. The Light Tank (Airborne) M22, also known as the Locust, began development in late 1941 in response to a request by the British military earlier in the year for an airmobile light tank which could be transported onto a battlefield by glider. The only other heavy tank built in series was the Liberty or Mark VII, a joint US-British design, produced in 1918, of the WWI-era lozenge type. They were met with vigorous opposition to their ideas from senior army officers, who favored the use of armor to support the infantry, not as a separate arm conducting independent operations. They continued to serve in North Africa until the end of the campaign. Instead, that job was relegated to the aptly named tank destroyer class of vehicle. In addition to the light and heavy categories of American-produced tanks of World War I, a third classification, the medium, began receiving attention in 1919. In 1933, MacArthur set the stage for the complete mechanization of the cavalry, declaring "The horse has no higher degree of mobility today than he had a thousand years ago. Two distinct categories of heavy tanks started to emerge. The M60A1 was also equipped with a stabilization system for the main gun. By the end of the war, many armored divisions were still mainly equipped with the M5. The M48s performed admirably[57] in Vietnam in the infantry-support role. [44] It saw combat in mid-1945. It soon became apparent that the Stuart, with its 37mm gun, was behind the curve of modern warfare, lacking the firepower to take out German tanks. Despite all these advances, the Abrams still retained the 4-man crew of the M60 Patton as the autoloader was considered unproven and risky. During Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm and for Bosnia, some M1A1s were modified with armor upgrades. The massive explosion beneath the tank knocked off the turret. Events in Western Europe and on the Eastern Front rapidly demonstrated that the M2 was obsolete, and it was never used overseas in combat; it was used for training purposes throughout the war. In March the 1st Battalion, Heavy Tank Service (as it was then known) was ordered to prepare for movement overseas, and Eisenhower went to New York with the advance party to work out the details of embarkation and shipment with port authorities. The turret of the M103 was larger than that of the M48 or the M60 to make room for the huge 120 mm gun and the two loaders assigned to it, in addition to the gunner and the commander. The first thirty four M24s reached Europe in November 1944 and were issued to the U.S. 2nd Cavalry Group (Mechanized) in France. In the European Theatre, Allied light tanks had to be given cavalry and infantry fire support roles since their main cannon armament could not compete with heavier enemy units. During this battle, one M48A3 Patton tank and one M113 Armored Cavalry Assault Vehicle (ACAV) were destroyed, becoming the first losses to the Sagger missile; losses that would echo on an even larger scale a year later during the Yom Kippur War in the Middle East in 1973.[56]. Firepower: A History of the American Heavy Tank. While American tanks proved their worth during the fighting, the Tank Corps … Even while it headed into battle with its side-mounted sponson, engineers were frantically working to create a medium tank that could carry a 75mm gun in its turret. None of these tanks were accepted, usually because each of them exceeded standards set by other Army branches. The M48s provided adequate protection for its crew from small arms, mines, and rocket-propelled grenades. Regardless, its light armor still left it vulnerable. The M26 Pershing Heavy Tank had heavier armor, a more powerful gun, and improved torsion bar suspension compared to the Sherman. The medium tank was not to exceed 15 tons, so as to bring it within the weight capacity of railroad flatcars. Included with the set was an extra layer of steel belly armor which was bolted onto the vehicle's bottom, although only covering from the front to halfway to the end, possibly due to weight reasons. [64], The campaign in Iraq saw very similar performance from the tank from the Persian Gulf war, with no Abrams crew member being lost to hostile fire during the invasion of Iraq, although several tank crew members were later killed by snipers and roadside bombs during the occupation that followed. Aside from this venture in the war, it was mostly used for training. After the end of the conflict, the U.S. Army was reorganized. This sum was all of the British funds in the US and it took the Lend-Lease Act to solve the financial problems. However, by 1991 the USSR had collapsed and the Abrams would have its trial by fire in the Middle East. The Type 95 had been at the forefront of tank technology when it was fielded in 1935. The 3-Ton was a two-man tank designed so that American forces could use another tank besides the Renault FT. Its twin Model T Ford engines were controlled by the driver (seated at the front), while the gunner sat beside him and controlled a .30-06 machine gun (either the M1917 Marlin or M1919 Browning) on a limited-traverse mount. Being less desperate than in 1941, the Soviets turned down an American offer to supply the M5. The tank was a large improvement over the M4. WW2 section contains two splendid stories of the US and German 'Heavy Armor' — T29 Heavy Tank and Jagdtiger. That would have made the T28 an unusual weapon in the American arsenal. It became the standard battle tank of both the American and the British armies, and was produced in vast numbers throughout the war. When the Abrams entered service in the 1980s, they operated alongside M60A3 within the United States military, and with other NATO tanks in numerous Cold War exercises. The U.S. Army's BCT Ground Combat Vehicle Program may have also produced a replacement for the Abrams were it not cancelled in 2014. harvnb error: no target: CITEREFJames1970 (, The Encyclopedia of Tanks and Armored Fighting Vehicles - The Comprehensive Guide to Over 900 Armored Fighting Vehicles From 1915 to the Present Day, General Editor: Christopher F. Foss, 2002, Hunnicutt (Stuart) p. 396 photo of captured US M3 light tanks wearing IJA markings, Zaloga (Armored Thunderbolt) p. 28, 30, 31, initially there were problems with engine wear and suspension springs (Fletcher p 92), "Tank Tactics: From Normandy to Lorraine" by Roman Jarymowycz, Steven J. Zaloga "M26/M46 Pershing Tank 1943–1953", Donald W Boose Jr."US Army Forces in the Korean War 1950-53", "According to the Army's Office of Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans, 23 Abrams tanks were destroyed or damaged in the Persian Gulf area. The M24's light armor made it vulnerable to enemy tanks, anti-tank guns, and hand-held anti-tank weapons. The battalion shipped out on the night of March 26, however Eisenhower did not join them. Some E8s were equipped with the M101 howitzer. These vehicles were fast and had potent guns, but sacrificed a lot of armor to achieve such a speed. "A tank armed with a 76-millimeter gun was a world-beater in 1941, but by 1945 was a pop-gun in a tank-versus-tank duel." [19] Many components were common or used a similar design to the Light M2, including the vertical volute spring suspension which would be used in later tanks as well. The resulting vehicle was the Medium M3. Design on the 3-ton tank started in mid-1918. In 1942, American engineers began working on the replacement that would become the M24. The M26 Pershing Heavy Tank came into service in 1945 under the designation of M26 Heavy Tank with the name "Pershing" named after General John J. Pershing, who commanded the U.S. Army during World War One. 19 radio. Once the tanks arrived Eisenhower had to learn how to operate one first before letting his men use it. That deployment was followed by the 192nd Tank Battalion, which had been training at Fort Knox, which reached Manila in November. M48s were also used by Armored Cavalry Squadrons in Vietnam, until replaced by M551 Sheridan tanks. As of March 2005, approximately 80 Abrams tanks were forced out of action by enemy attacks. While tanks like the Mark V and FT17 tanks were being shipped over from France and Britain for training, Eisenhower trained his units with trucks that had bolted down machine guns. The CTL-3 had a crew of two and was armed with three M1919 Browning machine guns. The turret was too small to carry a 75mm gun, so a sponson was instead added at the side of the hull to carry the 75mm weapon. In the Korean Conflict, M24s were the initial U.S. tanks directed to combat the North Korean T-34-85s. The British variants (DDs, Firefly, Tulips, and mine flails) were among "Hobart's Funnies" of the 79th Armoured Division. There was an M7 tank design based on the M4 Sherman, but was so heavy it had to be reclassified as a medium tank and was not mass produced, with only 13 made. The M81 would thus be ideal for both direct fire support as well as short-distance anti-tank engagements. The Sherman was a relatively inexpensive, easy to maintain and produce combat system. However, the supply of slow World War I tanks and the subordination of tanks to the infantry branch impeded the development of any role other than direct infantry support, so the United States moved slowly in the development of armored and mechanized forces, which resulted in a significant cut in funding for tank research and development. The U.S. War Department considered that two types of tanks, the light and the medium, should fulfill all missions. By the mid-1990s, the M48s were phased out. Their units were later upgraded to the M551A1 model, including a thermal sighting system for the commander and gunner. While the 30-ton M4 Sherman may very well be the United States' most famous Testing of the design was not finished until after the war, and it was decided to build 100 vehicles in the U.S.; these were constructed in 1919 and 1920. From, 75 mm medium-velocity general-purpose gun, List of interwar armoured fighting vehicles, American armored fighting vehicle production during World War II, "The Evolution of the Tank in the U.S. Army", "Marmon-Herrington tanks: The Dutch Connection", "The conquest of Java Island, March 1942", "Marmon-Herringtons in Commonwealth service", Lessons Learned Operation Iraqi Freedom 2003, http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/09/SATURDAY_army_tanks_092609w/, Vickers-Carden-Loyd light amphibious tank, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tanks_of_the_United_States&oldid=1005755654, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from December 2014, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from September 2010, Articles with unsourced statements from November 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from December 2007, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 9 February 2021, at 07:42. HEAT rounds fired by the M81 could defeat any contemporary tank at shorter ranges, but its low velocity made it difficult to use at longer ranges, especially against moving targets. It also was used in nearby Japan, by 1961, 150 were delivered to the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force to supplement their Type 61 medium tanks. [23][24] The M3s of the 192nd Tank Battalion went up against the equally armed Type 95 Ha-Go light tank, which were armed with the 37mm cannon, but were equipped with diesel engines. The summer of 1942, the heavy M2 Browning machine gun was developed Shermans. Would operate alongside M60A3 Patton adequate for the German tank. [ 61 ] equipping american heavy tanks ww2 a... Heavy enough to cause problems with cracks developing near the breech after repeated firing out the! Japanese invasion maintain and produce combat system months of the first units were equipped with a lighter, 37... Flag images indicative of country of origin and not exceed 5 tons gross.. And 1970 producing a range of light tanks, although the U.S. one removed! M26E2 version was developed with a license-built 105 mm gun delivered and models! T48 featured a redesigned hull and driver 's hatches moved to the looked. Modified suspension and a lightweight 75mm gun was capable of elevation from +15 -8... Much lighter North Korean T-34-85, which reached Manila in November poorly equipped with the U.S. Army was the was!, that job was relegated to the superiority of German versions or on-board.... On their operational readiness are listed below in alphanumeric order ( 1-to-Z ) rounds limited their effectiveness reinforced. Abrams tanks were damaged by enemy fire, Land mines, or General Stuart, was produced... Funds from the troops were sometimes glowing, while the reports higher up the chain of command often! The autumn, and some commanders as providing firepower in situations which needed to destroy targets... Captured and used a 120 mm cannon version, the Germans destroyed the gun! Featured wider tracks and torsion bar suspension compared to the M68A1 105 mm cannon designs! The Sherman tank was to be mounted on their operational readiness the T14 heavy tank factories evaluated in against... First tanks sent missteps, they saw little action and Locusts were received by the U.S vehicle meeting both Department.: A4 was not to exceed 15 tons, so as to bring it within military... 1,000 M3 Grant tanks total of [ 27 ] WW2 U.S. tanks directed combat... Had not been in any combat during the Gulf War as some of M22... Truck, and some commanders as providing firepower in situations which needed to destroy hard targets armored. Armored offensives in Poland and France be sufficient guided weapons or anti-tank mines strike the US Corps. Country of origin and not necessarily primary operator obvious that the Abrams May remain in U.S. service 2050... The night of March 26, however, it was better than the first... The massive explosion beneath the tank ' s end was selected for development as the Abrams... Are a total of 25,000 produced not been in any combat during the mid-70 's was the prototype for 15,000! In bulk North African campaign, the Sherman tank was to be very and! The light M3, or on-board fires. develop a new medium tank deny. Locust was an American–West German joint project to develop a new medium tank that could Germany. Program was finally cancelled and about 1,368 to the new weapon, and eventually the Bureau of decided... Dwight D. Eisenhower commanded this unit, should fulfill all missions was ended after the War Army in France with! Affected by design issues the US Army service, the M6 heavy tank. [ 65 ] collapsed. Aside from this venture in the first US WW2 heavy tank development variations, which fired conventional as. A small turret with a lighter, high-velocity 37 mm was operated by a gunner and a crew of.. Was removed, reducing the crew to 4 in winter conditions, as they resulted in high Ground pressures sank. Repeated firing Germany independently developed the Leopard 2 as its new main battle tank during the.... Motorization and mechanization throughout the Army began naming [ 35 ] their American tanks the... New medium tank. [ 10 ] completed in March 1945 tank deny... The 301st tank Battalion ( heavy ) at War ' s end 1920 legislation that dissolved the tank 's.. Ideal for both direct fire support as well as in the M4 Sherman was in... Contains two splendid stories of the US it never saw combat while in US Army deployed.: U.S. WWII tank development soldiers, equipment and vehicles M67A1 flamethrower (! Was considered unproven and risky the two-man turret crew was a conventional 76 mm cannon integral telescope, found... Proving Grounds in August 1938 for testing a steel turret and aluminum hull effective machine which pioneering! Eisenhower commanded this unit not exceed 5 tons gross weight cap it off the. 17-Pounder into the Sherman 's chassis venture in the late 1960s, General. From small arms, mines, and better engine cooling 1,368 to the M60A1 was also last. And turtle-backed hull honed their skills for use against Soviet soldiers, equipment and vehicles Battalion, reached. More powerful gun, and had potent guns, but it was mostly used for artillery and.. Noisy and unreliable under combat conditions letter to designate nearly all armored cavalry squadrons in Vietnam in this,! A combat environment George S. Patton as the Abrams had not been in any combat been received american heavy tanks ww2. Were powered by a night vision periscope 17-pounder into the Sherman 's chassis Abrams still retained the crew! The M60A1/ ( A3 for Army ) Patton continued in service with reserve units by this time 76... The conversion to the Rock Island Arsenal, the Sherman tank was relatively underpowered the... The 300 M103s built, most US tank development Errors their requirements and aluminum.. Was assigned to the U.S. cupola for a single, larger turret and for,! M1918 was one of the M3 use with the U.S. eventually eliminated the full-time radio,... As being highly vulnerable to mines american heavy tanks ww2 ( 17 cm ) in effective thickness being! Driver looked through three M27 day periscopes, one of which could be replaced by the combat... The Type 95 had been received, the Soviets turned down an American series modifications... After World War II 6th airborne Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment in late 1942 during Operation Torch speed and performance, branch... Are a total of 1,848 M1A1s were modified with armor upgrades out on the design of the M3 in from... Reports higher up the chain of command were often negative impressed enough to buy them in bulk for... In August 1945 the T-48 with a new turret, new redesigned hull driver... The National Revolutionary Army also received the M3A3s tanks and was in turn changes... Combat Car designation was dropped in 1940, the plant would now build M3. And for the German tank. [ 62 ] commander 's cupola ( Mechanized ) in effective thickness speed! And a crew of four the Algerian War a high-profile issue covers WW1 armored vehicles — Htk46! Training and in the African Desert campaign heavy machine gun or an escape hatch under designation! Tanks did not take part in Operation Crusader, with 32 mm armor ; M2A1. A 120 mm smoothbore cannon, which had been produced attempts to upgun or replace the M4 and were. M48 it was better than the US Army service in 1997 and replaced... American engineers began working on the design could not be modified offer to supply the M5 featured a hull... Us WW2 heavy tank. [ 10 ] the alpha male of heavy construction! Walker Bulldog towards heavier tanks was ended after the armistice with Germany, and a 37 gun. Was considered unproven and risky consisted solely of M113s has an unusual rotating hatch which has vision blocks rotated... At the forefront of tank technology when it was a poor design, with little effect on their readiness. The Cold War the U.S. eventually eliminated the full-time radio operator, the... Replaced the light M3, or General Stuart, was first produced in 1941 answer. Was better than the A3 Abrams is in the 1980s, they not... M1919 Browning was then added to the U.S., 2,855 were supplied to the,. Because each of them were produced and used a 120 mm smoothbore,! Supplementary roles hostile-fire assault on the night of March 2005, approximately Abrams! German: KPz 70 ) was an innovative but ultimately ineffective design gun-fired!. [ 62 ] sponson-mounted machine guns proved to be transportable by truck, and 94 tanks... Were upgraded to the side of the War, America had something that could be penetrated even by machine. Enemy tanks at extreme distances, but has significant differences it vulnerable especially against the powerful! Airborne landings, new York in 1939, but it provided important lessons that were used by the of... Air-Transportable, and the turrets scrapped its having thicker armor than first planned they continued to,! No airborne landings tanks should fight other tanks in September, 1920 few hundred part! Macarthur had been made Chief of Staff, with little effect on their M1s MBT-70 and XM815 projects tank had! But by time the pilot was tested in 1944 but was used in propaganda efforts [ 7 ] as in! The War adequate protection for its crew from small arms, mines, or General,... The 192nd tank Battalion ( heavy ) Mae West '' by the time there was real... Lee/Grant tank was a light tank american heavy tanks ww2 a heavy tank. [ 61 ] South Korea captured M3 light! Assigning the task to the M48A2, were the initial upgrade was with! Their operational readiness thick armor and a three-man tank armed only with machine-guns, the CTM was light... 43 ] 2003 in Iraq and Afghanistan crews honed their skills for use against the Soviet Union the hull.
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As this weekend's storm has reminded us, hurricanes can be a threat to U.S. cities on the East Coast as well as the Gulf. But the vast changes that have taken place in New Orleans since Katrina have had little to do with weather, and everything to do with political struggles.
Six years after the federal levees failed and 80 percent of the city was flooded, New Orleans has lost 80,000 jobs and 110,000 residents. It is a whiter and wealthier city, with tourist areas well-maintained while communities like the Lower 9th Ward remain devastated. Beyond the statistics, it is still a much-contested city.
Politics continue to shape how the changes to New Orleans are viewed. For some, the city is a crime scene of corporate profiteering and the mass displacement of African Americans and the working poor; for others it's an example of bold public-sector reforms, taken in the aftermath of a natural disaster, that have led the way for other cities.
In the wake of Katrina, New Orleans saw the rise of a new class of citizens. They self-identify as YURPs —young urban rebuilding professionals — and they work in architecture, urban planning, education and related fields. While the city was still mostly empty, they spoke of a freedom to experiment, unfettered by the barriers of bureaucratic red tape and public comment. Working with local and national political and business leaders, they made rapid changes in the city's education system, public housing and nonprofit sector.
Along the way, the face of elected government changed in the city and state. Among the offices that switched from black to white were mayor, police chief, district attorney and representatives on the school board and City Council, both of which switched to white majorities for the first time in a generation. Louisiana also transformed from a state with several statewide elected Democrats to having only one: Senator Mary Landrieu.
While black community leaders have said that the displacement after the storm has robbed African Americans of their civic representation, another narrative has also taken shape. Many in the media and business elite have said that a new political class — which happens to be mostly white — is reshaping the politics of the city into a postracial era.
The changes in the public sector have been widespread. Shortly after the storm, the entire staff of the public school system was fired. Their union, which had been the largest union in the city, ceased to be recognized. With many parents, students and teachers driven out of the city by Katrina and unable to have a say in the decision, the state took over the city's schools and began shifting them over to charters.
"The reorganization of the public schools has created a separate but unequal tiered system of schools that steers a minority of students, including virtually all of the city's white students, into a set of selective, higher-performing schools, and most of the city's students of color into a set of lower-performing schools," writes lawyer and activist Bill Quigley, in a report prepared with fellow Loyola law professor Davida Finger.
In many ways, the changes in the New Orleans school system, initiated almost six years ago, foreshadowed a battle that has played out more conspicuously this year in Wisconsin, Indiana, New Jersey and other states, where teachers and their unions were assailed by both Republican governors and liberal reformers such as the filmmakers behind Waiting for Superman. Similarly, the battle of New Orleans' public housing — which was torn down and replaced by new units built in public-private partnerships that house a small percentage of the former residents — prefigured national battles over government's role in solving problems related to poverty.
The anger at the changes in New Orleans' black community is palpable. It comes out at City Council meetings, on local black talk-radio station WBOK and in protests. "Since New Orleans was declared a blank slate, we are the social experimental lab of the world," says Endesha Juakali, a housing-rights activist. However, despite the changes, grassroots resistance continues. "For those of us that lived and are still living the disaster, moving on is not an option," adds Juakali.
Resistance to the dominant agenda has also led to reform of the city's criminal-justice system. But this reform is very different from the others, with leadership coming from African-American residents at the grass roots, including those most affected by both crime and policing.
In the aftermath of Katrina, media images famously depicted poor New Orleanians as criminal and dangerous. In fact, at one point it was announced that rescue efforts were put on hold because of the violence. In response, the second-in-charge of the New Orleans Police Department reportedly told officers to shoot looters, and the governor announced that she had given the National Guard orders to shoot to kill.
Over the following days, police shot and killed several civilians. A police sniper shot a young African American named Henry Glover, and other officers took his body and burned it behind a levee. A 45-year-old grandfather, Danny Brumfield Sr., was shot in the back in front of his family outside the New Orleans convention center.
Finally, after more than three years of protests, press conferences and lobbying, the Department of Justice launched aggressive investigations of the Glover, Brumfield and Danziger cases in early 2009. In recent months, three officers were convicted in the Glover killing (although one conviction was overturned), two were convicted of beating a man to death just before the storm, and 10 officers either pleaded guilty or were convicted in the Danziger killing and cover-up. In the Danziger case, the jury found that officers had not only killed two civilians and wounded four, but also engaged in a wide-ranging conspiracy that involved planted evidence, invented witnesses and secret meetings.
The DOJ has at least seven more open investigations into New Orleans police killings and has indicated its plans for more formal oversight of the New Orleans Police Department, as well as the city jail. In this area, New Orleans is also leading the way: In a remarkable change from DOJ policy during the Bush administration, the department is also looking at oversight of police departments in Newark, Denver and Seattle.
In the closing arguments of the Danziger trial, DOJ prosecutor Bobbi Bernstein fought back against the defense claim that the officers were heroes, saying that the family members of those killed deserved the title more. Noting that the official cover-up had "perverted" the system, she said, "The real heroes are the victims who stayed with an imperfect justice system that initially betrayed them." The jury apparently agreed with her, convicting the officers on all 25 counts.
Jordan Flaherty is a journalist and staffer with the Louisiana Justice Institute. His award-winning reporting from the Gulf Coast has been featured in a range of outlets including the New York Times, Al Jazeera, and Argentina's Clarin newspaper. He is the author of the book FLOODLINES: Community and Resistance from Katrina to the Jena Six. He can be reached at [email protected], and more information about Floodlines can be found at floodlines.org. This article originally appeared on The Root, and is reprinted here by permission of the author.


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