Thursday, November 19, 2009

Antoinette Davis: Neglectful "Crack Ho" or Innocent Mother?

shaniya_davis_kidnapping_mcneill250 volunteer searchers scouring "an area about 6 miles from the last confirmed sighting of Shaniya." found her body on Sunday (11.16.09). She was dumped along "Walker Road, off N.C. Highway 87, near the Lee-Harnett county line... about 100 feet off Walker Road." The little five year old was found among "deer carcasses" in a woodsy and wet area. The last sighting of Shaniya was at a hotel in Sanford, North Carolina. A man named Mario McNeill was seen carrying Shaniya into a hotel elevator at a Comfort Suites hotel, about 30 miles from her mother's home (Sleepy Hollow Drive, Fayetteville, NC). One unidentified man "who found the body said the girl was lying on the ground and was wearing only a T-shirt." It may be an important clue that a blanket belonging to the girl was found in a neighbor's trash can a day after her disappearance.

mario andrette mcneillPolice arrested Mario Andrette McNeill, 29 and charged him with first degree kidnapping. Late Saturday (11.15.09), Shaniya's mother Antoinette Nicole Davis, 25 was also arrested, three days after she reported her child missing. Davis claimed to have discovered the girl missing an hour after putting her to sleep on a couch.
Its hard to believe that Shaniya's mother Antoinette Davis would knowingly "permit an act of prostitution with Shaniya" as the arrest warrant states. Shaniya's mother was arrested late Saturday (11.15.09) and "charged with human trafficking, felony child abuse–prostitution, filing a false police report and obstructing a police investigation."

Questions yet to be answered
Why did Antoinette Davis initially accuse her boyfriend Clarence Coe of abducting Shaniya? Davis is pregnant with Coe's child. Coe was first arrested, but charges against him have since been dropped. He was released when a hotel employee at the Comfort Suites hotel tipped off police about McNeill. At that point the hotel surveillance video of Mcneill with Shaniya was turned over to police. According to Theresa Chance of the Fayetteville Police Department, “...footage was taken Tuesday, and we weren’t made aware of it until Wednesday.”

antoinette davisAntoinette Davis reported Shaniya missing on Nov. 10. On her 911 call released by police, she claimed that she put Shaniya to bed at 5:00 am. Although, Davis is accused of lying on the call--there was time for the abduction to take place without her knowledge. The child was seen on surveillance cameras at the hotel at 6:11 am, an hour and eleven minutes later. The distance between Antoinette Davis' house and the hotel is 30 miles. A distance by car of 50 minutes according to Google Maps. If Davis got the time right, then it would seem that 1 hour was enough time for McNeill to arrive at the hotel with Shaniya after he admittedly abducted her. McNeill, who has a criminal record for shooting a man in the face and other drug related crimes, has nevertheless plead not guilty.

Did someone (McNeil or Coe) point the finger at Antoinette Davis, leading to police arresting her? Or have police deduced from her 911 call and the time constraints involved that she is lying? Do police have other evidence against Antoinette Davis that they are not disclosing?


map_shaniya_davis_death

Did police and prosecutors jump the gun in arresting and charging Antoinette Davis with prostituting her own child? She was arraigned and charged even before the body of her child was found. People should keep in mind that video of Antoinette Davis in court were shot before the body of her missing child was found (she is currently in a segregated cell and on suicide watch)--so if she appears calm and emotionless--it may be because she had yet to learn of her child's death. Some of Davis' family have come to her defense. Her mother Ann Summers said that Antoinette is a "good mother." And her sister Brenda was interviewed after the arraignment.
"Her sister, Brenda Davis, 20, said outside of the courthouse that she does not believe the charges. “I don’t believe she could hurt her children,” said Brenda Davis, who was able to speak to her sister at the jail Sunday."
An uncle, was another family member who made a statement in support of Davis. "I know she’s a great mom. She’s a great mom. Antoinette really loved her children,” said Davis' uncle, Arthur Cromartie.

What is the father Bradley Lockhart's responsibility in this tragedy? Why did he hand his "angel" over to her mother (Shaniya is a product of a "one-night stand" with Davis, according to Lockhart) when there was some question about her fitness as a parent? A family friend Tim Allen said "after Shaniya went to her mother’s house, he noticed marks on her arms. "Boyfriends and his friends would put the cigarettes out on the baby's arms." The local news online, WRAL.com reports:
"Tim Allen has been caring for Lockhart's 17-year-old daughter, Cheyenne. He said Tuesday evening that he told Lockhart not to send Shaniya to live with her mother."I feel he is 99 percent the reason why this happened in the first place,” Allen said of Shaniya’s death."
Antoinette Davis had lived at a house (on Wall Street) which was raided in July by police for drugs, though no one was arrested. Davis also has a 7 year old son (no word on who fathered this son with Davis) and was investigate by child protective services, though no action was taken to remove her child and records are sealed. Lockhart has said that he decided to give Davis a chance to be a mother, and Shaniya was given to her mother on October 9, but by mid October, Shaniya was no longer attending school. Where was Shaniya when her mother was working at her two jobs? It should be mentioned, however, that in North Carolina mandatory school attendance age is 7-16 years old--so Antoinette Davis was not violating state law when she allegedly took Shaniya out of school. As for Davis' work record:
"Davis worked in the kitchen at Carolina Inn at Village Green, an assisted living facility in Fayetteville.CES, a South Carolina-based staffing company that has a contract with Carolina Inn, hired her in June 2008 after an extensive background check, an official said. She had a good employment record at both Carolina Inn and the Haymount Nursing Rehabilitation Facility, but she is no longer employed by the company, the official said."
shaniya davis_dressy

Who is Bradley Lockhart?
Why has the father who never given his "angel" his last name? While Antoinette is demonized by the majority of people opining about the matter (obviously, because of the arrest), Lockhart remains somewhat of a mystery. Still, some are hoping that this young woman did not cause this to happen to her innocent child. In America, is a person still presumed innocent, until proven guilty? Reading some of the comment on the internet it is hard to believe that people know of this celebrated tenet of the US criminal justice system.

bradley lockhartShaniya's father Bradley Lockhart seems to be a nice man on the surface. He's taken some blame on himself for Shaniya's death, saying--"Every parent would blame themselves. We all look within ourselves to see what we could have done differently." Antoinette Davis is 25 now, so she had Shaniya when she was 20. Wonder how old Bradley Lockhart is? As an aside... It's a frustration sometimes when the news outlets don't report a man's age, but are never slow with reporting the woman's age. Lockhart has five other kids with three different women. He has experienced a tragedy of equal proportion before. His former wife Vicki Lockhart was killed in a home invasion along with two others, including her 19 year old sister. Two men were arrested and prosecuted in the case. The evidence of this latest tragedy, appears to show that Lockhart was somewhat of an absentee father whose sister Carey Lockhart-Davis was actually taking care of Shaniya. His 17 year old daughter Cheyenne was also in the care of another--his friend Tim Allen. According to reports, Lockhart was gone a lot on "out-of-town jobs." No word on what his profession is.

Nancy Grace sets her sights on Antoinette Davis
That reptile Nancy Grace (maybe a guest spot on "V" would show her true colors?) aggressively attacked Antoinette Davis on her CNN show. Here's a video from the show: "Cops: Mom Owed Suspect Money." Grace claims that sources say (one of her guests pointed to cops) Davis owed McNeill for drugs. "Thanks, Mommy," Nancy exclaims at one point, for emphasis. Hasn't Nancy Grace learned anything from firestorm she caused when mother committed suicide after being on her show--"Melinda Duckett, a 21-year-old Florida woman whom Grace grilled after the disappearance of the woman's 2-year-old son." Can't abide Nancy Grace. If ever there was someone who personified gracelessness, its her offensive persona on her sideshow. This is the type of "news" show and ugliness that sells shampoos for Cable TV now.

This case is such a tragedy. Many people are saddened and are grieving the death of this innocent child. It is a sick reality that these sorts of incidents seem to be happening more and more often. What sick, twisted monster wants to have sex with children? The mind boggles and the heart is sickened by the thought of such a perversion. Is it a sign of the times? Is it the economic crunch, poverty and desperation that is leading people to do such despicable things for money? Or was it a festering illness that has always existed, yet never found the fertile ground to grow?

So is Antoinette Davis a neglectful, immoral and criminal "Crack Ho" or innocent hard-working mother?

Rest in peace Shaniya.

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Monday, November 16, 2009

Why Haiti Needs a Political Partner with a Standing Army



ANSWER emergency response demonstration
to March 1, 2004 Coup-knapping in Haiti – March 2, 2004
The recent history of relations between the US and Haiti has been an adversarial one. US foreign policy in Haiti has been controlled by right-wing elements in the US--with primary connections to the now deceased segregationist and racist Jesse Helms and his organization, the IRI, a subgroup of the National Endowment for Democracy--who were involved in the financing and sponsorship of two Coup D'etats in Haiti (the first on Sep. 30, 1991 and the second on Monday, March 01, 2004). The International Republican Institute (IRI) is not pro-democracy, though its objectives are stated to be democracy and trade. The real purpose of groups like the IRI, in countries of the global south is to promote anti-democracy elements by aligning with right-wing extremist elements of the countries they target. In Haiti, the mysterious Haiti Democracy Project (HDP) funded the creation of Group 184 (consisting of rich pro-business elements of Haiti's so-called "civil society") which in turn aligned with the armed "rebels" (their muscle) to form the threat that was the basis for the removal of Haiti's first democratically elected government--for the second coup.



Lovinsky-Pierre Antoine:
disappeared July 28, 2007

Haiti is a country that has lost thousands of its citizens--they were/are either dead or disappeared as a result of the chaos attending the upheavals of the coups. A conservative estimate of the toll was published in the Lancet in 2006 that documented 8,000 deaths and 35,000 rapes in Haiti since the second coup in 2004.

Haiti is a part of a small island in the Caribbean. It is bordered on it's right by the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic is where so-called "rebels" (Bush's then Secretary of State, Colin Powell characterized them as "thugs and criminals") were trained and armed by their benefactor (the US) in preparation to the second attack on Haiti's first democracy. Members of these "rebels" had also been trained and financed by US Special Forces and the CIA, including wanted drug trafficker Guy Philippe and his associates, wanted murderers/assassins Emmanuel Constant and Jodel Chamblain.

The United States of America--which is the world's number one super power--or has very good marketing apparatus that promotes the number one billing, is not and never was interested in promoting democracy in Haiti.


US government and multinational corporations/ political "interests" in Haiti

The US government's foreign policy is aligned with the Haitian sweatshops and businesses that pay poverty/slave wages to Haitian workers. A typical Haitian worker averages about $3 a day. These unethical multinationals and their Haitian coconspirators see to it that the Haitian worker is exploited and deprived of every basic human right that is enshrined in the UN "Universal Declaration of Human Rights." The UN's stated objectives in the declaration make imperative the right for workers to earn a living wage. This requires that basic employment laws that protect workers from exploitation are in place. One basic right denied to Haitian workers is the right to form unions.

What of this current UN mission in Haiti with the unfortunate and evocative acronym of MINUSTAH: United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti? The UN has now been occupying Haiti for the past five years under the pretext of bringing stability, after the violent kidnapping of the democratically elected government (which it supported), yet human rights for poor Haitians have not been a part of their mission. Perhaps this is because the security/stabilization they seek is for the multinational corporations and the Haitian rich business class to operate without oversight and to spare them the embarrassment of being called to account by an empowered native Haitian government?

There are many more reasons for forming a political, strategical partnership with a country that has a standing army. Below is a list of the potential candidates. Readers are invited to list their own candidates and explore the pros and cons of a partnership between Haiti and a foreign political partner. The best candidate should have a standing army and be able to withstand any economic, military or diplomatic embargo initiated and supported by the UN Security Council. As of October 15, 2009, the five "permanent" (voting) members of the UN Security Council were: United States, France, China, UK and Russia. As of today October 16, 2009--five new "non-permanent" (voting) members were elected: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Gabon, Lebanon and Nigeria. They join Uganda, Turkey, Mexico and Japan to make up the fifteen members voting members. According to the UN, "Under the Charter, all Members of the United Nations agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council. While other organs of the United Nations make recommendations to Governments, the Council alone has the power to take decisions which Member States are obligated under the Charter to carry out."

During his UN speech in October, Libya's Muammar Gaddafi lamented the inequality among member states and criticized the Security Council as being ineffective because since its inception, 65 wars had been launched. Gaddafi also dropped the T-Bomb, calling the UN Security Council a "Council Of Terror." Unfortunately, the mainstream media in the US portrayed Gaddafi's speech as rambling and incoherent and the Guardian UK said it was mind-numbingly long. It would have perhaps been more constructive if they had focused on the substance of his first ever UN speech, instead of its length and entertainment value.


The Potential Candidates for a Partnership: Pros and Cons

Which candidate country would make the best political partner for Haiti? The Aristide government dissolved the Haitian army in 1995. President Aristide considered the Haitian military to be a primary source of oppression and an instrument used to make coups in Haiti. So, the political partner must have a standing army that fills that gap for Haiti. This is just one consideration, but a paramount one in a political partner. It would be constructive for a Haitian government which seeks autonomy to weigh the pros and cons in making a decision as to whom to approach about this matter. Conversely, any potential partner would have to be assured that the pros outweighed the cons in any partnership undertaken with the Haitian people.


Top candidates
Country
Military Defense Apparatus
Taiwan
National Defense
North Korea
Military
Iran
Foreign relations and military
Venezuela
Military
South Africa
Defense
China
Military and Army
Cuba
Military





Obama arrives in Beijing to continue China visit
US President Barack Obama arrived in Beijing Monday afternoon to continue a four-day state visit to China after meetings with officials and students in Shanghai.
Some will object to Haiti seeking aid from states that are considered to be enemies of the US. Those who have this qualm should ask themselves: If other sovereign countries can act in their own self-interest, why not the long-suffering people of Haiti? What of the US' alliances with the dictatorships and authoritarian governments of China, Saudi Arabia and Sudan--to name a few? The very thought of the US having cordial relations with the genocidal government of the Sudan, should be enough to turn the stomach of freedom loving Americans everywhere.

Update: 11.27.09
Reported by Ansel for Free Speech Radio News (FSRN)
Read his blog post for more info.

Tensions high in Haiti after UN troops fire gunshots amidst crowd
UN peacekeeping troops in Haiti are facing accusations of using reckless force again after they fired gunshots to ward off a curious crowd earlier this month. The incident started when two UN helicopters were forced to land in the middle of a field after one of them had mechanical trouble. FSRN'S Ansel Herz reports from Port-Au-Prince.

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Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Accused Pedofile Perlitz Files Motion for Secrecy from Behind Bars

No More Secrecy
HLLN on Douglaz Perlitz's new motions asking for secrecy



The new court date is December 2, 2009. Please continue writing to Judge Margolis, and if you are in the East Coast, attend the hearing to show support for Haiti's children.

At his Oct. 28 bond hearing, accused pedophile Douglas Perlitz withdrew his bond request for now. The awareness-raising campaign HLLN-led to warn the community that an accused pedophile may be set free on bail had some effect. (Perlitz Court Date Moved, Groups Raise Awareness of Perlitz, O'Brien Cases; Letter-writing campaign aims to keep Perlitz jailed , and Jesuits, diocese asked to help sex abuse victims). Defendant Perlitz was not set free and shall remain behind bars until the matter is revisited again on December 2nd, if at all.

This is a small victory, but a victory nonetheless for all children considering that last time in court, on Oct. 8th, Perlitz's attorney kept pointing out how massive Mr. Perlitz's support was, implying the children of Haiti had no support and stating outright that our children are liars, not to mention detailing, in racist terms, how violent and corrupt Haiti is as the reason why Perlitz is being wrongly accused. (See in contrast, Pointing Guns at Starving Haitians: Violent Haiti is a myth. According to the UN, the violence rate in Haiti is 5.6 homicide per 100,000. In 2006 the neighboring Dominican Republic had 23.6 homicides per 100,000 according to the Central American Observatory on Violence. Brazil had 52.2/per 100,000 ... whereas in the USA, the rate is 13.2 per 100,000 in some excluded communities and 5.7 per 100,000 overall.

The Caribbean region's average murder rate were at 30 per 100,000 in 2007. If you compare the US, Brazil, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, the facts indicate more violence there than in Haiti. But it is Haiti that is singled out, negatively stereotyped and saddled with UN occupation and people abusing Haiti stereotypes for their own ends. The facts reveal that the only time there is more violence in Haiti than normal crimes is when the US/Euros sponsor coup d'etat and dictatorship over the objections of the Haitian peoples' democratic vote.)

This time in court, the children of Haiti had more people there to support them than Mr. Perlitz's so touted "supporters" which were mostly no-shows in comparison to the Oct. 8th showing.

Thank you all who wrote and asked Judge Margolis not to release Douglas Perlitz on bond. The process has just begun. We suspect,the information Ezili's HLLN has been circulating about the systemic abuse of Haitian children by white charity workers and the UN troops is making a difference and the new information filed by the prosecutors on October 27 to support Perlitz's continued incarceration has raised the bar.

We suspect as more information is made available and as the media learns more about what is actually going on in Haiti in terms of the raping and molesting of Haitian children by charity workers and UN peace keepers, more of Mr. Perlitz's supporters and prospective bond financiers will be asking to remain anonymous. For instance, according to new information divulged by the federal prosecutors, from June until his arrest in September 2009, computer records show that Douglas Perlitz was using a laptop computer to seek Haitian and black boys on sexually oriented Internet sites and over 100 sexual images of black boys where found on his computer. Perlitz's attorneys has file a motion supporting bond where he requests that the individuals putting up money on defendant Perlitz's behalf remain anonymous. But all children need protection and we are publicly campaigning against this demand for secrecy. This sort of crime against children flourishes in secrecy. Its prosecution must be done in the full light.

Every Douglas Perlitz's bond supporter ought to be able stand in front of the entire community and say they are standing by Mr. Perlitz' innocence. Too many times in Haiti's past we've seen, as we just saw with the arrest of ex-priest and accused pedophile John Duarte last week, that the authorities are willing to make arrests but, as for instance in the John Duarte pedophile case, categorically refuse to name the hotel in Port au Prince where Mr. Duarte was having sex with children. This is exactly the sort of thing Save the Children did last year when it announced that UN peacekeepers in Haiti and NGO workers were sexually abusing Haiti's children, but did not name the UN peacekeepers nor the NGO charities involved.

Perlitz ran a residence for humanitarian aid workers in Haiti, as well as, the school for boys. Our investigation show an entwine international network in Haiti and a systematic cover up, it seems, by the authorities to keep this matter as "isolated incidents" when it is not. (See, for example - The 'Father Teresa' of Haiti – Armand Huard - was convicted on sex abuse charges against minors in Haiti orphanageTwo Canadians Charged with Sex Abuse in Haiti orphanageFormer Windsor priest John Duarte arraigned on child-molestation charges Fr. Paul Carrier, S.J. Near The End Of The LineSex scandal in Haiti hits U.N. mission • and, A Swiss accused pedophile was arrested in Haiti.)

Thus, in this case with defendant Douglas Perlitz, those who wish to stand with him ought to be sure enough of him and his innocence not to hide their names as his attorney asked in the motions filed in court yesterday. If Douglas Perlitz is the "saint" that his attorneys say he is - just simply a wrongly accused white American in a "Hatfield/McCoy" caper concocted by Haiti's children and teachers, if that is so, as his attorneys are vociferously pleading, then there ought not to be a problem with revealing who the 19 "people of fine standing in the community, as well as of sufficient financial means," many from Fairfield County, are, who will agree to post the required $5 million bond for defendant Douglas Perlitz.

Our concerned community (local, national and international) is asking for transparency.

We have had ENOUGH of secrecy in the exploitation, abuse, rape and molestation of black children and people in Haiti. Haitians are still waiting for the UN authorities to RELEASE the investigation report from the 114 Sri Lankan soldiers accused of the systematic sexual abuse and rape of minors in Haiti and deported back, in disgrace, to Sri Lanka. It's been two years and the UN investigation has never been made public to Haitians. This is the sort of racist double standard, complicity and capriciousness Ezili's HLLN finds an abuse of power by supposedly lawful and respected authorities. (See, UN Peacekeepers and Humanitarian Aid Workers raping, molesting and abusing Haitian children.)

The media must begin to look into the carnage in Haiti - the fleecing of Haiti's natural resources while the people starve and die, as well as, this systemic tourist sex trade bringing disease, rape and molestation to Haiti behind the disenfranchisement of 9 million blacks by the 2004 Bush regime change and current UN occupation, all, in the name of bringing stability, democracy and humanitarian aid to Haiti. ( Minimum Wage, Maximum Outrage and Haiti's Holocaust and Middle Passage Continues.)

The world needs to wake up to the voiceless poor's plight in Haiti. That is why Ezili's HLLN shall continue explaining these concerns to the world and go, people-to-people, as we just did with this Perlitz case, as the Haitian public does not seem to be getting anywhere with those in power, or who have taken power illegally (the more than 10,000 NGOs in Haiti and the UN forces) and who are supposed to be protecting and defending democracy, justice, and Haitian welfare.

Ezili Dantò/HLLN
October 28, 2009

____________________________________
Recommended HLLN Links:

Documents Say Abuse Suspect Tried To Buy Off Victims
By EDMUND H. MAHONY, The Hartford Courant, October 29, 2009

Photos of Haitians speaking out on Douglas Perlitz case outside the courthouse -
Chris Simmons Mirror's photostream


Ex-Fairfielder accused of abusing Haitian boys drops bond bid
By Michael P. Mayko, STAFF WRITER, Connecticut Post, Oct. 28, 2009

Perlitz detained without prejudice, defense plans to eventually ask for release
by Chris Simmons, Fairfield Mirror, Oct. 28, 2009

Feds: Haiti abuse suspect sought boys while in US

Direct from Okap: Lakounewyork interview with Cyrus Sibert on Perlitz case

New motions filed in Perlitz case

Fr. Paul Carrier, S.J. Near The End Of The Line, Posted by Good Jesuit, Bad Jesuit blog

Haiti's Holocaust and Middle Passage Continues

Thank you: Haitian children had no public voice in this process until you came on the scene

Help Haiti's children - Demand that accused US pedophile, Doug Perlitz, not be set free on bond

Oil in Haiti - Economic Reasons for the UN/US occupation by Ezili Dantò

Sex scandal in Haiti hits U.N. mission

The 'Father Teresa' of Haiti – Armand Huard - was convicted on sex abuse charges against minors in Haiti orphanage

A Swiss accused pedophile was arrested in Haiti

The Slavery in Haiti the Media Won't Expose

Video Child Abuse/Molestation by white tourists in Kenya

Video Paradise for Pedophiles - Senegal

Video Peacekeepers 'abusing children' in Haiti - 27 Sep 08

Video 108 sri lankan troops accused of sexual abuse in haiti UN


Take action
Contact your local newspaper or congress people:

Please continue writing to Judge Margolis and attend the Dec. 2nd bond hearing, ask your local media to report on this case.

Click here to see the most recent messages sent to congressional reps and local newspapers

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