Since January, 2008, Power To The People has conducted a vigorous campaign to get state and federal officials to investigate the Chad Youth Enhancement Center, a private juvenile detention facility in Ashland City, Tenn., where two black teens have died--Linda Harris, 14, in 2005 and Omega Leach III, 17, in 2007. We filed a complaint to the U.S. Dept. of Justice asking for a federal investigation into the deaths of Linda and Omega, whom several observers said were choked to death by some of Chad's staff members.
Neither of the two daily newspapers and only one of the five TV stations, Channel 4 (NBC), attended the press conference we held to announce our complaint to the DOJ. To the best of our knowledge Channel 4 did not report on the air about the press conference.
The state medical examiner, Dr. Bruce Levy, ruled that Omega Leach's death was a homicide. Power To The People sent a written request to Levy asking that he conduct inquests into the deaths of Omega and Linda. None of the corporate news media contacted us about the press release we sent out concerning our request to Levy.
On March 1, 2008, the Associated Press reported that between 2004 and 2007, over 500 youth were abused in state-run juvenile detention centers in Tennessee. To protest this horrendous abuse and the deaths of Linda Harris and Omega Leach, Power To The People held a march and rally on April 26. None of the corporate news media came to the march.
In May, 2008, Power To The People created the Nashville Bus Riders Union (NBRU) to organize the predominantly low income people of color who ride the local buses to protest upcoming fare hikes and service route cuts made by the local bus company, the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA). Prior to June 1, when the fare hikes and route cuts became effective, PTTP's vice president agreed to a request from The Tennessean (the larger of the two local daily newspapers) to write an op-ed piece about MTA and related local transit issues. However, when an editor at the newspaper tried to tell our vice president what he should write, he refused to submit an article. PTTP would not allow our views to be dictated and censored by The Tennessean.
PTTP filed civil rights complaints to the Federal Transit Administration and the Federal Highway Administration against MTA and other Tennessee transit agencies, charging them with discriminating against low income people and people of color. The corporate news media igored us.
Nashville ranks No. 6 in the nation for pollution, primarily caused by the large number of cars on the road due to the poor local mass transit system. PTTP filed a complaint to the Environmental Protection Agency against MTA and other transit agencies in the state, in which we charged the agencies with environmental racism because of the pollution. Once again, none of the corporate media reported about our complaint.
In short, the white corporate news media in Nashville has imposed a media white-out on Power To The People. They have decided to ignore us because we are a black radical voice--the city's only black radical voice. Through this blog, Power To The People will fight the media white-out of our work and the issues that we raise.
