my soul cries out.docx

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My Soul Cries OutJorge Cornell Sentenced to 28 Years in Federal PrisonReflections on North Carolinas Moral Mondays, the Conviction and

Sentencing of Jorge Cornel l , Leader of the NC Almighty Latin King andQueen Nation and the Role of the Greensboro Police Department (GPD)

By Rev. Nelson N. JohnsonAugust 22, 2013

Jorge Cornell leader of the North Carolina

Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation

(ALKQN) was convicted on three counts of

racketeering in November of 2012; he was

sentenced to 28 years in federal prison onTuesday, August 14,2013.

When I went to visit Jorge later on the evening ofAugust 14

th, my heart was heavy, for I knew with

certainty that an innocent man had been convicted,sentenced, and imprisoned. I knew that theGreensboro Police anchored this abuse of power,

including years of harassment, provocation, andfalse charges against Jorge and the young people

around him, and finally solicitation of the U.S.Department of Justice to bring RICOH charges

against them.

My soul is crying out to release this information, to

get it from inside of me, for I observed thedevelopments that led to Jorge being imprisoned for

28 years systematically carried out in real time bythe GPD. I, together with others, spoke out, heldmeetings, and met with police and city officials. I

did all I could but was unable to stop the police intheir determination to get Jorge. I know that his

imprisonment has done nothing to reduce crime buthas increased bitterness and division. I know that

thousands of people in Greensboro have beenmisinformed and confused about who Jorge Cornellreally is. I am also convinced that many knewsomething was wrong with 18 felony charges

brought by the Greensboro Police without a singleconviction but were too detached or too frightened

by the powers to take a stand. I am ashamed of theGreensboro Police Department (GPD), and I amashamed of my city.

I have been a strong supporter ofMoral Mondays.

I was among the first 17 to be arrested. I know thatwhat is going on in our state capital deserves to be

exposed as a vicious attack on our democracy,

against the middle class, and especially against thepoor. It is an abuse of power on the state level. But

we have a major abuse of power right here in ourcity. I am reminded that Dr. King once said an

injustice anywhere is a threat to justice

everywhere. I am further reminded that Jesus ofNazareth said in as much as you do it unto one of

the least of these my brothers(or sisters) you havedone it unto me.

It is in the spirit of both Jesus and Dr. King that Iurge the hundreds of Greensboro citizens, who

opposed the abuse of power in Raleigh, to read thisepistle and to stand against the abuse of police

power in Greensboro. A starting point is taking a

clear stand that our police cannot and should not

be asked to police themselves. It is simply toomuch power concentrated in too few hands with toolittle oversight. Only the people of Greensboro can

take the lead to change this.

I must admit that I am hurting for my brother Jorgeand many like him. I hurt because, for whateverreasons, I and many others were not able to help our

police department and the City of Greensborochoose a better way. Weighted down with pain and

sadness, when I entered the jail visiting room to seeJorge in the evening of the same day he wassentenced, to my astonishment, he greeted me with

a broad smile and an unusually upbeat spirit. Hesaid he was happy, and he told me that the whole

cellblock was happy with him.


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During our hour-long discussion that evening, Idiscovered that his happiness grew from three

interrelated developments. First, he could havegotten 50 years, but he was given 28 years, two

years less than the minimum recommendedguideline of from 50 to 30 years. Secondly, he wasexcited that his community had shown up. Those of

us present included two PhDs, several clergy, anexperienced civil rights attorney, and two dozen or

so community activists and organizers, several ofwhom spoke with passion and conviction from thewitness stand. Thirdly, and perhaps the greatest

source of Jorges joy, is his strong conviction thatthe deeper truth of his case will be revealed and

overturned on appeal. There is a biblical passagethat says we are to weep with those who weep and

rejoice with those who rejoice. I found myselfrejoicing with Jorge. Even the 28-year prisonsentence, which will have Jorge physically caged upcould not take away the joy ofhope yet unborn.

Jorge told me that he was overjoyed when the groupof diverse people appeared in court and offered acompletely different picture of him from that whichthe RICOH prosecuting lawyers had painted. Iwish I could adequately capture the compelling

picture painted by the 12 support letters and thetestimony of those who spoke to the judge onJorges behalf. Jorges confidence and up-lifted

spirit pulled some of the sadness and gloom out ofme. His joy allowed me to enjoy an hour with him,

talking not only about the sincere effort he made to

help impoverished young people and the goodthings people said about him in court that day, but

also about his girls and his entire family and how heplanned to continue his work when he gets out.Jorge saw the developments in court as a sign fromGod that he would be free in the not too distantfuture.

Jorges story, when properly understood, providesgreat encouragement. He was born into a familycrippled and split by drugs; he lived in several

foster homes before being adopted as a 12 year old

into the Cornell family. In spite of all of this, heemerged as a young man dedicated to helping the

most marginalized youth even as he was trying toredeem the only organization that embraced him

and the only organization that he really knew, theALKQN. Though viewed as a gang by many, theinitial purpose of ALKQN was to help uplift the

Latino community.

The Jorge that I know reflects a striving towardsthat revolution of values to which Dr. Martin

Luther King Jr. called our nation in his last yearsbefore he was assassination. Jorge was seeking to

include and help the most marginalized part of oursociety. He was not perfect, and he made mistakes.He was a work in progress, but he was sincerely

trying. For his efforts he was crushed by local andfederal law enforcement powers with the tacit

consent of a confused and divided citizenry. Wemust find a better way.

Jorges case is important in its own right but it alsoprovides a window into a much broader picture, a

picture about a national mood and rapidlydeveloping trend in the criminal justice industry.

Michelle Alexander in her well-documented andcompelling 300-page book, The New Jim Crowputsit plainly:

What is completely missing in the rare

public debates about the plight of AfricanAmericans [and I would add people ofcolor) is that a huge percentage of them are

not free to move up at all. It is not just thatthey lack opportunity, attend poor schools,

or are plagued by poverty. They are barredby law from doing so. And the majorinstitutions with which they come into

contact are designed to prevent theirmobility. To put it starkly: the current

system of control permanently locks a huge

percentage of the African AmericanCommunity out of the mainstream of society

and economy. The system operates throughour criminal justice institutions, but it

functions more like a caste system than asystem of crime control[underline added].

Every justice-loving person should read Michellesbook. A good friend of mine, Dr. Grace Lee Boggs,a 98 year-old philosopher and activist from Detroit,in reflecting on the kind of revolution of values

(inclusiveness, justice, compassion, etc.) that Jorge

was straining toward, said there is a strong counterrevolution emerging in this nation. The counter-

revolution is very unprincipled and very dangerous.Its defeat will take a lot of courage, cooperation

and principled struggle.

It took a lot of courage for Jorge to stand against the

Greensboro police in a principled way. The policesystematically provoked, harassed and brought false

charges for over four years against Jorge and the


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young people around him that he was trying to help.Police told employers that the young people

associated with Jorge were violent, dangerous gangmembers. As a result, they were fired.

impoverished, labeled, and isolated. A paid youngpolice agent was embedded among them, whoinstigated criminal activities that Jorge stood

against. Eventually, these young people werethrown into conflict with each other and some did,

in fact, turn to petty crime. I see this ascriminalizing young people in order to retaliateagainst a person who was critical of the police and

who was trying to do good work in the community.

All of these young people were subsequently lockedup for nearly a year under fabricated RICOH

charges. During that period, federal officials, withthe local police lurking in the background, puttremendous pressure on these frightened, isolatedyoung people, using the pending charges againstthem to coerce them into lying on Jorge. Beloved

this is very unprincipled and dangerous. For thoseof us in Greensboro it happened on our watch. Weare not insuring proper supervision of those whohave been empowered to deprive people of life,liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. All of us are

partly responsible.

Grace Boggs goes on to say, Rooted in race, and

the search for the American Dream it [the counterrevolution] began at the end of World War 11,when white people moved to the suburbs to escape

blacks in cities like Detroit which were becomingmajority black. Taking with them their schools,

their businesses and their taxes, they impoverishedthe cities and attracted the money of extreme right-wingers like Koch [and we could easily add thePope brothers in North Carolina]. Gracescomments are a generalization and might not apply

in the same way to every city in the nation, but theydo provide a context that is very, very important.

Returning to Jorges case, after character witnesses

had spoken in the federal court on August 14th and

before his sentence was rendered, Jorge was giventhe opportunity to speak and express his views for

the first time since he was arrested in December of2011. Jorge was at one and the same time

simplistic, profound and, in his own way, eloquent.He spoke with power and humility for some thirtyminutes. I am not able to capture verbatim the

exact words of Jorge but let me do the best I can tocapture some of the words and the spirit of his

statement made in Federal Court on August 14th.

When Judge Beaty asked Jorge did he haveanything to say on his behalf, standing in an orange

prison jumpsuit with a chain around his waist linkedto his wrists, Jorge said in a halting voice, yes, I

have a lot to say. He said he wanted to present thecourt with documents to show that there were morethan 20,000 pages of Greensboro Police references

to him or the ALKQN, some of which would showhow systematically and illegally the GPD set out to

harass, to entrap and to assassinate him. After someback and forth the Judge said he would not receivesuch documents, as this was not a re-trial but simply

an opportunity for him to share with the court histhoughts and views relative to the sentencing.

Jorge publicly criticized his court appointed lawyer

for not pressing to get those documents before thecourt during the trial. He also said that he hadseveral character witnesses present but that hisattorney was not calling them. The Judge granted a15-minute recess for Jorge to consult with his

attorney. When the court was reconvened, theattorney called six character witnesses, letterswritten by some are on our website atwww.belovedcommunitycenter.org . I have neverseen six people speak with such penetrating clarity,

earnestness, and profoundness about anotherpersons work and character.

After his character witnesses had spoken, Jorgeonce again stood to his feet and boldly told the

court that he was innocent of all the charges. He

said he had not ordered or directed anyone to burn ahouse, to steal or to attack anyone. He said that

many of the young people that testified against himwere put out of the organization because theyrefused to abide by his rules of no stealing, no druguse, and no instigating of violence.

Jorge told Judge Beaty and the court that thegovernment had manipulated and frightened a

bunch of kids and then pressured them to lie. Hesaid that the people who committed the crimes were

given greatly reduced sentences and some were

allowed to go free. He said that any crimes theymight commit in the future would be on the hands

of the government. Yet, he said he harbored nohatred for these individuals who had lied against

him. Jorge told of being mistakenly put in the cellwith one of the young people who had testifiedagainst him. He said this young brother was

frightened and trembling. Jorge said he told theyoung man dont be afraid. I am not going to hurt
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you. I know the pressure they put on you, you werewrong, but I forgive you.

Jorge looked back his 16-year-old daughter and

turned to the Judge and dropped his head sobbing.The court was quiet. After a minute or so, helooked at the Judge and told him that I have no

confidence in the government. I believe you aregoing to give me the maximum. He then said to the

judge, but I forgive you. Judge Beaty did notgive him 50 years; instead, he gave him 28 yearsand asked that he be located as close as possible to

his family in Greensboro.

In the wake of this entire experience, my soul criesout to all my young black brothers and sisters. My

soul cries out to the entire black community, mysoul cries out to the yellow, brown and white peopleto urge us to reach out to each other in love, to learneach others stories and rebuild brokenrelationships, and to mend our fragmented

community. Let us all do our parts to make ourchildren and ourselves whole. Your individualefforts make a difference.

My soul cries out to former Mayor Jim Melvinand all of the old guard leadership of Greensboroand to my middle and upper middle class white

brothers and sisters. Each of you still has an

important and positive role to play. Do not brushaside what I have raised and look upon this as

someone elses problem to solve. Let us strive to

understand our collective predicament and eachother in new ways, and then let us work together in

new ways.

My soul cries out to the broad interfaith clergy .I urge you to dare to take the risk of standing withthe most marginalized. Together, we must open up

real avenues of new and creative economicpossibilities. What the children of historicallydevastated, impoverished communities need mostare parents with work good work that builds

communities and provides adequately for their

families. It is hard to envision a neighborhoodbeing whole and safe when more than 60% of the

adults have no work or are paid much lower than aliving wage.

My soul cries out to Police Chief Miller, to theleadership of the GPD, and to all police officers.

The Beloved Community Center is not your enemy.I am not your enemy. I appreciate the necessity for

good police work, and I appreciate the risks that

accompany you in the course of conducting yourwork. I must emphasize, however, that I am the

enemy of injustice, falsehood and biasness. There isa major problem of lack of truthfulness in the

internal investigative mechanism and the topleadership of the Department. I do not necessarilyexpect all police officers to acknowledge or even

recognize the problems with the culture in whichyou are engulfed. My soul cries out, nevertheless, to

you to be open to and to join with the call for aCitizens Police Review Board. It will make theGPD better.

My soul cries out to my own soul to be still and

know that God is God. My soul says to my soul tonot become bitter or locked so deeply into my own

views that I am not able to hear others or to seetheir concerns. My soul cries out to hear the voiceof God to be strong and steadfast in compassionand justice while not dismissing anyone and, likethe Good Samaritan, to see all as my neighbor

and strive to be a neighbor to all.

Greensboro has been slipping backward for

years, even by standards of other major cities in thestate. Working together we can change this and

become one of North Carolinas truly great cities.Racial wounds can be healed. Divisions can beovercome. The economy can be strengthened from

the bottom up. We all need each other to really bewhole. But, we all have to change and become

better. Finally, let me give you some handles to

grab onto that can, hopefully, help pull us together.

1. Come to the BCC Community Table anyWednesday from 1:00 until 3:00 P.M.This is a public space where all are welcomed

and the views of all are respected. We have but

one rule with two parts: a) listen deeply and b)speak your truth, whatever it is, but do so

respectfully. We are located at 417 Arlington

Street in the Downtown Greensboro area.

We can be reached at 336-230-0001 or

[email protected]

2. Come to the Third Community Public

Discussion on Police Professionalism and

Accountability on Tuesday September 10,

2013, 6:30 PM, at Bethel AME Church, 200

Regan Street (near A&T).

3. Share this letter with your networks.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]

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