Wednesday, February 12, 2014

PARENTS AGAINST CRIME (PAC) Summit

Greetings everyone!

We have a date for PARENTS AGAINST CRIME (PAC) summit. Saturday April 12, 2014 at 9 am.  

LOCATION: Tribune Praise Temple
1920 40th St. N.W. 
Winter Haven, FL 33881
Rev. Felisia Mason, Senior Pastor 

PLEASE COME OUT TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT!  WE WILL SEE YOU THERE! 

For more information please visit: rodneymitchellfoundation.org 


Monday, December 16, 2013

DEAR NATION

Dear Nation:

You are no doubt very familiar with the Trayvon Martin tragedy in Sanford FL.  What most people are not aware of is what happened just a few miles south of Sanford, FL and did not get into the headlines. Young Rodney Mitchell was a recent college grad who had come home to Sarasota to begin his career in Education and to raise his 2-year old son.

Due to profiling or (DWB-Driving While Black) poor Rodney Mitchell was wrongly stopped and subsequently killed by 2 Sarasota Deputy Policemen. The story is attached. It happened in 2012 and we have been trying since to get national attention and justice on this case because like Trayvon another African American youth has been slain senselessly due to the color of his skin. We MUST stop this open season on our youth and it must be brought to the attention of the nation to put an end to these murders especially at the hands of Law Enforcement. 

This young man could easily have been a role model for so many young men in the Sarasota/Bradenton, Florida community. He was a well educated, athletically gifted young Christian father who could be my son or yours, very likable as well. The Bible tells us those things done in the dark shall be brought into the light. This was a good kid who did not deserve to be cut down just as he was beginning his journey in life. It would never have happened had he not been profiled to start with but this time it led to this fatality.

We are helping Rodney's mother pursue justice and we were led in your direction for a reason we pray that you and our fellow Americans will help us seek justice not only for this child's family but, for all parents who pray that when their babies walk out of the house, God will watch over them and we can trust that our children will not be harmed by the hands of evil, racial hatred and be returned to our homes each day.

Please help our cause we have to raise money and sign petitions to bring Rodney's case into the public hearts and find justice through our legal system.


Respectfully,

Natasha Clemons
President of The Rodney Mitchell Foundation, Inc.


Happy Valentine's Day to you and your family 





SIGN PETITION for RODNEY MITCHELL


A petition in which was started for Justice for Rodney Mitchell A.K.A Hot Rod! http://www.change.org/petitions/justice-for-rodney


We Need Your Help


SARASOTA - Three months after her son was shot and killed by sheriff's deputies, Natasha Clemons hoisted two photos of him at a rally Thursday and shook her head.

“No justice, no peace,” chanted a crowd of about 60 that had gathered at the Newtown Estates gym to push for a new investigation of the shooting of 23-year-old Rodney Mitchell.

The Sarasota County Sheriff's office and the 12th Judicial Circuit State Attorney's Office have ruled that the shooting was justified.

Sheriff's officials have said they stand by their investigation, and that they hired an outside consultant to review the findings because they wanted to present all the facts.

Mitchell was pulled over for an alleged seat belt violation June 11, but tried to drive away from the traffic stop. He had a suspended license and likely would have been taken to jail.

As Mitchell hit the gas, the SUV he drove headed toward one of two deputies who had approached the SUV, according to the sheriff's office. The two deputies fired out of fear that one of them would be run over, sheriff's investigators concluded.

Clemons, a nurse, says she will never believe it. She wants the deputies to face criminal charges for killing her son. On Thursday, members of the local chapters of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference , and the Sarasota-Manatee Black Democratic Caucus joined Clemons in calling for a federal investigation.

“There are huge pieces of the puzzle missing,” Clemons said in an interview. “They are guilty and I will never give up or give in until I get justice.”

By the time the crowd reached a meeting room inside the gym, it had swelled to 100, with a line of people standing that ran around the room and out the door.

They pointed to several inconsistencies in the sheriff's investigation including:

• It started with an alleged seat belt violation. The officer who said he saw Mitchell was not belted was going the opposite direction on U.S. 301 at 9:30 at night. Additionally, Mitchell's driver seat was reclined at a 45-degree angle. After he was shot and the car crashed, his seat belt was on. Deputies say he must have put it on sometime before the officer pulled him over.

• Deputies and a crime scene investigator hired by the sheriff's office say the car was headed at one of the officers. But a 16-year-old cousin of Mitchell's in the front passenger seat says Mitchell turned the wheel to the right, away from the deputies, before he hit the gas.

Additionally, the deputy who initiated the traffic stop had been cautioned before by his supervisors for his judgment regarding traffic stops, arrests and officer safety. Five drivers had filed complaints alleging that he pulled them over for seat belt violations when they were belted.

Local SCLC leader Charles Smith, a Palmetto City Commissioner, told the crowd that evidence of racial profiling is one thing that will attract the attention of the Department of Justice's civil rights division.

The Democratic caucus leaders who hosted Thursday's rally emphasized that it will take time and pressure to convince the federal government to investigate.



“This is how you do it, you pack the room,” said black caucus co-chairman Lou Murray. “We packed it.”




Justice for Rodney Mitchell




Justice for #9