i am

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harlem, usa
same-gender-loving contemporary descendant of enslaved africans. community activist, feminist, health educator, independent filmmaker, mentor, playwright, poet & spiritual being. featured at, in & on africana.com, afrikan poetry theatre, angel herald, bejata dot com, bet tonight with tavis smiley, blacklight online, black noir, brooklyn moon cafe, gmhc's barbershop, klmo-fm, lgbt community services center, longmoor productions, nuyorican poets cafe, our corner, poz, pulse, rolling out new york, rush arts gallery, saint veronica's church, schomburg center for research in black culture, sexplorations, the citizen, the new york times, the soundz bar, the trenton times, the village voice, upn news, uzuri, venus, vibe, wbai-fm, wnyc-fm & wqht-fm. volunteered with adodi, bailey house, inc., black men's xchange-new york, colorofchange.org, drug policy alliance, east harlem tutorial program, imagenation film & music festival, presente.org, save darfur coalition, the enough project, the osborne association, the sledge group & your black world. worked on films with maurice jamal & heather murphy. writing student of phil bertelsen & ed bullins. mjt975@msn.com.

Sunday, May 27, 2018

Class-action lawsuit seeks damages for Indiana inmates denied voting rights in jail during 2016 November elctions

a class-action lawsuit was filed on behalf of 150 people unjustly denied of the right to vote in the 2016 november election while incarcerated in allen county jail in indiana. unspecified monetary damages are being sought.

the state prohibits anyone serving time for a felony to vote. but a majority of the jail's detainees on election day were eligible - either because they were pre-trial and and couldn't afford bond, or because they were serving misdemeanor sentences.

indiana law requires all eligible voters be allowed to vote by absentee ballot, and the sheriff has to make arrangements with election officials to provide those ballots. the suit claims sheriff david gladieux neglected his principle duties to ensure all eligible voters get equal opportunity to do so.

attorney david frank, who is representing the plaintiffs, said they believe this is the first class-action suit to seek monetary damages for detainess barred from voting. the lawsuit targets allen county, indiana's third-largest county, but its likely detainees across the state were denied as well. 

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