Posts Tagged ‘Sage Francis’

This is war.

Sage Francis has decided to fight back the people who hold you down by putting out this free track in hopes that it will enlightned you to the trials of trying to stand up for yourself. But more specifically its about helping out a friend and fellow providence native Jared Paul. here it is from sage himself:

On Sept 1, 2008 I received a voicemail from Sean Daley (aka Slug of Atmosphere) informing me that my longtime friend, Jared Paul, was sitting in a Minnesota jail cell. This was the first day of the National Republican Convention, a 5 day event that Jared was covering for a Providence publication. I thought to myself “Well…that was quick.” And then the dark, disturbing feeling washed over me. Jared Paul is currently in a legal battle with the St. Paul, MN court system, along with hundreds of others who face trumped up charges thanks to the overzealous riot police at the Republican National Convention. Jared is one of many who does not have the appropriate funds to hire proper legal representation and the ACLU of Minnesota is so overwhelmed by the sheer volume of RNC arrest cases that they are unable to provide assistance. What Jared does have is massive support from music and poetry communities. As soon as news of his situation was made public people were in a frenzy asking how they could help out. When bail was granted, Slug graciously posted the fee and waited the entire day and night for Jared’s release. I’ve agreed to front the remainder of Jared’s legal fees while creating www.ConspiracyToRiot.com as a way to raise awareness about his situation and accept donations for our cause. This has less to do with a friend of mine possibly looking at jail time, and more to do with citizen’s rights continually being trampled on. There are thousands of innocent people in jail right now because of their lack of finances. This is a principle thing as much as it is personal. Attorneys working with the National Lawyers Guild and the ACLU are identifying this year’s RNC as one of the most extreme examples of strategic, premeditated attacks on the First Amendment in U.S. history. The convention’s planning committee facilitated $50 million in Federal funds to the Ramsey County authorities, basically hiring out all local law enforcement available as the RNC’s own private military contract force. An additional $10 million was then spent on an insurance package to cover legal fees specifically resulting from police misconduct. Authorities used extreme force and mass arbitrary arrests to target, intimidate, and jail dozens of major and independent journalists all week long. Their tactics not only kept non-Convention citizens away from downtown but detainees were kept as long as legally possible, preventing journalists from reporting on any event outside of the Convention’s main itinerary.

do yourself a favor and check the track out here and download it yourself. Donate to the cause!

[audio:http://www.strangefamousrecords.com/conspiracy/conspiracy-to-riot.mp3]