ways we can support the NJ4

[Nicole]

Hi, everyone.

On the main page of this website, Amy has useful links to some ways we can help the New Jersey 4:

** Sign the online petition
** Write letters to the governor requesting clemency
** Send money or gifts to the young women in prison or their families
** Write letters or send cards to the Four in prison.

Here are a few other things we could do:

** Please TALK TO PEOPLE about the New Jersey 4 case and ask them to spread the word.
** Please ANNOUNCE THIS WEBSITE and discussion board on the blogs you like to visit.
** People could tape themselves talking about their feelings on the NJ4 case and post the FOOTAGE ON YOUTUBE.
** If you are a member of a social or political organization that has an interest in supporting the NJ4, please let us know how we can participate. If your group has a web presence, please POST LINKS TO YOUR WEBSITE here.
** Write LETTERS TO THE EDITOR of your local newspaper. Amy points out that the smaller the newspaper, the more likely you are to get your message published.
** Call into RADIO stations to talk about the case.
** Host FUNDRAISING or care package parties to support the Four and their families.
** If you know about an upcoming event in support of the NJ4, please POST AN ANNOUNCEMENT here.
** Please begin and PARTICIPATE IN DISCUSSIONS on this discussion board.
** What happened to these young women was not an isolated incident. Have you had similar experiences? Please SHARE YOUR OWN STORIES.

Any other ideas would be welcome.

[Eeni B Bella]

I'm so glad this website is here!

I just wrote a letter to Gov. Spitzer and will mail it off on Monday, and PayPal'd a donation to the All 7 Collective Mission (meager as the donation is. )

I'd like to write to the 4 women in jail, too... Will it work if I send one card to Renata and Patreese, and one card to Venice and Terrain, or do I need to send 4 individual cards?

[Nicole]

Hi, Eeni.

Thanks very much. All of our "meager" donations add up.

Venice and Terrain haven't answered my letters, but I do correspond with Renata and Patreese. The two of them have contact with each other, so if you send a card to one it will reach the other one as well. The impression I get from writing back and forth with the two of them is that Patreese keeps somewhat better track of that kind of thing.

Thanks again.

[Nicole]

Hi, everyone. Now may be a good time to send letters to the new governor. Here's a template, but it will be much more powerful if we all send different letters, so please add to or change this letter to express your own feelings about this case.

If you want to e-mail the governor, you can do that from here:  http://www.amyewinter.net/nj4/moreinfo.html#gov

If you'd rather call the office of the governor, here's the number: (518) 474-8390

Or you might want to print your letter and mail it to:

David A. Paterson
Governor of New York
State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224-0341

Dear Governor Paterson:

In the summer of 2006, seven young women from New Jersey, Venice Brown, Khamysha Coates, Terrain Dandridge, Lania Daniels, Renata Hill, Patreese Johnson, and Chenese Loyal, were spending some of their leisure time in New York City's West Village when Dwayne Buckle, a man selling DVDs on the street, sexually propositioned Patreese Johnson. Refusing to take no for an answer, he followed the young women down the street, insulting them and yelling threats. He spat in Renata's face and threw his lit cigarette at her, then he yanked another's hair, pulling her towards him, and then he began strangling Renata. A fight broke out, during which Patreese Johnson, 4 feet 11 inches tall and 95 pounds, produced a small knife from her bag to stop Buckle from choking her friend.

Two male onlookers, one of whom had a knife, ran over to physically deal with Buckle in order to help the women. Buckle, who ended up hospitalized for five days with stomach and liver lacerations, initially reported on at least two occasions that the men—not the women—had attacked him. What's more, Patreese's knife was never tested for DNA, the men who beat Buckle were never questioned by police, and the whole incident was documented on surveillance video. Yet the women ended up on trial for attempted murder, throughout which the judge, Edward J. McLaughlin, ridiculed and expressed open contempt for the women in front of the jury. As a result, four of the women ended up being convicted and sentenced in June 2007 to jail terms ranging from 3 1/2 to 11 years.

It is difficult to justify these women being brought to trial for anything, much less murder, and almost impossible to credibly explain the sentences brought down on them. This letter is to ask you to consider clemency for these women, who have been in jail for over a year despite having committed no crime. Thank you for your consideration of this matter.

Sincerely,