Homewood Nation

As a citizen and a journalist, I have never had an experience quite like the apprehension of Dennis Henderson and Rossano Paul Stewart and the events following. When Jerome Jackson interrupted the "Urban Agenda" meeting to call all us outside, he sent me into a couple of days of working almost nonstop on the story.

Now that I've taken a breather (I got catch-up sleep Friday afternoon), I want to express appreciation to some people, in no particular order:

Thanks to Rashad Byrdsong for helping to direct the energy of an angry crowd in a productive direction.

Thanks to Councilman Ricky V. Burgess for showing up and for getting public safety director Michael Huss to the scene at Zone 5. (Some may say that he was just doing his job, and that you shouldn't thank people for doing their jobs. I do, partly because not everybody does their job.)

Thanks to Marita Bradley for calling Councilman Burgess to the scene.

Thanks to Jerome Jackson for challenging what he viewed as excessive policing, and for calling a crowd to witness.

Thanks to those officers who, when they arrived on the scene, kept their cool and didn't make it worse. Because it could have been much worse.

Thanks to my fellow citizens who, when we saw what was happening, didn't make it worse. Because it could have been much worse.

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Thanks to those of you who immediately began sharing the story from the moment when I first posted the photo of Mr. Stewart and Mr. Henderson in handcuffs. You helped to bring the story to the attention of mainstrain media, and I am grateful, because the story deserved the widest possible coverage.

Thanks to the media outlets who picked up on the story, and who credited Homewood Nation in using my material.

Thanks to those of you who followed the developing story, and who liked, commented and shared with others. Thanks to you, my original post on Homewood Nation's Facebook page inking to the story about the incident has received more than 2,500 views - easily more than 20 times as many as anything else I have ever posted there. And Homewood Nation itself, which I believe had never received more that 200 visitors in a day, had nearly 5,000 visitors yesterday.

Thanks to those of you who, when you read the story, took the time and thought to comment. As the slogan above suggests, the goal of Homewood Nation is enlightened and empowering conversation.

Of all those who engaged with this story online, I want to especially thank Khrys Myrddin. Very early in Homewood Nation's life, she suggested creating a Facebook page for it. I hated Facebook, and said that I would do a Homewood Nation Facebook page  if she would help to manage it. She has, for three years. As I recall, we have met once.

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To those of you who have visited Homewood Nation for the first time, I say, "Welcome." Please take a look around. Homewood Nation has been covering the community since April 2010, so you might find the archives interesting. Start at the home page, and enjoy!

To all of you I say, if you consider Homewood Nation to be of value, please support it. and me, by clicking one of the ads on the right and either purchasing an advertised item or making an outright donation.

Homewood Nation has never sought outside advertisers - the ads on the right represent ways that I seek to make a living, without having to get a job that would hinder me doing this work. I could not have done the work that I did starting Wed. night if I had a 9-5. So here's how you can help me to keep doing this work:

If you buy a piece of Homewood Nation gear, I will get a commission.

If enough of you view enough Homewood Nation videos on YouTube, Google will pay me.

If you buy a book by clicking through the ad at right, Amazon will pay me.

If you click the "Make a donation" button, you can provide direct support without going through a middleman (Luminaria Productions LLC is me).

If you click the "Quick Flicks" link, you'll see that I have five short screenplays for sale. Buy any or all of those, and there's no middleman.

Finally - I am a representative for Legal Shield, a company that provides quality legal services at a discount on a membership basis. In my view, the Henderson-Stewart incident demonstrates dramatically the importance of having access to an attorney, 24/7. I've been afraid that if I said that, it would seem like crass opportunism. But finally I thought, "If I have the ability to help people gain affordable attorney access, and I *don't* say anything after this incident, because I'm afraid of what they'll think, what kind of person am I?"

I would love to see everyone who reads this wearing a "Homewood Nation" T-shirt. But it would mean worlds more to me to know that you have affordable access to the legal system. 

Please check out Legal Shield by clicking the "Legal Services" ad to the right. Thanks!

Come back for ongoing coverage of the Henderson-Stewart incident, and efforts to improve police-community relations in Homewood. But before that, guest writer Shawn Carter weighs in on "Why the Supreme Court's Ruling in the Voting Rights Act Case Doesn't Matter for Homewood." Stay tuned!