Please attend and lobby for Michael on Friday, the 3rd.

Hi,

We request your presence @ Michael's court date/sentencing on September 3rd, 2010 @ 720 9th Street @ earliest 9am and at the latest 10 am. Judge David Brown is presiding and I have conflicting court room/departments; so it is either Department 36 or Department 17 on Friday morning.

Michael has many redeeming qualities but those are frequently hidden under the guise of his behavior when he is using cocaine. He has finally come to grips with his addictions and also admitted that he has mental health issues as well - known as co-occurring conditions these days.

Addiction is also recognized as an official disability under ADA and we hope that the judge will use that as part of the criteria in determining how these latest alleged crimes will be addressed. Will Michael get the help he desperately needs and is ready to learn the skills and tools to live a conventional life? Or will he be warehoused yet again (like too many others) and basically CDCR's treatment will reflect that he should be given up on at this time and just be treated as throw-away?

He is seeking rehabilitation services/locations as explicitly promised in CDCR's acronym by including Rehabilitation in the name of their services offered in name of their criminal justice system. There is also a profession of well-educated individuals, such as psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers that is predicated on the belief that promotes the idea they can work with people by using meds, therapy and behavior modification and by working in conjunction with each other that helps people change.

Then we have several support groups (AA, NA, SA etc) out there that also believe change is possible and provides an educational system and a support system to facilitate change and prevent relapse.

So, while we are requesting your presence, we are also requesting that you share your stories about how you have experienced MIchael as an addict and when he was suffering from other problems. We need as much proof as possible that he is an addict, but that he isn't a horrible person. The drugs drive a lot of the destructive behavior and I believe that may also supersede, to some degree to act rationally and have free-will go up in flames.

Please join us in our struggle to lobby for a new path for the judge to consider. And then, Michael has a responsibility to be 100% responsible to the people that are in his corner and respect all of us by working as hard as he can to overcome his addiction and that he complies with any medication requirements as well.

He wants to live life differently...I think we may help that happen by advocating for him in front of the judge on Friday, the 3rd.

Thanks!

Michael and Julie

Inspiration & keeping centered

Miracles occur naturally as expressions of love. The real miracle is the love that inspires them. In this sense everything that comes from love is a miracle.
Marianne Williamson

Nothing liberates our greatness like the desire to help, the desire to serve.
Marianne Williamson

May we not succumb to thoughts of violence and revenge today, but rather to thoughts of mercy and compassion. We are to love our enemies that they might be returned to their right minds.
Marianne Williamson

Taking the high road

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
Marianne Williamson quotes

New Court Date

Hi Everyone!

Sorry to mess with your schedule and plans, but Michael/Bakari's court date for sentencing is being continued for 1 - 2 weeks. So, you are welcome to be there tomorrow, but you will only see him for about 30 seconds.

Again, I apologize for this last minute notification and we just learned of the change about 1 hour ago.

Please, please keep him in your thoughts and prayers and if possible, he will still greatly appreciate your support at his official sentencing. I will post new information as it becomes available.

Thanks!

Has prison exacerbated his dual diagnoses/co-occurring conditions

As I recall back in 2006, Agent Cook, declared (and I am paraphrasing) when he claimed that the reason to charge Michael with a parole violation was that he expected more of Michael as he said to him “Mr. Brown, you are going to be a productive member of society”. I am guessing that he thought a return to custody would deter him and turn him around. Unfortunately, he disappointed me, his family and he proved that whatever goes on in prison did not prepare him for re-integration into society, address his addiction or address his bio-chemical imbalance and those have continued to negatively affect his behavior – still manifesting in 2010…

Apparently, Agent Cook did not get the intended outcome because when Mr. Brown was returned to CDCR’s custody at DVI for 60 days at the end of 2006 and beginning of 2007, he did not achieve that goal/mission because little if any rehabilitation was offered and instead, it yielded a more wounded, angry, frustrated, “institutionalized” as we have watched the years go by and the future played out as it has…

Addiction is an affliction; it is bio-chemical, not criminal

If you would like to send a letter in support of Bakari, please e-mail me, Julie @ journeying_along2@yahoo.com or Mike's attorney, Alin @ alin@cal-lawyers.com or you may fax him @ 916.520.3818. I may have fax capability on Wednesday, otherwise, please contact one or both of us. by whatever means available to you.

This is short notice, so if you choose to assist Michael in his fight for justice and appropriate means to address his proclivities, please contact us ASAP, as in by Thursday, August 19th.

If you wish to speak at his appearance, it is scheduled for 9 a.m. @720 9th Street in Department #36 with Judge David I. Brown presiding.

Start from the beginning

If you are interested in learning about the back story of his parentage and how it has played out for Michael, please check the blog dated, March 28th, 2007, "Michael Brown, son of the late James Brown, begins to set the record straight".

Is CDCR sincere in their goal to really utilize rehabilitation options

PLEASE, I am writing on Mr. Michael Deon Brown’s, x-1211819, behalf. I hope that those of us that know him well will be able to weigh in and recount our history and interaction with Michael and why, perhaps, a different path should be explored, if it is determined that he is found to be culpable for the current accusations. I implore you to seriously review and consider my plea for a new strategy with respect to Mr. Brown’s rehabilitation.

INSANITY: After all, isn’t Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity something like this: doing the exact same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome. Now, perhaps you may believe that applies only to Mr. Brown; however, CDCR is also guilty of perpetrating that phenomena.

CDCR’s role is to provide prisons to house those convicted of various infractions/crimes; however, the other part of their mission is “rehabilitation”. Now, ideally, prisoners are being “rehabilitated” while in custody. If only…

Prevention is less expensive than punitive measures

While Michael is gone, he and I would like for him to have the opportunity to experience CDCR's rehabilitative services, so he has the opportunity to emerge as a better person. He actually has co-occurring (addiction and mental health issues simultaneously) conditions, so a program that provides the tools for behavior modification, counseling and meds would be optimal.

Responsibility

Everyone has the opportunity to change, if they are willing and able. Michael is finally willing to admit that his addiction has been as destructive it was, and it was the drugs governing a lot of his behavior. We are lobbying for court mandated rehabilitation programs. Right now, it is scheduled for 9am on Friday @ 720 9th Street, Department 36, Judge David Brown presiding.

Rehab

Hi Everyone, I will be updating regularly this week; this Friday is going to be a trying and/or tragic week for Michael...and me. If you would like to show your support, you may attend his final appearance @ 720 9th Street, Department 36, Judge David Brown presiding. We are lobbying for court mandated rehabilitation programs. Right now, it is scheduled for 9am on Friday.

Please feel free to attend and support him and if you are comfortable and willing and would like to comment on your interaction/experience of Michael, we would welcome that. Specifically, we are asking for examples of his behavior while he was in the throes of addiction.

Maternal Sister

I have mentioned my little sister, Rissa, in different blogs that I have posted as well as on FaceBook. In a letter that I recently drafted, I referred to having to love "the idea" of my father, James Brown. And unfortunately, I have also been your brother in idea only, too. You and I are almost virtual strangers; however, for the most part, I have been OK with that b/c getting close to me can be a risk.

However, I worry that if Mom, Boo-Boo and Big Daddy were taken from us tomorrow, what would happen to us? You and I aren't close and neither are Eliase and I. I hadn't really given this dynamic much thought until you and my wife-equivalent encountered problems. Then I was put into the position to really analyze how I am to my family. I can apologize but how many times have I done that?

I am SO PROUD OF YOU, RISSA. You seem to have always the done the right thing and in my eyes, you can do no wrong. The reason I hold you in such high esteem is because of your accomplishments and how you impact the world around you, as well as the joy and pride you instill in the family. And unfortunately, in a lot of families, there is the one member of the family that is always into something troublesome, and I have been that from day one.

Boo-Boo, Big Daddy and Mom just accept me and love me in spite of me. My "wife" believes in me and I hope she stands by me, but my circumstances and I are just too much for you at times. I am sorry that this relationship has degenerated into a long-distant and emotionally-distant relationship. But I understand and I wanted to acknowledge that I know, at this time, that is the way it has to be. But always know that I love you dearly...

Open Door

Hi,

This is from a few months back; I apologize that it took me so long to post this. This, too, is Bakari reaching out to his son, Eliase. I hope that sooner rather than later, they resolve the problems with this relationship b/c I hate seeing the repeat I have heard about for years now about how James refused to acknowledge his biological son, Michael and they never established a relationship. I hate facing this issue, but time does run out, which was demonstrated by Bakari's father, James, and his passing on Christmas Day 2006 and as a result they failed to address the turmoil of their relationship. I was reflecting on that the other day; however, I don't presume to fully understand the dynamic of this relationship between Michael and his son. Anyway, just an outsider's "food for thought".

Sincerely,

Julie

Eliase, I have extended myself and I want and need for you to know that the door is open for you to visit anytime. I wish to talk with you man-to-man and then I could also learn about what kind of man you have grown into after all of these years. I hear wonderful things about you and it sounds like you take after your Aunt Rissa. She has grown into a wonderful woman, very smart and independent, which is what I hear about you, as well.

Please do not mistake this as my arrogance to suddenly be your long lost father because I wouldn't have any idea how to be one at this point and time. I just want to look you in the eye and talk with you. We all know what path my life has taken and what the result has been; however, I yearn to finally face you and incur your wrath, love, contempt, pity, sadness, regret, pain, understanding (if not now, maybe someday?!?!)

So, I am imploring you to perhaps give me another chance and soften a little towards me. I know I really haven't been in your life and the rare times I have been there, it hasn't usually been pleasant, to say the least. I am looking at the bigger picture and trying to understand why this dynamic has perpetuated itself for at least three generations of fathers and sons in the Brown family.

I swore I wouldn't be like my dad, and lo and behold, I did exactly that and sometimes, worse. Your life so closely mirrors my own as I grew up and experienced repeated rejection. I wanted my dad to be my dad and I wrote him, called out and prayed to God but all he did was ignore me. You have experienced the same and you will never understand how that impacts me and I grieve for us.

I really hope that I don't die before we can talk and make peace, if nothing else.

Love (truly),

Dad, Pops, Father or just plain Bakari/Michael.