Remember Me - GERALD MARSHALL 999489

I was born to Johni and Gerald Marshall, both were addicted to drugs. I have 3 siblings. I am the next to the youngest. During our childhood there were times my siblings and I would go days without food. Vividly I remember one time we were so hungry we made a bunch of juice to combat the hunger. We must have made juice in cups, bowls, pots and pans. Just so that when the pains came back we could drink right then. When my mother came home she made us drink all that juice right away. It wasn't a pretty sight juice was coming out from every which way, I can tell you for sure there is only so much juice a kid can drink.

This is just one of the nightmarish memories from my childhood that forced my mom to lose custody of us. Between our raggedy looking clothes and our knocking on doors for food, begging for food, the neighbors noticed and called "Texas' Children Protective Service" (CPS), on my mom. When CPS came my mom was out on one of her smoking binges and we were at home alone for four days. A neighbour took us in, fed us and we were taken from my mom. Soon after being taken from my parents my siblings and I had a choice to make, stay together or split up. My oldest sister and I stayed in Texas with hopes of being reunited with our father. My oldest brother and youngest sister went to Indiana to a relative's house.

During the time it took my father to get custody of us. We were placed into a foster home. It was better than being with my mom with the exception of physical abuse. My mom never beat me but for some reason I would find myself getting hit in this particular foster home. I never mentioned it to any one because at least we were fed on a regular basis. Soon after I would leave this home and be placed into a boy's home. This was great! Food and no abuse, but I wouldn't stay in this home long because my father would soon get custody of my sister and me. I will never forget the first night at my father's house. My father used to give me money and some came up missing. The older kids took some of it. So my oldest brother came up with the idea to write a letter to the older kids. The letter was filled with profanity. The next day I would go home to my father. The day was going great, meeting my father's girlfriend's kids and then a phone call came. It was my foster parents calling to tell about the letter. My father asked me about it and even after telling him I didn't write it (I was in elementary), he still beats. This beating was the first of many at the hands of my father. I learned my father knew how to braid when he took three small tree switches and scraped the bark off them, braided them together and beat my sister and me. He always seemed to beat us for no reason. Then one day he beat us with a water hose. The whips were so extensive that the school we attended noticed and they took us away from my father. From there I was put in a foster home in the lower parts of Houston.

It was an African American home that for the most part was poor. The foster home relied on income from the children that it kept. It had six kids all together and was paid to keep each one. This home was not a place for kids simply because they kept the kids for the money. This is the home where I grew up until I turned 18. When I was 11, I started going to the mail box and bank with my foster mother. Here I learned about how much money she was getting paid to keep us. It bothers me because this lady would do anything financial wise for her children and grand children but nothing when it came to her foster children, the ones who kept money coming into the house hold. Around this time I would been told my mother had lost all rights to her children because she couldn't get off drugs and I also started drinking and doing drugs. In a sense when I look at it, I started rebelling towards my foster mother.

When I turned 16 I got a job at a Popeyes and started supporting my drug and alcohol habit more. I also started buying clothes for myself. I started skipping school and this hurt my grades but I still managed to graduate high school at 17 years old.

At the foster home things went from bad to worst between my foster mother and me. At 18, which I was about to turn, the state of Texas wouldn't pay for me any longer and my foster mother began to tell me how disgusted I was and made her and that I would probably end up on death row. She told me specifically when I turned 18 I would have to leave her home. On July 11, 2000 I turned 18 and I left.

It is important to understand I am not trying to use my childhood as an excuse as to why I am on Texas death row. While I understand it is a major contributing factor. I am more hopeful that my situation will expose the fact the prisons in America are filled with foster children. A report showed that 69 percent of prisoners in California and Massachusetts were foster children in America. Also disturbing is the fact that - created at http://animoto.com

CHILD ABUSE AWARENESS/NIXZMARY BROWN CAMPAIGN AT BOWLING GREEN PARK Nixzmary Brown Soldiers

Location
BOWLING GREEN PARK, LOWER MANHATTAN, NY
Corner of BROADWAY & WHITEHALL STREET (diagonal to Battery Park but NOT at Battery Park)
Created by:
Rosey Noyb
More info
TIME: 12:50 - 4 p.m. TOGETHER we can make change for OUR children. Lets take a stand and say NO to child abuse. Please join us.

There will be live entertainment by great musical artists, singing sensation Veronica Kole. Americas Got Talent Semifinalist 2010 and Maury Povich Most Talented Kid 2010, Singer Nina Sophia Mojares & Over The Edge band. Singer/Songwriter/Broadway Star: Julia Santana. Garden State Roller Derby Girls are attending. Author Debra Ann Brown-Davis will speak and Prosecutor Krista Haley. DeeJay: Tony Santana, Guardian Angels and B.A.C.A. will attend.

Headline Speakers will tell their story and a push for better laws in order to protect our children, The Nixzmary Brown Law Nationwide.

ACTION for Troy Davis! INNOCENCE MATTERS - WE ARE ALL TROY DAVIS!

ACTION for Troy Davis! INNOCENCE MATTERS - WE ARE ALL TROY
DAVIS!

The decision:

http://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/032811zr.pdf

News brief from CNN:
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/28/supreme-court-rejects-appeal-from-georgia-death-row-inmate
@nodeathpenalty.org

Psychiatry Drugs Foster Care Children - Tristen

Psychiatry Drugs Foster Care Children - Tristen

I took my video camera to a Foster Care Alumni meeting and asked seven foster kids to tell me about there experiences in Child Protective Services while wards of the state.

One thing they all had in common was massive over drugging with psychiatric drugs.

Child placement agencies, foster parents, RTCs (Residential Treatment Centers) and Therapeutic Foster Homes get paid a certain amount of money each day for taking care of a foster child. The amount of money they get paid depends on a level of care system. The more difficult the child or the more problems that child has, the more money you get.

A child at the basic level of care is worth about 17 dollars a day where as a child in the highest level of care could be worth as much as a 1000 dollars a day. This puts the incentive on diagnosing children with behavior problems to justify raising their level of care. A child on psychiatric drugs is worth more than a child without problems.

It is not uncommon for a foster child to be placed on many different psychotropic drugs at the same time. Some investigations have found children on as many as 13 mind altering drugs prescribed by a psychiatrists at one time.

These drugs include all categories of psychiatric drugs; antidepressants, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, anxiety medications, anticonvulsants medications, etc.

The SSRI drugs are commons such as Paxil, Zoloft, Prozac, etc. Also a number of these children described taking Risperdal, Zyprexa, Geodon and other new generation antipsychotics which have been linked to weight gain, obesity and diabetes.

Visit the website for the Foster Care Alumni of America.

http://www.fostercarealumni.org/

This video was produced by psychetruth.

http://www.youtube.com/psychetruth
http://www.myspace.com/psychtruth
http://www.livevideo.com/psychetruth

The video may be copied, publicly displayed or used for any strictly non-commercial use provided it remain in it's full unedited form. Alteration or commercial use is strictly prohibited.

Copyright 2007 Zoe Sofia.

Trust

To trust someone means you trust them with your life
To trust someone is based on your clarity of judgement
To trust is to believe that the person has you 100%
To trust
To trust
Who could you trust in your greatest moment in need?
Who will be worthy of having your trust?
Will you be able to confide your trust among certain people?

*Advice - Put your trust in a person who isn't a backstaber, liar, thief, gossiper, negative influence, pressured person. Think before you act

Antwan Graham