Administrator’s summary; if you’ve been following recent posts on this site, then you know that Leon has been in Charleston, South Carolina this past week advocating for fathers’ rights in connection with the Walter Scott murder. He has been working diligently to shift government and media focus from the race aspects of this horrendous incident to the family court abuses which triggered it. 

To that end he has been distributing his report made public last month in Nashville entitled “We Are Fathers” to civil rights leaders and government representatives. His progress reports can be found here at Leon Koziol.com, a site devoted to family law reform. After vocalizing his concerns before national media, Leon was featured on Charleston television yesterday. 

As we become educated to these draconian support collection practices, it is increasingly clear that Leon’s efforts are vital because good fathers are now being killed by law enforcement for delinquent family court debts. Here no crime was committed. Instead a black father was shot in the back by a North Charleston police officer who is now in jail without bail on murder charges. 

This father had long experienced the discrimination and abuses which convinced him that Justice was better served on the streets than in these courts. He just never expected he could be murdered by a cop for failing to pay his bills. It’s a scary incident which could occur to any father in America today given the false criminal stigmas and sexist slurs being advanced by our own federal government as recently as 2012 in Justice Department news releases.

The Walter Scott incident, preserved on a video seen around the world, shows an unarmed father fleeing arrest on a support warrant at a traffic stop for a broken tail light. The cop fired eight shots from a distance at the fleeing debtor with five bullets entering his back, one in the heart. 

The white officer is then shown casually walking over to his victim and cuffing him face down as he took his final breath. Again there was no crime committed but the family court warrant was now executed with no money or daddy for the children. Here is how Leon finally managed to shift focus in Charleston:

It wasn’t easy, in fact I was beginning to think it was a lost cause. Despite all my appearances, participation in media events and interactions with civil rights protesters and government officials all across Charleston, South Carolina this past week, once again no one was listening. I reiterated my statements concerning the killer in the Walter Scott case, emphasizing not the cop named Michael Slager but the silent and insidious accomplice known as family court.

In yet another news conference today at North Charleston City Hall, everyone was focused on race as a lawyer for protesters in Ferguson, Missouri announced a new wave of protests here. I had delivered my report to the local organizer of the event but the father issues remained without mention by anyone. So once again I asserted myself on the media side of the presentations before the keynote speaker.

In his riveting keynote address, Attorney Malik Shabazz, national president of Black Lawyers for Justice, described black men as the hunted ones, killed “like deer and dogs.” During subsequent media interviews, I raised the father discrimination aspects surrounding the Walter Scott murder which set this case apart from all other racially charged incidents across the country. I cited three status based factors which worked against this particular victim: he was black, a man and a father. I urged all in attendance to support my public appeal for a Justice Department investigation to prevent more of these incidents.

At the request of the event organizer, I was asked to hand deliver my report “We Are Fathers” to Attorney Shabazz at the podium. A resounding applause ensued when I did. The keynote speaker joined in the issues raised and went further. He agreed that the support warrant was a major concern and that he would study my report for answers and reform efforts.

Following this national media event, I was approached by African-American victims of court injustices. Of course I could not provide assistance due to the retributions experienced back in New York for my public predictions that materialized here. I was then asked to give a separate live interview on Charleston television. I will provide further details in a later post.

We’re making progress fellow parents, fathers and victims. Regrettably I feel like I’m doing it alone in Charleston but a profound statement had to be made here for all family court victims across America. We’ll continue to keep you informed.

Dr. Leon R. Koziol

Civil Rights Advocate

(315) 796-4000

Please Share This Link With Others: http://wp.me/pXgi5-Qg

Charleston, state poised to lead way on social change with Walter Scott case: http://www.abcnews4.com/story/28802979/charleston-state-poised-to-lead-way-on-social-change-with-walter-scott-case

Did you know that you can receive real time updates from LeonKoziol.Com the moment we post a story?  Simply sign up on the right hand side of this website and get the news as it happens.