Meet The Founders
Elomba
The Problem:
I. Elomba was born in 1978 and raised in New Orleans and Kansas City amid the 1970s prison boom and 1980s War On Drugs. His parents abused drugs and alcohol and his family life was torn apart by the crack epidemic. His parents separated in 1985 when he was 5/6 years old. From this point on, and due to both his parents addiction to crack, he was exposed to drug use, drug trafficking, poor housing, mental health problems, civil commitment at 10/11 years old, and detention facilities for shoplifting, gang violence, possession of crack. In April of 1997, he and his friend got into a fight over drugs and after internalizing street violence day in and day for all his young life, he feared for his life and shot and killed his friend. However, in the same year of December, 1997, and without community support or scientific aid, he was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole at 18 years old.
AM I A CRIMINAL OR A PUBLIC HEALTH PROBLEM?
II. What Researchers Say About The Problem
Research shows that economic deprivation, extreme poverty, and family disruption is linked to violence in our communities. (Rosemary Gartner of the University of Toronto; Steven Messner of the State University of New York at Albany) In other words, studies show that economic inequality had a powerful effect on a country's or city's rate of violence. (Patricia McCall, Kenneth Land, and Lawrence Cohen). "It is when we focus more narrowly on people locked into the most permanent forms of economic marginality in the most impoverished and disrupted communities that we see the highest concentrations of serious violent crime. (Criminologist Elliott Currie, 2013) "The President's Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice put it simply and forcefully in 1967: 'Crime flourishes where the conditions of life are the worst.'" (Elliott Currie, 2013)
III. The Solution
Elomba has been evaluated by Denese O. Shervington MD, MPH on 4/5/24; 4/12/24; and 6/14/24. His mother was interviewed 5/17/24. He was diagnosed as currently suffering from Axis 1 - Persistent Depressive Disorder; Complex PTSD, unresolved; and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. He has petition the New Orleans Criminal District Court Judge Leon Roche and District Attorney Jason Williams for justice and for his release after serving over 27 years for an incident that is an ongoing mental health crisis and economic and social problem in our communities! He is currently represented by paid New Orleans attorneys Rachel Connor and Grace Bronson.
More importantly, with the help from outside friends, Elomba was able to incorporate his organization Afrikan Americans Freedom Union® (AAFU) into a 501 (c) (3) federally tax exempt nonprofit corporation. (see afrikanamericansunion.org). As founder of AAFU, and upon his release, Elomba plans to use his nonprofit to conduct fundraisers, write grant proposals, and advocate for economic and civil assistance and humanitarian aid at every level of society to implement community-based intervention programs for troubled youths and adults who live in neighborhoods that are currently plagued by the same drug and mental health crisis that destroyed his family and landed him in prison.
IV. What You Can Do To Support Elomba's Release
Contact New Orleans district attorney Jason Williams at 619 S White St, New Orleans, LA 70119, or on Facebook or Twitter and Instagram at @RunWithJason and #RunWithJason or runwithjason.com and express concern that life without parole is unjust and he should be given a court date to determine his reentry into society given (1) the scientific and medical evidence surrounding his childhood and upbringing and (2) his commitment to accountability and giving back to his community and using his nonprofit corporation program plans to help solve the ongoing drug and mental health crisis in our communities. Here's a SAMPLE LETTER you can send.
Send a SAMPLE LETTER to the judge.
And please contact my paid attorneys Rachel Connor and Grace Bronson and ask for a court date and what else you can do to support: at (504) 581-9083 office, (504) 427-7038 cellphone, (504) 527-6156 fax. Or rachel@connerdefense.com; grace@connerdefense.com.
Thank you very much for your support! I am with you in the cause for human liberation and freedom struggle to recover our stolen humanity and our stolen identity due to a 400 years Holocaust of slavery, Jim Crow, institutional racism, and structural violence!