RALLY DATE: Tonight: Tuesday, June 7th ~ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Get there early as Reverend Sharpton will be speaking at exactly 6:15 PM
Site: Brookside Elementary School
82 Highland Avenue, Norwalk, CT
for map: www.norwalk.k12.ct.us/brookside
Site of the rally is the Norwalk, Conn. school where homeless mother Tanya McDowell had placed her young 5-year-old son last fall in order to get the best education for him while living in Bridgeport and Norwalk in her van or at a friend's place on a sofa.
The "Equal Education For All" Rally is planned with civil rights leaders and keynote speaker Reverend Al Sharpton, President of National Action Network http://www.nationalactionnetwork.net and organized by the Connecticut State NAACP and the Norwalk Branch of the CT NAACP http://norwalkbranchnaacp.org Rev. Sharpton will lend his support and media star power on behalf of Tanya McDowell, the woman arrested for "stealing" education on behalf of her young son.
Also speaking: Connecticut State NAACP President Scot X Esdaile, Ms. McDowell's attorney: Darnell Crosland, chairman of the Legal Redress Committee of the State NAACP and second vice president, Norwalk, NAACP and Shirley Mosby, education chair and first vice president, Norwalk NAACP and former Norwalk Board of Education member.
The Tanya McDowell Education Theft case is slowly winding its way through the Connecticut court system.
During Tuesday's court proceeding for Ms. McDowell, accompanied by her attorney Darnell Crosland, Esq. http://www.croslandlaw.com supporters from the CT NAACP , Norwalk & Stamford branches of the NAACP, local residents and members of Amnesty International http://www.amnestyusa.org. The appearance was quick with another continuance to July 12th. Attorney Crosland's request for a change of venue was not taken up until the beginning of a trial. A change of venue request was made to remove this case out of Norwalk and into Stamford, Conn. courthouse due to the high profile of this case, not to mention Suzanne Vieux, a Norwalk Supervisory Assistant State's Attorney, is the step daughter of current Norwalk Mayor Richard Moccia.
Attorney Crosland has on several occasions noted he trusts Ms. Vieux would be and has been fair and impartial and he believes she would continue to do so, but still, it has been reported that Vieux's Step-Father and Norwalk Mayor Richard Moccia had previously made comments to the media possibly tainting a local jury pool, if this case comes to trial. Sure there are supporters on both sides, those taxpayers who see the cost of education spiraling out of control, and those in support of Tanya, her son and others who are homeless, living on the edge during a serious economic downturn.