'Protesters in the US continue to demand justice for Michael Brown, a black teen killed by a police officer. His death brought attention to issues of race, inequality and police brutality. Rallies grow loud, but the government answers by pouring more heavily-armed cops against the activists. Will the message of protesters be heard? How wide and deep is the problem inside the US? We ask these questions to former congresswoman and presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney on Sophie&Co today.
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Sophie Shevardnadze: Former congresswoman and presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney, welcome to the show. It’s great to have you with us. Now, just when it seemed tensions around Ferguson were dying down, another black teen was gunned down by a white police officer. Why are these incidents so commonplace?
Cynthia McKinney: Well, these incidents have been happening since the founding of the U.S. It’s not unusual to have the authorities actually attacking the black community and, particularly, black men. Remember, the U.S. was founded on genocide of indigenous people and the human trafficking through the African slave-trade, of African people. So, this is not anything new. What is new, however, is that with the proliferation of personal technology we are now able to capture this police brutality and these police murders on film. And that is what is new. So, people now can actually see in their living-rooms young, unarmed, black men being shot down, being mowed down by people who are charged and sworn in their oath to protect and serve the community.
SS: But, just what you've said, like, because of this social media and the media in general, we can see everything that’s going on. So, wouldn't you expect them, the police, to be on their best behavior at least for now?
CMK: Yes. Now, there are some of us, who have been saying all along that the U.S. has a problem with police brutality - but now the whole world can see that the U.S. has a problem with police brutality. Unfortunately, we have also a creeping police-state into the larger American community; and as a result of that people now have their consciousness have been raised to the perpetration of political crimes and oftentimes, murder by people in authorities, by police officers themselves. At one point there was this idea: “well, if it happens in the black community that’s the black community - if it happens in the Latino, that’s the Latino community. That’s not our community, and therefore we don’t have anything to worry about.” But now, people feel a lot differently, because it is clear that the tanks, the drones, the military-grade weapons, that the police departments now have are going to be used. They are not acquiring this capability for it just to sit on the shelf. They are acquiring the capability, and they are using it.
SS: Well, I don’t know about tanks, but in response to the recent protests it wasn't just the riot police. It was also the SWAT teams that were deployed and they were wearing masks, and the rubber bullets were fire. Is that an effective way to calm unrest?
CMK: No! You deal with the underlying problems, of course, but what we have witnessed since September 11, 2001, is the growing militarization of local police departments. There are two phenomena here: one is the militarization of police. Second, is the failure of police departments to actually reflect the communities that they are charged to protect and serve. Therefore, you can get in a situation like in Ferguson, Missouri, where population is majority black and the police officers are majority white. You can get that. That, unfortunately is not uncommon. Actually, one journalist at the Washington Post asked the right question, she said: “How can this be allowed to happen, and where does it exist in other cities?” And what she found is that in large cities, small cities, cities across the board, unfortunately you have situation where the police department is not reflective of the people that it’s charged to serve. In addition to that you have another phenomenon, where the police officers themselves are not encouraged to even live in the community in which they police. So, we have several layers of problems, and then, on top of it what you have is the community that is under attack. Not only under attack from the police authorities themselves, but under attack economically, socially, culturally in every way imaginable, and they have been constantly under attack since the end of the Civil Rights movement.
SS: I just want to ask you a couple of questions right away. According to your answer, first of all, the movement against the police brutality, it’s not something new, the subject seems to come up any time there’s a protest in the U.S. What’s the reason, the larger reason for this continuing police brutality? Does the police have too much authority? Is it impunity, what is it?
CMK: Well, of course it’s authority and it is impunity and there’s something called “the Blue Line”; the Blue Line, this idea of the Blue Line says the police officers shouldn't tell on each other when they witness they fellow police officers doing wrong. So, there’s culture inside the police departments that allows this to happen. And then, of course, there’s this alienation of the police department itself from the community. The police really ought to be a part of the community, ought to come from the community, but the police in many respects are occupying forces - and that’s why a lot of young people have likened the situation in black communities across the U.S. to the situation in Gaza that is also occupied by Israeli forces. That then was not lost on these two communities when the people in Gaza raised their hands and said: “We are Ferguson!”. So, now what we are seeing is the cross-polarization of movements, and I think that’s a good thing. The same military hardware that soldiers used in Iraq and Afghanistan are being sent to police departments through the surplus military program, are being sent to police departments across the country. We had a visitor, an Israeli soldier who said that police departments are being trained increasingly by the Israeli military, the IDF. What they learn when they go over to Israel is how to treat the enemy. But, this soldier, so poignantly said, “But when they come home - you are the enemy”. So, his message was to warn people of the U.S. about what’s happening with the training of their police departments in Israel, something that we all also have to be concerned about.
SS: Now, activists across the U.S. are still demanding the officer who shot Mike Brown in Ferguson to be put on trial, but so far he’s only being put on paid leave. Will he ever be taken to court, what do you think?
CMK: That is the question that has to be asked and answered not only by the people of Ferguson. You would think that our members of Congress and various legislators would look at the situation and provide a legislative remedy. What I did when I was in the Congress, I introduced - this was after the horrors the people experienced after Hurricane Katrina - what I did was that I said: “Ok, if a police department is found to violate the civil rights of the people that it has sworn to protect and serve, then that police department would no longer participate in federal programs, would no longer get federal funds and will not be able to receive federal equipment.” Of course, something like that, which seeks to actually lay a punishment down in the law for the law-breaking police departments… I was vilified for writing and dropping that legislation into the hopper. But something has to be done, and then of course on the other hand, we have a community that is under attack. I’m talking about the black community and brown communities inside the U.S. We have seen those two communities targeted by the banking community, the banking industry and wealth sucked out of those communities such that the black community in the U.S. has lost more wealth since the transatlantic slave-trade as a result of a foreclosure in Homes and other predatory practices of banks in the black and brown communities. This is a kind of thing that also has to stop. You cannot mistreat people and then maintain the impunity forever.
SS: For an outsider, it seems that segregation and racism is the thing of the past in the U.S. I mean, I've lived there and I never witnessed any discrimination of this sort. Do you feel oppressed? I mean, you've run for president, you've been congresswoman for a long time. You've elected first African-american president. Where is the oppression?
CMK: Let me just make it very concrete. The situation of the police state in the U.S. s so bad and the targeting of specific people when they’re on the road, like, for example, in the U.S. Latinos are stopped all the time, people who look as if they are Latinos and people who live in areas where Latinos live are stopped all the time just for driving their cars because they’re suspected of not having documentation for being able to drive in the U.S. Young black men are stopped all the time. I tell my son, when my son comes to visit with me, I tell him: “Please, make sure that you abide by every, every traffic law, because you will be stopped. You’re a young black man driving a nice, fast car, and you will be stopped.” And, of course, he was stopped. For myself, you have to be prepared for all times to be stopped and to have a mugshot taken, because the police are out there on the streets in predatory practices in black communities - and I live in a black neighborhood. So, I see what is happening, and I have seen what was happening in Los-Angeles, where young black men can go to the barbershop to get his haircut and end up on a police lineup. I’ve seen that with my own eyes. The police state is real in some communities and it is growing across the U.S., such that now young women have been cavity-searched on the street in broad daylight. That used to be reserved only to African-american and Latino men in Texas, and most recent incident occurred when two white women were cavity-searched. Can you believe? People are being stopped on the street and asked to give blood. This is amazing what is happening in the U.S.
SS: Ok, but, actually I have to agree with you on one thing: some startling figures show that 60% of the country’s prison population is non-white, and the Bureau of Justice Statistics says one in 3 black men can expect to go to jail in their lifetime. Is criminal justice reform needed?
CMK: Yes, it’s needed, but really, in many instances, we have laws on the book that just have to be equally applied. That’s all! They are not equally applied and some people are exempt from the law, some people never… an example is a friend of my son, a young white male, was driving with no insurance, no license, got stopped by the police for speeding - and he was allowed to go home! That doesn’t happen in the black community, it doesn’t happen with the Latino community. So, there’s disparate treatment in the hands of law enforcement. That goes all the way up from the first encounter, all the way up. And that’s why you have, for example, the Malcolm X Grassroots movement that did a study and found that a young unarmed black person is murdered once in every 28 hours. Can you imagine? Some mother is losing her child every 28 hours in the U.S.
SS: Just briefly about Ferguson again: President Obama was criticized for his response to Ferguson crisis. Why? Why do you think he didn’t take a firmer stand? Could he have taken a firmer stand?
CMK: Absolutely. The President has many tools at his disposal and one of them is the bully pulpit. So, a pronouncement from the President goes a very long way and if the President had put police departments on notice, that we in the executive branch, particularly the Department of Justice, are paying attention to the way, to the patterns and practices of police departments across the U.S., particularly ones in which some young unarmed person has been killed by police officers - it would have gone a long way, I believe, towards stemming this problem. It didn’t happen. It’s still hasn’t happened. The criticism was correct, and the Department of Justice should have moved very quickly against these police departments where these young unarmed black men were killed in particular, and other atrocities have been committed.
SS: You also said that you’ve never imagined it would get this bad under Barack Obama. Obama’s approval ratings are at the lowest level of his presidency. What is he doing wrong?
CMK: I’m a peace person, and you cannot wage war all over the planet and then think that you’re going to have peace at home. It just doesn’t work that way, because it has been demonstrated that the tactics that the U.S. government employees overseas it also eventually employes at home. So, I think, first and foremost, that our Nobel Peace laureate President should have a been a man of peace. And, instead of creating these organisations that are in the process of destroying and dismantling whole countries, he should have been in favor of peace. Stop financing, stop funding the war-machine. Stop recruiting people. Now we have people in the U.S. military, being recruited in the U.S. military, who are not citizens of the U.S., being hired to go and kill the children and the parents of other people around the world and this all is being done at the promise of a U.S. Green card. This is amazing, what the U.S. is becoming.
SS: You are a strong opponent of the U.S. wars abroad, I can see, but since the U.S. has the means to deal with a lot of crises, it is the most powerful country in the world - doesn’t it also have a global responsibility and moral obligation to intervene where no one else can?
CMK: It has moral obligation to comport as a citizen of the world, as a responsible citizen of the world. That doesn’t mean destroying countries. That doesn’t mean bombing countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somali - all being bombed, literally, as one - I think it was Colonel Emerson that said: “Back to the Stone Ages”. Iraq irreparably harmed. The use of depleted uranium affects countries for generations to come and the use of depleted uranium, the use of these white phosphorous and the DIME weapons. All of these weapons are being used every day as a part of the U.S. military arsenal, and we are in the midst of an election season right now, which will happen in about 2 and a half to three weeks, and nobody’s talking about stopping the wars. How can you have national elections, and neither Democrats, nor Republicans are talking about peace?
SS: How big of an issue is the situation with Syria and ISIS for American people? If needed, would the people support a ground intervention, what do you think?
CMK: Of course, when the people of the U.S. are being pepper-sprayed, tazed and shot by their own local police departments, then something that’s happening in Syria or Ukraine is not immediately on the minds, and, of course, it’s not, but I can tell you that the people that I interact with, abhor what the U.S. is doing abroad. They have disengaged from the political process. This is one of the few quote-on-quote “democracies” in the world where a majority of the voting-age population don’t even bother to vote. They have completely disengaged from the political process, which I believe is a mistake, by the way, because it allows those forces of war and oppression to seize control over the apparatus of government, and that is what has happened.
SS: People like Noam Chomsky say that ramping up the terror threat is highly beneficial for the U.S. military. Do you believe the U.S. establishment would purposefully fuel fears of terror at home to increase military budget?
CMK: I served on the House Armed Services Committee and I have never seen such bipartisan agreement on the need to arm ourselves to kill people. But that’s exactly what my experience was on that committee. Bipartisan agreement, I was the lone dissenter of the defence budget… it was not even a defence budget, it is an offensive, morally offensive budget. In the U.S. we have children who are going to sleep hungry, we have people sleeping on the streets, homeless. We have veterans who have served our country, who answered the call, when our country called for them, and they are sleeping on the streets. So, there’s something terribly wrong with the values of the public policy that’s being made in Washington DC. And that is what I call for. I call for a re-valuation of our public policy, and the only way that’s going to happen is to stop the business as usual that is carried on in the name of politics in Washington DC. We got to have average, ordinary folk, with the different kind of common sense, come to Washington DC making public policy on behalf of average, ordinary, common sense folk.
SS: Thank you very much for this interesting viewpoint. We were talking to American politician, foreign congresswoman Cynthia McKinney,talking about the Ferguson case, also we were talking about the problem of police brutality in America and the legacy that President Obama is leaving behind.' _________________ 'And he (the devil) said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them'. Luke IV 5-7.
'
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon (D) declared a state of emergency Monday, preempting a grand jury decision in the Ferguson shooting of Michael Brown that is expected to be delivered any day.
The order establishes that the St. Louis County police will be in charge of law enforcement in Ferguson in response to any unrest. It will work in coordination with the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the St. Louis city police. The order lasts for 30 days.
Nixon also issued an executive order activating the Missouri National Guard to assist local law enforcement.
St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay emphasized in a Monday press conference that the National Guard would play a "secondary" role in policing any protests.
"This would be from our standpoint a secondary role," Slay said, according to Reuters. "We would not have the guard on the front lines interacting with, dealing with, confronting protesters."
Slay added that it was his understanding that the National Guard would arrive in the area "some time soon," possibly later this week. "They're not going to wait for a decision," he said.
The St. Louis County grand jury that has been investigating Brown's shooting by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson is expected to announce its decision whether to indict Wilson in the coming days...' _________________ 'And he (the devil) said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them'. Luke IV 5-7.
'An exclusive Truthout investigation - released today on a day of national protest against police brutality - reveals that the City of Chicago fails to recognize, let alone sanction, police guilty of repeated episodes of violence, including the shooting deaths of unarmed civilians.
On a clear, warm April day in 2013, a 35-year-old father of two, Ortiz Glaze, was manning a grill in his South Chicago neighborhood. He was cooking seafood, chicken and potatoes for scores of guests, including kids, in a parking lot. The barbecue, which stretched from day to night, was to commemorate his friend who had recently died from a shooting.
A group of Chicago police officers pulled up to the party, some wearing plain clothes and arriving in unmarked cars.
What happened next is where the stories differ. Police officers say Glaze was holding a cup appearing to contain alcohol, was ignoring orders and was gesturing to his waistband where Officer Louis Garcia and his partner, Officer Jeffrey Jones, say they believed he stowed a gun.
The other version is one corroborated by witnesses - that Jones fired into the crowd upon approach, causing everyone, including Glaze, to run away.
From there, the following facts are not in dispute: Glaze, who had no criminal record, was unarmed. No gun was recovered. And while he was running away with his back to police, Jones and Garcia fired multiple shots at him, hitting him twice.
Glaze lived to tell his story.
"I laid there scared," Glaze said of the moment when the bullets hit him. "Then he stood over me with his gun. I didn't know if he was going to shoot at me again."
When Glaze fell to the ground, his left arm and thigh wounded, Garcia handcuffed his right hand to his belt loop, arrested him and sent him to the hospital for treatment.
"My arm was a jangle," Glaze said, pointing to the scar on his arm and the surgical plate beneath his flesh.
The officers fingerprinted Glaze, handcuffed his good hand to his hospital bed and used patient restraints to tie down his foot to the bed rail. They interrogated him.
After the shooting, a felony review unit at the Cook County State's Attorney's Office did not charge Glaze. The officers instead pursued charges of lesser misdemeanor offenses, including aggravated assault and resisting and obstructing police.
At Glaze's bench trial almost a year later, it was the word of five police officers against Glaze. The judge quickly acquitted him of the charges.
"The judge saw right through them," Glaze said. "It lets you know that they was lying."...' _________________ 'And he (the devil) said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them'. Luke IV 5-7.
'To our brothers and sisters in the Missouri National Guard:
We are writing to you as active-duty U.S. service members and veterans, most of us having served in the Iraq war.
You have a choice you can make right now.
The whole world is watching the Ferguson police with disgust. They killed an unarmed, college-bound Black youth in broad daylight, and subsequently responded to peaceful, constitutionally-protected protests with extreme violence and repression.
Countless constitutional and human rights violations by these police have been documented over the course of the Ferguson protests; from attacking and threatening journalists, to using tear gas against peaceful protesters, including children.
Now, Governor Nixon has again activated the National Guard to “support law enforcement.” But you don't have to follow their orders—you can stand with the protesters instead.
Our true duty
When we signed up, we swore an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States.
The police in Ferguson are violating that Constitution.
The First Amendment guarantees the right to free speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of the press.
These laws are, as we are taught our entire lives, our most cherished Constitutional rights—the whole basis for the “freedom” we are told makes us the greatest country on Earth.
It is undeniable that the Ferguson police has used extreme violence against peaceful protesters, suppressing the right of the people to free speech and the freedom to assemble. They have attacked crowds, with children in them, with rubber bullets, sound cannons and tear gas. People have been mass arrested for simply being at the protest.
Freedom of the press has also been severely infringed upon by Ferguson police. Journalists have been arrested; photo evidence shows riot police firing tear gas directly at reporters and tearing down their camera equipment; Ferguson police have been caught on video threatening journalists with violence if they don’t leave, and declaring that they are not allowed in the protest area.
With such important and dramatic events unfolding, the right of the people in the United States to have the truth covered by the press is essential to any so-called democratic society.
The people have the right to protest. If we were truly honoring our oath, we would be in Ferguson to protect the protesters against the repression of their rights by the police.
We don’t just have a legal obligation, but a moral one
Clearly, we would be within our legal rights to refuse to help the Ferguson police unconstitutionally suppress these protests. But beyond the constitutional case, we have a moral obligation to refuse to participate.
The Ferguson police are treating this like a war. And we know that not all wars are just.
These protests have done something very important in our society: they have raised the deep issues we face of inequality, poverty, racism and police misconduct onto a national stage. It has turned public consciousness to these real problems that plague our society.
Do you really want to be part of suppressing those civilians raising all these important issues on the national stage?
Racist police brutality is a real issue in America
The autopsy of Michael Brown confirms at least five eye-witness accounts that the young man—who was not even suspected by Darren Wilson of any crime—was shot while he had his hands in the air.
Those of us in the military—especially with combat experience—knows that this flies in the face of any Rules of Engagement, and we know that it is completely ridiculous to believe that Darren Wilson feared for his life in anyway whatsoever.
Increasingly, the issue of rampant police brutality in America—most frequently by white officers against people of color, with an African American killed every 28 hours by police—is garnering more and more attention on a national and international scale.
Outrage by the community against the state's refusal to hold Darren Wilson accountable is entirely justified; the movement, led by Black youth, is a just movement.
History is unfolding, with the whole world watching. You have a decision to make on which side of history to be on.
You will make history, one way or the other
If you take part in the suppression of the protests for Michael Brown, we will be enshrined in history just as the National Guard soldiers who followed their orders to attack and repress civil rights actions, union pickets and anti-war protests. History has not looked kindly on them.
But you have the chance to make a different kind of history.
Imagine the powerful impact it would have if you abandoned your posts and marched with the protesters.
That single action could have the biggest possible effect on the crisis in Ferguson and the larger issues it represents in the entire country. It could be a major turning point in the fight against racism, inequality and police abuse.
You wouldn’t be alone. There is a whole community of service members, veterans and civilian supporters who would defend your right to do so. And now, in this critical moment, we are urging you to exercise that right.
Justice for Mike Brown! Arrest Darren Wilson!....' _________________ 'And he (the devil) said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them'. Luke IV 5-7.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDLrBj1p9FE _________________ --
'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com http://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."
Joined: 30 Jul 2006 Posts: 6060 Location: East London
Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2014 10:36 am Post subject:
Here is 17.57 minutes of it, but I can't find the rest. I'll pm Tony in case he can supply it. _________________ 'And he (the devil) said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them'. Luke IV 5-7.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJDwC5vq6Lw _________________ --
'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com http://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."
Joined: 30 Jul 2006 Posts: 6060 Location: East London
Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2014 12:50 pm Post subject:
item8 wrote:
outsider wrote:
Here is 17.57 minutes of it, but I can't find the rest. I'll pm Tony in case he can supply it.
Where???
Sorry, item8 and all, I forgot to put the link in. But Whitehall_Bin_Men has found a link to the whole episode, so it's sorted. _________________ 'And he (the devil) said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them'. Luke IV 5-7.
'...Grand Jury November 21, 2014
“Previously in the very beginning of this process I printed out a statute for you that was, the statute in Missouri for the use of force to affect an arrest. So if you all want to get those out. What we have discovered and we have been going along with this, doing our research, is that the statute in the state of Missouri does not comply with the case law. This doesn’t sound probably unfamiliar with you that the law is codified in the written form in the books and they’re called statutes, but courts interpret those statutes.
And so the statute for the use of force to affect an arrest in the state of Missouri does not comply with Missouri supreme, I’m sorry, United States supreme court cases.
So the statue I gave you, if you want to fold that in half just so that you know don’t necessarily rely on that because there is a portion of that that doesn’t comply with the law.”
At this point Alizadeh handed the jurors a new explanation of the laws on deadly force.
“That does correctly state what the law is on when an officer can use force and when he can use Deadly Force in affecting an arrest, okay. I don’t want you to get confused and don’t rely on that copy or that print-out of the statute that I’ve given you a long time ago.
It is not entirely incorrect or inaccurate, but there is something in it that’s not correct, ignore it totally” Alizadeh stated.
Confused, presumably by the lack of explanation, one juror asked if Federal court overrides Missouri statutes. Her reply? “As far as you need to know, just don’t worry about that.”
You couldn’t make it up… _________________ 'And he (the devil) said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them'. Luke IV 5-7.
Joined: 30 Jul 2006 Posts: 6060 Location: East London
Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2014 2:44 pm Post subject:
And yet another blatant acquittal of a cop who murdered a black man (who was being arrested for the admittedly dastardly crime of selling 'unlicensed' loose cigarettes):
'New York City police officer Daniel Pantaleo will not be indicted in the death of Eric Garner, who died last year after Pantaleo placed him in an illegal chokehold while attempting an arrest in July 2014. Pantaleo was not indicted by a grand jury comprised of 14 Caucasian and nine people of color, despite his illegal maneuver being caught on video. Garner’s death was ruled a homicide by the medical examiner, that noted the cause of death as “compression of neck (choke hold), compression of chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police,” according to CNN.
Pantaleo was white. Garner was black.
Garner, a father of six, was being apprehended by police for allegedly selling unlicensed “loose” cigarettes when Pantaleo performed the hold that would lead to his death. The incident was caught of video and released, resulting in massive public outcry.
“The video showed Garner, 43, prone on the ground repeatedly saying ‘I can’t breathe; as officers restrained him, sometimes pressing his head on to the sidewalk,” reports Newsday. ”The images sparked outrage and prompted NYPD Commissioner William Bratton to announce that all officers would undergo special training for handling physical confrontations.”
Garner’s death was one of the first of a series of deadly encounters starting this summer and heading into the fall between police officers and communities of color. Since his death, Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, Tanisha Anderson and Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Akir Gurley in New York, Vonderitt Myers Jr. in St. Louis, John Crawford in Ohio, and Darien Hunt in Utah have all died at the hands of police officers, despite being unarmed.
That doesn’t include those who have been violently attacked by officers but survived, including pregnant women who were shot but didn’t die, who have been tackled in holding cells, or all of the incidents that never made it into the media.
Perhaps the most frightening development in the lack of an indictment for Pantaleo is the fact that he was found not guilty even despite evidence showing exactly what occurred being caught on video. Coverage that proved beyond a doubt that he did in fact perform an illegal maneuver still wasn’t enough to cause the grand jury to hold him responsible in Garner’s death....' _________________ 'And he (the devil) said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them'. Luke IV 5-7.
'Cops Celebrate Garner Decision: Let Us Kick Some Thug Ass 031214garner
Some police officers responded to the grand jury decision not to indict Daniel Pantaleo for the choking death of Eric Garner by celebrating the fact that they would now be given free reign to “kick some thug ass,” seemingly ignorant of the fact that Garner’s crime was nothing more than selling untaxed cigarettes....' _________________ 'And he (the devil) said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them'. Luke IV 5-7.
'“I think it’s hard not to watch that video of him saying ‘I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe’ and not be horrified by it. But I think there’s something bigger than just the individual circumstances.” Paul explained.
“I think it’s also important to know that some politician put a tax of $5.85 on a pack of cigarettes so that['s] driven cigarettes underground by making them so expensive.” The Senator added.
“But then some politician also had to direct the police to say ‘hey we want you arresting people for selling a loose cigarette.’ And for someone to die over breaking that law, there really is no excuse for it. But I do blame the politicians. We’ve put our police in a difficult situation with bad laws” Paul urged.
Indeed, in November 2013, Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed a bill which increased “enforcement on vendors who attempt to evade taxes.”
The black market now accounts for over half of all cigarettes consumed in New York State. Cigarette smuggling has increased 59 per cent since 2006 in response to a 190 percent hike in cigarette tax during that same period.
As we noted in our report Wednesday, Garner was essentially summarily executed with an illegal chokehold for avoiding taxes...'
'Another gang of goon thug gratuitous murderers has been let off by a racist grand jury and a racist non-prosecutor. Read the verbiage spewed by NY mayor Bill de Blasio and the Obama Puppet:http://rt.com/usa/211203-garner-chokehold-grand-jury-decision/ They are so sorry about the collateral damage of protecting the public from criminals and terrorists. Without the death of innocents, none of us would be safe. Our safety depended on the NYPD murder of Eric Garner, a father of six who was a threat to no one.
Another police murder of a US citizen who was no threat to anyone–just more collateral damage–as the US military calls it when US forces blow up kids’ soccer games, weddings, funerals, and birthday parties. Any concentration of people, regardless of what they are doing, is considered to be an enemy force and legitimate target. This includes people picking their crops in fields.
Unfortunate perhaps, on occasion, but soldiers and police and US presidents have the right to make mistakes. Only a dangerous “domestic extremist” would think that a goon thug should be held accountable for a mistake. I mean, after all, the 21st century American courts have established that those in the executive branch are above the law. American judges are sworn to uphold the US Constitution, but this has not stopped them from subverting it in the interest of executive power in order to make us “safe.”
Accountability would prevent “our” government from protecting us. Law gets in the way by protecting innocents from fabricated charges and a citizenry from a tyrannical government. How can any American be safe unless the government has total power to protect the citizen by declaring him without any evidence to be a threat and thereby a subject for extermination?
Really, I mean, without the authoritative powerful and unrestrained government in Washington and in the police, how would any of us be safe? Threats would be everywhere, and we would all be murdered in our beds by domestic extremists if not by terrorists. Without total power, Washington would be unable to protect us.
Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler have shown us the way, and Washington has taken it to heart as long as you understand that killing is what makes us safe. The more killing the safer we are.
You might be next, but it will just be collateral damage, an essential element of keeping Americans “safe.”..' _________________ 'And he (the devil) said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them'. Luke IV 5-7.
Hard core conservative radio talk host called Michael Savage on Garner death: "It was murder" _________________ 'And he (the devil) said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them'. Luke IV 5-7.
Short clip of continuing demonstrations. _________________ 'And he (the devil) said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them'. Luke IV 5-7.
'When a community issues arrest warrants for more offenses than it has residents, something's deeply wrong.
By Karen Dolan
April 02, 2015 "ICH" - "OtherWords" - Here’s something you might not know about Ferguson, Missouri: In this city of 21,000 people, 16,000 have outstanding arrest warrants. In fact, in 2013 alone, authorities issued 9,000 warrants for over 32,000 offenses.
That’s one-and-a-half offenses for every resident of Ferguson in just one year.
Most of the warrants are for minor offenses such as traffic or parking violations. And they’re part of a structural pattern of abuse, according to a recent Department of Justice investigation.
The damning report found that the city prioritized aggressive revenue collection over public safety. It documented unconstitutional policing, violations of due process, and racial bias against the majority black population.
One woman’s story illustrates what’s happening to more and more people as municipal revenues become the focus of police departments all over the country.
It began with a parking ticket back in 2007, which saddled a low-income black woman with a $151 fine and extra fees. In economic distress and frequently homeless, she was unable to pay. So she was hit with new fines and fees — and eventually an arrest warrant that landed her in jail.
By 2010, she’d paid the court $550 for the single parking violation, but more penalties had accrued. She attempted to make payments of $25 and $50, but the court rejected those partial installments.
Even after being jailed and paying hundreds of dollars above the original fine, she still owes the court $541 — all because she lacked the money to pay the initial fees.
This woman’s story is repeating itself in town after town.
A 2014 NPR investigation found people who wound up in jail after coming up short on fines for a range of minor offenses — such as catching a fish out of season in Ionia, Michigan, shoplifting a $2 can of beer in Augusta, Georgia, or hanging out in an abandoned building in Grand Rapids......' _________________ 'And he (the devil) said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them'. Luke IV 5-7.
Joined: 30 Jul 2006 Posts: 6060 Location: East London
Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2015 7:55 pm Post subject:
The long saga of the US State killing Black people continues; I just got this email, re Mumia Abu-Jamal:
'URGENT: Calls Again Needed to Save Mumia's Life!
Stop the attempted murder of Mumia through medical neglect!
Keep the pressure on!
---------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------
HEAR Mumia’s 26 April message thanking the movement!
Please call these numbers and any other numbers you have for the Prison and the Governor. (Dialling code from UK for the USA is 001. Pennsylvania is five hours behind London.)
John Wetzel
Secretary, Department of Corrections
ra-crpadocsecretary@pa.gov
717-728-4109
717-728-4178 Fax
1920 Technology Pkwy, Mechanicsburg PA 17050
John Kerestes
Superintendent SCI Mahanoy 570-773-2158 x8102
570-783-2008 Fax
301 Morea Road, Frackville
PA 17932
Tom Wolf
PA Governor
717-787-2500
governor@PA.gov
508 Main Capitol Building, Harrisburg PA 17120
Susan McNaughton
Public Information Office
PA DOC Press secretary:
717-728-4025 smcnaughton@pa.gov
Mumia's Condition Grave
Take Action NOW!
Mumia On April 24, 2015
On Friday, April 24, Mumia Abu-Jamal was visited by his wife, Wadiya Jamal, who reported that his condition has worsened.
She saw him again on April 25 and he appeared even more gravely ill. Everyone is asked to call the prison and the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections immediately.
Please continue to call on throughout this week.
Mumia was released from the prison infirmary three days ago even though he was in no condition to be in general population. His request to be seen by independent medical specialists was denied by the PA Department of Corrections. Yet he is in need of 24-hour care and supervision. He is too weak and in this state he may not be able ask for help.
Please call the numbers listed. Along with Mumia's name his prison number is AM 8335. Call local news sources in your area that would report on this crisis. Share this email with your contact lists. Get out the information via any social media you use especially Facebook and Twitter using the hashtag #MumiaMustLive.
Demand that prison officials call Mumia’s wife and his lawyer Bret Grote to discuss his condition. Demand that Mumia Abu-Jamal see a competent doctor of his choice immediately, that he be taken to the hospital for emergency care and not be left to go into a diabetic coma.
It is clear that Pennsylvania prison officials are intent on carrying out their plans to murder Mumia through medical neglect. This situation is urgent. Every call matters. Every action matters. Call your friends, your neighbours. We must speak out now before it’s too late.
For more information: Free Mumia, Move organization, Campaign to Bring Mumia Home, International Action Center and Mumia’s Facebook.
Circulated by: Women of Colour Global Women’s Strike & Payday men’s network _________________ 'And he (the devil) said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them'. Luke IV 5-7.
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