lindseyandhaley: racism

Showing posts with label racism. Show all posts

Wednesday, 20 August 2014

Police state abuses, live in Fergistan (video)

Ashley Wells, Pfc. Sandoval, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Ryan Devereaux (FirstLook.org/TheIntercept); Amy Goodman, Juan Gonzalez (DemocracyNow.org, 8-20-14)

Do Americans know they're being spied on in Ferguson and all throughout USA?

Rubber Bullets, Tear Gas and Jail: Ferguson Police Crack Down on Journalists Covering Protests

Obama watches (firstlook.org/theintercept)

FERGUSON, Missouri - Protests over the fatal police shooting of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown have continued for a 10th night in "Fergistan, USA." Protesters are calling for the arrest of a killer cop, Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, who shot the unarmed teenager six [to eight] times, including twice in the head.

Guns in police hands (ThisModernWorld)

According to The New York Times, Attorney General Eric Holder and top Justice Department officials are weighing whether to open a broader civil rights investigation to look at Ferguson’s police practices in general.

Meanwhile, the Committee to Protect Journalists has called on the Ferguson Police Department to stop harassing and detaining journalists. At least 11 journalists have been detained while covering the protests sparked by the shooting of Brown. We speak to Ryan Devereaux of The Intercept. On Monday night covering the demonstrations, he was terrorized, shot by a rubberized bullet, arrested, and jailed overnight in spite of -- or possibly because of -- identifying himself as a member of the media.

"Not Acceptable in a Civilized Society": Pastor on Ferguson Police Targeting Traumatized Youth

"They Are All Michael Brown": State Senator Defends Protesters Seeking Justice in Police Shooting

Stop the Violence from Ferguson to Gaza: 90-Year-Old Holocaust Survivor Arrested in St. Louis

HEADLINES

VIDEO: "We are all Michael Brown" — NYC parents whose kids were murdered by police rally for justice

A Night in Ferguson: Rubber bullets, tear gas, and a jail cell

Ryan Devereaux (firstlook.org/TheIntercept, August 19, 2014)

Late Monday evening, after many of the major media outlets covering the protests in Ferguson, had left the streets to broadcast from their set-ups near the police command center, heavily armed officers raced through suburban streets in armored [military] vehicles, chasing demonstrators, launching tear gas [and potentially lethal projectiles] on otherwise quiet residential lanes, and shooting at journalists. Their efforts More

Intercept reporter shot with rubber bullets and arrested while covering Ferguson protests

John Cook (The Intercept, Aug. 19 2014)

Intercept reporter Ryan Devereaux was arrested this morning while on the ground covering the protests in Ferguson, Mo. According to St. Louis Post-Dispatch photographer David Carson, who witnessed the apprehension, Devereaux [was needlessly shot with a projectile] and a German reporter he was with were both taken into custody by members of a police tactical team. They were handcuffed and placed... More

Tuesday, 19 August 2014

Overpoliced and Underprotected (video)

Ashley Wells, Pat Macpherson, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Amy Goodman (Democracy Now)

"Overpoliced & Underprotected": In Michael Brown killing, neglect and contempt of black communities is laid bare

Continuing to discuss developments since the murder of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer, Democracy Now! turns to John A. Powell, professor of law, African American studies, and ethnic studies at the University of California at Berkeley. He is the director of the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society. "The black community tends be overpoliced and underprotected," Powell says. "That’s a very serious problem."

Activist: For a new generation, Ferguson marks historic nonviolent-resistance to militant police repression

Pastor: In Ferguson's police crackdown, I need a gas mask more than my clerical collar

St. Louis Activist: Decades after 1968 urban uprisings, key economic & race issues remain unresolved

(Democracy Now) FULL EPISODE, April 19, 2014

How many black boys have to die? (Berkeley)

CC Liu, Crystal Quintero (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; Assistant Director Stephen Menendian, Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society (berkeley.edu, August. 14, 2014)

UC Berkeley campus tower overlooking San Francisco and Bay Bridge (berkeleyside.com)

How Many Black Boys Have to Die? Berkeley Faculty weigh in

Menendian

Although the “facts” are still coming out [and the police cover up is well underway], we can add Michael Brown of Ferguson, Missouri to the list of young black men and boys killed by overzealous police or armed civilians:

Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Sean Bell, Amadou Diallo, Oscar Grant, Jordan Davis, and so many more, including young women like Renisha McBride.

The ultimate tragedy is that each of these deaths seems to have done little to prevent the next [senseless police killing]. As I wrote two years ago, each death reopens a conversation on race framed to ask all of the wrong questions.

I predicted that “until we start asking the right questions, I fear there will be more Trayvon Martins.”

This list reminds us that these deaths are not isolated incidents, but part of a larger pattern -- a picture we can only make out if we step back for a broader view. A series of similar incidents occurred across the nation in the late 1960s, triggering the “urban disturbances” that were the focus of the famous “Kerner Commission” Report on Civil Disorders.”

The report is as startling in its description and analysis of events that parallel today as it is in the relevance of the recommendations it advanced.

The Commission was established for the specific purpose of investigating the causes of the late 1960s riots, and the Report is a comprehensive analysis of both the specific incidents at issue and the more general conditions that led to the combustible environment.

Policing
Consider the chapter dedicated to the issue of policing and the community, described as a “primary cause” of the “disorders” surveyed in the Report. The Report observed that “[t]he patrolman comes to see the city through a windshield and hear about it over a police radio. To him, the area increasingly comes to consist only of law breakers. To the ghetto resident, the policeman comes increasingly to be only an enforcer.”

The Kerner Commission Report expressed concern that many police neither reside nor grew up in these environments, widening the gulf between police and the communities they serve.

This remains the case today, with no more vivid an illustration that Ferguson, Missouri. Ferguson is a predominantly black community, and yet just three of the fifty-three police officers on the municipal force are African-American.

Consider, especially, the remarks of the 1968 authors of the Report when they assert that the incidents it documented were not “the crude acts of an earlier time,” alluding to explicitly racist police behavior, but that police misconduct -- whether described as brutality, harassment, or merely verbal abuse and discourtesy -- was a motivating factor that contributed to the civil disorders of that decade.

Protests in Ferguson, MO after an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown, was shot and killed by Ferguson police. Photo credit: Southern Poverty Law Center

Line of peaceful protesters in Ferguson, MO, after an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown, was shot to death by Ferguson police (Southern Poverty Law Center).

In the context of the era of stop-and-frisk (83 percent stopped were black or Hispanic), and the criminalization of poverty, it’s worth considering the applicability Commission’s observation, nearly 50 years later, that “Negroes firmly believe that police brutality and harassment occur repeatedly in Negro neighborhoods.”

The explanation for what’s happening is not a secret, but it doesn’t seem to have seeped into the broader consciousness.

In his 2005 book Blink, Malcolm Gladwell deconstructed the shooting of the unarmed Amadou Diallo in New York City, and explained the critical causal force, implicit or unconscious bias, as measured by the implicit association test.

Most Americans, even those who embrace egalitarian norms, harbor unconscious negative associations with black bodies. It is on account of these pervasive and yet unconscious, culturally embedded associations that black boys are not only automatically viewed with suspicion, but as criminals, regardless of who they are. The Internet meme #iftheygunnedmedown not only illustrates the portrayal of black men and boys, but the perception as well.

We need to begin by addressing the pervasiveness of these unconscious biases, first by acknowledging them, and secondly by working to reduce them or ameliorate their impact. Police academies and law enforcement agencies not only need more diverse staff, but they need implicit bias training for officers. They need to measure, track and address implicit bias, enhance officer supervision and create accountability measures.

Only efforts like these can repair and strengthen the relationship between law enforcement and communities of color that will ultimately prevent the senseless deaths of boys like Michael Brown and more, I fear, to come. More (comments)

Monday, 18 August 2014

Breaking Rank: Exposing U.S. Police (video)

Ashley Wells, Amber Larson, Seth Auberon, Wisdom Quarterly; Norm Stamper; Alan Pelc

American police state USA, Indiana law shooting by police (lrjtv)

(Alan Pelc) What does the officer/murderer do exactly at Minute 2:02? Give himself a manly gorilla-style "Yeah!" like a footballer who just made a touchdown?
.

Cop's Expose of Dark Side of American Policing

Opening with a powerful letter to former Tacoma police chief, David Brame, who executed his estranged wife before turning the gun on himself, author and former chief of the Seattle police force Norm Stamper introduces us to the violent, secret world of domestic abuse that cops perpetrate and navigate.

Former chief of the Seattle police force, Stamper goes on to expose much more: a troubling culture of racism, sexism, and homophobia that is still pervasive within the 21st century force. He then explores how such prejudices can be addressed.

He reveals the dangers and temptations that civilian cops face, describing in gripping detail the split-second life-and-death decisions. Former police chief Stamper draws on lessons learned to make powerful arguments for drug decriminalization, abolition of the death penalty, and radically revised approaches to prostitution and gun control.

(Alan Pelc) When police kill, it's "Die, motherfather, die die!" that is, "No Warning Shot"

I'm going home tonight, but you're not.

He offers penetrating insights into the "blue wall of silence," police undercover work, and what it means to kill a man.

Stamper gives his personal account of the World Trade Organization (WTO) debacle of 1999, when protests he was in charge of controlling turned violent on the streets of Seattle.

Breaking Rank reveals Norm Stamper as a brave man, a pioneering public servant whose extraordinary life has been dedicated to the service of a community [he abused as a police officer and attempts to now make right by revealing the truth about American policing]. More

Los Angeles protesters rally in front of LAPD headquarters

Southern California Public Radio (SCPR.org/KPCC FM with contributions by Frank Stoltze); Pat Macpherson, Pfc. Sandoval (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

LOS ANGELES, California - Hundreds of protesters gathered in downtown Los Angeles yesterday [Sunday, Aug. 17, 2014] to vent their anger at police shooting to of death unarmed black man Ezell Ford, who was killed by police in South LA on Monday night.

Carrying signs and chanting "We are all Ezell," the crowd stopped at the LA Police Department's headquarters, where several protesters spoke. Marchers then continued to Union Station and La Placita, through Little Tokyo into Chinatown, then back to City Hall [in the vicinity of the Occupy Movement's violently evicted encampment].

"I think there continues to be a dehumanization of black and brown people in this country," said Susanna Parras, 31, a public school social worker from South LA.

Many people carried signs with the names of both Ezell Ford and Michael Brown, the 18-year-old African American teen shot by police in Ferguson, Missouri. "I'm here to support the right of black and brown folks to live with peace and dignity," said Alex Villapando, 31, of South LA.

Protests? We (NYPD) can take of that the way we did in Iraq and Afghanistan (theblaze.com)

Ford, 25, was shot by members of LAPD's Gang Enforcement Detail Monday evening after he reportedly tackled officers and reached for one of their guns. Family members say Ezell was known to have mental problems and question why he was stopped in the first place.

Syria leader would side with LAPD

But many people were suspicious of the department's version of events. [Eyewitnesses saw no struggle, just an execution. The reason police execute victims is so there were ill be no story to counter their version of events: "No person, no problem." In this way they are able to "justify" their acts by collectively inventing stories that would legally justify their actions. This crime by officers is a separate felony called "conspiracy" and suggests premeditation, which means police are "murdering" victims not inadvertently shooting them during arrest.]

[Reports are that police took a mentally ill black man playing basketball alone in the park into their custody, dragged him into the public restroom, and proceeded to beat him severely for no reason better than the joy of beating someone who could do nothing about it. This may be the Ford case or another recently reported in LA County. Protesters are upset about all such recent and long-running abuses.]

Police are stuck in the mire of murdering us.

Too many black men have been shot and killed by police, said Andrew Nance, 38, of Mid-Wilshire. "I'm out here because I have an 8-year-old daughter," he said. "I think she has the right to know her father throughout her life, without fear that he may be get mowed down in the streets by the people who are sworn to protect."

Police gave the crowd a good deal of room to move, allowing them to march in the middle of the street in some areas. An LAPD spokesperson said this was done deliberately to keep things calm and because the streets were less crowded on a Sunday.

There are murderers with badges in LAPD

"I think the LAPD has learned, maybe, how to relate to the public. They're not trying instigate something like Ferguson," Alex Villapando explained.

Sunday night's rally in LA echoed protests taking place around the U.S. following the murder by police of Michael Brown, who was killed by police last week in Ferguson Missouri -- where officials are actively attempting to cover up and disseminate information to mar victim Brown's character and muddy the water even as a private autopsy has just revealed that the teen was shot at least six times, twice in the head -- prompting rallies that have turned violent in recent days.

On Saturday, Missouri's governor declared a state of emergency and placed a midnight curfew on the St. Louis suburb. More

VIDEO: New LAPD Chief (New Boss Same as the Old Boss) wants peace in the Middle East -- but how? A police state?

Saturday, 16 August 2014

LA Police Dept. kills, Ferguson burns (cartoon)

Pat Macpherson, Ashley Wells, Pfc. Sandoval, Sheldon S., Wisdom Quarterly; Tom Tomorrow (This Modern World); Branden Caldwell (dayandadream); Earl Ofari Hutchinson

"Officer Friendly, why are you dressed like Darth Vader?" (thismodernworld.com)*

Our tax money funds all U.S. imperial wars. It's about time the military-industrial complex bring the equipment/tactics back and use them on US from Ferguson to L.A. (occupy.com)

Words from Malcolm X in 1964 still resonate in 2014 for Michael Brown, Renisha McBride, Trayvon Martin, Ezell Ford, Sean Bell, Oscar Grant, Amadou Diallo, Abner Louima, Steve Biko, Eleanor Bumpurs, Michael Strewart, Rodney King, and for all the names we don’t know. #WeAreTargets #HandsUp #DontShoot (cashmerethoughtsss/tumblr.com)

C'mon, Brown (occupy.com)

It's easy when the U.S.-backed Israeli government is committing war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other assorted atrocities to blame "Jews."

If we were Trayvon Martin then, we're Michael Brown now!

But there are a few who are not to blame -- brave individuals who stand up, speak truth to power, shout "Not in my name!" and work for peace and equity -- and so it is better not to cast the net so wide as to seem to be blaming someone for something just because of their religious/cultural baggage. (Take CODEPINK/codepink.org, for example, or IJAN/ijsn.net).

Ferguson father on police brutality (DAAD)

The same is true of P.D.-backed police agents committing civilian crimes, crimes against humanity, and other small-scale atrocities.

To blame "cops" casts the blame a little too widely, as if all of them were to blame.

Granted, they are mostly all corrupted -- at least a little bit:

Riot to full mili (socialesteemmedia.com)

They are insofar as they are engaged in criminal conspiracies, protecting other criminal-cops behind a "code of silence," roughing up "undesirables" who can't do anything about it, and generally shirking their oaths to obey and enforce all laws rather than picking and choosing which ones to break and which to enforce, singling out certain races or groups for enhanced enforcement, and breaking laws left and right knowing that no one is going to hold them to account unless they fall afoul of the BIB (Boys in Blue) gang or the Police Protective League, with sub-gangs being their racist cliques, fellow union members, the Brass, you know, the guys down at the station...

Killing Ezell Ford: Police commission leader says LAPD, MO slayings not comparable

Hands up, don't shoot (TMW)

It is amazing to find even one good cop. Of course, the majority of police seem good, very nice, respectful, honest, conscientious -- well, not behind the scenes when they don't think anyone is looking, but up front when they feel someone is paying attention. Most police we've ever met seemed like fine people, hardly the monsters that show up on TV, in court, on the streets swinging batons with glee and impunity. Now we see that they have triggers, thresholds, Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde buttons that can be pushed then, stand back, sociopath in the room!

As L.A gathers to march on LAPD HQ on Sunday, Aug. 17, 2014, maybe you should call Brother Sergeant De Lacy Davis to intervene, educate, and retrain abusive cops (973) 926-5717.

Black Cops Against Police Brutality (b-cap.org)

But back to the few, the proud, the honorable. Look at this organization, "Black Cops Against Police Brutality" (b-cap.org). It's amazing. The founder not only admits what police are really like, he knows it from first hand experience, and still talks about it. (He must be off the force because the Men in Blue would kill him otherwise; no one breaks the code of silence, the wall of conspiracy where crimes are planned, carried out, and covered up with a wink and a nod. It's gotten so bad that the Internal Affairs officers leak the names of tattletales to officers being exposed so that they can close out the investigations themselves in a way that Stalin would approve of, "No person no problem" or as our Stalins in America like to say, "Dead men tell no tales [or at least give no credible court testimony]."

*THE CARTOON: (TMW) The first draft of this "Officer Friendly" cartoon was actually written a month ago, inspired by this ACLU report and this New York Times article. [Tom Tomorrow] was saving it as a backup for some upcoming travel, but timing is everything, and as the events in Ferguson began to unfold, this went from evergreen to needing to be posted as soon as possible.

Aren't President Obama's words beautiful? He dissembles so elegantly. He addressed the "situation" in Ferguson: No one should disobey police and, of course, police probably should not, you know, kill unarmed teens or arrest reporters doing their job bringing us the news... It reminds one of the time he admitted to and authorized more U.S. torture. No one noticed.

VIDEO: Michael Brown: MO Gov. finally addresses "situation" in Ferguson (AP/KPCC) Earlier in the week, the president issued a statement saying that Brown's death is stirring "strong passions," and he appealed for reflection.
VIDEO: Police State: Ferguson, Missouri riots
LAPD kills Ezell Ford, protests start up (SCPR)
Another African American man killed by police, LAPD...
Justice for LAPD murder victim Ezelle Ford (tumblr)
Better cover-ups? L.A. police panel revises officer shooting reviews
California's Deadliest Cops (Facebook)

Officer Friendly get militarized (TMW)

Add the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. to the recent [and yet long running] string of unnecessary [murders] at the hands of the police.

The Missouri teen was gunned down by an officer early Saturday afternoon. His grandmother discovered his body sprawled along the pavement minutes before he was set to return home from the store. Reports vary...

[Why would] police [want] to open fire on the boy? [It's] believed that police were called to the area looking for someone who had shoplifted from a store in the area. [But as the police chief has clarified that the murderer, Officer Daren Wilson, did not know of any such crime at the time he shot the victim in the back. Officer Wilson was merely harassing unarmed teen Michael Brown for walking off the sidewalk.]

Might there be racism on the force or in the courts? (Ezelle Ford/tumblr)

Brown, whose body laid in the street for several minutes before it was even covered by authorities, was unarmed. [He had his hands up, he was moving away, he apparently said, "Don't shoot" implying that he posed no threat whatsoever.]

Louis Head, Brown's stepfather, immediately wrote on a sign, "FERGUSON POLICE JUST EXECUTED MY UNARMED SON." There were chants from a crowd of onlookers who protested the boy's death and the [unjustified] actions of the police. The move, along with unconfirmed reports [useful as a pretext] of shots in the crowd, led to authorities from surrounding areas to assist. By the time a crowd had gathered to march down to the police station in Ferguson, police had mobilized in tanks and held dogs to try and combat any potential unrest in the area.

We're gonna bring this war home (Kemi Filani)

[NOTE: The reason they were likely so quick to deploy their arsenal is that the government program that armed them can rescind the weapons on loan if they are not used, which encourages use, abuse, and any excuse to bring out the big guns. It leads to the militarization of civilian policing, not accidentally but apparently by design. Why else would the federal government purchase so much ammunition, millions of rounds, to arm each of its agencies, most of which have no enforcement arm?] More

Protests return to Ferguson over cover up

A Disturbing Pattern
Why it’s nearly impossible to nail cops for using deadly force
Earl Ofari Hutchinson (PasadenaWeekly.com, Aug. 14, 2014)

Unarmed victim Michael Brown, 18

Mike Brown is the latest name on the growing list of victims of brazen overuse of deadly force by cops. The 18-year-old Brown had his hands raised when he was gunned down by a Ferguson, Mo., police officer after a stop. Brown fit the usual pattern of those killed. In almost all cases the victims are unarmed and not accused of committing a crime. Their killings also occur in broad daylight and with witnesses present.

S. Africa's tragic anniversary

Another part of this familiar and deeply disturbing pattern is that they are young African Americans or Latinos. The officers who commit these deadly acts are placed on paid administrative leave, and police officials, when confronted with demands from civil rights and community leaders for an investigation, make solemn promises to do just that. They assure us their investigations will be thorough and impartial. That’s the start of the problem. More

When white cops get weapons of war (video)

Pat Macpherson, Pfc. Sandoval, Wisdom Quarterly; Sadhbh Walshe (Guardian via Occupy)

CIA-trained Chilean cop patrolling on horseback, medieval (nocaptionneeded.com)

The war on Americans. Sniper sits training military-grade weapon on unarmed U.S. civilians with the audacity to protest being killed in the streets by killer cops. Michael Brown Ferguson protests Police brutalityP olice killings Racial killings Police militarization

The Militarization of U.S. Police: Finally Dragged Into the Light by the Horrors of Ferguson

America now has a domestic police force that looks, thinks and acts more like an invading and occupying military than a community-based force to protect the public. More

Shift Change: A Film About Worker-Owned Businesses And Why They Work

This new documentary highlights worker-owned enterprises in North America and the remarkable Mondragon cooperatives in the Basque region of northern Spain. More

How Crony Capitalism and Deregulation Poisoned Toledo's Water

Like other water-related crises this year in West Virginia and Detroit, the poisoning of Toledo's water is tied to corruption at the highest levels of state government by corporate special interests. More

Edward Snowden, The Most Wanted Man in the World

"I’m an engineer, not a politician. I don’t want the stage. I’m terrified of giving these talking heads some distraction, some excuse to jeopardize, smear, and delegitimize a very important movement.” More