Showing posts with label protests. Show all posts
Showing posts with label protests. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Baltimore Burning Over Death of Freddie Gray

photo BaltimoreRiots.png

Here we go again. On April 19, 2015, a group of policemen in Baltimore, Maryland, took custody of a man named Freddie Gray and after he was injured during the scuffle, they dragged him to an ambulance where later he died a mysterious death. Somehow he was killed inside an ambulance, completely severing his spinal cord. You cannot make up a horror story worse than the plight of African Americans in the hands of white cops these days.

From The Atlantic: The Mysterious Death of Freddie Gray
According to the city, an officer made eye contact with Gray, and he took off running, so they pursued him. Though he'd had scrapes with the law before, there's no indication he was wanted at the time. And though he was found with a switchblade, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said, “We know that having a knife is not necessarily a crime.”

The police say Gray didn't resist arrest and that officers didn't use force, which seems to be mostly corroborated by video shot by bystanders. Gray seems to shout in pain, and his leg seems injured as officers drag him to a police van. (Someone off camera shouts, "His leg broke and y'all dragging him like that!") Gray also had asthma and requested his inhaler, but didn't get it. Yet it's not the leg or the asthma that killed him. Instead, it was a grave injury to his spinal cord. Gray's family said he was treated for three fractured vertebrae and a crushed voice box, the sorts of injuries that doctors say are usually caused by serious car accidents. The van made at least two stops before reaching the police station, but there's no footage to say what happened during the journey or at those stops.

It's a baffling conundrum. "None of the officers describe any use of force," Deputy Police Commissioner Jerry Rodriguez said. "None of the officers describe using any force against Mr. Gray." And yet somehow Gray was fatally hurt while in police custody.

Baffling conundrum, indeed.

So what has happened since Gray's death? Protest marches have sometimes turned into riots, with looting and fires, and the Governor called in the National Guard. Hashtag Baltimore is turning into another Ferguson, Missouri. Or maybe EVERYWHERE is Ferguson these days, and the country has got to get this under control! The good news is that recently sworn-in Attorney General Loretta Lynch has already sent a team to Baltimore to investigate the circumstances. Which is fine, but at some point there has to be justice for black Americans who are scared for their lives and for their children.















































Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Angry Nation Ponders Eric Garner Non-Verdict from New York Grand Jury

photo da8dcf59-c809-45b9-93c0-338d8ce6eb6d.gif

#ICantBreathe = Last words of Eric Garner.

What is your life? It is even a vapor,
that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.
New Testament James 4:14

There are really no words - or breath left to speak words - after the non-decision of a New York Grand Jury in the tragic death of Eric Garner, who was killed by a cop while in a stranglehold on a public sidewalk. The whole thing was caught on film from the first interaction to his dying breath, yet to the bafflement of the world, no indictment against the cop was brought by the Grand Jury. Once again a prosecutor chose to protect law enforcement instead of enforcing the law.

And it's been another sad day for our country as we grieve another senseless death at the hands of the police, the death of a man who was selling cigarettes on the city streets. He wasn't a thug, he wasn't being violent. There was no danger for the cop who killed him. There is no instant death sentence for resisting arrest.

We have to solve this, and soon.

Eric Holder has announced an investigation into the Garner case, as well as in Ferguson for the victim Mike Brown. Until there is some kind of justice and cops are held accountable by somebody somewhere, protests are going to fill the streets of our country. Tonight thousands flooded into the streets from New York to Seattle, and Reverend Al Sharpton has called for a march on Washington on December 13th. It would be nice to have some sense of resolution of all these racially motivated cop shootings by Christmas, but the thin blue line is into protecting itself these days and most politicians don't seem to give a damn.



































Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Monday, November 24, 2014

#Ferguson Grand Jury Decision Part One ~ No Indictment, but Blame the Witnesses and Social Media

photo 940c0b0e-2ee3-4dae-986d-501c4ec30607.jpg

Counting down to the Ferguson Grand Jury Decision at 9 p.m. - and now we have it. At 9:24 the Prosecutor said the Grand Jury chose not to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown. Unfortunately, this guy is a total idiot, and his "speech" is a joke, so this is not going to end well. I will have Part Two with video up later.

Blame the Victim, Blame the Witnesses, Blame Social Media

9:25-9:30





9:23











9:06



9:02







8:59



8:47




8:46



8:44:




Earlier Tweets:




































Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Monday, August 18, 2014

Heading to #Fergustan ~ Missouri Governor Calls Out National Guard

photo STICKER20US20Army20National20Guard2.jpg

Previous Related Posts:
Ferguson Update: Shooter Identified, Tanks Return
Journalists Attacked and Arrested in Ferguson
Ferguson Missouri Uses Militarized Police on Protestors


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SUNDAY NIGHT, 8-17 Into MONDAY MORNING 8-18






































A Pro-Darren Wilson Rally was held Sunday night in Ferguson. Wilson is the cop who shot Michael Brown and started this crisis.







~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

































Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sunday, August 17, 2014

Ferguson Update: Shooter Identified, Curfew Mandated, Tanks Return

photo 0fb50c3f-4b4e-4d1c-bb18-cf1c2b0d5124.jpg

Previous Related Posts:
Journalists Attacked and Arrested in Ferguson
Ferguson Missouri Uses Militarized Police on Protestors

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

New Developments in Ferguson, Missouri:

On Friday, August 15, 2014, the Chief of Police released the name of Darren Wilson, the cop who killed Michael Brown on a street in Ferguson.

From Huffington Post
When asked about Wilson, Jackson said he is "a gentleman, a quiet officer" who found the incident "devastating."
"He never intended for any of this to happen," Jackson said.

Apparently, Darren Wilson was allowed to leave town with his family after the shooting:

From USA Today
No one answered at Wilson's door in his home in suburban Crestwood, Mo. A police officer keeping an eye on the house said Wilson and his family left days ago.
A neighbor, who did not want to be identified, said that Wilson had moved into the neighborhood less than a year ago. She described him as " tall and slim" and that she would see him walking his dog in the neighborhood of mostly single-story brick homes. She said she didn't know he was the cop until this morning when Crestwood police informed residents that he was involved and the neighborhood would be getting attention.

On the same day they announced the name of the shooter, Police released video of Michael Brown allegedly stealing cigars at a convenience store, as if that explained the cold-blooded way he was shot down in the middle of a residential street.



From MSNBC.com
According to the police report... video surveillance allegedly showed Brown in an altercation with a store employee on Aug. 9. Brown and his friend, Dorian Johnson, grabbed cigars from the store and behind the counter, the police report said. Before they left the store, the employee attempted to stop Brown from taking the merchandise. Brown grabbed the employee by the shirt and pushed him into a display rack in the store, the report said, and Brown and Johnson left the store with the cigars.
But Darren Wilson, the officer who stopped Brown, wasn’t even aware that Brown was a suspect in the robbery, Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson said Friday afternoon. The officer initially stopped Brown and his friend, Dorian Johnson, because the pair was walking in the middle of a residential street, Jackson said, an admission that provoked outrage from Brown’s family and attorneys.

But Police Chief Thomas Jackson later told a different version of the story too, which made it seem as if the truth matters less than justifying the murder of Michael Brown.

Via USA Today
Hours later, however, Jackson told a slightly different story to CNN and NBC, saying that Wilson noticed Brown was carrying a box of cigars that had been reported stolen. Wilson, he said, initially stopped Brown for blocking traffic, but as he began driving past Brown, he noticed Brown was holding cigars.
At that point, Wilson "made the connection" that Brown might have been involved in a theft that had just been broadcast on police radio, Jackson said.
It's not part of our justice system to kill people for stealing cigars, or even for jaywalking. What the hell is Chief Jackson thinking? How is the knowledge of a petty theft a mitigating factor in this case?
So there goes even more credibility from the Police Department.

What really happened? Hopefully the FBI and Justice Department are reading These Live Tweets from the scene when Brown was shot.

Also there were other witnesses on scene:







Statement from the Family of Michael Brown and Their Attorneys

"Michael Brown’s family is beyond outraged at the devious way the police chief has chosen to disseminate piece mil information in a manner intended to assassinate the character of their son, following such a brutal assassination of his person in broad daylight.
There is nothing based on the facts that have been placed before us that can justify the execution style murder of their child by this police officer as he held his hands up, which is the universal sign of surrender.
The prolonged release of the officer’s name and then the subsequent alleged information regarding a robbery is the reason why the family and the local community have such distrust for the local law enforcement agencies.
It is no way transparent to release the still photographs alleged to be Michael Brown and refuse to release the photographs of the officer that executed him.
The police strategy of attempting to blame the victim will not divert our attention, from being focused on the autopsy, ballistics report and the trajectory of the bullets that caused Michael’s death and will demonstrate to the world this brutal execution of an unarmed teenager."
Benjamin L Crump, Esq.
Anthony D. Gray, Esq.
Daryl D. Parks, Esq.

It was announced by Missouri Governor Jay Nixon that the State Patrol, led by Ron Johnson, was going to take over after the city was roundly criticized for the militarization of police forces against a mainly peaceful crowd. The city seemed to calm down on Thursday night, but escalated again on Friday night and through the weekend as tanks and tear gas returned to the streets.










Unfortunately from Friday until Sunday night, the tanks and tear gas returned to the streets, and journalists were "corralled" in one place thanks to a Curfew put in place by the Governor.

From the LA Times
In an unusual declaration for an American city, Gov. Jay Nixon imposed a midnight-to-5 a.m. curfew Saturday after fresh violence erupted here amid public anger over the shooting death of an unarmed black man by a white police officer.
The governor's curfew and state-of-emergency decree underscored the gravity of the situation in Ferguson, where officials have been unable to calm tempers and racial tensions since the Aug. 9 shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown by police Officer Darren Wilson.
Critics, from black leaders in Ferguson to Amnesty International USA, were quick to assail Nixon's move and said it could further infuriate protesters who have gathered on the streets of the St. Louis suburb nightly since Brown's death.

Ferguson is turning into just about everybody's worst nightmare.




Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Friday, August 15, 2014

Journalists Attacked and Arrested in Ferguson MO

photo missouri-t-shirt-vintage-t-shirt-re.jpg

On August 13, 2014, police in Ferguson Missouri began to target film crews and journalists, blasting them with tear gas and hauling them to the police station.

Previous Related Posts:
Ferguson Missouri Uses Militarized Police on Protestors

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




From Huffington Post
Reilly explained that he was working in a nearby McDonald's along with another reporter, the Washington Post's Wesley Lowery, when SWAT entered the premises. Reilly was then ordered to exit.
"They were giving us a countdown like we were 5-year-olds," he explained.
When he didn't leave quickly enough, Reilly said, he was roughed up by an officer and subsequently arrested.
"You know you always see cops yelling, 'stop resisting, stop resisting,' and that's something that happened here -- but I wasn't resisting," Reilly said. "This is just something that these cops yelled no matter what you were doing. I let my arms go limp ... wasn't trying to resist anything."

Wesley Lowery in the Washington Post
During this time, we asked the officers for badge numbers. We asked to speak to a supervising officer. We asked why we were being detained. We were told: trespassing in a McDonald’s.
“I hope you’re happy with yourself,” one officer told me. And I responded: “This story’s going to get out there. It’s going to be on the front page of The Washington Post tomorrow.”
And he said, “Yeah, well, you’re going to be in my jail cell tonight.”
Once at the station, we were processed, our pockets emptied. No mug shots. They removed our restraints and put us in a holding cell. Ryan was able to get ahold of his dad. I called my mom, but I couldn’t get through. I couldn’t remember any phone numbers.
We were in there for what felt like 10 or 15 minutes. Then the processing officer came in.
“Who’s media?” he asked.
We said we were. And the officer said we were both free to go. We asked to speak to a commanding officer. We asked to see an arrest report. No report, the officer told us, and no, they wouldn’t provide any names.













































Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Ferguson, Missouri Uses Militarized Police on Protestors

photo 535f40b6-33cc-4b3b-a87b-a0f5cb2dd937.png

All Hell broke loose in Ferguson, MO, this week:

It began last Saturday:





Body put in police cruiser - No Ambulance:













Unfortunately, the anger about Michael Brown's death spilled over and led to looting and rioting.







But the focus needed to be on why a cop shot Michael Brown:







Governor Nixon finally made a statement five days after the death of Michael Brown. And he cancelled his tour of the State Fair - how gracious of him!













For many, the situation reminded them of places like Selma and Birmingham:







But the Ferguson police had no sense of history, and decided to make things worse by with tanks, rubber bullets, and smoke grenades. And the world was watching.


























Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)