RW ONLINE: The Call for a National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation on October 22nd, 2003! The Call for a National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation on October 22nd, 2003!

Revolutionary Worker #1215, October 12, 2003, posted at rwor.org

Where will you be on October 22, 2003? What will you be doing? Will you join with thousands of others across the country to expose and oppose the nationwide epidemic of Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation?

The second edition of Stolen Lives: Killed by Law Enforcement , published in 1999, documented over 2,000 cases of people killed by law enforcement nationwide in the decade of the 1990s, largely youth in communities of color. The research done so far in preparation for the 3rd version of the Stolen Lives book, coming out next spring, reveals an outrageous step-up in the number of killings by law enforcement nationwide since Sept. 11, 2001, including over 61 killings in the NY/NJ area, 49 in Chicago, to name just a few cities. And the numbers climb every day.

On May 16, police broke into the wrong apartment in Harlem, exploded a stun grenade, and handcuffed 57-year-old Alberta Spruill, causing her death. Six days later, NY police killed Ousmane Zongo, an innocent bystander, while carrying out a raid. On May 6, Chicago cops killed Luther Mitchell with gunshots to the head and left his handcuffed body in the streets for several hours. In Los Angeles, the DA exonerated the cops who gunned down Gonzalo Martinez with automatic weapons, although Gonzalo was posing no threat to the officers and in fact he was trying to give up when he was gunned down. In Guilford County, North Carolina, the parents of Gil Barber were held in contempt of court for calling the Sheriff's Deputy who killed their son a murderer.

They tell us the repressive practices they are enacting today, like expanding racial profiling and giving the police more power over the people, are being done to keep us safe. Roundups and deportations of thousands of immigrants are widely practiced. Laws and policies which are being enacted today, like the USA PATRIOT ACT and Homeland Security, raise the specter of a police state. But there ain't no safety in a police state!

This stepped-up clampdown has already met with resistance in many areas. The suffocating silence and censorship on the issue of police brutality of the past few years has been punctured by the actions of people in Benton Harbor, Michigan, who resisted and stood up to the police violence and terror. In Fort Greene, New York, and Cabrini Green, Chicago, people in the neighborhoods chased out the raiding police with rocks and bottles. Their resistance has helped break out the issue of police brutality into the public eye once again.

On October 22, 2003, the 8th Annual National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation, we have an opportunity to make a powerful and visible manifestation in the streets and in other ways to oppose this repressive clampdown and break through the wall of silence the authorities have tried to maintain around these outrages. We can drag their crimes out into the light of day so that others may join us in opposing them. Our actions on October 22nd will give strength and courage to people who are resisting and let them know that they have allies.

All of history teaches us that, as Frederick Douglas said, "Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will....The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress."

Join with us on October 22, 2003, to make the 8th Annual National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation a day which cannot be ignored, a day which will open the eyes of many people across the country to the continuing epidemic of police brutality and repression. In city after city across the U.S., thousands of people will hold demonstrations, rallies, marches, forums, workshops, concerts, art shows, organizing meetings, and more, to reach out to and involve millions more. We will use the pictures, stories and statistics from the Stolen Lives Project to let people know of the horrors and outrages which are being kept from their sight, and call on them to be a part of fighting back to stop this national epidemic. We will WEAR BLACK! to symbolize our mourning for those whose lives have been stolen from us, and speak for those who can no longer speak for themselves.

*****

Racial profiling, which led to the death of Amadou Diallo and so many more, continues to plague Blacks and Latinos and now has been expanded to target Arabs, South Asians and Muslims. Tens of thousands of immigrants have faced mandatory registration and interrogations. Thousands have been detained, and many have been deported. Families have been split up as round-ups have resulted in deportations without notice to family members still waiting in the U.S.

Law continue to strip away civil liberties and protection against COINTELPRO-type government eavesdropping, searches, seizures, evidence fabrication, frame-ups, and ambushes. People are being held in jail indefinitely on secret evidence and denied access to lawyers or a chance to contest their imprisonment. Police, the FBI, CIA, INS/BICE and other law enforcement agencies, the same institutions that have brutalized and even murdered people, are being given expanded powers over us. The Chicago PD is under investigation for lying to justify the 1998 killing of Michael Russell. Police claim Russell had shot another man, but the shooting victim and another witness say Russell was an innocent by-stander.

Protests and dissent are being criminalized . at many anti-war marches across the country, protesters were viciously beaten and attacked. At an antiwar demonstration at the Oakland Docks, the highest officials in the country from Homeland Security directed police to fire concussion grenades and rubber bullets at protesters. At anti-war demonstrations in New York, Chicago, Seattle, Kent State and other places, police viciously attacked and brutalized demonstrators.

Juanita Young, mother of Malcolm Ferguson (killed by NYPD in March 2000), was targeted by police harassment for her outspoken role around the murders of Alberta Spruill, Ousmane Zongo, and "Chago" Villaueva. This was an attempt to send a broader message to people to "shut up."

Prison continues to serve as a warehouse for those stamped with criminalization by U.S. society. More than 2 million people are in jail, most of them for non-violent offenses, most of them young, most of them people of color and almost all of them poor.

Mumia Abu Jamal, Leonard Peltier and many other political prisoners remain in jail when their only "crime" is fighting against injustice.

*****

Endorsement List for October 22, 2003

Family Members of People Killed by Law Enforcement Agents:

Iris Baez, mother of Anthony Baez, killed by NYPD
Jessie Barber, mother of Gil Barber
Diane Bossom, Houston, Texas
Milta Calderón, New York
Ophelia Randall Ealy, mother of Michael Randall Ealy, killed by Seattle police 12/28/98
Danny García, brother of Mark García who was pepper-sprayed and killed by SF police
Arnetta Grable, mother of Lamar Grable, killed by Detroit police
Cornelius Hall, Alabama
Nicholas Heyward, Sr., father of Nicholas Heyward Jr., killed by NYPD
Hooper family, whose loved one Gregory Hooper was killed by off-duty SF police
Mesha Irizarry, mother of Idriss Stelley who was killed by SF police
Norma and Norberto Martínez, parents of Gonzalo Martínez, killed by LAPD
Edith Miller, Detroit
Vicki Moon, mother of Bryan Bombela, who was killed by Monterey County sheriff
Jervis Muwakkil, father of Jamill Wheatfall who was killed by Oakland police
Family and Friends of Javier Quezada, Jr., killed by Pasadena police on January 23, 2003
Eric Roberts, brother of Aaron Roberts, killed by Seattle Police 5/31/01
Margarita Rosario, mother of Anthony Rosario, killed by NYPD
Frank Rosenberg, father of Richard Rosenberg who was killed by Fremont police
Andree Smith, mother of Justin Smith, killed in Tulsa, Oklahoma on August 14, 1998
Jonsi Smith, sister of Justin Smith, killed in Tulsa, Oklahoma on August 14, 1998
Cornell Squires, survivor of police brutality, Detroit
Olga Sokolova, friend of Josh, killed by LAPD on November 22, 2002
Jamila Sombia, Detroit
Calvert Stewart, father of Gil Barber, High Point, North Carolina
Juanita Young, mother of Malcolm Ferguson, killed by NYPD March 2000
LaRhonda Young and family for Tyrone Salters, Greenville, SC
Lisa Williams, survivor of police brutality, Detroit

Individuals and Organizations:

African American Committee to Free Mumia Abu Jamal (Zakiyyah S. Muhammad, Doris Lewis, Allean Morrow), Chicago
Anarchist Black Cross, San Diego
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition, Seattle
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition, San Diego
Mollie M. Bell, community activist, Los Angeles
Calonise Berjongja, Seattle WA
Blue Triangle San Francisco
Campaign Against Racial Profiling - ACLU, New York
Luis Carrillo, attorney, Los Angeles
Michael Chattom, National Association for Equal Justice in America (NAEJA)
Chicago Not In Our Name
Chicago Rolling Thunder
California Coalition for Women Prisoners, San Diego
Committee Against Police Brutality, San Diego
Frank Cruz, Yerba Colectiva
Cry for Justice, Chicago
Chris Daly, San Francisco Supervisor
Jason David, Los Angeles
December 12 th Movement, New York
Dwayne Dickson, Sr., Families to Amend California's Three Strikes (FACTS)
Carl Dix, Revolutionary Communist Party
First A.M.E. Church - Los Angeles - Social Concerns Commission
Franciscan Friars, Chicago
Freedom Socialist Party, San Francisco
Haitian Coalition for Justice, New York
Terry Hanks (ex-political prisoner)
International Action Center--San Diego
Justice Coalition (Lydia Taylor, David Bates), Chicago
Dedon Kamathi, Los Angeles
James Lafferty, National Lawyers Guild*
La Resistencia, National Office, Houston, Texas
Father Lawrence Lucas, New York
Rocky Lewis, North Carolina
M.E.Ch.A. de USC
O'Kelly McCluskey, WW2 USN, member of Veterans for Peace, Seattle*
New Black Panther Party - Chicago Chapter
Efia Nwangaza, African American Institute for Policy Studies and Planning, Greenville, S.C.
Anne Tamiko Omura, San Francisco
Peace and Conflict Scholars - USC
Clarence Potter, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Greenville, SC
Radical Women, San Francisco
Refuse and Resist!, National Office, New York
Louis Reyes Rivera, poet
Rev. M. Andrew Robinson-Gaither, Faith United Methodist Church, L.A.
San Diego Peace and Freedom Party
San Francisco Day Labor Program
Rene Saucedo, La Raza Centro Legal, Bay Area
The South Alameda County Peace and Justice Coalition, Ca.,
South Asians Against Police Brutality & Racism, New York
Idriss Stelley Foundation, San Francisco
Samina Sundas, American Muslim Voice, San Francisco
Roger Wareham
Esther Wolf, Seattle WA

* organization listed for identification purposes only

http://rwor.org - Revolutionary Worker Online http://rwor.org/resistance -RW resource page on resisting the juggernaut of war and repression http://2changetheworld.info - Discuss revolutionary strategy and the RCP's Draft Programme

 

Yeah, that'll show 'em.

..then said generation shouldn't act like criminals.

Line from "Liar Liar", when Jim Carrey's character is asked for legal advice by a man repeatedly arrested:

"STOP BREAKING THE LAW,. ASSHOLE!!"

Why does this yo-yo quote movies to explain his point?

Dosent he know movies arent real?

...not to realize the valid point I made?

If you don't break the law, you won't get arrested.

Do you understand now?

Moron.

If you think everybody who gets hassled by cops is breaking the law ....jeez you are an idiot. Remember Amadou Diallo? Or doesn't that register in your cheap labor conservative head. Didn't do shit and 41 rounds popped into him. OR once again in New York the lady whose apartment was busted into by cops,then had the heart attack and died. Turns out it was a MISTAKE. The more they militarize cops the more incidents like this will happen. Cops are nothing but legalized gangs.

The Angry Left speaks:

"If you think everybody who gets hassled by cops is breaking the law ....jeez you are an idiot. Remember Amadou Diallo? Or doesn't that register in your cheap labor conservative head. Didn't do shit and 41 rounds popped into him. OR once again in New York the lady whose apartment was busted into by cops,then had the heart attack and died. Turns out it was a MISTAKE. The more they militarize cops the more incidents like this will happen. Cops are nothing but legalized gangs."

"Cheap labor conservative! Cheap labor conservative!

What an asshole.

See if you can work your favorite phrase into the "Yankees suck" thread. THAT would be rich.

More name calling by the CHEAP LABOR CONSERVATIVES. As Rash Lowbrow would probably say,"When you don't have a intelligent arguement for something the Angry Left says...just call them names!! It's always worked for me." LOL LOL!!!

Shame on you for bad mouthing the law enforcement offcicers of our nation. There are over a half million law enforcement officers in our nation and yes there are a few bad apples and if you notice they are almost always delt with up to and including jail time wihich they deserve. But the 99% that lay thier lives on the line to protect you should not be included with the less than 1% that are bad. Remember these are men and women that have families that they want to raise in a safe and honoroble world also. SIngle out the bad cops and nail them to the cross but honor the main majority of good cops that...are doing a job that you wont or cant do. Remember nearly 200 police officers are killed in this country every year protecting you. That is more than troops killed in Afghanistan and Irag and we are at war in those countries. GOD BLESS OUR LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS!

Protecting me from what? Some kind of crime after the fact? I have known many police officers, a more racist , violent group I have yet to meet. I mentioned Amadou Diallo, what happened to those officers? Squat. How about the cops in LA who where TAPED banging a kids head on the car hood? What happened to them? Squat. How about the cops in New York who went to trial after beating and raping the suspect with a broom handle?(like he did it himself) Squat. I can name you numerous examples, most not reported in the mainstream press. Or if they are, way back on page 46. Or how about a personal example(which I always try to avoid) when I came home late one night , found two guys ripping off tires from a car,called the cops. When they showed up I went out to tell them the story, when I did I said," yea i came home these two guys are bent over this car , taking off the tires and then they fucking looked at me..." at which point the cops said,"Hey watch your language." Watch MY language. I am being a "good citizen" and being chaistised for MY LANGUAGE!!!! Are you kidding me. At that point, it being three in the morning I walked away. Give me a fucking break.

but we need to keep the arrogance and ticket to kill or play with guns in check.

We really need to have a civilian oversight mechanism with teeth.

I know from personal experience that there are some real drooling goons in the force that exist. They compensate for the shriveled state of their sick personal mental frame of mind.

But.

There are alot of good C.O.P.s

They would agree with me I'm certain.

You say that nothing has happened to the cops in the Amadou Diallo shooting. Well, their names were dragged through the press, they were accused of being murderers and racists, etc. They lost their jobs as law enforcement officers and probably are still in debt from defending themselves against unjust charges. Until you've done more research on the Amadou Diallo incident, you should not use it as an example of police brutality or racism.

Two officers were tried in the Donovan Jackson case - one officer was found not guilty because they had NO evidence against him for writing a false report. The other officer had 5 votes for not guilty and 7 for guilty. The judge declared a mistrial and now he has to stand trial AGAIN. He did nothing more than defend himself against an assault and acted as trained. He should not have to stand trial again, but because of pandering politicians, he is. He too has lost his job as a law enforcement officer and has been branded a racist even though his actions had nothing to do with race and everything to do with self-defense.

As for Abner Louima (broomstick), the officer that brutally sodomized Abner Louima confessed and is behind bars, where he belongs.

So you see, when cops truly are guilty of bad behavior, they are punished, as they should be. But even cops that are wrongly accused are being punished. That's wrong.

Most cops are good and decent people doing a very difficult job.

ALL FOUR officers were acquitted of the crime. This man is DEAD and your telling me that the press dragged the officers names through the mud!! Two of the officers applied to be firemen. And eventually the Street Crimes Unit they were a part of was disbanded. And what you also don't tell us is .....who protects us from these ROGUE officers? Other cops? Puh-leeze. Until the clean cops start turning in their brethren who are crooked then I say "Keep an eye on all of them and don't blink." I guess so what if a mistake is made,and it is not as rare as people are lead to believe, that is the price you pay to be "safe". Or who doesn't really pay the price? Since the jury acquitted them they must be innocent. And so is O.J.

What happened to Amadou Diallo is very tragic - there's no doubt about it. But you should try to understand policing. They did not deliberately set out to kill Amadou Diallo that night. They thought they were apprehending an armed rapist - one that they had hoped to get off the streets before he could rape more innocent women. Just try to open your mind just a little bit to what it is like for police on the streets.

http://www.city-journal.org/html/9_3_a1.html

..about what the hell you all are talking about but I do know this...

"TaterTot" is the best knickname to come down the pike in quite a while.

The most important aspect of the Diallo case is constantly ignored. And that is that Diallo will NEVER KILL AGAIN.

First, Diallo never killed anyone, so that is a lame statement. Second that was a case a very bad tacticts and calamity of bad mistakes. The reason they were found not guilty is that they reacted to what they thought was a threat against one of the other officers. And lastly, the vast majority of all police misconduct is uncovered by other police officers or supervisors.