Police abuse

#O22: Day Of Protest Against Police Brutality

October 22, 2014 Margaret Flowers, www.popularresistance.org Resist! Ferguson, Police abuse, Racism

Today was the 19th annual National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation. People protested against intensified police killings and abuse, torture conditions inflicted on tens of thousands of incarcerated people, widespread use of solitary confinement, mass incarceration and young people being treated like criminals, "guilty until proven innocent." Continuing the defiant protests going on in Ferguson, MO in response to the police killing of Michael Brown, people from coast to coast participated in the heightened resistance to police murder all across the country. Against this backdrop, people in more than 50 cities across the United States took to the streets and protested in other ways. From Atlanta to Oakland, hundreds turned out with a strong message and strong actions - shutting down highways and marching past police barricades. Here are some of the best moments in photos and tweets from the actions:

National Day To Stop Criminalization Of A Generation

October 21, 2014 Steven Yip, www.stopmassincarceration.org Resist! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Mass Incarceration, Police abuse, Youth

Protests on October 22 against intensified police killings, tortuous conditions being inflicted on tens of thousands of incarcerated people, and young people treated like criminals, guilty until proven innocent if they can survive to prove their innocence, will mark 19 years of the annual National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation. Continuing defiant protests in Ferguson, MO, in response to the police killing of Michael Brown are part of heightened resistance to police murder all across the country. Against this backdrop, people in more than 38 cities across the U.S. are planning to take to the streets and act in other ways on Wednesday. The Organization for Black Struggle has called for civil disobedience outside the jail where people arrested in Ferguson have been imprisoned.

The Power Of Love Shows Itself In A Ferguson Moment

October 19, 2014 Tarak Kauff, www.PopularResistance.org Resist! Police abuse, police brutality, Racism

Than an incredible, unplanned thing happened. Sometime after Ryan and I had spoken to Sgt. Wood, unconnected to these conversations, a elegant, tall black woman, Dragonfly from Brooklyn with Reverend Billy and his Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir, came up to this same officer. She was holding a sign that said on one side, “YOU ARE KILLING US” and on the other, “DON’T SHOOT.” She approached and attempted to make eye contact. She implored him to look at her, and when their gaze connected, and she was face-to-face pouring out her heart with tears running down her face, she asked: “Why do you hate us so much?” Wood replied, “I don’t hate you, Ma’am.” To which Dragonfly responded “ And I don’t want to hate you. I want to love you. I’d rather hug you.” You could see, even in the rain that the officer’s eyes were starting to mist up. What Dragonfly was saying was not coming from an intellectual place, but directly from her heart without any fear. That could be felt. The sergeant looked at her and said “Well, then, hug me.” So she did and he hugged her back and it was a real embrace.

Political Scientist Detained Before Trip To Ferguson, Missouri

October 19, 2014 John Zangas, www.dcmediagroup.us Resist! Ferguson, Police abuse

I was being held to prevent me from traveling to Ferguson and continuing the work I have been doing there and elsewhere regarding corruption in government and law enforcement. The problem was the “doctor.” I’ll explain why–I put that in quotes–and the administration. I was legally entitled, and they were required, to have a psychiatrist review my case within 24 and 48 hours. A day after I was taken in – I met with a person purporting to be that psychiatric doctor and the whole institution purporting that. She was demeaning and dismissive – and as I pressed her – she clearly had no idea either about psychiatry. It started to become obvious to a “social worker” who had no business being present, that I was “on” to her. I told her that they had no legal or medical basis to hold me – and she said she could not release me. I stated as doctor she had that authority. She denied it-a first sign [to me] of a problem. I later found out she wasn't a doctor.

Study Links Stop And Frisk To Trauma And Anxiety

October 19, 2014 Christopher Mathias, www.huffingtonpost.com Educate! health, Police abuse, Stop and Frisk

A new study suggests that aggressive policing likely has an adverse effect on the mental health of young men in New York City -- particularly young men who are black. The study, released Thursday by the American Journal of Public Health, appears to show higher rates of feelings of stress, anxiety and trauma in young men who experienced multiple or intrusive stop and frisk encounters with police than among young men who had fewer or no such encounters. "Our findings suggest that proactive policing tactics have the potential to negatively impact the relationship between the community and police, as well as the mental health and well-being of community members," Amanda Geller, a professor at New York University and lead author of the study, said in a statement.

#FergusonLive: The End Of Suffering Silently

October 17, 2014 Linda Tirado, www.rhrealitycheck.org Resist! Ferguson, Michael Brown, Police abuse

Thousands of activists gathered in Ferguson, Missouri, October 10-13, to show the world they will not be silenced, unless they choose silence as a weapon. At one point during the “weekend of resistance”—a direct response to the slaying of Michael Brown on August 9, and other Black men across the country in recent months, at the hands of law enforcement—people lay silently in chalk outlines on the road, fists raised. Back in August, Ferguson residents made a simple demand: Arrest Brown’s killer, police officer Darren Wilson. That was it. Just get the wheels of justice turning. In the intervening weeks, the world learned Wilson didn’t even bother turning in an incident report. We watched the Ferguson police defy the Justice Department and refuse to wear their name badges. But the people in Ferguson were not only watching a failed justice system—they were adding Brown’s name to a long list of police shooting victims and getting organized.

Uniting To Transform US Policing

October 17, 2014 Kevin Zeese, www.PopularResistance.org Organize! Inequality, Militarized police, Police abuse, police brutality, police murder, Racism

Throughout the nation the issue of police brutality, including killings of unarmed people, is a common problem. It is part of a criminal enforcement system that has pitted police against people in ways that are very destructive to the fabric of the nation. DOJ is taking or has taken action involving three dozen law enforcement agencies during the Obama era. To turn this moment of awareness and activism into an effective movement, we need an agenda to transform policing so police play a constructive role in the community. At the inspiring FergusonOctober actions, protesters put forward a list of demands that provide an agenda for a movement to fix policing in America. People need to unite around the resulting agenda from the killing of Michael Brown and so many others across the country. At the same time, people need to act on their own to create the world we want to see, e.g. instituting Cop Watch and forming citizen groups to define the police they envision. Finally, we need to recognize the connections between police abuse with the broader issues of an unfair economy, environmental destruction, racism and government corruption. Uniting to build a mass transformative movement is the only path to the changes that are needed.

#DCFerguson Calls For Radical Police Reform

October 15, 2014 Kymone Freeman, www.PopularResistance.org Organize! Police abuse, police brutality, police murder

#DC Ferguson put forward a three-part agenda before the City Council: - One, we need to have the Office of Police Complaints empowered with the power to indict officers for misconduct. - Two, we want to have a significant number and y’all can argue about the percentage because gentrification is real, we want a significant percentage of police officers who work in our community live in our community. - Finally, we want any officer who has fired upon or caused the death of an unarmed otherwise innocent civilian to be fired, to be arrested, to be convicted and to go to jail. Anything less than that, is lip service to this issue. We have not seen any qualitative changes with a Black President to a Black Attorney General, who just quit, but we have not seen any changes. Until we get these three things we will continue to shut down as much as we can with #DCFerguson.

Moral Monday Ferguson: Marches, Banners, Arrests And More

October 13, 2014 Staff, www.PopularResistance.org Resist! Ferguson, Police abuse, police brutality, police murder

The Ferguson, Moral Monday protest brought people of all ages into the streets of Ferguson and St. Louis seeking justice. Rev. Osagyefo Sekou wrote a column in the St. Louis American that clarified the issues the nation is confronting: "America has a choice – death or rebirth. Will it be a nation where we kill unarmed black teenagers with their hands up, hogtie peaceful protestors and teargas pregnant women and children, or can we envision a nation that would give justice to all the Mike Browns of America? The deadly option, it seems, is the preference. The police brutality embodied in the killing of all the Mike Browns of America and the blatant disrespect shown to his body and community are emblematic of a nation heading toward spiritual death."

Zapatistas March For Murdered Students

October 12, 2014 Orsetta Bellani, www.cipamericas.org Resist! Mexico, Police abuse, Students, Zapatistas

Some ten thousand members of the bases of the Zapatista Army for National Liberation marched briskly through San Cristobal de las Casas on October 8. They gathered on the outskirts of the city, under a blue sky stained with clouds that threateend rain and then walked in long, orderly lines toward the central plaza of the city. The long river of Zapatistas moved fluidly and silently; the only sound was the steps of their shoes and boots. They carried signs that read “Your rage is ours”, “Your pain is our pain” and “You are not alone”. The message was for the students of Ayotzinapa, Guerrero and for the families that found out that on on Sept. 26-27 their sons were killed or kidnapped as they traveled by bus, at the hands of municipal police in complicity with the drug trafficking organization Guerreros Unidos. Two weeks from the attacks there are 6 dead and 43 disappeared.

Thousands Rally For Justice In #FergusonOctober

October 11, 2014 Staff, www.PopularResistance.org Resist! Ferguson, Militarized police, Police abuse, police murder

People from coast-to-coast joined the people of Ferguson and St. Louis County calling for justice in the killing of Mike Brown. Below are a series of tweets that give a sense of the massive protest held in St. Louis today. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch describes the scene: Thousands of demonstrators from across the country marched in downtown St. Louis Saturday, chanting "We are Mike Brown," as part of a series of events to protest police violence nationwide. "We're fighting for our lives,'' St. Louis activist and rapper Tef Poe told the crowd. The march started in the middle of Market Street at 15th Street and ended at Kiener Plaza. The crowd chanted, "Hands up, don't shoot,""No justice, no peace," and "United we stand, divided we fall." Police used barricades to keep traffic away from the crowd. Officers patrolled on bicycles and foot. But unlike the protests in August after Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson shot unarmed teenager Michael Brown, St. Louis police avoided any visible show of force during Saturday's downtown march.

First Night Of Protests In FergusonOctober Weekend

October 11, 2014 Staff, www.bigstory.ap.org Resist! Ferguson, Militarized police, Police abuse

"It's important for this country to stand with this community," said protester Ellen Davidson of New York City, who was making her second trip to the St. Louis area since Brown's death. "This community is under siege. ... The eyes of the world are watching." On Saturday, the protests shift to downtown St. Louis, hours before the Cardinals host the San Francisco Giants in the first game of the National League Championship Series. And on Monday, a series of planned — but unannounced — acts of civil disobedience are to take place throughout the St. Louis region. "I'm not planning to get arrested," said Davidson, who was meeting up with other protesters from Illinois, Minnesota, New York and Tennessee. "But I do plan to do what I believe are in my rights as a protester. If I get arrested, that's on the people who arrest me."

Davey D On Newest Murder By Police In St. Louis

October 10, 2014 Davey D, www.popularresistance.org Educate! Ferguson, Police abuse, Racism

In our discussion both Bgyrl and Tef Poe noted what I brought to light in my last post about all these recent cases (6 in the past few months) of folks going to jail over traffic tickets and winding up dead, disappeared or seriously harmed while in police custody. This has been on many people's minds, hence the name of the game is to take evasive action when seeing them. Any encounter can be deadly especially if you have a record which was the case with Myers. Tef Poe brought up another key point. While off duty police who are required to wear their uniforms, the question raised was that officer who was not in his assigned area in his full uniform. In other words did Myers know he was a cop or someone with a hostile attitude?

End Police Violence & Militarization at Home and Abroad

October 10, 2014 SOAW, www.SOAW.org Resist! Immigrant Rights, Immigration, Militarization, Police abuse, police brutality, police murder, Racism, Wars and Militarism

The militarized "solutions" taught at the School of the Americas (SOA/ WHINSEC) are also being applied to communities within the US. We need to end the racist system of state violence and militarization at home and abroad. Our Struggles Stand Together: Converge on Ferguson, Fort Benning and the Stewart Detention Center Mass mobilizations in which thousands take to the streets have always been an important part of social change movements. We need to strengthen our organizing and build lasting coalitions with others who are resisting across the Americas. Support our friends in Ferguson and St. Louis! Mobilize your community to converge on Fort Benning, Georgia fromNovember 21-23, 2014, where we will connect the dots between militarization in Latin America and the US. Join the Caravan to the Vigil to Shut Down the Stewart Detention Center, where communities in resistence will come togetheron Saturday, November 22. Stewart is the largest corporate detention center in the US....

Judge Stops Ferguson Police’s ‘Five Second Rule’

October 7, 2014 Diane Balogh, www.popularresistance.org Educate! Ferguson, Police abuse, Racism

Law enforcement officials can no longer force peaceful protesters in Ferguson to keep moving on sidewalks when they are breaking no law. Federal Judge Catherine Perry granted a preliminary injunction this afternoon in the lawsuit Mustafa Abdullah v. Saint Louis County et al., regarding the “five-second rule.” In August, law enforcement officers began enforcing a new rule in the area where demonstrators had gathered in Ferguson after the shooting death of Michael Brown. The ACLU of Missouri called it the “five-second rule” because protesters were told they could not remain still for more than five seconds, but law enforcement invoked the rule for many things including standing still for more than five seconds, just standing still, and walking back and forth over hundreds of yards in the protest area. The rule has no statutory or regulatory reference number and has not been released to the public in print.

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