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police brutality

Freddie Gray Death: Remaining Charges Dropped Against Police Officers

By Baynard Woods for The Guardian - Baltimore prosecutors have dropped all remaining charges against police officers in the death of Freddie Gray. The surprise announcement Wednesday comes after four trials that ended withno conviction, and means there will likely be no criminal accountability over Gray’s death. Gray, a 25-year-old African American man, sustained fatal injuries in the back of a police van in April 2015. Video of Gray’s arrest that showed officers dragging a screaming Gray on the ground drew international outrage.

Police Incitement Against Black Lives Matter Is Putting Protesters in Danger

By Sarah Lazare for AlterNet - From the floor of the Republican National Convention to the online pages of the Blue Lives Matter Facebook community, it is now commonplace for public officials, police and first responders to openly declare war on Black Lives Matter—the civil rights movement of our times. In some cases, this climate has given way to overt intimidation, with the captain of the Columbia, South Carolina fire department fired earlier this month for threatening to run over Black Lives Matter protesters, followed by the termination of three other first responders for related offenses.

Why We Dream About A World Without Police

By William C. Anderson for Praxis Center - The last few years have been rough. President Obama’s last term in the White House has given many of us some of the most polarizing times we have ever experienced. It goes without saying that many have felt hopeless after being promised a change. Political disillusionment has clouded the air in a country struggling to find its true identity. In the midst of all this, unrelenting police violence has been in the spotlight driven by organized resistance to police brutality and renewed media interest.

Video: Unarmed Man Pleading With Arms Raised Before He’s Shot

By Nathan Wellman for US Uncut - Cell phone video footage has been released that shows the moments before an unarmed black therapist with his hands up was shot by North Miami police while attempting to care for his autistic patient, according to WSVN-TV. Disabled caregiver Charles Kinsey was lying on his back with his hands in the air, attempting to talk to the officers who were aiming their weapons at them. The police had received reports of a man with a gun threatening suicide.

I Can’t Watch Another Police Killing

By Joshua Serrano for Other Worlds - Philando Castile and Alton Sterling became the latest black Americans to turn into Twitter hashtags when videos of their deaths at the hands of police circulated on social media. But I couldn’t bring myself to watch them. I still remember the helpless frustration I felt, my stomach twisting in knots, as I watched the video of Eric Garner being choked to death while screaming “I can’t breathe.”

How My 72-Year-Old Dad Got Arrested At Protest Against Police Brutality

By Staff of 2 Summers - On Saturday evening my father, Tenney Mason, was in downtown Baltimore (my home city in the U.S.) attending ArtScape, a local arts festival. A group of #Afromation and#BlackLivesMatter demonstrators walked past, and Dad decided to check it out. He had his camera with him and although he’s mostly retired, Dad spent many decades as a photojournalist and newspaper editor. When he sees a news story, he follows it. On Saturday evening my father, Tenney Mason, was in downtown Baltimore (my home city in the U.S.) attending ArtScape, a local arts festival. A group of #Afromation and#BlackLivesMatter demonstrators walked past, and Dad decided to check it out.

Judge Hands Down Another Acquittal For Officer In Freddie Gray Case

By Deirdre Fulton for Common Dreams - Baltimore Police Lt. Brian Rice, the highest ranking officer charged in the death ofFreddie Gray, was on Monday acquitted on all counts. It marks the fourth time prosecutors have failed to secure a conviction in the case, theBaltimore Sun notes, and in turn "is likely to renew calls for Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby to drop the remaining charges[...] including from the union that represents the city's rank-and-file officers."

Newsletter – Afromation Is A Response To Black Deaths

By Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese. Baltimore, where we live, is a deeply segregated city with a stark wealth divide. For decades, police have routinely patrolled black neighborhoods where they harass and arrest people of color without probable cause. This practice escalated when Martin O'Malley was the mayor and was running for governor. In order to beef up his record of addressing crime, police under his command arrested tens of thousands of young blacks and held them overnight in jail for no reason, then released them without any charges. It has created generations of black Baltimoreans who are traumatized by police and have lost opportunities to advance in their lives as a consequence. It has also created a police culture that continues to abuse communities of color. Remember, Freddie Gray was chased by police without any cause and it resulted in his death. In response to this environment, black youth in Baltimore organized an action called 'Afromation' to raise awareness and to celebrate Assata Shakur's birthday.

Cop Who Shot Philando Had ‘Bulletproof Warrior’ Training

By William N. Grigg for the Free Thought Project. Yanez underwent a 20-hour seminar on “Street Survival” taught by Illinois-based Calibre Press, which teaches courses on the subject to police officers nationwide. The company’s “Street Survival Seminar” overview displays a monomaniacal focus on that most important of all policy considerations, “officer safety.” It treats every police encounter as a combat situation in which only one life truly matters – that of the government’s armed emissary, not that of the citizen who is supposedly being protected and served by him. A brief video excerpt from a “Street Survival” course shows a presenter lecturing officers about the need to visualize shooting someone as part of the “Psychological Game” necessary to “win” encounters with what trainees are told is an implacably hostile public. “That’s winning, ladies and gentlemen,” he declares.

Melbourne Shows Solidarity With Black Lives Matter

By ABC in Australia. Melbourne, Australia - About 3,500 people gathered in Melbourne on Sunday to show "solidarity" to the Black Lives Matter movement, following a recent outbreak of racial-fuelled violence in the United States. Crowds gathered on the stairs of the State Library of Victoria about 12:00 pm amid a strong police presence, including the riot squad, but the march was peaceful. Organisers said the march was in support of the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States, which gathered momentum following a number of fatal shootings involving black Americans and police. The death of Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castile in Minnesota, both at the hands of officers, triggered a wave of protests over police treatment of minorities.

Police Settlements Cost Taxpayers $210 Million Plus Interest

By Mercy Yang for Reader Supported News. As the deaths of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling at the hands of police officers stir up national debate on law enforcement practices, a new database unveils hundreds of Chicago Police Department misconduct lawsuit settlements between 2012 and 2015 ― costing a whopping $210 million in total and revealing yet another financial burden on taxpayers. “Settling for Misconduct,” an extensive database from The Chicago Reporter published this week, highlights allegations of Chicago’s excessive policing methods, ranging from false arrest to unwarranted killing, particularly in Latino and black communities, leading to 655 settlements in four years. Multimillion-dollar police misconduct settlements, such as the one stemming from the killing of Chicago teenager Laquan McDonald, tend to garner national attention. But the database reveals that the City of Chicago pays much smaller sums of money to plaintiffs on an average of every other day. The average payment was just $36,000.

Baton Rouge, Minneapolis And Dallas Through A Father’s Eyes

By Terrance Heath for Moyers and Company - The horrors we witnessed in Baton Rouge, Minneapolis and Dallas are rooted in racism that has haunted our families for generations, and is perhaps at its deadliest when embodied in law enforcement and embedded in our communities. As I took my oldest son to summer camp on Thursday morning, we rode in uneasy silence, listening to the news of Philando Castile’s death by cop in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, outside of the Twin Cities.

Guide To Philadelphia DNC Media Won’t Show You

By Bob Hennelly for Salon - Just like their Republican counterparts in Cleveland, the delegates to the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia will be sequestered far away from the daily misery and despair that’s the experience of their host city’s extreme poor. This growing cohort of folks are overwhelmingly people of color and include tens of thousands of children who find themselves living in neighborhoods in the “City of Brotherly Love” pock marked with 40,000 vacant lots and zombie homes.

117 Countries Slam American Police Brutality At UN Human Rights Council

By Claire Bernish for The Anti Media - (ANTIMEDIA) In what could hardly be called a surprise, the UN Human Rights Council chastised the US over its epidemic of police violence, discrimination, needless killings, and general neglect, following through with recommendations made in its first review in 2010. The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) takes place every four years to scrutinize the human and civil rights practices of each of the UN’s 193 member nations. Delegates from 117 countries took the opportunity to lambaste the US’ record of civil rights violations exacted by its brutal and racist police forces.

Former Brutal Cop & A Young Black Visionary

By Eleanor Goldfield for Act Out - This week – a special extended episode featuring voices from what one might think are opposite sides of the front lines: a young black woman and a retired police captain. In fact, these two may even have run into each other in the city of brotherly love long before they had the fight for justice in common. First we'll hear from creative activist, community builder and social justice advocate YahNe Ndgo about police brutality, systemic racism and movements for change – then we'll give you a preview of next week's special with retired police Captain Ray Lewis...
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