Police violence

We Reviewed Police Tactics Seen In Nearly 400 Protest Videos

July 18, 2020 Talia Buford, Lucas Waldron, Moiz Syed and Al Shaw, ProPublica. Educate! First Amendment, Police violence, Protests, Rebellion2020

As protests denouncing police brutality against unarmed Black people spread to thousands of cities, it was videos of police violence — this time, directed at protesters — that went viral. Clips showed officers launching tear gas canisters at protesters’ heads, shooting pepper spray from moving vehicles and firing foam bullets into crowds. ProPublica looked at nearly 400 social media posts showing police responses to protesters and found troubling conduct by officers in at least 184 of them. In 59 videos, pepper spray and tear gas were used improperly; in a dozen others, officers used batons to strike noncombative demonstrators; and in 87 videos, officers punched, pushed and kicked retreating protesters, including a few instances in which they used an arm or knee to exert pressure on a protester’s neck.

Albany Must Do More To Stop The Criminalization Of Our Communities

July 18, 2020 By Eliana Fernandez, Mateo Guerrero, And Adilka Pimentel, City Limits. Educate! Criminalization, New York (NY), Police violence, Rebellion2020

As Black, Brown, immigrant, and trans New Yorkers continue to take to the streets, it’s clear that the mass uprising taking place across the state, and indeed the country, is far from over. In New York, this movement moment has already helped produce real results for long-fought campaigns: we have already won major policy victories in the fight for police accountability, including the repeal of 50a (a police secrecy statute), the STAT Act (a data reporting bill), and special prosecutor legislation. But the criminalization of our communities continues. With Albany legislators slated to return next week, they must take further action to keep community members with their loved ones, and youth in their schools—not in cages.

Cops And Their Supporters Unite To Attack BLM Counter-Protesters

July 18, 2020 Madeleine Freeman, Left Voice. Educate! New York (NY), Police, Police violence, Rebellion2020

George Floyd’s murder, along with the murders of Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, and so many others, laid bare for the world how police are mandated by the state to terrorize people of color, especially Black people. The severe repression against protesters put this violence on display on a mass scale and showed the lengths the state is willing to go to keep its hold on “law and order.” Yet, even as politicians, NGOs, and nonprofits try desperately to co-opt and pacify the movement, the most leftward expression of protesters’ demands — from defunding and disbanding police departments to abolishing police and prisons altogether — have seeped into the national consciousness and gained substantial support.

50 Nights Of Anti-Racist Protests And Police Violence In Portland

July 17, 2020 Kevin Zeese, Popular Resistance. Resist! federal law enforcement, First Amendment, Police violence, Portland

In Portland, on July 16, protesters held their 50th straight night of demonstrations against police violence and racism. Oregon Live reports "Federal officers responded to one late-night demonstration downtown by using gas, smoke and impact munitions to press protesters away from two federal buildings." Oregon Governor Kate Brown and Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler called on federal officers to leave Portland, but they remain and continue to use aggressive and violent tactics. Brown called the deployment of federal officers "political theater" and a “blatant abuse of power by the federal government.” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf traveled to Portland to meet with federal law enforcement officials.

Chile: Night Of Fury To Demand The Withdrawal Of Pension Funds

July 17, 2020 Telesur English. Resist! Chile, Pensions, Police violence, Poverty

From Tuesday night until early Wednesday morning, Chilean citizens took to the streets to support a pension-related bill and protest against President Sebastian Piñera. Today the Lower House is expected to vote on a bill that will allow Chileans to withdraw the 10 percent of their savings that remain controlled by the repudiated Pension Fund Insurers (AFP), which are private companies that control pensions in this South American country since that time of the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship (1973-1990). "This initiative is supported by a large majority of the people, which claims to have the freedom to dispose of the money. The government, however, has done everything in its power to prevent the bill from going ahead," Prensa Latina explained.

Opposition To ‘Pause’ On Johns Hopkins Private Police Force Grows

July 14, 2020 Jacob Took, Baltimore Beat. Resist! Baltimore, Education, Johns Hopkins, Police violence

Two weeks after Johns Hopkins University administrators announced what they called a two-year “pause” on a controversial plan to establish their own private police force, about 100 students, faculty and community members marched to the home of Hopkins President Ronald Daniels to tell him that this proposed pause is not enough. Wearing masks and trying to keep six feet apart, demonstrators gathered on June 29 at Tubman Grove near Wyman Park Dell, holding up signs with familiar slogans like “NO JHU PRIVATE POLICE” and new messages like “ABOLISH, NOT DELAY” and “IN 2 YEARS, COPS WILL STILL BE KILLERS.” Professor of Political Science and Africana Studies Lester Spence cited the reasons he has been opposed since Hopkins first announced plans for a private police force in March 2018.

Amid Calls To Defund Police, Detroit Leaders Weigh In On Alternatives

July 14, 2020 DeJanay Booth, Model D Media. Create! Defund the police, Detroit, Police violence, Restorative Justice

In the wake of Floyd’s death, protests have mobilized in several states, and locally in Detroit, where protesters have marched regularly since late May. While most protests have mostly been peaceful, there have been instances of violence, including during the early days of the protests when demonstrators were met with tear gas, shields, and handcuffs, with scores arrested after being out past curfew and reports of some protesters hurling objects at police; a police car driving through a crowd of protesters; and the fatal shooting of Hakim Littleton by police near Six Mile and San Juan. Police footage shows Littleton being shot after firing at officers who were arresting a man on a separate matter, sparking a protest that resulted in eight arrests.

When The State Cannot Protect, Civilians Have The Responsibility To Intervene

July 14, 2020 Mel Duncan, Waging Nonviolence. Create! Anti-Racism, Nonviolence, Police violence, White Privilege

A few years ago, I was walking in Minneapolis, just a few miles from where George Floyd was murdered, when a panicked, young Native American man ran by me and into the street. Immediately afterward, a Minneapolis Police squad car pulled next to me. One officer jumped out, tackled the young man in the middle of the street and started pounding his face into the pavement. I approached the officer and told him that he was using excessive force and I had his badge number. His partner quickly escorted me back to the curb while informing me that I would be arrested for interfering with the arrest. I stood, yelling, while the beating continued. Recently standing at the memorial in front of the Cup Foods where Mr. Floyd was murdered, I recalled my earlier experience.

The Police Defunding Con Game

July 13, 2020 Margaret Kimberly, Black Agenda Report. Strategize! Community control of police, Defund the police, Police abuse, Police violence

Cutting police budgets without establishing public control over their behavior doesn’t solve the problem, and invites politicians to shuffle budget numbers around like a three-card monte swindle. Unfortunately, a key demand of the new movement has led to confusion and to political defeats at a crucial moment. At first glance, the idea of defunding the police seems to have merit. Everyone who wants to end police brutality welcomes the idea that they might lose some of the resources they use in their terrorism spree. The police are the modern-day slave patrol and any effort to diminish their capabilities seems like a good idea. But the state doesn’t work that way.

Scheer Intelligence: The Price Of Ignoring The Ferguson Uprising

July 10, 2020 Robert Scheer, ScheerPost.com. Educate! Black Lives Matter (BLM), Ferguson, Podcast, Police violence

August 9 will mark six years since 18-year-old Michael Brown was murdered by policeman Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Miss. Since then, Wilson has walked free and the systemic issues that have plagued this nation throughout its history have gone unaddressed. That changed with the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May, which so thoroughly shocked Americans and established that the lessons from Ferguson and the Black Lives Matter movement that rose from it never had been absorbed. Now, at a moment of heightened awareness about racism, Black Lives Matter leaders and Black activists and artists such as the award-winning filmmaker Mobolaji Olambiwonnu are working to bring the lessons of Ferguson to all Americans. Olambiwonnu, a UCLA alumni and first generation African American, joins host Robert Scheer on this week’s episode of “Scheer Intelligence” to talk about his as-of-yet unreleased film, “Ferguson Rises,” and why he chose to tell the tragic story from a perspective he finds lacking in mass media.

Lawyers: Breonna Taylor Warrant Connected To Gentrification Plan

July 6, 2020 By Phillip M. Bailey and Tessa Duvall, Louisville Courier Journal. Educate! Breonna Taylor, Gentrification, killed by police, Police violence

"Breonna’s home should never have had police there in the first place," the attorneys wrote in the filing. "When the layers are peeled back, the origin of Breonna’s home being raided by police starts with a political need to clear out a street for a large real estate development project and finishes with a newly formed, rogue police unit violating all levels of policy, protocol, and policing standards. "Breonna’s death was the culmination of radical political and police conduct." According to the police department's organization chart, the Place-Based Investigations squad was created to address "systemically violent locations" and help existing crime deterrence efforts.

Raleigh Black Lives Matter Protest Reaches 35th Day

July 6, 2020 By Richard Stradling and Sophie Kasakove, The News & Observer. Resist! Black Lives Matter (BLM), North Carolina, Police violence, Prisons

For the 35th consecutive day, Black Lives Matter protesters chanted, made speeches, waved signs and marched across downtown Raleigh on Saturday. They are protesting SB 168 which lawmakers passed nearly unanimously with no discussion in the wee hours of the morning on June 27, would shield death investigation records from the public when they are shared with the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Those records are now considered public under state law. “The fact that they’re trying to ... pass this over on us and act like it’s no big deal like they’re just gonna ignore us — that is why we’re so much more ready to fight anything that comes our way,” said Lauren Howell, 21, an organizer with the group N.C. Born. “Because we know it’s not right.”

Housing Activists Unite To Fight Mass Evictions And Defund Police

July 5, 2020 Candice Bernd, Truthout. Resist! Evictions, Housing, Police violence, Racism

As COVID-19’s second wave bears down, nearly half of all states’ eviction moratoria have already expired or are set to expire in the next two months. A federal moratorium that bans evictions of people in rentals backed by the government expires July 25. To make matters worse, the CARES Act’s supplemental boost to unemployment insurance ends July 31. The country is already in the beginning stages of a massive eviction crisis as housing courts nationwide reopen. As many as 28 million renters could lose their homes in the coming eviction wave, boosting the national homeless rate by as much as 40 to 45 percent by the end of the year. The wave will hit low-income Black and Brown people, who are twice as likely to rent as white people, the hardest.

Protest And Power

July 4, 2020 Glen Ford, Black Agenda Report. Strategize! Capitalism, George Floyd, Police violence, Rebellion2020

The last thing the Black Misleadership Class wants is a Black power-seeking movement. Wedded as they are to a token “place” in the capitalist spoils system, these misleaders have shown remarkable loyalty to their bosses in the Democratic Party and, until recently, to the police that kills their constituents at will. Despite decades of Black grassroots warnings against the growing militarization of the U.S. police, in 2014 the Congressional Black Caucus voted 32 to 8 to continue the infamous Pentagon 1033 program that funneled billions of dollars in weapons and gear to local police departments. (A program that increased 24-fold under the First Black President, Barack Obama.) The “Black Lives Matter” movement was born only months later but had virtually no effect on the Black Caucus’s slavish politics. The Black Misleadership Class was impervious to pressures from within the Black community and responsive only to its handlers in the Democratic Party.

Seattle Mayor Orders Police Clearing Of Capitol Hill Occupy Protest

July 1, 2020 King 5. Educate! Occupy, Police violence, Seattle, Seattle Autonomous Zone

Seattle, WA - The Seattle Police Department (SPD) moved into the "Capitol Hill Organized Protest" (CHOP) zone and returned to the department's East Precinct early Wednesday morning after abandoning the building three weeks ago. Officers arrested at least 31 people by 9:25 a.m. for failure to disperse, obstruction, resisting arrest, and assault. Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan issued a 48-hour executive order for protesters to vacate the area due to the ongoing violence and public safety issues in the area of the East Precinct and Cal Anderson Park. Mayor Durkan's order declared the gathering as an “unlawful assembly” that required immediate action.

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