tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62306582620803945922024-03-14T09:35:41.250-07:00Police Brutality (and Atrocity) Blog<strong><a href="http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/">Click here for US Department of Justice Statistics.</a></strong>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger239125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230658262080394592.post-35741170024755577102014-08-22T04:32:00.000-07:002014-08-22T04:38:36.187-07:00DailyKos Uses Ferguson, MO to Request Contributions to DK, Ignoring Family's Memorial Fund<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3AqGSUDPgHuN4y25Lp5uqCTX8eJI7lpXf_qpdUKheyNXDAdz4rDUTZXPSJjJrATeiJ0cUB70-UsOP7B9g2lWwY6VGfU8GKuseO84SufBPxEgLRc3ZPzBayvyJo7PE_5T0PMh-TwGWG2f9/s1600/DK+Fundraising+off+Mike+Brown.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3AqGSUDPgHuN4y25Lp5uqCTX8eJI7lpXf_qpdUKheyNXDAdz4rDUTZXPSJjJrATeiJ0cUB70-UsOP7B9g2lWwY6VGfU8GKuseO84SufBPxEgLRc3ZPzBayvyJo7PE_5T0PMh-TwGWG2f9/s1600/DK+Fundraising+off+Mike+Brown.PNG" height="640" width="576" /></a></div>
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DailyKos editor Chris Bowers has originated DaikyKos' own petition about Ferguson, MO, urging readers to contact Attorney General Eric Holder, but also requesting donations to "keep DailyKos strong". DailyKos rejected linking directly to an earlier and <b><a href="http://act.colorofchange.org/sign/mike_brown/?source=coc_website">substantially similar petition by Color of Change</a>. </b><br />
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Although the DailyKos e-mail requests donations to DailyKos, it does not mention the <a href="http://www.gofundme.com/justiceformikebrown">Michael Brown Memorial Fund</a> at Go Fund Me, created to receive donations for the benefit and education of Michael Brown's siblings.<br />
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This appears to me to be rank opportunism on the part of DailyKos. A 97% white readership blog seeks to raise money for its own coffers, hijacking efforts started and daily maintained by humble Black protesters, Black elected officials and community leaders, online Black Tweeters and advocacy groups.<br />
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Although it might otherwise be commendable for DailyKos to take a position in this case, it could have better helped to promote the much discussed "conversation" on skin color by linking to and directing contributions through the Black organization Color of Change, instead of linking to the white organization ActBlue while requesting donations for the virtually all-white DailyKos. <br />
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It is my contention that making any contribution to DailyKos only supports and encourages the blog apartheid that DailyKos has practiced since its inception.<br />
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Although the argument has been raised that DailyKos cannot be a white anti-Black antagonist blog because its owner is Latino, Markos Moulitsas has specifically disavowed being any kind of minority in the past. <b><a href="http://goo.gl/FxDzbd">http://goo.gl/FxDzbd </a></b><br />
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In the<b><a href="http://northernstar.info/city/article_ec7b972a-1ad5-5943-b74f-7935f1639f9b.html"> fifth article</a></b> of a series of four commissioned articles for his college newspaper, Markos C. A. Moulitsas, <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.899999618530273px;">announced his intention to withdraw again into </span><b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.899999618530273px;"><a href="http://truth-about-kos.blogspot.com/2007/08/moulitsas-homophobic-stand-against-gays.html" style="color: red;">"detached selfishness"</a></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.899999618530273px;">, grateful that he was not one of </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.899999618530273px;"><em style="font-weight: bold;">"them" </em>(the minorities),</span><b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.899999618530273px;"> </b><br />
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<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.899999618530273px;"><a href="http://truth-about-kos.blogspot.com/2007/08/moulitsas-homophobic-stand-against-gays.html" style="color: red;">whose skin color or religious persuassion (sic) made <b><i>them</i></b> the target of bigotry and discrimination. <b><em>They</em></b> would never be able to escape who <b><em>they</em></b> were.</a> </b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.899999618530273px;">(Emphasis added.)</span></blockquote>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230658262080394592.post-12765818683537345812014-07-23T23:35:00.001-07:002014-07-24T01:33:53.130-07:00The Economics of Police Oppression<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A simple formula explains oppressive, brutal and violent police behavior: The cost of abuse is low (virtually 0% chance of punishment equals almost certain impunity) while the rewards for oppression are high, because oppression <b><i>IS THE JOB</i></b>. Police oppress and society ratifies the oppression by continuing to pay individual officers.<br />
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Pedophile priests do not rape little boys because the priests lack training. They rape little boys because the priests are pedophiles and because they work within an organization that accepts, defends and rewards their behavior, for example, by relocating priests after they have raped boys to a new location where no one will suspect the danger and their pedophilia can continue unabated.<br />
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Pedophile priests do not rape children in spite of training. They rape children because the church permits them to do so and because their practical training tells them that there will be no consequences and may even be rewards for their behavior. Relocating a pedophile is a reward and reinforcement that encourages and enables pedophiles to continue.<br />
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Likewise, police who engage in oppression within the community are not doing so<b><i> in spite of</i></b> what they are taught. They are doing so <b><i>because of</i></b> what they are taught.<br />
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The United States has the largest prison population in the world, exceeding that of China even though China's population is four times larger than that of the United States. Half of the United States prison population is Black.<br />
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Police can arrest people, but they cannot charge them, sentence them or imprison them. Society ratifies the behavior of police officers when prosecutors, judges and juries and prison wardens or corporations each play their role in the oppression of the imprisoned. Police behave as they do because they are part of an institutional approach to Black people that says that Black people should be in jail. Likewise, the slave catchers of the antebellum period were not rogue men of evil. They were supported by the national Fugitive Slave Act and by a finely woven network of state and federal laws and customs intended to subjugate and maintain the oppressed role of Blacks.<br />
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Slave overseers were not brutal because they were poorly trained. They were brutal because it was a function of their job, with the goal of breaking the slaves' temptation to resist.<br />
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Lack of training is often called the problem in police brutality cases, but that like saying that bank robbers rob banks because they are poorly trained criminals. Many videos show police officers engaging in behavior that any member of the public with no police training at all immediately understands is beyond the pale.<br />
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The skin color of the victims of police brutality is also important, although class counts as well. When my mother went on talk radio to discuss police brutality in our city, we found many whites who reported brutality as well. However, if whites were abused at the rates that Blacks were, there would have been a hue and cry far larger than actually occurred. Sometimes, low-income whites are the victims of police brutality, but not nearly on the scale that Blacks are.<br />
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Many Blacks are in jail simply because the police, once having beaten the hell out of a suspect, then charge the suspect with resisting arrest and assaulting an officer, in order to justify the police's own brutal and outrageous behavior.<br />
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The only way for oppressed people to decrease police brutality is by increasing the cost of this behavior both for the individual police officers involved and for society as a whole. In the nineteen-sixties, riots were a mostly unsuccessful attempt to increase the cost of police brutality, as they were often set off by outrageous examples of police behavior. Today, it is not clear what efforts are being made to increase the cost of systemic police brutality for the individual officers who do it for for the society that supports, underwrites and ratifies the behavior of individual officer.<br />
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In the current atmosphere of virtual impunity for police officers and the society they represent, the cost of police brutality still does not exceed the perceived benefits in terms of subjugation and oppression of discreet minorities such as Blacks and Latinos.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230658262080394592.post-34188863490579185722013-08-12T04:32:00.001-07:002013-08-12T04:32:26.821-07:00Common sense tells me that cops don't need a Taser or a shotgun to subdue a 95-year-old man.<div class="mod-chitribarticleheader mod-articleheader" id="mod-article-header" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><h1 style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-size: 25px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">Kass: Was police killing of 95-year-old necessary?</h1></div><div class="mod-articlesubtitle" id="mod-article-subtitle" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><h2 style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">Common sense tells me that cops don't need a Taser or a shotgun to subdue a 95-year-old man.</h2></div><div class="area" id="area-article-first-block" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 15px 0px 0px;"><div class="mod-chitribarticlebyline mod-articlebyline" id="mod-article-byline" style="border: 0px; clear: both; color: #666666; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px;"><span class="pubdate" style="border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">August 02, 2013</span><span class="separator" style="border: 0px; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px 5px;">|</span><span style="border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">John Kass</span></div><div class="mod-chitribarticlebyline mod-articlebyline" id="mod-article-byline" style="border: 0px; clear: both; color: #666666; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br />
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<div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The old man, described by a family member as "wobbly" on his feet, had refused medical attention. The paramedics were called. They brought in the Park Forest police.</span><br />
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</span> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.trbimg.com/img-51fb157e/turbine/chi-chi-kass-wrana-20130801/599/599x391" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="208" src="http://www.trbimg.com/img-51fb157e/turbine/chi-chi-kass-wrana-20130801/599/599x391" width="320" /></a></div><span style="border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br />
</span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">First they tased him, but that didn't work. So they fired a shotgun, hitting him in the stomach with a bean-bag round. Wrana was struck with such force that he bled to death internally, according to the Cook County medical examiner.</span></div><blockquote><span style="border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">"The Japanese military couldn't get him at the age he was touchable, in a uniform in the war. It took 70 years later for the Park Forest police to do the job,"</span></blockquote><span style="border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Wrana's family attorney, Nicholas Grapsas, a former prosecutor, said in an interview with me Thursday.</span></div><div class="mod-chitribarticlebyline mod-articlebyline" id="mod-article-byline" style="border: 0px; clear: both; color: #666666; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br />
<div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">Wrana's family wants answers. The Illinois State Police are investigating the horrific incident but won't comment, and neither will the Park Forest police pending the outcome of the inquiry.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">I wasn't at the scene, and maybe the police have a good explanation. But common sense tells me that cops don't need a Taser or a shotgun to subdue a 95-year-old man.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">Read the <a href="http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-08-02/news/ct-met-kass-0802-20130803_1_butcher-type-kitchen-knife-park-forest-police-taser" target="_blank">full story</a>.</div></span></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230658262080394592.post-22048882488079260402013-05-20T05:45:00.001-07:002013-05-20T05:46:19.152-07:00Fort Worth man dies after being shocked by police TaserSaturday, May 18, 2013<br /><br /><br />RE: Fort Worth man dies after being shocked by police<br />Taser<br />Commentary by Eddie Griffin<br /><br /><br />A disabled African-American<br />man was tasered to death by the Fort Worth Police Department. Jermaine Darden, age<br />34, a 300-pound asthmatic on a breathing machine, was wrestled to the floor and<br />tased, after police kicked in his unlocked front door on a “no-knock” warrant. Officers<br />claimed he was resisting arrest when he would not comply with their order to roll<br />over on his stomach. But family members claimed the man was having breathing problems,<br />which were especially aggravated when he tries to lie on his stomach.<br /><br />Darden’s mother, Donna Randle<br />describes what happen: “When they came in, they had<br />their weapons drawn like we were members of a drug cartel. There were six<br />people who told the police the man had health problems, yet they continued to<br />do what they did.”<br /><br />She is now<br />asking why the police had to “use such excessive force.”<br /><br />The incident<br />took place in the same neighborhood where Michael Jacobs, Jr., a 24-year old mentally<br />challenged African-American, was tasered to death by police in April, 2009. The<br />City of Fort Worth eventually had to pay a $2 million settlement to the family.<br /><br />Darden would be<br />the seventh taser related death in the city’s history.<br /><br />There have been<br />several attempts by the community to reconcile with the FWPD over racially<br />charged excessive force issues. The problem with taser related deaths should<br />have been settled when Chief of Police Jeff Halstead negotiated with TASER<br />International, the maker of the stun guns, to modify the design of their taser<br />product, which would allow an automatic shut off after a 5-second burst. But<br />change the weapon’s shut-off system does not change police abusive practices in<br />its deployment. Tasers still kill, with or without a 5-second shutoff. And Darden<br />is the second taser related death since Michael Jacobs, Jr.<br /><br />It should be<br />evident here of a violation of police policy. According the WFAA 8 Jim Douglas<br />report, the weapon was deployed multiple times. What is not clear is whether one<br />officer used the override on the 5-second cutoff or whether several tasers were<br />deployed at once. The incident is still under investigation.<br /><br />Besides FWPD<br />policy, whether officers complied with it or not, there are serious human<br />rights and constitutional questions about the right of the accused, and the<br />nature of the heavy-handed gang buster tactics.<br /><br />Human Rights<br />advocates have always contended tasers to be torture in violation of the Eight<br />Amendment’s protection against cruel and unusual punishment. A victim being stunned<br />by 50,000 volts of electricity is equivalent to being electrocuted by high<br />voltage utility wires, or comparable to the electric chair.<br /><br />More<br />importantly, however, is that a person has the right to life. No one should be<br />summarily executed by electrocution at the whims of a law enforcement officer.<br />This violates the First Amendment Right to life, and the Sixth Amendment Right<br />to Due Process.<br /><br />It would be<br />fruitless, however, to argue constitutional rights issues with the same agency guilty<br />of the violations. If the agency cannot enforce its own policy and the City<br />unable to protect the public, then monetary retribution should be exacted as<br />heavily as possible. Corrections can and will be made, if liabilities for abuses<br />of authority began to cost more than the City can willingly afford.<br /><br />Of course, little<br />defense can be offer for Derrick Anthony Birdow who was tasered to<br />death while in the act of killing a preacher. Some might rationalize his death as<br />justifiable in the heat of the moment. But the point still stands: Tasers kill.<br />And multiple jolts of 50,000 volts of electricity will kill with surety,<br />something every FWPD officer should know. Thus, the killing of Darden should<br />not have come as a complete surprise to the deploying officer or officers.<br /><br />Someone needs to be held<br />accountable. First, there is the officer or officers who deployed the weapon or<br />weapons. Was he or she or they criminally negligent? If they had full knowledge<br />of the Michael Jacobs tragedy, then they cannot claim ignorance.<br /><br />Then there is the FWPD itself.<br />Do loopholes in its policy allow for and exonerate such on-the-spot street summary<br />execution of suspects, contrary to the constitutional rights of the suspect? The<br />officer who tased Michael Jacobs to death claimed she did not know that holding<br />the taser trigger down continued to shoot electricity into his body. Nobody<br />ever told her, and TASER International never educated officers about the risks.<br />What excuse can they offer now to exonerate them of their legal and criminal<br />culpability?<br /><br />The third party is the City<br />of Fort Worth, who are obligated to back the police action and cover their<br />liabilities in cases where excessive force is employed. Shouldn’t they have<br />learned something from the Jacobs’s case? Didn’t they assure the community that<br />this would never happen again where an innocent person would be tasered to<br />death?<br /><br />Fourth, there is TASER<br />International who falsely advertises tasers are non-lethal weapons. They are<br />the guiltiest insofar as they leave cities, like Fort Worth, to pick up the<br />pieces, pay off the wrongful death suits, while they continue marketing their<br />product as if it does no harm.<br /><br />There is a memorial south of Fort Worth filled with<br />crosses for those killed by tasers, named the Michael C. Jacobs, Jr. Memorial. The official death count now<br />stands at 779, with a cross for Jermaine Dardento be added. Here is a list of those who died by tasers in Fort Worth:<br /><br />· November 2, 2004: Robert Guerrero,<br />21, Fort Worth, Texas<br />· April 3, 2005: Eric Hammock, 43, Fort<br />Worth, Texas<br />· June 24, 2005: Carolyn Daniels, 25,<br />Fort Worth, Texas<br />· August 23, 2006: Noah Lopez, 25, Fort<br />Worth, Texas<br />· April 18, 2009: Michael Jacobs Jr.,<br />24, Fort Worth, Texas<br />· October<br />29, 2012: Derrick Birdow, 33, Fort Worth, Texas<br />· May 17, 2013: Jermaine<br />Darden, 34, Fort Worth, Texas<br /><br />As for the investigation by the<br />FWPD’s major-case unit and the Department’s heavy-handed “no knock” tactic that<br />allowed the police to kick open a family’s “unlocked door”, under the pretext<br />of a big drug raid that eventually cost this disabled man his life, let’s see what<br />they were after and what they netted for their effort:<br /><br />Five people who were<br />arrested:<br />• [Suspect No. 1], age 25, suspected of<br />possessing 1 to 4 grams of a controlled substance and 2 to 4 ounces of<br />marijuana.<br />• [Suspect No. 2], age 22, suspected of<br />possessing less than 2 ounces of marijuana. Police also found that [Suspect No. 2] was wanted on two<br />warrants from other jurisdictions.<br />• [Suspect No. 4], age 27, accused of<br />evading arrest and detention. [Suspect<br />No. 4] also had a warrant.<br />• [Suspect No. 5], age 29, and [Suspect No. 6], age 29, both with class<br />C warrants from Fort Worth. [Suspect No.<br />6], who identified herself as Darden’s cousin, said she has an unpaid<br />ticket for talking on a cellphone while driving in a school zone.<br /><br />In a police report, Officer<br />N.B. Danford was the one who drafted the probable-cause warrant to search for<br />cocaine at the house. The “no-knock” warrant was signed by Tarrant County<br />Magistrate Cheyenne Minick at 3:35 p.m. Thursday, according to the report.<br /><br />The investigation should not<br />begin with the suspects, because there was never any really “big fish” in this<br />expedition, only a few misdemeanor guppies at worst. So they kick down an<br />unlocked door and kill a man for the above probable-causes.<br /><br />No, the investigation should<br />begin at the determination level of probable cause and a criminal justice<br />system that allows a magistrate who signed off on a “no-knock”<br />(kick-the-door-down) raid to bag a few petty misdemeanor offenders.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230658262080394592.post-9336794790965922122013-02-10T06:49:00.002-08:002013-02-10T07:11:41.996-08:00Los Angeles to Reopen Its Inquiry of Officer's Allegations of Color-Aroused Abuses<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A Black ex-officer of the Los Angeles Police Department says that witnessing police brutality and fellow cops referring to Blacks using the "N" word prompted him to file reports against the officers in question. And then the LAPD fired him, accusing him of filing false reports, although no one has explained why Dorner would file a false report under circumstances or what he would have to gain by doing so.<br />
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The officer has drawn national attention to his case by promising to kill LAPD police officers involved, as well as members of their families, and by allegedly actually killing three people. <br />
The New York Times linked to <a href="http://ktla.com/2013/02/07/read-christopher-dorners-so-called-manifesto/#axzz2KT6O2sgJ">an online manifesto</a> by the fired officer, <span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">Christopher J. Dorner, </span>in which the ex-officer uses the word "nigger" eight times while describing how he and other Blacks were treated, in his presence, by members of the LAPD. <br />
<br />
Ex-officer Dorner alleges that his present rampage is color-aroused and based in the color aroused ideation, emotion and behavior of people in the LA police department. However, the New York Times did not mention the color-aroused nature of the case until the LA Police acknowledged it and determined to reopen the investigation into Mr. Dorner's allegations. <br />
<br />
The Times <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/us/los-angeles-police-to-reopen-dorner-case.html?hp&_r=0">reports</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The Los Angeles Police Department will reopen its investigation into the 2007 episode that led to the firing of Christopher J. Dorner, the former police officer who is wanted in three killings, department officials said Saturday night.
Mr. Dorner pledged revenge against Los Angeles police officers in a manifesto <a href="http://ktla.com/2013/02/07/read-christopher-dorners-so-called-manifesto/#axzz2KT6O2sgJ" style="color: #666699;" title="The manifesto on the KTLA site (disturbing language and content).">he posted online</a>, in which he also claimed that racism in the department had led to his dismissal. He is wanted in connection with the killing of a former police captain’s daughter and her fiancé last Sunday and the shooting death of a Riverside, Calif., police officer on Thursday morning.<br />
<br />
“I am aware of the ghosts of the L.A.P.D.’s past, and one of my biggest concerns is that they will be resurrected by Dorner’s allegations of racism within the department,” Chief Charlie Beck said in a written statement. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Therefore, I feel we need to also publicly address Dorner’s allegations regarding his termination,” he said. “I do this not to appease a murderer. I do it to reassure the public that their Police Department is transparent and fair in all the things we do.”
</blockquote>
The Times has, to my knowledge, failed to report the skin color of the victim of the alleged kicking incident, even though this fact <i><b>might</b></i> be essential to understanding Dorner's reaction to the incident and the LAPD's reaction to his complaint. <br />
<br />
It seems possible that, as the facts are known, this case will prove to be a clear example of extreme color-aroused ideation, emotion, and behavior leading to abuses within the LAPD and then leading a Black man to fight those abuses in a way that shows that he, too, suffers from extreme color-aroused ideation, emotion and behavior.<br />
<br />
Had the LAPD dealt with the allegations of Christopher J. Dorner more seriously when they occurred, whether they were based on fact or not, then this rampage might not have occurred. <br />
<br />
Whether or not a fellow officer kicked a suspect who was on the ground, as Dorner alleges, the LAPD decision to fire him for even asserting that it happened would predictably dissuade other officers from reporting abuses they witnessed. That attitude on the part of the LAPD seems as though it might partially explain why Mr. Dorner believes a rampage is necessary. Dorner's reaction is not so strange when one recalls that that were generalized riots in LA in 1992 over similar questions of police brutality that was often color-aroused.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230658262080394592.post-27087800562933409562013-02-07T13:18:00.003-08:002013-02-07T13:18:30.768-08:00Accused Killer LAPD Cop Says Color-Arousal Drove Him to Kill<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Helvetica sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">The <b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/08/us/former-los-angeles-police-officer-sought-in-shootings.html?hp&_r=0">New York Times reports</a></b> that a Black, male ex-LAPD officer and ex-Navy reservist has gone on a murderous rampage after explaining why in a essay he posted to the Internet. In the essay, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Christopher Jordan Dorner, 33, asserts that feelings of powerlessness in the face of color-aroused LAPD behavior drove him to begin killing. The Times characterizes the ex-officer's explanation as <b><a href="http://wap.myfoxla.com/w/main/story/84473837/">"</a></b></span></span><b><a href="http://wap.myfoxla.com/w/main/story/84473837/"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">a rambling and </span><span style="color: #666699; font-family: georgia, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">threatening note</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">"</span></a> </b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">but the Times fails to report Dorners subjective belief that extreme color-arousal in the LAPD led to the killing spree.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Among the color-aroused incidents Dorney reports: </span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica sans-serif;">The internal affairs investigation in the academy involving Schefres was spurned by a complaint that I had initiated toward two fellow recruit/offifcers. While on a assigned patrol footbeat in Hollywood Division, Officers Hermilio Buridios IV and Marlon Magana (both current LAPD officers) decided that they would voice their personal feelings about the black community. </span></span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; background-color: yellow; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Helvetica sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">While traveling back to the station in a 12 passenger van I heard Magana refer to another individual as a nigger. I wasn't sure if I heard correctly as there were many conversations in the van that was compiled of at least 8 officers and he was sitting in the very rear and me in the very front. Even with the multiple conversations and ambient noise I heard Officer Magana call an indivdual a nigger again. Now that I had confirmed it, I told Magana not to use that word again. I explained that it was a well known offensive word that should not be used by anyone. He replied, "I'll say it when I want". Officer Burdios, a friend of his, also stated that he would say nigger when he wanted. At that point I jumped over my front passenger seat and two other officers where I placed my hands around Burdios' neck and squeezed. I stated to Burdios, "Don't fucking say that". At that point there was pushing and shoving and we were separated by several other officers. What I should have done, was put a Winchester Ranger SXT 9mm 147 grain bullet in his skull and Officer Magana's skull. </span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Helvetica sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">The Situation would have been resolved effective, immediately. The sad thing about this incident was that when Detective Ty from internal affairs investigated this incident only (1) officer (unknown) in the van other than myself had statements constistent with what actually happened. The other six officers (John Carey, Gary Parker, Jacob Waks, Abraham Schefres and names I have forgotten) all stated they heard nothing and saw nothing. Shame on every one of you. Shame on Detective Ty (same ethnicity as Burdios) for creating a separate 1.28 formal complaint against me (Schefres complaint) in retaliation for initiating the complaint against Burdios and Magana. Don't retaliate against honest officers for breaking your so called blue line. I hope your son Ryan Ty, who I knew, is a better officer than you, Detective Ty.The saddest part of this ordeal was that Officer Burdios and Magana were only given 22 day suspensions and are still LAPD officers to this day. That day, the LAPD stated that it is acceptable for fellow officers to call black officers niggers to their face and you will receive a slap on the wrist. Even sadder is that during that 22 day suspension Buridios and Magana received is that the LAPPL (Los Angeles Police Protective League) paid the officers their salaries while they were suspended. When I took a two day suspension for an accidental discharge, I took my suspension and never applied for a league salary. Its called integrity.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In a sense, it barely matters whether Dorner's accounts are true. It seems likely clear that color-aroused experiences, emotion and ideation play a significant role in his own understanding of why he has done what he has.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230658262080394592.post-77529603602737539392012-11-05T08:51:00.000-08:002012-11-05T08:58:06.927-08:00N.M. Cop Applies 50,000 Volts to 10 Yr. Old Who Declines to Wash Cop Car<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/OmofinlDg0U" width="560"></iframe><br />
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<b> Copied and pasted from:<span style="background-color: #ebebeb; color: #666666; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0.9166em;"> </span><a class="yt-uix-sessionlink yt-user-name author" data-sessionlink="ei=CLrzrKSguLMCFUEl2godgUz65Q%3D%3D" dir="ltr" href="http://www.youtube.com/user/TheYoungTurks" rel="author" style="border: 0px; color: #1c62b9; cursor: pointer; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">TheYoungTurks</a>, November 3, 2012.</b><br />
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<b><i>Although the media is keeping this minor's identity secret, a photograph of him shows white skin, which leads me to believe that these electrocution devices are increasingly being used on the white majority as well as Black and Latino minorities. However, although the boy's skin appears white-colored, he could still be a member of a Latino socio-chromatic group and/or the Black socio-political group and the police officer might have been aware of that when he decided how to interact with this boy. F.L.H.</i></b><br />
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"A 10-year-old boy attending a Tularosa, N.M., Intermediate School's Career Day expected it to be fun and educational, but instead he ended up in the emergency room.</div>
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The boy, identified as R.D., blacked out after receiving 50,000 volts of electricity when struck by a police officer's Taser gun.<br />
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Rachel Higgins, a guardian appointed by the court to protect the child's privacy filed a lawsuit Oct. 26 in 1st Judicial District Court in Santa Fe County against Police Officer Chris Webb and the New Mexico Department of Public Safety on behalf of R.D., claiming that Webb fired his electronic control weapon at the boy on May 4, 2012.<br />
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Webb has been charged with battery, failure to render emergency medical care, unreasonable seizure and excessive force.<br />
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Higgins will appear in court to represent the boy because the family members live in a small town and do not want to reveal their identities.<br />
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The lawsuit claims police officers drove their patrol cars onto the intermediate school campus, where Webb asked a group of boys which one would like to clean his patrol unit.<br />
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R.D. raised his hand to say he did not want to clean the police officer's car.<br />
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Webb then said, according to the lawsuit, "Let me show what happens to people who do not listen to the police." He then "shot his Taser gun at the boy's chest," said the family's attorney Shannon Kennedy of the Kennedy Law Firm of Albuquerque."* Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian break down this story, calling for severe consequences for Officer Webb's reckless use of a taser on a child.<br />
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Read more from Lida Alikhani/ ABC News:<br />
<a class="yt-uix-redirect-link" dir="ltr" href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/11/tasered-10-year-old-boy-sues-police/" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #1c62b9; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/11/tasered-10-year-old-boy-sues-police/">http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/11/tasered-10-year-old-boy-sues-po...</a></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230658262080394592.post-29758883591315854402012-10-08T16:24:00.000-07:002012-10-08T16:26:59.667-07:00Two-Dozen Santa Monica Police Officers Beat a Black Man for a Beer<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/CuqHnnlflNg" width="560"></iframe>
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<b>Youtube:</b> "A Santa Monica college student is suing the Los Angeles Police Department for use of excessive force, alleging that officers beat and tased him despite the fact that he was unarmed and not resisting arrest. Aibuidefe Oghogho, who was 23 years old at the time, claims that a 2010 arrest outside a Hollywood nightclub over public consumption of alcohol escalated into a multiple-officer beatdown, reports CBS2...".* Ana Kasparian, Cenk Uygur, and Ben Mankiewicz discuss on The Young Turks.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230658262080394592.post-50529219793520346252012-10-07T12:50:00.001-07:002012-10-07T13:04:05.293-07:00Naked Student Seeks Help from Campus Police, Is Shot Dead<div style="text-align: center;">
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<b><i>Better to be an ostrich in a run-in with police.</i></b> </div>
<br />
Gilbert Thomas Collar was somehow mentally impaired when he went to the office of University of South Alabama campus police, seeking help. Completely nude, he banged on the window of the campus police station, probably thinking that was where he should go when he was in trouble. Instead of helping him, a security officer shot him in the chest and he died immediately.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 25px;">According to a </span><a href="http://www.southalabama.edu/shtml/crimealert.pdf" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #336699; font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">statement released by the university</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 25px;">, an officer heard loud banging on the police station window early Saturday and left his post to investigate. The man banging on the window was Gilbert Thomas Collar, an 18-year-old freshman who had graduated high school the previous spring. He was naked.</span></b></blockquote>
Although some facts are disputed and in doubt, the moral of the story is all too clear: Don't imagine that "police are your friends" when you're in need, because police may well not see it that way. If you are <b><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17675083">a stray bear</a></b> or an <b><a href="http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/lifestyle&id=8835148">ostrich</a></b>, police might take the time to arrest you without killing you, but it you are a human being who is naked as a bird, or <b><a href="http://police-brutality-blog.blogspot.com.br/2012/09/cornered-houston-cop-shoots-dead-double.html">missing two limbs in a wheelchair</a></b>, police believe shooting and removing the body if often the preferred policy.<br />
<br />
Perhaps police should be ordered to treat stray humans with the level of care for life that they accord stray animals. Or, perhaps, animal control officers should be dispatched to deal with unruly humans rather than police. Why is it that police have time to call animal control officers to handle 600 pound bears, but they haven't the time to capture human alive rather than shoot them?<br />
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Is it a matter of expectations (the police are expected to try to take animals in alive), or it is that police lack the alternative of calling an animal control officer when human beings are the animals out of control?<br />
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Unruly bears are <b><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17675083">shot with sedation drugs</a></b> while human beings are shot to kill. What a strange set of priorities! The definition of "animal" should be changed such that police are required to call animal control officers when animals of the human species confront police and when the alternative to calling animal control officer for a live capture is that police shoot human animal dead. <br />
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One need only watch <b><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17675083">this video</a></b> to see that a 600 pound bears is treated with more patience and care than are human beings who weigh only 25% as much and whose teeth and claws are not nearly as sharp. <br />
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Although police are often accused of treating people like animals, they actually treat human beings considerably worse than they would treat animals in many cases.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230658262080394592.post-67893946967259094982012-09-23T10:22:00.004-07:002012-09-23T11:35:17.628-07:00"Cornered" Houston Cop Shoots Dead Double Amputee in Wheelchair<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxS8LM1kuufyjxULckts19R3ohir6OUxdmsk4-GU5VGhsMMQkL1ihEcID7zTWlAwrPwVo2lCim1zrBwpsxH1XZ9xe3PZs-w8D8FxeBMctAxZ-_2KCudur4eklDaK02E-Ys_XmpskJHVM5h/s1600/Houston+Group+Home.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxS8LM1kuufyjxULckts19R3ohir6OUxdmsk4-GU5VGhsMMQkL1ihEcID7zTWlAwrPwVo2lCim1zrBwpsxH1XZ9xe3PZs-w8D8FxeBMctAxZ-_2KCudur4eklDaK02E-Ys_XmpskJHVM5h/s400/Houston+Group+Home.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Group Home Scene of Police Shooting of Wheelchair-Confined Double Amputee</td></tr>
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Referred by <a href="http://africanamericanpundit.blogspot.com/">African American Pundit</a>.<br />
<p>
In Houston, Texas, <b><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2012/09/23/us/texas-amputee-shooting/index.html">CNN reports</a></b>, a police officer went to a group home for disabled people and shot an unarmed one-legged, one-armed man to death as he sat in his wheelchair. This police atrocious police fatal aggression is reminiscent of <b><a href="http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=e177fc0e-2e22-4ff6-a9ad-9174644d54e3">the case</a></b> in which, "<span style="background-color: white; color: #464646; font-family: arial, verdana, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">An 82-year-old former heart bypass patient was zapped three times with a Taser fired by the [Royal Canadian Mounted Police] as he lay in a hospital bed in Kamloops, B. C.</span><br />
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According to <b><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49135371/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/#.UF9k7LDyan8">MSNBC</a></b>,<br />
<blockquote>
<b>A Houston police officer shot and killed a one-armed, one-legged man in a wheelchair Saturday inside a group home after police say the double amputee threatened the officer and aggressively waved a metal object that turned out to be a pen.</b></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<b>Police spokeswoman Jodi Silva said the man cornered the officer in his wheelchair and was making threats while trying to stab the officer with the pen. At the time, the officer did not know what the metal object was that the man was waving, Silva said.</b> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<b>She said the man came "within inches to a foot" of the officer and did not follow instructions to calm down and remain still.</b> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<b>"Fearing for his partner's safety and his own safety, he discharged his weapon," Silva told The Associated Press.</b></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<b>Police did not immediately release the name of the man who was killed. They had been called to the home after a caretaker there called and reported that the man in wheelchair was causing a disturbance.</b> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<b></b><b>The owner of the group home, John Garcia, told the Houston Chronicle that the man had a history of mental illness and had been living at the house about 18 months. Garcia said the man had told him that he lost a leg above the knee and all of one arm when he was hit by a train.</b></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<b>"He sometimes would go off a bit, but you just ignore it," Garcia told the newspaper. Silva identified the officer as Matthew Jacob Marin, a five-year veteran of the department. He was immediately placed on three-day administrative leave, which is standard in all shootings involving officers.</b></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<b>Houston police records indicate that Marin also fatally shot a suspect in 2009. Investigators at the time said Marin came upon a man stabbing his neighbor to death at an apartment complex and opened fired when the suspect refused to drop the knife.</b></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<b>On Saturday, Marin and his partner arrived at the group home around 2:30 a.m. Silva said there were several people at the house at the time. The caretaker who called police waited on the porch while the officers went inside, she said. "It was close quarters in the area of the house," Silva said. "The officer was forced into an area where he had no way to get out."</b></blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230658262080394592.post-26731716373398116302012-09-09T07:49:00.002-07:002012-09-09T07:52:13.373-07:00Is the Body Slam A New Standard in Police Arrests of Women and Girls?Why do police male police officers seem to be body-slamming female members of the public to the pavement all across America?<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/oyCi4qRHx5Y" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><p>The girl in the above video has an African-American father and Latino mother. Did her skin color or skin color group participation play a roll in the officer's decision to slam her to the pavement?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230658262080394592.post-14213585979808719242012-08-31T12:15:00.003-07:002012-08-31T12:48:04.102-07:00LA Officers Body Slam White Woman Twice During Texting Traffic Stop<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/mFztu-7BGoE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><p style="font-weight: normal; "></p><div style="font-weight: normal; ">Hat Tip to Frank, who submitted this video.</div><div style="font-weight: normal; "><br /></div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">In this YouTube video, LA police bodily drag and lift a woman out of the driver seat of her car, body-slam her on the ground, handcuff her, and then body-slam her again! The woman is a 34 year-old registered nurse, says the video, and police were engaged in a "routine" traffic stop because the woman was allegedly using her cell-phone while driving. </div><div style="font-weight: normal; "><br />After leaving the woman bruised and battered in the patrol car, these two armed and large police officers bump fists to congratulate one another for what they apparently believe to have been an heroic arrest. </div><div style="font-weight: normal; "><br /></div><div><span style="font-weight: normal; ">According to the </span><b><a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/08/video-of-lapd-body-slamming-woman-disturbing-chief-says.html">LA Times Blog</a></b>,</div><div style="font-weight: normal; "><br /></div><div><div class="entry-body" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><p style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; "><b></b></p></div><blockquote><div class="entry-body" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><p style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; "><b>The videotaped confrontation between two Los Angeles Police Department officers and a woman was disturbing and will be fully investigated, Police Chief Charlie Beck said.</b></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; "><b>“I have serious concerns about this incident," Beck said. "Every Los Angeles police officer, regardless of rank, will be held accountable for their actions."</b></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; "><b>The commanding officer of the Los Angeles Police Department's Foothill Division was reassigned Wednesday, a day after video was broadcast showing two of his officers twice <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/08/lapd-identifies-woman-slammed-to-ground-in-tujunga-traffic-stop.html" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(34, 98, 204); text-decoration: none; ">body-slamming a 34-year-old nurse</a> to the pavement, once while she was in handcuffs.</b></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; "><b>The move to reassign Capt. Joseph Hiltner, as well as bump him from his current Captain III rank to a lower pay grade of Captain I, was announced by Beck at a news conference Wednesday evening at LAPD headquarters.</b></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; "><b>Hiltner, a 34-year LAPD veteran, could not be reached for comment Wednesday night.</b></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; "><b>Beck said Internal Affairs detectives have launched a criminal and administrative investigation into the Aug. 21 use-of-force incident, which began after the officers pulled over Michelle Jordan at a Del Taco restaurant in Tujunga because she was holding a cellphone while driving.</b></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; "><b>LAPD brass didn't find out about the incident until the department was contacted by a KNBC reporter asking for comment Tuesday about the incident and black-and-white security surveillance footage that captured the officers' actions, police officials said.</b></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; "><b>As the 5-foot 4-inch Jordan left her vehicle, she allegedly failed to comply with officers' commands to get back into the car and was slammed to the ground by the male officers and placed in handcuffs, according to police officials.</b></p></div><b><a id="more" name="more" style="color: rgb(34, 98, 204); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "></span></b><div class="entry-more" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><p style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; "><b>While handcuffed, she was led to the officers' patrol car. Moments later, she was slammed again to the pavement, apparently with more force, by one of the officers, who was much larger than Jordan, the officials said. </b></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; "><b>The video footage appears to show the two officers exchanging high fives after Jordan was taken down. </b></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; "><b><br /></b></p></div></blockquote><div class="entry-more" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><p style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; "><b></b></p></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230658262080394592.post-50822247801088597802012-08-21T02:47:00.007-07:002012-08-21T06:37:10.986-07:00Police Shoot Milton Hall 30 Times in Unjustified Killing<object width="416" height="374" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" id="ep" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; "><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><param name="movie" value="http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/apps/cvp/3.0/swf/cnn_416x234_embed.swf?context=embed&videoId=crime/2012/08/16/ac-pkg-carroll-man-shot-by-police-in-saginaw-michigan.cnn"><param name="bgcolor" value="#000000"><embed src="http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/apps/cvp/3.0/swf/cnn_416x234_embed.swf?context=embed&videoId=crime/2012/08/16/ac-pkg-carroll-man-shot-by-police-in-saginaw-michigan.cnn" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" bgcolor="#000000" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="416" wmode="transparent" height="374"></embed></object><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; "><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/esylOWXrSMQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; "></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; ">In the above video, Saginaw, MI police shoot at Milton Hall, a 47 year-old Black man who his family says suffered from "serious mental health issues," shot at approximately 46 times by six police officers, according to <span style="font-weight:bold;"><a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2012/08/saginaw_county_prosecutor_cand.html">Michigan Live</a></span> news. Police officers fire 30 shots that actually strike and and kill Mr. Hall.</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">Police apparently say that they were called to the scene because the man they shot was involved in an incident with a convenience store clerk beforehand. </p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">One witness who observed the shooting said that Mr. Hall assumed a karate posture before police shot at him. It is not clear how it has become accepted <i>as a matter of fact</i> that Mr. Hall was holding a knife when police shot him, although it must be true that police <i>say</i> he was holding a knife, because that appears in the various news reports. One news video said police said the man was holding "some sort of knife."<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlRPC6v-IhSHVtP0ouifDdIpBp00pIyySZcqbvyjPDActhP65veW1lHjTHSnfsAS7BfxWaQX8M7kPzLAr00jsdxdKowb9DgxGMHvGvb3D5zD1yp8W51nYjE3iu8Mt6jiOqVfP7d9w2p0Xz/s1600/Milton+Hall.jpg"><img style="float:center; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 155px; height: 155px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlRPC6v-IhSHVtP0ouifDdIpBp00pIyySZcqbvyjPDActhP65veW1lHjTHSnfsAS7BfxWaQX8M7kPzLAr00jsdxdKowb9DgxGMHvGvb3D5zD1yp8W51nYjE3iu8Mt6jiOqVfP7d9w2p0Xz/s400/Milton+Hall.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5779105967815170146" /></a><br /><br />The lack of specificity leads me to wonder why the police cannot say or have not said exactly what "sort of knife" the man was holding. To my eyes, the knife is not visible in the video. <span style="font-size: 100%; ">Was he holding a knife or wasn't he, I would like to know? Was he holding the same knife in the convenience store and, if so, is there any video confirming that?</span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">It seems to me, based on watching the video and listening to the shouts of Mr. Hall, that Mr. Hall was in a self-destructive and combative state of mind when he was confronted by the police and shot. In the video, Mr. Hall says, "My name is Milton Hall and I just called the police." Then he challenges the police, shouting, "Let the dog go! Let the motherfucking dog go!" The dog is not visible in the video and it is not clear whether police did let the dog go and, if not, then why not, as an alternative to shooting Mr. Hall 30 times without releasing the dog.</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">It seems to me, based on the video, that Mr. Hall instigated the confrontation himself because he was in a self-destructive and mentally agitated state of mind. When confronted with potentially overwhelming force, including six police officers, the dog and their guns, he invited the police to use such force as they wished. That is consistent with the "serious mental health issues" from which the family told the media Hall suffered.</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">Mr. Hall seems to me to have committed suicide by cop, but did police make it too easy for him? Was this an assisted suicide? It seems clear that, even if Mr. Hall was holding a knife (that hasn't been presented for public inspection), police could still have released the dog to disable the man; could have shot the man in the leg or arm; could have thrown a net over him and toppled him to the ground; could have toppled him with a fire hose, and could have employed a myriad other strategies instead of and before shooting this man to kill. </p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">I surmise that these police officers, instead of using problem-solving skills that a game control officer would use to capture an wild animal alive, were intent only on arresting Mr. Hall, dead or alive. When one officer decided to shoot him, they all did so until he was dead, instead of one of them taking announcing to the others that he would shoot Mr. Hill until he was disabled, but not necessarily until he was dead.</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">Was the police's homicidal behavior aroused by a knife or by Mr. Hall's skin color? What seems shocking about videos such as this one is that, although Blacks are a mere 13% of the population of the United States, people with brown skin seem to represent virtually all of the victims of shootings such as this one. If there are cases in which police shoot white-skinned knife wielders thiry times, none of us seems to be aware of those cases. That is, perhaps, because they don't exist. </p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">Instead, police seem to arrive on the scene, observe or know already that the confrontation involves a Black person, and then mete out the treatment that they regularly use in cases involving Black people, including unnecessary lethal force and/or barbaric and atrocious reprehensible force and other behavior. Police know that there are rarely serious consequences for behaving in this way in incidents with Black people, but there might be a national firestorm of unprecedented proportions if they treated a white person in the same way. It would not be long tolerated and police would face serious consequences typically do not accrue when they kill a man with brown skin.</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">The media reports say local residents are angry that, after six weeks, the police have not reported the results of an internal investigation of the shooting. One problem of US conflict between police forces and the public is that police forces themselves are charged with the task of investigating their own behavior and incidents that raise questions about their own judgments. </p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><span style="font-size: 100%; ">Police certainly should gather all of the information that is available. Rather than release a statement about their findings, they should release all of the information they have gathered, including ballistics reports, recordings, officer, witness and family statements, and other information that would assist members of the public, the district attorney, attorneys for the family, the media, state and federal authorities in determining whether police behavior is problematic and what should be done about it.</span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">Clearly, police perform various functions in the process of an investigation of themselves. They gather information internally; try to manage the public's anger, distrust and demands; engage in efforts to limit the damage to police and municipal interests that has been caused by an incident; defend a city and individual police officers from civil liability; protect police officers and their superiors from potential criminal liability and manage the public's perception of and acceptance of police behavior and authority. </p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><span style="font-size: 100%; ">It ought to be clear to the public that no unbiased "determination" about a shooting can come from an agency whose self-interests are so many and are so potentially and directly in opposition to the public's interest in knowing the truth. For these reasons, an investigation conducted by the police is unlikely to reveal any account of the facts that is unbiased in its investigation, compilation and publicly announced conclusions.<br /><br />Rather than clamor for the police to complete an investigation, the public might more usefully clamor for access to physical evidence and police statements that could subsequently become evidence in a civil suit. The same evidence that would be the basis of a civil judgment is evidence that the public should demand to see in order to understand and judge the facts involving those who are ostensibly public servants. Although the demands might be met with silence, at least the demands themselves would be more educative and less misleading and beguiling of the public's expectations.</span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><span style="font-size: 100%; ">Since any police report is typically summary (does not include underlying evidence) and biased, I don't understand why the public would or should ask for such a report at all. It's a futile waste of time and energy, except for fulfilling any formal requirements that a complaint be lodged.</span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">There are many strategy alternatives that Blacks might conceivably employ to seek justice or provide a police deterrent in cases like this one. Demanding a police review seems more like an exercise in futility than a strategy, unless it is coupled with the preparation of a civil suit and taking other measures. It's a dilatory request for a foregone conclusion.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230658262080394592.post-72083240034106817202012-08-05T02:12:00.001-07:002012-08-05T02:16:52.718-07:00Cops Shoot and Kill Handcuffed Black Man, Chavis Carter, in Squad Car<div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-3046280346507068003" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: #1c1c1c; color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 458px;">
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<span class="goog_qs-tidbit-0">Same old color aroused hatred, 2012 style. While most people are celebrating what good about America, another 21-year-old black man was shot in the head and killed while handcuffed in the</span> back of a patrol car. Get this, now the police have launched a bogus investigation to determine what happened! WE know what happened the police killed a man for running his mouth and selling marijuana. They acted as jury and executionors. You see,<br />
Chavis Carter was a passenger in a pickup truck that was <a href="http://www.kait8.com/story/19149968/jpd-suspect-shot-himself-in-patrol-car-while-handcuffed" style="color: #dd7700; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">stopped by police in Jonesboro, Ark.,</a> Saturday night, according to KAIT, an ABC-affiliated television station. An officer reportedly found some marijuana, and ran Carter's information. He was wanted on a warrant out of Mississippi, so officers placed him in a patrol car.<br />
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Get this, the police say, "As protocol, he was handcuffed behind his back, double-locked and searched," said Jonesboro Police Department Sgt. Lyle Waterworth in an <a href="http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/crime/2012/08/01/dnt-ar-man-shot-in-patrol-car.wreg#/video/crime/2012/08/01/dnt-ar-man-shot-in-patrol-car.wreg" style="color: #dd7700; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">interview with WREG-TV</a>.<br />
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Just minutes later, police said they heard a thumping noise, turned around and found Carter shot in the head. Right! You got to be kidding me right! The police said they heard a thumping noise, turned around and found Carter shot in the head. This is cold blooded murder folks. There is more stupidity coming from these bigots. Get this, Police say they think Carter pulled out a hidden gun and shot himself. “Any given officer has missed something on a search, you know, be it drugs, be it knives, be it razor blades," he said. "This instance, it happened to be a gun." OK, so a handcuffed black man shot himself in the head? Community leaders are having none of this!<br />
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His mother, Teresa Carter, disagrees. "I think they killed him," she said. "My son wasn't suicidal." Carter said she was also told her son was shot in the right temple, although he was left-handed. Get this, The two officers who were present when Carter was found shot were placed on administrative leave.<br />
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Let's see how powerful the National Office of the NAACP is? Is it a paper tiger organization? Instead of giving image awards, they should be in the hood addressing the real issues impacting urban America. Hat Tip to the Ed Show, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/01/chavis-carter-shot-jonesboro-police_n_1730997.html" style="color: #dd7700; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Huffington Post</a> and others for addressing this issue.</div>
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Cops Kill black man Chavis Carter, shot in the head while handcuffed
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<span class="post-timestamp" style="margin-left: -1em; margin-right: 1em;">at <a class="timestamp-link" href="http://africanamericanpundit.blogspot.com.br/2012/08/cops-kill-black-man-chavis-carter-in.html" itemprop="url" rel="bookmark" style="color: #dd7700; text-decoration: none;" title="permanent link"><abbr class="published" itemprop="datePublished" style="border: none;" title="2012-08-04T02:17:00-04:00">2:17 AM</abbr></a></span><span style="margin-right: 1em;"><span class="post-icons" style="margin-right: 1em;"></span></span><span class="post-author vcard" style="margin-right: 0px;">Posted <span style="font-size: 14px;">by </span><span class="fn" style="font-size: 14px;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/06079646827644679863" itemprop="author" rel="author" style="color: #dd7700; text-decoration: none;" title="author profile">AfricanAmericanPundit</a></span></span></div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230658262080394592.post-70541185346500509302012-06-23T03:58:00.000-07:002012-06-23T03:58:22.868-07:00Kingsley Burrell, aged 27 years old, died in what appear to be extremely suspicious circumstances in Birmingham.<br />
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Save the Date: March for Kingsley Burrell Saturday 11/08/12 (Time TBC)</h2>
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<em><strong><img alt="Justice for Kingsley" height="309" src="http://www.ligali.org/images/justice4kingsley.jpg" width="199" /></strong></em></div>
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<em><strong><br /></strong></em></div>
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<em><strong>As at 18th June 2012 the current status is - No officers convicted of a death in custody in the UK since 1969 despite 11 unlawful killing verdicts and over 1000 such deaths; over three hundred and thirty of these since 1998.</strong></em></div>
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More statistical information available from INQUEST <a href="http://www.inquest.org.uk/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">www.inquest.org.uk</a></div>
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Kingsley Burrell, aged 27 years old, died in what appear to be extremely suspicious circumstances in Birmingham. It is reported that he called the police after he tried to talk to a group of young people who were intimidating him and his 5 year old son. He was subsequently arrested himself and detained under the Mental Health Act. Days later he was in intensive care and subsequently died 31st March 2011.</div>
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<br />Fifteen months on Kingsley’s sister confirms that his body has still not been released for burial… it is truly inhumane that his body has yet to be released also that it takes so long for the matter to come before the courts…We can no longer be ignorant to the tactics that are being used in order to keep us from the truth... from justice being done...The family will be marching again 11th August 2012.</div>
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<br />This is not a letter encouraging an Anti-Police protest but a peaceful NATIONAL show of solidarity by the community in order to support these families on the long and often lonely journey in seeking justice for their loved ones.</div>
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<br />This march (as have others previously) will continue to make it clear to the Authorities that the Community is very much aware and concerned and will no longer allow our loved ones and members of our community to be unlawfully killed without us seeking answers to the pertinent and very painful questions, notwithstanding that in cases where there has been foul play, the IPCC investigation is comprehensive and balanced and that those responsible are held to account through the court.</div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<em>I write this letter to petition YOU the Community both in the Midlands and further afield to attend and support the family of Kingsley Burrell in the march planned for</em> <em>Saturday 11th August 2012, the march will start at Summerfield Park, Icknield Port Road where the incident occurred with Kingsley and finish with a rally outside Centenary Square on Broad Street. Times will be confirmed at a later date.</em></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<em>Community this is just shy of two months’ notice. Please continue to share the details of the march among your organisations, friends, family, and colleagues and across your social networks we owe it to the families and the Community to show our support.</em><i><br /></i><em>For more information regarding Kingsleys case please go to </em><em><a href="http://www.facebook.com/Justice4Kingsley" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/<wbr></wbr>Justice4Kingsley</a></em></blockquote>
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<em>Signed a concerned community member...</em></blockquote>
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<em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/notes/dena-tvrp-whitmore/open-letter-to-the-community-to-encourage-increased-support-of-the-march-for-kin/256012377838066" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/<wbr></wbr>notes/dena-tvrp-whitmore/open-<wbr></wbr>letter-to-the-community-to-<wbr></wbr>encourage-increased-support-<wbr></wbr>of-the-march-for-kin/<wbr></wbr>256012377838066</a></em></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230658262080394592.post-14872654911647154452012-06-07T16:25:00.000-07:002012-06-07T16:25:35.487-07:00The Last Time I Cried, By Eddie G. Griffin, (BASG), Ex-Panther, Black BloggerBy Eddie G. Griffin (BASG)<br />
Thursday, June 07, 2012<br />
<br />
The last time I cried, I remember the stream of tears that running down the sides of my cheeks, tears of joy, an unbelievable crown and glory moment in my life.<br />
<br />
I lay on my back in the grass, looking up at the night skies, at the moon and its stars. Tower lights beamed down upon the prison grounds, as bright as sunlight, but it had been years since I had last seen the silhouettes of the night. Seven years buried in a sensory deprivation chamber, deep inside the bowels of the federal infamous super-max Control Unit, alas, I was awe smitten to see the moon and stars for the first time in as many years.<br />
<br />
They had just released me from a cold strip cell, where I had been held incommunicado, with three other captives. Barring me contact with my lawyers, federal officials instead transferred me to a college-like campus prison at El Reno in Oklahoma. It was here, within these confines, I lay, gazing up at the stars, and crying my eyes out.<br />
<br />
The warden had pulled me out of the dungeon, where I had been stripped to my briefs, placed in an isolated cell, and given running water for 15 minutes in the morning, and 15 minutes in the evening. The windows of the cell were cranked wide open to allow the winter's bitter chill to invade my solitary chamber.<br />
<br />
The barren cold gave me no peace, night or day, and neither could I lie down to sleep on the hard steel bunk. So, I sat hunched over, glued to my bunk by the frost, day in and day out, for weeks, until I lost my sense of time.<br />
<br />
There was no need for me to eat, because my bodily functions were shutting down. Food trays came in through door slot and went back out, untouched and uneaten.<br />
<br />
At first, I protested my mistreatment and demanded my rights. I demanded a pencil and writing paper. But none came, and neither came any mail from the outside world. I was totally cut off, with no voice of grievance to be heard and no power to execute my constitutional rights. Then it dawned on me, I was put here to die. Therefore, all my protests were meaningless and void.<br />
<br />
I realized the dire straits of my situation one day when the guard passed through with the food trays. I asked him, “Will you give a dying man’s a last request for a cigarette?”<br />
<br />
He reached into his shirt pocket, took one out, handed to me. Then he broke down in tears. Strange it felt. Somebody cared about Eddie Griffin. But there was nothing he could do to mitigate my suffering. His helplessness empathy showed on his face and in his tears.<br />
<br />
Out the open windows, I had screamed repeatedly for help, hoping against the northern winds, that my voice could be heard by other inmates in the adjacent building. A lump popped up in my throat like a tumor, and there was no more strength left within me. Passively, I accepted my fate. I was slowly freezing to death and gradually declining.<br />
<br />
Then one day, out of nowhere, the warden summoned me to be brought to his office. He had an announcement. “Griffin, we are kicking you out of here. We do not want to see or hear from you again,” he said.<br />
<br />
In hindsight, being "kicked out" of a super-max dungeon, where politically conscious prisoners were kept in isolation, seemed rather bizarre. But all I could think, at the time, was: “Thank you, Jesus.” At that point, I could have kissed the warden’s feet. So, I made him the promise. If released, he would never hear from me again.<br />
<br />
Up to that point, Eddie Griffin was the most interviewed prisoner in the system during the 1970s, as one journalist observed. I had been designated the sacrificial lamb as the prisoners’ voice on human rights issues, by all the inmates and prisoner support groups, because of my published writings. And almost every day, I found myself speaking to reporters from different newspapers, magazines, and television stations around the country about the status and conditions of prisoners confined in a facility the government would rather kept secret because of its experimental mind control programs.<br />
<br />
Therefore, my release from the refrigerated morgue cell was conditional upon my consent to keep silent. I willfully agreed rather than be sent back. But as fate would have it, the old warden would indeed see and hear from me again, many years down the road, in courtroom testimony, in a lawsuit from lawyers who were denied access into the prison to interview other inmates. (Abel case)<br />
<br />
Nevertheless, being released from the notorious Control Unit was a blessing within itself; otherwise my only hope was to be shipped back to my hometown in Texas in a body bag. And, staring up into the heavens on a starry night over El Reno, Oklahoma was as close to paradise as I could imagine.<br />
<br />
I recalled a cold gray day in the dungeon, as I sat in a frozen stupor, peering out into empty space, a vision unfolded. I kept blinking to keep my eyes from glazing over with a crust of frost. But then I saw clearly, as it was, a screen like television monitor, with an image of a ship frozen at sea, against the backdrop of a deep blue sky. The image haunted me like a sign of impending death, like something a man would see just before crossing over into the unknown abyss.<br />
<br />
The irony of it all was that by nightfall, I opened my eyes again and saw a quarter moon smiling down upon me and stars dancing across the Oklahoma skies. My soul was refreshed, my eyes flooded with tears of joy. I had survived another crown and glory moment in my life. But my eyes would never go back to normal.<br />
<br />
eddiegriffin_basg@yahoo.comUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230658262080394592.post-88558664166320749072012-06-04T08:59:00.011-07:002012-06-04T12:23:02.528-07:00Could George Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin Killer, Do 15 Years in Federal Prison for Lying on Passport Application?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRJZcy3XMbjFKYAcZyK-6DvUrCQhp-0G_SGHrCZ-0OF4ul2JaNeH2pkdawIE-ault7HXkOPiNk6WJwb7C3vE2yPt51HORWviovreSKUKKlIvOZWTfKTSbBrmdgRajPV7M-7rppfNH_b4A2/s1600/US+Passport+Application+False+Statement+Criminal+Warning.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a avglsprocessed="1" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_zlH7hyBXJMXwwQvNNwT_Yb9ynXV5__gR0sdJLUqLhhC_dxRkzHzTb3Uu8kyIHj-35CeuBX38f_sl7DPrxr4PFoL1wnwDgdBJEdd_FbTWTffvUqra-0x4btigLaQnQizr0NoGKzHi_mrY/s1600/US+Passport+Application+False+Statement+Criminal+Warning.PNG" style="clear: left; color: #8ab6e2; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"></a><img border="0" height="548" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRJZcy3XMbjFKYAcZyK-6DvUrCQhp-0G_SGHrCZ-0OF4ul2JaNeH2pkdawIE-ault7HXkOPiNk6WJwb7C3vE2yPt51HORWviovreSKUKKlIvOZWTfKTSbBrmdgRajPV7M-7rppfNH_b4A2/s640/US+Passport+Application+False+Statement+Criminal+Warning.PNG" width="640" /><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a avglsprocessed="1" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_zlH7hyBXJMXwwQvNNwT_Yb9ynXV5__gR0sdJLUqLhhC_dxRkzHzTb3Uu8kyIHj-35CeuBX38f_sl7DPrxr4PFoL1wnwDgdBJEdd_FbTWTffvUqra-0x4btigLaQnQizr0NoGKzHi_mrY/s1600/US+Passport+Application+False+Statement+Criminal+Warning.PNG" style="color: #8ab6e2; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"></a></div><h3 style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</h3><br />
<div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Atty. Francis L. Holland</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-size: 13px;"><div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><b><a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://police-brutality-blog.blogspot.com.br/2012/06/george-zimmerman-committed-federal.html" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://police-brutality-blog.<wbr></wbr>blogspot.com</a></b></div><div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent;">After George Zimmerman was arrested and charged with </span><b style="background-color: transparent;"><a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2012/0420/George-Zimmerman-bond-hearing-5-new-things-we-learned/Zimmerman-brooded-over-comments-by-Trayvon-s-mother" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">second degree murder</a></b><span style="background-color: transparent;"> for the killing of Trayvon Martin, and after he surrendered his passport as a condition of his bond, did he commit a </span><b style="background-color: transparent;"><a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://www.justice.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title9/crm01944.htm" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">separate federal crime punishable by up to fifteen years in prison</a></b><span style="background-color: transparent;"> by lying on a US passport application in order to replace the passport that he had surrendered to the criminal court? Electronic recordings of his conversations while in prison, the fact that he obtained a second passport after surrendering one, and presumably the recent passport application itself, demonstrate precisely what he did.</span></div><div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px; text-align: left;">The </span><b style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px; text-align: left;"><a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2012/0601/George-Zimmerman-back-to-jail-for-falsehoods.-Will-they-influence-trial" style="color: #8ab6e2;" target="_blank">Christian Science Monitor</a> reports</b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px; text-align: left;">:</span></div><span style="background-color: transparent;"></span><br />
<blockquote style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px; margin: 1em 20px; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"><b>During the hearing, prosecutors introduced several recordings of telephone conversations between Zimmerman and his wife, Shellie, made while he was in jail. In one such recording, they can be heard speaking cryptically about a second passport in his possession. Zimmerman was ordered by the judge to hand over his passport so he couldn’t flee the country, <i>but Zimmerman applied for a second passport after the shooting, saying his first one had been stolen. </i>(Emphasis added.)</b></span></span></blockquote><br />
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</div></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Page two of the <b><a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/79955.pdf?" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">US Passport application form</a></b> asks for the "status of most recent passport," whether "lost" or "stolen." There are reasons for requesting a passport that are unlawful, so the questions requesting to know the motive for the application are legally essential to whether the passport will be issued and whether a crime is committed in requesting it. If Zimmerman falsely checked a "lost" or "stolen" box, as the <b><a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2012/0601/George-Zimmerman-back-to-jail-for-falsehoods.-Will-they-influence-trial" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Christian Science Monitor reports</a></b>, when in fact he had surrendered his passport to the criminal court trying him for murder, then he likely committed <b><a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://www.justice.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title9/crm01944.htm" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">a separate federal crime</a>, </b>under <b style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 16px; text-align: left;"><a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/uscode/18/I/75/1542" style="color: #8ab6e2;" target="_blank">18 U.S.C. § 1542</a>, </b>for which he could spend up to fifteen years in federal prison. </div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 16px; text-align: left;"><b><a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/uscode/18/I/75/1542" style="color: #8ab6e2;" target="_blank">18 U.S.C. § 1542 , US Code Section 1542</a></b>, <b><a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/uscode/18/I/75/1542" style="color: #8ab6e2;" target="_blank">"False statement in application and use of passport,"</a></b> provides that:</span><br />
<blockquote style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin: 1em 20px; text-align: left;"><b><span style="color: #333333;">Whoever </span><span style="background-color: #ffff66; color: red;">willfully and knowingly makes any false statement in an </span></b><b><span style="background-color: #ffff66; color: red;">application for passport with intent to induce or secure the </span></b><b><span style="background-color: #ffff66; color: red;">issuance of a passport</span><span style="color: #333333;"> under the authority of the United States,</span></b><b style="color: #333333;">either for his own use or the use of another, contrary to the laws</b><b style="color: #333333;">regulating the issuance of passports or the rules prescribed </b><b style="color: #333333;">pursuant to such laws; or</b><span style="color: #333333;"> </span></blockquote><blockquote style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin: 1em 20px; text-align: left;"><a avglsprocessed="1" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_zlH7hyBXJMXwwQvNNwT_Yb9ynXV5__gR0sdJLUqLhhC_dxRkzHzTb3Uu8kyIHj-35CeuBX38f_sl7DPrxr4PFoL1wnwDgdBJEdd_FbTWTffvUqra-0x4btigLaQnQizr0NoGKzHi_mrY/s1600/US+Passport+Application+False+Statement+Criminal+Warning.PNG" style="clear: left; color: #8ab6e2; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"></a><b></b><b></b><b>Whoever willfully and knowingly uses or attempts to use, or</b><b>furnishes to another for use any passport the issue of which was</b><b>secured in any way by reason of any false statement - </b><b>Shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 25 </b><b>years (if the offense was committed to facilitate an act of</b><b>international terrorism (as defined in section 2331 of this </b><b>title)), 20 years (if the offense was committed to facilitate a</b><b>drug trafficking crime (as defined in section 929(a) of this </b><b>title)), <span style="background-color: yellow; color: red;">10 years (in the case of the first or second such offense</span>, </b><b>if the offense was not committed to facilitate such an act of </b><b>international terrorism or a drug trafficking crime),<a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_947369989" style="background-color: yellow; color: #8ab6e2;" target="_blank"> </a><span style="color: red;"><span style="background-color: yellow;">or 15 years</span> </span></b><b>(in the case of any other offense), or both. (Emphasis added.)</b></blockquote></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">According to <b><a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://openjurist.org/775/f2d/1528/united-states-v-obryant" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">US v. O'Bryant</a></b>, a federal criminal case in which a defendant was convicted for a violation of this law, </div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</div><blockquote style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); border: none; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;">Section 1542 proscribes "willfully and knowingly" making a false statement in a passport application. The crime is complete when one makes a statement one knows is untrue to procure a passport. See Browder v. United States, </span></b><a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://openjurist.org/312/us/335" style="border: 0px; color: #9495ab; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">312 U.S. 335</a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;">, 337, 61 S.Ct. 599, 601, 85 L.Ed. 862 (1941); United States v. Winn, </span><a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://openjurist.org/577/f2d/86" style="border: 0px; color: #9495ab; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">577 F.2d 86</a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;">, 91 (9th Cir.1978). Good or bad motives are irrelevant. Browder, 312 U.S. at 337-38, 61 S.Ct. 599, 601, 85 L.Ed. 862; United States v. Washington, </span><a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://openjurist.org/705/f2d/489" style="border: 0px; color: #9495ab; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">705 F.2d 489</a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;">, 493-94 (D.C.Cir.1983).</span></blockquote><br />
<div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><div>The purpose of the "lost" or "stolen" questions is to assure that no individual has more than one passport, to prevent the use of aliases and other subterfuge, such as obtaining a substitute passport to flee the country while out on bail. For whatever reason, Zimmerman apparently engaged in precisely the type of subterfuge which the federal statute was enacted to prevent, and for which violation penalties were doubled in 1996. See the <b><a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/uscode/18/I/75/1542" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">statute</a></b>, <b><a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://www.justice.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title9/crm01944.htm" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">US Attorneys Manual</a></b>, Christian Science Monitor <a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2012/0601/George-Zimmerman-back-to-jail-for-falsehoods.-Will-they-influence-trial" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><b>reported facts</b></a> and discussion below.</div></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #333333; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; text-align: left;"><div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;">Did Zimmerman <i>actually</i> tell the federal government that his passport had been stolen when, in fact, he had surrendered it to a court as part of a criminal proceeding? If so, in addition to a violation of the terms of his bond, that lying on a US passport application is a federal crime punishable by up to fifteen years in prison. </span></div><div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 15px;"></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><b><br />
</b></span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;">The US Attorneys Manual provides further explanation and references concerning this federal crime:</span></div><blockquote style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 1em 20px;"><table bgcolor="lightblue" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="4"><tbody>
<tr valign="top"><td style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px;"><a avglsprocessed="1" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_zlH7hyBXJMXwwQvNNwT_Yb9ynXV5__gR0sdJLUqLhhC_dxRkzHzTb3Uu8kyIHj-35CeuBX38f_sl7DPrxr4PFoL1wnwDgdBJEdd_FbTWTffvUqra-0x4btigLaQnQizr0NoGKzHi_mrY/s1600/US+Passport+Application+False+Statement+Criminal+Warning.PNG" style="clear: left; color: #8ab6e2; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"></a><a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://www.justice.gov/usao/index.html" style="color: blue; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">US Attorneys</a> > <a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://www.justice.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/index.html" style="color: blue; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">USAM</a> > <a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://www.justice.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title9/title9.htm" style="color: blue; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Title 9</a> > Criminal Resource Manual 1944<br />
<a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://www.justice.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title9/crm01943.htm" style="color: blue; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">prev</a> | <a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://www.justice.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title9/crm01945.htm" style="color: blue; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">next</a> | <a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://www.justice.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title9/crm00000.htm" style="color: blue; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Criminal Resource Manual</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table></blockquote><div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><table cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; width: 750px;"><tbody>
<tr valign="top"><td style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px;" width="1%"><h2 style="margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_157033472" style="color: #8ab6e2;" target="_blank">1944</a></span></h2></td><td style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px;"><h2 style="margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://www.justice.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title9/crm01944.htm" style="color: #8ab6e2;" target="_blank">18 U.S.C. § 1542—False Statement in Application for Passport and Use of a Passport Fraudulently Obtained</a></span></h2></td></tr>
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<dd><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">Section 1542 of Title 18 proscribes both false statements made to obtain a passport, and use of any passport so obtained.</span></dd><dd><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">The false statement against which this section is most commonly used is the use of a false name in obtaining a passport. United States citizens attempt to obtain passports using false names in order to conceal criminal activity. A problem of proof can arise when the passport applicant has routinely used aliases and now seeks to obtain a passport in one of those aliases. <i>See, e.g.</i>, <i>United States v. O'Bryant</i>, 775 F.2d 1528 (11th Cir.1985); <i>United States v. Cox</i>, 593 F.2d 46 (6th Cir.1979); <i>United States v. </i><i>Wasman</i>, 641 F.2d 326 (5th Cir.1981), <i>aff'd</i>, 464 U.S. 932 (1984).</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br />
</span></dd><dd><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><i>Browder v. United States</i>, 312 U.S. 335 (1941), is the leading case on use of a passport, the application for which contained a false statement. Browder obtained a passport in his real name, but in the portion of the application asking when his last passport was obtained, he falsely stated, "none." This statement was false because he had previously obtained a passport in a false name. He then used the new passport to enter the United States. The Supreme Court upheld Browder's conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 1542 for innocent use of a passport secured by a false statement. <i>See</i> 53 A.L.R.Fed. 507.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br />
</span></dd><dd><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) amended this statute to provide for enhanced penalties if the offense was committed to facilitate an act of international terrorism or a drug trafficking crime.</span><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-size: xx-small;">[cited in <a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://www.justice.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title9/73mcrm.htm#9-73.600" style="color: blue; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">USAM 9-73.600</a>]</span></dd></td></tr>
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</div><div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;">Although there are facts in doubt with regard to how and why George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin, the facts recounted in the Christian Science Monitor, based on tape recorded conversations and Zimmerman's signature on a passport application, would seem to leave little doubt but that Zimmerman committed a federal crime while in state custody. And Zimmerman clearly shows no respect for the rule of law that a legitimate crime watch volunteer would seek to advance and uphold.</span></div><div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><a avglsprocessed="1" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_zlH7hyBXJMXwwQvNNwT_Yb9ynXV5__gR0sdJLUqLhhC_dxRkzHzTb3Uu8kyIHj-35CeuBX38f_sl7DPrxr4PFoL1wnwDgdBJEdd_FbTWTffvUqra-0x4btigLaQnQizr0NoGKzHi_mrY/s1600/US+Passport+Application+False+Statement+Criminal+Warning.PNG" style="clear: left; color: #8ab6e2; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;">Federal prosecutors in Florida should immediately indict George Zimmerman, and his wife if she aided and abetted his crime, for lying on the US Passport Application, seeking the ten or fifteen years in Federal prison that such a conviction could entail, depending on whether this was a first, second or third or more offense.</span></div></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><b><i>The above discussion does not constitute legal advice or counsel or the practice of law on behalf of any party or parties, and is provided exclusively for purposes of public debate.</i></b></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230658262080394592.post-80095629012178909282012-06-03T23:18:00.001-07:002012-06-03T23:20:10.400-07:00New York's Governor Andrew Cuomo Seeks Cut in Frisk Arrests, Cut in Penny-Ante Drug Arrests<div style="text-align: center;"><b><i>"The police in New York City made 50,684 arrests last year for possession </i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i>of a small amount of marijuana, more than for any other offense..."</i></b></div><br />
Just when I believed white America's goal was to incarcerate every last Black person in the United States of America, Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York offers a policy proposal to turn the tide in the opposite direction. The <b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/04/nyregion/cuomo-seeks-cut-in-stop-and-frisk-arrests.html">New York Times reports</a></b> today,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><b><span style="color: grey; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em;"><span style="font-size: small;">By THOMAS KAPLAN</span></span></b> </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>Published: June 3, 2012</b> </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>Wading into the debate over <a class="meta-classifier" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/s/stop_and_frisk/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" style="color: #666699;" title="More articles about Stop and Frisk.">stop-and-frisk</a> police tactics, Gov.<a class="meta-per" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/andrew_m_cuomo/index.html?inline=nyt-per" style="color: #666699;" title="More articles about Andrew M. Cuomo.">Andrew M. Cuomo</a> plans to ask legislators on Monday for a change in New York State law that would drastically reduce the number of people who could be arrested for <a class="meta-classifier" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/m/marijuana/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" style="color: #666699;" title="More articles about marijuana.">marijuana</a> possession as a result of police stops.</b></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>The governor will call for the decriminalization of possession of small amounts of marijuana in public view, administration officials said. Advocates of such a change say the offense has ensnared tens of thousands of young black and Latino men who are stopped by the New York City police for other reasons but after being instructed to empty their pockets, find themselves charged with a crime.</b> </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>Reducing the impact of the Bloomberg administration’s stop-and-frisk policy has been a top priority of lawmakers from minority neighborhoods, who have urged Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, to pay more attention to the needs of their communities. The lawmakers argue that young men found with small amounts of marijuana are being needlessly funneled into the criminal justice system and have difficulty finding jobs as a result.</b></blockquote>The <b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/04/nyregion/cuomo-seeks-cut-in-stop-and-frisk-arrests.html?pagewanted=2">NYT continues</a></b>,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: left;">From 2002 to 2011, New York City recorded </span><a href="http://marijuana-arrests.com/graph8.html" style="background-color: white; color: #666699; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: left;">400,000 low-level marijuana arrests</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: left;">, according to his analysis. That represented more arrests than under Mr. Bloomberg’s three predecessors put together — a period of 24 years. Most of those arrested have been young black and Hispanic men, and most had no prior criminal convictions.</span></b></blockquote><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 15px; text-align: left;"></span><br />
<div class="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 1.7em; margin-top: 1.5em; text-align: left;"><div itemid="http://www.nytimes.com" itemprop="sourceOrganization" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Organization"></div><nyt_text><nyt_correction_top></nyt_correction_top></nyt_text></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230658262080394592.post-2226350539487301522012-06-03T10:23:00.002-07:002012-06-04T07:36:50.995-07:00Trayvon Martin Killer Lies to Judge, Has Bail Revoked<object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=10,0,0,0" height="245" id="msnbc66c900" width="420"><param name="movie" value="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640" /><param name="FlashVars" value="launch=47653182&width=420&height=245" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><embed name="msnbc66c900" src="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640" width="420" height="245" FlashVars="launch=47653182&width=420&height=245" allowscriptaccess="always" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object><br />
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When the State of Florida decided to charge George Zimmerman with second degree murder in the killing of Trayvon Martin, the judge in the case showed a willingness to treat George Zimmerman quite mercifully, by setting a low bail that would allow Zimmerman to be free while the court case proceeded. It was my belief that by allowing Zimmerman to be free pending trial, the court signaled that additional holdings favorable to Zimmerman would be forthcoming, including in the judge's eventual decision whether the "Stand Your Ground" law prevented Zimmerman from being tried at all in the Trayvon Martin case. <br />
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The judge, by allowing bail at all, indicated that he did not perceive Zimmerman to be a strong threat to the public or a significant flight risk. It was a literal "judgment decision" that the court decided in Zimmerman's favor.<br />
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I disagreed with that decision. In my opinion, a man who would ignore police and follow a man in the dark once, and believe he was doing the right thing, might do the same thing again while out on bail, before the court could decide whether he had acted within the law when he killed another man under those same circumstances.<br />
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Zimmerman, however, abused the Judge's leniency by lying to the judge concerning the resources Zimmerman had available to post bond. On a motion by George Zimmerman's defense team, the judge in the case allowed members of George Zimmerman's family to <a href="http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-04-19/news/os-george-zimmerman-hearing-family-testimony-20120419_1_telephone-numbers-hearing-motion"><b>testify by telephone</b></a> in favor of a bail that the family would be more able to pay. According to the <b><a href="http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-06-01/news/os-george-zimmerman-bond-revoked-20120601_1_bond-issue-scott-ponce-george-zimmerman">Orlando Sentinel</a></b>,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>At a bond hearing April 20, Zimmerman's wife, Shellie, had testified under oath that the couple didn't have any savings. In reality, they had more than $135,000, with more flooding in from supporters who were making contributions via a website Zimmerman set up after he shot and killed Trayvon Martin in Sanford Feb. 26.</b></blockquote>Zimmerman's honesty and his judgment are at the heart of the substance of the case involving his shooting of Trayvon Martin. By clearly lying to the judge in a way that is demonstrable, Zimmerman angered the judge, won the judge's personal animosity, and cast doubt on his own honesty in a way that will linger throughout the proceedings, including the stage in which the judge decides whether the "Stand Your Ground" law prevents the case from reaching a jury at all. <br />
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Although a "neighborhood watch volunteer" should collaborate with officials in the criminal justice system, including judges, and help police to enforce the rule of law, Zimmerman has showed contempt for the criminal in yet another way, according to <b><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2012/0601/George-Zimmerman-back-to-jail-for-falsehoods.-Will-they-influence-trial">the Christian Science Monitor</a></b>. <br />
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At Zimmerman's first bond hearing, he was ordered to surrender his passport, which he did. Yet, according to electronic recordings of Zimmerman's telephone conversations with his wife while he was in custody, he subsequently applied for second, in clear defiance of the court's orders in this respect, says <b><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2012/0601/George-Zimmerman-back-to-jail-for-falsehoods.-Will-they-influence-trial">CSM</a></b>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; text-align: left;"><b>During the hearing, prosecutors introduced several recordings of telephone conversations between Zimmerman and his wife, Shellie, made while he was in jail. In one such recording, they can be heard speaking cryptically about a second passport in his possession. Zimmerman was ordered by the judge to hand over his passport so he couldn’t flee the country, <i>but Zimmerman applied for a second passport after the shooting, saying his first one had been stolen. </i>(Emphasis added.)</b></span></blockquote>Lying on a passport application is <b><a href="http://openjurist.org/775/f2d/1528/united-states-v-obryant">a federal crime</a> (see case note 9)</b>. <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: left;"><b><a href="http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/uscode/18/I/75/1542">18 U.S.C. § 1542 , US Code Section 1542</a></b>, "False statement in application and use of passport," provides that:</span><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>Whoever willfully and knowingly makes any false statement in an</b><b>application for passport with intent to induce or secure the</b><b>issuance of a passport under the authority of the United States,</b><b>either for his own use or the use of another, contrary to the laws</b><b>regulating the issuance of passports or the rules prescribed</b><b>pursuant to such laws; or</b><b> </b><b>Whoever willfully and knowingly uses or attempts to use, or</b><b>furnishes to another for use any passport the issue of which was</b><b>secured in any way by reason of any false statement -</b><b>Shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 25</b><b>years (if the offense was committed to facilitate an act of</b><b>international terrorism (as defined in section 2331 of this</b><b>title)), 20 years (if the offense was committed to facilitate a</b><b>drug trafficking crime (as defined in section 929(a) of this</b><b>title)), 10 years (in the case of the first or second such offense,</b><b>if the offense was not committed to facilitate such an act of</b><b>international terrorism or a drug trafficking crime), or 15 years</b><b>(in the case of any other offense), or both.</b></blockquote>The US Attorneys Manual provides further explanation and references concerning this federal crime:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq"><table bgcolor="lightblue" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="4"><tbody>
<tr valign="top"><td><a href="http://www.justice.gov/usao/index.html" style="color: blue; text-decoration: none;">US Attorneys</a> > <a href="http://www.justice.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/index.html" style="color: blue; text-decoration: none;">USAM</a> > <a href="http://www.justice.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title9/title9.htm" style="color: blue; text-decoration: none;">Title 9</a> > Criminal Resource Manual 1944<br />
<a href="http://www.justice.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title9/crm01943.htm" style="color: blue; text-decoration: none;">prev</a> | <a href="http://www.justice.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title9/crm01945.htm" style="color: blue; text-decoration: none;">next</a> | <a href="http://www.justice.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title9/crm00000.htm" style="color: blue; text-decoration: none;">Criminal Resource Manual</a></td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" style="width: 750px;"><tbody>
<tr valign="top"><td width="1%"><h2><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_157033472">1944</a></span></h2></td><td><h2><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><a href="http://www.justice.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title9/crm01944.htm">18 U.S.C. § 1542—False Statement in Application for Passport and Use of a Passport Fraudulently Obtained</a></span></h2></td></tr>
<tr valign="top"><td colspan="2"><dd><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">Section 1542 of Title 18 proscribes both false statements made to obtain a passport, and use of any passport so obtained.</span></dd><dd><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">The false statement against which this section is most commonly used is the use of a false name in obtaining a passport. United States citizens attempt to obtain passports using false names in order to conceal criminal activity. A problem of proof can arise when the passport applicant has routinely used aliases and now seeks to obtain a passport in one of those aliases. <i>See, e.g.</i>, <i>United States v. O'Bryant</i>, 775 F.2d 1528 (11th Cir.1985); <i>United States v. Cox</i>, 593 F.2d 46 (6th Cir.1979); <i>United States v. </i><i>Wasman</i>, 641 F.2d 326 (5th Cir.1981), <i>aff'd</i>, 464 U.S. 932 (1984).</span></dd><dd><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><i>Browder v. United States</i>, 312 U.S. 335 (1941), is the leading case on use of a passport, the application for which contained a false statement. Browder obtained a passport in his real name, but in the portion of the application asking when his last passport was obtained, he falsely stated, "none." This statement was false because he had previously obtained a passport in a false name. He then used the new passport to enter the United States. The Supreme Court upheld Browder's conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 1542 for innocent use of a passport secured by a false statement. <i>See</i> 53 A.L.R.Fed. 507.</span></dd><dd><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) amended this statute to provide for enhanced penalties if the offense was committed to facilitate an act of international terrorism or a drug trafficking crime.</span><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-size: xx-small;">[cited in <a href="http://www.justice.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title9/73mcrm.htm#9-73.600" style="color: blue; text-decoration: none;">USAM 9-73.600</a>]</span></dd></td></tr>
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Zimmerman was ordered not to have a passport, but he committed a federal crime, lying to State Department authorities, telling them that his passport had been stolen, so that he could obtain another one. When Zimmerman lies to the court about over a hundred thousand dollars in the bank, and then goes behind the court's back and lies to the federal Government to obtain an illicit passport, showing contempt for law in both instances, who can believe that he killed Trayvon Martin out of respect for and defense of legality? <br />
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Lawyers know they can well be jailed, disbarred and lose all credibility with a judge if they are caught knowingly telling falsehoods or intentionally misleading a judge with regard to any fact material to a case, to proceedings or to any matter whatsoever. A murder or rape is a crime against society, but lying to a judge is still worse, particularly as a legal strategy, because it is an offense against the intelligence and honor of that particular judge who will make the procedural, evidentiary and factual decisions on which the results in cases before that judge will subsequently depend.<br />
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In fact, Zimmerman did not even need the benefit of the lie he told the judge in his case, because his Paypal account already contained the monies needed to post a higher bail if the judge ordered it. The justice system hasn't yet determined whether Zimmerman is a murderer (who committed an unlawful killing), but the judge has determined categorically that Zimmerman and some members of his family are deliberate liars, and that will have continuing consequences for Zimmerman's legal situation.<br />
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Lying to a judge is "biting the hand that feeds you." Zimmerman is guilty of having bitten the hand that freed him.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230658262080394592.post-17889598905780853332012-05-29T19:53:00.003-07:002012-05-29T20:22:45.580-07:00Howard Morgan, Black Off-Duty Cop Shot 28 Times By White Chicago Officers, Then Sentenced to 40 Year in PrisonDid Chigago police shoot an anonymous Black man 28 times, discover he was a police officer, and then concoct a cover story to make their actions appear lawful?<br />
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As reported <b><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/05/howard-morgan-chicago-sentenced_n_1406312.html?">by Huffington Post</a></b>, <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"> <b><img alt="Howard Morgan Shot 28 Times" src="http://i.huffpost.com/gen/555950/thumbs/s-HOWARD-MORGAN-SHOT-28-TIMES-large.jpg" style="background-color: transparent;" /></b></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>Morgan was off-duty as a detective for the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad<a href="http://www.suntimes.com/10292468-417/ex-cop-guilty-of-trying-to-kill-four-officers-during-traffic-stop.html" style="border: none; color: #00614f; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">when he was pulled over for driving the wrong way on a one-way street on Feb. 21, 2005</a>, the <em style="border: none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Sun-Times</em> previously reported. While both police and Morgan agree on that much, what happened next is a mystery.</b> </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b> Protesters and Morgan's family say the second trial amounted to double jeopardy, and claim officers <a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/please-help-us-free-howard-morgan">have gone to great lengths to obstruct justice in the case:</a><br />
...</b> </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b> Howard Morgan was never tested for gun residue to confirm if he even fired a weapon on the morning in question.</b> </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b> The State never produced the actual bullet proof vest worn by one of the officers who claimed to have allegedly taken a shot directly into the vest on the morning in question. The State only produced a replica.</b> </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b> "If they can do this and eliminate double jeopardy and your constitutional rights, then my God, I fear for every Afro-American -- whether they be male or female -- in this corrupt unjust system," Morgan's wife told the <em style="border: none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Sun-Times</em>.</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><b> According to police, Morgan opened fire with his service weapon when four white officers tried to arrest him, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/03/howard-morgan-ex-cop-shot_n_1399834.html" style="border: none; color: #00614f; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">which caused them to shoot him 28 times</a>. His family disputes the police officers' account of the altercation.</b> </blockquote></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b></b><b>Howard Morgan's van was crushed and destroyed without notice or cause before any forensic investigation could be done</b>... </blockquote></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>Howard Morgan was never tested for gun residue to confirm if he even fired a weapon on the morning in question.</b> </blockquote></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b></b><b>The State never produced the actual bullet proof vest worn by one of the officers who claimed to have allegedly taken a shot directly into the vest on the morning in question. The State only produced a replica.</b></blockquote></blockquote><div style="background-color: white; border: none; clear: left; color: #333333; float: left; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="border: none; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;"></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230658262080394592.post-69391609449265960962012-05-26T02:58:00.003-07:002012-05-26T09:08:58.948-07:00"Plantations, Prisons and Profits" (New Orleans Times Picayune via NYT)<blockquote class="tr_bq"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1zD5MS1DAFV47ezzGUABDbwhKrfCgoO5fsT3BumOgiCK7u-6dgpSrK4vxWOksyvRGygRXktj6l0LTtsctcD297EOZW-mHsGGAdu9sLW2PyyVUHO5Dd0KXzdIDYfjLqCybKPmIUyUOSfEH/s1600/prisons-mainpic-051312jpg-cd4f1048551a0cbb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1zD5MS1DAFV47ezzGUABDbwhKrfCgoO5fsT3BumOgiCK7u-6dgpSrK4vxWOksyvRGygRXktj6l0LTtsctcD297EOZW-mHsGGAdu9sLW2PyyVUHO5Dd0KXzdIDYfjLqCybKPmIUyUOSfEH/s1600/prisons-mainpic-051312jpg-cd4f1048551a0cbb.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<h6 class="kicker" style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px; text-align: left; text-transform: uppercase;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">OP-ED COLUMNIST</span></h6><h1 class="articleHeadline" itemprop="headline" style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.083em; margin: 0px 0px 8px; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 1.2em;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">By CHARLES M. BLOW</span></span></h1><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 15px; text-align: left;"></span></span><br />
<h6 class="dateline" style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Published: May 25, 2012 <span class="commentCount" id="datelineCommentCount" style="border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; margin-left: 4px; padding-left: 7px;"><a class="commentCountLink icon commentIcon" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/26/opinion/blow-plantations-prisons-and-profits.html?_r=1&hp#commentsContainer" style="background-position: 0% 50%; padding-left: 13px; text-decoration: none;">5 Comments</a></span></span></h6></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><ul class="shareToolsList" style="list-style: none; margin: 4px 6px 0px; padding-left: 0px;"><li class="shareToolsItem shareToolsItemAd Frame4A lastItem" data-share="ad" id="Frame4A" style="background-image: none; background-position: 0% 0.45em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px; line-height: 14px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 8px 0px; text-align: center; text-transform: uppercase;"></li>
</ul><b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Louisiana is the world’s prison capital. The state imprisons more of its people, per head, than any of its U.S. counterparts. First among Americans means first in the world. Louisiana’s incarceration rate is nearly triple Iran’s, seven times China’s and 10 times Germany’s.”</span></b></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.467em;">That paragraph opens </span><a href="http://www.nola.com/prisons/" style="background-color: white; color: #666699; line-height: 1.467em;">a devastating eight-part series</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.467em;"> published this month by The Times-Picayune of New Orleans about how the state’s largely private prison system profits from high incarceration rates and tough sentencing, and how many with the power to curtail the system actually have a financial incentive to perpetuate it.</span></span></b></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/26/opinion/blow-plantations-prisons-and-profits.html?_r=1&hp"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">[Access the entire NYT opinion piece.] </span></a></b></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.467em; text-align: left;">Louisiana is the starkest, most glaring example of how our prison policies have failed. It showcases how private prisons do not serve the public interest and how the mass incarceration as a form of job creation is an abomination of justice and civility and creates a long-term crisis by trying to create a short-term solution.</span></span></b></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As the paper put it: “A prison system that leased its convicts as plantation labor in the 1800s has come full circle and is again a nexus for profit.”</span></b></blockquote><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 15px; text-align: left;"></span><br />
<div class="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 1.7em; margin-top: 1.5em; text-align: left;"><div itemid="http://www.nytimes.com" itemprop="sourceOrganization" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Organization"></div><nyt_text><nyt_correction_top></nyt_correction_top></nyt_text></div><div class="articleInline runaroundLeft" style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; display: inline; float: left; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; line-height: 15px; margin: 6px 15px 10px 0px !important; text-align: left; width: 190px;"><b><a href="http://www.nola.com/prisons/">Access the the New Orleans Times Picayune eight-part series.</a></b><br />
<div class="inlineImage module" style="clear: both; font-size: 10px; margin-bottom: 12px; width: 190px;"><div style="font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.25em;"></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230658262080394592.post-37836217496834219252012-05-25T18:49:00.001-07:002012-05-25T18:51:01.828-07:00Brian Banks Tries To Move On After Color-Aroused Rape Conviction Reversed<div class="right" style="float: left; margin: 0px; width: 300px;"><div class="bucket story1" style="background-image: url(http://media.npr.org/chrome/news/hrule_single_dotted.gif); background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; height: 142px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px 0px 15px;"><h4 style="margin: 0px 0px 2px; padding: 0px 5px 0px 0px;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: georgia, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/05/25/153705668/cleared-of-rape-conviction-california-man-remains-unbroken">NPR Reports:</a> </span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Brian Banks spent more than five years in a California prison. Then his accuser recanted.</span></h4><div class="audiorow" id="res153729148" style="clear: both; color: #555555; float: right; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px 1px 0px 0px;"><a class="listen" href="http://www.npr.org/" style="background-image: url(http://media.npr.org/chrome/news/icon_audio_12px.gif); background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #666666; float: left; line-height: 15px; padding-left: 17px; text-decoration: none;"><b>On <em>All Things Considered</em></b></a></div><ul class="spike" style="clear: both; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; height: 23px; margin: 0px; padding: 12px 0px 0px;"><li style="font-size: 12px; height: 16px; line-height: 16px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px 0px 7px;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></li>
</ul></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230658262080394592.post-43304860242514496682012-05-23T09:31:00.014-07:002012-05-23T10:45:59.510-07:00Mom Defends Son, 6 Yrs. Old, Suspended for Repeating Rap Phrase in School.There is a pervasive tendency of white American society to toward criminalizing, literally or metaphorically, the behavior and aesthetics of Black people, including even Black children who are little more than toddlers.<br />
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<div class="byline" style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #777777; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-size: 0.9em;"><b><span class="byline-prep byline-prep-author" style="background-color: transparent; border: none; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">By</span> <span class="author vcard" style="background-color: transparent; border: none; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="url fn n" href="http://blackpoliticsontheweb.com/author/The%20Admin/" style="background-color: transparent; border: none; color: #093754; cursor: pointer; font-style: normal; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="The Admin">The Admin</a></span> <span class="byline-prep byline-prep-published" style="background-color: transparent; border: none; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">on</span> <abbr class="published" style="background-color: transparent; border: none; cursor: help; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Monday, May 7th, 2012, 7:21 pm">May 7, 2012</abbr></b><img alt="" class="alignleft" height="170" src="http://media.klewtv.com/images/120504_davonte_meadows.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: none; display: inline; float: left; margin: 5px; max-width: 600px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="227" /><b>A 6-year-old boy is back at his suburban Denver school after being suspended for three days for reciting a racy line from a popular song.</b><b>D’Avonte Meadows, a first-grader at Sable Elementary School in Aurora, returned to class Monday after serving out his suspension.</b><b>D’Avonte was accused of sexual harassment and disrupting other students for allegedly telling a girl “I’m sexy and I know it,” a line from a song by the popular duo LMFAO. He was suspended Wednesday.</b></blockquote></div><div class="entry-content" style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: none; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="background-color: transparent; border: none; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br />
<div style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">In Connecticut grade schools, exemplifying the menace of the <b><a href="http://www.ctmirror.org/story/15967/does-race-matter-juvenile-justice-system">criminalizing of Black and brown childhood</a></b>, </div><div style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"></div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>...skin color and ethnicity are powerful indicators of which children will be arrested in the first place. In fact, when students are arrested on school property, one of every two will be black or Hispanic.</b></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b><a href="http://www.ctmirror.org/image/juvenile-arrests-0" style="color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="juvenile arrests"><img alt="juvenile arrests" height="370" src="http://www.ctmirror.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/340px_Half-Page/chartttt.jpg" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="juvenile arrests" width="340" /></a>One-third of <a href="http://ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/ezapop/asp/profile_selection.asp" style="color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">children in Connecticut</a> are black or Hispanic, but they make up nearly two-thirds -- about 3,000 -- of all children charged with a crime, according to <a href="http://www.ctmirror.org/sites/default/files/documents/RABE%204%203%202012.pdf" style="color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">information provided</a> by the state's Judicial Branch, contributing to the state's poor record in disproportionately locking up children of color, national data from 2010 <a href="http://www.ctmirror.org/sites/default/files/documents/opmjj.docx_.pdf" style="color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">show</a>.<br />
"We are talking about the existence of a schoolhouse to jailhouse pipeline," said Scot X. Esdaile, the leader of the state chapter of the NAACP. "This has been a huge concern of ours for years."</b><span style="background-color: transparent;"> </span></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b> This gross disparity has spurred the creation of state and local initiatives to try to approach the problem at the front end by sensitizing police officers. Also, a bill before the legislature would clearly define when officers in schools should, and should not, be making arrests.</b><span style="background-color: transparent;"> </span></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b> "It's not that black kids are necessarily committing more crimes. It's about how they're treated when [police] do come in contact," said Waterford police Sgt. Andre Parker. "The only way for kids to get into the system is through us. We are the gatekeepers... If we can fix this disparity at our end then that would help a lot of children."</b></blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent;">In Baltimore, police arrested and jailed four children under ten for fighting outside school. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #2c2d2e; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px; text-align: left;">“We’re living in a city where we’re routinely criminalizing young children,” Sonia Kumar, an attorney with the ACLU, said.</span></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230658262080394592.post-42937968063832085492012-05-19T20:51:00.022-07:002012-05-22T19:17:24.357-07:00Blacks, Slavery and Imprisonment: A Shame We Cannot Escape.<embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" id="VideoPlayback" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=864268000924014458&hl=pt-BR&fs=true" style="height: 326px; width: 400px;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed> <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><b><i>If we could see our situation for what it is, we would storm the walls of America's prisons from within and without, preferring to die at the feet of our captors than to continue in bondage...</i></b></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;">Black Americans will eventually look back on the 20th and early 21st centuries with a kind of uncomprehending horror and ask ourselves how, after centuries of slavery, we subsequently submitted to over a century of increasing incarceration that was just as bad as slavery? </span><br />
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</div><div><div style="font-family: arial;">Our numbers are now divided between free Blacks and incarcerated Blacks, just as we were once divided between free Blacks and slave Blacks. Some of us have been released from prison, perhaps temporarily, just as some of us once bought our freedom from slaveholders, only to be <b><a href="http://archive.org/stream/twelveyearslave00nort#page/n3/mode/2up">tricked or k</a><a href="http://archive.org/stream/twelveyearslave00nort#page/n3/mode/2up">idnapped</a></b> back into slavery again.</div><div style="font-family: arial;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: arial;">Consult the <b><a href="https://www.google.com.br/#hl=pt-BR&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=a+third+of+Black+men+will+spend+time+in+prison+during+their+lifetimes&oq=a+third+of+Black+men+will+spend+time+in+prison+during+their+lifetimes&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_l=hp.3...1642.24039.0.24341.89.58.1.0.0.2.2723.40937.7-5j14j4.26.0...0.0.4GrFGel7l84&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=c95d85914c281c05&biw=1024&bih=653">well-publicized Black imprisonment statistic</a><a href="https://www.google.com.br/#hl=pt-BR&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=a+third+of+Black+men+will+spend+time+in+prison+during+their+lifetimes&oq=a+third+of+Black+men+will+spend+time+in+prison+during+their+lifetimes&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_l=hp.3...1642.24039.0.24341.89.58.1.0.0.2.2723.40937.7-5j14j4.26.0...0.0.4GrFGel7l84&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=c95d85914c281c05&biw=1024&bih=653">s and studies</a></b>, if you still feel any need to do so, or just skip the following <b><a href="http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/streeracpripov.html">quotation</a></b> and continue to the meat of this essay:</div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; text-align: justify;"><b>In the last two-and-a-half decades, the prison population has undergone what the United States Bureau of Justice Statistics director Jan Chaiken last year called "literally incredible" expansion. Chaiken reported a quadrupling of the U.S. incarceration rate since 1975. </b></span></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>( . . . ) </b></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; text-align: justify;"><b>On any given day, Chaiken reported, 30 percent of African-American males ages 20 to 29 are "under correctional supervision" ‹either in jail or prison or on probation or parole. </b></span> </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; text-align: justify;"><b>Especially chilling is a statistical model used by the Bureau of Justice Statistics to determine the lifetime chances of incarceration for individuals in different racial and ethnic groups. Based on current rates, it predicts that a young Black man age 16 in 1996 faces a 29 percent chance of spending time in prison during his life. The corresponding statistic for white men in the same age group is 4 percent. According to Thomas K. Lowenstein, director of the Electronic Policy Network, 7 percent of Black children- nearly 9 times more than white children- have an incarcerated parent.</b></span> </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family: arial;">( . . . ) </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; text-align: justify;"><b>Researchers and advocates tracking the impact of mass incarceration find a number of devastating consequences in high-poverty Black communities. The most well known form of this so-called "collateral damage in the war on drugs" is the widespread political disenfranchisement of felons and ex-felons. Ten states deny voting rights for life to ex-felons. According to the Sentencing Project, 46 states prohibit inmates from voting while serving a felony sentence, 32 states deny the vote to felons on parole, and 29 states disenfranchise felony probationers. Thanks to these rules, 13 percent of all Black men in the U.S. have lost their electoral rights- "a bitter aftermath," notes British sociologist David Ladipo, "to the expansion of voting rights secured, at such cost, by the freedom marches of the fifties and sixties." </b></span></blockquote></div><div><div style="font-family: arial;">In future decades, even America's whites will look back upon on us with pity and condescension, wondering how a people such as we could have tolerated such oppression as our systematic imprisonment without revolting. And revolting, they will know intuitively, is precisely what they would have done in our circumstances. They will know in their hearts that they would never have tolerated being treated as we were, incarcerated <i>en masse</i> while our situation was debated in the press, on television, in the halls of Congress, state capitols and in college sociology courses. </div><div style="font-family: arial;"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: arial;">Over the last two centuries, the </span><b><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1564686548"> </a></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px;"><b><a href="http://antislavery.eserver.org/legacies/the-lessons-of-the-hour">“so-called, but mis-called, Negro problem”</a></b></span> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">(as <b><a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/23/23-h/23-h.htm">Frederick Douglass</a></b> termed it) has morphed without fundamentally changing: The discussions of Black incarceration today are simply the modern iteration of the discussions of Black enslavement back in the 19th Century, with some insisting that mass incarceration is just and right and must continue unabated, while others argue for abolition. The slave auctions of antebellum America served the same purpose as the mandatory minimum "plea bargains" and parole revocations of contemporary America: to deliver Blacks into Government-sponsored bondage. Like slavery, Black incarceration has become an entrenched American industry.</span></div><div style="font-family: arial;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: arial;">Just as many whites in the antebellum period argued that our inhumanity made our enslavement the natural order of things, now many whites argue that the War on Drugs (which is the <b><a href="http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-war-on-drugs/">single largest rationalization</a></b> for Black incarceration) necessitates and rationalizes our imprisonment today.<br />
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To ensure that whites' consciences will be free of guilt and that Blacks will submit in the belief that we deserve our fate, we are told that Blacks are inherently criminal, just as we were once assured that Black slaves were inherently Godless, animal, inhuman and inferior. <br />
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As an American nation, we endlessly ponder the "reasons" (rationalizations and excuses) for Black mass incarceration, without ever simply declaring that it is wrong and cannot be allowed to continue another day, which is the position that the <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/23/23-h/23-h.htm"><b>most courageous abolitionists</b></a> declared and tirelessly argued and insisted upon with respect to the enslavement of themselves and others in their time. </div><div style="font-family: arial;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: arial;">The question is not what Black people have done to deserve to be imprisoned. The issue is that Black people deserve to be free and we must be free, whatever the cost.</div><div style="font-family: arial;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: arial;">If we could see our situation for what it is, we would storm the walls of America's prisons from within and without, preferring to die at the feet of our captors than to continue in bondage, fabricating garbage at slave wages for capitalist corporations while inside prisons, or waiting for our turn at the wheel during the fleeting and fragile moments when we "free" Blacks remain "free." In fact, we are <i>never</i> free from the threat of sudden imprisonment.</div><div style="font-family: arial;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: arial;">We each have individual reasons why we cannot revolt, but we cannot escape our collective responsibility. May God help us, for we will never comprehend tomorrow how we could so cowardly submit ourselves today.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230658262080394592.post-44885269979643669322012-05-18T09:17:00.001-07:002012-05-18T09:33:13.846-07:00Black Transgender Woman Could Get 40 Months Prison for Defending Herself During a Hate Crime Attack<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcnCs2XOfZoF4hkxVvT-zeQm9cRP6gw_Lxc9f0gAIFKTWgJ0qxNkE5AjtfES9WpqR8Z_mj42ngGkVtKIpSyFhD4SVeQolJNAJIs-yFOp8jL0A4FA7BFI3UPsv44n1SuA85dKHvnq2-x2oz/s1600/ce-ce-mcdonald-51412-400lw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcnCs2XOfZoF4hkxVvT-zeQm9cRP6gw_Lxc9f0gAIFKTWgJ0qxNkE5AjtfES9WpqR8Z_mj42ngGkVtKIpSyFhD4SVeQolJNAJIs-yFOp8jL0A4FA7BFI3UPsv44n1SuA85dKHvnq2-x2oz/s400/ce-ce-mcdonald-51412-400lw.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
If you're a white man, like George Zimmerman, you can chase down a Black man on the street, violently confront him, kill him, and then walk free with the likelihood of very little if any jail time. However, if you are a Black person, like Cece McDonald of St.Paul, Mn, then there are virtually no circumstances under which you can kill an attacker and be thought to have acted in legitimate self-defense. At <b><a href="http://www.theroot.com/views/no-justice-cece?page=0,0&wpisrc=nextbox">The Root reports the case,</a></b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>In a matter of moments, on a warm summer night last June in St. Paul, Minn., what started out as an innocent trip to a grocery store for Chrishaun "CeCe" McDonald and her friends quickly turned into a street brawl that would result in someone being killed. McDonald, a 23-year-old black transgender woman and college student, and a few of her friends (black people who variously identify as LGBT and straight) passed a local bar, where they encountered two white women and one white man. The man, Dean Schmitz, hurled racist, homophobic and transphobic epithets at the young group of color as they walked by. </b></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>"F--gots!" </b></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>"N--gers!" </b></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>"Chicks with d--ks!" </b></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>And then it got violent.<br />
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One of the two white women with Schmitz smashed a beer glass on McDonald's face. People from the bar spilled out into the streets to help the white trio fight the black youths. Somewhere in between fists and insults being thrown, McDonald took out a pair of scissors from her purse and stabbed Schmitz, who died at the scene. </b></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>Despite claiming self-defense, that same night McDonald, after being treated for injuries, was interrogated and ultimately charged with second-degree murder. She was also kept in jail for two months. </b></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>It's incredibly hard to ignore the similarities and the hypocrisy between the killing of Trayvon Martin and McDonald's attack. Both were young and black and walking down the street minding their own business. Both were harassed and attacked for being different. But both had very different outcomes.</b></blockquote>As far as the police are concerned today, and the <b><a href="http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=60&invol=393">US Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision of 1856</a></b>:<br />
<blockquote><b>It is difficult at this day to realize the state of public opinion in relation to that unfortunate race [Blacks], which prevailed in the civilized and enlightened portions of the world at the time of the Declaration of Independence, and when the Constitution of the United States was framed and adopted. But the public history of every European nation displays it in a manner too plain to be mistaken.</b> </blockquote><blockquote><b></b><b>They had for more than a century before been regarded as beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations; and so far inferior, that <i><span style="color: red;">they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect;</span></i></b></blockquote>(Anyone who hasn't read the whole <b><a href="http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=60&invol=393">Dred Scott decision</a></b> should do so now, since it is perhaps the single best "history book" on Black people in America in relation to white people. If you want to know the America your grandparents experienced, and why you still experience some of the same things, then read Dread Scott <a href="http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=60&invol=393"><b>for free online</b></a>, today.)<br />
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So, returning to CeCe McDonald, can a Black woman who is in fear for her life lawfully kill a white man, where the white man has visible Swastika tattoos and he is threatening her and is engaged in the commission of a hate crime against her? No, the Black woman probably cannot kill that color-aroused antagonist menacing white man, for a reason that no one requires a law degree to understand: <i>her</i> skin is brown while his skin is white and they both live in the United States of America.<br />
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Nonetheless, consider the following: If you find yourself in CeCe McDonald's position, go ahead and kill your Nazi-inspired attacker anyway. You might personally pay a heavy price for it, but your act will serve as a strong deterrent to other people like CeCe's color-aroused antagonist attacker. People like you all over the country might well benefit when you behave as if you are a white person who has both the <i><a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/de%20jure"><b>de jure</b></a> </i>right<i> and <b><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1240575165">d</a></b></i><i><b><a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/de%20facto">e facto</a></b></i> privilege to defend yourself in the United States of America.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0