I will give the senator Inhofe credit at least he wasn't publicly afraid to come out and admit he is a racist. His republican counterparts could learn from his candor that in the current political environment its okay to confess bias racial attitudes at least it lets everybody know where you stand. Why should his white wife have to be subjected to the inconvenience of public searches at airports like everybody else? Hey they are white and that automatically means they are privileged American patriots which places them beyond suspicion.
Text of his statement:
by D. Large
I'm reminded of the line in the movie 'Training Day' when Denzel Washington's character Alonzo Harris said, "You have to have a little dirt on you before anybody can trust you." Unfortunately, for Errol Southers, Mr. Obama's choice as TSA director, that little dirt was to much for republicans. Southers withdrew his nomination because he received a reprimand for running background checks on his then-estranged wife's boyfriend two decades ago. Southers, a former FBI agent, wrote a letter to lawmakers earlier this month acknowledging that he had given inconsistent answers to Congress on that issue.
BY NIRAJ WARIKOO
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Mourners attend the funeral service for Luqman Ameen Abdullah, 53, leader of the Masjid Al-Haqq mosque in Detroit on Oct. 31, 2009.
He called himself Jabril. Two years ago, a white man who claimed he was an ex-con and convert to Islam started attending a predominantly African-American mosque on a run-down street in Detroit.He touted his Islamic ways while offering poor members of the mosque cash for odd jobs at an auto shop on the city's west side. He told tales of sick family members and brought a young boy to the mosque who he said was his son.
Jabril soon became a brother in faith and a confidante of the mosque's fiery leader, Luqman Ameen Abdullah, who was killed in a shootout during an Oct. 28 raid by FBI agents to arrest men suspected of dealing in stolen goods.
Members now believe Jabril was an FBI informant who infiltrated their mosque.
"He built up trust in the community," said Omar Regan, 34, one of Abdullah's sons.
The case -- one of several in the past year involving informants in Muslim-American communities -- has prompted growing concern among Muslims and civil rights advocates about undercover surveillance in religious institutions.
Another unarmed black man shot dead by police and family receives no justice in court.
OAKLAND — The attorney for the family of an unarmed man shot to death by Oakland police officers says his clients are considering an appeal of a judge’s decision to dismiss their wrongful death lawsuit.
Attorney Jim Chanin said Saturday he disagreed with U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken’s ruling that two officers were justified in shooting 20-year-old Andrew Moppin-Buckskin during a 2007 traffic stop.
Wilken wrote in a Tuesday ruling in Oakland that officers Hector Jimenez and Jessica Borello shot Moppin-Buckskin only after he failed to follow their orders and made a movement toward his waist as though reaching for a weapon.
Jiminez was fired by the department after police say he fatally shot another unarmed man in 2008. He is appealing his termination.
The use of bleaching creams to lighten complexions seems to have reached epidemic proportions in Mali, despite widespread education campaigns.
Women who refuse to bleach often find themselves regarded as second class citizens.
A woman who did not bleach her skin said she is often not offered a chair at baptisms, and is asked to make herself scarce when group photographs are taken at marriages.
A quick survey shows there are more than 100 bleaching products available on the market in the capital, Bamako.
Sold under brand names such as Marie-Claire or Diana, the products come from Morocco, Nigeria, the United States or Saudi Arabia.
Pain
Dermatologists estimate that more than half the women in Mali are now using these creams to lighten their skin. These products are costly and often cause pain and blemishes.
So why are so many women in Mali using them? The answer is simple, according to one Malian woman singer: The creams make her white, and impart a certain charm.
But Malian physician Dr Ali Gindo finds bleached skin anything but charming.
"They are just burning themselves," he says. "It's painful and it's awful."
Dr Gindo says bleaching can cause skin cancer and the poorest people are the most at risk, because the cheaper the product, the more dangerous it is.
But he says it is not just poor women are bleaching their skin.
Role models
"We have also people who are well educated like lawyers, writers or professors, or people on the TV - and this is a real problem because if people who are leaders of opinion bleach themselves, you can imagine how deep the problem is."
Many of the women who use these products told me they do so because Malian men prefer women with bleached skin.
But male musician Al Hassan Soumali disagrees.
"I don't think Malian men like bleached women," he says. "It's better for Malian women to change their minds."
Blacks are disproportionately represented among the victims of police shootings. Although they represent approximately 14 percent of the population in the United States, in parts of the country they constitute 60 to 85 percent of the victims of police shootings. On average, Blacks are more than six times as likely as Whites to be shot by police, and in large cities are killed by police at least three times more often than Whites. Latinos (or Hispanics) are about twice as likely as Whites, but only half as likely as Blacks, to be shot and killed by police.There is a noticeable lack of data regarding police use of force against other non-Black minorities, such as Asian Americans, Arab Americans, South Asians and Native Americans. However, reports by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch suggest that, in relation to their representation in society at large, these other minorities are also disproportionately on the receiving end of police force
While widespread consensus exists that racial minorities are disproportionately represented as victims of police shootings, the reason for this disproportion is hotly disputed.
Most people who have an opinion believe racism on the part of police officers and police departments results in one trigger finger for racial minorities and another for Whites. According to this view, police officers intentionally single out racial minorities for harsher treatment.
In contrast others contend that race does not influence the average police officer's decision to use force. According to this perspective, Blacks and other non-Whites are disproportionately represented as victims of police shootings because they disproportionately commit armed robberies, carry firearms, and engage in behavior that police officers are likely to find threatening, such as resisting arrest.
These two perspectives frame the problem in all-or-nothing terms. Either police officers are bigots who intentionally target racial minorities or they are completely unbiased and color-blind. The truth more likely lies somewhere between these two extremes
Regardless of the scholarly debate the fact and reality of the situation bear out the truth that minorities have become victims of a pandemic of police violence.
"Obama wants to Show the Black voters that he cares about Black people and that is the only reason why he is sending help."
I usually don't comment on ignorant demagogues like Rush Limbaugh only because its really a waste of the human effort that could be better put to use in more productive and rewarding pleasures. Of course its much easier to talk about stupid guys than complex ideas. And don't construe this post as some defense for Obama. I respect the man and his family but I don't agree with his policies. I even respect Rush Limbaugh in spite of the fact he is an idiot. I even respect right wing conservative extremist in spite of the fact they are fascist.
January 8, 2010
More than 100 protesters demanding justice for a Bay Area man shot to death by a BART police officer on New Year's Day last year converged on a downtown Los Angeles courthouse today for the first proceedings since the racially charged case was moved here from Alameda County.
Johannes Mehserle, who resigned from the Bay Area Rapid Transit police force a week after the shooting he admits to but contends was unintentional, will stand trial for murder before Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Robert J. Perry in May, the judge said at his pretrial hearing.
Perry prolonged a gag order issued by an Alameda County judge prohibiting either side in the case from discussing it in public. He also rejected a request from Bay Area broadcasters to allow televised coverage of the trial in light of the intense public interest in the shooting death that provoked three days of rioting that damaged dozens of Oakland businesses.
Mehserle, 28, has received death threats, as have his family and attorneys, posing a risk to the safety of witnesses who might testify on his behalf, Perry said in denying broadcast coverage of the proceedings for the benefit of Bay Area residents unable to travel to Los Angeles for the trial.
Mehserle's attorney, Michael Rains, told the court that his client wasn't contesting the cause of death in the Jan. 1, 2009, slaying of Oscar J. Grant III at Oakland's Fruitvale station. What is at issue in the case, Rains said, is the former officer's "intent" in the incident. It is rare for a police officer to be charged with murder in an on-duty shooting due to the qualified immunity accorded law enforcement.
Many of the protesters who picketed the courthouse traveled from the Bay Area to hoist placards demanding justice for Grant, the 22-year-old Hayward man shot to death as BART officers were trying to subdue a trainload of unruly New Year's revelers.
Dozens of witnesses reported seeing the white officer shoot Grant, who is black, including some who captured the killing on cellphone cameras.
Mehserle told Alameda County authorities at preliminary court proceedings that he was reaching for his stun gun and accidentally drew his revolver instead.
"There are thousands of Oscar Grants everyday," Hannibal Shakur, a 23-year-old Oakland student making a documentary about the victim, said in front of the crowd outside the courthouse.
"It was a shame. It was a clear murder," Shakur said. "Young brothers get killed by the police everyday. I'm guessing (Mehserle) won't be held accountable. L.A. has a history. If they wanted to give us justice, they could have done that in Oakland."
The trial was moved to Southern California because of the high publicity surrounding the case in the Bay Area.
-- Carol J. Williams and Gerrick D. Kennedy
American mobs lynched some 5.000 Blacks since 1859, scores of whom were women, several of them pregnant. Rarely did the killers spend time in jail because the white mobs and the government officials who protected them believed justice meant (just us) white folks. Lynching denied Blacks the right to a trial or the right to due process. No need for a lawyer and a jury of your peers: the white community decided what happened and what ought to be done. After the whites accused Laura Nelson of killing a white deputy In Oklahoma, they raped this Black woman, tied her to a bridge trestle and for good measure, They lynched her son from a telephone pole. Had the white community reacted in horror after viewing the dangling corpses of Laura Nelson and her son? No, they came by the hundreds, making their way by cars, horse driven wagons, and by foot to view the lynching. Dressed in their Sunday best, holding their children’s hands and hugging their babies the white on-lookers looked forward to witnessing the spectacle of a modern day crucifixion. They snapped pictures of Laura Nelson, placed them on postcards and mailed them to their friends boasting about the execution. They chopped of f the fingers, sliced off the ears of Ms. Holbert, placed the parts In jars of alcohol and displayed them in their windows.
White America today know little or nothing about lynching because it contradicts every value America purports to stand for. Blacks, too, know far too little about the lynchings because the subject is rarely taught in school. Had they known more about these lynchings, I am almost certain that Blacks would have taken anyone to task, including gangster rappers, for calling themselves niggers or calling Black women “hoes” and “bitches.” How could anybody in their right mind call these Black women who were sexually abused, mutilated, tortured and mocked the same degrading Please do not throw this away. Give it to a friend or a names that the psychopathic lynchers called them? relative. Peace.
What Black woman in her right state of mind would snap her fingers or tap her feet to the beat of a song that contained the same degrading remarks that the whites uttered when they raped and lynched them The lynchers and the thousands of gleeful spectators called these Black women niggers when they captured them, niggers when they placed the rope around their necks and niggers when their necks snapped. Whites viewed Black women as hated black things, for, how else can one explain the treatment of Mary Turner? The lynch mob ignored her cries for mercy, ripped off her clothes, tied her ankles together, turned her upside down, doused her naked body with gas and oil, set her naked body on fire, ripped her baby out of her, stomped the child to death and laughed about it. Blacks purchased Winchesters to protect themselves, staged demonstrations, created anti-lynching organizations, pushed for anti-lynching legislation and published articles and books attacking the extralegal violence. Many pocked up. left the community never to return again. Others went through bouts of sadness, despair, and grief. Some broke down, a few went insane. Others probably fell on their knees, put their hands together, closed their eyes and begged Jesus for help. Jesus help us. Do not forsake us. But Jesus. the same white man the lyncher’s ancestors taught us to love, never flew out of the bush in a flame of fire armed with frogs and files and locusts to save Mary Turner. No thunder, no rain, no hail and no fire blocked the lynchers from hanging Laura Nelson. He did not see the “affliction” of the Holberts; he did not hear the screams of Marie Scott or the cry of Jennifer Steers.
So who are our real heroes?. Little Kim Is not a hero. Oprah is not a hero.. Whoople Goldberg is not a hero. Michael Jordan is not a hero. Dennis Rodman Is not a hero. They are entertainers, sport figures. creations of the media, media icons and they are about making huge sums of money and we wish these enterprising stars well. . Mary Turner, Laura Nelson, Marie Scott and Jennie Steers are your true historical heroes. Niggers they were not. Bitches they were not. Hoes they were not. They will not go down in history for plastering their bodies with tattoos, inventing exotic diets, endorsing Gator Ade, embracing studIo gangsterism, They were strong beautiful Black women who suffered excruciating pain, died horrible deaths. Their legacy of -strength lives on. These are my heroes. Make them yours as well.
A grand jury ruled Wednesday that the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man by two white police officers at a daycare facility filled with children was justified, an official said.
Human rights organizations, both political and social , are condemning what they are calling a new form of inhumane exploitation in the United States, where they say a prison population of up to 2 million - mostly Black and Hispanic- are working for various industries for a pittance. For the tycoons who have invested in the prison industry, it has been like finding a pot of gold. They don’t have to worry about strikes or paying unemployment insurance, vacations or comp time. All of their workers are full-time and never arrive late or are absent because of family problems; moreover, if they don’t like the pay of 25 cents an hour and refuse to work, they are locked up in isolation cells.
Back in 1964, Malcolm X wrote that blacks were getting beat up but were suffering in silence, like a patient in the dentist's chair, even with "blood running all down your jaw." They didn't know what was happening to them because of the Novocain the dentist had given them, he said.
While president Obama occupies the Whitehouse giving the appearance to the American public that he is in deep contemplation and thoughtful review about troop increases in Afghanistan he may just win an Academy Award Oscar,to sit next to his Nobel Peace prize, for his performance as a tortured president looking out for the best interest of the American public.
Apparently, times aren't so tough all over.
American mobs lynched some 5.000 Blacks since 1859, scores of whom were women, several of them pregnant. Rarely did the killers spend time in jail because the white mobs and the government officials who protected them believed justice meant (just us) white folks. Lynching denied Blacks the right to a trial or the right to due process. No need for a lawyer and a jury of your peers: the white community decided what happened and what ought to be done. After the whites accused Laura Nelson of killing a white deputy In Oklahoma, they raped this Black woman, tied her to a bridge trestle and for good measure, They lynched her son from a telephone pole. Had the white community reacted in horror after viewing the dangling corpses of Laura Nelson and her son? No, they came by the hundreds, making their way by cars, horse driven wagons, and by foot to view the lynching. Dressed in their Sunday best, holding their children’s hands and hugging their babies the white on-lookers looked forward to witnessing the spectacle of a modern day crucifixion. They snapped pictures of Laura Nelson, placed them on postcards and mailed them to their friends boasting about the execution. They chopped of f the fingers, sliced off the ears of Ms. Holbert, placed the parts In jars of alcohol and displayed them in their windows.
White America today know little or nothing about lynching because it contradicts every value America purports to stand for. Blacks, too, know far too little about the lynchings because the subject is rarely taught in school. Had they known more about these lynchings, I am almost certain that Blacks would have taken anyone to task, including gangster rappers, for calling themselves niggers or calling Black women “hoes” and “bitches.” How could anybody in their right mind call these Black women who were sexually abused, mutilated, tortured and mocked the same degrading Please do not throw this away. Give it to a friend or a names that the psychopathic lynchers called them? relative. Peace.
What Black woman in her right state of mind would snap her fingers or tap her feet to the beat of a song that contained the same degrading remarks that the whites uttered when they raped and lynched them The lynchers and the thousands of gleeful spectators called these Black women niggers when they captured them, niggers when they placed the rope around their necks and niggers when their necks snapped. Whites viewed Black women as hated black things, for, how else can one explain the treatment of Mary Turner? The lynch mob ignored her cries for mercy, ripped off her clothes, tied her ankles together, turned her upside down, doused her naked body with gas and oil, set her naked body on fire, ripped her baby out of her, stomped the child to death and laughed about it. Blacks purchased Winchesters to protect themselves, staged demonstrations, created anti-lynching organizations, pushed for anti-lynching legislation and published articles and books attacking the extralegal violence. Many pocked up. left the community never to return again. Others went through bouts of sadness, despair, and grief. Some broke down, a few went insane. Others probably fell on their knees, put their hands together, closed their eyes and begged Jesus for help. Jesus help us. Do not forsake us. But Jesus. the same white man the lyncher’s ancestors taught us to love, never flew out of the bush in a flame of fire armed with frogs and files and locusts to save Mary Turner. No thunder, no rain, no hail and no fire blocked the lynchers from hanging Laura Nelson. He did not see the “affliction” of the Holberts; he did not hear the screams of Marie Scott or the cry of Jennifer Steers.
So who are our real heroes?. Little Kim Is not a hero. Oprah is not a hero.. Whoople Goldberg is not a hero. Michael Jordan is not a hero. Dennis Rodman Is not a hero. They are entertainers, sport figures. creations of the media, media icons and they are about making huge sums of money and we wish these enterprising stars well. . Mary Turner, Laura Nelson, Marie Scott and Jennie Steers are your true historical heroes. Niggers they were not. Bitches they were not. Hoes they were not. They will not go down in history for plastering their bodies with tattoos, inventing exotic diets, endorsing Gator Ade, embracing studIo gangsterism, They were strong beautiful Black women who suffered excruciating pain, died horrible deaths. Their legacy of -strength lives on. These are my heroes. Make them yours as well.
DCFS says scene of fatal police action is not part of licensed facility at House of Grace.ROCKFORD — Details from a lawsuit against the city and its Police Department support findings of the state’s child welfare agency that a church day care was operating properly at the time of a fatal police shooting.
According to the lawsuit, filed Oct. 16 in Winnebago County Court, Rockford police officers Stanton North and Oda Poole were pursuing Mark Anthony Barmore of Rockford for alleged criminal activity Aug. 24, and Barmore entered the Kingdom Authority International Ministries Church House of Grace day care and school.
The lawsuit also states Barmore, 23, ran into an equipment room inside a children’s play area in the basement of the school, which is where the shooting took place.
The children’s play area is not considered part of the state-licensed day care facility housed within the church, said Department of Child and Family Services spokesman Kendall Marlowe. Of the 10 children ages 5 to 11 who were in the play room when Barmore was shot to death, none were enrolled in the DCFS-licensed day care program, which is located in another area of the church and caters strictly to children ages 6 weeks to 3 years.
“It is my understanding that what transpired was a man ducked into the building, ran through a foyer area and into the basement,” Marlowe said. “The door to the day care was not open.”
The shooting remains under investigation by Illinois State Police and members of the Cook County Public Integrity Task Force. Police say Barmore grabbed one of the officer’s guns and a struggle ensued. Day care employees say Barmore, who was unarmed, emerged from the storage room with his hands up and there was no struggle.
As far as DCFS is concerned, Marlowe said the agency was made aware of the shooting and responded. The agency did not and does not plan to investigate the day care for licensing violations or allegations of abuse or neglect in relation to the shooting, Marlowe said.
“We have no indication that the day care center acted improperly during this tragedy,” he said. “DCFS licensing standards and regulations regarding security and emergency situations are reasonable. A day care facility cannot be expected to prevent such a highly unusual incident.”
The church is suing the city, police department and the officers for what it is calling “reckless” actions that placed day care and school employees and 10 children in harm’s way and caused them to suffer emotional distress.
The suit states that there were about 150 children in the building at the time of the shooting. The church runs a day care, preschool and programs for older children.
The officers’ actions placed House of Grace employees and children “in the zone of danger,” said Keenan J. Saulter, the Chicago attorney who is representing the church.
“I’ve never seen anyone shot or been present when someone was killed. I don’t think most people have,” Saulter said. “It’s not a normal experience. It’s traumatic, and that’s exacerbated for a child who doesn’t have the same coping mechanisms as an adult. It’s a huge emotional burden.”
Attorneys for the church, employees and children seek damages of more than $75,000.
I re-posted this story because I previously missed the fact the Minneapolis police department gave this maniac a medal of valor for killing Fong Lee. MNPD recently fired him. That's delightful and I hope that woman he likes to beat up on leaves his ass too. Chief Tim Dolan you can wipe that mud off your face anytime.
Wife beating ex-police officer Jason Anderson
Jason Andersen, the police officer who shot and killed Fong Lee was recently fired by the Minneapolis Police Department. The development comes after the fourth-year officer was arrested following a domestic disturbance in June. A criminal charge against Anderson was dismissed two weeks ago, but apparently the incident prompted an internal affairs investigation that led to his dismissal.
In May a federal jury ruled that Anderson did not use excessive force when he shot the 19-year-old North Minneapolis resident eight times following a foot chase in July 2006. Lee’s family had maintained in the civil lawsuit that he was unarmed and gunned down for no justifiable reason.
"If they do result in indictments, I think there will be an international media feeding frenzy"
Eric Holder and his Justice Department have a full plate in trying to clean up the mess in New Orleans. There were 11 unarmed black males shot in New Orleans post Katrina. This blog continues to call for a rigorous Justice Department investigation into the unarmed shootings of minorities across the country by police departments. An investigation by the Justice Department is already proceeding against the Inglewood California police department for the killings of 4 victims of which 3 were unarmed. That investigation is still pending.
A state grand jury in late 2006 indicted seven police officers on murder and attempted murder charges, but a Criminal District Court judge last year dismissed the charges, concluding that prosecutor errors tainted the case. Federal authorities then agreed to pick up the case.
Police officer Pat Gonzales has a reputation as mean as Denzel Washington's character Alonzo Harris in the movie "Training Day", Gonzales is also know as a "dirty vato" on the streets of Oakland. A 10-year veteran, Gonzales has been involved in the deaths of two African-American males and the serious wounding of another.
He was also involved in the SWAT Team assault on an apartment where Lovelle Mixon opened fire with an AK-47 assault rifle killing Sgt. Ervin Romans, 43, and Sgt. Daniel Sakai, 35. Sgt. Gonzales was wounded in the gun battle. Some newspaper reports indicate there was a very good chance Gonzales killed Mixon, making it his third kill as an Oakland police Officer.
In March 2002 Gonzales shot his first victim 19 year-old Joshua Russell, 19, of Hayward after he and an accomplice tried to rob a man at gunpoint in the parking lot of a Burger King restaurant.
Then in 2006 Gonzales shot and paralyzed 17-year-old Ameir Rollins. Mr. Rollins was shot after he cooperated with Gonzales and threw down his weapon, and "look at the result," said Rollins' attorney, David Kelvin.
The city of Oakland settled with Mr.Rollins for 100,000. But before Mr Rollins received his compensation officer Gonzales had shot and killed 19 year-old Gary King in 2007.
King was shot twice in the back after he broke away from Gonzales during a struggle that Gonzales said King reach for the weapon.
One witness, Ailene Romero, said she never saw a gun, and Gonzales shot King as he was running away."There were a lot of young people there, and people just started screaming," Romero said.
Police said Gonzales had been trying to speak with King because King matched the description of a man suspected in the Aug. 21 shooting death of Ronald Spears, 29, of Pittsburg.
Lt. Ersie Joyner III said Gonzales made what is considered "an investigative stop" on King after he saw King exit a nearby store. King "was cooperative at first," Joyner said, and it was a "low-key situation." The situation escalated, however, and a struggle ensued.
Gonzales was said to have tried to use his taser twice on King, but the taser malfunctioned and had no effect.
Joyner said King refused repeated commands by Gonzales to surrender.
Gonzales told investigators he fired twice at King when he continued to try and pull the gun out while turning to get away from him.
King was taken to Highland Hospital where he later died.
"He laid there and died right in front of us," said Shamar Bell, who said he witnessed the shooting and said he had known King since grade school. He said he did not see the officer pat King down before detaining him.
"(Gonzales) put handcuffs on him while he was on his stomach (in the street) in front of us," Bell said. "If he so feared for his life, why didn't he call for backup?"
At one point during the struggle, witnesses said, Gonzales held King by his braids as he tried to break free and escape.
Anela Hobbs said she saw Gonzales use his taser several times on King and saw King reach deep into his low-slung pants. Gonzales then let go of his braids, she said. King had turned to run away when the officer shot twice at him.
"I don't know protocol. I don't know policy. I just know life," Hobbs said. "It was a lose-lose situation all around."
Romero said seeing King handcuffed after being shot was distressing. She questioned why the police would not aim for King's leg instead of shooting him fatally.
Both practices are Oakland police policy in such cases.
"He was a good kid and was straightening out his life," said one of King's friends, who was with King when the incident began and saw the shooting.
Semir Jehar, who was working at a shoe and clothing store that day on Martin Luther King Jr. Way, ran outside when he heard the commotion.
When outside, Jehar said he saw King cooperating, but when Gonzales tried to subdue King, he resisted and tried to get out of Gonzales's hold.
"I thought the police officer maybe shot him with rubber bullets," Jehar said. "The police officer shouldn't have resorted to his gun."
Larry Rollins best summed up the communities feelings about Gonzales when he said, "He beat my son, and he murdered my son. This man is a cancer in our community. He is a disease in the body, and he must be removed."
Gonzales, promoted to Sargent for his kills,today remains the deadliest cop on the streets of Oakland.
[quotes taken from San Francisco Chronicle]
Investigators from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division visited Orleans Parish prison three times last year, and the resulting report found that conditions there "violate the constitutional rights of inmates.’’
The report cited the case of a guard who beat up an inmate. The prisoner had exposed himself to the guard’s girlfriend, who also worked as a prison guard. The report noted that the guard was suspended for 14 days. Sheriff Gusman points out that the guard was actually fired and criminally prosecuted. But the report’s point is still borne out — prisoners are getting beaten up by guards.And in another case mentioned in the report, a guard who initiated a fight with an inmate was only suspended, not fired.
A DRUNK police officer who mowed down a woman has been arrested - but his passengers who fled the scene may escape charges.
New York police officer Andrew Kelly has been charged over the death of 33-year-old Vionique Valnord after allegedly hitting her with his Jeep, the New York Post reports.
A second off-duty cop, who was in the front passenger seat at the time of yesterday's accident, fled the scene while the pastor's daughter, who had just been at a wedding, lay dying in the Brooklyn street.
By Paul T. Rosynsky Oakland Tribune Updated: 09/25/2009 07:12:01 PM PDT
OAKLAND — A hearing to determine if the murder trial against former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle should be moved to a different county was postponed by four days Friday because an expert witness in the case is ill.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Morris Jacobson granted the four-day delay because an expert used by Mehserle's defense attorney to argue for a change of venue must be replaced.
Edward Bronson, a Chico State professor with more than a decade of experience in examining juries and change-of-venue issues, recently suffered a "catastrophic illness" that required life-threatening surgery and was unable to testify in the previously scheduled Oct. 2 hearing regarding a change of venue.
HIp Hop Wired
September 24, 2009
by JORDAN C. ALSTON
An independent investigation launched in the aftermath of Oscar Grant's murder by the hands of seemingly a solitary transit authority officer has shed light on several new details surrounding the incident.
At the cost of $250,000, a private investigation firm looking into the shooting has uncovered the dealings of transit officers whose misdeeds contributed to Grant's death.
Tony Pirone and Marysol Domenici are facing termination for their role in the fatal shooting that transpired on New Year's Day, with the independent report recommending that both officer be fired.
Both officers are currently on paid leave and have been since the incident.
Pirone was the officer that was seen either punching or “elbowing” Grant while he was on the ground. Soon after the unarmed Black man was viciously murdered in cold blood as Officer Johannes Mehserle fired into him as he laid on the ground.
In the face of the blatantly racist attack, BART Police Chief Gary Gee is sticking by his subordinates.
“I will say that all the officer who responded to the incident at around 2 a.m. at Fruitvale station followed protocol,” said Oakland Transit Authority's top cop. “I thought that they performed their duties in a professional manner.”
By D. Large
September 25, 2009
This is another one of those stories typifying the disparities that exist in sentencing between blacks and whites. I mean it's no secret that Blacks and Hispanics have always been treated more harshly in the courts than whites. And they typically receive longer sentences than whites.
But sometimes you really have to question the sentences meted out to blacks.
The 2 stories below illustrate both elements of the harshness judges can exact on black defendants versus the leniency whites can receive before the court.
In Philadelphia Tonya Stephens, who is black, was sentenced Thursday to four to eight years for hindering the apprehension of a fugitive and for criminal conspiracy. She helped Eric Floyd hide after he and two other men robbed a bank and fatally shot Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski in May 2008. Tonya was no saint. She was already on probation for some previous offenses.
Why she helped Mr. Floyd is unknown. Maybe she was in love, or may Mr. Floyd coerced her, or maybe she was just greedy and couldn't pass up a shopping spree at Walmart. Whatever her reasons she will now have to to do 6 to 13 years in prison. That is a steep sentence considering she was not an actual participant in the robbery. And she wasn't present when Eric and his friends killed the police officer.
Several weeks ago I posted a story about a white New Jersey man, Peter Bielecke, who likes to rob banks (I do mean plural here). His little niche was that he liked to rob banks every Thursday. He didn’t give a reason for choosing Thursdays. But authorities say that the pattern made it easier to track him.
Mr. Bielecke pleaded guilty in June to one count of bank robbery but admitted to five other holdups on consecutive Thursdays in January, February, and March. He robbed banks in several cities, including Brick, his hometown.
Mr. Bielecke must have stood before the judge with a rabbit's foot in his pocket because he’ll only serve five years and 10 months in prison. He’ll also have to pay nearly $12,000 in restitution under the sentence handed down Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Trenton.
I'm wholly ignorant of the sentencing guidelines that were used in both of these cases to arrive at Ms. Stephens' and Mr. Bielecke's respective sentences. But on the surface it appears that there were some mitigating factors used to influence the court's decision to give Mr. Bielecke five years and 10 months of prison time for admittedly robbing six banks.
I don't know whether Mr. Bielecke brought the judge an apple everyday to court or at worst slipped a ROTH contribution into the judge's retirement fund. But the sentences do appear oddly strange when you realize that you can get more time for a criminal conspiracy than for robbing six of your local banks.
I like to watch the program "The Investigators" on A&E. I notice that every suspect the police bring in who freely admits by confession to a crime, that individual gets charged for the crime. This is what puzzles me in Mr. Bielecke's case. He admitted to robbing five other banks and yet the sentence he was given looks more like the penalty for some dead-beat father who is in arrears for six years of child support.
Mr. Bielecke sentence was a gift from the court considering the seriousness of his crime. If he was armed in the commission of those bank robberies he placed more individuals in harms way than Ms Stephens who only crime was hiding her boyfriend from police.
These two cases provide a good example that sometimes it's not what you do, but it has everything to do with what color you are and what you are doing.
Posted by Francis L. Holland Blog Thursday, September 24, 2009
I don't think most people with white skin on juries are making police brutality/atrocity decisions based on the evidence presented at trial. White people believe that the police are there to protect them (white people), so white people ignore the facts and make public poliicy decisions to support police regardless of the evidence presented at trial.
This is why it is so important for prosecutors to select an all-white jury, such as the one that tried Esteban Carpio (even though Providence, Rhode Island is over 50% Black and Latino). By getting an all-white jury AND favorable evidentiary decisions from the judge, prosecutors are more like (practically guaranteed) to get a conviction, regardless of the atrocities that police are shown to have committed during the arrest and questioning.div>
Of course many or most white people will disagree with what I've said here, but they'll also agree that if police beat or electrically shocked an arrestee, then the arrestee "probably got what he deserved". And white juries are unwilling to convict or punish police for their behavior when they believe that the defendant/victim "probably got what he deserved."
What this means is that many or most white people are willing to accept and support summary justice and pre-trial extrajudicial punishment of prisoners as well as a type of informal double jeopardy, in which arrestees for punished once by police at the time of arrest then a second time by the judge after a conviction.
When "justice" works this way, I'm not sure what distinguishes the United States from many other countries. I personally believe that the right to be tried by a jury or judge before punishment is meted out is a more fundamental and important right than the right to bear firearms. Most white people would strongly disagree with me, at least when it is most important -- when making a decision as a member of a jury, but also when delineating the role of police officers in society.
Most white people would insist that there is a significant difference between the police and the Klu Klux Klan, because police are part of the formal, legal criminal justice system. But when police regularly act summarily, as an angry lawless white-hooded mob would, and with impunity, then the difference between the police and klansmen is one of degree, but not one of substance.
Mr.Obama Shemika Walker went to her father’s grave yesterday to say goodbye before her Oct. 15 leave date for a second tour in Iraq. Her father was a casualty in the war police have waged against unarmed minorities in this country. Let's hope Shemika's blood won't be spilled fighting your war.
by Alison Bowen
Shem Walker’s daughters, Shavone (center) and Shemika (right), sit beside Noel Leader from 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care at last night’s forum. Although the event was advertised as a remembering, the focus was on moving forward.
About 50 people gathered last night to remember Shem Walker, filling the hall at Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church. Mr. Walker was killed by an undercover narcotics cop on his stoop on Lafayette Avenue on July 10. He was unarmed and apparently got into a confrontation with the officer after trying to evict him from his stoop.
The forum, which brought together Mr. Walker’s family, activists and local elected officials, quickly turned into a discussion about how to end what participants described as a pattern of racial profiling and police brutality in the neighborhood.
City Councilwoman Letitia James urged unity.
“We have to come together collectively as a community that cares,” she said.
Maisha Morales, a board member of Families United for Racial and Economic Equality (FUREE), which sponsored the event with Fort Greene Peace and Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, said she sees racial profiling every day — groups of young men stopped by police, men being pulled over and told to stand against a wall.
“I’ve been observing this for quite some time now,” she said.
Mr. Walker’s mother and two daughters were also present.
“We’re just lost,” Shemika Walker, wearing her Army fatigues, told The Local. She listed the things they have asked for but not received from the police department: her father’s personal things, an update on the investigation, the shooting officer’s name.
“Nope, no name, no nothing,” she said.
Shemika went to her father’s grave yesterday to say goodbye before her Oct. 15 leave date for a second tour in Iraq. Seeing the turnout at the forum after that was comforting, she said.
“It’s not even faces we know, and that’s very touching for our family,” she said.
Fort Greene Peace first wanted to inform the neighborhood about Walker’s death, said founder Ed Goldman.
“People don’t know,” he said. “People do care.”
Now, he said, he hopes to launch a discussion and eventually change some of the problems put forth at the forum.
Blame bounced around the room — at the police, at the district attorney, at elected officials.
But many brought suggestions.
Mr. Jeffries wants to push legislation that won’t allow officers to waive their right to a jury, which can result in a trial solely before a judge. “Judges are reluctant to convict officers,” Mr. Jeffries said.
Noel Leader, from 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, said an independent prosecutor should be appointed for a fair investigation. “We have no confidence whatsoever in the district attorney’s office,” he said.
Kirsten John Foy, the Walker family spokesman and criminal justice coordinator of the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, urged witnesses to come forward. Right now, he said, “there’s not even enough evidence to indict the officer.”
The Kings Count District Attorney’s office says only that the investigation is ongoing and will not release any additional details.
Fort Greene resident Joseph Gordon came to the forum after reading a flier.
He tenses up when he sees a police car behind him, he said. “It won’t be a surprise to be stopped, even if I haven’t committed any traffic offenses.”
His next step? He said he will attend an Oct. 1 meeting of FUREE.
“It’s a good start,” he said. “It’s a process. A lot of hurdles to get over.”
September 23, 2009
Independent Assessment Monitoring, LLP
The controversial death of Mark Barmore by Rockford, Illinois police has resulted in the city requesting the services of an outside consulting firm called Independent Assessment and Monitoring, LLP,(IMT). This is the same company that the city of Oakland selected in July 2003 to conduct a comprehensive review of the city's police department.Rockford city officials made a good selection in acquiring the services of IMT. The company was formed by Washington D.C civil rights law firm Relman & Dane (formerly Relman & Associates) which specializes in fair housing, fair lending and police accountability.Their cases include some of the country's most significant discrimination suits, such as Denny's Restaurants, Avis Rent-A-Car, Adam's Mark Hotels, U.S. Secret Service and Capital City Mortgage Corp.
The failure of the Oakland police department to continue implementing the changes recommended by the IMT is reflected in the city still having one of the highest numbers of police shootings in the United States with a number of other police brutality lawsuits pending.
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On October 2nd there will be an important hearing which will decide whether the murder trial of Johannes Mehserle—the BART cop who shot 22 year old Oscar Grant in the back as he lay prone on an train platform in Oakland—takes place in Alameda County, the county where the murder occurred, or is moved to some other county in California.
In the recent past, attorneys for police on trial for acts of brutality have succeeded in getting acquittals by changing the venue. This is true even in the most extreme and damning cases where the guilt and conviction of police seemed almost certain. The police who killed Amadou Diallo in the Bronx in 1999 when he reached for his wallet were acquitted by an upstate Albany, New York jury. The Los Angeles police who were videotaped beating Rodney King were acquitted in their first trial, in 1992, when that trial was moved to suburban Simi Valley.
TRENTON, N.J. - A judge has ended federal monitoring of the New Jersey State Police more than 10 years after the shooting of unarmed minority men during a highway traffic stop prompted intervention over racial profiling.
U.S. District Court Judge Mary L. Cooper signed the order dissolving a consent decree Monday, following a joint motion filed in August by the state and U.S. Justice Department.
The move followed Gov. Jon Corzine's bill signing in August that established an office within the state attorney general's office to oversee the state police.
"The court-ordered lifting of the federal consent decree represents a watershed moment for all of the more than 4,000 members of the New Jersey State Police who have worked tirelessly to gain and maintain the public's trust and confidence through transparency, sound managerial oversight and holding fast to the best practices of police professionalism and reform," State Police Superintendent Colonel Rick Fuentes said after Cooper had signed the order.
State police agreed to federal oversight after troopers on the New Jersey Tur
