Speakers from Denver Community Defense Committee and others address police crimes, government hypocrisy, injustice, racism and extreme violence.
Press statement regarding the recent police shootings
On February 14, 2015, hundreds of people from across Denver took to the streets to demand justice for countless victims of police terror here in Denver.
Four main cases have become a rallying call for an enraged Denver community. All four involve Denver police officers opening fire into cars filled with unarmed occupants. These incidents, starting with the fatal shooting of Ryan Ronquillo on July 2nd, have left two people dead, and three people wounded. Two of those wounded now sit in jail cells, facing more jail time than any police officer who has killed an unarmed suspect ever will. These shootings have also left countless others scarred, emotionally and physically. These scars and wounds may very well never heal. But they surely cannot be washed away with soap and water.
Much media attention has focused on a single incident that occurred on February 14th: red paint being symbolically poured over the Denver Police Crest that adorns a memorial to fallen police officers. This single act has caused more anger and alarm in some quarters than the decades long unchecked history of rampant police violence and terror within this community. And because of that fact, this single act has illustrated quite clearly why so many across Denver are enraged and willing to take such actions in the first place.
We live in dire times, where human life has become less meaningful than a stone slab that pretends to honor the value of human life. We have entered a period where black and brown youth can be stolen from their communities merely for being suspected of driving a car that does not belong to them. The “stolen car” of today has surpassed the planted gun of yesteryear as the new excuse to gun down unarmed youth.
That the media has so viciously gone out of their ways to convict, before trial, the suspects who allegedly were responsible for the symbolic action involving the red paint, shows an even deeper sickness in Denver and across this country. Just as the police play judge, jury, and indeed executioner, the media in this city play the same game, aiding in the police's efforts to demonize any and all who may oppose their bloody attacks on our streets. No questions have been asked about the legitimacy of the police accusations. The police are always to be believed, their stories and accusations supported by the media. If the police say someone is guilty, then the media goes out of their way to report the story that way. Whether that be of the victims of police terror, or those accused of standing up to that same terror.
The police officers involved in these situations, however, are always exalted as heroes. It matters not to the media or those who support these killer police officers whether or not Jeffrey DiManna, a member of the Denver Gang Unit has been directly involved in three of these four shootings of young unarmed occupants of cars. It matters not that Nick Rogers, the president of the union representing Denver police officers is barred from coaching youth sports because he was proven to be abusive to youth athletes. These facts are kept out of the reporting of this story. And this culture of protecting the police, from city officials, the Attorney's office, and the media continues. And the blood continues to spill in the streets. And everyone just shakes their heads and wonders why.
To compare a symbolic act that was easily cleaned up to the ravaging of people's bodies is disgusting at best, but complicit in the terror at worst. Behind me is a picture of the face of Alex Landau, a young man, that had nothing to do with any paint on any memorial. He was beaten like that because of his age and skin color. That brutal act cost the tax payers of Denver over $700,000.
In fact, the law enforcement officers of Denver have cost the tax payers tens of millions of dollars over the last decade in lawsuits that have proven a deep pattern of excessive force, wrongful death, and torture. Yet no police officers face charges for these actions. No police officers fear sitting in jail cells for shooting unarmed civilians. But two people who stood up to the police now face years in prison, charged with major felonies because of some paint.
If this single act cannot demonstrate the extent of the problems facing this community, then we cannot be surprised if people feel compelled to act in more bold and creative ways to continue to stand against police terror in this community and communities all over the country.
In the wake of this controversial action, in which washable paint was symbolically poured on a crest of one of the most violent police departments in the country, members of police unions across the state have demanded the resignation of Denver Police Chief Robert White and Director of Denver Manager of Safety Stephanie OMalley for their adherence to a policy of non-confronation with demonstrators at recent protests against police violence.
Now, we agree with the Denver Police Protective Association on one thing. Chief White and Stephanie OMalley have to go. But that has nothing to do with what happened on February 14th. These two have been at the helm of a police department that has continued to be out of control, with no end in sight to the murder, torture, and daily violence. The fact that the Denver PPA and Nick Rogers would go out of their way to demand a resignation from anyone in the command structure because they were not brutal enough, they were not violent enough, is beyond sick, and demonstrates even further how diseased that body of officers has become. Because we live in a city that has one of the highest per capita rates of death caused by interactions with police officers in the country. And these officers are angry because they weren't allowed to bust some heads and exact their violent fantasies against those who would dare oppose them. If Chief White and Director OMalley should lose their jobs for any reason, it should be their stewardship of this brutal and violent department. That they did not do enough to stem the flow of blood in our streets or jails. But the Denver PPA and Nick Rogers show their blood lust for what it is. They won't stop until every single citizen in this city is literally beaten into submission, and there is an unwavering and unquestioning support for the police and their bloody violence from every corner of the city.
We have a message to the city, to the police department, to Nick Rogers, District Attorney Mitch Morrissey and every other politician, city official and police officer with blood on their hands: We will not stop. We will not be beaten into submission. We are out of cheeks to turn.
Behind us is a sacred memorial, venerated and hallowed much like the Denver Police memorial. This is where Ryan Ronquillo was killed on July 2nd. We will never forget. And we will never stop fighting for justice: for Ryan, for the Jurado brothers, for Sharod, for Jessie, or for any of the countless others who came before them, or will come after them.
Ferguson is Denver. Denver is New York City. New York City is Oakland. Across this country, people are standing up and fighting against injustice. And those movements will only continue to grow and gain traction as long as killer cops continue to wage war on poor and working class people across this country.
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