Gazi Kodzo talks police and afrocentrism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43LAdRkz_8I
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Gazi Kodzo talks police and afrocentrism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43LAdRkz_8I
“The police spend very little of their time dealing with violent criminals—indeed, police sociologists report that only about 10% of the average police officer’s time is devoted to criminal matters of any kind. Most of the remaining 90% is spent dealing with infractions of various administrative codes and regulations: all those rules about how and where one can eat, drink, smoke, sell, sit, walk, and drive. If two people punch each other, or even draw a knife on each other, police are unlikely to get involved. Drive down the street in a car without license plates, on the other hand, and the authorities will show up instantly, threatening all sorts of dire consequences if you don’t do exactly what they tell you. The police, then, are essentially just bureaucrats with weapons. Their main role in society is to bring the threat of physical force—even, death—into situations where it would never have been otherwise invoked, such as the enforcement of civic ordinances about the sale of untaxed cigarettes.”
— An excerpt from Ferguson & the Criminalization of American Life by David Graeber (via actjustly)
Too true. David Graeber is really right about a lot of things.
Police-worn body cameras may be necessary, but we still need citizens who are brave enough to capture video of conflict.
If Monopoly was actually based on American capitalism, you could buy the jail.
Utah’s Marquardt family has been in the prison business 25 years. And they got the ugly McMansions in the hills of Salt Lake City to prove it.
Draper, a tacky strip-mall suburb south of Salt Lake City, has this new toy. I suppose it was desert tan and lived its first life in Iraq or Afghanistan.
People inevitably ask: Why? What for? Like it or not, we know why they send these killing machines into Fallujah, but why Draper? Are they planning a strike against Americans?
Kinda.
They do it for control. Fear. Intimidation. Actual violence used to squash uprisings when/if that’s necessary. More and more people are ready for real and literal revolution in this country and the system is engaging in some readiness.
But honestly, at this stage in the game, though it’s an important thing, that’s the secondary/ancillary reason we’re seeing this weaponry in American cities and towns—even whitebread wealthy suburbs like Draper .
The real reason is basically recycling. The military-industrial complex simplymust produce more and more weaponry every year to keep the whole system—the whole American economy!—running according to its post-WWII/Cold War/Drug War/GWOT design. Our country would literally fall apart unhinged economically if the military contractors were not fed bucko new contracts each year. But we don’t have enough wars blasting and blowing up the old machines because we’re so dominant over those countries we choose to bomb and subjugate, so more and more machines get made each year but not many of them get blown up, so what do we do with all the old shit? We send them to the cities and suburbs.
Sorry I can’t give a credit to whomever shot this photo. All my FB friends are talking about it and multiple people appear to be “original” posters. I’ll give credit if someone can tell me who deserves it.
What does accountability against a dangerous killer like Matt Schauerhamer look like? I’m not talking fairy tail endings like jail for this guy, I’m asking, what can we do directly to hold him accountable?
We can start by pamphleteering his neighborhood, church, anywhere that he hangs out, so that everyone in his life knows what a killer he is. They hate that. People across the world have done that to dangerous cops.
But that’s only a beginning. Where do we go from there?
You tell me. Better yet, show me.
March 26 2015 - A Quebec riot cop shoots a protesting student in the face with a tear gas canister from point blank range. [video]
coppeliapicque:
Shame him. His name and badge number: Charles-Scott Simard (SPVQ #3143)
Link: http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5961748
A documentary about the CIA’s cocaine scandal is coming out soon
If I had a penny for everyone who’s called me crazy off this shit.
I don’t bother writing about Fox News. It is too easy. What I talk about are the liberal intellectuals, the ones who portray themselves and perceive themselves as challenging power, as courageous, as standing up for truth and justice. They are basically the guardians of the faith. They set the limits. They tell us how far we can go. They say, ‘Look how courageous I am.’ But do not go one millimeter beyond that. At least for the educated sectors, they are the most dangerous in supporting power.
Noam Chomsky (via classwaru)
Easy to decipher.-Shared by Elle.
“Body cameras, we're told, will change the game. But if you look back at how this tech has been used in America so far, we already know what's going to happen to the officers who shot Charly Keunang in Los Angeles: Nothing.”
Accountability Starts at the Top. Fire SLC Police Chief Chris Burbank.
Let's break down this most recent infraction.
Body cams on cops are mostly a false solution for ending police brutality--as the Dillon Taylor, Matthew Stewart and especially the James Barker and so many other cases demonstrate. Nevertheless it's important to look at that the political landscape and see whose hope is being exploited for profit here. Because body cams are a hope of many people who hope to end police brutality in this country, many good people who've lost loved ones or survived tremendous police-initiated violence. It's important to note that this is a frequent hope of those especially impacted families and people because it's particularly their hopes that Burbank and others have exploited in this corporate/government scheme. This is a foul kind of corruption.
Burbank--through associations with TASER International corporation--found a way to capitalize on this dream. It's clear to me he sees the cameras as not threat to business/murder as usual, otherwise he would not be such a fan and wouldn't have pushed through funding for the first batch with an illegal ram-rod buying procedure.
And he's not alone. Numerous other police chiefs across the country are implicated in this thing.
Burbank is such a dangerous person. He's incredibly smart, I think, and also I hear that from people who know him, and he's also very convincing, charismatic and manipulative--you can get that impression pretty fast just from interacting with him at public events. He keeps his cool when he's on camera--harder than many to shake out of the cool-guy demeanor. He has been popular with liberals--quite popular, actually, but I get a lot of indications that's waning.
I refer to the TASER deals as the most recent infraction, but of course he's also the man planning and orchestrating every day the war on poor and homeless people in Salt Lake City. By enforcing camping bans and otherwise enforcing a criminalized existence for people without property designated to them.
He justified the killing of Dillon Taylor and oh my god so many more by not sanctioning the murdering officer or recommending that the officers involved be investigated and duly charged--which keep in mind he could also do if he really had the soul and mind to do it. He has the charisma and power to work for good. Why doesn't he? You answer that question.
Remember that time a 76-year-old woman in Liberty Park who survived a wrong-door home invasion-style raid from a narco cop squad under Burbank's authority? Do you remember what kind of punishment just one lil old scapegot got for that tremendous fuck up? Do you remember this extreme bullshit? 20 hours unpaid leave. That 20-hours decision is Burbank's and Burbank's alone. Mind you, these wrong-door raids happen largely because of the extremely large volume and pace of home-invasion style raids conducted against American people--narco cops are running them too fast and too often to even bust down the correct address, nojoke! The 2.3 million people in prison attest the fact that the prison-industrial complex in this country is a volume business, and men like Burbank meet the quotas without needing to be told the details. Smart men like Burbank are put into situations where the forfeitures and fines and all that don't add up to a well-funded police department unless their really running lot of people through the prison industrial complex mill and really milking the taxpayers.
This duplicitous bastard sometimes gets credit for declining to use powers given to police in Utah to investigate immigration. This was framed by liberals as a momentous decision and a very virtuous one. I don't think there's much consequence to his decision actually, but more importantly it's left people with the completely overblown impression that SLCPD and Chief Burbank have basically no involvement in deportations and immigration, that SLC is a Sanctuary City--oh gawd!--which is a gross error and violent untruth.
Indeed, a quite close friend of mine was stopped by SLCPD in Liberty Park in 2013. I think a buddy he was with might have had a bagged container of alcohol. Anyway, the cops runs his name/dob from his passport, and a history of oppression in the form immigration violations was discovered. SLCPD whisked him away to deportation proceedings right away. I give you this anecdote to rip the ugly veneer off this charmer and let you see him bald for what he really is: an orchestrator of violence on a mass scale in OUR communities, a smooth and duplicitous manipulator, and a profiteer on the rise on top of that.
Fire Chris Burbank.
My favorite mayoral elections are ones that feature a candidate promising to fire the police chief upon election. SLC does have a mayoral election primary later this year... More on that to come.
Donate to PEACE OFFICER -- A feature documentary film
The talented film makers behind this tough documentary basically worked for free or cheap, in hopes that their dreams would come true, that their film would end up at amazing film festivals, that people would love it, that it would lead to abolishing of all police forces and so on (well maybe I'm just imagining the last one).
Anyway, the film looks pretty awesome, it is indeed premiering at a great film festival--SXSW--and it certainly is going to contribute at least to curbing police violence.
The film focusses on Dub Lawrence, the former Sheriff of Davis County, Utah. During gentler times, Lawrence actually established Davis County's first SWAT team but some decades later that same SWAT team murdered his own son in law and suddenly Lawrence was forced to take in and acknowledge that law enforcement had changed.
The film expands its focus to also talk about Matthew David Stewart, Danielle Willard and more cases of Utah police violence.
Lawrence now is among the toughest critics of police violence on the scene. His cred' as not just former law enforcement, but a former top-dog cop of many decades, makes his critique all the more surprising.
There is only 10 days left to donate to this film and if they don't make their goal of $50,000 then they get zero.
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.
"What happened to Michael Brown was a tragedy that not only affected the state of Missouri, but everyone worldwide. I was hit up by US blogger James Roberts who connected me with a producer in France by the name of Cool FD who was moved by the incidents that occurred in Ferguson as well and together this is what we created. Please share this and remember, don't be afraid to stand up for what you believe."
-Jus Daze
https://twitter.com/JusDaze
http://www.soundcloud.com/JusDaze
Good afternoon, Your Honor.
The allocution I give today is going to be a bit different from the sort that usually concludes a sentencing hearing, because this is an unusual case touching upon unusual issues. It is also a very public case, not only in the sense that it has been followed closely by...