Justice4Oscar_GRANT : Messages : 1111-1140 of 1975

The People vs. Johannes Mehserle: Days 6 &7 of the Preliminary Hearing
by Rekia Jibrin
Wednesday Jul 1st, 2009 12:06 AM

(1) Inconsistencies in testimonies and court transcripts
(2) Aggressive and violent behavior
(3) Distortion of truth in testimony and the counter-narratives of video footage
(4) Racialized profanity and the language of excessive force
(5) Excessive force, excessive profanity to establish police authority
(6) Racializing youths and the aggressive use of weapons
(7) Misconduct in police procedure and practice
(8) Misrepresentation of youth resistance to justify excessive force:
(9) Misconstruing ‘threat’ and the misuse of legal semantics
(10) Fear of youths, criminalizing youths, to justify police violence
(11) “The blue wall of silence” and a contrived defense

The People vs. Johannes Mehserle
Preliminary Hearing
Alameda Superior Courthouse
Oakland, CA
June 3rd and 4th, 2009

Days six and seven of The People vs. Johannes Mehserle preliminary hearing ended with pained and emotional breaths of relief. After seven days of testimony from eighteen witnesses, Judge C. Don Clay ruled on June 4th, 2009, that without a doubt, Johannes Mehserle “intended to shoot Oscar Grant with a gun and not a taser.” Mehserle will stand trial for the murder and death of Oscar Grant. “God is our Justice, God is our Justice, God is our Justice, and justice prevailed today. Justice prevailed today.” The resounding words of Grant’s godmother on the microphone outside of the Alameda courthouse held the tears and exhaustion of Grant’s family members and friends. BART and Oakland Police, dressed in SWAT team uniform, silently looked on from across Oak Street in downtown Oakland. One of many community organizers, Tony Coleman, who was stationed outside of the Alameda courthouse each day of the preliminary hearing keeping Oscar Grant’s death in the minds of passerbys, stated, “it is time Oakland Police know that they too can face murder charges. Oakland is taking a stand for the world.”

The last two days of the hearing involved the testimonies of Officer Tony Pirone, media analyst Michael Schott, and BART Officer Foreman, as well as the concluding statements of the prosecuting attorney David Stein and Defense attorney Michael Rains. Seated within the courtroom were the families of Oscar Grant and Johannes Mehserle, Johannes Mehserle’s bodyguards, attorneys Burris and Rapoport (Tony Pirone’s lawyer), community members, note takers, reporters, and community leaders such as Dr. Ramona Tascoe, Jack Bryson, and Minister Keith Muhammed. Over six officers of the Alameda county Sheriff’s department held guard of the courtroom strictly removing anyone at the slightest disturbance. Despite known tensions between community and police officers, Oscar Grant’s family and supporters maintained friendly interactions with the Sheriff’s police officers who, with their vigilance in the courtroom, were courteous in return. The crux of the preliminary hearing’s rested on two legal arguments: (1) the legitimacy of BART police officers’ perception of deathly threat, and (2) whether Johannes Mehserle (and the other BART police officers) acted with intentional malice towards Oscar Grant.

Determining ‘deathly threat’ – Anthony Pirone’s Testimony and cross-examination

Four year BART Officer and former marine, Anthony Pirone had worked with Mehserle over ten times on a variety of graveyard shifts. Pirone stated that he was in fact a mentor and older brother figure to Mehserle, but that they did not socialize outside of work. Pirone’s testimony was full of contradictions. He remembered certain details clearly—to the exact positioning of his own body, in relation to Grant’s body; but, Pirone had difficulty remembering other details from January 1, 2009 when he was cross-examined by prosecuting attorney Stein. Pirone lied on the stand numerous times. He crafted his statements only after being shown video footage by BART and by his attorney, Bill Rapoport,, and after being coached to testify about certain details of the murder. When Pirone was asked questions that required a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer, he quickly deferred to an “I don’t know” statement so as not to further contradict himself. While on the stand, Pirone contradicted statements he made in transcripts from BART interviews (March 17th), BART’s walk-through (January 29th), and statements he made to the District Attorney. Numerous times, prosecuting attorney Stein read statements from interviews and supplemental transcripts that Pirone made, which contradicted what Pirone had just recounted on the stand. It was only when Stein read statements directly from the legal transcripts did Pirone admit, “if that is what the transcript says then that is correct.” At no point did Pirone directly state that his words were the truth, or that his statements were an accurate depiction of what occurred on the BART platform, on January 1, 2009. On two occasions, Pirone lost his calm under pressure. He flippantly made remarks about having one’s “ass kicked;” and, when Pirone described using a “hair-pull take down” to bring down one of the youths on the platform (Michael Greer), he stated that it would be difficult for the youth, pushed 3-4 feet off balance, to pull out a gun “when your head is in a wall.”

Pirone’s contradictions and verbal slip-ups gave the court a taste of his excessively violent and aggressive tendencies. It was evident that Pirone’s statements on the stand were to corroborate legal statements he made in a variety of investigations—statements that did not accurately narrate the facts of January 1, 2009 against other testimonies and court transcripts. For example, when Pirone was asked if he ever saw Grant’s hands behind his back before Grant was shot, Pirone stated “no.” However, when prosecuting attorney Stein rolled video footage and zoomed in on Grant’s hands behind his back in a cuffing position, it was then that Pirone responded to the image indicating “what appears to be two hands.” According to Pirone, Grant had called Pirone a “Bitch ass nigga”. When asked whether Pirone had yelled at Grant to, “sit the fuck down,” Pirone hesitantly stated, “probably yes,” but that he had used that language because he was in shock at the language that Grant had directed towards him. Throughout his testimony Pirone made numerous requests for permission to swear in the court, adding that he did not typically use language like that. Even though Pirone showed an unwillingness to repeat racialized profanity in the courtroom, transcripts, video, and audio footage show Pirone yelling at Greer to “get the fuck off my train,” yelling at Grant to “sit the fuck down,” and yelling twice at Grant who was face down on the platform, “Bitch ass nigga?! Bitch ass nigga?! Yeah!” Pirone later stated that he used profanity as a method of force, after it was established by the footage that Pirone had lost all self-control and had in fact been more of a threat to the youths on the platform. At no point did Pirone make the connection that his use of force elicited protective and defensive reactions from the youths on the platform on January 1, 2009, which Pirone described as combative stances that were threatening to the officers’ safety.

In his testimony, Pirone stated that he charged Grant and Michael Greer with Penal Code 148, a misdemeanor for resisting arrest. Despite Pirone’s claim that Grant was uncooperative and that he “never stopped with the profanities,” when Pirone was asked whether he remembered Grant speaking about having a child, Pirone stated that he remembered Grant saying that he had a four-year-old daughter but that he did not remember when the discussion occurred. This discredited Pirone’s claim that Grant was wholly uncooperative. Pirone continued on that Grant was not listening and Grant had taken a combative stance, with his fists clenched. Pirone also stated that Grant had kneed him in the groin and had thrown punches; moments later Pirone suggested that it might have been a kick or a knee, but that he was not sure. Pirone said that he had delivered an elbow to the upper portion of Grant’s body, after he was kneed or kicked, and that his defensive arm posture may have come into contact with Grant’s head. When asked why Pirone had not reported and charged Grant with Penal Code 243C (a felony) for assaulting a police officer, Pirone responded stating that “penal codes are semantics when someone is under arrest.” The reason Pirone never arrested Grant for a felony was because Grant never assaulted Pirone. Pirone’s portrayal of Grant as a threat was false. The video footage discredited Pirone’s claims showing that Grant did not advance towards him, nor did Grant knee Pirone, and in fact, Pirone showed no difficulty with walking around the platform after claiming that Grant had kneed him in the groin.

Pirone also stated that Grant’s hands were never visible and that Grant’s hands appeared to be at his waistband. He did not remember whether Grant landed on his back or on his side. He remembered that he had held Grant’s upper back and head down with his hands and that while Mehserle was straddling him, Grant was “flopping around trying to get away.” When questioned about whether Pirone had taken any action to prevent Grant’s head from striking the ground, Pirone stated that he did not remember. Surprisingly, however, Pirone remembered that he held down Grant with two of his hands and with his knee, later having to change position because Grant was squirming and had broken free. He ordered Grant, twice, to put his hands behind his back, and to stop resisting, but he never saw Grant put his arms behind his back. Pirone, who weighs 250lbs with his gun belt on, does not remember applying his full weight to Grant’s body. When questioned about whether Grant said anything with regards to being compliant or with regards to giving up, Pirone stated, “no”.

According to Pirone’s testimony, Mehserle stated twice that he was going to tase Grant, yelling, “get back, get back, Tony, Tony!” Pirone then “popped up,” recollecting that at some point Mehserle yelled that Grant’s hands were at his waistband, “I can’t get his hands!” stated Mehserle. Pirone stated that he still did not know if Grant had a gun, nor did he search Grant. When questioned whether Grant’s hands appeared to be out, Pirone stated “no,” and that he had gotten up right after Mehserle yelled, “get back, get back, Tony, Tony!” Pirone did not know why he got up. Before he had stood erect, he heard the gun shot. “I thought the taser malfunctioned,” Pirone stated, even though he could not see taser probes on Grant’s back. According to Pirone, when tasers are deployed, two probes puncture the skin, sending out voltage for five seconds upon penetration. Thin copper wires are typically visible at the end of the probes, but Pirone did not see those wires or the probes, instead he saw a black hold. When he looked up, Pirone saw a gun in Mehserle’s hands, pointed at Grant. Pirone stated, “I think I said, Oh shit!” The gunshot was not what he expected to hear, and there was a look of shock on Mehserle’s face. Pirone radioed in for a supervisor and for detectives. Pirone stated that he never searched Grant, nor did he radio in an officer-involved shooting, because he did not want other officers in the area to be distraught. Pirone stated that he thought radioing in for a supervisor was adequate enough to suppress the situation at hand. When asked if he attended to Grant, Pirone stated not until after he had made the request for a supervisor. He did say that he called in a code 3 medical, asking for a paramedic. As he was transmitting, Mehserle followed Pirone around. When Mehserle started to say something, Pirone told him to wait. As Pirone was walking towards Grant, Mehserle stated to Pirone that he thought Grant had a gun. At this point the train had left, but Pirone stated that he did not know who released the train, or when it was released. Who was attending to Grant in these moments?!

When asked whether Pirone had administered CPR to Grant, Pirone stated that BART officers do not administer CPR for people who are conscious and breathing. Apparently, Grant was conscious and breathing and Pirone was talking to him. Officer Garra (spelling?) came up and applied pressure to Grant’s back. His handcuffs were removed and “someone searched him,” although Pirone could not recollect who searched Grant. “There was something shiny protruding from the top left” portion of Grant’s chest. Pirone stated that he was holding Grant’s hand, trying to coach him to “stay with me” until paramedics arrived on the platform. Pirone later left with Officers Gibson and Domenici to the Lake Merritt Bart where he gave an interview in the late morning, and was later interviewed three more times in the following days.

It was evident from video footage and from his testimony that Pirone acted aggressively and violently with the youths on the platform—he treated all of the youths as though they were armed and guilty of a crime. Pirone already had his taser drawn and had hit the taser’s safety switch, even though the youths had done nothing to justify the withdrawal of the taser. Though Grant did not match the radio call description of “five African men” dressed in black, Pirone aggressively escorted Grant off the BART train. Even though Pirone did not recall pointing his taser at Grant, video footage concurred that Pirone had in fact pointed his taser through the BART train window, banging it on the window, pointing it at Grant who was still on the BART train before being taken out onto the platform. When questioned about why Pirone had not ordered or actually pat searched the three young men who were compliant on the platform, Pirone stated that because they were cussing at him he did not search them or ask them if they had any weapons. Pirone stated that even though Domenici arrived on the scene, he still did not search the youths because he did not want to put Domenici in a threatening situation. He stated that they were outnumbered and there were still two suspects (Grant and Greer) whom Pirone needed to detain because he feared that those two might be armed. When questioned about the wisdom of leaving his partner in a dire scenario with three young men—where there was a “high probability” that at least one of the young men was armed—Pirone stated that he chose not to pat search the young because they were cooperative since their hands were visible. This contradicted his earlier testimony that the young men seated on the platform were uncooperative and cussing at him. Furthermore, Pirone’s mental state about feeling threatened by youths he assumed had guns, does not make sense since he did not search or ask them about weapons. Pirone did not act on his mental state, which brings into question his entire testimony about facing, “deathly threat” on the “chaotic and very loud” platform scene where “fifty to a hundred people” were exiting train cars towards him.

Video footage shown in court indicated that the platform was not as chaotic as the BART officers’ testimonies suggest; nor were there over fifty people exiting train cars; at no point did any of the officers activate their emergency buttons; nor did the youths physically resist the officers as the officers suggested in their testimonies. Pirone’s inability to pat search, handcuff, or inquire about weapons, and his decision to abandon his partner with youths who had not been searched—to go after Grant and Greer whom he charged with a misdemeanor—indicated that Pirone in effect had no concern that Grant or any of the youths had guns. Instead, Pirone testified that there was a high probability that the youths might have had guns to make it appear that the shooting of Grant was justified.

Proving ‘no malice’ – Day Seven

On the last day of the preliminary hearing, Judge C. Don Clay denied defense attorney Rains’ request for Jackie Bryson (who was on his knees next to Grant) to take the stand. Rains wanted to use circumstantial evidence to prove no malice on Mehserle’s part, but Judge C. Don Clay ruled against Bryson testifying stating that all of the past witness statements were cumulative, and that no one else on the platform could tell the judge what Mehserle was thinking except Mehserle himself. Despite attorney Rains’ outrage and charge that the judge’s decision was fundamentally prejudicial, the judge ruled against Jackie Bryson taking the stand. Judge C. Don Clay pointed out that the state of fear on the platform claimed by BART officers contradicted their use and choice of weapons. Pirone had testified that he thought the shot was a taser malfunction, but he also claimed that there was a threat of a gun since Mehserle had told Pirone that he thought Grant was going for a gun, and since Pirone claimed Grants’ hands were at his waistband and not visible, thus calling for deadly force on the part of the officers. According to Judge C. Don Clay, the change in mindset about the use of a taser and the use of a gun pointed out by Pirone’s testimony could only be explained by Mehserle. Rains stated that he wanted to prove no malice by asserting that Mehserle was ill trained with a taser, since Mehserle only had three weeks of taser training. Rains had wanted to call a witness to the stand to testify about Mehserle’s motor skills but the request was denied as speculative by the judge, since it would be based on unsubstantiated opinion rather than concrete knowledge. Consequently, Pirone returned to the stand and two more witnesses—Michael Schott, a former Alameda police offer, now media analyst, and BART Officer Foreman—would testify.

In the cross-examination, prosecuting attorney Stein continued pointing out discrepancies in statements that Pirone made on the stand in comparison to statements he made in, a supplemental report for the January 29th BART walk-through at Fruitvale BART station, a BART interview on March 17th, and in a statement that Pirone gave at the Lake Merritt BART station the morning that Grant was shot. Pirone crafted his statements about Mehserle intending to use his taser, because of what he knew about the defense’s stand. Pirone made no mention of looking for taser probes in his written statements from the morning of the shooting to the March 17th BART interview. When questioned about why he didn’t mention that he thought the gunshot was a taser malfunction in his March 17th statement, Pirone responded with “I don’t know” statements to each of the discrepancies.

Stein resurfaced statements that Pirone made in the transcripts about being afraid of being shot by Grant while Grant was being held down. Stein questioned Pirone about how Grant was pushed to the ground. When he asked if there was any need for Grant to be thrown down face down to the ground, Pirone stated that “yes, he needed to be handcuffed.” It became apparent that the difficulty that the officers faced in handcuffing Grant had more to do with how he was thrown to the ground than to Grant being resistant or a threat. According to video footage, Grant was so forcefully pushed to ground, that his body was strewn over Michael Reyes’ leg. In fact, Grant’s body had to be repositioned to allow Reyes to remove his leg. According to the footage, when Reyes was able to remove his leg out from under Grant, then Grant was able to remove his hands. Thus, “to solve the problem of Mr. Grant, was for Mr. Reyes to remove his leg. Isn’t it true, Officer Pirone that you posed more of a threat to Oscar Grant then he ever posed to you!” exclaimed prosecuting attorney Stein. Pirone’s perjury, coupled with replays of video footage exposed the grossly, prejudicial treatment of the youths on the platform, as well as the unjust cover-up of police violence and racism towards poor people.

When Pirone got off the stand, Rains immediately called attention to close-up images of Mehserle pulling out his weapon. Rains was trying to make it appear that the manner in which Mehserle’s hand was positioned on his gun, was the manner in which Mehserle would have been pulling out a taser. After calling attention to the ‘accuracy’ of these images, Rains called Michael Schott to the stand. Schott, according to Rains is a “forensic image analyst.” He retired as a police officer in 1992 after serving on the police force since 1975. Schott came to testify about “spatial distance distortion” in the video footage captured by BART riders. Rains’ hoped to use Schott to discredit the validity of the cell phone footage courageously taken by BART passengers. However, despite Schott’s doctored synchronization of the footage, Judge C. Don Clay became impatient, correcting Schott’s use of “we” when Schott described what he saw on the footage. Judge C. Don Clay kept emphasizing that what Schott was describing was in fact what Schott was seeing and that the judge knew exactly what evident to himself from the footage. After tediously viewing video clips that Schott had spliced and magnified on the screen, Schott’s footage disproved Pirone’s testimony that the platform was chaotic and that close to 100 people were advancing towards him. Schott was shortly called off the stand.

Finally, prosecuting attorney Stein called BART Officer Foreman to the stand. Foreman spent five and a half hours with Mehserle, right after Mehserle shot Grant. Foreman testified that at no time during those hours or in the subsequent days did Mehserle say that he had mistaken his gun for his taser. Foreman received a phone call at 3:30am from a supervising BART officer. Mehserle had requested Foreman to come down to the Lake Merritt BART station because Mehserle was involved in an officer-related shooting. Foreman was given no details about the shooting. He stated that he called Mehserle from his car to see if he was okay, but Mehserle gave him no details either. Foreman had known Mehserle for 22 months; he had worked with Mehserle and they were friends. Foreman stated that he went to the Lake Merritt BART station to offer support to Mehserle. During the five and a half hours he was with Mehserle, Foreman stated that Mehserle said, “It was different,” and “he thought the person had a gun.” When questioned about the mistaken use of a gun for a taser, Foreman repeated that Mehserle did not say anything about meaning to pull out his taser. Foreman continued contact with Mehserle in the subsequent days, and Mehserle did not talk about mistaking his gun for a taser. During the time Foreman spent with Mehserle, he did not want Mehserle to go into the details of the event. It was clear from Foreman’s testimony that the “blue wall of silence” is a pervasive culture of silence enforced within policing, a culture that allowed time for attorneys and officers on the platform to craft a contrived defense to prove that Mehserle acted with no malice.

[The following statements made by the prosecution, the defense, and by the court judge have been paraphrased. Some lines are verbatim.]

Prosecuting attorney Stein’s statement

The first two days of the preliminary hearing had to do with reviewing video footage to consider whether there was enough probable cause to hold Mehserle for the criminal charge of murder. The elements of murder that establish probable cause entail: 1) that there was in fact the killing of one person by another, and 2) that there was malice. The video footage clearly shows the first element—that Johannes Mehserle shot Oscar Grant. Does the evidence establish reasonable grounds to determine a mental state of malice? The ‘malice’ that Stein discussed moved beyond the typical definition of malice as ill-will or hatred; in a court of law the definition of malice is the intent to kill. How do we determine intent? Stein stated that the act of the shooting itself most clearly determines that there was intent to kill. Michael Schott established on the stand that video is helpful in determining crime. According to Stein, witnesses may see the same event but may witness it differently according to the stress they are under. However, video is not subjected to stress. And the video footage that is available to the court shows Mehserle pulling a gun and shooting Oscar Grant III in the back. Frames from the footage show Mehserle looking at exactly what he is doing, looking at the holster of the gun. An officer looking at his or her weapon before using it, strongly demonstrates the intent to kill. Mehserle knows that you don’t pull your gun unless you intend to destroy someone and he did just that when he fired that gun into the center of Grant’s back.

Even though every effort was made by the defense to make the platform seem chaotic enough to elicit an exaggerated level of fear from the officers on the platform, we are still left with the videos that still show intent to kill. Furthermore, the record is silent about what Mehserle said moments after he shot Grant and days afterwards. Mehserle never said he made a mistake, or that he shot Grant with the wrong weapon. It is human nature to admit a mistake right away. Officer Foreman would have been that person to whom Mehserle would have admitted that mistake. The court is familiar with murder cases and with human nature. What was said on record is inconsistent with the human nature of someone who had just taken a human life. Stein asked the court to consider that Grant could have been placed on his knees as Jackie Bryson was instead of being thrown onto the floor; and Stein asked the court to consider that in fact Grant is seen holding back Bryson when Michael Greer was thrown against a wall. Grant was not a deathly threat as portrayed by Pirone and other officers. He was cooperative, he had restraint, and he made a conscious effort to make a statement about his daughter.

Defense attorney Rains’ statement

This is not a murder case. We are not determining innocence or guilt; we are determining probable cause. The issue is whether evidence indicates that Mehserle acted with malice—in a way that was dangerous where there was a conscious disregard for life. The available evidence indicates that Mehserle intended to tase the victim and not act with a conscious disregard for life. Mehserle was in control up until the fatal shot; he was in control of his mouth and his actions until he thought Oscar Grant was going for a gun. He stands up, as though he was deploying his taser, and it took him a long time to pull it out because he thought he was pulling out a taser. The officer announced his intention to tase, he made the motion, and a gun goes off. Not a single witness who testified said that they saw anything but horror on Mehserle’s face. There’s no malice because all of his actions were consistent with a man who was using a non-lethal weapon towards someone who was resisting. Rains stated that autopsy and forensic reports state that Grant was resisting because his right shoulder was off the ground. Rains’ account does not consider how Grant may have reacted to the forceful impact and penetration of the bullet. Nor does Rains’ account consider Pirone’s testimony that after being shot, Grant attempted to move, which was when Pirone stated that he attempted to calm Grant down and to keep him conscious. Albeit, given Pirone’s consistent contradictions, we ultimately must rely on video evidence that clearly demonstrates that Grant was not resistant.

Judge C. Don Clay’s statement

This was the first time Judge C. Don Clay experienced a case of an officer-involved shooting where the officer did not indicate what his state of mind was at the time of the murder. For Judge C. Don Clay, this case was not just about the videotape. This case boils down Mehserle’s state of mind. The only means of determining state of mind is from circumstances around the incident, and even that is truly speculative. There is no competent evidence to support the finding that the shot was an accident. The defendant stated that “I’m going to tase him,” then shoots him, then states that “I thought he had a gun/his hands were going for his waistband.” This is not sufficient evidence about Mehserle’s state of mind to excuse the act. What evidence supports that Mehserle acted in self-defense? If in fact he acted in self-defense then Mehserle would have to admit that the act was an act of intention. Oscar Grant was attempting to document the police misconduct when he pulled out his cell phone. Pirone responded with “can’t take pictures” and subsequently, Grant was aggressively pushed to the ground. Grant was portrayed as resistant—as “a deathly threat” to Pirone. The judge stated that he was uncertain that Grant posed a deathly threat enough to elicit the level of deadly force that it did from officers on the platform. These young men did nothing to warrant the use of deadly force. The judge discussed the elevated state of mind of the officers leaving gun related incidents in West Oakland and San Francisco. Adrenaline was rushing and there was a lot of uncertainty about what was happening on the platform. However, even though the officers described chaos and threats, they never pressed their emergency buttons. The judge referred to separate testimony from BART rider Daniel Liu and Pirone that described how Mehserle’s hands were positioned on his gun after he shot Grant. Their testimony cast doubt on Mehserle’s intention to use a taser, since one pulls out a taser with their weak hand, and since the positioning of Mehserle’s weak hand did not coincide with the positioning of his hands on his gun. According to Judge C. Don Clay, “There is no doubt that Mehserle intended to shoot Oscar Grant with a gun and not a taser.” The judge ruled that Mehserle would stand trial for murder. Consequently, Mehserle is be arraigned on June 18th, 2009 with a three million dollar bail.

Thinking and Acting Towards Justice

The People vs. Johannes Mehserle preliminary hearing rested on two arguments: (1) the lack of legitimacy of BART police officers’ perception of deathly threat, and (2) Johannes Mehserle’s (and the other BART police officers’) intentional malice towards Oscar Grant III. The issue of the taser was a contrived defense that was exposed and discredited by evidence, testimonies, and by the prosecution and judge’s statements. To suggest that Grant was responsible for his own death is unconscionable and inconsistent with the evidence presented. Mehserle’s actions were consistent with facts that support his intent to kill. The violent, unjust, and brutal misconduct of Anthony Pirone, Johannes Mehserle, and other officers on the platform, brings to light another crucial question: Should Mehserle be the only officer who stands trial for murder?

The lack of restraint in the aggression and violence perpetrated by Tony Pirone and other BART officers on the platform visually captured a premeditated culture of racial profiling and antiblack racism found within policing in Oakland, and in the United States. The creation of a BART civilian review board that lacks the power to independently investigate, charge, and expose the fatal violence of this premeditated culture of racial profiling and antiblack racism within policing does more for BART’s community relations PR, and very little for community-based, organizing efforts to impact residents who have lost faith in a system that too often rules in favor of police officers, and against poor people. At Oakland’s Citizens’ Police Review Board’s Policy Forum on Officer-Involved Shootings held on December 11, 2008, an estimated 45 reported officer-involved shootings occurred from 2004-2008 in Oakland. The ages ranged from 16-50 years old, and victim involved 36 were African American males, 7 were Hispanic males, and the remaining 2 involved an Asian male and African American female victim. None of the officers were criminally pro

#1112

From: Iolmisha@...
Date: Sun Jul 5, 2009 12:52 am
Subject: A special Appeal from Idriss Stelley Action &Resource Center,Summer 09

isfonelove

A special Appeal
from Idriss Stelley Action &Resource Center,
San Francisco
(Law Enforcement Accountability Direct Services)

ISARC
Redstone Building, Suite #209
2940 16th Street, SF CA 94103
24HR Bilingual Spanish Hotline:
415-595-8251
ISARConelove@...
http://mysite.verizon.net/vzeo9ewi/idrissstelleyfoundation/
http://mysite.verizon.net/vzeo9ewi/proudtobeblack1/id7.html

Director: mesha Monge-Irizarry (Idriss' Mom)
iolmisha@...
________________________________________________________________

SF, 7-4-09 Dependence Day....

Dear Freedom Fighters and Allies.

On August 20, 2009, my only child Idriss Stelley would have turned 32. but was killed at 23 by SFPD, 48 bullets, 9 officers, during a "psychiatric intervention".

Without this horrendous occurrence, (shared through myriad of Stolen Lives at the hands of Law Enforcement), I would now play with grandchildren, help them with homework, and take them to my native Basque country every year as I did with Idriss from his birth to the time of his untimely death.
2 months ago, I finally buried my son's ashes on sacred Olone Land.

For the past 8 years, ISARC has been the sole grassroots entity in the city of San Francisco providing direct services to Survivors of Law Enforcement and Grieving Families of Loved Ones killed by police.
We have served over 6000 clients locally, statewide and nationwide, and provide over 150 yahoogroups for Survivors, Families and social/racial Justice activists.
We also provide individual counseling, Victory Over Violence Support Groups, pro bono attorneys referrals, and help individuals organize critical mass alerts and protests.

Our services are free and confidential.
We depend on the community to keep our doors open.
Our expenses are modest, $225 a month share of rent, and client funds for low income individuals, who often come to us hungry or with no money to get on a bus back home.

Since May 08, we host the SF_Chapter of Education Not Incarceration (ednotinc.org), and since August 08, FORWARD (Bay Area direct support services to Families of Parolees).

In September 08, we founded SF_COPWATCH infrastructure and grew it to 91 members online. SF_COPWATCH has now merged with SF Migrawatch and moved on to be an independent collective, which is awesome !

ISARC is now working on growing support for Justice4Hughes_DeLaPlaza, French-American citizen killed in SF on June 7, 2007 (SFPD and the DA concluded to suicide, but the French police came to SF last year and concluded to homicide at 100%)
We are also growing support for survivors of electronic harassment.

Unfortunately, our client base is not diminishing under the regime of "Hope" and "Change"...
Our Justice4Oscar_Grant yahoogroup has grown to 332 members. and we compile an on going updated list of endorsers of Justice4Oscar Grant III campaign, that we share with other organizations working on this horrific case.

Please consider giving us a hand !
No donation is too big or too small....

$5 provides a week worth of bus tokens for our poor clients
$10 covers our DSL monthly connection for our clients to work on their outreach
$20 pays for our monthly street outreach (flyers and cards)
$50 buys healthy snacks for our Internship program kids
$60 covers the monthly cell bill for a client in crisis
$75 is the monthly cost if field trips for our interns
$200 allows one of our client to file in federal court
$225 is a month of office rent
$500 secures our Stolen Lives yearly induction ceremony to honor our Client Families.

Checks (non tax deductible, we are not 501-c3, to remain free in agenda and programs) can be processed to
ISARC
Redstone Building, Suite #209
2940 16th St, SF CA 94103

You can remain anonymous or we will be happy to honor your contributions !

Thank you big time to Berkeley Copwatch's $200 generous donation of last month that allowed us to repair our computer,
Cyndy Sheehan $250 in September 08 to Education Not Incarceration !!!!
and Activist Naomi Finklestein of Seatlle who sent us a Dell Laptop !!!

and Eternal thanks to Brother Orlando McGill for maintaining our websites !!!

We are in process of organizing a benefit on Idriss B-day, 8-20-09, to raise funds to contine providing a safe, confidential space for our needy clients.

In Unity &Respect
mesha Monge-Irizarry, director
(415) 595-8251

#1113

From: Iolmisha@...
Date: Fri Jul 3, 2009 3:16 am
Subject: the latest trial days puts the Korporate media 2 Shame !

isfonelove

Comments

�This report puts the corporate media to shame
by dave id
Wednesday Jul 1st, 2009 12:13 PM
The corporate media put out just perfunctory reports on the hearing, choosing a detail or two to highlight each day (usually the cops' side of things), nothing nearly as thorough as this. Ever. In print or TV.

That these lying pigs that testified still collect BART paychecks is outrageous.

Oh, and a note on the deputies in the room. There may have been amiable chitchat, but family was upset at how quick they were to toss out Oscar Grant supporters over sneezes and so forth, including throwing out Oscar Grant's friends from the platform the night of his murder.
No one from Mehserle's side was kicked out as I understand it. In fact, people were so upset that Minister Keith and others went to meet with the sheriff to demand that his deputies stop targeting Oscar Grant supporters and later one deputy was transferred out of that court room. (audio: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/06/13/18601626.php) That may have been before the last two days of the hearing described here.

Great job! And I hope to see more.

#1114

From: Mary Neal <mneal000@...>
Date: Sun Jul 5, 2009 4:35 am
Subject: Independent from What? Not Censorship

mneal000

THE EMAILS BELOW SHOWS AN EXAMPLE OF THE CENSORSHIP APPLIED TO CONTAINING MY MESSAGE - CENSORSHIP TO PROTECT INFORMATION THAT THE NWO OWNS AND OPERATES MUCH OF THE PRISON SYSTEM IN MY OPINION, AND "THEY" PROTECT INFORMATION ABOUT THE COCHRAN FIRM FRAUD.

I don't know if they have cyberstalkers assigned to each major Internet site, or if the cyberstalkers are assigned to certain individuals. They already had mainstream media sewed up. That is why mainstream news did not report it when one of the largest plaintiffs law firms in the nation went to court and denied the existence of its Atlanta office, contrary to all of its prolific advertising. In court, mind you. Anyone else would have been jailed and fined for perjury and certainly the news would have been broadcast all over the world, but The Cochran Firm Fraud was not reported, except by Larry's family's efforts online. AND THAT IS HARD TO DO WITH CYBERSTALKERS ASSIGNED TO CURTAIL THE MESSAGE! http://wrongfuldeathoflarryneal.com

If you ever have trouble accessing my articles at http://NowPublic.com or my Sharebook at http://www.care2.com/c2c/share/sharebook/513396753    please let me know.

We supposedly have "free speech" and "free press" and "equal justice." But your freedom of speech and press is entirely dependent on what you have to say.  Regarding "equal justice," mine is an American family - taxed every April 15 - but my brother's death was not even treated equal to Michael Vick's dogs. Denied accountability and investigation for six years and counting. No timely response to our FOIA Request asking why the USDOJ allowed Shelby Co. Jail to enter perjury into federal hearings for release from overview after the Secret death of Larry Neal in that facility in 2003.

"THEY" ARE STILL CENSORING MARTIN LUTHER KING 41 YEARS AFTER HIS DEATH. The entire middle section of his final speech "I've been to the mountaintop" is missing from the speech at YouTube. It is supposed to be the first 1/2 and second 1/2, but actually, they skip everything he says about dogs and waterhoses and illegal injunctions. In fact 90% of the online text presentations of his final speech leave out the paragraph where he warns the Memphis marchers that they were up against "illegal injunctions, dogs and waterhoses." See for yourself at my article (link below), and read the last comment from me at the article, please.

MLK's Final Speech Was Fraudulently Edited to Change History
http://my.nowpublic.com/culture/mlks-final-speech-was-fraudulently-edited-change-history

Two weeks ago at NowPublic.com, I sent an email to another writer about her article. She writes about justice issues and had written about an unidentifed murder victim, a black woman - http://my.nowpublic.com/world/unidentified-black-female

I relayed to her some info about allegations I had received in my emails about a possible serial killer in CA that may not be getting much attention because the victims are black women. I thought she may want to investigate the deaths and possibly report them. I discovered later that I was not communicating with the writer at all. She never got the emails, and that was NOT her responding to my emails. This happened at NowPublic's internal email system!

Yahoo had to lock down my Yahoo email account numerous times since I announced the HUMAN RIGHTS FOR PRISONERS MARCH because of cyberstalkers trying to break in (they reported). I missed over 1,900 emails which were bounced since mid-April.

So be careful online. These folks are interested in your private conversations - especially if you write about controversial subjects or if you yourself are controversial (black). They do not mind pretending to be someone with whom you communicate. Always notice the suffix that comes after the @ in the emails when you send responses. Sometimes, they leave the first part just like your online friend's email, but not the data after the @.

HERE ARE THE EMAILS REGARDING MY ONGOING CENSORSHIP. I APPRECIATE BEING TOLD WHEN YOU HAVE TROUBLE OPENING THE LINKS TO MY ARTICLES OR OPENING MY EMAILS.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Mary Neal <marylovesjustice@...>
Date: Sat, Jul 4, 2009 at 10:58 PM
Subject: Re: problem with now republic articles
To: Iolmisha@

No, you are the first. I had numerous people tell me that they were not allowed to comment. I also had one online friend tell me she could not get a comment through by her real name, Sheila. I told here that is probably because I have a niece named Sheila, and the cyberstalkers does not want two of Larry's relatives writing about our experiences. She always has to use an alias to comment! The cyberstalker who works against me there is something!

Thanks for telling me.

Mary

On Sat, Jul 4, 2009 at 9:32 PM, <Iolmisha@> wrote:

Dear Mary,

Right after I download your articles from the site,
I get a fatal error message on my laptop and the hard drive crashes.

Has anyone else reported this to you before ?

#1115

From: "nathaniel x vance" <broali4xa@...>
Date: Fri Jul 3, 2009 3:57 pm
Subject: Re: The People vs. Johannes Mehserle: Days 6 &7 of the Preliminary Hearing

broali4xa

Dear beloved Sister Iolmisha,
If you would dear sister, please give us a link to this article so that
I can send it to all my 125 Afro Yahoo groups! The word has to be gotten
out as police terrorism against BLACKS by many or some police agencies
has to escalated all across amerika.
You are as always doing a suberb service to truth and justice.
Thank you and Peace




--- In Justice4Oscar_GRANT@yahoogroups.com, Iolmisha@... wrote:
>
> The People vs. Johannes Mehserle: Days 6 &7 of the Preliminary Hearing
> by Rekia Jibrin
> Wednesday Jul 1st, 2009 12:06 AM
>
>
> > (1) Inconsistencies in testimonies and court transcripts
> > (2) Aggressive and violent behavior
> > (3) Distortion of truth in testimony and the counter-narratives of
video
> > footage
> > (4) Racialized profanity and the language of excessive force
> > (5) Excessive force, excessive profanity to establish police
authority
> > (6) Racializing youths and the aggressive use of weapons
> > (7) Misconduct in police procedure and practice
> > (8) Misrepresentation of youth resistance to justify excessive
force:
> > (9) Misconstruing ‘threat’ and the misuse of legal
semantics
> > (10) Fear of youths, criminalizing youths, to justify police
violence
> > (11) “The blue wall of silence” and a contrived
defense
> The People vs. Johannes Mehserle
> Preliminary Hearing
> Alameda Superior Courthouse
> Oakland, CA
> June 3rd and 4th, 2009
>
> Days six and seven of The People vs. Johannes Mehserle preliminary
hearing
> ended with pained and emotional breaths of relief. After seven days of
> testimony from eighteen witnesses, Judge C. Don Clay ruled on June
4th, 2009,
> that without a doubt, Johannes Mehserle “intended to shoot
Oscar Grant with a
> gun and not a taser.” Mehserle will stand trial for the murder
and death of
> Oscar Grant. “God is our Justice, God is our Justice, God is
our Justice, and
> justice prevailed today. Justice prevailed today.” The
resounding words of
> Grant’s godmother on the microphone outside of the Alameda
courthouse held
> the tears and exhaustion of Grant’s family members and friends.
BART and
> Oakland Police, dressed in SWAT team uniform, silently looked on from
across Oak
> Street in downtown Oakland. One of many community organizers, Tony
Coleman,
> who was stationed outside of the Alameda courthouse each day of the
> preliminary hearing keeping Oscar Grant’s death in the minds of
passerbys, stated, “
> it is time Oakland Police know that they too can face murder charges.
> Oakland is taking a stand for the world.”
>
> The last two days of the hearing involved the testimonies of Officer
Tony
> Pirone, media analyst Michael Schott, and BART Officer Foreman, as
well as
> the concluding statements of the prosecuting attorney David Stein and
Defense
> attorney Michael Rains. Seated within the courtroom were the families
of
> Oscar Grant and Johannes Mehserle, Johannes Mehserle’s
bodyguards, attorneys
> Burris and Rapoport (Tony Pirone’s lawyer), community members,
note takers,
> reporters, and community leaders such as Dr. Ramona Tascoe, Jack
Bryson, and
> Minister Keith Muhammed. Over six officers of the Alameda county
Sheriff’s
> department held guard of the courtroom strictly removing anyone at the
> slightest disturbance. Despite known tensions between community and
police
> officers, Oscar Grant’s family and supporters maintained
friendly interactions with
> the Sheriff’s police officers who, with their vigilance in the
courtroom,
> were courteous in return. The crux of the preliminary hearing’s
rested on two
> legal arguments: (1) the legitimacy of BART police officers’
perception of
> deathly threat, and (2) whether Johannes Mehserle (and the other BART
police
> officers) acted with intentional malice towards Oscar Grant.
>
> Determining ‘deathly threat’ �" Anthony
Pirone’s Testimony and
> cross-examination
>
> Four year BART Officer and former marine, Anthony Pirone had worked
with
> Mehserle over ten times on a variety of graveyard shifts. Pirone
stated that
> he was in fact a mentor and older brother figure to Mehserle, but that
they
> did not socialize outside of work. Pirone’s testimony was full
of
> contradictions. He remembered certain details clearly�"to the
exact positioning of his
> own body, in relation to Grant’s body; but, Pirone had
difficulty remembering
> other details from January 1, 2009 when he was cross-examined by
> prosecuting attorney Stein. Pirone lied on the stand numerous times.
He crafted his
> statements only after being shown video footage by BART and by his
attorney,
> Bill Rapoport,, and after being coached to testify about certain
details of
> the murder. When Pirone was asked questions that required a
‘yes’ or ‘no’
> answer, he quickly deferred to an “I don’t know”
statement so as not to
> further contradict himself. While on the stand, Pirone contradicted
statements
> he made in transcripts from BART interviews (March 17th),
BART’s walk-through
> (January 29th), and statements he made to the District Attorney.
Numerous
> times, prosecuting attorney Stein read statements from interviews and
> supplemental transcripts that Pirone made, which contradicted what
Pirone had just
> recounted on the stand. It was only when Stein read statements
directly from
> the legal transcripts did Pirone admit, “if that is what the
transcript
> says then that is correct.” At no point did Pirone directly
state that his
> words were the truth, or that his statements were an accurate
depiction of what
> occurred on the BART platform, on January 1, 2009. On two occasions,
Pirone
> lost his calm under pressure. He flippantly made remarks about having
one’s “
> ass kicked;” and, when Pirone described using a
“hair-pull take down” to
> bring down one of the youths on the platform (Michael Greer), he
stated that
> it would be difficult for the youth, pushed 3-4 feet off balance, to
pull
> out a gun “when your head is in a wall.”
>
> Pirone’s contradictions and verbal slip-ups gave the court a
taste of his
> excessively violent and aggressive tendencies. It was evident that
Pirone’s
> statements on the stand were to corroborate legal statements he made
in a
> variety of investigations�"statements that did not accurately
narrate the facts
> of January 1, 2009 against other testimonies and court transcripts.
For
> example, when Pirone was asked if he ever saw Grant’s hands
behind his back
> before Grant was shot, Pirone stated “no.” However, when
prosecuting attorney
> Stein rolled video footage and zoomed in on Grant’s hands
behind his back in
> a cuffing position, it was then that Pirone responded to the image
> indicating “what appears to be two hands.” According to
Pirone, Grant had called
> Pirone a “Bitch ass nigga”. When asked whether Pirone
had yelled at Grant to, “
> sit the fuck down,” Pirone hesitantly stated, “probably
yes,” but that he
> had used that language because he was in shock at the language that
Grant
> had directed towards him. Throughout his testimony Pirone made
numerous
> requests for permission to swear in the court, adding that he did not
typically
> use language like that. Even though Pirone showed an unwillingness to
repeat
> racialized profanity in the courtroom, transcripts, video, and audio
footage
> show Pirone yelling at Greer to “get the fuck off my
train,” yelling at
> Grant to “sit the fuck down,” and yelling twice at Grant
who was face down on
> the platform, “Bitch ass nigga?! Bitch ass nigga?!
Yeah!” Pirone later
> stated that he used profanity as a method of force, after it was
established by
> the footage that Pirone had lost all self-control and had in fact been
more
> of a threat to the youths on the platform. At no point did Pirone make
the
> connection that his use of force elicited protective and defensive
reactions
> from the youths on the platform on January 1, 2009, which Pirone
described
> as combative stances that were threatening to the officers’
safety.
>
> In his testimony, Pirone stated that he charged Grant and Michael
Greer
> with Penal Code 148, a misdemeanor for resisting arrest. Despite
Pirone’s claim
> that Grant was uncooperative and that he “never stopped with
the
> profanities,” when Pirone was asked whether he remembered Grant
speaking about having
> a child, Pirone stated that he remembered Grant saying that he had a
> four-year-old daughter but that he did not remember when the
discussion occurred.
> This discredited Pirone’s claim that Grant was wholly
uncooperative. Pirone
> continued on that Grant was not listening and Grant had taken a
combative
> stance, with his fists clenched. Pirone also stated that Grant had
kneed him in
> the groin and had thrown punches; moments later Pirone suggested that
it
> might have been a kick or a knee, but that he was not sure. Pirone
said that
> he had delivered an elbow to the upper portion of Grant’s body,
after he was
> kneed or kicked, and that his defensive arm posture may have come into
> contact with Grant’s head. When asked why Pirone had not
reported and charged
> Grant with Penal Code 243C (a felony) for assaulting a police officer,
Pirone
> responded stating that “penal codes are semantics when someone
is under
> arrest.” The reason Pirone never arrested Grant for a felony
was because Grant
> never assaulted Pirone. Pirone’s portrayal of Grant as a threat
was false. The
> video footage discredited Pirone’s claims showing that Grant
did not
> advance towards him, nor did Grant knee Pirone, and in fact, Pirone
showed no
> difficulty with walking around the platform after claiming that Grant
had kneed
> him in the groin.
>
> Pirone also stated that Grant’s hands were never visible and
that Grant’s
> hands appeared to be at his waistband. He did not remember whether
Grant
> landed on his back or on his side. He remembered that he had held
Grant’s upper
> back and head down with his hands and that while Mehserle was
straddling
> him, Grant was “flopping around trying to get away.”
When questioned about
> whether Pirone had taken any action to prevent Grant’s head
from striking the
> ground, Pirone stated that he did not remember. Surprisingly, however,
> Pirone remembered that he held down Grant with two of his hands and
with his
> knee, later having to change position because Grant was squirming and
had broken
> free. He ordered Grant, twice, to put his hands behind his back, and
to
> stop resisting, but he never saw Grant put his arms behind his back.
Pirone,
> who weighs 250lbs with his gun belt on, does not remember applying his
full
> weight to Grant’s body. When questioned about whether Grant
said anything with
> regards to being compliant or with regards to giving up, Pirone
stated, “no”
> .
>
> According to Pirone’s testimony, Mehserle stated twice that he
was going to
> tase Grant, yelling, “get back, get back, Tony, Tony!”
Pirone then “popped
> up,” recollecting that at some point Mehserle yelled that
Grant’s hands
> were at his waistband, “I can’t get his hands!”
stated Mehserle. Pirone
> stated that he still did not know if Grant had a gun, nor did he
search Grant.
> When questioned whether Grant’s hands appeared to be out,
Pirone stated “no,”
> and that he had gotten up right after Mehserle yelled, “get
back, get back,
> Tony, Tony!” Pirone did not know why he got up. Before he had
stood erect,
> he heard the gun shot. “I thought the taser
malfunctioned,” Pirone stated,
> even though he could not see taser probes on Grant’s back.
According to
> Pirone, when tasers are deployed, two probes puncture the skin,
sending out
> voltage for five seconds upon penetration. Thin copper wires are
typically
> visible at the end of the probes, but Pirone did not see those wires
or the
> probes, instead he saw a black hold. When he looked up, Pirone saw a
gun in
> Mehserle’s hands, pointed at Grant. Pirone stated, “I
think I said, Oh shit!”
> The gunshot was not what he expected to hear, and there was a look of
shock on
> Mehserle’s face. Pirone radioed in for a supervisor and for
detectives.
> Pirone stated that he never searched Grant, nor did he radio in an
> officer-involved shooting, because he did not want other officers in
the area to be
> distraught. Pirone stated that he thought radioing in for a supervisor
was
> adequate enough to suppress the situation at hand. When asked if he
attended to
> Grant, Pirone stated not until after he had made the request for a
> supervisor. He did say that he called in a code 3 medical, asking for
a paramedic. As
> he was transmitting, Mehserle followed Pirone around. When Mehserle
started
> to say something, Pirone told him to wait. As Pirone was walking
towards
> Grant, Mehserle stated to Pirone that he thought Grant had a gun. At
this point
> the train had left, but Pirone stated that he did not know who
released the
> train, or when it was released. Who was attending to Grant in these
> moments?!
>
> When asked whether Pirone had administered CPR to Grant, Pirone stated
that
> BART officers do not administer CPR for people who are conscious and
> breathing. Apparently, Grant was conscious and breathing and Pirone
was talking to
> him. Officer Garra (spelling?) came up and applied pressure to
Grant’s
> back. His handcuffs were removed and “someone searched
him,” although Pirone
> could not recollect who searched Grant. “There was something
shiny protruding
> from the top left” portion of Grant’s chest. Pirone
stated that he was
> holding Grant’s hand, trying to coach him to “stay with
me” until paramedics
> arrived on the platform. Pirone later left with Officers Gibson and
Domenici
> to the Lake Merritt Bart where he gave an interview in the late
morning, and
> was later interviewed three more times in the following days.
>
> It was evident from video footage and from his testimony that Pirone
acted
> aggressively and violently with the youths on the platform�"he
treated all of
> the youths as though they were armed and guilty of a crime. Pirone
already
> had his taser drawn and had hit the taser’s safety switch, even
though the
> youths had done nothing to justify the withdrawal of the taser. Though
Grant
> did not match the radio call description of “five African
men” dressed in
> black, Pirone aggressively escorted Grant off the BART train. Even
though
> Pirone did not recall pointing his taser at Grant, video footage
concurred that
> Pirone had in fact pointed his taser through the BART train window,
banging
> it on the window, pointing it at Grant who was still on the BART train
> before being taken out onto the platform. When questioned about why
Pirone had
> not ordered or actually pat searched the three young men who were
compliant
> on the platform, Pirone stated that because they were cussing at him
he did
> not search them or ask them if they had any weapons. Pirone stated
that even
> though Domenici arrived on the scene, he still did not search the
youths
> because he did not want to put Domenici in a threatening situation. He
stated
> that they were outnumbered and there were still two suspects (Grant
and
> Greer) whom Pirone needed to detain because he feared that those two
might be
> armed. When questioned about the wisdom of leaving his partner in a
dire
> scenario with three young men�"where there was a “high
probability” that at least
> one of the young men was armed�"Pirone stated that he chose not
to pat search
> the young because they were cooperative since their hands were
visible.
> This contradicted his earlier testimony that the young men seated on
the
> platform were uncooperative and cussing at him. Furthermore,
Pirone’s mental state
> about feeling threatened by youths he assumed had guns, does not make
sense
> since he did not search or ask them about weapons. Pirone did not act
on
> his mental state, which brings into question his entire testimony
about
> facing, “deathly threat” on the “chaotic and very
loud” platform scene where “
> fifty to a hundred people” were exiting train cars towards him.
>
> Video footage shown in court indicated that the platform was not as
chaotic
> as the BART officers’ testimonies suggest; nor were there over
fifty people
> exiting train cars; at no point did any of the officers activate their
> emergency buttons; nor did the youths physically resist the officers
as the
> officers suggested in their testimonies. Pirone’s inability to
pat search,
> handcuff, or inquire about weapons, and his decision to abandon his
partner with
> youths who had not been searched�"to go after Grant and Greer
whom he charged
> with a misdemeanor�"indicated that Pirone in effect had no
concern that
> Grant or any of the youths had guns. Instead, Pirone testified that
there was a
> high probability that the youths might have had guns to make it appear
that
> the shooting of Grant was justified.
>
> Proving ‘no malice’ �" Day Seven
>
> On the last day of the preliminary hearing, Judge C. Don Clay denied
> defense attorney Rains’ request for Jackie Bryson (who was on
his knees next to
> Grant) to take the stand. Rains wanted to use circumstantial evidence
to prove
> no malice on Mehserle’s part, but Judge C. Don Clay ruled
against Bryson
> testifying stating that all of the past witness statements were
cumulative,
> and that no one else on the platform could tell the judge what
Mehserle was
> thinking except Mehserle himself. Despite attorney Rains’
outrage and charge
> that the judge’s decision was fundamentally prejudicial, the
judge ruled
> against Jackie Bryson taking the stand. Judge C. Don Clay pointed out
that the
> state of fear on the platform claimed by BART officers contradicted
their use
> and choice of weapons. Pirone had testified that he thought the shot
was a
> taser malfunction, but he also claimed that there was a threat of a
gun
> since Mehserle had told Pirone that he thought Grant was going for a
gun, and
> since Pirone claimed Grants’ hands were at his waistband and
not visible, thus
> calling for deadly force on the part of the officers. According to
Judge C.
> Don Clay, the change in mindset about the use of a taser and the use
of a
> gun pointed out by Pirone’s testimony could only be explained
by Mehserle.
> Rains stated that he wanted to prove no malice by asserting that
Mehserle was
> ill trained with a taser, since Mehserle only had three weeks of taser
> training. Rains had wanted to call a witness to the stand to testify
about
> Mehserle’s motor skills but the request was denied as
speculative by the judge,
> since it would be based on unsubstantiated opinion rather than
concrete
> knowledge. Consequently, Pirone returned to the stand and two more
witnesses�"
> Michael Schott, a former Alameda police offer, now media analyst, and
BART
> Officer Foreman�"would testify.
>
> In the cross-examination, prosecuting attorney Stein continued
pointing out
> discrepancies in statements that Pirone made on the stand in
comparison to
> statements he made in, a supplemental report for the January 29th BART
> walk-through at Fruitvale BART station, a BART interview on March
17th, and in a
> statement that Pirone gave at the Lake Merritt BART station the
morning that
> Grant was shot. Pirone crafted his statements about Mehserle intending
to
> use his taser, because of what he knew about the defense’s
stand. Pirone made
> no mention of looking for taser probes in his written statements from
the
> morning of the shooting to the March 17th BART interview. When
questioned
> about why he didn’t mention that he thought the gunshot was a
taser malfunction
> in his March 17th statement, Pirone responded with “I
don’t know”
> statements to each of the discrepancies.
>
> Stein resurfaced statements that Pirone made in the transcripts about
being
> afraid of being shot by Grant while Grant was being held down. Stein
> questioned Pirone about how Grant was pushed to the ground. When he
asked if there
> was any need for Grant to be thrown down face down to the ground,
Pirone
> stated that “yes, he needed to be handcuffed.” It became
apparent that the
> difficulty that the officers faced in handcuffing Grant had more to do
with
> how he was thrown to the ground than to Grant being resistant or a
threat.
> According to video footage, Grant was so forcefully pushed to ground,
that his
> body was strewn over Michael Reyes’ leg. In fact,
Grant’s body had to be
> repositioned to allow Reyes to remove his leg. According to the
footage, when
> Reyes was able to remove his leg out from under Grant, then Grant was
able
> to remove his hands. Thus, “to solve the problem of Mr. Grant,
was for Mr.
> Reyes to remove his leg. Isn’t it true, Officer Pirone that you
posed more of
> a threat to Oscar Grant then he ever posed to you!” exclaimed
prosecuting
> attorney Stein. Pirone’s perjury, coupled with replays of video
footage
> exposed the grossly, prejudicial treatment of the youths on the
platform, as well
> as the unjust cover-up of police violence and racism towards poor
people.
>
> When Pirone got off the stand, Rains immediately called attention to
> close-up images of Mehserle pulling out his weapon. Rains was trying
to make it
> appear that the manner in which Mehserle’s hand was positioned
on his gun, was
> the manner in which Mehserle would have been pulling out a taser.
After
> calling attention to the ‘accuracy’ of these images,
Rains called Michael
> Schott to the stand. Schott, according to Rains is a “forensic
image analyst.”
> He retired as a police officer in 1992 after serving on the police
force
> since 1975. Schott came to testify about “spatial distance
distortion” in the
> video footage captured by BART riders. Rains’ hoped to use
Schott to
> discredit the validity of the cell phone footage courageously taken by
BART
> passengers. However, despite Schott’s doctored synchronization
of the footage,
> Judge C. Don Clay became impatient, correcting Schott’s use of
“we” when Schott
> described what he saw on the footage. Judge C. Don Clay kept
emphasizing
> that what Schott was describing was in fact what Schott was seeing and
that
> the judge knew exactly what evident to himself from the footage. After
> tediously viewing video clips that Schott had spliced and magnified on
the screen,
> Schott’s footage disproved Pirone’s testimony that the
platform was chaotic
> and that close to 100 people were advancing towards him. Schott was
shortly
> called off the stand.
>
> Finally, prosecuting attorney Stein called BART Officer Foreman to the
> stand. Foreman spent five and a half hours with Mehserle, right after
Mehserle
> shot Grant. Foreman testified that at no time during those hours or in
the
> subsequent days did Mehserle say that he had mistaken his gun for his
taser.
> Foreman received a phone call at 3:30am from a supervising BART
officer.
> Mehserle had requested Foreman to come down to the Lake Merritt BART
station
> because Mehserle was involved in an officer-related shooting. Foreman
was given
> no details about the shooting. He stated that he called Mehserle from
his
> car to see if he was okay, but Mehserle gave him no details either.
Foreman
> had known Mehserle for 22 months; he had worked with Mehserle and they
were
> friends. Foreman stated that he went to the Lake Merritt BART station
to
> offer support to Mehserle. During the five and a half hours he was
with
> Mehserle, Foreman stated that Mehserle said, “It was
different,” and “he thought
> the person had a gun.” When questioned about the mistaken use
of a gun for a
> taser, Foreman repeated that Mehserle did not say anything about
meaning to
> pull out his taser. Foreman continued contact with Mehserle in the
subsequent
> days, and Mehserle did not talk about mistaking his gun for a taser.
During
> the time Foreman spent with Mehserle, he did not want Mehserle to go
into
> the details of the event. It was clear from Foreman’s testimony
that the “
> blue wall of silence” is a pervasive culture of silence
enforced within
> policing, a culture that allowed time for attorneys and officers on
the platform
> to craft a contrived defense to prove that Mehserle acted with no
malice.
>
> [The following statements made by the prosecution, the defense, and by
the
> court judge have been paraphrased. Some lines are verbatim.]
>
> Prosecuting attorney Stein’s statement
>
> The first two days of the preliminary hearing had to do with reviewing
> video footage to consider whether there was enough probable cause to
hold
> Mehserle for the criminal charge of murder. The elements of murder
that establish
> probable cause entail: 1) that there was in fact the killing of one
person
> by another, and 2) that there was malice. The video footage clearly
shows the
> first element�"that Johannes Mehserle shot Oscar Grant. Does the
evidence
> establish reasonable grounds to determine a mental state of malice?
The ‘malice
> ’ that Stein discussed moved beyond the typical definition of
malice as
> ill-will or hatred; in a court of law the definition of malice is the
intent to
> kill. How do we determine intent? Stein stated that the act of the
shooting
> itself most clearly determines that there was intent to kill. Michael
> Schott established on the stand that video is helpful in determining
crime.
> According to Stein, witnesses may see the same event but may witness
it
> differently according to the stress they are under. However, video is
not subjected
> to stress. And the video footage that is available to the court shows
> Mehserle pulling a gun and shooting Oscar Grant III in the back.
Frames from the
> footage show Mehserle looking at exactly what he is doing, looking at
the
> holster of the gun. An officer looking at his or her weapon before
using it,
> strongly demonstrates the intent to kill. Mehserle knows that you
don’t pull
> your gun unless you intend to destroy someone and he did just that
when he
> fired that gun into the center of Grant’s back.
>
> Even though every effort was made by the defense to make the platform
seem
> chaotic enough to elicit an exaggerated level of fear from the
officers on
> the platform, we are still left with the videos that still show intent
to
> kill. Furthermore, the record is silent about what Mehserle said
moments after
> he shot Grant and days afterwards. Mehserle never said he made a
mistake, or
> that he shot Grant with the wrong weapon. It is human nature to admit
a
> mistake right away. Officer Foreman would have been that person to
whom
> Mehserle would have admitted that mistake. The court is familiar with
murder cases
> and with human nature. What was said on record is inconsistent with
the
> human nature of someone who had just taken a human life. Stein asked
the court
> to consider that Grant could have been placed on his knees as Jackie
Bryson
> was instead of being thrown onto the floor; and Stein asked the court
to
> consider that in fact Grant is seen holding back Bryson when Michael
Greer was
> thrown against a wall. Grant was not a deathly threat as portrayed by
Pirone
> and other officers. He was cooperative, he had restraint, and he made
a
> conscious effort to make a statement about his daughter.
>
> Defense attorney Rains’ statement
>
> This is not a murder case. We are not determining innocence or guilt;
we
> are determining probable cause. The issue is whether evidence
indicates that
> Mehserle acted with malice�"in a way that was dangerous where
there was a
> conscious disregard for life. The available evidence indicates that
Mehserle
> intended to tase the victim and not act with a conscious disregard for
life.
> Mehserle was in control up until the fatal shot; he was in control of
his
> mouth and his actions until he thought Oscar Grant was going for a
gun. He
> stands up, as though he was deploying his taser, and it took him a
long time to
> pull it out because he thought he was pulling out a taser. The officer
> announced his intention to tase, he made the motion, and a gun goes
off. Not a
> single witness who testified said that they saw anything but horror on
Mehserle’
> s face. There’s no malice because all of his actions were
consistent with a
> man who was using a non-lethal weapon towards someone who was
resisting.
> Rains stated that autopsy and forensic reports state that Grant was
resisting
> because his right shoulder was off the ground. Rains’ account
does not
> consider how Grant may have reacted to the forceful impact and
penetration of the
> bullet. Nor does Rains’ account consider Pirone’s
testimony that after
> being shot, Grant attempted to move, which was when Pirone stated that
he
> attempted to calm Grant down and to keep him conscious. Albeit, given
Pirone’s
> consistent contradictions, we ultimately must rely on video evidence
that
> clearly demonstrates that Grant was not resistant.
>
> Judge C. Don Clay’s statement
>
> This was the first time Judge C. Don Clay experienced a case of an
> officer-involved shooting where the officer did not indicate what his
state of mind
> was at the time of the murder. For Judge C. Don Clay, this case was
not just
> about the videotape. This case boils down Mehserle’s state of
mind. The
> only means of determining state of mind is from circumstances around
the
> incident, and even that is truly speculative. There is no competent
evidence to
> support the finding that the shot was an accident. The defendant
stated that “I
> ’m going to tase him,” then shoots him, then states that
“I thought he had
> a gun/his hands were going for his waistband.” This is not
sufficient
> evidence about Mehserle’s state of mind to excuse the act. What
evidence supports
> that Mehserle acted in self-defense? If in fact he acted in
self-defense
> then Mehserle would have to admit that the act was an act of
intention. Oscar
> Grant was attempting to document the police misconduct when he pulled
out
> his cell phone. Pirone responded with “can’t take
pictures” and subsequently,
> Grant was aggressively pushed to the ground. Grant was portrayed as
> resistant�"as “a deathly threat” to Pirone. The
judge stated that he was uncertain
> that Grant posed a deathly threat enough to elicit the level of deadly
force
> that it did from officers on the platform. These young men did nothing
to
> warrant the use of deadly force. The judge discussed the elevated
state of
> mind of the officers leaving gun related incidents in West Oakland and
San
> Francisco. Adrenaline was rushing and there was a lot of uncertainty
about what
> was happening on the platform. However, even though the officers
described
> chaos and threats, they never pressed their emergency buttons. The
judge
> referred to separate testimony from BART rider Daniel Liu and Pirone
that
> described how Mehserle’s hands were positioned on his gun after
he shot Grant.
> Their testimony cast doubt on Mehserle’s intention to use a
taser, since one
> pulls out a taser with their weak hand, and since the positioning of
Mehserle’
> s weak hand did not coincide with the positioning of his hands on his
gun.
> According to Judge C. Don Clay, “There is no doubt that
Mehserle intended to
> shoot Oscar Grant with a gun and not a taser.” The judge ruled
that
> Mehserle would stand trial for murder. Consequently, Mehserle is be
arraigned on
> June 18th, 2009 with a three million dollar bail.
>
> Thinking and Acting Towards Justice
>
> The People vs. Johannes Mehserle preliminary hearing rested on two
> arguments: (1) the lack of legitimacy of BART police officers’
perception of deathly
> threat, and (2) Johannes Mehserle’s (and the other BART police
officers’)
> intentional malice towards Oscar Grant III. The issue of the taser was
a
> contrived defense that was exposed and discredited by evidence,
testimonies,
> and by the prosecution and judge’s statements. To suggest that
Grant was
> responsible for his own death is unconscionable and inconsistent with
the
> evidence presented. Mehserle’s actions were consistent with
facts that support his
> intent to kill. The violent, unjust, and brutal misconduct of Anthony
> Pirone, Johannes Mehserle, and other officers on the platform, brings
to light
> another crucial question: Should Mehserle be the only officer who
stands trial
> for murder?
>
> The lack of restraint in the aggression and violence perpetrated by
Tony
> Pirone and other BART officers on the platform visually captured a
> premeditated culture of racial profiling and antiblack racism found
within policing in
> Oakland, and in the United States. The creation of a BART civilian
review
> board that lacks the power to independently investigate, charge, and
expose
> the fatal violence of this premeditated culture of racial profiling
and
> antiblack racism within policing does more for BART’s community
relations PR, and
> very little for community-based, organizing efforts to impact
residents who
> have lost faith in a system that too often rules in favor of police
> officers, and against poor people. At Oakland’s
Citizens’ Police Review Board’s
> Policy Forum on Officer-Involved Shootings held on December 11, 2008,
an
> estimated 45 reported officer-involved shootings occurred from
2004-2008 in
> Oakland. The ages ranged from 16-50 years old, and victim involved 36
were African
> American males, 7 were Hispanic males, and the remaining 2 involved an
> Asian male and African American female victim. None of the officers
were
> criminally pro
>

#1116

From: "gellybean1974" <gellybean1974@...>
Date: Thu Jul 2, 2009 1:32 pm
Subject: Youth Force Coalition

gellybean1974

Youth Force Coalition
A coalition of youth organizations fighting against the oppressive attacks on
our communities. We focus on the Prison Industrial Complex which we believe is
related to a multitude of issues including: inaccessible & irrelevant education,
gentrification, the criminalization of our communities, lack of living wage
jobs, police brutality, toxic neighborhoods, inadequate healthcare, etc.
1357 5th St., Oakland, CA 93607 Phone:(510) 451-5466 x 301

#1117

From: Iolmisha@...
Date: Fri Jul 3, 2009 5:44 pm
Subject: Weekly Update - July 4th, 2009 from Caravan4Justice

isfonelove

http://campaign.constantcontact.com/render?v=001AjzVipqH0Brup7pK6NdpzUNS81WrgX5V_aoKTOD4-CzRKUbJRmS5puiCv_O0M0vuzID2gnpcYeKRVRWj87id6A-xUEVPgPzAGdm3TQho-AI%3D

caravanforjustice@...

Justice for Oscar Grant
I AM OSCAR GRANT

Join Our Mailing List! [http://visitor.constantcontact.com/email.jsp?m=1102412884184]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Weekly Meetings
Every Saturday 4 - 6 pm
Olivet Missionary Baptist Church
807 - 27th St. / San Pablo Ave.
Oakland, CA
View Map [http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102630126441&s=707&e=001NxGFln8BB78iWxFX2qot7JrBN-K0IrTZLqGsgdRlnGLy_o25opMKwrUtNB5FVPgy1_EpiJvfscRd-2zcgJmBKogu8qwxdbu03ccgvF9DZGeGBogDpKvlQz1_afc_kv5CmymeE8A7gu72tZJfzNUIiStlkllNUOHpTYFsU0fiGG-Hny6ZMiZAtFMKzJNdsYI4PvMSgU0mPss_UWVOmugaqkd98sspF2kyozPH6LD0S3FukbvA6051TY-4fMQs0l8sX8obfxvr3EqE5L897bgEKwCerbcGkCQCTqLMiAI4k2YT9mCbvX_EQ2kYIaNgaOKI9agl81I_K244Q91_HCYxRyaezJabcCvf]
Thank you to everyone for your continued efforts and support.
Our Unity is Key to gaining Justice for Oscar Grant and all who suffer from police
brutality and injustice.
See you Saturday!
**********
Our continued love to the Family of Oscar Grant.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twitter Logo [http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102630126441&s=707&e=001NxGFln8BB79cgbyFUSrQIcuZvZoaBCU7Ui3oygS0WtDEoEwkDxwbEP7ry0JOVN2JID0-_izpF1SrX2UdQCHuLGEH05MKC2vmIOGRkwnCnQrRhIkRKwbwa7uXNNQHWWzM]
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Supporters,
There will not be a townhall meeting this week. Our next meeting is on July 11th,
2009 at 4 pm. See you then!
Respectfully,
Your Community Council
"Never forget. Justice requires constancy, patience, and hard work."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EduLinks...
Updated Indybay News Coverage [http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102630126441&s=707&e=001NxGFln8BB78k-V9Ypc0zkgmO76XOfnk1n0YoIo0OoIaZm4IuZb72Ymehbb_FITlRRJX37cLXpijBx6fKGXYMwE1h1MAPn8Xvw7OAzlzXQJZTCOVpaNmuI2bhUld-42X0f5AOt2dHzCfX3Ihc8g2Oktm629olQU1PYb0sOZd74qo=]
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Caravan for Justice Part 4
All Roads Lead to Sacramento, CA
July 2009

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#1118

From: mneal000@...
Date: Mon Jul 6, 2009 12:55 am
Subject: Fw: Re: [PrisonReformMovement] Tasered While Black - Mother Loses Child toMurderers and Tased

mneal000

Thank you. I was invited to sign the petition for congressional hearings on Taser deaths at this link: http://www.petition2congress.com/2/1822/taser-torture-in-america-call-congressional-hearings/

As you know, the mentally ill are regularly subjected to pre-trial electrocution by Taser.

I added this to my letter:

Amnesty International reported in Dec. 2008 that the Taser death toll was 334. But Dr. Kohler, Chief Medical Examiner of Summit County, Ohio, was ordered by the court to change her determination of the cause, manner, and mode of death in autopsy reports for three men who died during confrontations with law enforcement and delete all references to death by Taser. She appealed and lost. Therefore, MEs across America were taught that courts will not tolerate them reporting Taser deaths. Dr. Kohler was ordered to change the cause of three deaths from "homicide" to "accidental" and "undetermined." Those would have broght the official Taser death toll to 337. Read about this case of the judge overruling the medical examiner at http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Ohio-Court-of-Appeals-Affirms-pz-14826061.html

The Ohio courts' ruling put MEs across the U.S. on notice to downplay Tasers' role in deaths. Furthermore, MEs are on the same county payrolls as police officers. Some MEs have lied about deaths involving law enforcement, and some were prosecuted. Because many judges, medical examiners, and politicians own Taser stock, suing for death by Taser is like suing those people personally. The same is true of trying to sue jails and prisons since the advent of private prisons.

If there are Congressional Taser hearings, demand to see the stock portfolios of all judges and medical examiners who have input in Taser-death trials, as well as their spouse's and children's portfolios. Also check the portfolios of the congresspersons on the hearing panel. Only if this is done will families of Taser victims be compensated fairly for such deaths. To know how far courts and politicians will go to protect police in the wrong, read about THE COCHRAN FIRM FRAUD online. http://wrongfuldeathoflarryneal.com

Thank you for all you do to uphold justice.

Mary Neal

--- On Sun, 7/5/09, Starr <moelodynstarr@...> wrote:

http://www.nowpubli c.com/culture/ tasered-while- black-mother- loses-child- murderers- and-tased

Tasered While Black - Mother Loses Child toMurderers and Tased

Share:
by AAPPundit | July 5, 2009 at 12:15 pm

17 views | 0 Recommendations | add comment

The blogs Tasered While Black and Electrocuted While Black are reporting on how Louisiana Police have shocked a black mother with a torture device. Blogger Francis L. Holland, publisher of the blog Electrocuted While Black asks, how should police handle a mother who is in shock over the shooting death of her child, Naturally, they should try to soothe and calm her, call psychological specialists to her side, and perhaps offer her a cup of water, right?

That is, unless she is a Black woman in Louisiana. If she is a Black woman in Louisiana:

The frantic mother of a 6-year-old boy killed in this morning's triple murder in Terrytown was subdued with a Taser gun by Jefferson Parish deputies at the murder scene, a sheriff's spokesman said.

The mother of Four Overstreet grew irate with authorities when she arrived at the Monterey Court apartment where the rampage happened before 4 a.m. Saturday. When she got physical, deputies stunned [gave her a 50,000 volt electrical shock] her to bring the situation under control, Col. John Fortunato said. New Orleans Metro Real Time News

African American Political Pundit, publisher of the blog "Tasered While Black, says,

One has to wonder if this would happen in a middle class community and the women was of another color? . . . It's time to have Congressional Taser Hearings into Taser Torture in America. Sign the petition HERE.

#1119

From: ISARConelove@...
Date: Sun Jul 5, 2009 9:10 pm
Subject: another man shot IN THE BACK, 7 times

isfonelove

Date: 7/5/2009 6:01:50 PM Pacific Daylight Time
From: pastorsagainstinjustice@...

I am sending you the information on the shooting that took place here in the Trinidad area of NE, DC. What we do know is that this young man was SHOOT IN THE BACK 7 TIMES, and they are trying to say it was self defense. We are not excepting that lie, so now they are giving us the song and dance routine until they can come up with a way to justify the murder (modern day lynching ) of Trey Joyner. This shooting was done by the Park Police which had no business in a residential neighborhood that has no parks in it.

Please notice how the story changes in each report concerning how many times he was shoot in the back, and how some reports try to make it look as if Trey was brandishing a gun. They say a gun was found yet they don't have any fingerprints to say it belong to Trey. Sooner or later they will say they do....as of now they don't.

We would appreciate it if you could help us to bring national attention to this case.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/08/AR2009060804330.html?wprss=rss_metro/crime&sid=ST2009060903981

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/08/AR2009060804330.html?wprss=rss_metro/crime&sid=ST2009060903981

http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/local/062509_ne_dc_shooting_investigation

http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0609/630321.html

http://mobile.twp.com/news.jsp?key=404606&rc=dc_me

http://briefingroom.thehill.com/2009/06/16/holmes-norton-to-meet-with-police-chief-over-joyner-killing/

Police investigating the police ----we know how that works

http://www.examiner.com/x-12793-DC-Headlines-Examiner~y2009m6d9-Shooting-in-Northeast-leaves-community-wanting-answers

Notice in the link below the last 3 #s in the link. The # 187 is police talk for HOMiCIDE

http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=87134&catid=187

Here is the song &dance.

http://www.examiner.com/a-2084525~Justice_Dept_investigates_US_Park_Police_shooting.html

http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=87685&catid=187

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. Psalm 1:1

Director of Pastors Against Injustice

Pastor J.W.

206-279-8282

#1120

From: "isfonelove" <Iolmisha@...>
Date: Mon Jul 6, 2009 4:58 pm
Subject: a special appeal from Idriss Stelley Foundation, Summer 09

isfonelove

A special Appeal
from Idriss Stelley Action &Resource Center,
San Francisco
(Law Enforcement Accountability Direct Services)

ISARC
Redstone Building, Suite #209
2940 16th Street, SF CA 94103
24HR Bilingual Spanish Hotline:
415-595-8251
ISARConelove@...
http://mysite.verizon.net/vzeo9ewi/idrissstelleyfoundation/
http://mysite.verizon.net/vzeo9ewi/proudtobeblack1/id7.html























Director: mesha Monge-Irizarry (Idriss' Mom)
iolmisha@...
________________________________________________________________

SF, 7-4-09 Dependence Day....

Dear Freedom Fighters and Allies.

On August 20, 2009, my only child Idriss Stelley would have turned 32. but was
killed at 23 by SFPD, 48 bullets, 9 officers, during a "psychiatric
intervention".

Without this horrendous occurrence, (shared through myriad of Stolen Lives at
the hands of Law Enforcement), I would now play with grandchildren, help them
with homework, and take them to my native Basque country every year as I did
with Idriss from his birth to the time of his untimely death.
2 months ago, I finally buried my son's ashes on sacred Olone Land.

For the past 8 years, ISARC has been the sole grassroots entity in the city of
San Francisco providing direct services to Survivors of Law Enforcement and
Grieving Families of Loved Ones killed by police.
We have served over 6000 clients locally, statewide and nationwide, and provide
over 150 yahoogroups for Survivors, Families and social/racial Justice
activists.
We also provide individual counseling, Victory Over Violence Support Groups, pro
bono attorneys referrals, and help individuals organize critical mass alerts and
protests.

Our services are free and confidential.
We depend on the community to keep our doors open.
Our expenses are modest, $225 a month share of rent, and client funds for low
income individuals, who often come to us hungry or with no money to get on a bus
back home.

Since May 08, we host the SF_Chapter of Education Not Incarceration
(ednotinc.org), and since August 08, FORWARD (Bay Area direct support services
to Families of Parolees).

In September 08, we founded SF_COPWATCH infrastructure and grew it to 91 members
online. SF_COPWATCH has now merged with SF Migrawatch and moved on to be an
independent collective, which is awesome !

ISARC is now working on growing support for Justice4Hughes_DeLaPlaza,
French-American citizen killed in SF on June 7, 2007 (SFPD and the DA concluded
to suicide, but the French police came to SF last year and concluded to homicide
at 100%)
We are also growing support for survivors of electronic harassment.

Unfortunately, our client base is not diminishing under the regime of "Hope" and
"Change"...
Our Justice4Oscar_Grant yahoogroup has grown to 332 members. and we compile an
on going updated list of endorsers of Justice4Oscar Grant III campaign, that we
share with other organizations working on this horrific case.


Please consider giving us a hand !
No donation is too big or too small....

$5 provides a week worth of bus tokens for our poor clients
$10 covers our DSL monthly connection for our clients to work on their outreach
$20 pays for our monthly street outreach (flyers and cards)
$50 buys healthy snacks for our Internship program kids
$60 covers the monthly cell bill for a client in crisis
$75 is the monthly cost if field trips for our interns
$200 allows one of our client to file in federal court
$225 is a month of office rent
$500 secures our Stolen Lives yearly induction ceremony to honor our Client
Families.

Checks (non tax deductible, we are not 501-c3, to remain free in agenda and
programs) can be processed to
ISARC
Redstone Building, Suite #209
2940 16th St, SF CA 94103

You can remain anonymous or we will be happy to honor your contributions !

Thank you big time to Berkeley Copwatch's $200 generous donation of last month
that allowed us to repair our computer,
Cyndy Sheehan $250 in September 08 to Education Not Incarceration !!!!
and Activist Naomi Finklestein of Seatlle who sent us a Dell Laptop !!!

and Eternal thanks to Brother Orlando McGill for maintaining our websites !!!

We are in process of organizing a benefit on Idriss B-day, 8-20-09, to raise
funds to contine providing a safe, confidential space for our needy clients.


In Unity &Respect
mesha Monge-Irizarry, director
(415) 595-8251

#1121

From: ISARConelove@...
Date: Thu Jul 9, 2009 8:36 pm
Subject: Weekly Update - July 11th, 2009

isfonelove

Weekly Update - July 11th, 2009
Date: 7/9/2009 10:48:08 AM Pacific Daylight Time
From: caravanforjustice@...
To: isarconelove@...

http://campaign.constantcontact.com/render?v=001z34ipSxDjuthBemqgnxx3XKgaS_hVcdy3sY6f7UfMB1JvQ5qLEoqbFMGzshS2m2qGRy13WS_LAkupaQDjS_mNooXEiI90iCrDSHiagmx-Uc%3D

Justice for Oscar Grant
I AM OSCAR GRANT

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Join Our Mailing List! [http://visitor.constantcontact.com/email.jsp?m=1102412884184]
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Weekly Meetings
Every Saturday 4 - 6 pm
Olivet Missionary Baptist Church
807 - 27th St. / San Pablo Ave.
Oakland, CA
View Map [http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102635501687&s=702&e=001JaXVM-I4TORoH7g5wW6ZmHoWAH13loFxA4YbtQIwhCfvoA6Y0SQ6tladkZHZq2SlTkjaB_VfG3T3QRRb-NUynTNTZAul-VAS94GqGBGE6PHVUVnjOme6pkRCaJvK_6HW5PfITTj3H8XsfuaHXiab3jvXOItKg1uMv7H-zrgjF1PiKNKALotl4BduwuHlIRb5DvVL0PBFlwPttocXc9Jir1bsKds3a1ZLXbJGLQTEjaoQRZHmehd1fSvz-RrTwbsjcjfO_owGVlkTKyPLrrki49PIAN32fPkjji5c0pJ4re57oOO0sokWbvaJUOk52THpZYWKixc89EZG3A6fqfNNIvoZipyC8EwA]
Thank you to everyone for your continued efforts and support.
Our Unity is Key to gaining Justice for Oscar Grant and all who suffer from police
brutality and injustice.
See you Saturday!
**********
Our continued love to the Family of Oscar Grant.
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Twitter Logo [http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102635501687&s=702&e=001JaXVM-I4TOSL1tIhtUnZXrxk2MrPfvxYxC3h4lbbHKjd17aFAI0-lg6TaxO3NxbfXbk12oDcuRPvpxtGqGFyB7IA3brMUWDEceWIhPLeL1EeETQW9gswWEvctRMFpcY7]
San Francisco [http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102635501687&s=702&e=001JaXVM-I4TOSL1tIhtUnZXrxk2MrPfvxYxC3h4lbbHKjd17aFAI0-lg6TaxO3NxbfXbk12oDcuRPvpxtGqGFyB7IA3brMUWDEceWIhPLeL1EeETQW9gswWEvctRMFpcY7]
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Dear Supporters,
We're back this Saturday, July 11th at Olivet Institutional Missionary Baptist Church
at 4PM. Each one bring one! Let's build this movement together. Because what
happened to Oscar Grant and his family could happen to any one of us, on any given
day.
Respectfully,
Your Community Council
"Never forget. Justice requires constancy, patience, and hard work."
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EduLinks...
Updated Indybay News Coverage [http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102635501687&s=702&e=001JaXVM-I4TOTBk_bH7m2sdI2GjaWCdD4UUKLW_x4U5ODhOikd2LITH0bFTyVVPqw7sEZOlN0FsJ2X3VRhjo3xGaOwRvmTvWtk6uohG4vuiLyTfOSMmhUD3lVxZdVqs5u29xV0jicZhR3ASuMfu0Ucvrol4JdBEB80ZuMvG7VdN6w=]
Updated Yahoo Groups Coverage [http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102635501687&s=702&e=001JaXVM-I4TORuC4dFbMqhib7Dpyub1z8IJ5e3UlDIK8LvSNQWcVGNIkHrEzhbxTE3gC_d3UTfgPK_hMEM2HTD5asolcaH1Cjk0kPEMCsPFcW4Mg3BbMuho-aDSRT6gJ9YK-Dqkj4mW_2SCFQ1kHjb2w==]
Caravan for Justice 3 Photos [http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102635501687&s=702&e=001JaXVM-I4TOSyjO0FX06vlVOga7HgfdwtdQEZyqXSnJTPXd-6oO5xNhVtD5y76j70x8DSrOBy0LIO67KrEYgDaUhMVDBmT6lSYeOsa0RrGMBdkC7xUzBjDVtHMPsuZLHBs8HQ3H9vka1N7Yd8EQZunV6Gnz2NTI19BBmDx9cXAMjMGnMnwfx_RMCCjEp1MpbK]
Caravan for Justice 3 VIDEO [http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102635501687&s=702&e=001JaXVM-I4TOSAZDNIFb5Xu0amFkiTYojnhs9hRWEkdyw3HL7--Ijjz-TJdVbKhDU-OV6XU1iKpj3eVeZGScxa7FOSTWBn863LnEww3lVZciwQmzXYUDItFYiPlJEWtRx5yD8MByKgkgWRy5MsqBHLTLV1QolJUh7F7LXdSfEkwH4=]
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Caravan for Justice Part 4
All Roads Lead to Sacramento, CA
July 2009

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#1122

From: "gellybean1974" <gellybean1974@...>
Date: Sun Jul 12, 2009 12:19 pm
Subject: Fatal Shooting Of Woodrow Player Jr. By police

gellybean1974

Four others are shot the next day near the memorial for Woodrow Player Jr.
By Molly Hennessy-Fiske
July 12, 2009
Civil rights leaders called for a federal investigation into the fatal shooting
of Woodrow Player Jr. by Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies in unincorporated
Athens, which became the scene Saturday of yet more shootings.

Player, 22, was shot multiple times as he ran from deputies in the 11200 block
of Berendo Avenue about 8:45 p.m. Friday, authorities said.



  Photos: ShootingsInvestigators said they recovered a gun from Player's car, but
witnesses said he was unarmed when deputies shot him in the back.

Sheriff's Department spokesman Steve Whitmore promised a thorough review of the
shooting.

"This will be examined from top to bottom. And if there are any inconsistencies,
they will be brought forth," Whitmore said.


But Earl Ofari Hutchinson, president of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable,
and Eddie Jones of the L.A. Civil Rights Assn. joined Player's relatives
Saturday at the place where Player was shot to call for a federal investigation.

"We have no confidence in the Sheriff's Department to investigate itself,"
Hutchinson said, dismissing the sheriff's Office of Independent Review, which is
investigating.

About 2:30 p.m. Saturday, half an hour before Hutchinson went to the area, three
men drove up in a gray late-model Buick and shot three men and a woman gathered
at a makeshift memorial. All four were taken to a local hospital.

"It's a shame. The streets are not safe," said Jody Mitchell, 42, whose
19-year-old son, Princeton Blackwell, was among those shot.

Investigators were still searching for the gunmen late Saturday and had not
determined whether the shooting was gang-related, a sheriff's spokesman said.

The night before, deputies had stopped Player as he was driving about a block
west of Imperial Highway and Vermont Avenue after a woman called the department
to report that a man fitting Player's description had threatened her and their
child with a gun.

Player and his wife have a 1-year-old daughter, but Tyisha Player, 24, said she
did not call deputies. Player also has a 4-year-old son with an ex-girlfriend
who lives nearby, but it was not known whether she made the call.

When deputies pulled up behind Player's car to question him, he ran toward a
nearby alley, Whitmore said.

"The suspect reached for his waistband and turned toward deputies," Whitmore
said. "They, thinking they were going to be shot at, fired."

Player was shot multiple times and died at the scene, said Lt. Brian Elias of
the county coroner's office.

Shendall Duncan, 35, of Athens said she saw deputies shoot Player three times in
the back before he fell. He attempted to keep running and was shot again, she
said.

Investigators had not determined late Saturday whether Player was armed when he
was shot or whether he was the suspect deputies were initially seeking, Whitmore
said.

Player had been affiliated with the East Coast Crips, served time in prison on a
drug charge and was on parole at the time he was shot, relatives said.

Since he was acquitted of a murder charge last year, he had begun to turn his
life around, his wife said, attending church and studying for his GED.

molly.hennessy-fiske

@latimes.com

#1123

From: SF Bay View <editor@...>
Date: Mon Jul 13, 2009 3:15 am
Subject: [Fwd: consolidated Oscar Grant III coverage at indybay.org]

editor@...

-------- Original Message --------

Subject:	consolidated Oscar Grant III coverage at indybay.org
Date:	Sun, 12 Jul 2009 15:51:40 -0700
From:	dave id <daveid@...>
Reply-To:	daveid@...
To:	daveid@...
References:	<C1F1CF9F-6FAD-421F-9FBD-66A118B125AE@...> <4A5A578A.4040903@...>

hello good activist peoples

I rarely ever send out unsolicited mass emails, but I wanted to let you 
know that I convinced my fellow Indybay volunteers to support an Indybay 
web address just for Oscar Grant (it was an easy sell)...   

http://www.indybay.org/oscargrant   

it's simple to remember and tell other people about.  every feature 
Indybay has done on the movement for justice since January is linked 
there, and the features include nearly every related post that has come 
in.   about the only missing things at this point might be some of the 
latest posts about the BART police oversight meetings and the NOBLE 
meetings (because there is no feature for those yet).  it may evolve 
somewhat over time, but even as it is there's a wealth of information 
from a wide variety of sources 

please, feel free to spread the word, link from your websites, print the 
web address in flyers, and whatnot.  that's a permanent URL dedicated to 
Oscar Grant.  

also, don't forget that Indybay is an open-publishing site which means 
all of you are welcome to use it to publish your social-activist news 
and opinions to the newswire and events to the calendar.  feel free to 
post video, audio, photos, and/or text.  ask me for help if you ever 
need it.   one of my favorite posts of late came from Rekia Jibrin of 
Oakland copwatch on the last two days of the Mehserle hearing: 
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/07/01/18604946.php  

thanx for all that you do 

peace,
david

#1124

From: Iolmisha@...
Date: Mon Jul 13, 2009 8:58 pm
Subject: Re: http://www.indybay.org/oscargrant

isfonelove

Subj: Re: http://www.indybay.org/oscargrant
Date: 7/13/2009 2:27:34 AM Pacific Daylight Time
From: editor@...
To: iolmisha@... (ISARC)

Yeah, David is wonderful. He's been at just about everything connected to Oscar Grant, writing, taking pictures and recording audio. I hope people use it ... forever!

Iolmisha@... wrote:

what a wonderful idea !!!!!

#1125

From: nojusticenobart nobart <nojusticenobart@...>
Date: Tue Jul 14, 2009 5:18 pm
Subject: "BITCH ASS NIGGER" is BART Police Protocol.

nojusticenobart

BART Officer Tony Pirone kneeled on Oscar Grant's Neck and called him a "BITCH ASS NIGGER" seconds before he was shot in the back by Officer Johannes Mehserle. �BART Police Chief Gee watched this on video, and called it "Following protocol and performing his duties in a professional manner".

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
JUSTICE FOR OSCAR GRANT!
PROTEST THIS THURSDAY AT 5 PM

12TH STREET BART STATION
Meet by Frank Ogawa Plaza:
14th and Browadway, by the Flagpole
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

�Yes, this is for real. �"BITCH ASS NIGGER" are some of the last words Oscar Grant III heard before he was murdered by BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle on January 1st, 2009. �Mehserle is standing trial for murder, and at Johannes Mehserle's pre-trial hearing, half a year after Oscar's murder, a lot more information came to light about what took place on January 1st, 2009. �It's information that BART's General Manager and Police Chief have known all along, and have been trying to hide while lying to the public. �

Court transcripts show that on January 1st, BART Police confiscated (stole) a high quality video from a passenger.� The video captures Pirone's assault on Oscar and his racist slur. �The transcripts reveal beyond a shadow of a doubt that Officer Tony Pirone beat Oscar (as well as other passengers), and then kneeled on Oscar's neck while calling him a �BITCH-ASS NIGGER�, seconds before Johannes Mehserle fired a fatal shot into the young man's back. � But to this day, neither Tony Pirone nor any of the other officers who took part or facilitated the attack on Oscar have faced ANY consequences for their roles in his murder. �

Instead, BART has attempted to protect Tony Pirone and the other corrupt BART Police Officers. �On January 12th, knowing the public did not have access the confiscated video, BART General Manager Dorothy Dugger and Police Chief Gary Gee announced the results of their internal affairs investigation, � exonerating ALL of the officers, including Tony Pirone, of any wrongdoing. �Chief Gee said, "All of the other officers who responded to the incident at around 2:00 a.m. at the Fruitvale Station followed protocol and they performed their duties in a professional manner". �In February, after video taken by witnesses showed Tony Pirone pushing and striking Oscar, Dugger tried yet another manipulation to quell protests from the public. �Without consulting our elected officials on BART's Board of Directors, she hired her cronies at the law firm Meyers Nave to perform a second "independent" investigation. �On April 3, while the investigation was still in full swing, Dugger instructed BART lawyers to file a legal brief blaming Oscar for his own murder. �And it is now July, and although the Meyers Nave investigation was supposed to be concluded by May, Dugger's chosen law firm has yet to deliver any report at all. �

CURRENT NEWS
http://www.indybay.org/oscargrant

GET INVOLVED
http://nojusticenobart.blogspot.com

1 of 1 Photo(s)

bartpolicejan1-BAN.jpg

#1126

From: Iolmisha@...
Date: Tue Jul 14, 2009 2:45 pm
Subject: [actionla] Justice for Oscar Grant

isfonelove

Subj: [actionla] Justice for Oscar Grant
Date: 7/14/2009 11:42:19 AM Pacific Daylight Time
From: gerald.ali@...
To: nation_okc@yahoogroups.com, cawi@yahoogroups.com, blackantiwar@yahoogroups.com
CC: austinagainstwar@yahoogroups.com, actionla@...

Justice for Oscar Grant

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/07/12/18607212.php

Sun Jul 12 2009 Indybay Coverage of the Justice for Oscar Grant Movement

In the early hours of January 1st, 2009, Oscar Grant III was murdered by BART police officer Johannes Mehserle, shot in the back as he lay face-down on the Fruitvale BART platform with BART officer Tony Pirone's knee in his shoulder. Johannes Mehserle faces a murder charge, with his trial set to begin in October. BART has hired outside organizations to conduct investigations of events surrounding the shooting and their police force overall, but as of yet has still taken no action to reprimand any of its officers for their actions that night nor Chief Gee or General Manager Dorothy Dugger for their handling of the situation after the murder. Activists continue to fight for justice for Oscar Grant.

Since early January, dozens and dozens of related posts have been published to Indybay — video, audio, photos, and reports such as first hand accounts of protests, court hearings, and more. In order to consolidate the history and latest developments in the movement for justice for Oscar Grant, this feature was created. It centralizes the multitude of related stories and has its own unique web address: www.indybay.org/oscargrant.

Below are the related Indybay features to date. Numerous posts are included within each feature. For the very latest posts, check the Police State and/or Racial Justice pages' newswires.

Lots of links on site. Updates and background information.

**NEW Activist Tools from ActionLA!**

http://www.ActivistVideo.org
An Activist-Run Video Sharing Page!

http://www.e-Activism.org
On-line Congressional E-activism Tools!

#1127

From: Iolmisha@...
Date: Tue Jul 14, 2009 4:26 pm
Subject: http://nojusticenobart.blogspot.com/

isfonelove

http://nojusticenobart.blogspot.com/

Boycott BART!

You don't need to come to a protest to help us disrupt "business as usual" at BART. A boycott is an action you take as an individual, on a regular daily basis:

Maybe you can take AC transit to work instead of that BART ride.

Maybe you can ride the casual carpool to get over the bay.

Maybe you can't fully boycott BART, but there are times you can choose not to ride it. You can use it less.
Or if you ride BART for free, like when they open the gates during special events or protests, that counts too, since you aren't giving BART your money.
We are also joining the Prisoners of Conscience Committee (POCC) and Block Report Radio in calling for people to make a special effort to boycott BART on the following days:

Oscar Grant's Birthday!
On every day that Johannes Mehserle or any other BART cop is standing trial in court for what happened to Oscar!
On every day that Oscar Grant protesters are standing trial in court for trying to win our collective demands for Justice! Help educate your friends about the alternatives to BART and the reasons to boycott! Only about 1 in 4 people who ride BART have no other transit options. And about half of BART's operating budget comes from the farebox, with most of that money coming from the East Bay, where people have other options. These small individual actions add up, so YOU can make a difference!

#1128

From: "markadamsatty" <markadamsatty@...>
Date: Tue Jul 14, 2009 5:25 pm
Subject: Tues. 7/14 @ 9:00 PM Eastern Tune In

markadamsatty

If you're interested in how to control the government, don't miss Devvy Kidd's radio show with Mark A. Adams JD/MBA. We'll discuss how our "free" press has become a propaganda machine, how many of those who see problems are neutered through the use of a controlled opposition, how our Constitutional rights to control our government have been usurped by those in power, and the damage that has resulted from this profound transformation of the U.S.A.

As examples, we'll use the failure of the mainstream "news" media to inform the public about Judge Sotomayor's record, her affiliation with the Bohemian Grove and the big scandal in Alaska. Listen live at http://www.themicroeffect.com/listenlive.htm on Tues. 7/14 at 9:00 PM Eastern. Archives are available. They cost $20.00 per month for a subscription to all of the radios shows on MicroEffect.com.

If you haven't heard of me, I'm active in the media, election, and judicial reform movements. See a 3 minute video about some of my work at http://blip.tv/file/1672498 and don't miss the links below the video.

For an example of how our "news" media has taken action to keep the public in the dark, see my short award winning video Welcome to the Twilight Zone Where an Increase is a Cut?!? at http://blip.tv/file/1462024 and don't miss the links below the video.

Also, does anyone recall that there was a movement to establish a new monarchy after the American Revolution? The plan was to have George Washington serve as king and split territory into the fiefdoms of old with princes, dukes, barons, etc. However, George Washington and the vast majority of our Nation's Founders understood that the most benevolent ruler could be followed by a greedy fool or even a ruthless tyrant, and they not only rejected the call to establish a new ruling aristocracy, they tried to make sure that our government's agents would not be above the law by giving us the means to hold them accountable. Unfortunately, this powerful right has been stolen from you.

If you want to know what one of the most powerful ways to control our government was and the damage that has resulted since this fundamental right was usurped, see Why does the U.S. government torture people? at http://dailycensored.com/2009/06/24/why-does-the-u-s-government-torture-people/

Finally, are we a country of, by and for the people or of, by and for the rulers? Read my article and you'll learn that according to a couple of U.S. Supreme Court Justices, we are even less than commoners.

If you're not familiar with Devvy Kidd's work, see one of her articles on election theft at http://www.newswithviews.com/Devvy/kidd72.htm and her article about the Neo-con's use of the Tea Party movement to control a large portion of the few who realize that something is not right with the plans for America at http://www.newswithviews.com/Devvy/kidd439.htm For more, see http://www.devvy.com/

We need some Paul Reveres. Be like him by questioning the authorities and spreading the news. It's easy. Just pass this along to your contacts.

Carpe diem,

Mark A. Adams JD/MBA

P.S. Also, I'll be a guest on the Equal Parenting show on Talkshoe on Wed. July 15th at 9:00 PM Eastern. We will discuss why judges can ignore the law and the facts.

To listen to the Equal Parenting show, call 724-444-7444 and enter the call ID 26955# and enter 1# or your PIN for Talkshoe, or listen at http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=26955&cmd=tc

#1129

From: "gellybean1974" <gellybean1974@...>
Date: Sun Jul 12, 2009 11:27 am
Subject: Young Black Mother Tasered By Police

gellybean1974

Tasered While Black After her toddler Murdered


The Blog Tasered While Black has been following the Tasering of Black folks in
America and Canada for some time. This blog and bloggers like Villager at
Electronic Village, and Francis Holland at Electrocuted While Black have been
been tracking the tasing of black folks for some time as well.



John McCusker / The Times-Picayune

But the tasering of a black teen-aged mother, after she learned her toddler son
and a 6-year-old boy were killed inside an apartment at 945 East Monterey Court
in Terrytown early this year goes beyond abuse of auhority and power. This
particular post about the Tasering of a black Woman after she discovered her
child was murdered is particularly disgusting. Yes a black mother of a
6-year-old boy killed in a triple murder in Terrytown, LA who was subdued with a
Taser gun by Jefferson Parish deputies at the murder scene is just another in
the continuerd attack on black women in America.

One has to wonder if this would happen in a middle class community and the women
was of another color?




Handout Robert Claiborne, Jr,

Get this, as reported by ther newspaper NOLA, back in April 2009, The mother of
Four Overstreet grew irate with authorities when she arrived at the Monterey
Court apartment where the rampage happened before 4 a.m. Saturday. When she got
physical, deputies stunned her to bring the situation under control, Col. John
Fortunato said.
There is more:


Meanwhile, the Sheriff's Office released the names of two other people killed in
the brazen shooting, a teenage mother and her toddler son. An 11-year-old girl
who was critically wounded hasn't yet been identified.

The dead mother was 19-year-old Domonique Sterling, Fortunato said. Her
23-month-old son was named Robert Claiborne Jr.

Sterling is said to have been babysitting Four Overstreet and the girl who
survived the attack.

The incident happened around 3:43 a.m. in the 900 block of East Monterey Court,
Fortunato said.

Authorities believe two unidentified men entered an apartment in the area and
"executed" Sterling and baby Robert, he said. Wielding handguns, the men also
shot young Four and the 11-year old girl in the home.

Four died at the hospital from a gunshot wound to the head.

Robert was also shot in the head. Sterling was shot in the back, and the
11-year-old suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the body, Fortunato said.

Fortunato said witnesses told authorities that two men dressed in dark clothing
kicked in the door and began firing. The teenager was found lying on the floor
in the living room, while the two deceased children were found in a rear
bedroom. Authorities also located crack cocaine and marijuana in the apartment.

One of the suspects, said to be in his 20s, wore a red bandana over his face, a
black baseball cap and a dark hooded sweatshirt. MORE HERE

It's time to have Congressional Taser Hearings into Taser Torture in America.
Sign the petition HERE.


Place a Congressional Taser Hearings Widget on your blog.



http://aapoliticalpundit.blogspot.com/2009/07/assault-of-black-women-tasered-whi\
le.html

#1130

From: Mary Neal <mneal000@...>
Date: Tue Jul 14, 2009 10:04 am
Subject: Petition: No H1N1 Vaccine Enforced by Threat of Concentration Camps

mneal000

VIEW IN RICH TEXT FOR THE FOOTAGE

Read about the reported plan to ENFORCE experimental H1N1 flu vaccines on British and American citizens under the treat of incarceration in CONCENTRATION CAMPS (see H.R. 645) for non-compliance.
SIGN THE PETITION - SAY NO TO ENFORCED VACCINATIONS AND CONCENTRATION CAMPS FOR YOURSELF AND YOUR LOVED ONES!

THE "ELITE" HAVE BECOME GODS IN THEIR MINDS,
AND THEY HAVE PLANS FOR YOU.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/refuse-and-resist-mandatory-flu-vaccine

~DON'T WAIT on your mainstream news reporter to tell you about H.R. 645 ("emergency FEMA camps") and the planned enforced vaccinations. The "emergency centers" were proposed in January, and H.R. 645 is available on the Library of Congress site for you to read. Your mainstream news source is owned and operated by the elite.

~DON'T WAIT for your respected civil rights leaders to alert you to the plan. NONE of them help my family regarding the secret arrest and Guantanamo-style death of my handicapped brother. I do not know why, but I do know the NWO is rich and has amazing surveillance skills that can ferret out the deepest secrets. Most higher-ups have secrets and love money.

READ ABOUT -

Kathryn Johnston Murder: Atlanta
Police Refuse to Release Records
http://my.nowpublic.com/culture/kathryn-johnston-murder-atlanta-police-refuse-release-records#comment-404697

The article at the link above was first stuck in the edit field at NP for days, then deleted, like my COCHRAN FIRM FRAUD CONTINUES UNCHECKED BY THE COURTS - UPDATED article was. The Kathryn Johnston murder records article gives an update on the Kathryn Johnston murder as well as the current court status of the Neals' justice quest regarding The (Johnnie) Cochran Firm Fraud. Regarding Larry's family's denial of records and accountability for his death-by-police on the part of Shelby County Jail in Memphis and the USDOJ, our family's in-person and online stalking, and denial of due process of law, please see the following petition for freedom from censorship and terrorism.

Read what they did to a poor, handicapped American, and their actions WERE/are PROTECTED by the USDOJ while they lay in wait for me at the grocery!
http://74.125.45.132/search?q=cache:p2odiVNsCDwJ:wrongfuldeathoflarryneal.com/docs/Ex04_Complaint(Ga.Sup.Ct.2005).pdf+mary+neal+cochran&cd=38&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

PETITION TO THE USDOJ FOR JUSTICE FOR MARY NEAL

END CENSORSHIP AND TERRORISM
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/Justice4MaryNeal

Unfortunately, the petition itself is censored and has rejected signatures from numerous persons. This is not a presidential election with the Neal family's right to justice to be decided by the number of "votes" that can be prevented or deleted.  Our right to know what police did to my handicapped brother and to pursue justice with our freedom of speech and press rights protected are guaranteed by the Bill of Rights and the Constitution of the U.S. So it matters not how many "votes" for justice are stolen or prohibited.
http://wrongfuldeathoflarryneal.com

NEWSFLASH for the censorship staff and their bosses :

THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION WAS ALREADY SIGNED. WE ARE NOT YOUR PROPERTY TO DISPOSE OF AS YOU SEE FIT. EITHER THE USDOJ WILL ACKNOWLEDGE ITS RESPONSIBILITY AND UPHOLD OUR RIGHTS, OR IT IS AN ILLEGAL OPERATION AND AS CORRUPT AS IT EVER WAS.

EITHER THE U.S. CONGRESS WILL EXERCISE ITS AUTHORITY TO INVESTIGATE THE FEDERAL AGENCY THAT REFUSES TO DO ITS DUTY IN THIS MATTER, OR THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WILL HAVE ADMITTED THAT ITS APOLOGIES FOR SLAVERY ARE LIES AND THAT AFRICAN AMERICANS ARE STILL CONSIDERED AS BEING SLAVES IN AMERICA, AND OUR LIVES ARE NOT OUR OWN.

ANY PERSON OR GROUP OF PERSONS WHOSE RIGHTS CAN BE SET ASIDE BY THE GOVERNMENT AT WILL AND EVEN BE KILLED IN GOVERNMENT CUSTODY WITHOUT ACCOUNTABILITY IS EFFECTIVELY DISAVOWED OF CITIZENSHIP AND REDUCED TO THE STATUS OF LIVESTOCK. I AM CENSORED AND STALKED BECAUSE I KNOW THAT AND HAVE PROOF OF ALL ALLEGATIONS. MY CENSORSHIP AND ENDANGERMENT ARE INTENDED TO PREVENT MY TELLING OTHER PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY AFRICAN AMERICANS, THAT THE U.S. GOVERNMENT APPARENTLY CONSIDERS CITIZENS AS BEING THE GOVERNMENT'S CHATTEL, WHOSE WRONGFUL DEATHS AT THE HANDS OF GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVES ARE NOT AFFORDED THE CONSIDERATION OF CRIMES AGAINST DOGS. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chattel

TO THE REST OF AMERICA, BE WARNED. FIRST THEY CAME FOR THE NEALS . . . .

American Concentration Camps Proposed in Congress - H.R. 645
http://my.nowpublic.com/world/american-concentration-camps-proposed-congress-h-r-645
February 3, 2009

Biblical Prophecies Unfold - Your Microchip Is Ready
http://my.nowpublic.com/strange/biblical-prophecies-unfold-your-microchip-ready
July 3, 2009

Ft. Detrick Disease Samples Lost? Ebola, Anthrax, and Plague
http://my.nowpublic.com/health/ft-detrick-disease-samples-lost-ebola-anthrax-and-plague
April 22, 2009

Bubonic Plague Coming Soon? Infested Lab Rats Missing
www.nowpublic.com/health/bubonic-plague-coming-soon-infested-lab-rats-missing
February 7, 2009

As far as I can see, America never had a "free" anything - except free land for certain Caucasians after the Indiginous People were marched away on their Trail of Tears so that the country could expand and settle sprawling plantations worked by slaves from Africa and serfs from European prisons and ghettos. To the elite, we remain slaves and serfs. You may see that soon. I finally did.

COMMUNIST CHINA

COMMUNIST AMERICA

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE?  A thicker smokescreen, evaporating fast
>

http://www.naturalnews.com/026503_pandemic_swine_flu_bioterrorism.html
Natural News.com
June 25, 2009

In the U.S. since 2008, Burgermeister charges that those named in her allegations have implemented new and/or accelerated the implementation of laws and regulations designed to strip the citizens of the U.S. of their lawful constitutional rights to refuse an [experimental H1N1 vaccine] injection. These people have created or allowed provisions to remain in place that make it a criminal act to refuse to take an injection against pandemic viruses. They have imposed other excessive and cruel penalties such as imprisonment and/or quarantine in FEMA camps while barring the citizens of the U.S. from claiming compensation from injury or death from the forced injections. This is in violation of the laws governing federal corruption and the abuse of office as well as of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Through these actions, the named defendants have laid the groundwork for mass genocide.

*********
Is this why it is important to fix America's railroads?

Thank you, Ms. Burgermeister, for holding up the plan long enough for people to wake up and smell the coffee. With the economy as it is, proposing to spend millions of dollars for "emergency camps" inside the U.S. capable of holding hundreds of thousands of people under armed guard is suspicious. It does not seem reasonable to spend millions preparing for a possible disaster as stated in H.R. 645 while many Americans are experiencing disaster right now and losing their jobs and homes.

Don't use our own tax money to build concentration camps for Americans, please!

Write your representatives and ask where he/she stands on concentration camps for Americans. Support this petition is by Citizens for Legitimate Government to the White House and Congress.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/refuse-and-resist-mandatory-flu-vaccine

When you write your comments on the petition:

Ask where he/she stands on Government agencies conducting secret arrests and extermination of handicapped citizens and denial of accountability and records, such as Larry Neal.

Ask where he/she stands on ENFORCED vaccination with experimental H1N1 flu vaccines under the penalty of FEMA camps for non-compliance for you and your family.

It is high time for the descendants of those Indigenous People, African slaves, and European serfs to come together and demand explanations from the elite - before it is too late. The concentration camps are already planned. Some report that empty army bases are now being stocked. A former congressman has verified this and prison trains outfitted with shackles. (For the ex-congressman's account, see the Concentration camp article above.) Are you waiting for a bell to ring?

Demand answers from your representatives now!
www.house.gov/writerep/

Are you waiting on a disaster like 9/11 followed by Martial Law when your Constitutional rights will be formally set aside?

~ H.R. 645 was proposed the week of Jan. 22, 2009

~ U.S. borders to Canada and Mexico closed June 1.

~ A 16-yr-old American citizen was arrested this year under the Patriot Act and held without charges or legal recourse.

"WE MUST all learn to live together as brothers or we will all perish together as fools. We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. And whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. " ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
Speech in Memphis, April 3, 1968

Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens for Legitimate Government
http://www.legitgov.org/#breaking_news

12 July 2009

CLG Pandemic Action Alerts 12 Jul 2009 Petition against mandatory vaccines; contact the White House, US Congress

H1N1 flu: UK to vaccinate 30 people an hour in 'military-style operation' --Swine flu vaccine to be cleared after five-day trial 12 Jul 2009 When the new vaccine for swine flu arrives in Britain, regulators said this weekend, it could be approved for use in just five days. Regulators at the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) said the fast-tracked procedure has involved clinical trials of a "mock-up" vaccine similar to the one that will be used for the biggest mass vaccination programme in generations. It will be introduced into the general population while regulators continue to carry out simultaneous clinical trials. The first patients in the queue for the jab - being supplied to the UK by GSK and Baxter Healthcare - may understandably be a little nervous at any possible side effects. A mass vaccination campaign against swine flu in America was halted in the 1970s after some people suffered Guillain-Barr� syndrome, a disorder of the nervous system.

Swine flu vaccine to be given to entire population --The NHS is preparing to vaccinate the entire population against swine flu. 12 Jul 2009. It comes after an Essex man was confirmed on Friday as the first person without underlying health problems to have died from the virus. Ministers have secured up to 90 million doses of the vaccine, which is expected to arrive in Britain in the next few weeks, and the rest of the population is likely to be offered vaccinations next year.

**************************************
BING! YOUR COFFEE IS READY!

Mary Neal

#1131

From: nathaniel x vance <broali4xa@...>
Date: Mon Jul 13, 2009 6:38 pm
Subject: UFOs or Hoaxes? [7-12-09]

broali4xa

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvexU5rVT30&feature=related>

UFOs or Hoaxes? [7-12-09]

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8bptMpkkjc> Renown Jaime Maussan. Spanish 5-2009 UFO video.(Zeta approved!)

And lastly, will the Son of Man (The Madhi – Master W.F. Muhammad) ever return on this "JUDGMENT DAY of the LORD"? Who are the Angels of God?

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said:

So He took His leave, as it is said in Qur’an that the people are not worthy that God remain among them, but He makes a Messenger of that people that through that Messenger, He will reach the people, through him. And the Bible verifies such. And so, He left and He gave me hints about His return. But now there is just as much prophecy that He will not return as there is of His returning. The Bible says He will send His angels and they will take care of the gathering of His people. I don’t expect Him to return in Person. Not like that. There is too much to us to look forward to that He will not. It is not really necessary, if He’s going to send His own people, we refer to as angels, to gather the Believers of my people. It’s not necessary."

More Mystery Crop Circles

Are Crop Circles caused by natural phenomena such as unusual forms of lightning striking the earth? Only a simpleton would believe this!

<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5777580/Mayan-apocalypse-crop-circle-appears-at-Silbury-Hill.html>

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bolf5zzmfDQ> Summary of many recent Crop Circles

Fireballs (Bible: There will be signs in the sky!)

Meteor lights up Mid-Atlantic area's skies as startled observers report brilliant flash, 'thunderous' sonic booms

<http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bal-md.meteor07jul07,0,2101919.story>

Coming Novermber - An Endtime Movies! (Will 2012 be the END?)
Watch a trailer here by clicking below!
<http://www.whowillsurvive2012.com/?hs308=email>

[According to the STO Zeta space angels, planet earth can expect an increase in many more UFO/ET sightings]
<http://www.zetatalk.com/index/blog0928.htm>

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

George A. Filer - MUFON Eastern Region Director

<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/The_Zetaheaven_Group/message/3881>
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You Are The Judge>

The earthly ENDTIME of the Wicked - Not the RIGHTEOUS. Is GOD MOCKED?
salaam akwaaba jambo ashogee

http://zetaheaven.org

#1132

From: Iolmisha@...
Date: Thu Jul 16, 2009 1:13 pm
Subject: COPWATCH TRAINING 7/18 10am-2pm, The Band Stand at Lake Merritt

isfonelove

COPWATCH TRAINING 7/18 10am-2pm, The Band Stand at Lake Merritt
Date: 7/16/2009 3:00:23 AM Pacific Daylight Time
From: kelleysabraham@...
To: Oakland_copwatch@yahoogroups.com

Once again - I started to send this out to a small collection of folks and the list grew and grew so please forgive the more informal and less business like invitation the workshop like the invitation will be laid back.
In Peace and Appreciation,
K
PASS IT ON and On and On Looking forward to seeing you then.

--- On Thu, 7/16/09, Oakland Copwatch <oaklandcopwatch@...> wrote:

kelleysabraham@..., you are invited to

Theater of the Oppressed Copwatch Training Development Day - COME THRU. For Real. We Would Love to Have You. Yes You.

Sat Jul 18 10am – 2pm
(Timezone: Pacific Time)
The "Band Stand" behind Ferry Land on the Lake (Lake Merritt) - near the green sculpture that kids used to play on when it was more of a beach like area. (map)
Calendar: kelleysabraham@...

Owner/Creator: oaklandcopwatch@...
Other attendees: 37 people

7/18/09 AT THE BAND STAND at LAKE MERRITT
There will be a Theatre of the Oppressed training - we will develop a Theatre Know Your Rights/Copwatch Workshop using our experience of the police - that day. Everyone is Welcome. For Real. Come Through. Look Forward to Seeing you Then.

In Peace, Love, Human Dignity and Respect,
OCW

Will you attend?

#1133

From: Justice For Rudy <jesse076@...>
Date: Thu Jul 16, 2009 11:56 pm
Subject: RE: NAACP urges cell phone use to fight police brutality

jessemontecarlo

Please also see San Jose Copwatch's video from Cinco De Mayo 09 on Youtube.

Search under San Jose Copwatch Cinco De Mayo 09 on Youtube.

In the video the officer is asking the copwatcher "is that a gun or a video camara" with about 3 flashlights all on the copwatcher the officer can plainly see its not a gun, but I think we know what they are trying to imply.

Or at least it was taken that if the copwatcher continued to video tape there might be a time when the camara can be misunderstood to be a gun and the copwatcher can get shot or killed.

Of course this does not deter San Jose Copwatch from doing what we do but it just make us that more determined to get rid of the bad cops that threaten our communities.

Also as an FYI there was a complaint filed against the officer and it has been documented.

So please be careful out there.

As we rise and speak the truth we cannot be denied for we continue to fight for our lives and the safety of us all.

From: Iolmisha@...
Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:37:40 -0400
Subject: NAACP urges cell phone use to fight police brutality
To: zapatita@...; magickool-aid@...; prichett@...; eugene_lynnette@...; editor@...; ISARConelove@...; iolmisha@...; ISF23@yahoogroups.com
CC: justice4Oscar_Grant@yahoogroups.com; SF_COPWATCH@yahoogroups.com

NAACP urges cell phone use to fight police brutality
Date: 7/16/2009 3:44:33 PM Pacific Daylight Time
From: iwapgh@...
To: : Iolmisha@... (ISARC)

(From Gloria Hernandez, founder of Fresno Copwatch)

Its not enough just to collect pictures. someone from COPWATCH should contact these folks to let them know the dangers of being a copwatcher and its consequencies of doing it without training. si?
Gloria h/fresno

NAACP urges cell phone use to fight police brutalityStory Highlights
NAACP unveils new program to allow people to report alleged police misconduct

Texts, e-mails can also be sent to document alleged police misdeeds

Unarmed Californiaman's shooting captured on phone garnered national attention

updated 3:25 a.m. EDT, Wed July 15, 2009Next Article in U.S. �

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Fight police misconduct with a cell phone, the NAACPsays.

The century-old civil rights organizationhas launched an online reporting system that lets users upload cell phone imagesof alleged police abuses.

The Rapid Report System also lets users send text messagesand e-mails about alleged misconduct.

"We know that most of police officersaround the nation are excellent public servants. But the few who violate people's rights are often not held accountable, " said Benjamin Jealous, president and CEO of the NAACP. "Research has shown that there are many barriers to reporting incidents of police misconduct, including intimidation at police departmentsand a lack of trustin the integrity of the system, among other reasons. This breakdown leads to an absence of public safety and a deterioration of the quality of life in many communities of color."

The NAACP unveiled the online system Monday at its national convention in New York City. Users can post images from their cell phones or online.

Cell phone footage has repeatedly helped spotlight alleged police misconduct in recent years. The fatal shooting of an unarmed man in Oakland, California, on New Year's Day made headlines and spread across the Internet partly because of cell phone video.

The killing sparked large protests in Oakland and led to a murder charge against the transit officer.
0A

Windows Live�: Keep your life in sync. Check it out.

#1134

From: ISARConelove@...
Date: Thu Jul 16, 2009 8:13 pm
Subject: from Jesse, San Jose, re: RE: NAACP urges cell phone use to fight police brutal

isfonelove

Subj: RE: NAACP urges cell phone use to fight police brutality
Date: 7/16/2009 5:00:04 PM Pacific Daylight Time
From: jesse076@...

CC: justice4oscar_grant@yahoogroups.com, sf_copwatch@yahoogroups.com

Please also see San Jose Copwatch's video from Cinco De Mayo 09 on Youtube.

Search under San Jose Copwatch Cinco De Mayo 09 on Youtube.

In the video the officer is asking the copwatcher "is that a gun or a video camara" with about 3 flashlights all on the copwatcher the officer can plainly see its not a gun, but I think we know what they are trying to imply.

Or at least it was taken that if the copwatcher continued to video tape there might be a time when the camara can be misunderstood to be a gun and the copwatcher can get shot or killed.

Of course this does not deter San Jose Copwatch from doing what we do but it just make us that more determined to get rid of the bad cops that threaten our communities.

Also as an FYI there was a complaint filed against the officer and it has been documented.

So please be careful out there.

As we rise and speak the truth we cannot be denied for we continue to fight for our lives and the safety of us all.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: Iolmisha@...
Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:37:40 -0400
Subject: NAACP urges cell phone use to fight police brutality
To: zapatita@...; magickool-aid@...; prichett@...; eugene_lynnette@...; editor@...; ISARConelove@...; iolmisha@...; ISF23@yahoogroups.com
CC: justice4Oscar_Grant@yahoogroups.com; SF_COPWATCH@yahoogroups.com

NAACP urges cell phone use to fight police brutality
Date: 7/16/2009 3:44:33 PM Pacific Daylight Time
From: iwapgh@...
To: : Iolmisha@... (ISARC)

Its not enough just to collect pictures . someone from COPWATCH should contact these folks to let them know the dangers of being a copwatcher and its consequencies of doing it without training. si?
Gloria h/fresno

NAACP urges cell phone use to fight police brutalityStory Highlights
NAACP unveils new program to allow people to report alleged police misconduct

Texts, e-mails can also be sent to document alleged police misdeeds

Unarmed Californiaman's shooting captured on phone garnered national attention

updated 3:25 a.m. EDT, Wed July 15, 2009Next Article in U.S. �

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Fight police misconduct with a cell phone, the NAACPsays.

The century-old civil rights organizationhas launched an online reporting system that lets users upload cell phone imagesof alleged police abuses.

The Rapid Report System also lets users send text messagesand e-mails about alleged misconduct.

"We know that most of police officersaround the nation are excellent public servants. But the few who violate people's rights are often not held accountable, " said Benjamin Jealous, president and CEO of the NAACP. "Research has shown that there are many barriers to reporting incidents of police misconduct, including intimidation at police departmentsand a lack of trustin the integrity of the system, among other reasons. This breakdown leads to an absence of public safety and a deterioration of the quality of life in many communities of color."

The NAACP unveiled the online system Monday at its national convention in New York City. Users can post images from their cell phones or online.

Cell phone footage has repeatedly helped spotlight alleged police misconduct in recent years. The fatal shooting of an unarmed man in Oakland, California, on New Year's Day made headlines and spread across the Internet partly because of cell phone video.

The killing sparked large protests in Oakland and led to a murder charge against the transit officer.
0A

#1135

From: SF Bay View <editor@...>
Date: Sat Jul 18, 2009 8:32 pm
Subject: [Fwd: NAACP urges cell phone use to fight police brutality]

editor@...

-------- Original Message --------

Subject:	NAACP urges cell phone use to fight police brutality
Date:	Sat, 18 Jul 2009 13:34:08 -0700
From:	mary moore <justice3@...>
To:	Police Abuse group #2 J to O <justice3@...>

NAACP urges cell phone use to fight police brutality To all: Well, the recent NAACP convention was reported in the press but not this particular item. Thanks to Misha for passing it on. Obviously the motivation for this suggestion came from the Oscar Grant case. MM

NAACP urges cell phone use to fight police brutality Date: 7/16/2009

(From Gloria Hernandez, founder of Fresno Copwatch) Its not enough just to collect pictures. someone from COPWATCH should contact these folks to let them know the dangers of being a copwatcher and its consequencies of doing it without training. si? Gloria h/fresno

NAACP urges cell phone use to fight police brutality
NAACP unveils new program to allow people to report alleged police misconduct: Texts, e-mails can also be sent to document alleged police misdeeds Unarmed Californiaman's shooting captured on phone garnered national attention

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Fight police misconduct with a cell phone, the NAACPsays. The century-old civil rights organizationhas launched an online reporting system that lets users upload cell phone imagesof alleged police abuses. The Rapid Report System also lets users send text messagesand e-mails about alleged misconduct. "We know that most of police officersaround the nation are excellent public servants. But the few who violate people's rights are often not held accountable, " said Benjamin Jealous, president and CEO of the NAACP. "Research has shown that there are many barriers to reporting incidents of police misconduct, including intimidation at police departmentsand a lack of trustin the integrity of the system, among other reasons. This breakdown leads to an absence of public safety and a deterioration of the quality of life in many communities of color."

The NAACP unveiled the online system Monday at its national convention in New York City. Users can post images from their cell phones or online. Cell phone footage has repeatedly helped spotlight alleged police misconduct in recent years. The fatal shooting of an unarmed man in Oakland, California, on New Year's Day made headlines and spread across the Internet partly because of cell phone video. The killing sparked large protests in Oakland and led to a murder charge against the transit officer.

------ End of Forwarded Message

#1136

From: "Gerald Ali." <GERALD.ALI@...>
Date: Sat Jul 18, 2009 7:35 am
Subject: Fw: 33 Years too many -- take 20 minutes for Leonard Peltier

gerald.ali...

Mr. Peltier has won several awards including the North Star Frederick Douglas Award; Federation of Labor (Ontario, Canada) Humanist of the Year Award; Human Rights Commission of Spain International Human Rights Prize; and 2004 Silver Arrow Award for Lifetime Achievement.

-----------------------------

----- Original Message -----

From: Sent: Saturday, July 18, 2009 5:34 AM

Subject: [ 33 Years too many -- take 20 minutes for Leonard Peltier

-----Forwarded Message-----
From: Karen Lee Wald >Sent: Jul 16, 2009 7:08 PM>Sent: Thursday, July 16, 2009 5:40 PM
Subject: take 20 minutes for Leonard Peltier

      Dear friends,

      Leonard Peltier-- the American Indian Movement activist who is also one of the longest-held political prisoners in the US (33 years!) is eligible for parole. He will go before the parole board later this month on July 27th. His legal team is asking all concerned citizens to write letters on Leonard's behalf and mail them to the parole board, as well as send a copy to the legal team. A sample letter and the necessary addresses are below. Please consider doing this-- Leonard's health has been deteriorating. He has been nominated 6 times for the Nobel Peace prize and has worked tirelessly for the benefit of others before and during his incarceration. He deserves our support. Please send your letters via regular slow mail as soon as possible.

            sample letter:

            United States Parole Commission
            5550 Friendship Blvd., Ste. 420
            Chevy Chase, MD 20815-7286

            (Insert Date)

            Re: LEONARD PELTIER #89637-132

            Dear Commissioners,

            I am writing in behalf of support for Parole for Leonard Peltier . While I am aware of the seriousness of the conviction I am also aware that people have the ability to go forward out of the past and give to the larger society. I believe that is the case with Leonard Peltier.

            I ask you to consider the humanitarian work he has done during his 33 years of incarceration. More than most people can ever do who are not locked up.

            I ask you to consider his nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize for the 6th straight year. There are those who make light of this but who else among us have had that honor.

            He consistently donates his art work for charities such as battered women's shelters, half way houses, alcohol and drug treatment programs, and Native American scholarship funds.

            Mr. Peltier has won several awards including the North Star Frederick Douglas Award; Federation of Labor (Ontario, Canada) Humanist of the Year Award; Human Rights Commission of Spain International Human Rights Prize; and 2004 Silver Arrow Award for Lifetime Achievement.

            He has expressed sadness for the tragedy that occurred that day at Oglala and pain for the families of the two agents and the Indian man that died that day.

            Thirty-three years is a long time. I ask you to look with empathy upon a 64 year old man who over the 33 years has done so much good while in prison, and I think has the ability to do even more good for the community if he were to be allowed parole.

            While I know of the misconduct by government officials in his case, I will not bring details up because I am certain that you are aware of the misconduct, and will consider that as you have the discretion to rule above or below the guidelines. I would hope that you will exercise that discretion in favor of Leonard Peltier. It seems to me it would be a gross miscarriage of justice if he were left to die in prison.

            Please grant parole to home confinement.

            Respectfully

            Your name

            IMPORTANT NOTE TO ALL SUPPORTERS: When you write a letter in support of Leonard's parole, mail the letter directly to the U.S. Parole Commission, but also please send a copy of your correspondence to the Peltier Legal Team, c/o LP-DOC, P.O. Box 7488, Fargo, ND 58106.

end

#1137

From: Iolmisha@...
Date: Sun Jul 19, 2009 12:17 am
Subject: Please join us ! Youth of Color Civil & Human Rights

isfonelove

Group name: YCCHR
Youth of Color Civil & Human Rights

Group home page: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/YCCHR
join: YCCHR-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

#1138

From: Iolmisha@...
Date: Thu Jul 16, 2009 7:37 pm
Subject: NAACP urges cell phone use to fight police brutality

isfonelove

NAACP urges cell phone use to fight police brutality
Date: 7/16/2009 3:44:33 PM Pacific Daylight Time
From: iwapgh@...
To: : Iolmisha@... (ISARC)

(From Gloria Hernandez, founder of Fresno Copwatch)

Its not enough just to collect pictures. someone from COPWATCH should contact these folks to let them know the dangers of being a copwatcher and its consequencies of doing it without training. si?
Gloria h/fresno

NAACP urges cell phone use to fight police brutalityStory Highlights
NAACP unveils new program to allow people to report alleged police misconduct

Texts, e-mails can also be sent to document alleged police misdeeds

Unarmed Californiaman's shooting captured on phone garnered national attention

updated 3:25 a.m. EDT, Wed July 15, 2009Next Article in U.S. �

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Fight police misconduct with a cell phone, the NAACPsays.

The century-old civil rights organizationhas launched an online reporting system that lets users upload cell phone imagesof alleged police abuses.

The Rapid Report System also lets users send text messagesand e-mails about alleged misconduct.

"We know that most of police officersaround the nation are excellent public servants. But the few who violate people's rights are often not held accountable, " said Benjamin Jealous, president and CEO of the NAACP. "Research has shown that there are many barriers to reporting incidents of police misconduct, including intimidation at police departmentsand a lack of trustin the integrity of the system, among other reasons. This breakdown leads to an absence of public safety and a deterioration of the quality of life in many communities of color."

The NAACP unveiled the online system Monday at its national convention in New York City. Users can post images from their cell phones or online.

Cell phone footage has repeatedly helped spotlight alleged police misconduct in recent years. The fatal shooting of an unarmed man in Oakland, California, on New Year's Day made headlines and spread across the Internet partly because of cell phone video.

The killing sparked large protests in Oakland and led to a murder charge against the transit officer.
0A

#1139

From: Iolmisha@...
Date: Sun Jul 19, 2009 5:04 pm
Subject: Justice for Oscar Grant: A Lost Opportunity?

isfonelove

FYI only, ISARC does not endorse content
http://advancethestruggle.wordpress.com/2009/07/15/justice-for-oscar-grant-a-lost-opportunity/

Justice for Oscar Grant: A Lost Opportunity?

Posted by: "Zeno Storm" zenostorm@...

Sat Jul 18, 2009 9:49 am (PDT)

New piece written by the Advance the Struggle collective out of the Bay Area. Analyzes two organizational responses to the murder of Oscar Grant in Oakland by police on New Years Day of 2009. The responses (self-proclaimed Leninist vanguard on the one hand, coalition of non-profits on the other) are typical of leftist organizing today and demonstrate the need to build something new, but what?

link:
http://advancethestruggle.wordpress.com/2009/07/15/justice-for-oscar-grant-a-lost-opportunity/

Justice For Oscar Grant: A Lost Opportunity?

15 07 2009 UPDATE: You can donate to our efforts of spreading this analysis to Oakland youth by using the donation button on the right of the page (email us your name and address if you want to receive pamphlets by snail mail). Every single dollar helps since we’re not sponsored in any of this. If you’re interested in distributing, please continue to email us at Bay.Strikes@... so we can get in touch. ¡Orrrale! This is Advance the Struggle’s analysis of the Oakland rebellions of January Click here for pamphlet.
‘09 and the crisis of leadership which accompanied them. The piece speaks for itself, so I’ll leave you with a link to the graphically designed PDF version, as well as a text-only version in this post. Click here to download PDF! Post your comments and feel free to provide critical and/or appreciative feedback! And please email us if you would like to get physical copies of the pamphlet to distribute (they’re also available at Bay Area progressive bookstores) bay.strikes@...

Justice for Oscar Grant: A Lost Opportunity?
The murder of Oscar Grant set Oakland on fire, but who put the fire out?
The working class people of Oakland, their consciousness set ablaze, found an inadequate set of organizational tools at their disposal to do the work that deep down we all know has to be done – confront the state (government) and its underlying property relations. The primary organization available to them was a coalition of nonprofits; the secondary organizational tool was a self-labeled revolutionary communist
organization. Both played prominent but ultimately problematic leadership roles while Oakland youth lacked cohesive theory and organizational
structure through which to effectively challenge their oppressors. Using the Oscar Grant episode as a case study in the role of political leadership in the Bay Area, we hope to reveal the most glaring shortcomings
of the left today. We believe new leadership is necessary, and hope that this document can contribute to its emergence. I. State Sponsored Racism: Then and Now
II. The Struggle Begins
III. CAPE, Nonprofits and the State
IV. RCP and Revolutionary Organizing
V. A Victory?
VI. Lack of Organization and Lost Opportunity I. State Sponsored Racism: Then and Now The United States has been nurtured and raised in soil bloodied by socially accepted, state sponsored, racist violence. A study of the period 1868 to 1871 estimates that the Ku Klux Klan was involved in more than 400 lynchings. From 1882-1968, 4,743 lynchings occurred in the United States. Of these people that were lynched 3,446 were black. Blacks were 72.7% of the people lynched.1 One conservative report estimated 597 Mexicans were lynched between 1848 and 1928.2 What is important to note is the role of the state. The Force Act of 1870 and the Civil Rights Act of 1871 were also called the Ku Klux Klan Acts due to the fact that Federal law gave legal justification and protection
for racist violence to exist and reproduce itself. In 1948 the last legal lynching took place.3 Indiana Senetor Albert Beveridge, in 1900, openly said, “We are the ruling race of the world….we will not renounce our part in the mission of our race, trustee, under God of the civilization of the world. He has marked us as his chosen people…He has made us adept in government that we may administer government among savage and senile people.”4 Police then started engaging in systematic “justifiable homicide” in the new urban Black communities that formed after WWII. The murder of Oscar Grant is the most recent episode of this long oppressive history. II. The Struggle Begins January 2009 was a month of rebellion rising spontaneously from the streets. Everyone was furious about Oscar Grant’s murder by BART police officer Johannes Mehserle on January 1, 2009. On January 7th a protest was organized by a group of people at the Fruitvale BART. The protest was intended to remain peacefully at the BART station, but a break-away march took place. A couple of hundred people took over International Blvd and headed towards downtown Oakland. Anarchists, Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) militants, and Oakland youth led the break-away march and did not stand down to the police. Because the march was un-permitted it was able to turn through streets as needed to avoid police; this is called a snakemarch. When the march was headed towards the police station the police chased the crowd, and they regrouped in downtown Oakland on 14th and Broadway. There was a showdown, and the more confrontational elements moved into downtown Oakland and started breaking McDonald’s windows, throwing objects at the police, and smashing up expensive cars. The crowd was largely Black, young, and working class. The intuitive militancy of the Oakland youth went beyond the moderate politics of the original protest. When Mayor Ron Dellums came out to try to calm the crowd some Black youth chanted, “fuck Obama and fuck Dellums.” KPFA radio host and Bay View Newspaper journalist JR described the event:
“I’m proud of Oakland people in general and youngstas specifically for standing up to the occupying army in our community:
the police and the city officials that support the system that lets the police kill us wantonly. The rebellion was just the beginning of a longer political education class in Amerikkkan politics and how it fails to meet the needs of its Black and Brown low income dwellers.”5
III. CAPE, Nonprofits and the State The Coalition Against Police Execution (CAPE) was formed in response to the January 7th rebellion to provide leadership for the emerging
movement for justice for Oscar Grant. It was composed mainly of nonprofit activists. They immediately called for a protest the following Wednesday, January 14th. At the planning meeting one of the leaders emphasized
that the coming protest should have “a grandmother spirit where you go to the store and you come right back with the correct change.” The ‘grandmother spirit’ meant that the protest should not go off CAPE’s script and result in more rebellion. The day before this protest Mehserle was arrested, due to the rebellion the week before, and the possibility of more uprisings. Both CAPE and the system wanted to ensure that the January 14th protest wouldn’t get out of hand. At this time, many moderates said that the struggle had been partially won, while others argued for “systemic change” in the form of mandatory police sensitivity training. Others could be heard advocating armed resistance to the police. The January 14th protest was a key turning point in the struggle. CAPE organized a sizable march from city hall to the DA’s office and back. At 7PM they started telling everyone to go home and that the protest was over. George Ciccariello-Maher, in his article “Oakland is Closed!” explains: The final speaker insisted that not even arrest or conviction was sufficient, since “that pig was just doing what pigs do.” It was police policy that needed to be changed, and continued militant action was the only way that this could be accomplished. As he concluded, the speaker added a knowing observation alongside a plea: “I see a lot of warriors out there,” he said, “and I just want to ask you to make sure that the babies and the children get home safely tonight.” But this radical message would be redirected and distorted through CAPE’s nonviolent lens, as a representative would immediately insist that, “you heard the man, let’s all go home with our children and keep it peaceful.”6 After the last speaker, people marched back to the downtown city center where the organizers repeated their instructions to the crowd: the protest is over; it’s time to go home. However, people’s thirst for justice was not quenched by the symbolic march. Militant Black youth amongst the crowd were eager to confront the heavy police presence rather than simply go home as directed by CAPE. As groups of people congregated in the intersection of 14th &Broadway the militant energy was clearly felt by all, perhaps most of all by CAPE who seemed to expect it. As soon as people squared up in front of a line of riot police, CAPE activists immediately
intervened, linking arms and attempting to block the people from approaching the police. In this context we should consider what Arundhati Roy argues about the “buffer” role nonprofits (or non-governmental organizations – NGOs) play in India: NGOs give the impression that they are filling a vacuum created by a retreating state. And they are, but in a materially inconsequential
way. Their real contribution is that they defuse political anger and dole out as aid or benevolence what people ought to have by right. NGOs alter the public psyche. They turn people into dependent victims and blunt political resistance. NGOs form a buffer between the sarkar [government] and public (2). Between empire and its subjects. They have become the arbitrators, the interpreters, the facilitators.7When CAPE activists, all wearing neon vests to distinguish themselves
as figures of authority, lined up between the people and the police, they played the exact role that Roy examines above: they became a buffer between the people and state. They faced the people, backs turned to the pigs, and tried to put out the fire of people’s emerging consciousness and militancy. We must ask: were the actions by CAPE leadership purposely directed towards squashing the energy on the night of January 14th? Or were they confused moves on the part of well-intentioned activists, whose strategy wasn’t able to incorporate the rebellious mood on the streets? To answer these questions we must examine closely the role nonprofits play in relation to the system’s power structure. Through their “buffer” tactics and diversions from confrontational struggle, Bay Area nonprofits effectively acted as an extension of the state. Nonprofit funding from foundations suffocates the development of a real revolutionary formation, keeping the politics of the nonprofit organization safely within the bounds of the rules of the system. In order to go further we must understand that the state is a set of tools that the ruling class controls, including courts, elected officials, and most importantly, a monopoly on the use of violence through the police, army, and prisons. A primary purpose of the state is to keep the working class in check, forced to either slave away making profits for capitalists, or self-destruct when their labor is no longer needed. The state achieves these ends through two main strategies: coercion (brute force which protects the system) and consent (ideological persuasion which keeps the system running smoothly.) Hegemony is achieved by the state, and the ruling class on whose behalf the state operates, through the combination of coercion and consent. As a key part of this strategy the state exercises hegemonic power where, by consent, non-state organizations actually take on the tasks of the state, as Roy argues above. CAPE demanded, in point three of their What CAPE Wants and What We Believe, that “a citizen review board to monitor excessive force, [and] supervise implementation of diversity training” should be a solution to police brutality. This liberalism is not the sole fault of individuals within CAPE, but rather the result of the historical evolution (or degeneration) of oppositional politics in the Bay Area, which must be understood in relation to the state. The power of the state exists in places well beyond the police and the mayor; its ideological influence extends into institutions, such as churches, schools, trade-unions, and nonprofit organizations. Nonprofits may temporarily act against certain persons and decisions of the state, or even denounce certain laws. However, as a whole their political practices are colonized by the logic of the system, both through their material funding and their ideological visions. The Black Panther Party’s political work in the 1960s focused on organizing to take control of black communities through “socialistic” service programs and direct confrontations against police brutality. But by the 1970s their political orientation shifted to getting elected into local government and running social service institutes that were partly funded by the local state. While “socialistic” community service programs started under the banner of “Survival Pending Revolution,” they soon became service based programs solely focused on survival, and became divorced from the revolutionary strategy they were once part of. This shift represented the displacement of the revolutionary fire the Panthers were born with by the acceptance of the duties and practices of the state. The Panthers degenerated into an organization whose revolutionary politics were completely subordinated to the practice of providing social services. This helped set the political trajectory of the Bay Area nonprofit left by making it acceptable to call social services resistance. As we’ve mentioned above, the state doesn’t rule simply by the direct force of the police or the army, but also rules through ideologies, which validate its existence as a political and social system. For instance, working class youth of color are criminalized by the repressive side of the state, mainly the police and the courts. These same youth are also dominated by a “get rich by any means” ideology which leads to individualistic behavior. The correct balance of the gun and the dollar hypnotizes people into submission and ndividualism that ultimately keeps the machinery of the system running smoothly. Antonio Gramsci wrote a famous essay entitled, Hegemony (Civil Society) and Separation of Powers: He states that the: “unity of the state in the differentiation of powers: Parliament more closely linked to civil society; the judiciary power, between government
and Parliament, represents the continuity of the written law (even against the government).”8 What Gramsci is attempting to point out here, speaking in abstract terms, is that the system inherently seeks to incorporate opposition to itself within its own framework and parameters so that it doesn’t get out of hand. If we think about “parliament more closely linked to civil society” we must also think about the logic and laws of parliament becoming practiced in everyday “civil society,” especially within political organizations, such as nonprofits that consider themselves “left.” The more people and organizations become disciplined in the rituals and methods of the state, the more people are powerless against the state. Gramsci continues: “Naturally all three powers are also organs of political hegemony, but in different degrees: 1. Legislature; 2, Judiciary; 3. Executive. It is to be noted how lapses in the administration of justice make an especially disastrous impression on the public: the hegemonic apparatus is more sensitive in this sector [the public], to which arbitrary actions on the part of the police and political administration may also be referred.” 9 When police kill innocent Black and Latino working class youth one can easily see deep “lapses in the administration of justice.” Politically they, “make an especially disastrous impression= on the public,” which is why the state will broker deals of power with groups such as CAPE who call for a, “citizen review board to monitor excessive force.” The state realizes that its brutal repression will be resisted and rebelled against by the people. For this reason it needs ways in which to neutralize the activity of the oppressed through political buffers and interpreters, such as nonprofit community organizations. Throughout the process of negotiation with the state, the nonprofits see themselves as doing “good work” on the part of the oppressed. They believe this work will shift the state towards the side of the people. The problem is the state can never reform itself to be neutral or to be an agent against racist brutality or capitalist exploitation. The state’s historical nature is to be the brains and muscle for the Anglo dominated ruling class and the reproduction of capital. Nicos Poulantzas argues, “Through its activities and effects, the State intervenes in all the relations of power in order to assign them a class pertinency and enmesh them in the web of class power.”10 Every instance of social interaction, such as going to the grocery story, attending school, or getting married, is wrapped up in the web of business based social relations. Poulantzas continues, the “State thereby takes over heterogeneous powers which relay and recharge the economic, political and ideological powers of the dominant class… [Class] power therefore traverses, utilizes and gears down that other power, assigning to it a given political significance.”
11 Even when community organizations, nonprofits, and individuals
come together to organize against state oppression their organizational strategies and ideological perspectives are still wrapped up in the webs of class power. Despite frequent references to the radical legacy of Oakland, CAPE behaved as an extension of the state, “organizing” people to be peaceful, go home and not take militant action in the streets. Many progressive people in CAPE, who took part in the attempt to contain the righteous indignation and militancy of the people, would likely consider themselves revolutionaries. They see the political work of organizing resistance as building town hall meetings with religious forces, caravans to Sacramento demanding that politicians “pay close attention to the issue,” healing circles for Oakland youth, and press conferences. While all these are useful and helpful components of a holistic movement, they are very low level responses to injustice, and the state has the capability to absorb these actions as simply bumps on the road. It is useful to juxtapose this grouping of activists and their strategies against other serious organizers, such as Black Panther militants, Palestinian militants, IWW militants of the 1910s, and Chicana militants of the 1970s, all of whom politically organized against the state to directly challenge its power through militant coordinated resistance. Such militant coordinated struggles included engaging in “illegal” strikes, mass school walkouts, mass un-permitted marches, and organizing the community against the police. Differences in tactics often represent actual differences in strategy, and strategy is guided by politics and ideology. Nonprofit activism has a “pressure politics” strategy, working under the assumption that US political
and economic structures are capable of meeting the needs of working class and communities of color through lobbying and advocacy. As long as the state exists it is necessary for progressive movements to make demands from it on behalf of the people. But the question is how do we make those demands; through what method of struggle? The methodology of pressure politics narrows struggle into the parameters of the existing state-based governmental decision making process. Simply put: they don’t address the systematic nature of oppression. They fall into the illusion that politicians are neutral and can be pressured to “do the right thing”. CAPE activists argued that their actions on the night of the January 14th protest were an effort to keep the movement organized and not let it degenerate into chaos like what many people saw the January 7th downtown
riots turn into. We recognize that the movement does need organization,
and it does need leadership, but leadership and organization with a different strategy than that of CAPE. Despite the efforts to conjure up the “grandmother spirit,” January 14th ended up looking much the same as the previous week. The rebellious activity of January 7th and January 14th represent neither revolutionary uprisings nor meaningless destruction, but disorganized uprisings of the people against the state. The fact that it couldn’t move beyond press conferences and town halls on the one hand, and broken windows and flames on the other, only highlights the lack of organized militant leaders. Lost was the opportunity to channel such raw energy into mass un-permitted protests against the state, political strikes at workplaces, and city-wide synchronized school shutdowns. The problem was not too much militancy from the street, but rather a lack of trained militants with a clear analysis and a constructive plan that the mood on the street could relate to and follow. IV. RCP and Revolutionary Organizing
The main “revolutionary” organized force that attempted to lead a more militant movement was the Bay Area Revolution Club/The Revolutionary
Communist Party (RCP). On January 16th, they called for Bay Area high school walkouts between 1pm to 3pm as a response to the Oscar Grant killing, and as a radical alternative to the moderate CAPE movement. The day of the walkout students from Berkeley High School, Oakland School of the Arts, Oakland High School and Oasis High School attended. They met in front of the Alameda County Court and held a speak out. Altogether, the crowd did not get beyond 50 people, with older RCP members maintaining a heavy presence. Chanting “the whole system is guilty,” the walkout transitioned into an un-permitted march through downtown Oakland. Along the way they tried to get other schools to walk out, but had no success. The crowd marched towards Oakland High holding up traffic throughout the way; at this point the Oakland Police Department moved in to attack. While high school students were beaten up, arrested, and sexually assaulted, RCP militants remained at a safe distance on the sidewalk. No RCPers were arrested. The RCP summed up the event in the January 19th edition of their newspaper: At the end of the march, four high school students from the protest were suddenly grabbed, brutalized and arrested by the Oakland Police Department which had maintained a heavy presence throughout the day, following the youth through the streets. This was an outrageous attack—brutalizing youth who stand up against police brutality! 12 Of course, any instance of police brutality is outrageous – especially
when the attack is directed at politicized youth, who are organizing against the police. The RCP’s analysis implies that the police attacked the youth for courageously taking the moral high ground against the system, while absolutely washing their hands of any responsibility for their own flawed leadership. This ‘leadership’ contributed to the students isolation and vulnerability to police attack, while the “vanguard” itself stepped to the side and played the role of spectators. The RCP is often accused of using young people as pawns in an elitist leadership’s pre-determined scheme, both as front line fodder and as tokens. This accusation usually demonstrates an anti-communist sentiment, which is problematic and anti-radical. However, episodes like this don’t offer evidence against this reading of RCP organizing. The RCP considers itself the vanguard (leader) of oppressed people, and they have a theoretical justification and understanding of their self-proclaimed position as the vanguard. This same theory simultaneously contributes to the clumsiness exhibited during their unsuccessful walkout. The RCP claims in a document titled, Some Points on the Question of Revolutionary Leadership and Individual Leaders that “where leadership
is genuinely revolutionary leadership, the more it plays its leadership role correctly, in accordance with Marxist-Leninist-Maoist principles, the greater will be the conscious initiative of the masses.” RCP leader Bob Avakian recently wrote, “[political] lines reflect certain social bases. Or to put it another way, they represent certain classes . . . Lines are a concentration
of the fundamental interests and aspirations of different classes; different lines represent different class forces.” Despite Avakian’s clumsy, un-edited writing, it becomes clear that they believe their political lines (found in their newspaper) represent the aspirations of the oppressed and exploited – specifically, the working class youth of color they led on their disastrous walkout. Though political lines and perspectives are incredibly important, the RCP gets it wrong with its overemphasis on them. The RCP’s ideology fetishizes the role that “political lines,” or political views on different questions, play in history. Their flawed view of the importance of ideology leads them to believe that the political lines produced by their main leader, Bob Avakian, automatically generate revolutionary advancements in struggles. The RCP understands the organizing and mobilizing of oppressed youth as a mechanical process: first, they study and understand the writings of Avakian (which are supposed to be the “correct” political line) and then they go out amongst the oppressed and spread the good word of Avakian’s thoughts. The ideological perspective and political lines of Avakian are supposed to be adopted by the people and then spread around to others, primarily through the sale of the RCP‘s newspaper. The result is a tautological (circular) form of revolutionary organizing with an ultimate goal of expanding their readership. This flawed understanding of the importance of Avakian’s ideology
contributes to a truncation of revolutionary organizing which leaves out consistent work amongst the oppressed. Organizing struggles amongst students against cuts to education, workers for better working conditions, or tenants against slumlords is labeled as “economistic” (aka, not political enough). The result is that nonprofits wind up asserting leadership over these struggles, and narrowing them into reformist directions which do not challenge the state. These nonprofit leaders and organizations become more closely linked with the oppressed, while the RCP remains largely marginalized and known in oppressed communities mostly for their fly-by-night newspaper sales. By allowing nonprofits to take leadership of these “economistic” struggles, the RCP loses the opportunity to expand the consciousness of the people involved in these daily class struggles, as well as the opportunity to advance them in a revolutionary direction against the state. By refusing to engage in the day to day struggles working class people face they lose the opportunity to develop meaningful relationships amongst the people. This lack of political roots amongst working class communities leads the isolated, self-proclaimed vanguard to overestimate its ability to call for “massive resistance,” such as the high school walkout they dreamed of happening on January 16th. The RCP would likely respond that the value of political roots in the working class lies solely on the correctness of the political line leading the way, which is the crucial starting point for meaningful action. Accepting
this argument at face value, one would have to question the “correctness”
of their line, and its pedagogical transmission, when it has failed so miserably to get through to the minds of the working class people of the Bay Area. The RCP is stuck between their stubborn dissemination of a “correct line” that never connects any real dots, and an adventuristic concept of action that is limited to protest activity. Intelligent, frustrated, sensitive youth get caught between a rock and a hard place. The leaders of the RCP’s failed January 16th protest expected to ignite the masses with a big bold move, but they failed. To put it in theoretical terms, they overvalued their own subjective factors (the “correctness” of their political line and small march) and underestimated objective factors (the fact that they had no significant roots amongst the oppressed, and therefore a limited basis from which to call for “massive resistance”). We are criticizing them, because in exalting themselves as representatives of communism and revolution they discredit these worthy goals. They sow distrust amongst the “masses” for all so-called outside agitators. We should redefine political line as the relation of revolutionary theory to militant organizing that actually advances struggles. V. A Victory? On June 18, 2009, BART police officer Mehserle was arraigned for murder. A police officer has not faced murder charges in California for nearly 15 years, which made some activists and organizations shout victory. It is a victory but a small one. The legal system did not charge Mehserle with murder out of a moral obligation; it did it as a response to the militant protests and rebellions that took place on January 7th and 14th. Now that Mehserle has murder charges against him the question remains: will he be convicted? The disorganized rebellion that broke out in LA in ‘92 happened after the four pigs who beat Rodney King were acquitted. If Mehserle is acquitted there will likely be more disorganized rebellions in Oakland, but we need more than that to put an end to this oppression. VI. Lack of Organization and Lost Opportunity “Now if we do want to live a thug life and a gangsta life and all of that, ok, so stop being cowards and let’s have a revolution.” - Tupac Shakur, beaten by Oakland Police in 1992 in downtown Oakland. Some activists in CAPE and most of the RCP would agree that we need a revolution to end oppression and exploitation. If we are serious about making a revolution then we need to be serious about taking criticisms
and criticizing ourselves. So far we’ve been critiquing CAPE and the RCP openly and without holding back. Some might say that we don’t have a basis to criticize them since we didn’t provide alternatives at the time; but this logic misses the point. We will continue to have opportunities to connect revolutionary perspectives to spontaneous uprisings by the people, but if we don’t understand and learn from the mistakes of current organizations, then we will be doomed to repeat them and the system will keep on winning. Criticism of existing organizations is a necessary step in the direction of building the type of organization that can respond to movements of the oppressed and help guide them in a revolutionary direction, instead of fumbling or capitulating to the system. * * * What was not known by any section of the Bay Area left is that a couple of days before the January 16th walkout, thirty Oakland high school students from three different schools met at Fruitvale BART, and discussed organizing a city-wide walkout of all schools in Oakland demanding justice for Oscar Grant. The walkout was to be organized autonomously by the students, rather than by nonprofits or revolutionary vanguards. It was scheduled for the following week. However, the fresh initiative that could have been the beginning of a lasting movement coming directly from the working class youth of Oakland would not have a chance to bloom. Some of the key student leaders of this meeting spent that coming weekend in jail; they were arrested at the RCPs fiasco “walkout” protest on January 16th.

#1140

From: "gellybean1974" <gellybean1974@...>
Date: Fri Jul 17, 2009 1:50 pm
Subject: Police Misconduct & What To Do If Afflicted

gellybean1974

Police Misconduct: If You've Been Affected

Civil rights claims are an important part of our legal system, providing a
balance between the duty of law enforcement to uphold the laws, and the rights
of individuals to be free from police misconduct. Yet cases against police
officers can be difficult. Officers may be immune from suit, even though an
individual feels he or she was mistreated. Claims against police departments can
also be expensive to bring because a lot of evidence must be secured, including
records, statements of police, statements of witnesses, and various other
documentation, to prove the misconduct.

The evidence supporting your claim is the most important element in a police
misconduct suit. If you feel you've been the victim of police misconduct,
contact a Civil Rights Attorney promptly so that valuable evidence does not
disappear. Take photographs of any injuries or damage caused by the police, and
set aside clothing or other objects that was torn or stained with blood from the
incident. Try to get the names and addresses or telephone numbers of anyone who
may have witnessed the incident. Also, write down exactly what happened as soon
as you can, so that you don't forget important details.