BUCKNACKT'S SORDID TAWDRY BLOG
We should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive & well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate, bier or wein in hand, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WHOO-HOO, WHAT A RIDE!!!!!!"
NO WAY any person of color would have survived this, and that is the very sad truth about the level of racism, especially in police and D.A. departments across the U.S. I am white and tired of this ignorance and ashamed. From +Daily Kos .....
K ALAMAZOO, MI — Police reports and
recordings of a sometimes tense 40-minute encounter with a belligerent,
rifle-toting man offers insight into how officers tried to defuse a
volatile situa
When I saw this video posted here recently, I had to go back and look at it again.
I saw a white man with a gun.
I heard a policeman saying, "Place the weapon down on the ground,
please. ... are crossing the street illegally ... I need you to put the
gun down before I talk to you. ... You have committed a crime ... you
are jaywalking. ... I don't want to shoot you, I'm not here to do that.
... Why are you so angry. ... Why are you cursing at me?"
Watching the whole incident all I could think of were those dead (unarmed) black men and boys who never had the opportunity to be "talked down," called "sir," and were murdered by police.
Or they were leaning on a toy gun in Walmart. Like John Crawford III.
John Crawford lll, gunned down by Beavercreek, Ohio police in Walmart, August 5, 2014.
The attorney for the family of 22
yr-old John Crawford III says the Walmart surveillance video shows the
young man talking on a cell phone and leaning on a bb gun like a cane
when Beavercreek Cops rushed around a corner inside the store shot him
on sight. The police version was not what was depicted on the video and
as in the other cases, police blantaly lie to the public about their
actions.
I wanted to find out what happened to this white man who defied police, made obscene gestures at them and who cursed them out.
The man, Joseph Houseman, is a gun rights advocate. He got his 15 minutes (more like 40 or 50) of fame and walked.
In the Department of Public Safety's decision not to pursue
charges, Webster said later that even though Houseman did not have the
rifle in a sling and was "fidgeting" with it, it was not evident that
he was "brandishing" it.
This news got covered as a "gun rights" story.
From my perspective it's a "white rights" story.
Does anyone honestly believe a black man, or teen, or boy would have walked away from this alive?
Follow me below the fold for more.
I know what happens in this country to black men with guns.
See how fast gun laws were changed
in the U.S. when the Black Panther Party decided to patrol the police
in their community, after the police murder of unarmed black
construction worker Denzil Dowell. In "Fear of a Black Gun Owner," Edward Wyckoff Williams wrote:
The Panthers responded to racial violence by patrolling
black neighborhoods brandishing guns -- in an effort to police the
police. The fear of black people with firearms sent shockwaves across
white communities, and conservative lawmakers immediately responded with
gun-control legislation.
Then Gov. Ronald Reagan, now lauded as the patron saint of modern
conservatism, told reporters in California that he saw "no reason why on
the street today a citizen should be carrying loaded weapons." Reagan
claimed that the Mulford Act,
as it became known, "would work no hardship on the honest citizen." The
NRA actually helped craft similar legislation in states across the
country.
I know what is done to black men who arm themselves in self-defense
against the occupying army you call police, and if you are white, you
may not fear.
You see, I remember Elaine Brown singing in "The End of Silence," "we'll just have to get guns and be men."
I also remember many Panthers shot down like dogs, some asleep like Fred Hampton.
The NRA is all about gun control. As long as those guns are in white hands.
From my black perspective, I get real angry when I watch the Bundy Bunch get away with whatever they fuc*ing feel like and nothing
happens to them. I watch white serial killers, and mass murderers
explained away as "loners," and "disturbed individuals." I watch my
young brothers executed and shot down in cold blood by cops and
vigilantes, and the media noise machine pumps up the vilification
volume, 'cause we're just thugs and animals.
This white problem affects not just community members, but it affects officers of the law who are not white. See the case of New York State parole officers who were held at gunpoint by white cops in Ramapo while on duty. Blacks in Law Enforcement of America
and other black and Latino police groups have spoken out. Far too often
being a cop of color is a death warrant from other police, who are
white. Police Departments call them "fraternal shootings," but there is nothing brotherly about white cops "accidentally" killing black and Latino officers.
Latinos also smell the cafe sin leche. Some national Latino groups are speaking up, and joining the outcry around Ferguson. In New York, Anthony Baez's family sees parallels with the recent police murder of Eric Garner.
There is no way in hell black people and Latinos and Native Americans can "fix" America's "race problem."
More white folks have to step up to the plate. Systemic racism in
police departments across America, in the criminal injustice system, in
housing, education, and health care has got to go.
I'm tired of hearing about "the race problem," as if we are an equal partner in this mess we didn't make.
America's got a problem with white racism, and y'all need to clean house.
Originally posted to Daily Kos on Sun Aug 31, 2014 at 09:00 AM EDT.
SOME people think the police in Ferguson, Missouri are being maligned, that the actions of one officer do not represent the whole department. I don't know how they can reach that conclusion considering the actions of the Ferguson police after Michael Brown was murdered by officer darren wilson, his body left lying in the street over four hours, the brutality of the police to protest following the murder. For me this confirms my opinion that the police department of Ferguson is lead and staffed by racist, fascist pigs and not only does the U.S. Dept of Justice need to investigate them, charges need to be filed against the Ferguson police dept for civil rights and civil liberties violations and the entire department should be replaced. THE wrongs of the Ferguson police do not, in any way, justify the violence and looting of some of the protesters, it does not justify anyone's racism and hatred. Michael Brown's family is to be commended for their tireless commitment to peace and reconciliation in Ferguson, and there are many other unsung advocates for peace, justice and reconciliation working hard in the community. The Crossing The Racial Divide discussion and study guide (released by +Sojourners on 29MAR12 after Trayvon Martin's murder) might be a resource for those interested in peace and justice to consider. From +Daily Kos and +NPR
Why have the residents of Ferguson, Missouri reacted with such anger to the still-unexplained shooting of Michael Brown? It is a mystery.
As darkness fell on Canfield Drive on August 9, a makeshift
memorial sprang up in the middle of the street where Michael Brown's
body had been sprawled in plain view for more than four hours. Flowers
and candles were scattered over the bloodstains on the pavement. [...]
Soon, police vehicles reappeared, including from the St. Louis County
Police Department, which had taken control of the investigation.
Several officers emerged with dogs. What happened next, according to
several sources, was emblematic of what has inflamed the city of
Ferguson, Missouri, ever since the unarmed 18-year-old was gunned down:
An officer on the street let the dog he was controlling urinate on the
memorial site.
And:
[Missouri state Rep. Sharon Pace] purchased some tea lights
for the family, and around 7 p.m. she joined Brown's mother, Lesley
McSpadden, and others as they placed the candles and sprinkled flowers
on the ground where Brown had died. "They spelled out his initials with
rose petals over the bloodstains," Pace recalled.
By then, police had prohibited all vehicles from entering Canfield
Drive except for their own. Soon the candles and flowers had been
smashed, after police drove over them.
This is all in the first hours after Brown's body was finally removed,
with the boy's mother and the rest of the crowd watching. So yeah, just a
crackerjack job by St. Louis law enforcement on this one. Start out by
letting dogs piss on the flowers, run over the candles in your cars,
move on to tear gassing people for walking around after dark. The
sixties never left Missouri.
The Rev. Willis Johnson (left), pastor of Wellspring Church
in Ferguson, speaks to the Rev. Michele Shumake-Keller after the panel
discussion in Ferguson, Mo., on Thursday. Johnson said he hoped the
event would be a step to healing a "community in trauma."
Whitney Curtis for NPR
To listen to the community event, go to
(Editor's Note: NPR's Michel Martin was invited by St. Louis
Public Radio to moderate a community conversation on Thursday around
race, police tactics and leadership following the shooting death of
Michael Brown. The following story is based on what happened at the
event.)
, is a study in contrasts. It boasts spacious
Victorians in its historic section, with lush green lawns, many
featuring "I Heart Ferguson" signs. Just blocks away, there's a
burnt-out QuikTrip. The signs here read "Hands Up, Don't Shoot." In some
cases, there are boarded-up windows advertising plans to reopen, or
decorated with the town's thanks for the love and support.
Not far from either: A mound of teddy bears and dried flowers marks the spot where 18-year-old
fell after being shot by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. Brown's
death not only put a spotlight on these contrasts, but has also
encouraged people to try to address them.
That was the Rev.
Willis Johnson's hope. He's the pastor of Wellspring Church, which
hosted a community conversation Thursday night that drew about 200
people. In welcoming the audience, Johnson acknowledged he's "gone from
feeling hurt to wanting to hurt," but he said he hoped the event would
be a step to healing a "community in trauma."
The conversation drew about 200 people to Wellspring Church.
Over the course of two hours, many members of the audience shared
similar reactions to problems in Ferguson.
Whitney Curtis for NPR
Over the course of two hours, many members of the audience — black, white, young and old — shared similar reactions.
Ferguson
resident Jeff Schultz said the problems that came up in the course of
the weeks of disturbances were "invisible to white people like me." He
urged the group to find ways to begin to talk about these issues in a
way that would keep other whites from getting defensive. But a number of
the African-American attendees repeatedly described feelings of being
disrespected by institutions and individuals that were supposed to serve
them.
"My people are not respected. ... Look at the schools:
Which schools are in trouble?" said former Missouri state Sen. Rita
Days. "Those are schools with predominantly people that look like me."
She urged the group to acknowledge those divisions.
A
panel of community leaders — which included Days; top law enforcement
officer Daniel Isom, a retired St. Louis police chief and the incoming
director of the Missouri Department of Public Safety; and Kimberly
McKinney, a Habitat for Humanity executive — wrestled over questions
about the police tactics used during the demonstrations, but also about
those used on a regular basis, which some observers have suggested is
tied to raising money for fines and fees.
Many people expressed
particular disgust at the treatment of Brown's body, which remained on
the scene and uncovered for more than four hours after the shooting.
Much of the anger was directed at Ferguson Mayor James Knowles and
others, who attended the event.
Ferguson resident Frankie Edwards shows a rubber bullet
wound he suffered during one of the nights of protests to NPR's Michel
Martin (right) and Ferguson Mayor James Knowles (second from right)
during the community conversation at Wellspring Church.
Whitney Curtis for NPR
David Jackson, a member of the St. Louis Board of Education, was blunt.
"I am so disappointed in you as a leader," he said. "The buck stops with you. It starts with you."
Among
the more remarkable developments of the evening was the emergence of an
increasingly vocal group of young people who, prompted by social media
and word of mouth, arrived at the event to share their experiences and
demand accountability. They spoke of being tear-gassed, spoken to
roughly by authorities and shot by rubber bullets.
One of the
more dramatic moments came as a young man who introduced himself as
Frankie Edwards pulled up his shirt to show the mayor a freshly scabbed
scar from a bullet wound he received while protesting in Ferguson. He
asked Knowles to apologize on behalf of the police, and asked the mayor
whether he would step down.
Knowles pointedly said he would not.
"I'm not stepping down," he said. "The voters have an opportunity to relieve me when the time comes."
But
African-Americans were not the only people to express disappointment
with Knowles' leadership through the crisis. Emily Davis, a white mother
of three who lives in Ferguson, said her first emotion after Brown's
death was deep sorrow, "but now I am angry," she said.
She had
been out protesting or volunteering daily with her children, but "I
still don't see any engagement [from the police]. And my kids are
confused. My son said, 'I thought police were the good guys.' "
Corinna Anjali (left) speaks to Mayor Knowles after the
event. "You're in the hot spot as the one person in power," Anjali said
to Knowles. "It's important for you to say 'I hear you' to the people
who have been hurt."
Whitney Curtis for NPR
Another attendee, Geoffrey Higginbotham, said this was his third
riot, after the 1965 Watts riots in Los Angeles following the murder of
the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
"I came here to the city of
Ferguson about 2 1/2 years ago to speak about economic development and
how we address these issues," he said. "They were not ready for it."
Both Johnson, the pastor, and Isom, the former police chief, concluded the evening on pensive notes.
Isom asked for the community's ongoing engagement in addressing the issues raised over the course of the evening.
"I
just feel sorrow. I feel sorry that as a leader in St. Louis, we
haven't done a really good job," he said. "I'm redoubling my effort to
hold myself accountable, and see what I can do to make it better. But I
can't do it by myself."
Johnson added: "I am hurt. Sometimes I feel a little helpless. But I am hopeful, because I know there's a better day."
THE militarization of our community police departments must end. Our villages, towns, counties, and cities do not need tanks and armored vehicles, they need more police better trained in community policing and paid a salary due public servants charged with serving and protecting. With police forces trained to protect us from crime while respecting our civil rights and civil liberties, and community policies that actually address the root causes of crime (neglect of communities by all levels of government, economic inequality, education inequality, racism and discrimination) the people will have a partner in their police departments to keep our communities safe and not one acting like they have license to detain, maim, shoot and kill a la the Third World. Please sign this petition from the ACLU calling on the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security and Justice to stop funding and supplying the militarization of our community police departments....
It’s not too late to add your name. Over 44,000 ACLU
supporters have signed our petition demanding that the Departments of
Defense, Homeland Security and Justice stop funneling billions into the
militarization of state and local police forces — will you join them?
Two weeks after Mike Brown was shot and killed in Ferguson, Missouri,
the tanks have left the streets, and there are fewer cover stories in
the media.
But the problem still remains: too many neighborhoods – particularly
those inhabited by black and brown people – are being policed like war
zones. It’s time to tell the feds to stop funding the siege on communities of color.
President Obama gets that there is a serious problem here. On Saturday,
he announced a review of federal programs that fund wartime arsenals
for local police forces. “There is a big difference between our military
and our local law enforcement, and we don’t want those lines blurred,”
he stated.
Those lines were definitely blurred in Ferguson. Peaceful protesters were met by snipers, tanks, and tear gas. Let’s ramp up the pressure and tell the DoJ, DoD, and DHS: We’re tired of being treated like the enemy by those who are supposed to protect and serve us.
The ACLU has been on the ground in Ferguson from the beginning.
We filed two Missouri Sunshine lawsuits to obtain incident reports for
the shooting from Ferguson and St. Louis county police departments,
secured an agreement for the public and media to document police
actions, filed a civil rights complaint when protestors faced arrest if
they stopped moving, and helped organize legal observers to document
First Amendment violations. But our work is not over.
JUSTICE FOR MICHAEL BROWN – Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) President Richard Cohen summed up
the situation in Ferguson, Missouri in the wake of the shooting of
Michael Brown 11 days ago: “It’s tragic. It’s senseless. It’s
destructive. How many more innocents must die?” … ACT: SIGN
CREDO Action’s petition to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Missouri
Attorney General Chris Koster, and Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson
demanding an extensive investigation HERE … SIGNThe Nation’s petition to end the militarization of the police HERE … DONATE to the official Michael Brown Memorial Fund HERE … DONATE to the bail and legal fund for those arrested during Ferguson anti-police demonstrations HERE … PURCHASE a “Don’t Shoot” t-shirt–with 100% of the proceeds going to Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment–HERE … FERGUSON MUST READS: “One Nation Under SWAT: How America’s Police Became an Occupying Force” at Salon, “Bringing Policy Secrecy To Light in Ferguson” from Sunlight Foundation, and “The Death of Michael Brown” over at The Nation. GRANNY GOES GUERRILLA — The Agenda Project Action Fund is happy to announce the return of GRANNY to rally against the release of Rep. Paul Ryan’s new book, The Way Forward. Protesters will meet Rep. Ryan at every stop on his book tour, armed with copies of the REAL “Way Forward.” Granny TELLS PP:
“Ryan’s Way Forward is nothing more than a quick shove and a long fall …
I have one message for Paul Ryan: you’re not pushing me around
anymore!” DOWNLOAD the cover HERE and READ “Paul Ryan’s Newest Deceit: Why the Hot New Book Has the Same Old Shtick.” CREW RECRUITS BROCK AS NEW CHAIR — Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) named
Media Matters for America Founder and progressive activist David Brock
as its new Chairman of the Board of Directors. Longtime strategic
advisor David Mercer and real estate investor and philanthropist Wayne
Jordan will also serve as Directors. David Mercer TELLS PP:
“At a time when public opinion of Congress is at or near all-time lows,
I welcome the opportunity to join a talented team with an exceptional
track record of seeking to restore the public’s trust in our government
and Washington, D.C. Both CREW and David Brock are standouts in the
accountability business, and together, new resources, creativity and
commitment will be brought to bear on the vital work of keeping
government transparent and responsive to the American people it serves.” SPEAK UP TO SAVE THE INTERNET — With over one million submissions and counting, the FCC has extended the deadline for comments on net neutrality to September 15th. SUBMIT your comments HERE and READ “The FCC’s Net Neutrality Proposal Explained” over at The Nation. BOOK RAFFLE: AGAINST AUSTERITY — Enter for a chance to win a copy of Richard Seymour’s book Against Austerity: How We Can Fix the Crisis They Made.
The book examines the austerity fervor plaguing political discourse
worldwide and supplies strategies for preventing future crises. The WINNER will be REVEALED in PP on September 11! E-MAIL PP Editor Hannah Hendler at hhendler@agendaproject.org with the subject line “AGAINST AUSTERITY submission.” BUSINESSES BACKING $10.10 – Business for a Fair Minimum Wage and Main Street Alliance launched
a national campaign that provides businesses with free decals and
posters to show their support for a federal minimum wage of at least
$10.10. Business for a Fair Minimum Wage CEO Holly Sklar: “Biz owners
are much less partisan than Congress when it comes to a fair minimum
wage, and this decal is a great way the business community can show
support for raising the wage.” ORDER a free decal or poster HERE. THE TOLL OF COAL — The Center for American Progress (CAP) released
a new analysis revealing that proposed coal-export projects in the
Powder River Basin will result in as much carbon pollution as 35 million new cars. READ more HERE. PP MUST READ: “Unaccompanied Children at Our Border: Why They Are Coming, What Happens Once They’re Here and How to Help” over at American Constitution Society’s blog. A USER’S GUIDE TO ECONOMICS –
The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) is hosting a
discussion and book signing with economist and CEPR Associate Ha-Joon
Chang about his new book, Economics: The User’s Guide. The event will take place at Busboys and Poets in Washington, D.C. on September 18th. FIND out more HERE. FROM THE WONK WIRE … … A FAIRER FLORIDA: FairVote Executive Director and Top WonkRob Richieproposes two new solutions for Florida’s gerrymandering woes. … DISEASED DEMOCRACY: Former Secretary of Labor and Top WonkRobert Reichargues that our democracy is infected by the power of monied interests and urges Americans to take power back with voices and votes. … SAVE SOCIAL SECURITY: CEPR Director of Domestic Policy and Top WonkNicole Woowarns
that in 20 years social security will likely be able to pay only
three-quarters of promised benefits to retirees unless the wealthiest
start paying the same payroll tax rate as the rest of us. Find out more at www.TopWonks.org. … ON OUR AGENDA … PP is back with WEEKLY ISSUES! … visit our twitter @PractProgress …
Violent
clashes between local police and protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, has
highlighted the distribution of military equipment to police departments
around the country from the U.S. Defense Department. Hari Sreenivasan
talks to Matt Apuzzo of The New York Times about the concerns over the
militarization of domestic law enforcement.
TRANSCRIPT
GWEN IFILL: One
of the many issues in Ferguson attracting national attention is the
extent to which local police are becoming ever more heavily armed, or,
as many put it, militarized.
Hari Sreenivasan in our New York studios picks up that part of the story.HARI SREENIVASAN: Most
notably, many have been talking about how military equipment is making
its way from the Department of Defense to police departments around the
country.
Matt Apuzzo been covering this for The New York Times and joins me now from its Washington, D.C., bureau.
So,
Matt, what kind of equipment are we talking about? What are local
authorities in Ferguson using that came from the DOD or the Pentagon? MATT APUZZO, The
New York Times: Well, I mean, for starters, the Pentagon makes it very
hard to track equipment that goes from the military to local agencies.
I
mean, the best data we can get comes at the county level. But in a
response like this, where — you know, where it’s basically all hands on
deck for a county response, you know, a number of M-16s — M-16s are very
common. Under President Obama, there have been tens of thousands of
M-16s transferred to police departments nationwide, after, you know,
being used in the military.
We have also seen there also have been
some trucks, there have been some aircraft. This is part of a program
that began as part of the drug war, the idea being, in the ’90s, we need
to give this surplus military equipment to police departments as a way
to fight drug gangs.
And like a lot of programs, after 9/11, it
was sort of re-engineered for counterterrorism purposes and expanded.
And, you know, you have really seen — after the drawdown of two wars,
you have really seen a huge amount of military equipment being
transferred from the Pentagon to local police departments, state and
local police departments. HARI SREENIVASAN: So, how widespread is this and what happens to the equipment if police departments don’t want it? MATT APUZZO: Well, it’s very widespread.
It’s
one of the more popular programs as far as police goes, because this
stuff is free. So, what happens is, for instance, we bought a bunch of —
we, the United States taxpayer, bought a bunch of MRAPs, mine-resistant
trucks, for fighting in Iraq.
And now we’re not in — now we’re
not fighting in Iraq anymore, and so we have got all these extra trucks.
And so they’re basically offering them to police departments for free.
And they say, if you want these trucks, you can have them, and if you
don’t want them, we will just scrap them. HARI SREENIVASAN: So
the police departments that you have talked to in your reporting, do
they say any particular reason that they need an armored vehicle that
can withstand a mine patrolling their streets? MATT APUZZO: Well,
most police departments say, well, look, I don’t think we necessarily
need it to sustain a mine explosions, but we wanted a bulletproof truck,
and this was the one that was available for free, or we could go out
and buy it.
Now, remember, for the past 10 years, there have been —
federal grants have been paying for these — for police departments to
buy this stuff outright. So the idea of — the idea that this is all just
coming from the Pentagon, that’s just one part of it.
So what you’re seeing is, you’re seeing police departments saying, well, geez, if it’s free, what’s the downside? HARI SREENIVASAN: And
one of their concerns is that their citizenry or communities in certain
areas are heavily armed. Is there any legitimacy to that idea, that
claim, saying, we’re almost outgunned when we go out there and we don’t
feel protected? MATT APUZZO: Well, I mean, certainly, there’s an argument that police should be protected.
Nobody
— any — nobody I talk to say — nobody anybody would talk to would say
that police shouldn’t have protection. But the idea that — the idea that
the streets of the United States are so dangerous as to — the police
are outgunned, it just isn’t borne out by the data.
We’re looking
at violent crime in the United States now is at a generational low, and
police shootings have been steadily declining — shootings against
police. And I should note that, while the federal government and private
groups keep data when people shoot police, no such data is collected
when the police shoots people.
And what’s interesting about this
is, what we’re seeing in Ferguson, is we can have the discussion about
the — what military equipment should go to police departments, but you
can be certain that what’s happening in Ferguson is only going to
encourage more police departments to buy this stuff. HARI SREENIVASAN: OK.
And
what about the — we had a couple of members of Congress today, even the
attorney general say that they’re very concerned about this
militarization. Anything likely to happen? It seems like a congressional
program with some support. MATT APUZZO: Yes, I mean, there hasn’t really been any opposition to this program.
You
know, the criticism of the so-called militarization of police has
largely come from libertarian quarters for several years. They have kind
of been the lone voice on this, folks like the Cato institute. “Reason”
magazine has been writing a lot about this.
And you’re sort of
seeing — you’re sort of seeing right now — in Ferguson, you’re starting
to see what’s happening there, kind of galvanize some of the more
traditional liberal voices against this in ways that they have kind of
just been on the sidelines on this issue.
But you’re right. The
idea that — the idea that this is a new concept to members of Congress
is certainly — it’s just not true. It’s been no secret that these
transfers have been going. It’s a popular — the military transfer
program is very popular, as are the grant programs. HARI SREENIVASAN: All right, Matt Apuzzo of The New York Times joining us from Washington, D.C., thanks so much. MATT APUZZO: Thank you.
Totals are the minimum number of pieces acquired since 2006 in few categories.
The militarization of America's police forces that has been on full
display in Ferguson, Missouri, this week didn't begin yesterday or with
the Bush administration. It dates back decades. But it has, as Radley
Balko has written in two books, gotten worse. Here's Susan Gardner, in a book review in 2006 of Balko's Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America:
This study traces the rise of infatuation with SWAT units,
which today is largely used to serve drug warrants dozens of times a day
across the USA, to L.A. police chief Daryl Gates' use of them and the
Reagan administration's official declaration that the drug war was a
part of "national security," thus opening the doors to Defense
Department giveaways and discounts of weaponry to towns such as Jasper,
Florida (population 2,000), which has a police force of seven and hasn't
had a murder in 14 years.
And here's Glenn Greenwald at First Look, writing at The Intercept Thursday:
The intensive militarization of America’s police forces is a
serious menace about which a small number of people have been loudly
warning for years, with little attention or traction. In a 2007 paper on
“the blurring distinctions between the police and military institutions
and between war and law enforcement,” the criminal justice professor
Peter Kraska defined “police militarization” as “the process whereby
civilian police increasingly draw from, and pattern themselves around,
the tenets of militarism and the military model.” [...]
The best and most comprehensive account of the dangers of police
militarization is the 2013 book by the libertarian Washington Post
journalist Radley Balko, entitled “Rise of the Warrior Cops: The
Militarization of America’s Police Forces.” Balko, who has devoted his
career to documenting and battling the worst abuses of the U.S. criminal
justice system, traces the history and underlying mentality that has
given rise to all of this: the “law-and-order” obsessions that grew out
of the social instability of the 1960s, the War on Drugs that has made
law enforcement agencies view Americans as an enemy population, the
Reagan-era “War on Poverty” (which was more aptly described as a war on
America’s poor), the aggressive Clinton-era expansions of domestic
policing, all topped off by the massively funded, rights-destroying,
post-9/11 security state of the Bush and Obama years. All of this, he
documents, has infused America’s police forces with “a creeping
battlefield mentality.”
And here's Matt Apuzzo writing two months ago in the New York Times:
During the Obama administration, according to Pentagon data,
police departments have received tens of thousands of machine guns;
nearly 200,000 ammunition magazines; thousands of pieces of camouflage
and night-vision equipment; and hundreds of silencers, armored cars and
aircraft.
The equipment has been added to the armories of police departments
that already look and act like military units. Police SWAT teams are now
deployed tens of thousands of times each year, increasingly for routine
jobs. Masked, heavily armed police officers in Louisiana raided a
nightclub in 2006 as part of a liquor inspection. In Florida in 2010,
officers in SWAT gear and with guns drawn carried out raids on
barbershops that mostly led only to charges of “barbering without a
license.”
When cops treat people the way an occupying army would, the consequences
for citizens, for constitutional protections, for the police themselves
are exactly the opposite of what is needed in a civilized society.
"Serve and protect" is transformed into a sick joke.
HERE are a series of reports with video on the situation in Ferguson, Missouri since officer darren wilson killed Michael Brown on Saturday, 9 AUG 14. Missouri state officials have removed the Ferguson police from their duties, replacing them with officers of the Missouri State Police and the FBI has begun an investigation. From the +PBS NewsHour .....
Police
announced Friday morning that Darren Wilson is the officer who is being
investigated in the shooting of Michael Brown. In a halting and
sometimes disorganized statement, Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson
announced that his department was releasing details of a strong-arm
robbery that had occurred in the area prior to the shooting of Mr.
Brown. Police were responding to a 911 call about the robbery when they
encountered Mr. Brown. No details about the officer’s or Mr. Brown’s
actions were released during the press conference. Packets containing
some information requested by the press through FOIA were distributed at
the statement.
Wilson has served on the Ferguson police force for 6 years, the New York Times reports. Wilson is now on paid administrative leave.
The press conference follows a night of reduced tensions between protesters and police officers, that many attributed to a handover of security leadership over to the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Led by Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson,
the team of officers engaged directly with protesters on Thursday
night, marching with them through the streets of Ferguson, and listening
to what they had to say.
Capt.
Ronald Johnson of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, who was appointed
by the governor to take control of security operations in the city of
Ferguson, walks among demonstrators gathered along West Florissant
Avenue on August 14, 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri. Photo by Scott
Olson/Getty Images
The force also chose to avoid wearing gas masks, SWAT gear, or any other military-type equipment in an effort to de-escalate tensions. Reports from protesters and journalists seem to confirm that the change in tactics had a positive effect on the gatherings.
A
scene of chaos in Ferguson, Missouri, captured the nation’s attention
when police officers unleashed a barrage of stun grenades and tear gas
to dispel protests over the killing of an African-American teenager.
Police said they used force when protesters started throwing rocks and
firebombs. Judy Woodruff reports on the incident, and the pushback that
followed.
JUDY WOODRUFF: We
return now to the drama that unfolded in the Saint Louis suburb of
Ferguson, Missouri, last night, and dominated conversation across the
country today.
It
was a scene of utter chaos that riveted the nation’s attention. Stun
grenades and tear gas exploded in the streets of Ferguson, as heavily
armed police aimed weapons from armored trucks. Police said they used
force when a protest that began peacefully turned violent, with people
throwing rocks and firebombs.MAN: You must disperse immediately. This is no longer a peaceful protest when you try to injure people. You must disperse now. JUDY WOODRUFF: With that, officers loosed the barrage of grenades and gas, sending the crowd fleeing. MAN: We just said, “Hands up, don’t shoot.” MAN: Is that all you were saying? MAN: That’s all we were saying, “Hands up, don’t shoot.” MAN: Were you in the front line up there? MAN: In the front line, yes. And they just started shooting. JUDY WOODRUFF: Both city and county officers were involved, and today they defended their actions.
Thomas Jackson is chief of the Ferguson police. THOMAS JACKSON,
Chief, Ferguson Police Department: There is gunfire. There are
firebombs being thrown at the police. And I understand that what it
looks like is not good. The whole situation is not good.
We would
like the protesters to stop the violence. We certainly don’t want to
have any violence on our part. We want this to be peaceful. If
individuals are in a crowd that’s attacking the police, they need to get
out of that crowd. We can’t individually go in and say, excuse me, sir,
are you peacefully protesting? Are you throwing rocks? Are you throwing
a Molotov cocktail? It’s a crowd. JUDY WOODRUFF: The Saint
Louis Post-Dispatch reported 10 people were arrested, among them, Saint
Louis City Alderman Antonio French, who’d been chronicling events on
social media, including several Vine video posts. MAN: What do we want? PROTESTERS: Justice! JUDY WOODRUFF: French was released this morning. MAN: Stop videotaping. Let’s grab our stuff and go. JUDY WOODRUFF: Washington
Post reporter Wesley Lowery recorded this exchange with police, as he
and a Huffington Post reporter were ordered to clear out of a nearby
McDonald’s. MAN: You don’t have time to ask questions. Let’s go.
The
reporters were detained and later released without any charges.
Separately, members of an Al-Jazeera America TV crew had to run for it,
after police fired tear gas as they prepared for a live report. Today,
the police chief denied the media had been deliberately targeted.
But
the stark images from last night reverberated far beyond Ferguson.
President Obama interrupted his vacation on Martha’s Vineyard. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA:
There is never an excuse for violence against police or for those who
would use this tragedy as a cover for vandalism or looting. There’s also
no excuse for police to use excessive force against peaceful protests
or to throw protesters in jail for lawfully exercising their First
Amendment rights.
And here in the United States of America, police
shouldn’t be bullying or arresting journalists who are just trying to
do their jobs and report to the American people on what they see on the
ground. JUDY WOODRUFF: Meanwhile, Missouri political
leaders spent the day in Ferguson. U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill,
speaking after a community gathering, sharply criticized police tactics. SEN. CLAIRE MCCASKILL,
D, Mo.: I think that the police response needs to be demilitarized. I
think that the police response has become part of the problem, as
opposed — as opposed to being part of the solution. JUDY WOODRUFF: Police Chief Jackson rejected the criticism. THOMAS JACKSON:
The whole picture is being painted a little bit sideways from what’s
really happening. And it’s not military. It’s tactical operations. It’s
SWAT teams. That’s who’s out there, police. We’re doing this in blue. JUDY WOODRUFF: In
a statement, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder also voiced concerns
about police actions, and said the Justice Department has offered to
provide technical assistance with crowd control.
The night’s
events in Ferguson have swept across the Web in a torrent of videos,
tweets and retweets. The chant of “Hands up, don’t shoot” had already
morphed into a rallying cry on social media. This morning, Howard
University in Washington, D.C., posted a photo on its Facebook page,
showing scores of students with hands raised and the hashtag
#HandsUpDontShoot.
Similar photos from across the country also circulated online. PROTESTERS: Don’t shoot! PROTESTERS: Hands up! PROTESTERS: Don’t shoot! JUDY WOODRUFF: At
the same time, the investigation continued into the incident that
started all this, Saturday’s shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown.
The
identity of the officer who fired the fatal shot remained a point of
contention. Authorities again said they’re not ready to release the
name, due partly to death threats. At one point, a Twitter account
associated with the activist group Anonymous did publish a name that it
said was the officer in question. That was flatly denied by police, and
Twitter later suspended the account.
The
killing of Michael Brown -- and the subsequent police response to
protests and riots sparked by the lack of transparency -- has provoked
reflection around the country about some of the deeper social and
economic issues. Gwen Ifill gets reaction from Eric Liu of Citizen
University and Jelani Cobb of the University of Connecticut.
GWEN IFILL: Today’s
pleas for restraint, safety, peaceful protests, and justice rippled far
beyond Missouri. As one official put it this afternoon, “The eyes of
the world are on us.”
We explore how some of these issues and images are resonating around the country.Eric
Liu is an author, educator, former White House speechwriter, and
founder of Citizen University, which promotes civic activism. And Jelani
Cobb is an associate professor of history and director of the Institute
for African-American Studies at the University of Connecticut. He is
also a contributor to “The New Yorker.” He joins us from Saint Louis.
Jelani
Cobb, I want to pick up from something that the former mayor of
Ferguson told Judy a few moments ago, which is, this could happen
anywhere.
You have been on the streets of Ferguson for the last few days. Do you agree with that? JELANI COBB,
University of Connecticut: Well, I think recent history shows that not
only that it could happen anywhere, that it has happened in several
other places.
There are some really terrible overlaps here, one of
which is a striking irony that Tracy Martin, the father of Trayvon
Martin, who was slain two years ago under circumstances I think we’re
all familiar with, he was scheduled to actually be in this area for an
event that will take place on August 24 promoting nonviolence called
Peace Fest.
And he agreed to attend this program weeks before
Michael Brown was killed. He’s now entering — coming here under very
different circumstances. So we have seen all these things happen before.
That
notwithstanding, I think it’s very troubling to say, in the context of a
community that’s grieving, that’s devastated and that certainly feels a
great deal of resentment about the way in which it’s being policed,
that there is nothing atypical about what’s going on here, that this is
just something that could have alighted anywhere, but it just happened
to be here. GWEN IFILL: Eric Liu, I want you to pick up on
that. Why would it not be atypical? And does that explain some of the
depth of the anger we’re seeing? ERIC LIU, Co-Author, “The
Gardens of Democracy”: Well, I think one of the questions that
protesters have been chanting in Ferguson is very simple: What if it was
your town?
And I think a lot of people all across the country
watching things unfold over the last few days are beginning to really
reckon with the fact that this is not only the product of the
extraordinarily segregated and charged circumstances that you might find
in Ferguson, but that in every town in this country right now, there is
alienation.
In every town in this country, there are young people
who, because of the color of their skin, are receiving brutal
mistreatment by law enforcement. And there are communities all across
this country right now where people across lines of race and class
simply do not see each other, do not — they may pass each other, but
they don’t really see one another.
And I think, in that sense,
we’re all reckoning with the possibility or the reality that in every
town in the United States right now, the potential for this kind of
understanding and this kind of tragedy exists. And part of our
responsibility, I think, is to figure out what we can do, whatever town
we live in, to ensure that what’s unfolded in Ferguson doesn’t unfold
again where we live. GWEN IFILL: Jelani Cobb, it seems
almost like that, in the last 24 to 48 hours, this has gone beyond the
simple question of what happened to Michael Brown to something else. It
seems to have touched another cord.
And I wonder whether it feels that way to you too, or whether the anger seems very, very focused around that singular event? JELANI COBB: No, no doubt this became a very different story just even in the 48 hours that I have been here.
Initially,
this was very much focused on the circumstances around the death of
Michael Brown. But now it’s expanded into, you know, bigger questions
about policing, questions about militarization of police, as you talked
about in your early segment — earlier segment.
I had a
conversation with community activists and people who live in the area
where Mr. Brown was killed, and they talked about economic
disenfranchisement and a whole array of other things that touch upon
what’s really going on in this community.
And, if I can, I will
say one thing in addition to this. One of the things that I have heard
over and over again when I talked to people out in this community, and I
said, you know, what exactly do you want in the short-term, what do you
want immediately, what do you think would pacify some of the anger that
you see happening in these communities?
And they said, we would
like for the officer to be named, and we would like for there to be
transparency in the process in which he is being investigated. And I
have heard that again and again.
And so I think what the police
department may not have recognized or maybe recognized too late was the
steadfast insistence that they wouldn’t name the officer was going to
fuel another set of problems that, based upon what I have heard, even
people who are activists and people who are police officers have all
been taken by surprise at the extent to which there has been a kind of
durable anger, that people were not satisfied just to go out and protest
for one day, but they came out the next day and the next day and the
next day, and have pledged to continue to do so for the amount of time
the officer remains anonymous. GWEN IFILL: Let’s talk about this idea of durable anger, Eric Liu.
One
of the things that has been making the rounds of social media is
pictures of people putting their hands up in the air and saying, “Hands
up, don’t shoot.” We heard a gentleman say that in one of our earlier
pieces tonight.
Does that speak to people beyond who is in the
street, this idea that you can be — say, I cede all my power to you, and
still become a victim? ERIC LIU: I want to be specific.
That image that is circulating on the Internet is of African-Americans with their hands up. “Hands up, don’t shoot.”
And
I look at that picture and I am both stirred and shamed. I’m stirred
because I feel a deep sense of connection that, in the United States in
2014, this is happening. But I feel shamed as well that we’re not able
to have a conversation about this and about the conditions of unequal
justice that unfold without it becoming quickly polarized and quickly
partisan.
And the reality that’s interesting right now and part of
why this has become a national story and a national phenomenon is that,
as Jelani Cobb was just saying, the response of the police in Ferguson
to the protesters, the ways in they have, in heavy-handed manner, run
roughshod over freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, over the right
simply of young people to be African-American and out in public has been
shocking to the conscience.
And it raises a very simple question
of, what country is this? There is something deeply striking about how
un-American these images seem. And I think one of the challenges that we
face right now is that it’s only un-American if we stand up and do
something and say something about it. If we just turn away, avert our
gaze and say, wow, that’s something awful that is happening in that part
of the country or that weird community, then, in fact, norms set in
where we tolerate this.
And I just want to take a moment. That
image of people saying, “Hands up, don’t shoot,” today, 50 years after
the signing of the Civil Rights Act into law, 49 years after the Voting
Rights Act, the fact that this is still happening is an abomination. And
I say that, of course, as an American. You don’t have to be an African American
to say that, just as an American. GWEN IFILL: Jelani Cobb,
where does — where does political leadership come in, in this? We have
waited and saw the governor speak today. The mayor has spoken, the
attorney general, the president.
Has it been sufficient, and does it matter? JELANI COBB: I
think, you know, again, I don’t live in this community, but based upon
what I have heard from people in the interviews, I have talked to a
couple of dozen people at this point, and, you know, the thing that I
heard very frequently is that they felt that the political leadership
was ineffectual, that people had come too — it had been too little, too
late.
There were questions yesterday about whether or not the
governor would be involved, whether or not they would bring the National
Guard in. There were all kinds of things people were wondering about
how this would be handled.
And it also seemed that, you know, on
the ground, there was a kind of ad hoc quality. So, out there, people
kind of saw the kind of line of defense, where there were lots of
officers who were blocking the area where the QuikTrip stood. But what
you couldn’t see unless you were up close was that there were officers
from different municipalities.
There were state people. There were
local people. And it seemed as if there was a kind of overlap. You
could kind of wonder what the central command was, who was calling the
shots and what the real strategy was.
Now, that said, I think there is another thing to be added, two quick things. GWEN IFILL: Briefly. JELANI COBB: One,
this has not solely been black. There have been people of — black and
white people who have been out there protesting about what happened. And
people are very for them — it was very important to them to convey
that.
The other is that the people who were in riot gear, I don’t
think that was what incensed people. People were — and there were many
people in the community who didn’t want to see more rioting. But the
idea that there were police officers who were on top of armored vehicles
with assault rifles mounted on tripods and pointed at the crowd did
nothing to convey that this was a group of people who were interested in
preserving law and order. It seemed much more like a group of people
who were there to intimidate. GWEN IFILL: Jelani Cobb and Eric Liu, thank you both for your observations. JELANI COBB: Thank you. ERIC LIU: Thank you. GWEN IFILL: We continue our coverage on Ferguson, Missouri, online.
Lesley
McSpadden, the mother of slain teenager Michael Brown, showed a
painting of her and her son through her car window. Brown’s death has
provoked a Twitter campaign questioning how young black victims are
portrayed in the media. Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images
The
photos of military vehicles dispatched in the streets could have come
from a war zone, but it’s Ferguson, Missouri. Community members are in a
tense stand-off with law enforcement days after an unarmed
African-American 18-year-old named Michael Brown was shot and killed by a
police officer. While the unfolding events continue to disturb
observers around the country, the emerging narrative is familiar.
“We
have a kind of script that we often use when dealing with the deaths of
young black and brown people at the hand of police,” said Craig Steven
Wilder, head of the History Department at MIT, in a conversation with
the PBS NewsHour. “When you have young, low-income people dying, we look
for the victim to assume the guilt, assuming they were responsible for
forcing the police to take aggressive action.”
Wilder appeared on the NewsHour in June to discuss the $40 million settlement
made by the city of New York to a group of men known as the Central
Park Five, who were wrongly convicted of a brutal rape in Central Park
in 1989 and misrepresented in the media as a pack of predatory hoodlums.
He explained how the pressure to solve the case put police and
prosecutors on a track to resist the facts.
On Thursday we talked
to Wilder by phone for his take on how citizens in Ferguson are
responding in the streets and on social media, as well as how the events
are being portrayed in the media.
NEWSHOUR: From
your perspective as a scholar who specializes in urban history, how
significant is what is going on in Ferguson, Missouri, right now? CRAIG STEVEN WILDER:
I think there are some key issues happening here that people need to
think about. We need to think about the social implication of the
militarization of local police forces. It’s so compelling and shocking,
these can pass as images from Baghdad three or four years ago. This
hyper militarization is the consequences of the past decade-and-a-half
war on terror and that increasing exploitation on an international and
national level.
The criminalization of low-income, non-white
people is another issue here and it is what has created, essentially, an
excuse for turning our local police into military units. All of this is
unfolding right in front of our eyes in Ferguson. NEWSHOUR: What do you make of these Twitter hashtags (like #IfTheyGunnedMeDown) associated with the events? CRAIG STEVEN WILDER:
I think it’s important to hear what they are saying on Twitter – a
large part of the population has a legitimate fear of the police forces
that are supposed to keep them safe. The ease with which we accept, as a
nation, the killing of unarmed black and brown men, it should be
frightening to us all. What’s happening is a cry from the street and a
protest from the street. It is asking us to take a harsh look at the
values of our laws in the context of people of color. NEWSHOUR:
We’ve talked before about media portrayal surrounding the Central Park
Five and how that has a lasting impact on how they are remembered.
Obviously this is a very different case, but what do you see as being
the same? CRAIG STEVEN WILDER: We have a
kind of script that we often use when dealing with the deaths of young
black and brown people at the hand of police. When you have young,
low-income people dying, we look for the victim to assume the guilt,
assuming they were responsible for forcing the police to take aggressive
action. You can compare that to how we treat white young men accused of
mass murder campaigns in the U.S. We almost immediately turn to a
script that is one of sympathy for these young men and the assumptions
that they are suffering from a pathological disorder.
There is a
racialized script that we used and that we turn to with these cases.
Immediately after you see the media go out of its way to wait for
toxicology reports and things which is a sort of not so coded language
to say let’s actually find evidence of guilt that excuses the aggressive
action taken by the police. That’s not the way we treat white people
when they’re arrested by the police and when they’re the victims of
excessive police action. NEWSHOUR: St. Louis is not
dissimilar from other American cities divided by race and income. With
the right trigger, could we see this happen anywhere? CRAIG STEVEN WILDER:
I think this is a time to reflect on the crisis of inequality and the
fact that so much of that manifests in urban areas. The triggers are
more easily found and created in urban areas, but I think what this is a
time to reflect on is the nature of inequality. The growth of income
inequality, the severity of unemployment in low-income communities, we
have as a nation for the past 30 years, criminalized the non-white poor,
we have incarcerated the unemployed and I think we are seeing all of
that come to the surface in Ferguson.
