Wanna help out the Justice 4 Oscar Grant movement??
Write a Letter to Judge Perry, tell him to give Johannes Mehserle the maximum sentence permissible under the law!! Send letters addressed to Judge Perry to: Law Offices of John Burris 7677 Oakport St, Ste 1120 Oakland, CA 94621 *Letters will go to the Probation Dept, who is responsible for recommending sentencing in criminal cases... **We are sending PHYSICAL LETTERS to the judge, NOT emails. We need to step our game up Up UP if we are going to get anywhere. Same old tactics = same old results = No Justice. For more info: contact the New Years Movement 4 Justice for Oscar Grant, all New Years victims, and all victims of police abuse http://newyearsmovement.org THE LYNCHINGS CONTINUE: Police Brutality in America
by Stephen Lendman Tuesday, 13 July 2010 Despite Congress passing the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, Congress has consistently failed to fund it. Further, the legislation doesn't require local police agencies to keep records, nor does it criminalize police violence and excessive force as human rights violations. Across America, daily incidents occur, one of many the cold-blooded January 1, 2009 murder of Oscar Grant - unarmed, offering no resistance, thrust face-down on the ground, shot in the back, and killed, videotaped on at least four cameras for irrefutable proof. USA Today said five bystanders taped it. His killer: Oakland, CA transit officer, Johannes Mehserle, tried for the killing, the jury told to consider four possible verdicts - innocent, second-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, or involuntary manslaughter, jurors deciding the latter. The Legal Dictionary defines it as "The act of unlawfully killing another human being unintentionally," the absence of intent distinguishing it from voluntary manslaughter. Many states don't define it or do it vaguely. Wallin & Klarich Violent Crime Attorneys say in California it carries a two - four year sentence. However, since a gun was used, Judge Robert Perry can add three to 10 additional years. Because minority victims seldom get justice, especially against police, Mehserle may serve minimal time, then be paroled quietly when the current furor subsides. After the verdict, it erupted on Oakland streets, hundreds turning out to protest, Bay Area indymedia.org saying: "The actions of the Police in Oakland tonight (including dozens of arrests) show their disrespect for justice in General. Their heavy handed violence towards protestors just reinforces their total disconnect with the people of Oakland." It's as true everywhere across America, police acting like Gestapo, usually unaccountably. Grant's family will appeal the verdict and is suing the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) for $25 million, his mother Wanda Johnson saying "My son was murdered (and) the law has not held the officer accountable." It rarely does for Black, Latino, or other minorities, no matter the injustice, civil rights lawyer John Burris, representing Grant's family in the civil suit, saying: "The system is rarely fair when a police officer shoots an African-American male." Police brutality against them and other minorites is systemic, including beatings, torture, and cold-blooded murder, usually with impunity, justice nearly always denied. While far from certain, the Obama administration may charge Mehserle with civil rights or hate crime violations, DOJ spokesman Alejandro Miyar saying: "The Justice Department has been closely monitoring the state's investigation and prosecution. The Civil Rights Division, the US Attorney's Office, and the FBI have an open investigation into the fatal shooting and, at the conclusion of the state prosecution, will conduct an independent review of the facts and circumstances to determine whether the evidence warrants federal prosecution." Systemic Police Brutality An earlier Jones Report.com text and video account headlined, "Epidemic of Police Brutality Sweeps America," showing footage of police repeatedly tasering a student with 50,000 volts of electricity for questioning the 2004 election results at a campus meeting. Other videotaped incidents showed:
Amnesty International (AI) on American Police Brutality On its web site, AI says "Police brutality and use of excessive force has been one of the central themes of (AI's) campaign on human rights violations in the USA," launched in October 1998. In its "United States of America: Rights for All Index," it documented systematic patterns of abuse across America, including "police beatings, unjustified shootings and the use of dangerous restraint techniques to subdue suspects." Yet little is done to monitor or constrain it, evidence showing that "racial and ethnic minorities were disproportionately" harmed by harassment, verbal and physical abuse, false arrests, and in the case of West African immigrant, Amadou Diallo, shot at 41 times by four New York policemen, struck 19 times and killed while he stood in the vestibule of his apartment building, unarmed and nonviolent, victimized by police brutality. Nationwide, driving while black has been criminalized, racial profiling used for traffic stops and searches for suspected drugs or other reasons, the practice especially common in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, and Texas. AI cited numerous incidents, including beatings and "questionable" shootings, usually found to be unjustified, yet cops most often absolved. Although most US police departments stipulate that officers should only use deadly force when their lives, or others, are endangered, dozens of cases show they do it indiscriminately, at most being "mildly disciplined" even if guilty of serious misconduct. "Police shooting(s) resulting in death or injury are routinely reviewed (internally or) by local prosecutors....to see whether criminal laws (were) violated. However, few officers are criminally charged and little public information is given out if a case does not go to trial." As a result, systemic abuse stays hidden, police brutality allowed to persist with impunity. Despite Congress passing the 1994 Police Accountability Act, incorporated into the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act to require the Attorney General to compile national data on excessive police force, Congress has consistently failed to fund it. Further, the legislation doesn't require local police agencies to keep records or submit data to the Justice Department. Nor does it criminalize police violence and excessive force as human rights violations. ACLU Report on Racial and Ethnic Profiling In August 2009, the report titled, "The Persistence of Racial Profiling in the United States" quoted Rep. John Conyers (D. MI) saying "Since (9/11), our nation has engaged in a policy of institutionalized racial and ethnic profiling," although, as an African-American, he knows the problem goes back generations, most recently in the "war on terrorism" against Blacks, Latinos, and Muslims for their faith, ethnicity, activism, prominence, and at times charity, a topic this writer addresses often - arrests, some violently, bogus charges, prosecutions, and imprisonments often compounding the injustice. Post-9/11 under Bush and Obama, federal, state and local law enforcement agencies have engaged in virulent racial/ethnic profiling, what the ACLU calls "a widespread and pervasive problem throughout the United States, impacting the lives of millions of people in African American, Asian, Latino, South Asian, and Arab communities." Evidence shows that racial minorities are systematically victimized, without cause, in public, when driving, at work, at home, in places of worship, and traveling, often violently. Evidence shows that racial minorities are systematically victimized, without cause, in public, when driving, at work, at home, in places of worship, and traveling, often violently. A "major impediment to (prohibiting it) remains the continued unwillingness or inability of the US government to pass federal legislation (banning the practice) with binding effect on federal, state or local law enforcement." Nor do authorities comply with the provisions of the 1994 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) that obligates all levels of government. In addition, the Justice Department's 2003 Guidance Regarding the Use of Race by Federal Law Enforcement Agencies designed to ban federal officers from engaging in racial profiling is, in fact, flawed and does little to end it, because it doesn't cover "profiling based on religion, religious appearance, or national origin." Nor does it apply to state and local law enforcement where police brutality is systemic. In addition, it specifies no enforcement mechanisms or punishments for violators, and contains a "blanket exception for national security and border integrity cases," besides being advisory and not legally binding. As a result, it actually promotes profiling and abuse, including false arrests, beatings and killings. It's not surprising how minorities have been systematically mistreated by federal, state and local authorities, or that congressional legislation introduced to stop it never passed. On December 13, 2007, the House and Senate introduced their versions of the End Racial Profiling Act (HR 4611 and S. 2481). Both bills were referred to committee and never enacted - making it extremely hard to nearly impossible for victims to successfully challenge abuses against them. As a candidate, Obama promised a "Blueprint for Change" to ban racial profiling and related mistreatment, criminalizing them, but so far, no measures have been introduced or passed, showing another promise made, another broken, a systematic pattern under his leadership, across the board against the constituencies that elected him. Hopefully they'll remember next election and choose another way, a third way, both parties equally corrupted in deference to big money and systemic police brutality that serves it. National Police Misconduct Statistics The Injustice Everywhere.com (IE) web site compiles them, publishing them in regular reports, some for individual cities, including daily accounts. One on July 10 covers King County, WA deputy Paul Schene, captured on videotape assaulting a 15-year old girl in jail. He was tried twice, hung juries resulting each time. On July 9, the County Prosecutor's Office dropped the charges, and won't pursue a third trial. As a result, the sheriff's department may rehire Schene, though he still faces possible disciplinary action. It's currently in arbitration, IE saying decisions nearly always favor officers, in which case he'll likely be reinstated to abuse other detainees, off camera to avoid being charged. In early 2010, IE published an April - mid-December 2009 (8.5 months) Police Misconduct Report, from figures compiled in its National Police Misconduct Statistics Reporting Project (NPMSRP), begun earlier in March 2009, analyzing data: "by utilizing news media reports of police misconduct to generate statistical information (to) approximate how prevalent (it) may be in the United States." Police departments don't usually provide them, nor do courts, except for successful prosecutions, omitting confidential settlements and cases resulting in disciplinary action only, not trials. Media reports, though imperfect, are more complete because laws limit or filter information released. As a result, IE's data "should be considered as a low-end estimate of the current rate of police misconduct," as well as in individual cities covered. Statistics compiled follow the same DOJ/FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) methodology, recording only the most serious allegation (not conviction) when multiple ones are associated with a particular incident. The findings were as follows:
In addition, data were compiled for states, cities and counties, excluding unavailable federal statistics as well as local omissions, especially in some states. Various offenses included: accountability: evidence of coverups, lax discipline, and other failures to adhere to official policies or processes;
Misconduct status stages go from allegations to investigations, lawsuits, charges, trials, judgments, disciplinary measures, terminations, convictions, and sentences. IE compiles data regularly, prepares daily and quarterly reports, and henceforth an annual one each January the following year. It explains that its statistics: "should only be used (as) a very basic and general view of the extent of police misconduct. It is by no means an accurate gauge that truly represents the exact extent (of its extensiveness) since it relies on the information voluntarily gathered and/or released to the media, not (first-hand) by independent monitors who investigate complaints.....because no such agency exists for any law enforcement agency...." Detailed quarterly and annual reports are produced, not monthly ones considered a less accurate "depiction of the overall extent of police misconduct...." Daily reports cover a sampling of individual incidents. Overall, IE provides a valuable reading of systemic police misconduct, though capturing only a snapshot of the full problem - widespread, abusive, violent, often with impunity, and when officers are held accountable, imposed discipline is usually mild, prison sentences rare and short-term, victims cheated by a criminally unjust system, favoring power over people, no matter the offense. Final Comments In December 2007, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination published a report titled, " In the Shadows of the War on Terror: Persistent Police Brutality and Abuse of People of Color in the United States," saying: "Since this Committee's 2001 review of the US, during which it expressed concern regarding incidents of police brutality and deaths in custody at the hands of US law enforcement officers, there have been dramatic increases in law enforcement powers in the name of waging the "war on terror (resulting in) the use of excessive force against people of color....(It's not only continued post-9/11), but has worsened in both practice and severity" - a NAACP representative saying it's "the worst I've seen in 50 years." On April 4, 2007, Ryan Gallagher, writing for Medill Reports, produced by Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, headlined, "Study: Police abuse goes unpunished," saying: From 2002 - 2004, over "10,000 complaints of police abuse were filed with Chicago police....but only 19 resulted in meaningful disciplinary action, a new study asserts." According to Gerald Frazier, president of Citizens Alert, it reflects "not only the appearance of influence and cover-up," but clear evidence that city residents are being abused, not protected, despite the department's official motto being "We Serve and Protect." Most disturbing is that the Chicago pattern reflects what's happening across America, people of color like Oscar Grant systematically abused, in his case murdered in cold blood, what no criminal or civil actions can undo. Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization. Mr. Lendman's stories are republished in the Baltimore Chronicle with permission of the author. Copyright © 2010 The Baltimore News Network. All rights reserved. This is your new blog post. Click here and start typing, or drag in elements from the top bar.
WE ARE ALL OSCAR GRANT! JUSTICE FOR OSCAR GRANT Murdered by BART Officer Johannes Mehserle MASS PROTEST ON 1st DAY OF TRIAL! Monday, June 14th 7AM Sharp Los Angeles Superior Court 210 W. Temple Street, Los Angeles, CA Oscar Grant's young life was ripped away from his daughter and family on New Year's Day, 2009. He was shot execution style with his face to the ground by Oakland BART officer Johannes Mehserle. Oscar's murder was filmed and posted on youtube.com which ignited firestorms of protest in Oakland. Mehserle's trial was moved to LA, escaping Oakland's outraged community. LA judge Perry, who covered up the Rampart/CRASH scandal, is assigned the case. Mehserle is the 1st cop in California to be tried for on-duty murder. We cannot allow another killer cop to be released back into the community. Mehserle must be convicted for the cold blooded murder of Oscar Grant. For more information or to get involved, contact: Los Angeles Coalition for Justice for Oscar Grant (213) 973-3434 [email protected] Facebook: Search - LA Coalition for Oscar Grant www.myspace.com/justice4oscargrant Re-posted from Blog for Peace and Freedom
Mexican immigrant beaten to death by US Border Patrol By Bill Van Auken 4 June 2010 Anastasio Hernández Rojas, a Mexican immigrant construction worker and father of five, died in a San Diego hospital Monday after a brutal beating and tasering by US Border Patrol agents at the San Ysidro crossing to Tijuana left him brain dead. The San Diego Medical Examiner’s Office Wednesday ruled the death a homicide, with the beating having resulted in a loss of oxygen to the brain and a heart attack. The 42-year-old worker had lived in the Encanto, California, area since he was 14, his entire adult life. His children, ages four through 20 were all born in the US and are American citizens. He supported his family through work installing swimming pools. Hernández had been detained and deported to Mexico on May 25 after reportedly being picked up by the San Diego police. He was again detained by the Border Patrol while attempting to cross back into the US to reunite with his family on Friday, May 28. Immigration authorities rushed him through the system and were preparing to push him back across the border to waiting Mexican border agents when the incident took place. The Border Patrol claimed that Hernández became violent and that it was necessary to club and then taser him into submission. Witnesses, however, reported that as many as 20 agents pummeled the worker. His brother, Pedro Pablo Hernández, whose whereabouts are unknown and is presumed still in US custody, testified that he and Anastasio were seated on the ground in handcuffs when one of the agents kicked him in the chest and another kicked him in the leg. He said that Anastasio shouted at the agents to stop, but they only became more violent. The murdered man’s wife, María Hernández, told the media, “What happened is that Anastasio wasn’t going to let them get away with it; I know him.” Initially, the beating could not be seen from the Mexican side of the border, but a woman who was passing through the border transfer area towards Mexico informed agents of the Mexican National Immigration Institute that the US agents were “almost killing someone” on the other side. Then, according to accounts in the Mexican press, Anastasio Hernández crawled to an area where he could be seen from Mexican territory, pursued by the US agents. With dozens of people watching, the agents kicked and used stun guns on him until he stopped screaming and no longer moved. The US Customs and Border Protection agency issued a perfunctory statement declaring that it “regrets the loss of life and awaits the results of a complete investigation into this incident.” Immigrant rights defenders, however, say that the brutal attack is by no means uncommon, and that Border Patrol personnel enjoy impunity in the use of violence against undocumented immigrants. They add that such investigations are generally internal, with no accountability to the public. This latest killing provoked rage on both sides of the US-Mexico border. The Mexican government responded with its usual words of condemnation and indignation, but has taken no action outside of instructing its consulate in San Diego to aid the bereaved family. The Mexican Conference of Bishops charged that the atmosphere for the killing had been created by the whipping up of anti-immigrant reaction, particularly with the passage of the law in Arizona ordering local police to target people on the basis of suspicion that they are in the country without documents. “They are encouraging hatred for Hispanic immigrants and the existence of a climate of violence based on the erroneous idea that their territories are being invaded and locals are being deprived of opportunities,” the conference said. In the town of Mexicali, members of the Mexicali Civic Front briefly blocked the border in protest over the killing. The president of the group, Sergio Tamay, demanded justice for the murdered worker and said that efforts were being made to unite organizations in southern California and Baja California to defend the rights of immigrants, whatever their status. At a press conference in San Diego on Wednesday, immigrant rights groups joined with the family of Anastasio Hernández to condemn the killing. “I only wish that all those who suffered the same fate find justice, that there be justice for all of these deaths and for the death of Anastasio,” said Veronica Hernández, the murdered worker’s cousin. “They didn’t end just that one life, they took away life for all the members of our family.” She continued: “With all that we have suffered, with immigration and discrimination, it is time that we rise up. It is time to say we are here and we have come only to work, not rob anybody. All we want is a better life for our children, for our parents.” Andrea Guerrero of the American Civil Liberties Union in San Diego said that there was no possible justification for the level of violence unleashed against Anastasio Hernández, given that he was in a secure area after already being searched and processed, about to be turned over to Mexican authorities. She said that the killing was not an isolated incident, but a manifestation of a “culture of impunity” within the Border Patrol. “If this kind of incident can happen in the full light of day in front of hundreds of people, what is happening behind closed doors?” she asked. She expressed anger at the Obama White House for failing to ameliorate draconian US immigration statutes or improve conditions in any way for immigrant workers. “This administration made promises about change, but we have seen very little of it here in the border region,” she said. Guerrero stressed that Anastasio Hernández had only two choices: abandon his family and his home of nearly 30 years, or risk his life by coming back across the border without papers. The idea that workers like him can “get in line” and return legally, she said, is a myth. “There are not lines for everybody, and this is a perfect example.” Addressing the death of Anastasio Hernández at a press briefing Wednesday, US State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley said that the brutal state killing “obviously represents the challenge of securing the border on both sides, and we are very mindful of the fact that [for] those who try to enter the United States illegally, there is a significant loss of life every year along the border as people endeavor to come here.” A report released last month by the Washington-based establishment think tank National Foundation for American Policy found that 4,000 men, women and children have died crossing the border since 1998, when the Democratic administration of President Bill Clinton launched a crackdown on the border. This is approximately one person every day. As a result of increased surveillance and repression along the border, the death rate has risen sharply, even as the number of people crossing into the US has fallen. The study found a 64 percent decline in the number of workers entering without documents, alongside a 59 percent increase in immigrant deaths at the border. Aiyana Jones, a 7 year old African American girl, was shot to death in Detroit early Sunday morning by Michigan state police officers executing a search warrant for a murder suspect at the wrong house (see article below for details). She was hit in the neck by a single bullet and pronounced dead at St. John's hospital. This is truly tragic and we send our condolences to Jones's family and loved ones, though unfortunately this is not an isolated incident of systemic brutality, repression, and abuse of power by law enforcement. We hope Aiyana Jones's story will resonate with people and move them to the point of wanting to do something more to change the world we live in. Whether it's working on increasing police accountability or building community alternatives to law enforcement or supporting victims' families, we make the call to everyone to step up and take action now. State Police to Investigate Girl's Death -1i 1 comments :3-G The Poet said...Great blog you have here, if you’re interested here is the link to my blog of poetry. http://thehumanicana.blogspot.com/ Or my facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Poetry-By-Grant-Grey-Guda/399397276060?v=wall Hoping you have a wonderful week filled with inspiration and laughter, Grant-Grey May 21, 2010 9:51 PM One Imagination recently held a workshop on Power: The Role of Law Enforcement in Society and The Prevalence of Police Brutality where we watched the raw footage of Oscar Grant's murder by Johannes Mehserle and wrote on our perspectives of police , repression, and the state. Below is an update on the Oscar Grant incident, with Mehserle's trial getting ready to start. Please spread the word. -1i REPOSTED ARTICLE Southern California: First Cop on Trial for Murder in History of State Is Headed Your Way by dave id Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009 at 8:48 AM In the words of the late great Harvey Milk*, I'm here to recruit you. The trial of Johannes Mehserle is about to head your way and the time is now for Southern California social justice and media activists to start getting ready. In Oakland, California, in the early hours of January 1st of this year, while Bay Area Rapid Transit passenger Oscar Grant III lay face-down on a BART platform with another officer's knee on his shoulder, BART police officer Johannes Mehserle drew his service weapon and shot Oscar Grant in the back, execution-style. This type of killing of an unarmed, young African American man by police is all too common in America. L.A. police are reported to have killed 310 people in the last ten years. San Diego police have killed ninety-one people in the same time. It goes without saying that the overwhelming majority of those killed by police are people of color. For instance, the Oakland police department has shot nearly fifty citizens in the last six years, killing a third of them, and not a single one of the victims of these "officer-involved shootings" was of European descent. Cops cited the usual excuses of fearing for their lives, thinking they'd seen weapons on unarmed people, and every last one of the shootings was determined by the OPD and the Alameda County District Attorney's office to have been justified.
Similarly, the BART police department started lying as soon as the news was out on New Year's Day. At first they denied that Oscar Grant was restrained on the platform when he was shot. They denied that they had video of the incident. The police chief blindly defended his officers by claiming they had acted professionally on the platform. Giving Johannes Mehserle far more leniency than even the California Police Bill of Rights calls for, he was not even questioned by superiors at BART. [BART has continued to officially blame Oscar Grant for having been shot in the back.] The District Attorney of Alameda County showed little interest in pursuing the case after the shooting. The murder of Oscar Grant looked very much like it would be swept under the rug just as the other 1000 police killings have been in California since 1999. But, this time it was different -- he was killed in front of hundreds of witnesses on a crowded train returning home after New Year's Eve celebrations. While BART police were brutalizing Oscar Grant and his friends on the BART platform -- punching them, pulling their hair, pointing tasers in their faces -- a fair number of the witnesses on the train had the foresight, like good copwatchers, to record video of the incident on their cell phones and cameras. Sure enough, they also captured the shooting on video. A few days after the shooting, several of these videos of the shooting began to appear on the internet. It became immediately clear to anyone who watched the available video that BART had been lying and that it was completely inexcusable for Mehserle to have not even been questioned about the matter. Imagine, if you will, what would happen to any one of us if we had been caught shooting a police officer or anyone else on camera. On January 7th, the same day funeral services were held for Oscar Grant, Johannes Mehserle resigned from BART, still not having been held to account in any way. In the afternoon, about 1,500 people attended a rally at the Fruitvale BART station where Oscar Grant had been killed exactly one week before. Dozens of people young and old took to the mic to express their sadness, their outrage, and their commitment to stopping the wanton killing of people of color by police. As dark approached that day, a group of about 300 people marched up International Boulevard heading towards downtown Oakland. It was downtown that the rally and march turned into a rebellion lasting several hours. A police car was attacked, two other cars were burned. Windows were broken throughout downtown. By the time it was over police had arrested more than 100 people, over half of them in a mass arrest late in the evening. Most of the charges have been dropped but three people are still facing bogus felony charges, one being prominent African American Bay Area media activist JR Valrey. The corporate media railed against the property destruction resulting from the rebellion, all the while attempting to rationalize the murder of Oscar Grant as some sort of accident. It was the corporate media that invented one of the defenses that Mehserle himself is now using in court to avoid culpability, that is that Mehserle intended to draw his taser when he pulled his gun instead. The same ad hoc coalition of community activists that had organized the rally on the 7th continued to demand accountability and declared that they would hold a rally every Thursday on the weekly anniversary of the shooting until Mehserle was charged with murder. The next rally was scheduled for January 14th, to happen in front of Oakland City Hall, and it promised to be significantly larger than the first. Indeed, the second rally was up to 5,000 people strong, all committed to seeking justice for Oscar Grant. Prior to that day, however, after having broken up smaller protests downtown throughout the week, authorities clearly feared an even larger rebellion with the second rally approaching, and on January 13th, Johannes Mehserle was arrested and charged with murder. Common wisdom amongst community activists in the Bay Area since then is that riots work. As a result of community pressure when authorities were all too ready to look the other way as they almost always to when it comes to police violence, Johannes Mehserle is the now first police officer in the history of California to face a murder trial for an on-duty shooting. Mehserle walks free now because he was granted bail and his defense is being funded by police unions. They have successfully delayed the case and have attempted to derail it at every turn. Not surprisingly, the corporate media has done a terrible job reporting on the various hearings, generally parroting defense motions and testimony of BART cops verbatim with little to no critical analysis or reporting on evidence that refutes defense claims. To cite just one particularly egregious example, a local TV station reposted an AP piece built solely on a regurgitation of the lies told by BART officer Marysol Domenici -- only at the very end of the article did it include a sentence that read: "Deputy District Attorney David Stein, however, tried to point out inconsistencies in their testimony." The Deputy DA "tried" to point out inconsistencies?!? What actually happened that day in the Mehserle's preliminary hearing was that Domenici showed herself to be a complete liar and was blatantly exposed as such by the prosecutor. Even the judge himself repeatedly called out the obvious lies of the various BART officers who testified over the course of the preliminary hearing. But you didn't hear about that in the corporate media. The San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center (Indybay), on the other hand, reported with great detail the actual happenings inside the preliminary hearing and other court dates. In fact, you can find actual court filings and transcripts from hearings at the site. It is not hyperbole to say that the related reports by numerous individuals at Indybay have proven invaluable for community activists to stay informed about the case. It was not unexpected when Mehserle's defense team cited the abundance of Bay Area coverage of the case and the January Oscar Grant Rebellions as reasons to move the trial out of the county in which Mehserle murdered Oscar Grant. Community activists were taken aback, though, when blatantly racist arguments were made about how African Americans could not be fair jurors and how the defense intended to grill prospective African American jurors in extraordinary ways. Additionally, in an affront to free speech, Mehserle and his defense claimed that the many reports on Indybay and the public outreach actions of community activists were cause for a venue change. Unfortunately, Judge Jacobson agreed, and so Mehserle's trial is now set to be held in either Los Angeles or San Diego County. On the afternoon of November 19th, Judge Jacobson is set to hear defense and prosecution arguments regarding venue selection. The defense will argue for the much more conservative and police-friendly San Diego. Prosecutors will make a case for holding the trial in Los Angeles which, while not an exact match for Alameda County, represents a similarly diverse populace in terms of ethnicity and political persuasions. It is not known if the judge will make a ruling at the conclusion of the hearing, but a final decision is expected at any time afterward. Regardless of where the trial is held, the venue change offers an opportunity for activists up and down the state to forge new alliances dedicated to securing justice for Oscar Grant and all victims of police abuses, a new solidarity that could push the movement against racist state violence to new levels. Let me take the time to repeat this for the record -- Johannes Mehserle is the first police officer in the history of California to face a murder trial for an on-duty shooting. This is a hugely important case, far too important to simply trust that the corporate media and prosecutors will do the right thing on their own. They have shown repeatedly that they will not. We cannot assume that justice will be done without our direct involvement. The time is now for Southern California activists of all stripes concerned about justice to join in solidarity with their brothers and sisters from Oakland and the Bay Area. Together let's get the truth out there. Let's hold authorities accountable for any action they take that is not in the interest of justice. - We need media activists, experienced or not, who can attend court hearings which are held during business hours so that truthful reports can be made available to the general public and to activists everywhere concerned with justice for Oscar Grant and all victims of police violence. - We need social justice demonstrators outside and around the courthouse to remind prosecutors that we are watching and will tolerate nothing less than their full effort towards securing a conviction for Johannes Mehserle. - We need trusted allies to offer space in their homes for Bay Area activists who will likely want to come south to participate in related activities intermittently. - We need to fundraise to assist the family of Oscar Grant who must soon leave their jobs and relocate to the venue county in order to attend the entire trial. At this point the trial is expected to last several months from jury selection to the final verdict and hopefully sentencing. A good place to start now is by informing yourself and others. Remember that you can't trust the corporate media when your local television stations and newspapers begin to pick up on the story. A thorough independent media repository of information on the various fronts of the movement for justice for Oscar Grant has been compiled at http://www.indybay.org/oscargrant. * Harvey Milk fought for gay rights and against police brutality, and, in the end, was assassinated by a former police officer turned politician. ~~~ Please, forward this widely to everyone you can -- through blogs, email, print it out, whatever -- especially if you have friends and allies in Southern California. This week's SAMA SAMA Workshop focuses on Stopping Police Brutality and Knowing Your Rights. Guest speakers include Aidge (October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality) and Keishia Brunston (aunt of Deondre Brunston, a man shot over 80 times by Compton Sheriffs). Come early! Workshop starts at 6pm!
THE GUNSHOP Fall 2009 launches this week on October 30th with a writing workshop focused on Power: The Role of Law Enforcement in Society & The Prevalence of Police Brutality. The workshop is set to take place at Catalyst Space: 430 East 1st Street, Long Beach, CA 90802, from 7-10PM.
Bring pen and paper, an open mind, and a willingness to participate. Emerging and established artists are both encouraged to attend, discuss, learn, teach, share, connect, and above all, WRITE. Email Big Brother at [email protected] to register. We hope to see you there! |
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