Matt Nelson on Oscar Grant shooting: INDEFENSIBLE

Matt Nelson is a former co-chair of TUPOCC.

INDEFENSIBLE
By Matt Nelson
Spokesperson
Milwaukee Police Accountability Coalition

The shooting of Oscar Grant is indefensible. The inaction from the Alameda County District Attorney and Oakland mayor is also indefensible. Recently, I watched a clearer version of the videotape of the shooting. I saw a blatant execution, a total failure of the officers to act to help Oscar live, a clear attempt by all of officers shown in the video to cover up this crime.

All officers involved should be criminally prosecuted by the Alameda County District Attorney. It is likely that this fool, the Alameda County DA Tom Orloff, will not do what is just. So perhaps, the officers will be federally prosecuted, but this means turning over police accountability to the US Department of Justice. This is akin to having the fox guard the hen house.

It is likely the Oakland mayor will do little to halt the daily occurrence of police brutality. With California law as it is now [see Copley Press v. Superior Court, 63 Cal.App.4th 367 (1998)] it is unlikely that true reforms to the BART system of police accountability will be fruitful in Fruitvale, without a protracted legislative struggle.

So what do we want? Remember point #7:

WE WANT AN IMMEDIATE END TO POLICE BRUTALITY AND MURDER OF BLACK PEOPLE, OTHER PEOPLE OF COLOR, ALL OPPRESSED PEOPLE INSIDE THE UNITED STATES (Black Panther Party, Platform and Program- What We Want, What We Believe, 1968).

So what can we do?

Force the DA to bring charges against the officers involved. He has the power to do this. The public should be in his face (office, house, favorite restaurant, bingo hall, bridge club, golf club, and night club) at all times until he concedes.

Expose the corrupt police union(s) which protect criminal cops. If you know how to expose criminal politicians, criminal corporations, and Ponzi scheme criminals, you know how to expose criminal police unions. They will scatter like roaches when the light shines upon them.

Do our own police accountability work, everyday and every night. Safe (cop free) zones, cop watch, know your rights workshops, and the like. We have to be inspired by the great public camera work done to capture the murder of Oscar Grant. We can multiply that by thousands. Let us take care of each other and be accountable for our own neighborhood safety.

Another stolen life taken has been by police violence. It will continue without a powerful, strategic and consistent resistance. We grieve together, but we will fight together for justice. We will stand with the family of Oscar Grant and we know that we cannot allow officers to act above the law.

In the last few years we have witnessed an increase in harassment, racial profiling, false arrests, beatings, and wrongful deaths against young people of color in our cities. Pledging to eradicate police violence and create effective structures of police accountability are necessary first steps in order to keep our people and our families safe. We must continue to offer direct support to the family knowing that they are under tremendous pressure to be silent.

Justice for Oscar Grant is justice for all!

Contact Matt Nelson at: mattnelson64@hotmail.com

Houston police used Tasers more on blacks

Newsvine - Study: Houston police used Tasers more on blacks

Of 1,417 Taser deployments by officers between December 2004 and June 2007, nearly 67 percent were used on black suspects, according to an audit conducted for the city by a team of criminology, statistics and mathematics experts. About 25 percent of Houston's population is black.

The audit was requested by Houston Mayor Bill White in 2006, after several high-profile incidents. ...

Minister Robert Muhammad, with the southwest regional headquarters for The Nation of Islam, said the study shows that police are more apt to use the weapons on black suspects than suspects of other races.

"Can we say it's racism? Yes, and some people would argue no," said Muhammad. "The greater argument is abuse of authority. We give them authority to protect us. But instead of using that authority to protect us, they abuse us with it."

Houston police said their use of Tasers was not tied to race, but to a person's behavior.

"It's not a racial issue. A Taser device is no different from a radar gun. It's race neutral," Executive Assistant Police Chief Charles McClelland said after the Houston City Council meeting during which the report was released.

Police, Feds Set Tone for SF Chronicle Attack of Sanctuary Ordinance

by Carlos Villarreal and Angela Chan, 2008-08-13

Carelessly referencing vague sources and leading with off the cuff remarks by law enforcement, the San Francisco Chronicle and reporter Jaxon Van Derbeken have published a series of damaging articles about juvenile immigrant offenders and the city's sanctuary ordinance. The implication in the series of stories that began to appear on June 29, is that violent felons and crack dealers are taking advantage of the City's Sanctuary Ordinance and specifically a policy at the Juvenile Probation Department that has shielded felons, according to the Chronicle spin, from deportation at taxpayers' expense. A few major facts rarely tempered this incitement of reactionaries: the juvenile court system is very different from the adult criminal courts, the Sanctuary Ordinance never dictated the various tactics used by the Juvenile Probation Department, and the Sanctuary Ordinance doesn't cause violence. To the contrary, the ordinance encourages people to communicate with law enforcement and other government agencies regardless of immigration status.

[link to story]

Man dies after cop hits him with Taser 9 times - CNN.com*

Man dies after cop hits him with Taser 9 times - CNN.com*

*This article can also be accessed if you copy and paste the entire address below into your web browser.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/07/22/taser.death/index.html