Comments on my recent diary ‘What’s going on in your town?’ demonstrated that a surprising number of FDL denizens live in or near ABQ (and Sacramento, as well). Given that, I thought it might be time for a post on what’s been happening with ABQ actions against the APD over the past two months. As no one else had done so, I reckoned that I’d muddle my way through it, knowing that so many of you will be able to bring more information and verve to it. Please do.
Since 2010 25 people have been shot to death by Albuquerque police, and just since March, four have been slain. Citizens groups had been protesting over the years without forcing a change to the trigger-happy cop culture, but when APD released the helmet cam video shown here on March 21, citizens cried Basta! Enough! James Boyd was homeless, ‘illegally’ camped in the Sandia Mountains above ABQ, and on March 16 police exterminated him like a rabid dog about to attack. He had a history of mental illness and violence, but was dropping his knife when they unloaded their guns into his body.
All of the videos of the March 24 peaceful protests against the APD’s execution of James Boyd and their continuing culture of brute force have been removed from Youtube, reading ‘Error Occurred’; hmmm. A coincidence? I think not. Suffice it to say that at some time close to midnight, scuffles erupted, and protesters came under teargas attack. Most attendees say that by the time they left, all was peaceful, but they didn’t know what occurred after that. But the over-reaction by the cops was horrific.
This is the recently released harsh report by the US Justice Department on officers’ use of force and interactions with suspects with mental illness mentioned by Correia above.
Without adequate response from the city government or NM Attorney General Gary King, residents with strong moral and spiritual beliefs organized efforts to pressure the ABQ City Council. Rarely, if ever, did the Mayor attend.
https://twitter.com/DavidCorreiaABQ/status/458341715191939072
By last Monday night, the pain of families whose friends and relatives of the slain, coupled with citizen outrage at the deadly persecution of their spiritual brothers and sisters, culminated in a citizen take-over of the council meeting. Here is part of the Tweet Storify version a friend sent me:
https://twitter.com/krqe/statuses/463474704008110081
Now the People’s Council has taken some harsh criticism in the media, of course, especially her co-editor David Correia (on Twitter), so Kay Matthews of La Jicarita wrote in defense of the citizen actions of Monday night (in part):
“In the larger scheme of things, however, it is a defense of all of those committed activists who have brought attention to the abuses of the Albuquerque Police Department to not only New Mexicans but to citizens across the country and the world. That the mainstream media reduces a diverse, communal coalition to one white male—’Correia & Co.’— says volumes about who it listens to and who it represents: the power elite.
David is a community activist and professor of American Studies at UNM as well as managing editor of La Jicarita. There is no incongruity in these positions, or conflict of interest; together, they define a citizen. Academic activists bring their scholarship to the struggles in which they engage all over the world: to end apartheid in South Africa; to end the occupation of Palestine; to resist tuition increases and the dismantling of the great University of California system; to combat police violence in Albuquerque. Activist journalists do not subvert an ‘objective’ journalism that doesn’t exist. They employ their knowledge and skills to critique and analyze situations in which they engage not only as reporters but as catalysts of change.
David’s fields of study include Spanish and Mexican land grants and the history of law, property, and violence that surround them. His book on the Tierra Amarilla Land Grant, Properties of Violence: Law and Land Grant Struggle in Northern New Mexico, was published last year, and his research into these issues also extends to the history of Chicano social movements in Albuquerque against police violence.
Mark Schiller and I founded La Jicarita in 1996 as the voice of a watershed coalition engaged in environmental and social justice issues in northern New Mexico. We were members of the coalition that fought many battles—industrial mining near Picuris Pueblo, bureaucratic cooption of the acequia system, and Forest Service mismanagement—as well as writers who helped clarify just what was at stake. The paper became a separate non-profit in 1998 and we expanded its coverage—and our activism—to include the many issues of social injustice that impacted, and continue to impact, the lives of New Mexicans: the economic hegemony of Los Alamos National Laboratory; globalization; the Disneyfication of our national forests; and the privatization of water.
The DOJ is preparing a consent decree that it hopes will resolve APD’s ‘culture of aggression.’ Some think it’s time to bypass that step and put the APD into federal receivership, although that’s no guarantee that substantive, systemic change will suddenly occur (just ask the citizens of Seattle, which was taken over by the DOJ in 2012). What is clear is that the citizen activists who have worked for years to expose the APD’s excessive use of force against Albuquerque’s most vulnerable citizens, who have turned out to testify before the DOJ, who have attended administrative meetings and city council meetings without any compensation, are the ones who will bring about change.
As David said at the end of the May 5 city council meeting: ‘This meeting is over but the movement is not.'”
The LiveStream of the takeover of the city council meeting can be seen at (un)OccupyNM. Some of the transcript:
‘Mike Gomez, father of Alan Gomez, who was shot and killed by APD, said, “The citizens of Albuquerque want justice. We have spoken for years and the city council has always been unresponsive. We, the people, are sick and tired of the Mayor not listening to us. Tonight, we took over city council and held the People’s Council. We are prepared to continue until APD stops killing people like my son. My son did not deserve to die; he was unarmed and shot in cold blood. No one deserves to die like my son did.”
Mary Jobe, whose fiancé, Daniel Tillison, was shot and killed by APD, said: “City Council finally heard our voices and that we are tired of APD killing our loved ones like my fiancé who was unarmed. We are not quitting, we are in the fight… this is just the beginning.”
Nora Anaya, whose nephew George Levi Tachias was killed by APD, stated, “We took a stand to make sure that they know that we want change today, not tomorrow. We are done waiting. There is no more waiting for APD to be reformed and stop killing good people like my nephew, who was a veteran.”
A People’s Assembly of Albuquerque voted unanimously on three resolutions, including:
(1) No confidence votes against Mayor Berry and Rob Perry, and an immediate resignation of Eden.
(2) Also, People’s Council voted to have the DOJ-ABQ consent to include that lapel cameras worn by APD will be on at all times when they have any encounters with civilians. If this is not the case, that officer will be immediately terminated from service.
(3) Also, People’s Council approved to implement an independent civilian oversight committee with the powers to discipline, hire and fire any officers.’
Ahead of last night’s ABQ City Council meeting which was primarily slated to be on budgetary issues, with two new laws concerning the hiring of the Police Chief, new rules for citizen ‘decorum’ (pdf) were posted online, perhaps at City Hall: no signs, props, outbursts, etc., after warning, violators would be escorted outside, and more.
From the ABQ Journal, part of their report from last night’s meeting (how cool is this?): ‘Protesters quietly take a stand at meeting’ (Chief Eden was in the wind again…)
“Protesters made their point on Monday by seizing the Albuquerque City Council chambers and holding their own raucous meeting as city employees fled the room.
They took a much quieter approach on Thursday.
Some addressed the council silently – standing at the podium for two minutes with a fist raised in the air.
At Council President Ken Sanchez’s request, they were escorted by security out of the building, apparently for failing to make comments germane to the agenda item they’d signed up to speak on.
City security removed at least seven people in all, some of whom received a criminal-trespass notice ordering them not to return for 90 days.
Michael Gomez, whose son was shot and killed by police three years ago, resulting in a large settlement with the city, stood silently at the podium after putting a picture of his son, Alan, on the projector.
‘You’re not worth addressing,’ he told councilors before he was escorted out.
Two competing Albuquerque Police Department-centered proposals were up for discussion Thursday. Each would ask voters this fall to amend the City Charter.
One amendment would ask voters to make the police chief an elected position, removing the job from mayoral control.
The other would allow the mayor to continue hiring the police chief, but make the job subject to City Council approval. Councilor Isaac Benton successfully proposed that the council also be allowed to remove the chief with a two-thirds vote.
The proposals must get at least two hearings before councilors act on them. Thursday was their first, and they’re scheduled for action May 19.’
Seven protesters were removed from the building, issued Criminal Trespass citations, and were barred from attending meetings for the next ninety days. Included were David Correia. The Guardianhas more on the link he sees between the 1960’s social movement and the present one; fascinating parallel.”
From May 7, some righteous news: ‘James Boyd’s family to file wrongful death lawsuit’
Where will it all lead? We can only hope to something far, far better. But in a major salute to all the good Burqueños and citizens all over the nation and world taking principled stands against police brutality, financial injustice, the rape and destruction of the planet, I offer by way of a bit of a reprise, Karine Polwart’s hymn to the Occupy Movement, ‘King of Birds’ (the better live version has embedding disabled). Yes, you, all of us who struggle against oppressions are those Wee Wrens, dedicated to bringing peace to the realm.. Love, peace, and resolve to you all.
Cross-posted at My.firedoglake.com
davidly
Greyson Smythe
LeMoyne
juliania2
ohiobarbarian
stephenadavis1
wendyedavis
café babylon 
Thank you for working so very hard on our account, wendye! Here is the video I mentioned at your fdl post, of the young mother standing up against the nazi propaganda speech in the Ukraine. You don’t have to understand the language, in fact better not to! You can hear how the crowd reacts when the man with the microphone makes that attempt to whitewash Hitler and especially in this video see all the empowered women confronting regime officers and officials.
Oh I love that woman with her toddler – see her evade capture and grab the microphone – and then, all those women coming forward!
Happy Mothers’ Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, I was so excited, I plumb forgot to post the link!
again: medea benjamin’s spiritual doppelganger. thank you. and i wll bring those comments over, but i’m already far behind on saturday chores, so…soon as i can.
wasn’t all this in ABQ sublime and shiver-inducing? i sense that the movement will go stronger, but no one knows what will come of it. will fewer citizens be killed by cops? will any of them be jailed? will the rules be changed as to who hires/fires/monitors the chief of po-pos?
I believe requiring US’ Po-po officer Krupkis to wear General Ukrainian Visor Hats (as depicted below) –
http://www.soviet-power.com/detail.php?pid=424
at ALL Times; permanently replacing their ballcaps
http://www.abqjournal.com/396512/news/abq-news/abq-city-council-prepares-for-special-meeting-tonight.html
and street-fighting combat helmets, would go a long way to humbling them back to PUBLIC SERVICE!
hmmm, bruce; quite a style. i was noticing how large the hat-crowns are in julinia’s video.
i think they’ve added the video since i posted the link in the OP. cool.
Importing comments from over yonder for posterity and a wider angle from locals:
ChePasa:
Ya done good, mz rock, summarizing the simmering and sometimes overflowing mess that the APD and the paralyzed civic institutions have made of things on the bloodsoaked streets of Albuquerque.
(Proviso: I don’t live in ‘Burque, but way out in the Empty Quarter east of the East Mountains. “So far from God, so close to Texas…” Santa Fe and Albuquerque are about equidistant from us.)
Glad you hooked up with David Correia’s stuff at La Jicarita. He’s been writing and speaking passionately about issues of right and wrong and social justice since his undergrad days at UNM. Ask him about Tierra Amarilla one day… ;-)
I’ve been following this roller coaster story as closely as I can from a distance, and I have nothing but the greatest admiration for the activists involved in the movement to bring the bloodshed to a screeching halt. They are wonderful people.
David, of course, is great — and he’s getting most of the media attention right now, most of it harsh as you say. Mary (Jobe), Dinah (Vargas), Nora (Anaya), Ken (Ellis), Maria (Bautista), Michael (Gomez) and so many others have given so much for years now. They’re playing a long game, if you want to call it a game, and they’re doing it for all of us, not solely for themselves and their loved ones.
Many of them now have “criminal tresspass” orders to keep them away from city hall for 90 days due to their silent action last night. I think it unnerved the councilors even more than the take over on Monday night did.
Didn’t the OPD hand out “criminal tresspass” orders to uppity and outspoken citizens of Oakland, too?
The police are resisting every effort at reform and accountability — as I’m sure their legal advisers are telling them they must or a lot of them will wind up in jail.” later:Re: Mary Hawke’s murderer:
“Chief” Eden claims he “doesn’t know” why Officer Dear’s lapel camera video won’t playback… he sent the camera to its maker Taser (for whom ex-”Chief” Shultz now works) to see what’s the matter with it. Hasn’t heard back. These things take a while, you know. Tricky, complex mechanisms do, after all.
Then there’s the little matter of Armand Martin, shot by an APD sniper last weekend when he came out his front door, allegedly blazing away with two hand guns. APD sent the SWAT team and “negotiators” and everybody they could think of out there, throwing flash-bangs and smoke grenades and tear gas into his house and yelling at him over bullhorns to flush him out…. I don’t know how many officers were there, but strangely, not a one of them had camera footage of the moment when Martin was shot, only the aftermath of his blasted skull (pixelated for the news of course, though APD said they pixelated it because Martin got an ugly wound when he fell… right…) and two, count them two, hand guns next to a couple of splats of his blood.
According to La Jicarita, witnesses say Martin wasn’t firing, he had a gun to his own head when he came out and was shot. Of course no one is going to believe the APD on this or much of any other story they tell. People assume they’re lying because that’s what they do.
I should point out that what the witnesses told La Jicarita has not, to my knowledge, appeared in the mass media. Instead, the police version of events is nearly always published without question or comment.
The snipering of people having mental health issues — as seemed to be the case with Martin — is customary and routine it seems, not just in ABQ but practically everywhere these days, although there have been a couple of incidents where individuals in crisis have been talked down. They’re so rare, though.”
LeMoyne: Direct link to 5/8 Special Meeting video — http://cabq.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=68
[15:30] The special meeting rules and the new rules and onto the last agenda item in sixteen minutes…
[17:30] Silvio Dell’Angelo — the first silent protest.
[20:30] Mr. Garcia goes all over the map Unconstitutional laws, hemp, oppression, violence, you will be tried like the Russians did to the Germans, you took an oath to protect our Constitutional rights… United We Stand. You might be surprised how much sense this all makes to Burque @s
… Burqueñ@s = Burqueñas and Burqueños
~~ lol meant to review not submit ~~
Adriana’s comments on the min wage ordinance were solid supply-side arguments for economic stability, justice and sustainability. Nice.
Criminal penalties on employers were added to the minimum wage law passed by citizen petition ballot initiative in 2012, seven to two. Harris and Jones: there is the hard right on the Albuquerque CC.
[29:45] On to Final Action two – the bond sale delayed by Monday’s early adjournment. Councilors Jones and Harris try to blame the protestors for the bond price change of five basis points. Councilor Garduño disagrees and questions where the net savings from the refinance went.
[35:52] On to Final Action Three – the next-to-last hearing and only 2.5 hours to go…
I was surprised and pleased by Councilor Lewis taking the point on calling out the City Clerk having a pre-veto power over initiative petitions. This is the point that drew me inexorably to the last two meetings. ALEC wants judicial pre-review of initiatives, but this bill would have added executive pre-veto with the courts as recourse if disapproved even before signatures begin to be gathered. So glad this issue ended well. After a whole lot more talk… and silence
[50:09] Mr Gomez silently looked at pictures of his son for a while before talking. Like his father he would have been involved in democracy… if APD hadn’t kiled him [for waving a gun spoon].
[~56:00] The ACLU says drop the review board (fine). Then in response to question from Harris, Mr. Allen says Council can vote the initiative off the ballot. I don’t see that as supported by the Charter which requires an election once the City Clerk certifies the required signatures. I was up next and getting a bit freaked out at this discussion of Council override of initiative petition. I already had too much to say about executive+judicial pre-veto and now the ACLU is wanting the council to cut the people off at the pass.
The often unspoken context is last year’s twenty week abortion ban initiative. More appreciation for Lewis making a general stand for popular democracy – Lewis is a mega-church preacher and NOT on the left.
Then me. The visual aid I placed up on the overhead display (that I said I didn’t have time to go into) was one word: ALEC
Sweet Jesus I misspoke my main point and didn’t get to the whole conclusion. The people would have to go through the initiative executive and if disapproved by the initiative executive go to the judiciary before being able to gather signatures to get on the ballot for a vote.
The question ‘Would the council submit their bills to that kind of process?’ was not intended to be snide or rhetorical. With more time I would have made the point that this is a moral question, the test of reciprocity, a practical example of the Golden Rule. Would the Council as representatives of the people place the same burden on themselves that they would place on the people as a whole?
[1:31:45] Floor Amendment 5 cut out the Ballot Initiative Review Committee. Passed 8-1. Yay! I was too worried…
I am very thankful that the protestors disrupted Monday’s meeting. The arrest warrants flying through the air were a blessing. Watching Chief Eden get served [he took the warrant!] was priceless. Besides, Monday I would have sounded like a totally blithering idiot.
[1:37:31] About halfway through they get to the first resolution concerning the Chief of Police and the protests are about to begin.
First speaker goes right off legislative topic and gets through his two minutes making the point that need to deal with present problems before (or at least along with)
[1:45:00] Nora Anaya’s silent protest
[1:46:30] Mike Gomez’ not quite silent back turned protest
Note the request from President Sanchez is : “I am asking [person] be escorted from the building”
Next up… An expert’s explanation of silent protest as re-creation of the mute phase of shock and PTSD.
[1:50:00] Sherry Gonzalez’ silent+singing protest … we could hear her singing for longer than she is audible on the video.
[2:00:00] Ken Ellis jr’s comments
[2:05:30] Councilor Gardu&#ntilde;o’s apology to Mr. Ellis. Ken Ellis III was a PTSD-ridden Iraq combat vet killed by APD for pointing a gun at police his own head. Within minutes of APD arriving on the scene.
The first apology from a city official to Ken Ellis
jr. It comes after a multi-million dollar civil judgement.
[~2:07] Richard Moore’s uninterruptible comments (begun in 1967).
Sofia Martinez worth listening to as well..
[2:28:00] David Correia’s silent protest. The downside of Councilor Lewis: asking if Correia represented UNM – grrr
[2:29:30] Bill Bradley’s silent protest.
[2:30:30] Mary Jobe’s silent protest.
[2:42:00] Sue Schuurman notes that protestors have been given a criminal summons (with no mention of a court date!?!) and banned for 90 days and goes into her excellent comments. Rey Gardu&#ntilde;o follows up on the 90 day ban from the City-County building. President Sanchez says there is no ban in the rules, the remediation is removal and he will be following up with City Security and APD about the ban. Banning people from the City-Council building for failing to talk during comments.
The protestors were not arrested. We will see what comes of the summons and the ban.
There were other excellent comments, including Charlie Grapski who came all the way from Florida to do more than comment at the Council.”
Seven protestors removed for failing to either comment or leave the podium: Silvio Dell’Angelo, Nora Anaya, Mike Gomez, Sherri Gonzales, David Correia, Bill Bradley, Mary Jobe.
Mike Gomez, one of the Silent 7, standing silent in his son’s memory: Alan Gomez, killed by APD 5/10/11
https://twitter.com/DavidCorreiaABQ/status/464879889368100864
Mary Jobe tells press abt husband, Daniel Tillison, killed by APD on 3/19/12 He was holding a cell phone
ChePasa:
“Many thanks to LeMoyne for the blow-by-blow. There were some wonderful moments to savor in Thursday’s meeting, much as the take over on Monday will live in glory.
I particularly liked Rey Garduño’s shock when he found out those who had been escorted out of the building were given orders not to return for 90 days or be subject to arrest (the infamous “criminal tresspass” orders), and Sanchez’s utter surprise that any such thing had been done.
I wasn’t able to watch the entire council video until this morning. Typically, I have little tolerance for city council meetings unless there is a disruption, for the droning routines of staff and the political grandstanding of officials is tedious to say the least. Especially when nothing substantive occurs in the typical city council meeting (which staff ensures is the case by strategy and deceit, but that’s another issue.)
I noticed on the “New Mexico in Focus” program last night that there was the sense among the panel that Albuquerque’s governance had collapsed thanks to Monday night’s to do. Their legitimacy was now in question. Not just the council, but the mayor, chief, administrators, legal advisors, all of it. That’s a necessary stage that has to be reached if real change is going to come.
Despite the Sanchez Rules, speaker after speaker made clear that the issue of police misconduct, especially the misuse of lethal force, is an existential crisis for the city and its people. (Boycotts are being arranged as we speak.) It cannot be shunted to the side, and the people’s voice cannot be silenced — except as they themselves so choose (as in silent protest, eg.)
The councilors really did seem to be more rattled by the silence from so many — all of whom they know well — than by the uproar on Monday. (Kudos for the movement’s strategists!)
Rey Garduño’s apology to Ken Ellis was very moving. Such a simple thing, and yet so hard to do. Diane Gibson offered condolences to Mary Jobe and her children… not quite an apology, but as they say, “baby steps.”
Given the depth of the crisis, even a council as divided as this one may well be able to act sooner this time rather than never.
One thing that can help — at least from my experience in other similar situations — is for citizens to actually write the legislation or ordinances they want the council to adopt. There’s an extensive list of demands already, most of which can be turned into legislation, but the council won’t do it themselves, and staff will actively subvert any request for assistance in drafting this kind of legislation. (I noted, for example, that Perry sits in a position so he doesn’t have to look at anybody on the council or in the audience. Well, of course. What does he care?)
Ken Ellis has made clear that he — and his movement family — want to make the necessary changes to APD become a model for the nation.
They’re doing this for everyone’s benefit.
Makes me proud — and grateful.”
Amen, ChePasa.
Going national, check da google cache, but including this one from the Guardian:
“‘In the Breaking Bad city, trust in the trigger-happy police has broken down
Albuquerque’s people are struggling with poverty, mental illness and drugs – and have had enough of a police force that has killed 25 in four years
Quick scan says it’s good.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/10/albuquerque-police-shootings-violence-breaking-bad?CMP=twt_fd&CMP=SOCxx2I2
Hola, Wendy. I have been too busy to notice this fine roundup, h/t to nonquixote for alerting me. We’ll have new action this week. Activists and (un)Occupy keeping the pressure on. Glad to see LeMoyne’s detailing of events as well.
hola, barbara; i was so hoping you might have seen the thread over yonder, too, before it dropped into diary oblivion. you all do srsly rawk. nonquixote confirmed that i had indeed seen you in some of the photos. i’d been rather ready to remind folks of your scrupulous true north activism… ;)
http://my.firedoglake.com/wendydavis/2013/01/09/some-good-news-from-firedog-barbara-grothus-post-lanl6-hearing/
abrazos,
wd
Wendy, thanks for making the FDL thread. I talked to barbara grothus after the 5/8 meeting and got her to agree that maye we should do a little less and write a little more. The tick-tock was a weird mix of pride, shame and getting carried away. The three day CCmtg hiatus was like a strange creation dream. Beginning to return to normal life a bit – well – more normal sleep patterns anyway.
I swear that in the KRQE raw footage — http://krqe.com/2014/05/05/raw-video-abq-city-council-meeting-protest/ — you can see one of the arrest warrants fly up in the air and then land precisely on the stack of submissions to the council just to the left of the podium. David’s speech is at ~12:00 warrant service at 13:30, toss by Dinah Vargas with an unintentional assist by Ken Ellis jr as he tosses his copy up in the air.
8-o Some things are just bound to happen, eh?
well, now, a warrant landing on the submissions stack sounds like practical magic, eh? :) but oopsie, it looks as though i missed your early-on tick-tock; sorry..
arrgh, i had a hella time importing all that, stuff you just disappear, and i’d have to start all over again. well, anyway, you’re quite welcome.
this all has such intense national implications that i figured someone needed to start writing about it as a stand-alone post. too bad that fdl didn’t reckon it should be on the front page, eh?
as to the weird mix, it’s small wonder that you delivered it that way after all of the heightened tensions over the past couple months. let me know if i can do anything past be there with you in spirit; you all srsly are an inspiration to us all. keep the pressure on, who knows what fruit may come from your seeds.
given Che’s take on the ‘NM in focus’ piece indicating that the CC has lost legitimacy, that’s a serious win already. some old hands there know tactics, and perhaps you are one from ‘the old days’. we’ll be pullin’ for you, peace and justice in ABQ and all over the world.
Just got back from vacation. thanks for this. The group I work with the most here in Minnesota CUAPB Communities United Against Police Brutality have done actions like this as well. Once we handed all 13 members of the Minneapolis City Council and the mayor “Letters of Condemnation’ for their complicity in Police brutality in Minneapolis. Then we shut down the City Council meeting.
Keep your eyes on Minneapolis on this issue. We are currently in a campaign that will be history making.
You may have missed the FDL front page because your lead has what is commonly considered an error:
Since 2010 nearly 40 people have been shot *
to death* by Albuquerque police,I can hardly keep up but it’s the high 30s shot and >=25 dead as a result since 1/1/2010. I disagree with the usual count basis because more have been killed (Lusian and?) and yet more open cases have police in the frame (Han, Wiley). Your number might be correct but is far past what is commmonly accepted.
Please accept my apology for not telling you sooner. It’s no excuse but you can see how taken I was by the Abq CC video. In the future I promise to respect the OP more: read it all and complete any direct, necessary comments on the OP before attempting to contribute.
Michael gratz to you and CUAPB – hope it plays out into a real long-term win. Police brutality is a more complete frame of the issue and well within the DoJ findings.
Recent rumor has it that the UNM 1st year law student who lost a testicle to APD cop (‘roid rage?) is from money and is srsly lawyering up. No problem proving pain and suffering from a nut crushing knee to the groin, eh? X-{
And because I can’t resist a good pun:
They’ve got us by the ball
s!!! hee heelet me assure you that my error, if it is one (different sources name different numbers and time spans) is NOT why it wasn’t front-paged. but thank you for the corrections. (my cecily mcmillan wasn’t either, and its allegedly ‘aan occupy site’). :)
Added on edit: but i will correct it for the sake of posterity.
hey, michael cavlan: keep the pressure on in Minnesota.
what? it had to info wars? eeek.
Paul Craig Roberts on the police state, as if we needed more, but I find him worth reading mostly and he expands a bit on the police.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/05/09/call-the-cops-at-your-own-peril/
Don’t recall and can’t locate at the moment, new rules prohibiting keeping a couple goats or chickens in Detroit residential areas are another reason people will be getting a front door breakdown.
Forgot to thank you, wendye, for that Alec Jones video; very informative, thanks.
ooh, he does wax a bit hyperbolic at times, doesn’t he, nonquixote, but seems to cut to the core of many issues. who’d have thunk, given his history? sometimes the best whistleblowers were the insiders. i will need to read it more carefully later. goats, chickens, unpaid parking tickets…depends if they want yer ass in jail, eh?
but hotflahcarol always said (from many experiences: ‘don’t call the police: they are NOT your friends!”‘ (she by the way, is dong hard time RL, and needs not to be on the boards. have a good thought for her and for her family, all.)
here is a little video. It is myself testifying at Minneapolis City hall on their recent vote for Police chief Dolan, who is himself a thumper cop and supports other thumper cops. The “good liberal’ Councilmembers and Mayor voted to extend his contract. We went testified and then, like Alberquercue shut the meeting down. Here is video of my testimony. It was the only piece recorded, ironically by a person who supports thumper cops in Minneapolis. Enjoy. I am known for this kind of straight up, no bullshit approach to holding people in power accountable.
good on you, michael cavlan, though you might have mentioned it was in 2010. :) i’ been trying to find a link or two to dolan and being a thumper. :)
even so, i hope y’all will make some history standing against police brutality there. sleep well, all.