• 22Jan

  Why The US Owes Haiti Billions

  Caribbean No Comments

  Why The US Owes Haiti Billions

  

  A CNN crew spotted police stopping the two men Thursday afternoon. The CNN crew heard 4 gunshots while getting out of the car, saw 2 men on ground, shot in back. http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/21/haiti.police.shooting/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn

  Why does the US owe Haiti Billions? Colin Powell, former US Secretary of State, stated his foreign policy view as the “Pottery Barn rule.” That is – “if you break it, you own it.”

  The US has worked to break Haiti for over 200 years. We owe Haiti. Not charity. We owe Haiti as a matter of justice. Reparations. And not the $100 million promised by President Obama either – that is Powerball money. The US owes Haiti Billions – with a big B.

  The US has worked for centuries to break Haiti. The US has used Haiti like a plantation. The US helped bleed the country economically since it freed itself, repeatedly invaded the country militarily, supported dictators who abused the people, used the country as a dumping ground for our own economic advantage, ruined their roads and agriculture, and toppled popularly elected officials. The US has even used Haiti like the old plantation owner and slipped over there repeatedly for sexual recreation.

  Here is the briefest history of some of the major US efforts to break Haiti.

  In 1804, when Haiti achieved its freedom from France in the world’s first successful slave revolution, the United States refused to recognize the country. The US continued to refuse recognition to Haiti for 60 more years. Why? Because the US continued to enslave millions of its own citizens and feared recognizing Haiti would encourage slave revolution in the US.

  After the 1804 revolution, Haiti was the subject of a crippling economic embargo by France and the US. US sanctions lasted until 1863. France ultimately used its military power to force Haiti to pay reparations for the slaves who were freed. The reparations were 150 million francs. (France sold the entire Louisiana territory to the US for 80 million francs!)

  Haiti was forced to borrow money from banks in France and the US to pay reparations to France. A major loan from the US to pay off the French was finally paid off in 1947. The current value of the money Haiti was forced to pay to French and US banks? Over $20 Billion – with a big B.

  The US occupied and ruled Haiti by force from 1915 to 1934. President Woodrow Wilson sent troops to invade in 1915. Revolts by Haitians were put down by US military – killing over 2000 in one skirmish alone. For the next nineteen years, the US controlled customs in Haiti, collected taxes, and ran many governmental institutions. How many billions were siphoned off by the US during these 19 years?

  From 1957 to 1986 Haiti was forced to live under US backed dictators “Papa Doc” and “Baby Doc” Duvlaier. The US supported these dictators economically and militarily because they did what the US wanted and were politically “anti-communist” - now translatable as against human rights for their people. Duvalier stole millions from Haiti and ran up hundreds of millions in debt that Haiti still owes. Ten thousand Haitians lost their lives. Estimates say that Haiti owes $1.3 billion in external debt and that 40% of that debt was run up by the US-backed Duvaliers.

  Thirty years ago Haiti imported no rice. Today Haiti imports nearly all its rice. Though Haiti was the sugar growing capital of the Caribbean, it now imports sugar as well. Why? The US and the US dominated world financial institutions – the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank – forced Haiti to open its markets to the world. Then the US dumped millions of tons of US subsidized rice and sugar into Haiti – undercutting their farmers and ruining Haitian agriculture. By ruining Haitian agriculture, the US has forced Haiti into becoming the third largest world market for US rice. Good for US farmers, bad for Haiti.

  In 2002, the US stopped hundreds of millions of dollars in loans to Haiti which were to be used for, among other public projects like education, roads. These are the same roads which relief teams are having so much trouble navigating now!

  In 2004, the US again destroyed democracy in Haiti when they supported the coup against Haiti’s elected President Aristide.

  Haiti is even used for sexual recreation just like the old time plantations. Check the news carefully and you will find numerous stories of abuse of minors by missionaries, soldiers and charity workers. Plus there are the frequent sexual vacations taken to Haiti by people from the US and elsewhere. What is owed for that? What value would you put on it if it was your sisters and brothers?

  US based corporations have for years been teaming up with Haitian elite to run sweatshops teeming with tens of thousands of Haitians who earn less than $2 a day.

  The Haitian people have resisted the economic and military power of the US and others ever since their independence. Like all of us, Haitians made their own mistakes as well. But US power has forced Haitians to pay great prices – deaths, debt and abuse.

  It is time for the people of the US to join with Haitians and reverse the course of US-Haitian relations.

  This brief history shows why the US owes Haiti Billions – with a big B. This is not charity. This is justice. This is reparations. The current crisis is an opportunity for people in the US to own up to our country’s history of dominating Haiti and to make a truly just response.

  Bill is Legal Director for the Center for Constitutional Rights and a long-time Haiti human rights advocate. For more on the history of exploitation of Haiti by the US see: Paul Farmer, THE USES OF HAITI; Peter Hallward, DAMNING THE FLOOD; and Randall Robinson, AN UNBROKEN AGONY).

  Tags: Caribbean, Haiti

• 15Jan

  US - California: Justice Department seeks police reform in Inglewood

  Latin America, Police Brutality No Comments

  5 our of 11 of the people shot between ‘03-’05 were unarmed, so its no surprise the Justice Department has found flaws in the way things are handled in Inglewood!  The Justice Department is now proposing reforms that are intended to minimize police brutality and police shootings.  But although we support these efforts, we at Malcolm-Che do not have a reformist perspective; that is to say that we do not see a package of reforms leading us ultimately to a society that will not contain many egregious police brutality cases.  That is because capitalism itself, the system in American society, is a system where there are those who have and those who have not.  The interests between these classes are irreconcilable, and any force aimed at mediating the tensions between these classes is doomed to failure in their job.

  This article is a must read!!!
  

  Justice Department seeks police reform in Inglewood

  

  Protest In Inglewood, CA. 5 out of 11 people shot by Inglewood PD have been unarmed.

  http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-inglewood11-2010jan11,0,4430016.story?track=rss

  The U.S. Department of Justice has found significant flaws in the way Inglewood police oversee use-of-force incidents and investigate complaints against officers and has proposed a host of reforms to help ease fear and distrust among city residents.

  As part of a comprehensive review of the department, which is ongoing, Justice Department officials found that Inglewood’s policies on the use of force are poorly written and legally inadequate despite recent reform efforts. In a letter sent to the city’s mayor in December, federal officials called for numerous changes in the way the department trains and investigates its officers.

  The Justice Department launched its civil rights probe after a series of officer-involved shootings in 2008 sparked outrage in the city and prompted calls for reform. Federal officials told the city they are continuing with their probe and plan close scrutiny of specific incidents.

  A Times investigation, published more than two months before the federal inquiry began, found that Inglewood officers repeatedly resorted to physical or deadly force against unarmed suspects. The Times also raised questions about how the department investigated its officers’ use of force.

  In the 33-page letter to the city’s mayor, the Justice Department acknowledged that the department had begun revising its policies but said some of those proposed reforms didn’t go far enough.

  Among the Justice Department’s conclusions:

  * Inglewood police routinely assigned certain types of excessive force investigations to supervisors who either wrote the initial incident report or approved it, creating “an apparent conflict of interest.”

  * The agency’s rules on using deadly force are vague and inconsistent with U.S. Supreme Court guidelines. “The majority of the [department's] policies and procedures are outdated,” federal officials said.

  * The department provides its officers with “little direction” on when to use electric Taser weapons. The city should prohibit officers from using Tasers on suspects who are restrained.

  * The Police Department should create an early warning system to better track excessive force complaints and other conduct. Such a system would help alert supervisors to problem officers.

  Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), who was among several politicians who called for an outside investigation in the wake of the shootings, said after reviewing the Justice Department’s letter that some of Inglewood’s policies were “unacceptable.” Waters said she would urge the Police Department to “quickly comply” with the recommendations and would inquire into a possible federal consent decree to oversee the department.

  “The number of deaths at the hands of police officers has been alarming,” she said. “These deaths are the result of the failed policy.”

  Geoffrey Alpert, an expert on use of deadly force by police, said the Justice Department’s findings suggest that Inglewood’s problems were systemic rather than a question of individual officers making poor decisions.

  “If the rules are wrong, it opens officers up to doing the wrong thing,” said Alpert, a professor at the University of South Carolina who has helped police agencies draft policies.

  The department has also come under fire for adopting what some critics consider a bunker mentality in dealing with officer-involved shootings. Some members of the city’s Citizen Police Oversight Commission have complained in the past that they were shut out of investigations into police misconduct. The city also has refused to release a report by an independent consultant hired to evaluate the series of shootings and the department’s use of force.

  Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks declined Friday to discuss the specifics of the Justice Department’s findings, saying she was still reviewing them.

  “We’re evaluating policies,” she said. “We’re doing everything that we need to make sure the community can maintain its trust.”

  Inglewood Councilman Daniel Tabor said the city was preparing a response “explaining what’s already been done, correcting some of the interpretations of what we currently do and providing some additional information.”

  Justice Department spokesman Alejandro Miyar said the ongoing “pattern and practice” investigation is a civil matter focused on systemic issues but could lead to criminal investigations if violations are found. He said the Inglewood police have been “fully cooperative and responsive.” Federal authorities also have the option to bring lawsuits to pressure local authorities into reforming operations.

  The Times’ investigation found that five of the 11 people shot and killed by Inglewood police between 2003 and 2008 were unarmed. Among the dead was Jule Dexter, who had been stopped for drinking in public in June 2005.

  Officer Jose Estrada fired four shots into Dexter’s back and head as, witnesses said, he reached to pull up his baggy pants, which were slipping. Estrada later said he feared Dexter was reaching for a weapon, but none was recovered.

  After he was suspended for 16 days, Estrada challenged his discipline in court, complaining that the department’s deadly force policy was confusing.

  In August 2009, Superior Court Judge David P. Yaffe ruled that there was not enough evidence to support Estrada’s claim that the policy was vague and ambiguous.

  But Justice Department officials found that parts of the policy were vague and inconsistent with U.S. constitutional standards.

  The city’s general use of force rules fail to provide officers with clear guidance and give them too much discretion in determining what force to employ, officials wrote. Even a revised policy the agency is considering would fail to meet legal standards, according to the Justice Department.

  In their letter dated Dec. 28, federal officials also faulted the department for not offering enough direction or training for officers in dealing with suspects who are mentally ill or under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Dexter was both schizophrenic and under the influence of cocaine the day of his death, records show.

  The Justice Department also found fault in another area highlighted by The Times, the use of Tasers that deliver high-voltage shocks to suspects.

  The newspaper found that officers used Tasers on suspects who posed a questionable threat or who were handcuffed.

  Justice Department officials wrote that Inglewood gave its officers little direction in “how and when the Taser should be used.” The Justice Department advised the city to prohibit the use of the weapons on restrained suspects and recommended that it track officers’ use of Tasers.

  The Justice Department was also critical of the department’s complaint process, which it said could deter citizens from filing complaints. Officials recommended improvements in community outreach, saying that interviews with residents and others “revealed allegations of distrust and fear” of the police force.

  Tags: California, Police Brutality, police murders

• 20Nov

  US - Washingtong DC: Protest US Recognition of Honduras Elections

  Activism, Honduras, Immigration, Latin America No Comments

  

  The November 29th Elections in Honduras are a total fraud of democracy.  Held under a coup government - regardless of if Micheletti stands down for a few days during the election - these elections will only cement the right wing’s hold of Honduras if they are legitamized.

  The United States’ government has a sordid history of anti-democratic and anti-socialist military and political involvement in Latin America.  The Obama administration’s continued support of the elections in Honduras are a continuation of the coup-supporting politics that has always been common of every administration.

  The National Resistance Front in Honduras has called for a boycott of the elections, and this Front (which is composed of Zelaya liberals, union organizations, campesino organizations and others) can - in my view - accurately be said to represent the broadest layers of the masses and workers at this point.  The National Resistance Front has called on everyone both inside Honduras and out to reject any recognition of these elections as legitimate.  We agree, and cannot support this election process whatsoever, as the right wing desperately tries to maintain its dwindling foothold in Latin America and the hemisphere.

  The call for a constituent assembly has been raised by the Front as the only way to set up fair elections.  Elections, as the prime institution of so-called “democracy” in capitalist society, need to be recognized as legitimate or the system falls apart and is revealed more starkly as it truly is:  dictatorship of the bourgeoisie.

  The issue at hand is the legitamacy of these elections, will the right wing win the day and rewrite history so that it was the right-wing heroes who stopped the renegade Chavista President Zelaya from ruining the country and had free and democratic elections… Or will the left win the day and forever let the world know that it was a coup d’etat when paramilitaries ran up in the presidential palace in the middle of the night and kidnapped the president.

  How will these deep division in Honduras be settled?  Can they be settled?  A constituent assembly could also be manipulated by the right-wing, there is an entire struggle before the constituent assembly is even formed about how it will be formed.  Will the consituent assembly be just another organization of bourgeois capitalist power and machinations, or will it be one where the Honduran masses have a strong and undismissable voice.

  All of the questions in Honduras these days would obviously lead to more favorable conclusions if the masses stay mobilized and organized to the highest degree possible.  When the facade of rotten capitalist democracy falls away, who could blame the Hondurans from stepping away from it?!  Today more than ever they must be supported in their struggle however far they may take it.

  The organic leaders of these movements are people that have survived in a society that has always been dominated by the right-wing.  They are seasoned veterans whatever their age.  The capitalists of the world would love to keep Honduran labor at rock-bottom prices, and they don’t care if even their own institution of bourgeois democracy gets in the way.  Go and search on the internet about investment opportunities in Honduras, see for yourself what they offer to be its greatest selling point.  Hence they will not hesitate to aid and abett a coup, an assassination, an imprisonment, whatever it is.

  The Honduran people have stood up and said enough is enough, they snatched the President in his sleep and put him on a plane to Costa Rica in the middle of the night.  Its ridiculous, its surreal, its 2009!  But when we see that capitalism itselt is not going to fundementally change, that it will remain opposed to a system of governance that truly represents the majority of society, then it isn’t so unbelievable that this can happen these days.

  Please support the Honduras resistance to the coup d’etat as much as you can.  You can hold educational forums and events where you can show video of the protests and have speakers talk about the struggle and history.  You can go to any protests and demonstations that are held.  You can hold fundraisers for Honduran Human Rights organizations.  There are many different ways you can help out, hopefully you will.

  Tags: Activism, Honduras, Latin America

• 12Nov

  Canada: Shooting a Crawling, Dying, Unarmed Man in the Head Equals Legal?

  Canada, Police Brutality No Comments

  Shooting a Crawling, Dying, Unarmed Man in the Head Equals Legal?

  

  Paul Boyd: Shot by Canadian police while on his hands and knees crawling.

  Two years after the shooting death of Paul Boyd in the middle of Granville Street in Vancouver and the public finally has a decision about criminal charges against involved officers from the Criminal Justice Branch of B.C..

  No charges, no trial, file closed.

  This predictable outcome places the epic investigation of Mr. Boyd’s death from eight distinct bullet wounds directly in line with every police involved death ever in the history of British Columbia.

  No criminal charges. Ever. Files closed.

  Put out of your mind the following facts and you may have a chance of reaching the same conclusion as the CJB that the death of Mr. Boyd should not be put before a trial judge because there is no reasonable prospect of conviction for the involved officer. Note that these facts all come from the CJB summary of the incident provided to the media, not from the secret documents and reports that underlie the decision, many of which we may never see.

  • Only one police officer, of the many who were on the scene during the incident, discharged a weapon against Mr. Boyd, and some of the involved officers apparently didn’t even deem Mr. Boyd to be a sufficient threat to require unholstering their guns;

  • Police and civilian witnesses described the shooting officer as discharging at least four, but possibly five bullets into Mr. Boyd after Mr. Boyd was completely disarmed of his “bicycle chain” and after a fellow officer had yelled at involved officers to “hold their fire;”

  • Police and civilian witnesses agree that the eighth and final bullet that hit Mr. Boyd hit him in the head while he was on hands and knees in the middle of the road;

  • The shooting officer, whose version of events was given more than considerable weight by the CJB, gave a statement in which that officer said there were only four bullets fired (actual number: nine) and in which the officer said he or she believed Mr. Boyd was wearing body armour (he wasn’t) and standing almost fully upright when he or she shot Mr. Boyd in the head (not true).

  Turn your mind away from all of these distracting facts and surely you’ll find yourself in the same position of the Criminal Justice Branch in finding that there was insufficient evidence to justify taking this police officer to trial. By ignoring these facts, you’ll see the obvious, that there is no reasonable prospect of conviction.

  Don’t feel badly if you disagree with the CJB on first glance, as their conclusion took them two years of study and the advice of many experts to reach. A member of the public, overreacting to the notion of an unarmed man being gunned down on his hands and knees in the middle of the road at Granville and Broadway does not have the training or the education to be able to see through these confusing facts to the truth that such force is reasonable and not criminal.

  To achieve the zen of the CJB about such facts, one must, as a CJB spokesman advised the media, “not focus narrowly on any particular portion of the evidence.”

  Good advice, that.

  http://www.vancouverobserver.com/politics/commentary/2009/11/10/shooting-crawling-dying-unarmed-man-head-equals-legal

  Tags: Canada, police murders

• 08Nov

  Mexico - Guard arrested for torture in Tijuana prison riots

  Latin America, Mexico, Prison State No Comments
  We first covered this story here.  This riot was caused by the prison guards beating a youth to death, the prisoners rose up to defend their rights.  Make sure to check out the link to our previous piece on this here because the pictures are amazing.

  Guard arrested for torture in Tijuana prison riots

  

  “We want better treatment by the authorities” one banner read. “The guards are assassins” said another

  (AP) – 1 day ago

  TIJUANA, Mexico — Mexican police caught a prison official who spent a year on the run from charges of killing a 19-year-old inmate, whose beating death sparked riots that left nearly two dozen dead, including two American prisoners.

  Marco Antonio Ibarra, the chief guard at Tijuana’s La Mesa State Penitentiary, was arrested in the northern city of Culiacan, where he was born and had been hiding for a year, said Martha Almaza, deputy attorney general for Baja California state.

  Ibarra was brought to Tijuana on Friday and paraded before reporters. Authorities did not say when he was arrested.

  Almaza said Ibarra ordered guards to take 10 prisoners into a storage room and beat them. She said Ibarra was trying to find out who owned drugs, cell phones and other prohibited items that had been discovered in one of the cells.

  The abuse, which resulted in the young prisoner’s death, provoked two uprisings over three days in September 2008. At least 23 inmates were killed, including two of the 200 Americans held at the prison at the time.

  Ibarra faces homicide and torture charges. Another guard charged in the case is still at large.

  http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gYJaGbKevcTElz6D4FPZIQlamrogD9BQFD300

  Tags: Latin America, Mexico, prison uprising

• 06Nov

  US - Washington DC: The Black Is Back Coalition March & Rally Nov. 7th Washington, DC!

  Activism No Comments

  The Black Is Back Coalition March & Rally Nov. 7th Washington, DC!

  Washington, D.C. – A newly-formed Black coalition has announced a Rally and March on the White House to take place November 7, 2009 beginning in Washington, D.C.’s historic Malcolm X Park. The Rally and March are to protest the expanding U.S. wars and other policy initiatives that unfairly taregt African and other oppressed people around the world. Known as the Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations, the coalition formed on September 12, 2009 during a meeting in Washington, D.C. of more than fifteen activists from various Black organizations, institutions and communities.

  The Black is Back Coalition aims to draw upon the support of many of the leading anti-imperialist organizations, journalists, organizers, artists and scholars of the African world. In this age of Obama, Rally and March on November 7, 2009 aims to bring back the tradition of resistance historically associated to with Black communities around the world. Comprised of seasoned veterans of Black political struggle, consisting of members of the African People’s Socialist Party, the NAACP, MOVE, the Green Party, Black Agenda Report and many other grassroots organizations and efforts, this coalition is perfectly situated to do just that.

  As the Call to Action states, “Many well-meaning people in this country and around the world are afraid to take more progressive political positions for fear of being seen as anti-Black…We need to remind people of the absolute lack of ‘progress’ since new faces assumed leadership of this nation. Many of the leading concerns of Black people, Latinos and working people in this country remain insufficiently addressed. Black and Brown people continue to suffer the brunt of un/under-employment and predatory loan scandal crises. Military spending under Obama has increased as have the warfare this nation continues to export to Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Venezuela and Colombia. Mass incarceration, police brutality and political imprisonment remain rampant and the most negatively impacted by the levee breech in post-Katrina New Orleans continue to be without homes, jobs or health care assistance. And to that point, these are precisely the communities who nationally will be the most negatively effected by yet another myth of health care ‘reform.’”

  The political paralysis now being experienced by anti-war and other progressive movements suffer from thelack of a Black-led anti-imperial movement to off-set the traps set by Obama’s so-called “post-racial” politics that perpetuates the same oppressive militarist agenda well known during the Bush regime. Black Is Back is not simply a slogan for the African Diaspora but for all progressive struggles which have historically always benefited fromBlack-led movements. On November 7, 2009 beginning promptly at 10am, all are welcome to participate in Rally and March which will include many speakers and performers of the coalition to stand and demonstrate in political solidarity announcing the return to leadership of the world’s most reliably anti-war and pro-social justice communities. As the coalition says, “To free our people’s hopes and dreams from oblivion, we need a coalition dedicated to the proposition that Black is Back!”
  

  Tags: Activism

• 14Sep

  Caribbean - Bahamas: Slain Teen’s Reputation Sullied By Police

  Caribbean, Police Brutality No Comments

  In common style, whether it is America, Europe or the Caribbean, we see that the police have a common tactic of slandering the victims of police violence.  They portray the victims as criminals to make them seem as if they deserved what they got even if it was a mistake.  In this way the police hope that their own crime won’t seem as bad.  But we here at Malcolm-Che see through the slander and lies, we hope you do too.  Brenton Smith was murdered in cold blood by the police, something the police wouldn’t even admit at first!  Then, after they admitted it was a policeman’s bullet that killed him, they implied the youth was involved in a robbery even though he was unarmed at the time of his murder!  How many more teens will be killed recklessly by police before something changes?!  Our solidarity really goes out to the family of Brenton Smith right now.  Please check out the family’s website at the bottom of the article.
  

  Slain Teen’s Reputation Sullied By Police

  

  Hector Smith, father of Brenton Smith; the teenager who died after being shot by police in July, attempts to comfort his mother at a press conference yesterday. (Photo/Torrell Glinton)

  http://www.bahamasb2b.com/news/story.php?title=slain-teens-reputation-sullied-by-police-1

  The bereaved family of slain teen Brenton Smith accused members of the Royal Bahamas Police Force of leaking “misinformation” in order to “sully” his character and muddy the circumstances surrounding the young man’s death.

  These accusations were strongly denied by Commissioner of Police Reginald Ferguson.

  The claim was made by the family’s attorney, Damian Gomez, at a press conference held yesterday to refute allegations that appeared in a recent tabloid article.

  “What they are attempting to do is to create the impression that the late Brenton Smith was a criminal and (you) need not be concerned with how he came to his death.

  “Even he had been a criminal, which we say he wasn’t, he was unarmed. No form of walkie-talkie or other form of communication was found on him - there’s absolutely no basis for believing that he had (anything) to do with the robbery whatsoever,” said Mr. Gomez at a press conference at Gibson and Co yesterday.

  ” … Public confidence in the police force is not engendered by the sullying of victims,” he added

  But the commissioner said the argument had no factual basis.

  “Why should we leak information like that? (The RBPF) made an official statement on the death of the boy and it was widely published in the media. There is no way we are connected to that rumour or whatever was reported (in the tabloid) and we have nothing to do with that statement,” he said during a brief interview yesterday.

  He offered no further comment.

  Mr Gomez also questioned the RBPF’s firearm training procedures. He claimed that the unarmed teen was shot at “nearly point blank range” as he cut through a popular shortcut which leads to the nearby City Market food store on Village Road.

  He also dispelled early reports of a cross-fire between police and suspected armed robbers and claimed only one officer was in the area when Brenton was shot.

  “There was a police jeep that passed Brenton Smith almost 300 feet away from where he came to be shot. He walked that distance, as he was turning his body to get into the property … The supermarket property. A police officer shouted ‘Freeze’ and immediately shot him.

  “He was unarmed, he stumbled backwards, he fell, and ten minutes later he died,” Mr Gomez said, flanked by emotional members of the Smith family.

  This information was gleaned through his firm’s independent investigation into the shooting, Mr Gomez said.

  ” … More care ought to be taken by police when discharging a firearm at a person … One has to wonder about the training of police officers,” he said.

  The “traumatised” family wants an expedited coroner’s inquest into the youth’s death. They also want the officer in question to be removed from active duty pending the outcome of the inquest and will fight for criminal charges to be filed against anyone found culpable’ of Brenton’s death.

  They also have plans to file a civil suit against the relevant agencies.

  The 2008 graduate of St Augustine’s College - who family described as an ambitious teen - was shot around 8 pm on July, 9 and died a short time later.

  Officers were on the lookout for two armed robbers who held up the food store a short time before Brenton was killed.

  Police have acknowledged that a ballistics report revealed the teen was shot by a police service weapon.

  They said the case was turned over to the Coroner’s Court, however, a date for the matter has not been scheduled.

  Last week a tabloid reported that the teen was on bail for charges stemming from an alleged stabbing incident. Brenton was not convicted of any charges and his family maintains his innocence.

  A website has been set up in his honour www.brentonhectorsmith.com and a special service will be held in the parking lot of City Market on Village Road tonight.

  Tags: Bahamas, Caribbean, police murders

• 14Sep

  US - Illinois: NAACP seeks police changes after another unarmed man killed

  Police Brutality 1 Comment

  NAACP seeks police changes after Ill. man killed

  http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gi8GN9OpAw8JJIbPsDQZlGjhebDQD9ALCT3O0

  The NAACP is renewing a push for federal standards on police use of force after the shooting of an unarmed black man by two white police officers inside a church while day care children watched.

  Witnesses say the man was surrendering, but officials in Rockford, Ill., near Chicago dispute that version of events, saying that Mark Anthony Barmore grabbed for an officer’s gun after they cornered him in the church.

  Both sides do agree, however, that Barmore fled when officers approached him in the church parking lot, which highlights the suspicion and fear that can poison relationships between police and minority communities across the country.

  “There are no national standards for the use of force (or) training for use of force,” Benjamin Todd Jealous, president and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said Friday.

  The issue “is not primarily about racism,” Jealous said, citing the recent case of a 72-year-old white woman tasered by a white Texas officer during a traffic stop. “We want to make sure the standards are the most modern and appropriate ones possible.”

  The NAACP scheduled a rally Saturday in Rockford and a march Oct. 3. Jealous was planning to attend both; it would be his first march since taking the NAACP’s helm a year ago.

  The NAACP is seeking the reintroduction of the Law Enforcement Trust and Integrity Act, first offered by John Conyers, D-Mich., in 2000. It was co-sponsored by 34 legislators but was never voted on by the full House.

  Conyers plans to reintroduce the bill during this session of Congress, according to a House Judiciary Committee staffer who spoke on condition of anonymity because the timetable had not been determined.

  Jim Pasco, executive director of the national Fraternal Order of Police, disputed the notion that police are inadequately trained in the use of force, which he called “the most serious and awesome responsibility a police officer has.” He said that the majority of the public has faith in police and that the proposed law would be “oppressive to police officers.”

  In the case in Rockford, a city of 155,000, police received a complaint that Barmore, 23, had been in a domestic disturbance with his live-in girlfriend. Barmore had recently been released from jail and had a series of arrests, including charges of assaulting a police officer with a firearm.

  On the morning of Aug. 24, Barmore went to the Kingdom Authorities Ministries church, which he sometimes attended, to seek counseling about the problem, said the pastor, Rev. Melvin Brown.

  According to Brown, Barmore spoke with the pastor’s wife and 17-year-old daughter in the church driveway. Two officers drove by, spotted Barmore, and approached with their guns drawn. Barmore ran inside the church, which also operates a day care center for children ages 4 and up.

  Barmore was cornered inside a boiler room, Brown said, as the pastor’s wife, daughter and several of the young children watched.

  Witnesses said Barmore emerged with his hands up but was shot several times in the chest and back; the officers said Barmore fought them and tried to grab one of their guns, according to Police Chief Chet Epperson.

  “My daughter was about five-feet away. When he hit the ground, she sees the cops shooting him in the back. We saw slugs in his back when we went to see the body,” said Brown, the pastor.

  City officials would not comment Friday on the shooting, citing an ongoing investigation by state police and the Cook County state attorney’s office — a rare case of outside agency intervention.

  The NAACP was calling for a full Justice Department investigation instead of currently assigned mediators, who were sent to calm racial tensions.

  One of the officers who shot Barmore, 37-year-old Oda Poole, had shot three previous suspects in Rockford, one fatally, in the past three years, according to the Rockford Register-Star newspaper.

  The fatal shooting was of a 66-year-old man who Poole said pointed what appeared to be a weapon at him and refused to drop it. It was actually a hammer in a sock. Police said they found a suicide note on the man.

  Rockford Mayor Larry Morrissey said Friday that he welcomed a thorough investigation and hoped that Barmore’s death would improve conditions in a city where black youths have a greater chance of getting arrested than graduating from high school.

  The mayor said it was impossible to know why Barmore ran from police, but “the broader and more relevant question is, do we have an approach between our officers and community members that’s one of sufficient trust so that we can avoid unnecessary conflict and unnecessary use of force?”

  Tags: Illinois, Police Brutality, police murders

• 14Sep

  US - Iowa: Waterloo shooting victim’s family protests as investigation continues

  Activism, Police Brutality No Comments

  Waterloo shooting victim’s family protests as investigation continues

  
  

  http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2009/09/14/news/local/11714636.txt

  WATERLOO — Dozens of friends and family gathered downtown Sunday afternoon to protest the police shooting and killing Eric Rule, a man they maintain was a gentle giant and loving father who had put a checkered past behind him.

  Autopsy results released Sunday morning ruled the death a homicide. According to the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the classification means Rule died at the hands of another person and does not have any bearing on criminal intent.

  The cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds, according to the DCI report.

  Rule, 31, a father of two, died in the driveway of his home at 611 Keystone St. early Saturday. His wife, Bethany, called police at 2:18 a.m. for a domestic dispute at the home.

  Officers Jamie Sullivan and Steven Bose arrived at 2:23 a.m, according to police department records. The next officers arrived six minutes later.

  According to witnesses and police, a struggle developed, and an officer shot Rule — who was at least 6 feet tall and weighed 260 pounds ­— in the chest.

  Officers were unable to restrain Rule despite using a number of control techniques, including a Taser, according to police. Rule then began to overpower one of the officers. The officer managed to draw his service weapon.

  Officials pronounced Rule dead at the scene.

  The officers involved are on paid administrative leave, DCI agent Jeff Jacobson said. Because the investigation is continuing, few new details from the officers’ standpoint have been released.

  When completed, the DCI’s findings will be turned over to the Black Hawk County Attorney’s Office, Jacobson said.

  Rule had a run-in with police in 1997, when he allegedly refused to get into a squad car and kicked an officer. In another incident four years later, Rule pleaded guilty to interference with official acts and paid a fine for refusing orders from Waterloo officers.

  Between 2000 and 2004, police in Waterloo and Cedar Falls cited Rule multiple times for other offenses, including public intoxication and operating a vehicle with a suspended driver’s license.

  Family speaks

  Friends and family lashed out at police Sunday afternoon at Lincoln Park, hugging and crying.

  “They shot an unarmed man twice in the chest,” said his wife, Bethany Rule, who witnessed the shooting. “The family will stop at nothing until they see a murder charge.”

  Bethany Rule said she called police so they could take her husband to the hospital to detox. When asked by dispatchers, she said she told them she did not feel threatened.

  Becky Daugherty, Eric Rule’s mother, acknowledged her son had been drinking.

  “OK. He was drunk. That doesn’t give anyone the right to shoot him,” she said.

  “Beth wanted assistance. And now she’s a widow,” Daugherty added.

  Friends and family describe Rule as a dedicated father and older brother who had responsibility thrust on him at a young age.

  Bethany Rule and her mother, Shelley Shimp, said Rule’s playful side came out around children. They added he never laid a hand on his wife or children.

  Rule’s criminal record is clean since 2004 because marriage and fatherhood changed him, and Shimp called Rule “the best thing that every happened to my daughter.” She added her son-in-law was by Bethany Rule’s side every step of the way after the couple’s oldest daughter was born prematurely at 2 pounds.

  The daughter, 4, cried so hard she vomited when she found out her dad was dead, Shimp said.

  “I just want the truth to be out about what he’s like as a man, not what he did as a kid,” she added.

  Daugherty was 14 when she gave birth to Eric, she said, and people told her it was a huge mistake.

  When Rule was 14, Daugherty said, his stepfather died in a car accident. From then on, he worked long hours and never missed the birthdays of his six brothers and sisters.

  “He helped me raise my kids. He was always there to help with everything,” Daugherty said.

  With his first paycheck, Rule reportedly bought his youngest brother, Kevin Harris, now 18, a pair of Nike shoes. Harris said Rule was the “best” of his brothers and a role model because he was the only one who seemed to have a plan for his life.

  “When I was younger he was never home because he was always working. He was always there with money for mom,” Harris said.

  Aaron Westphal, a coworker with Rule at Martinson Construction, said his friend started at an entry-level position more than 10 years ago and worked up to field engineer. He added Rule always showed up early and often stayed late.

  “He even went into work on his wife’s birthday because they needed him,” he said. “It’s going to take a huge person to fill his spot.”

  

  Tags: Iowa, Police Brutality, police murders

• 25Aug

  US - North Carolina: Jorge Cornell AKA King J of Latin Kings Runs for City Council of Greensboro NC

  Activism, Gangs, Immigration, Peace Efforts, Racism 1 Comment

  Jorge Cornell for Greensboro

  City Council

  Since Malcolm-Che’s founding we have followed the peace process initiated by Jorge Cornell of the North Carolina Latin Kings with much pleasure.  We only wish that more leaders of street organizations would follow his example - and the example of others - by seeking peace among oppressed people.  He has been shot, been shot at repeatedly, harassed by police and dealt with a whole lotta BS.  So it is with great pleasure that we bring this story to you:  King J is running for city council:
  

  
  

  Jorge Cornell is running for Greensboro City Council at large. That means if you live inside city limits and are registered to vote here, you can vote for Jorge! Check out “Election Details” for more information on the process, and make sure to come out and vote October 6, 2009.

  I am hopeful.  I know that a better world is possible but that we all need to be heard in order to create it.  I have proved my leadership abilities as the Inca –or leader- of the Almighty Latin King & Queen Nation for the state of North Carolina, and more recently joined the School Safety Committee for the Board of Education.  I will prove the same dedication on City Council, and I will make sure that we are heard. Without us, the future is not possible. Together, we can achieve anything!

  Jorge with his daughters

  

  
  

  http://cornellforcouncil.wordpress.com/

  
  

  Tags: Jorge Cornell, King J, Latin Kings, North Carolina, Street Organizations

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