• 31Jan

  UPDATE: FBI Investigating Police Killing Of Adolph Grimes III

  Police Brutality, Racism No Comments

  The investigation by the FBI into whether Adolph Grimes ‘civil rights were violated’ by the New Orleans PD is continuing.  We at Malcolm-Che were quick to cover this story, and have absolutely no doubt in our minds that his civil rights were violated.  And as Malcolm said, this isn’t about civil rights, this is about HUMAN rights.  Even if you believe that Adolph Grimes shot at the cops first, he would seem to have reason because as the Police superintendent Mr. Riley has admitted, Grimes may not have known he was being approached by police when a bunch of plainclothes officers ran up on him with guns drawn.  But since Mr. Grimes was shot 12 times in his back we don’t find any reason to believe the cops’ story that he shot at them first.  The NOPD has a history of corruption and abuse, and the killing of Oscar Grimes III is a continuation of that.  They rained 48 bullets on this man, hitting him a total of 14 times.  Who is going to hold these police accountable if we don’t?!  We have to take to the streets at every chance we get and demand murder charges for these killer cops while at the same time advancing the discussion on police brutality so that people understand that it can be NO OTHER WAY under the capitalist system.

  Adolph Grimes Shot 12 Times In The Back

  

  http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_5603.shtml

  FinalCall.com) - The New Year ended quickly for a 22-year-old man who was killed at the hands of the New Orleans police during a deadly shootout to mark the city’s first homicide.

  According to the Orleans Parish coroner, the young Black man was hit 14 times with 12 shots to the back. The coroner also said it will be weeks before an official autopsy report is released.

  The FBI is now probing to see whether the death of Adolph Grimes III was a victim of civil rights violations by police or a suspect killed in a justifiable shooting. Special Agent Sheila Thorne, an FBI spokeswoman, said agents from the New Orleans FBI office counseled with the U.S. Department of Justice in making the decision to look into the killing.

  “The family is cooperating fully with the FBI and seeking justice,” said Attorney Robert Jenkins to The Final Call via phone on Jan. 9. He is representing the family.

  Police accounts state that Mr. Grimes allegedly fired first, sparking counter shots from the officers. Coroner Frank Minyard findings raise questions about the incident. He announced that two bullets pierced Mr. Grime’s front torso while 12 other bullets tore through his back and legs. A total 48 rounds were fired at the victim.

  “The family just viewed the body for the first time today so they are pretty distraught right now. The police shot him up real bad,” said Atty. Jenkins, who has also publicly questioned early aspects of the New Orleans Police Dept. investigation, such as their refusal to release the names of the officers involved in the shooting. The officers have since been reassigned.

  The incident occurred on Jan. 1 around 3 a.m., just a few hours after Mr. Grimes had returned to the city from Houston. According to news reports, he was in a car outside his grandmother’s house waiting for another relative.

  Police officers, who had been working undercover, not in uniform and riding in two unmarked cars, were reportedly looking for a suspect in a shooting reported a few streets away.

  New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren Riley disputed the coroner’s account and said that Mr. Grimes shot first when an unmarked car full of plainclothes officers pulled up adjacent to his car.

  Supt. Riley said the officers were in a group of three women acting as decoys and six men covering them when a shooting was reported at a nearby club. He said the officers saw a black car leaving the club’s vicinity and Mr. Grimes was in a black car parked about four blocks from the club.

  “There is an increase of police shooting its citizens around the country, and these kinds of excessive shootings do nothing for the police and community relationship,” said Dennis Muhammad to The Final Call. “Chief Riley has a very difficult job to restore trust and respect for the police when he has to defend a police department that has a track record of controversial shootings—especially when the people of New Orleans don’t trust the police.”

  Mr. Muhammad is the founder of ENOTA, which is a comprehensive program designed to enhance police community relations, specifically teaching youth how to have respect for themselves, people in authority, and the general community.

  About two dozen people gathered outside of the 2nd District NOPD headquarters on Jan. 8 to condemn the killing of Mr. Grimes.

  “We are going to keep fighting. This family is in serious pain after seeing that body. This is the first homicide of the year for this city. Sad,” said Atty. Jenkins.

  Tags: Adolph Grimes, Louisiana, Police Brutality

• 30Jan

  Defense: BART Shooting Cop Meant To Use Taser

  Crime, Police Brutality, Prison State 1 Comment

  I think we all knew it was coming, Johannes Mehserle’s defense is that he meant to taser Oscar Grant. Well if so why quit the force and lawyer up? I dont know.  And it looks like Mehserle is saying he though Oscar had a gun!!  What a bold-faced lie, even the dummy prosecutor called it out (see below).  Make sure to also scroll all the way down for our own Malcolm-Che exclusive eyewitness testimony from our comrade out west from this court hearing and protest!!

  

   

   

   

   

  Oscar Grant being carried away.  The cops shot him, handcuffed him and left him bleeding for 45 minutes as they confiscated cell phones from citizens.

  But now there are also reports coming out about previous allegations of excessive force against citizens. One case in paticular, was just dropped against a citizen who was charged with resisting arrest by Mehserle. Now there are going to be investigations into other cases that he had been involved in. 

  He was given a $3 million bail today, of which he paid the $300,000 to get out immediately. 

  Here are some interesting notes:

  Those recordings show Mehserle standing over an apparently defenseless Grant, who is lying on his stomach with his hands behind his back. The videos show Mehserle pulling his pistol and shooting Grant in the back.

  Mehserle’s attorney argued his client had mistakenly believed that he was firing his Taser shock weapon, not his handgun. That made the crime, at most, involuntary manslaughter, argued attorney Michael Rains.

  Rains said some witnesses said they heard Mehserle tell fellow officers, “get back, I am going to taze him.”

  Other witnesses and officers said that after the shooting Mehserle told fellow officers he thought Grant had a gun, court documents state.

  The papers — obtained before Jacobson put a gag order on the parties — were the first explanation from either Mehserle or an attorney of the former officer’s state of mind during the early hours of Jan. 1.

  “The offense charged is serious,” defense attorney Michael Rains wrote. “However, even a rudimentary and hasty examination of … indicates that Mr. Mehserle did not act … with malice against Mr. Grant when he fired his weapon.”

  According to the document, an officer said he heard Mehserle tell Grant to stop resisting and to put his hands behind his back, then saying, “I’m going to taze him, I’m going to taze him. I can’t get his arms. He won’t give me his arms. His hands are going for his waistband.”

  Instead of pulling his Taser, Mehserle pulled his gun and shot Grant in the back, the papers state. “Tony, I thought he was going for a gun,” Mehserle told the officer, according to the document.

  District Attorney Tom Orloff’s office declined to release its own
  bail-hearing motion Friday afternoon, citing the gag order.

  In court, Deputy District Attorney John Creighton focused on the conflict between saying he would use a Taser and later saying he thought Grant had a gun. If Mehserle thought Grant was trying to reach for a gun, he never would have said he was going to use his Taser, Creighton said.
  
  Mehserle, he said, was trained to react to force with force, meaning he would have pulled his gun if he thought Grant had a gun.

  Jacobson agreed.

  “There appears to be a change in the story. His willingness to change his story appears to me that he would be willing to do so to avoid the consequences.”
  
  The conflicting reasons, coupled with a slaying “under the color of authority,” made Mehserle a danger to society, the judge said.

   

  http://www.mercurynews.com/crime/ci_11596120

  ———————————————————————————————

  From a comrade of ours out in Oakland:

  I was there, right outside the courtroom. They told
  us that there were 44 seats available inside the courtroom, but after
  the family entered and a group of white men in suits (who may have
  been bart police all dressed up to support their little piggy, or they
  may have been counsel for either side) we were told that magically,
  all the seats disappeared even though 44 people hadn’t walked through
  that door. To my knowledge, not a single member of the community
  managed to get inside the courtroom. At that point there was almost a
  riot right outside the courtroom as people, enraged by the sheriff
  deputy’s lies about the seating, began chanting and taking out signs.
  About 15 more deputies were brought up. Eventually things calmed down.
  At some point, oakland police entered the courtroom, probably to
  escort the defendent out the backdoor. We waited about an hour before
  the bail was announced, and a small march started downtown, which the
  police quickly broke up with tear gas, rubber bullets and concussion
  grenades. Some protestors may have been tazered as they were arrested.

  On a side note, Answer behaved rather poorly today, first trying to
  drowned out a community organized rally with their sound system, then
  apparently abandoning protesters once again when the cops started in
  with the tear gas. When I caught up with what was left of the protest
  after the cops started attacking, answer’s banner had disappeared and
  there were much fewer of their signs to be seen. That would make this
  the second time they have bailed on protesters, the first being at the
  large downtown rally which they seemed to (still trying to get
  confirmation of this) have a hand in organizing, which was a complete
  reformist farce in my opinion. The organizers bailed on the protest at
  the end, abandoning even their own “safety” volunteers to deal with
  two dozen police with rifles (the majority of them real, not beanbag
  or rubber bullet) all lined up and ready to shoot at a crowd of
  peaceful but clearly dissatisfied protesters who had been sorely
  disappointed with the tone of the so called “rally”. I heard that
  later in the evening citizens of Oakland took to the streets and were
  once again repressed by the police, but I was not there for that part…

  Tags: bart shooting, excessive force, johannes mehserle, Oscar Grant, Police Brutality, police murders

• 30Jan

  Authorities Deny Racism In Brandon McClelland’s Dragging Death

  Prison State, Racism 1 Comment

  We at Malcolm-Che were quick to jump on this story, which we are confident is a racist crime.  As we detailed in our first post on it, when two white people brutally drag a black man to death in Texas (or anywhere for that matter) it is ridiculous to discount race!  We don’t care if they were “friends who had a falling out”!!  With all the guns close at hand in Texas, they could have easily shot the dude if it was a simple falling out.  No, they DRAGGED Brandon to death, a form of murder that is as explicitly racist as lynching is.  We stand by our initial assertion, and the governement is sticking to its guns as this article shows.  Yesterday the “Justice” department met up with community residents and civil rights groups to deny that racism was involved.  We at Malcolm-Che demand that this be prosecuted as a hate crime.  Our deepest respect and sympathy goes out to Brandon’s family and friends, who are now being victimized a 2nd time by a government that has a vested interest in denying racism.  The article’s headline asks if this town is racist, and notes that there is a 20-foot monument dedicated to “our heroes” [WTF?!?!?!] that fought for the Confederacy!!  Hell yeah it’s racist!!  But it isn’t just the town of Jasper, um, I mean Paris….

   

   

  Is Paris,Texas a Racist Community?

  Paris,Texas, may soon join Bensonhurst, Howard Beach and Jena on the list of communities that are less than cool for black folks. The U.S. Justice Department held a meeting with local civil rights groups Thursday in the community located 100 miles north of Dallas to quell rising racial tensions since the death of a local man named Brandon McClelland.
  

  This young man’s death has called back memories of hate crimes just like the infamous 1998 lynching of James Byrd Jr., in Jasper, Texas.
  

  Others, including law enforcement, say the case is more complicated, and race was not a factor in his dragging death, characterizing the killing as a broken friendship gone horribly wrong. …

  In September, motorists found McClelland’s body on a two-lane county road. According to news reports McClelland was walking in front of the pickup driven by Charles Ryan Crostley, 27, and a friend. Both were later arrested for allegedly running McClelland down and then dragged him 40 feet along the road until his mutilated body popped out from beneath the vehicle. It’s a sad case.
  Hundreds of protesters assembled at the Lamar County Courthouse, just around the corner from the 20-foot Confederate monument dedicated to “Our Heroes.”
  

  Some have called it a hate crime just like the infamous 1998 lynching of James Byrd Jr., in Jasper, Texas, 250 miles south of Paris. Others say it was a broken friendship gone horribly wrong and race was not a factor.
  

  The Paris, Texas, situation comes amid reports of an increase in racist activity since the election of President Barack Obama. A Staten Island man, Brian Carranza, 21, admitted attacking three innocent black teens in a racism-fueled Election Day rampage.

  Carranza faces 10 years in prison and is free on $200,000 bail, pending his April sentencing.

  This month’s Justice Department meetings are not the first time a harsh racial light has shined on Paris, Texas.

  Two years ago, the Paris school district was investigated over allegations of retaliatory behavior and disparities in discipline against African American students, particularly against those whose parents lodged complaints with the Paris school district.

  The matter gained national attention after 14-year-old freshman Shaquanda Cotton was convicted of “assault on a public servant” and sentenced to serve up to seven years at Texas Youth Commission prison.

  At a Justice Department meeting earlier this month, community leaders discussed cases involving harsher sentencing for African Americans in the local judicial system, harsher disciplining of African American students by the school district, and inadequate investigations and retaliatory behavior by law enforcement concerning crimes against African Americans.

  Two days after the meeting, a disabled African American Paris resident had racial slurs and death threats written on the outside of his apartment. Paris police say the matter is currently under investigation.

  http://www.blackvoices.com/blogs/2009/01/30/is-paris-texas-racist-Brandon-McClelland-case/

  Tags: Brandon McClelland, differential association, Racism

• 29Jan

  More Female Abuse @ Prisons & Verdict Final In Michigan Abuse Trial

  Prison State, Sexism No Comments

  We at Malcolm-Che have no doubt about the widespread and rampant nature of sexual abuse at female prisons (and male prisons).  Here is a fresh article about new allegations and another article detailing the end of others.

  Prison Guard Charged with Sexually Assaulting Inmates

  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28894968/

  Paul Vick has been charged with 15 counts, including six of second-degree sexual assault against inmates, one by use or threat of force of violence. He could face 271 years in prison.

  MILWAUKEE - Paul Vick used to work at the state prison in downtown Milwaukee. He now sits in jail right across the street on allegations he had sex with inmates. Vick has been charged with 15 counts, including six counts of second degree sexual assault against inmates, one by use or threat of force of violence. He has also been charged with six counts of delivery of illegal articles to an inmate and five counts of misconduct in public office.

  If found guilty on all 15 counts, he could face 271 years in prison. The criminal complaint says that some of the counts involve a series of incidents with one woman in the summer of 2006, when Vick, who in his role as a police sergeant, was supervising the women’s section of the Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility. Vick allegedly told an inmate that he thought she was pretty, gave her gifts, and then touched that inmate in her private areas in ways that she did not give consent. He then allegedly threatened her to be quiet about the incident, saying “you’ve got to be more nice to me if you want to keep your job.”

  She was pregnant when she returned to the MSDF a year later, and he allegedly told her that the baby she was pregnant with was supposed to be his. The complaint also says that Vick had multiple consensual sexual encounters with two other female inmates, one of whom he also gave marijuana. “I think it’s sick,” said one visitor at the prison at the Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility. “It’s misconduct,” said visitor Camisha Reed. “It’s definitely not something you should do at the work place.” Vick was arrested Monday after a five month long investigation by the Prison Warden. State prison officials would not talk about the case except to say Vick has been suspended without pay. If the allegations are true, visitor Jessica Scioli says they’re troubling. “To me, it’s like they abuse their power,” said Scioli. “They treat people that are in prison and stuff like they are beneath them, that they are not worth anything. “It doesn’t matter what they do. It seems like nobody cares.” The female inmates involved in the allegations have been moved to other prisons.

  Women abused in prison to keep award

  http://www.malcolm-che.com/2009/01/06/female-inmate-described-rapes-in-lawsuit-against-state/

  http://www.freep.com/article/20090129/NEWS05/901290391/1007/NEWS/Women+abused+in+prison+to+keep+award

  The Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of 10 women who were awarded $15.5 million in damages last year for sexual abuse by guards while they were prisoners in the 1990s at Scott Correctional Facility.

  The Michigan Department of Corrections had appealed the 2008 verdict, but the three-member appeals court panel said that various issues and arguments raised on appeal were “disingenuous,” “fundamentally flawed” and “muddled.”

  It was a stinging defeat for prison officials, who had repeatedly claimed the verdict would be reversed and taxpayers would not end up paying.

  Tags: Prison State, Sexism

• 28Jan

  Annette Garcia, Brown Beret, Murdered By Riverside Police

  Police Brutality, Prison State 1 Comment

  On Friday January 23, 2008, Annette Garcia, a mother of three, was shot to death by Riverside Sheriffs after they received calls that she was suicidal and under duress due to a marriage dispute. Reports by the family and witnesses report that she posed no harm to the officers involved and was shot at six times until a bullet finally hit her in the back as she tried to run for cover. It took over an hour to get medical attention and she died in the arms of her own children. Due to this outrage and other recent police misconducts and abuse around the nation, several community members from Watsonville and Santa Cruz held a candlelight vigil/ protest to denounce these vicious attacks by law enforcement. Participants held signs demanding an end to police brutality, Justice for Oscar Grant, Justice for Rudy Cardenas, and **** the police!. Other actions are planned in the upcoming week. 

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  RIP Annete Garcia! 

  RIP Oscar Grant! 

  RIP Sean Bell! 

  Annette Garcia, a mother of three children, was shot in the back Wednesday evening by a Riverside County Sheriffs deputy. The name of the shooter has not been released but according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Perris Station, the deputy has been placed on “paid” administrative leave pending an investigation. 

  The call was made due to a domestic dispute. The police started shooting from a block away, and was in NO DANGER. 

  The deputy arrived by himself at a home at the 16900 block of Lake Mathews Drive and shot at Annette Garcia six times while she was walking away. She was distressed, carrying a knife while walking AWAY FROM THE OFFICER. The officer began to shoot from behind, at which point, Annette Garcia started running for safety to her home. Five of the shots missed but one hit Annette Garcia in the back. She bled to death in from of her children. 

  The 29 year old mother was rushed to the Riverside County Regional Medical Center in Moreno Valley but was pronounced dead on arrival. 

  The cowardly murder of Anne Garcia has sent shocked waves throughout Aztlan and there is a call by the leadership of the Brown Berets and ALL organizations in solidarity with us and against police violence to undertake energetic protests and demonstrations. 

  The candlelight vigil is just the first step…get your people in the streets!!! 

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  

  Tags: Annette Garcia, Police Brutality, police murders

• 28Jan

  BART Cop Who Punched Oscar Grant Should Resign

  Crime, Police Brutality No Comments

  Found this article on HuffPo regarding investigations of other persons directly or indirectly involved in this incident. In paticular a cop named Tony Pirone who allegedly punched Oscar Grant in the face prior to him being shot. I say allegedly because I did not see this part in the video but apparently it is being reported as fact.

  
  

  What is most interesting here is that according to, U.C. Berkeley law school professor Franklin Zimring, the district attorney may not charge the officer who punched Grant because the DA “may need that officer’s testimony” to prosecute Johannes Mehserle in the shooting of Grant. Bart board members are also calling for the resignation of BART’s General Manager, Dorothy Dugga, and BART Police Chief Gary Gee.

  All in all I think that all of the cops there should be fired and Tony Pirone should be charged with assualt as well. But im not the D.A so…..

  As we all know, Johannes Mehserle is the ex-cop charged with murdering Oscar Grant. His bail hearing had been set for Monday, January 26 but has since been moved to friday the 30th.
  I found this Inmate locater here. Just type in Johannes Mehserle in the appropriate fields and you will get his current disposition. As of this post he sits in the Santa Rita Jail awaiting his bail hearing on friday.

  Tags: bart, Oscar Grant, Police Brutality

• 23Jan

  Robert Tolan - Victim Of Unprovoked Police Shooting - Released From Hospital

  Police Brutality, Racism No Comments

  Man shot by Bellaire officer released from hospital

  

  Robbie Tolan is out of the hospital, but the brutalization he survived will never really end….

  http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6226139.html

  Robert Tolan has been released from St. Luke’s Hospital about three weeks after being shot by a Bellaire police officer in front of his parents’ home on New Year’s Eve. But he’s not exactly home.

  “Actually, he’s staying with an aunt in Houston,” said his attorney, Geoffrey Berg. “He’s not comfortable being back in Bellaire.”

  Berg said Tolan, who played baseball at Bellaire High School and was attempting a professional career, is far from feeling recovered.

  “He walks real hunched over and has a constant pain in his stomach,” Berg said. “He’s better and not bedridden, but he’s still in a significant amount of pain.”

  The 23-year-old was returning to the residence along with his cousin at about 2 a.m. shortly after getting off work. Police officers ran the license plates on his Nissan Xterra and reportedly saw the vehicle had been reported stolen. The information was in error, the department later acknowledged.

  Several officers converged on Tolan and his cousin as they got out of the SUV, ordering them to the ground near the front porch. Tolan was shot once in the chest by Sgt. Jeffrey Cotton when Tolan rose slightly to protest the treatment of his mother, who had come out the front door after hearing the commotion.

  Berg has said the incident was racially motivated, claiming the only reason that the plates were checked was because the vehicle was driven by a black person. Since the shooting, a number of minority residents of Bellaire have come forward with complaints of being stopped by local police without cause.

  Bellaire’s mayor and police chief have denied the city’s police officers engage in racial profiling. Mayor Cindy Siegel said neither she nor other council members have received complaints. The Harris County District Attorney’s office is investigating the shooting.

  Tolan’s father, Bobby, is a former professional baseball player with the Cincinnati Reds and other teams. He retired after the 1979 season.

  Tags: Police Brutality, Racism

• 13Jan

  New Haven’s “No Freeze” Policy For Homeless In Jeopardy

  Economics 1 Comment

  Here we have a story that is going to be replayed all across America as city administrations face major cuts during the recession.  The bottom layers of society will be hit the hardest, as is typical under capitalism.   Those who can afford to give the least will still be robbed of the meager scraps they have.

   

  NEW HAVEN, Conn. - New Haven

  cannot reinstate its no-freeze policy at emergency shelters this winter because of uncertainty over funding to back it up, according to officials.

  New Haven cut more than $340,000 from homeless services in its 2008-09 budget, although community fundraising efforts have helped fill the gap.

  City officials say no one has been turned away from a warm emergency shelter this winter.

  However, they are unsure whether enough money will be available to operate overflow shelters needed to handle high volumes of guests if last year’s no-freeze policy is reinstated.

   

  “I did not feel it was a responsible thing for the city to do, to reinstate the no-freeze policy when we can’t guarantee we will be able to act the same way we have in the past when we have reached capacity at the shelters,” said Community Services Administrator Kica Matos.

  New Haven’s no-freeze policy barred shelters last winter from turning away anyone in need on cold nights.

  While the no-freeze policy remains suspended, the city has lifted its 90-day limit on shelter stays until the weather improves.

  The city cut $340,500 from homeless services in its 2008-09 budget, leaving only $60,000 to run the overflow facility. Advocates for the homeless have raised tens of thousands of dollars in donations in an attempt to help cover the shortfall.

  The donations enabled an overflow shelter to open Nov. 5. However, advocates say they do not know if enough will be available to pay for an annex overflow shelter, which was needed last year due to high demand.

  “The city can’t have a no-freeze policy,” said former city alderman Edward Mattison, a member of the Inside at Night local committee on homelessness. “The no-freeze policy depended on the willingness on the part of the city, as it did last year, to find extra money to pay for whatever extra sheltering was needed.”

  Last February, the city opened a 31-bed overflow annex at Truman School during a school vacation to alleviate shelter crowding. The city later opened a second winter overflow.

  The effort cost the city $41,000, money not available in this year’s budget.

  Mattison said that, like the city, advocates for the homeless are unsure where the money would come from to run an overflow annex if it is needed this winter.

  “To a certain extent, the organizations would like to be able to have a no-freeze policy by providing enough shelter for everybody who needs it, but we can’t swear we can do it either, for obvious reasons. We need to raise the money,” he said.

  Emergency Shelter Management Services, formerly known as the Immanuel Baptist Shelter, laid off two employees after sustaining a 9 percent budget cut, and will not accept more than 75 men per night this year.

  While Immanuel Baptist has yet to reach capacity, the overflow on Cedar Street, run by Columbus House, has been as many as 20 men beyond its 75-bed capacity, despite the lack of a no-freeze policy.

  “We will continue to take people in,” said Columbus House Executive Director Alison Cunningham. “It’s very difficult to turn someone away when it’s 10 degrees out.”

   

   

  http://www.courant.com/news/local/statewire/hc-ap-ct-emergencysheltersjan10,0,366128.story

  Tags: budget cuts, Economics, homeless

• 09Jan

  Adolph Grimes III Murdered, Shot 12 Times In The Back By Police

  Police Brutality 2 Comments

  News is now emerging about yet another killing of a black man in the immediate hours after the New Year began.  In this tragic case we have Adolph Grimes III shot a total of 14 times, 12 in his back by a squad of New Orleans police officers who had no apparent reason to run up on him other than the fact that he was black.  Grimes did own a gun, legally, and the police are saying that he fired on them first.  If 9 plainclothes officers ran up on him to execute him, Malcolm-Che sees no reason why he shouldn’t have defended himself by any means necessary!

  It should be noted that the New Orleans police department has traditionally been one of the most corrupt in the entire nation, even killing one of their own when the code of silence had to be maintained (which is actually referred to in this article as the “blue wall”).  How come when we don’t snitch they say we need to get rid of the “no snitching” culture, but when it comes to the police we don’t see any politicians decrying the ‘blue wall’?!  We know why:  the police are the most powerful and dangerous gang in the streets.  Grimes had none of the usual elements used to slander victims of police terror (i.e. he was employed, graduated from a good high school and had no criminal history) but that won’t stop these cops from doing anything they can to portray this killing as justified.

  

  Family wants police charged in New Orleans killing

  http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/01/09/new.orleans.shooting/index.html

  NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) — As fireworks exploded over the Big Easy on New Year’s Eve, 22-year-old Adolph Grimes III pulled up to his grandmother’s home near the French Quarter after a five-hour drive from Houston, Texas.

  Grimes, who relocated to Texas with his fiancée, Shae Whitfield, after Hurricane Katrina, couldn’t wait to get home with their 17-month-old son, Chris, and ring in the new year with friends and family.

  “He made it at 12 o’clock exact, with a second to spare,” said his father, Adolph Grimes Jr.

  Three hours later, Grimes lay dying on the sidewalk half a block from his grandmother’s front door, with fireworks giving way to the hue of flashing police lights.

  The Orleans Parish coroner said Grimes was shot 14 times, including 12 times in the back.

  Grimes had just walked out of the house and was in a car waiting for his cousin, according to family members, when nine plainclothes officers — part of an undercover narcotics task force driving around New Orleans on New Year’s Eve — surrounded Grimes’ vehicle.

  Shots rang out; New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren Riley said Grimes shot at police first.

  The Grimes family disagrees, saying police executed a loved one as he ran for his life.

  “It was like someone was a murderer, and they finally caught him,” said Grimes’ mother, Patricia. “I ain’t ever seen anything like this. And the worst part about it was I had to wait for the 5 o’clock news to find out my son was murdered.”

  Shortly after finding out about the death, the family contacted the FBI to investigate alleged wrongdoing by police officers in the shooting.

  “We are hoping for a thorough investigation by the NOPD [New Orleans Police Department] and the district attorney’s office,” said the family’s attorney, Robert Jenkins. ” We know the FBI is going to do a fully complete investigation. We are hoping that criminal charges will be brought against all of these officers for the execution in this case.”

  Riley agreed that all the facts need to be released.

  “We think that families should do everything they can do make sure this investigation is as thorough and complete as possible so they know the truth,” he said.

  Nine police officers were reassigned afterward, but New Orleans police aren’t commenting on the case. The police also declined to release the names of the officers and the shooting report, saying the investigation is ongoing, both internally and with the FBI.

  Family members said they want to know why officers descended on a young man with no criminal record, who graduated from one of the most prestigious high schools in the city.

  “This violence has to stop. My child’s death will not be meaningless. He did not die in vain,” Patricia Grimes said. “This is meaningless; this never should have happened.”

  Grimes did have a gun. His family and the lawyer, Jenkins, said he had a legal permit to carry the weapon. Authorities also said they found a shotgun and extra ammunition in the car’s trunk.

  Grimes’ relatives said they don’t believe he opened fire first. And the family’s attorney said he believes the investigation will show rogue cops and sloppy police work.

  “I just think it was some bad officers who were out there and imposing their will on the community,” Jenkins said.

  Jenkins also said that 48 bullet casings were found at the shooting scene. Police won’t confirm or deny that number, but Riley defended his officers’ actions.

  ”We train our officers to fire when fired upon. We train them to fire more than one shot,” he said.

  But the shooting doesn’t make sense, relatives said, describing Grimes as a young man who was a loving father with a good job and no history of being in trouble.

  His grieving mother and father said they won’t be silenced and are not worried about a code of silence among officers, the so-called “blue wall.”

  “The walls are going to come down. Just like the walls of Jericho came down,” Grimes’ father said, trying to fight back tears.

  Tags: Adolph Grimes, Police Brutality

• 09Jan

  Prison Rape: An Integral Part Of America’s So-Called “Justice” System

  Prison State No Comments

  Jokes are made about it all the time.  You could be at your job and get assigned to something no one wants to do and when you protest someone says “grab your ankles.”  Comedians make whole routines about it.  In conversations about crime people always say something like “well you don’t want to end up in a cell with some 300 pound hairy guy named Bubba.”  But is prison rape really all that funny?  We at Malcolm-Che don’t think so.  Because you see, prison rape is a tool that the prison state uses to divide and conquer prisoners.  Prison rape is a tool that the prison state uses to bring rebellious inmates into line.  And while many people in the mainstream just say things like “well they are criminals and jail isn’t supposed to be a vacation,” we just can’t support that type of mentality.  Many of the 2.3 million people locked up in this prison state are there for nonviolent offenses and hardly deserve to get raped for their crimes.  But even those people who get locked for violent offenses, if we claim to be a so-called “civlized” society, how can we just sit by and co-sign this practice? 

  In Christian Parenti’s excellent book “Lockdown America” (particularly Chapter 10) he details how corrections officers would transfer any inmate they disliked into the cell of a “booty bandit” that would repeatedly beat, torture and rape the inmate into submission.  He also notes that for Black Panther organizers in Louisiana’s infamous Angola Prison the most difficult step to forming unity among the prisoners was forcing these “booty bandits” and prison pimps to give up their privileges and join with the movement. 

  We need to stop thinking of prison rape as something that happens in prison because the criminals are ‘beasts’ or whatever, and recognize that it is an integral and necessary part of America’s so-called “justice” system; a system based on holding poor and oppressed people down.  In the following article we have for you a judge that straight up threatened a young defendant with future prison rape to try to ’scare him straight.’  The judge should be ashamed of himself (so should the entire system), but instead he unabashedly insinuates that this young man will pay a much greater price then just ‘doing time.’

  Driver warned of jail’s sexual gorillas

  http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE5054UP20090106

  SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian court has issued a blunt warning about the sexual predators a young driver faces in jail if he does not stop speeding, as authorities struggle to stop teenagers street racing.

  “You’ll find big, ugly, hairy strong men (in jail) who’ve got faces only a mother could love that will pay a lot of attention to you — and your anatomy,” said Magistrate Brian Maloney.

  The 19-year-old male appeared in Sydney’s Downing Center Court on Monday charged with driving without a license, failing to stop at a police alcohol check point and driving dangerously.

  It was his third time before the courts for driving offences, prompting the magistrate’s warning he would be jailed next time.

  Maloney barred the teenager from driving until 2013, placed him on a 12-month good behavior bond and ordered him to do 150 hours of community work.

  Breaching any of these conditions would see the teenager jailed where he would “shower with the gorillas in the mist down at Long Bay jail,” said Maloney, his comments confirmed by the court on Tuesday.

  “Out of control” was the frontpage headline in Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph newspaper on Tuesday for a story on four teenagers either booked for street racing, speeding, driving without a license or crashing their car and killing a passenger.

  The newspaper’s editorial backed the magistrate’s warning of life behind bars, saying his comments were “a vision in clarity” and gave the teenager “a reality check of his future.”

  “We can only hope this strategy helps. Hope it ends the slaughter of young innocents on the roads through stupidity…,” said the Telegraph. “Road safety has become a war zone and any tactics are permissible…”

  Police in the southern state of Victoria impounded 42 cars in the past six days after drivers were caught speeding.

  One driver, aged 78, was clocked in Melbourne on New Year’s Day at 170 kph (105 mph) — 70 kph (44 mph) over the limit.

  The 78-year-old was the “oldest hoon” in Victoria to have his car confiscated for speeding, local media said on Tuesday.

  “It is disappointing to see a senior member of our community being so irresponsible,” Acting Police Sergeant Carlo Visser told Melbourne’s Herald-Sun newspaper.

  “What example does this set for younger drivers?” said Visser.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

  Tags: Prison State

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