• 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

• 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

  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

• 06Jul

  US - Massachusetts: Swine flu concerns led to prison uprising

  Activism, Prison State No Comments

  The prisoners in this instance did not trust authorities to handle the situation adequately, can we blame them?!  Stories come out all the time of corrections officers looking the other way as inmates die of health problems, besides the fact that they are in general totally indifferent to inmates’ suffering.  In this case the prisoners took it in their own hands, by any means necessary.

  Swine flu concerns led to prison uprising

  

  Inmates after the uprising

  (NECN: Kristen Caira, Cambridge, Mass.) - A group of unruly inmates broke the sprinkler system at the Middlesex Jail in Cambridge, Massachusetts, according to the county sheriff.

  Officers from the Middlesex Sheriff’s Office evacuated prisoners on Sunday evening.

  Over the past few days, about 12 inmates came down with flu-like symptoms. One of those 12 may have swine flu, but the others do not.

  When officers were sanitizing parts of the jail, about nine inmates became unruly and caused an uprising. They broke pipes in the sprinkler system, flooding the building.

  “It was an opportunity seized by a small percentage of the inmates to try to gather attention to this issue,” Sheriff DiPaola said.

  Flooding occurred from the 18th floor right down to the lobby.

  The fire department and NSTAR said that they were forced to shut down power to the building, forcing the evacuation of over 180 inmates.

  Sheriff DiPaola said that arrangements were made to move some inmates to the Middlesex House of Correction at Billerica, Essex Sheriff’s Office, Plymouth, Dedham House of Correction, South Bay and Nashua Street, while others would remain under their control.

  Dozens of officers were involved in the evacuation process. Those who caused the uprising were to face charges, Sheriff DiPaola said.

  Tags: massachusetts, Prison State

• 26Jun

  US - Florida: Vigil planned for tourist shot by Miami Beach police

  Activism, Police Brutality No Comments

  “..[there is] surveillance video from the scene which shows Husien ‘attempting to put his hands up when he is executed’…”

  We first covered this story here.

  Vigil planned for tourist shot by Miami Beach police

  

  http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking-news/story/1104957.html

  Last weekend’s shooting death of a tourist visiting Miami Beach has drawn national attention from Arab-American groups and others who are planning a vigil Friday night in front of the Miami Beach police headquarters.

  The South Florida Palestine Solidarity Network is organizing the vigil with other groups, including Jewish Voice for Peace-South Florida, to denounce Miami Beach police over the death of Husien Shehada, a 29-year-old Palestinian American from Virginia.

  ”We want assurances from Miami Beach police that any Arab Americans should not fear police brutality on the streets of Miami Beach,” said Muhammed Malik, coordinator and law student at St. Thomas University.

  The vigil comes the same week that a Washington-based group — the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee — also decried the shooting death and demanded “a complete and thorough investigation . . . as quickly as possible.”

  ”Police brutality, regardless of the victim’s race or origin, will not be tolerated. ADC will be working with the victim’s family, legal counsel and the proper state and federal authorities to ensure that justice is served,” ADC National Executive Director Kareem Shora said in a statement.

  Shehada, a limousine chauffeur from Woodbridge, Va., was in Miami Beach nearing the end of a five-day vacation about 4 a.m. Sunday morning when he was stopped by a Miami Beach police officer.

  Law enforcement sources told The Miami Herald that Shehada may have concealed an empty beer bottle under his shirt that appeared to some passers-by to be a gun, sparking several 911 calls about an armed man on the street.

  When responding officers encountered Shehada outside a Washington Avenue nightclub early Sunday, he appeared to be reaching for the concealed object, prompting a patrolman to open fire, the sources said.

  But John Contini, a lawyer for the Shehada family, vigorously denied Husien had a bottle. He also said that he has viewed surveillance video from the scene which shows Husien “attempting to put his hands up when he is executed.”

  Added Contini: “He was an unarmed Virginia businessman who was essentially executed by an overzealous police officer.”

  On Thursday, the police union voiced support for the officer.

  ”We are confident our officer will be vindicated once all the information comes out. We believe he was well within the guidelines [for use of force],” said Sgt. Alejandro Bello, president of Miami Beach’s Fraternal Order of Police.

  The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office is investigating the shooting.

  The Miami Beach Police Department’s internal affairs unit is also investigating what led to the shooting, according to Detective Juan Sanchez, a department spokesman. But the department has referred all questions to the state attorney’s office.

  Friday night’s vigil is set to begin at 6 p.m. in front of the Miami Beach police headquarters, 1100 Washington Ave.

  Tags: Activism, Florida, police murders

• 25Jun

  US – Texas: We Salute The Reeves Detention Center Uprisings

  Activism, Class Struggle, Crime, Healthcare, Immigration, Prison State No Comments

  We have followed this story from the beginning; since the 1st uprising in December, to the second uprising in February, to the arrest of 3 corrections officers working there in March. 

   

  Reeves Detention Center is a 2,400 inmate PRIVATIZED prison in Texas that houses a large population of undocumented immigrants.  This for-profit prison (like all of them) is administered for the greatest profit possible, of course any corner that can be cut will be!  An inmate needs healthcare attention?  Sorry, costs too much!  Leave him to die!  They may has well have said “let him eat cake.” 

   

  We at Malcolm-Che give our full solidarity to the rightous prisoners who rose up against these horrible conditions when one of their friends died at the hands of these capitalists!!  It was the death of Manuel Galindo that sparked the uprising, but it was the poor food, poor healthcare and anger generated from the indefinate detention of these immigrants that made the uprising possible. 

   

  They took hostages (which they later released), demanded to speak to the Mexican consulate; tried anything they could do to try to get the word out about what was going on inside.  We salute you!  25 of them are up on charges right now resulting from the uprisings, we demand they be given clemency!

   

  From immigration to healthcare to privatized prisons this article touches on so many issues that are important to us.  This is MUST READ!!

   

   

  Attorney says inmate’s death led to Pecos prison riots 

  

  Here is a pic of the uprising at Reeves County Detention Center in Texas.

  PECOS — The death of a 32-year-old epileptic inmate in solitary confinement at Reeves County Detention Center last Dec. 12 touched off the first of two riots that saw fires set and hostages taken, said an attorney for the dead inmate’s family.

  Some of the privately run federal lockup’s 2,400 inmates, many of them illegal immigrants, had complained of woeful health care after the riots on Dec. 12-13 and Jan. 31-Feb. 1.

  But the story now centers on 32-year-old Jesus Manuel Galindo of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, who El Paso lawyer Miguel “Mike” Torres claims was improperly treated.

  Representing Galindo’s widow, three children and parents with co-counsel Leon Schydlower, Torres said last week that a member of a Lubbock physicians’ group that contracts with the prison had examined Galindo just before his death.

  “The doctor said Jesus had an attitude problem because he was complaining about the lack of medical treatment that killed him three days later,” said Torres.

  Galindo “had no business” being in the Security Housing Unit, Torres said, “because he was only in for minor infractions, not fighting or worse.”

  The inmate’s mother had been calling almost daily to say he was not feeling well and was having seizures, said Galindo’s attorney.

  “She mailed the prison his medical records, but they sent them back with a curt note that said, ‘Don’t send these again.,’ ” Torres said.

  “When they found him at 7 a.m. Dec. 12, rigor mortis had set in, which meant he had been dead for three to five hours,” the attorney said. “I attended his funeral, and the small neighborhood funeral home in south El Paso was filled to overflowing. It was tragic because he was a young man.”

  Cellmates rioted

  Torres, who said he is taking steps toward a civil lawsuit against the company operating the prison, said Galindo’s former cellmates touched off the riot because they had feared that result. “Everything we learned is that they were worried sick about this guy,” he said.

  “They tried to contact the administration and say, ‘Bring him back and we will watch him.’ You have to take this type of medication (Dilantin) at precise times at well-monitored therapeutic levels.”

  Judy Madewell, a federal public defender in San Antonio who was handling Galindo’s appeal of a 30-month term for illegal re-entry into the United States, said she has “had concerns for a long time because RCDC has had a number of problems with inmates getting proper medical attention.

  “My secretary translated a letter in which Jesus said, ‘I’m afraid I’m going to die and no one will find me!’ ” Madewell said.

  “We feel horrible about what happened and feel like there is a lot of responsibility on the facility’s part.”

  She reported sending Octavio Vasquez, an investigator with the federal defender’s office in Alpine, to spend three hours with Galindo on Dec. 4.

  “He was in the SHU for minor disciplinary infractions,” Madewell said of Galindo.

  “Octavio went to the authorities and said, ‘He needs removing from solitary,’ and they said, ‘Yes, we will move him out by this weekend.’ He was still there when he died eight days later.

  “Jesus told Octavio the prison was not giving him his meds often enough and lowered the dosage. He was a gentle person — not a problem client, and as far as I know not a problem inmate.”

  Assistant Federal Defender Charlotte Harris of Alpine, whose office represented Galindo after his arrest, said the Geo Group of Boca Raton, Fla., operates the detention center with support from Reeves County.

  “It’s better for the government to run prisons, rather than private companies, because corners can be cut if you have a profit motive,” said Harris.

  No response from prison

  A call to the prison last week was referred to Geo Group’s Florida headquarters, where a spokesman asked that questions be submitted by e-mail. Geo did not respond to e-mailed questions.

  Two prison recreation specialists were released unharmed after the first riot. The rec center was torched during that melee, and smoke poured from a housing unit during the second, broadcast by cable news, after which three inmates were hospitalized, one missing a finger.

  Charged with assault and other crimes, 25 inmates face trial, a court official said.

  Tags: Activism, Class Struggle, Healthcare, Immigration, Prison Industrial Complex, Prison State, prison uprising, Texas

• 13Jun

  Latin America - Peru: Nine policemen die in bloody clashes with Amazon Indians

  Activism, Class Struggle, Latin America, Native American, Peru No Comments

  Nine policemen die in bloody clashes with Amazon Indians

  

  Police open fire on Amazon Indians blocking the road in Bagua Grande in Peru's northern province of Utcubamba on Friday.

  http://www.gulfnews.com/world/Peru/10320624.html

  Lima: President Alan Garcia laboured on Saturday to contain Peru’s worst political violence in years, as nine more police officers were killed in a bloody standoff with Amazon Indians fighting his efforts to exploit oil and gas on their native lands.

  The new deaths brought to 22 the number of police killed - seven with spears - since security forces moved early Friday to break up a roadblock manned by 5,000 protesters.

  Protest leaders said at least 30 Indians, including three children, died in the clashes. Authorities said they could confirm only nine civilian deaths, but cabinet chief Yehude Simon told reporters that 155 people had been injured, about a third of them with bullet wounds.

  He announced a 3pm-6am curfew in the affected region and said authorities had made 72 arrests.

  ---

  ---

   

  “The government was required to take these measures, not only for the president of the republic but for all 28 million Peruvians,” Simon said of breaking up the protests, which blocked the flow of oil and gas out of the Amazon and prevented food and supplies from coming in.

  “We’ve all been affected one way or another by the protest& when they take over highways and strategic points that can affect the national economy,” Simon said.

  The political violence is the Andean country’s worst since the Shining Path insurgency was quelled more than a decade ago, and it bodes ill for Garcia’s ambitious plans to boost Peru’s oil and gas output.

  It began early on Friday when security forces moved to break up a roadblock protesters mounted in early April. About 1,000 protesters seized police during the melee, taking more than three dozen hostage, officials said.

  Twenty-two officers were rescued in Saturday’s storming of Station No 6 at state-owned Petroperu in Imacita, in the jungle state of Amazonas, Defence Minister Antero Florez told the Radioprogramas radio network. He said seven officers were missing.

  Tags: Class Struggle, Latin America, Native American, Peru, Police Brutality

• 01Jun

  US - Michigan: Police shooting draws protesters

  Activism, Police Brutality No Comments

  This man’s only crime was to run up on a porch when the police asked him to stop.  He wasn’t under investigation, hadn’t committed any crime, nothing!!  But now he will probably be paralyzed from the waist down after 5 shots from 2 police officers hit him.  These reckless cops shot a dozen shots onto a crowded porch that had children on it and injured at least 3 people.  These are the actions of a gang, and that’s what the police are:  the most powerful gang in the streets! 

  Police shooting draws protesters

  

  http://www.detnews.com/article/20090601/METRO01/906010320/1409/METRO/Police-shooting-draws-protesters

  Dozens of Detroit residents are demanding answers about a May 20 shooting in which two police officers allegedly chased an unarmed suspect onto to a crowded porch on the city’s west side and then fired roughly a dozen shots, injuring at least three people and inciting a major confrontation between the community and police.

  Gathered at a grassy field at the corner of Holmur and Euclid on Sunday with a white peace sign perched on a wooden stick, more than 50 residents demanded an apology from Mayor Dave Bing and Police Chief James Barren and an investigation. They also want the officers charged by the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office.

  “I could see if he was doing something, but he wasn’t even doing anything,” said Titania Shipp, whose son, Antonio Jennings, was pursued by police and is now at Henry Ford Hospital, possibly paralyzed from the waist down. “They shot him five times.”

  According to residents and friends of Jennings, the 24-year-old was coming back from the store around 5 p.m. when police asked him to stop. For unclear reasons, he ran onto the porch of a home at Montgomery and Holmur and was eventually shot five times. Two children, including a 1-year-old and a 7-year-old, were on the porch at the same, said Teenica Banks, whose mother owns the house.

  A Detroit Police spokeswoman couldn’t comment on the incident but said it’s being investigated by the internal affairs department.

  “We will do a thorough investigation,” said Sgt. Eren Stephens.

  At the rally Sunday, anger over the shooting simmered over when a van of police officers in masks and riot gear pulled up and ordered a group of young men against a fence.

  When protesters asked if the officers had a warrant, they left and no arrests were made. Stephens said they were part of a narcotics team doing a street sweep and had nothing to do with the protest.

  “They’re terrorizing this community for no reason,” said Gordana Misovski, an attorney who works with Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, which helped organize the rally.

  Tags: Activism, Michigan, Police Brutality

• 01Jun

  US - Minnesota: Fong Lee verdict sparks protest in front of the Hmong Professional Building in St. Paul

  Activism, Police Brutality, Racism 1 Comment

  Imagine you’re running from someone and they shoot you 3 times, then another 5 times after you fall to the ground.  Imagine your killer is awarded the Medal of Valor for murdering you.  This is not made-up story, this is the true story of the police murder of 19-year-old Fong Lee…

  Fong Lee verdict sparks protest in front of the Hmong Professional Building in St. Paul

  

  WE ARE ALL FONG LEE!!!

  http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_12487044

  The Hmong kid was young, perhaps 10 or 12, and the hand-lettered sign he held up as he stood along University Avenue was meant to get motorists’ attention.

  “Fong Lee = Me,” read the sign.

  More than 200 people gathered Saturday afternoon for a rally protesting this week’s finding by a jury that a Minneapolis police officer didn’t use excessive force when he shot Fong Lee eight times and killed him in 2006.

  “The verdict said the police officer did nothing wrong. Do you guys believe that?” Fong Lee’s cousin, Cha Yia Lee, asked the group.

  His question was met with shouts of “No!”

  The rally, sponsored by a coalition of community groups, took place in a parking lot at the corner of University Avenue and Marion Street in St. Paul. Many carried signs as they stood along the street, and the air was filled with the sound of car horns as passing motorists honked their support.

  A St. Paul Fire Department ladder truck blew its air horn as it went past.

  The group was protesting not just the verdict, but what they claimed was an unfair trial that ended Thursday in U.S. District Court in St. Paul. They claimed the judge added insult to injury by reading the verdict without waiting for Fong Lee’s parents, siblings or other family members, who had sat throughout the weeklong trial, to return from lunch.

  They learned of the verdict from a reporter.

  Fong Lee’s mother and father, Youa Vang Lee and Nou Kai Lee, were among those at the rally. Youa Vang Lee wore a sandwich sign and stood on the median in the center of University Avenue as cars, trucks and buses whizzed by or stopped at the stoplight.

  “If we can’t trust cops, who can we trust?” one of her signs read.

  Fong Lee, 19, was shot and killed July 22, 2006, by Minneapolis police officer Jason Andersen. The officer had chased the teen on foot and claimed Fong Lee was carrying a gun in his right hand and was starting to raise it in the officer’s direction.

  Andersen, 32, shot Fong Lee three times while he was running, then shot him five more times after he had fallen to the ground. He testified that the teen had refused his orders to drop the gun, which was later found lying three feet beyond Fong Lee’s outstretched left hand.

  But lawyers for Fong Lee’s family argued the teen was unarmed. Among the evidence they presented were photos from a surveillance video that caught the last seconds of the chase. Even though Andersen is farther away from the camera, his gun is clearly visible, but there is no obvious gun or dark object in Fong Lee’s right hand.

  The family lawyers contended that the gun — a pistol reported stolen in a 2004 burglary — was planted by police.

  But under the law and legal precedents, the all-white jury of eight men and four women didn’t have to consider whether Fong Lee was armed or not. It was a matter of what Andersen perceived the threat to be, and Judge Paul Magnuson instructed the jurors that if a “reasonable officer on the scene, without the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, would have used such force under similar circumstances,” then the force wasn’t excessive.

  Al Flowers, a longtime community activist and current Minneapolis mayoral candidate, told the rally that members of the family had had a conference with U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison and asked for a federal inquiry.

  Flowers said the Minneapolis Urban League would take public testimony at a couple of hearings in June to provide to Ellison, a Democrat who represents Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, which includes Minneapolis.

  After the verdict cleared Andersen, Minneapolis Police Chief Timothy Dolan issued a statement calling the allegations of wrongdoing “inflammatory” and said he hoped “that we can all move forward and heal as a community.”

  But many at the rally said Dolan’s comments were insulting and that they believed police had long mistreated minorities, including the Hmong.

  “I felt that justice failed us, and I feel there ain’t nothing going to happen with it,” said Jon Xiong, 28, of St. Paul. “I got little brothers and cousins and nephews, and it could’ve easily have been them. From my point of view, as a minority, it really ain’t no good. That’s all I can say. It ain’t no good.”

  Tags: Activism, Fong Lee, Minnesota, police murders, Racism

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