In the first story we have a tiny bit of truth that has emerged from the usual lies regarding the War on Drugs.  What is the purpose of this criminal justice system?  Take a look if you dare:

NYPD Detective Found Guilty Of Planting Evidence

Those Drugs They Came From The Police

Look at what the judge said on the case:

“I thought I was not naïve,” he said.  “But even this court was shocked, not only by the seeming pervasive scope of misconduct but even more distressingly by the seeming casualness by which such conduct is employed.”

You see what he said is real slick right?  ‘I thought I was not naive’!!  Meaning, ‘I already know how NYPD narcotics departments get down, what with the drug planting and screwing lives up shit.’  It don’t even mess with the judge at all that it’s going down like this, he’s just shocked that it’s so ‘pervasive’ and ‘casual,’ I guess if these dudes were a little more uptight when they planted drugs the judge would be a little less shocked.

But damn, it don’t stop there!  Article #2 is about the racial views of “New York’s Finest,” and what happens when some racists get caught out (everybody acts like it’s just a few of them).  This has to do with a racist Facebook group of police officers and their friends hating on the West Indian Day Parade:

NYPD Officers Have Fun With Racist Facebook Group

“I say have the [West Indian Day] parade one more year and when they all gather drop a bomb and wipe them all out,” writes one commenter, Dan Rodney. The New York Times first broke the story and reached out to Rodney, who confirmed that he was a police officer and a user of Facebook but denied that he made that comment.

New York Police Department Investigating Racist Posts

In the postings, people participating in the September parade in Brooklyn were called “animals” and “savages, the New York Times reported.

————

Family of unarmed man shot by Downey police announces federal lawsuit

The family of an unarmed man who was shot and killed last month by Downey Police has announced plans to file a federal civil rights lawsuit.

Authorities say police were looking for two ATM machine robbery suspects on October 22nd when they shot and killed 31-year-old Michael Nida. They say cops mistook Nida for one of the perpetrators and he reportedly fled from the officers at least twice.

At a press conference outside Downey police headquarters, the family’s attorney, Brian Claypool, accused police of executing Nida and of racial profiling.

“He looked Hispanic, he had a shaved head and he fit the protocol of a Hispanic young man that usually gets in trouble. And that’s not acceptable,” Claypool said.

Claypool added the family will file a federal civil rights lawsuit against the police department, its chief and the officers involved. They’ll also file a wrongful death lawsuit.

Nida’s mother Jean Thaxton fought back tears as she urged Downey authorities to evaluate how cops use their weapons.

“We have police officers in our family,” said Thaxton. “So we’re not against police officers. We’re against people that have no business having a gun.”

Claypool says the Downey officer involved shot Nida with a MP5 machine gun. The attorney says he’ll seek action from state lawmakers.

“We need a law in place specifically banning machine guns being deployed by police officers not only in California but nationwide.”

Claypool says swat situations are an exception.

Nida’s family said the husband and father of four had jaywalked across a busy street to buy cigarettes near Imperial Highway and Paramount Boulevard at the time of the incident.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/30/us-woodcarver-police-idUSTRE73T0JN20110430

Seattle to pay $1.5 million in cop-slain woodcarver case

The conference called by the Chief Seattle Club started with a ceremonial drum blessing, then speakers took turns relating their experiences with police or talked about what they said is an ongoing problem with police and racism in Seattle.

(Reuters) – City officials on Friday agreed to pay $1.5 million to the family of a Native American woodcarver fatally shot by a white cop in a confrontation that stoked racial tensions and helped spark a federal probe of Seattle’s police force.

A police firearms review board deemed the August 2010 shooting of John Williams, 50, unjustified, ruling that although he was intoxicated at the time he posed no threat “of serious harm” to the officer.

But prosecutors chose not to bring criminal charges against the policeman, Ian Birk, 27, finding insufficient evidence of the criminal intent or malice required under Washington state law to prosecute a law enforcement officer for homicide.

Birk quit the force the same day, February 17.

The civil settlement, announced by the Seattle city attorney’s office, was reached through mediation by municipal officials and Williams’ relatives.

The settlement document states that $1.25 million will be paid to Williams’ estate and $250,000 paid to his mother, Ida Edward of Vancouver, British Columbia.

Birk had insisted he believed Williams was armed and that he shot the man in self-defense. A knife with the blade folded closed was found next to Williams after the shooting.

His death sparked several rallies, attended mostly by minority citizens, protesting policing practices they claimed were racially discriminatory.

The Williams shooting was one of several incidents cited by the American Civil Liberties Union in seeking a U.S. Justice Department investigation into an alleged pattern of excessive force by Seattle police officers, particularly against ethnic and racial minorities. The Justice Department in March said it had launched such an investigation.

Williams’ family on March 16 asked the King County Superior Court to convene a citizens grand jury to determine whether Birk should be criminally charged. No ruling has been made.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/4136827-418/alderman-why-was-cop-who-shot-unarmed-man-promoted.html

A South Side alderman on Friday demanded to know why a Chicago Police officer who shot and killed an unarmed man at a CTA station in 2003 — and later admitted he misled investigators about it — was not only allowed to keep his job, but promoted to detective.

Ald. Freddrenna Lyle (6th) questioned the 30-day suspension and promotion handed to Police Officer Alvin Weems as the City Council’s Finance Committee approved a $3 million settlement to compensate the family of 23-year-old Michael Pleasance.

“What happened to the officer who filed an initial report saying there was a scuffle and that Mr. Pleasance was wrestling with him about a gun” before a CTA surveillance camera video proved otherwise, asked Lyle, whose ward includes the CTA Red Line’s 95th Street station, where the 2003 shooting took place.

Corporation Counsel Mara Georges noted that the Office of Professional Standards recommended that Weems be fired. But, then-Police Supt. Phil Cline reduced the penalty to a 30-day suspension before making Weems a detective.

“So, he shoots someone, gets 30 days, then gets a promotion,” Lyle said.

Georges replied, “It appears that way.”

Afterwards, Lyle made no attempt to conceal her anger.

“There’s a belief out here that the value of black life is not considered to be high. And when something like this happens, it just really confirms the distrust that people have in our communities regarding police relations,” Lyle said.

“We don’t need that. We need people working with the Chicago Police and feeling comfortable that they are not going to be shot without substantial justification.”

Reminded that Weems was promoted “two police superintendents ago,” Lyle said, “We want to believe that it has changed. These are some of the issues we’re certainly gonna discuss with whoever the new police superintendent is … to make sure that this is not something that we’re talking about four years from now, two years from now, 30 days from now.”

The 2003 shooting was captured by a CTA surveillance camera.

If not for the video, widely viewed on YouTube, City Hall and Weems might never have admitted that the shooting was not justified.

At the time, Weems was trying to break up a fight that had Pleasance as a mere bystander.

The Police Department initially maintained that the victim struggled with Weems for the officer’s gun. Only after the victim’s family sued and a judge ordered the CTA video released did the city and the officer change their stories.

The video shows Weems, dressed in plainclothes, arriving at the L platform with his gun drawn. The officer pulls a young man out of the fight as Pleasance stands off to the side pointing and apparently trying to talk to the officer. The video then shows Weems raising his gun and shooting Pleasance in the face.

The settlement is expected to be approved by the full City Council next week.

9-year-old Brisenia Flores pleaded for her life but was murdered by Minutemen affiliates.

Gina Gonzalez says her 9-year-old daughter, Brisenia Flores, pleaded for her life. Opening arguments begin in the trial of Shawna Forde of the Minutemen movement, who is accused in the killing of the girl and her father.

more at:

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jan/25/nation/la-na-minutemen-murder-20110126

http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/12/young-black-males-bear-brunt-of-economic-crisis-2/

by Billy Wharton / December 16th, 2010

While Manhattan salaries surged this year, up 12% because of Wall Street’s recovery, young black males continue to bear the burden of the economic crisis that ensued in 2008. A new report by the Community Service Society (CSS) indicates that only one in four young black men between the ages of 16 and 24 in New York City is employed. The group tied the shockingly low employment rate to the effects of the economic crisis, which rendered already inferior jobs training and alternative education structures even more ineffective.

The declining possibilities for young Black males is one feature of an overall surge in unemployment among work age Black males. The CSS reports an increase in unemployment from the already inordinately high 9% in 2006 to 17.9% in 2009. Youth workers in general have also suffered during the crisis surging to 24.6% unemployment. In addition, unemployment is not a short-term experience for the Black community. While all those with jobs who became unemployed were out of work for an average of 6 months, Black workers faced an average of 12 months before employment.

The CSS identified education as a key factor in the unemployment rate for young Black males. The figure of one in four employed rises to one in ten for Black males who do not hold a high school diploma. Unemployment figures for the Black males in the 16-24 age group with no high school diploma is hard to determine since 84% of the young men in this group are out of the labor force entirely. The CSS report was only able to identify 8% in this category who were employed from January 2009 until June 2010.

Such discriminatory trends in employment are feeding the prison pipeline. A 2010 MIT study of incarceration and inequality confirms the findings of the CSS report. The incarceration rate for young Black males without high school diplomas has surged since 1980. In 1980, these young men faced a 10% incarceration rate while in 2008 this number had increased to 35%. This speaks to the existence of a conscious social policy at work in the US, which favors incarceration over addressing issues of educational opportunity or job creation.

While these figures increased for all racial groups surveyed, they pale in comparison with white youth without a high school diploma who face an 11% incarceration rate. The report states bluntly that, “by 2008 these men [young Black males] were more likely to be locked up than employed.”

Incarceration, even over a short period, has seriously negative effects on life chances. Wage earnings over a lifetime are reduced by nearly 2/3 for those serving prison time and in an environment of overall high unemployment often leads to long-term joblessness and recidivism.

Unwinding one part of the cycle of unemployment for young Black males, would entail opening new education opportunities. Unfortunately, a November 2009 report, also issued by the CSS, indicated that GED instruction in New York State ranks near the bottom nationwide. The CSS described these programs as, “circuitous, inefficient and extraordinarily dysfunctional.” Even those who exit such programs face the prospects of a “pipeline to failure.”

The group cited the decentralization of the City’s GED programs as a key weakness. There is, they argued, no single City agency that allows all of the alternative programs to be regulated or even explored by a potential GED student. Further, because most programs lack a direct connection with colleges, they offer a degree that will lead to long-term low wage employment with few possibilities for advancement.

Fixing the GED system is a key part of what the CSS report on young Black male unemployment recommends to address this crisis. They believe that a GED program with links to a college education could be successfully combined with a jobs training program to begin to immediately address the crisis in employment.

This should be more than a crisis. It should be a political and social emergency. All levels of government should be proposing immediate emergency measures to address the findings in the CSS report. Frankly, if similar numbers related to young white males, such an emergency would be called directly. What the CSS has documented is the cutting edge of institutional racism in 21st century New York. Yet, there will be no response from Mayor Michael Bloomberg. No splashy press conferences. No innovative initiatives. Just disregard, neglect and the hope that the communities affected by this racism will remain silent.

Clearly, any serious solutions to the class-based racism we see in the report will have to come from outside mainstream politics. Bloomberg and friends are far too busy with their privatizations and budget cutting. These outcomes are produced by the logic of capitalist economics. They should be met by a strong new popular movement that takes up the slogan of “no more one in four.” The situation is simply intolerable.

The conference called by the Chief Seattle Club started with a ceremonial drum blessing, then speakers took turns relating their experiences with police or talked about what they said is an ongoing problem with police and racism in Seattle.

http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2010/09/03/native-american-leaders-deliver-demands-to-spd-after-shooting-death-of-carver

http://www.kirotv.com/news/24873862/detail.html

Roughly 20 Native American and civil rights leaders from around the region assembled this morning to demand major changes in training and protocol at the Seattle Police Department. Their demands are a response to the August 31 death of John T. Williams, a Native American wood carver shot by an officer while holding his carving knife.

“We are holding the Seattle Police Department and the City of Seattle accountable for this death,” said Jenine Grey, on behalf of the Chief Seattle Club. “Many of our people spend time practicing their art on street corners and in parks… unfortunately, many of our people have personally experienced both undue harassment and excessive force at the hands of the Seattle Police Department.” Grey is a member of the Tlingit tribe and Executive Director of the Chief Seattle Club, which offers food, shelter, showers, and healthcare to Native Americans. She noted that in Seattle, it’s not uncommon to see a Native person with carving tools in public areas.

The club issued a list of demands for SPD as they begin their investigation, review, and inquest into the death of Williams:

—The inquest should include one person (minimum) from the Native community.

—That Mayor Mike McGinn and Police Chief John Diaz communicate directly with the Native community during the process.

—That SPD apologize for dehumanizing and denigrating Williams (responding to statements made during a police press briefing on August 31, in which the group alleges that Williams was identified by his criminal history but not his name).

—That SPD immediately institute training for all police officers in the appropriate use of force, cultural sensitivity and awareness, and appropriate care in dealing with persons with mental and physical disabilities. “It is more than obvious that this training is either grossly deficient or blatantly ignored,” Grey said.

SPD responded to a few of these demands after the press conference. “The inquest is not our process, that’s the role of the King County Prosecutor’s Office,” said Sgt. Sean Whitcomb, a spokesman for SPD, speaking to the group’s first demand. “We have a thorough departmental review that we undertake, and it’s in the beginning stages now. There’s going to be an in-depth process to discover the facts and determine what happened.”

And race and social justice training specifically addressing racial profiling was implemented within the department this year. “It’s mandatory training for everyone here, now,” explained Whitcomb, although he didn’t know if Officer Ian Birk had attended the training.

Others had demands for SPD as well. Pamela Masterman-Stearns, chair of the City of Seattle Native American Employees network, wanted to know how the department is complying with the Race and Social Justice Initiative (RSJI), which has the citywide goal to end institutionalized racism and race-based disparities in City government. “This is a civil rights issue,” said Masterman-Sterns. “Are we safe when walking the streets? Who’s protecting us? The goal [of the RSJI] is to eliminate institutional racism, and that involves cultural training… we want justice, and there can be no justice without accountability.”

Whitcomb says many of the group’s demands align with departmental goals. “Chief Diaz is personally interested in the types of training we’ve received and is currently reviewing them to ensure their adequacy,” says Whitcomb.

But assurances by SPD may not be enough. The people assembled this morning want to see significant changes to the department and the review process.

“The inquest process in King County rarely leads to any form of justice whatsoever,” said James Bible, chapter president of the NAACP. “The families are rarely represented. The shootings are almost always deemed justified. There hasn’t been a single use of force complaint in the past couple of years that the SPD hasn’t deemed sustained—as in it never really happened.”

Above all, the people gathered this morning shared their grief at the loss of Williams. “I ran a picture framing shop on Broadway, and he’d come in and ask for scraps of wood,” recalled Randy Lewis, a spokesman for the United Indians of All Tribes Foundation. “The only thing that could be threatened by John was a piece of yellow cedar, maybe… We strongly condemn the use of lethal force. We are not a people of a romantic past or an irrelevant present. And we are not going to allow this death to be swept under the rug.”

‘Cruel’ racist jailed in sex assault

T.J. Turcotte had seen a man struggling with a young woman near 106th Street and 38th Avenue, forcing her toward Charles Anderson Park. He ran to get his brother at a friend's house, then they raced back to search for the attacker. The twins searched and interrupted a violent sexual assault that ended only when the rapist, Ian Drako Bruce, saw the twins approach. The rapist tried to run, but the brothers chased him, struggled with him, and finally pinned him to the ground until police arrived.

LA judge frees thief who got 25 yrs on 3rd strike

From left, Stanford law school students Gabriel Martinez and Reiko Rogozen listen with Gregory Taylor as he wipes away tears during a hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court Monday, Aug. 16, 2010. A judge on Monday ordered the release of Taylor, a man serving a potential life sentence for stealing food from a Los Angeles church. (AP Photo/Anne Cusack, Pool)

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5heJ-iitiJR_RYwIjOjOIiybw7Q0QD9HL4OOO0

LOS ANGELES — After 13 years behind bars for trying to break in to a church kitchen to find something to eat, a man who became an example of the harsh sentences allowed by California’s three-strikes law has been ordered released from prison.

A Superior Court judge amended Gregory Taylor’s sentence to eight years already served and the 47-year-old, who was sentenced in 1997 to 25 years to life, will be a free man in a few days.

Tears streamed down Taylor’s face and Judge Peter Espinoza asked a bailiff to get him a tissue.

“I thought I was going to cry too,” said law student Reiko Rogozen, who started working on the case in January as part of Stanford Law School’s Three-Strikes Project, which filed a writ of habeas corpus seeking freedom for Taylor. “He was scared up until the last minute that it wasn’t actually going to happen.”

The district attorney did not oppose the group’s move.

Taylor quietly thanked the court and his lawyers for “giving me another chance … and my family for sticking by me.”

Taylor was arrested in July 1997 while trying to get into the kitchen of St. Joseph’s Church in downtown Los Angeles. He told officers that he was hungry.

The church’s pastor, the Rev. Alan McCoy, testified at the original sentencing that Taylor was often given food and allowed to sleep at the church. The priest described him as a peaceful man struggling with homelessness and crack addiction.

Taylor was convicted of third-strike burglary due to two robbery convictions in the 1980s, once for stealing a purse containing $10 and another time for trying to rob a man on the street. He didn’t use a weapon in either case, and no one was injured.

During an appeal, a dissenting state Supreme Court justice said Taylor was a 20th-century version of Jean Valjean, a character imprisoned for stealing bread in Victor Hugo’s novel “Les Miserables.”

Judge Espinoza said the church break-in was not a crime of violence “but drug addiction and homelessness.”

The three-strikes sentencing policies of the 1990s “produced inconsistent and disproportionate results,” he said.

Taylor was taken back into custody and will be released when his paperwork is completed in at least two days.

His mother and siblings applauded during the hearing and beamed in the hallway afterward. His sister, Angela Taylor, remembered the day her brother called with details of his sentence.

“I thought he was lying. Twenty-five to life? That’s crazy,” she said.

Taylor got his GED at the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo.

“Even in conversations over the phone, he sounds way more mature,” his sister said.

His 78-year-old mother, Lois Taylor, said her son was hungry for a home-cooked meal, so she’s planning a huge barbecue to celebrate.

He plans to live in Pomona with his younger brother who runs a food pantry where he’ll get a job.

Michael Taylor said he and his brothers are planning a West Coast cruise and if Gregory Taylor gets out before they depart Aug. 23, they’ll take him along.

When running for office in 2000, District Attorney Steve Cooley often used the case as an example of how unfair he believed the three-strikes law was. Cooley said if the third strike wasn’t serious and wasn’t violent, three strikes should not apply.

Cooley said Gregory Taylor’s release is “justice long overdue” because his crime was a minor offense.

But Cooley said the three-strikes law doesn’t need to be repealed as long as prosecutors apply it “proportionally,” taking into account the nature of the offense and the defendant’s previous criminal record.