Showing posts with label police brutality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label police brutality. Show all posts

Sunday, September 25, 2016

Keith Lamont Scott

Sharing a series of 28 numbered twitter posts (two no 27s by mistake) on the death of Keith Lamont Scott, who many see as basically executed by police in Charlotte, North Carolina where demonstrations are taking place. Protesters demand that police release all of the video footage they have.  Police have thus far released some video footage under pressure, and following footage released by Keith Scott's widow. Unfortunately, that footage only seems to further corroborate people's concerns about the nature of the events that took place; i.e. Mr. Scott was a defenseless, innocent man with a brain injury who was mercilessly shot and killed by police for no justifiable reason.

These tweets lay out some factual arguments concerning the fabrication and planting of evidence at the scene of Mr. Scott's death - and as shown by the video footage taken by Keith Scott's widow. The tweets also concern some of the recently released footage from the Charlotte, North Carolina police department.

I am posting the tweets on this blog in the event that others would like to access the information more easily (since, as I continue "tweeting," the tweets will be "washed further downstream," so to speak, on the "great twitter river").

Note that Officer Brentley Vinson has been incorrectly referenced as Officer Vince ("Vince"). Officer Vinson, that is, who is described in the following tweets as wearing white sneakers and has been identified by the department as the policeman who killed Keith Lamont Scott. Vinson is African American, and an eyewitness stated that it actually was a white officer at the scene who killed Mr. Scott. The police footage shows a number of police aggressively pointing guns at Mr. Scott and several shots were fired (some say 4). So the public still has questions around those facts, too.

Requested comments (here and here) from the Charlotte Police Dept but they did not respond.

Also seeing that Frame minutes/seconds may have been obtained via the NY Times video employed at the secondary source here instead of the other secondary source referenced in one of the tweet below. (So if people are not getting the exact same frame times, that may be the issue.)








 Editor's Note: As tweeted in post #21, post #8 is later determined via police footage not to be Mr. Scott in the white truck "Red" is next to. Mr. Scott, at the time of this picture, is seated quietly in another white truck not visible in Mrs. Scott's phone camera footage, parked right beside it. Police footage shows "Red" moving aggressively into position with his gun.

Editor's Note: There's a misstatement in tweet no. 9 that Vinson (mistakenly called "Vince") looks at the gun and picks it up in frame 2:10. It should read that "Red" who hands Vinson the "gun" is the one who picks it up at frame 2:10 (thereby taking it back). As stated previously. 




















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Saturday, December 19, 2015

Merry Christmas Mr. Brown

By Aloe Blacc and Alex Finkin, Merry Christmas Mr. Brown.
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Friday, August 29, 2014

Laid To Rest

Michael Brown was laid to rest on August 25th, 2014 in a service attended by thousands of well-wishers including members of Congress, a representative from the White House and Obama administration, renowned civil rights leaders, film director Spike Lee noticeably in attendance, the parents of Trayvon Martin, and the children of Dr. Martin Luther Jr.



Among these many, many people who traveled into Ferguson to pay their respects, hip hop artists Talib Kweli & Rosa Clemente who speak out on Ferguson in this short video clip:

 

Below, Ferguson residents share the common experience of being racially profiled by police, and in an area where that profiling also provides a major source of funding for the city budget.  At around 8 minutes into the video, residents also confront Mayor Mike Knowles about a city which he has described as having "no racial divide," while the individuals speaking to him obviously feel differently, along with many of the thousands of protesters of all races and backgrounds, and over the last few weeks.

 

Below, the extended video coverage of the much discussed death of Kajieme Powell (alert: graphic, disturbing images) - a young Saint Louis man, distraught and seemingly suicidal after attending his mother's funeral that day; i.e. he went into the street shouting "Shoot me! Shoot me!" and, indeed, the police very quickly shot him, on the rationale that he was holding some kind of knife, which I understand was a kitchen or butter knife, if you could even see that item in his hand.  This young black man was also shot repeatedly, and then, in an even more surreal moment in the video, the police handcuff his dead body - ever more graphically demonstrating a total failure in human perception with respect to the real risks involved.  (And since obviously a dead body poses no risks requiring handcuffs .. unless we're watching ...  a Steven King thriller?)  It's as if the police are completely on automatic pilot - like Robo Cops - fully divorced from reality.  Rather than responding as the trained peace officers we should be able to expect, with community relations skills, psychology training and deployment of critical thinking.


  

In which case, what could that scene look like, instead? 

Discussion by Thom Hartman on how U.K. police disarm individuals holding knives, and even machetes;  i.e. for the most part, non-violently - working to first defuse the situation, giving the individual a certain amount of supervised space, versus closing in - which escalates and mounts tension - then engaging in conversation and trying to get the person to voluntarily put down any possible weapon, and before they move in to disarm - in which case, they use non-deadly means such as tasers or pepper spray/mace, not gun fire.

Indeed, lawyer Mike Papantonio, Ring of Fire radio host points out just how rapidly these officers reacted with gun fire to Kajieme Powell - within about 15 seconds of their arrival, he was dead.  He describes this as part of this "Rambo mentality" that we "cook up" like something out of a Bruce Willis or Rambo movie.  It's not based on a realistic assessment of threat leading to an appropriate form of police response.  It not only demonstrates what many describe as a total failure of communication, it shows this total failure of perception.  We're watching police officers - people in our society vested with a tremendous amount of public trust - yet, in this case, they appear to be functioning in the equivalent of a fantasy world - more like a Hollywood action film than real life.




Back in the Michael Brown story, a minor who wasn't armed, and who was, at the most, jaywalking, a grand jury of nine whites and three African Americans now meets to determine whether or not Officer Darren Wilson should be indicted on criminal charges. (And, as also discussed in the Thom Hartmann segment.) 

An indictment requires that nine reach the same conclusion - that Wilson "knowingly caused death to Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager."

 The grand jury meets once a week and is expected to need weeks or months to reach a conclusion.

 From ABC 7 (includes video at link)
How much justice can we expect coming from a grand jury, since the prosecuting attorney not only decides what evidence is presented, what charges are considered, who testifies, and - to top it off - instructs jurors on applicable law?
"A prosecutor can get whatever he or she wants out of that grand jury," said [law professor Byron Warnken] - and that, he says, makes for perfect cover for a prosecuting attorney, especially one confronted with a racially charged case. He can blame the grand jury for the final decision.

So, Michael Brown's body was laid to rest this week, but what will happen in America, and in the months ahead, with this issue? 


8.29.2014 Editor's Note. This blog piece contains several minor editorial corrections.
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Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Hands Up! Don't Shoot!

Linked in this post and shown below, some of the news coverage of the last couple of weeks in Ferguson, Missouri where unarmed 17 year old Michael Brown was gunned down in the street by police officer Darren Wilson in front of eyewitnesses.  The Saint Louis teen was in town visiting his grandmother just days before beginning college, with an autopsy confirming reports that he had been shot at least 6 times, also showing that he was shot twice by Wilson in the head.  

The teen and a friend were walking in a quiet street when they were trailed by Darren Wilson in a police vehicle and told to get off the street.  Somehow Michael Brown wound up inside the vehicle with the police officer, a struggle ensued, and the teen got away, fleeing the officer, still unarmed, and before he was shot and killed from a distance.  Here, Michael Brown's friend tells press what happened.

As a horrified community gathered on August 9th at the grisly scene, authorities then left the teen's dead body lying in the middle of the street for at least several hours:

One young witness was on twitter when he saw Michael Brown shot and killed, sequentially reporting his observations in real time, as the gun was fired again and again and again into Michael Brown's body, and then, while confined to his nearby building by police, as he continued to witness the slain teen's father arrive and react.
 
Community leaders have been demanding that the officer in question be arrested for murder and that Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson resign.  Currently, Wilson has been on paid administrative leave, and Wednesday, as Attorney General Eric Holder arrived in town, having promised action, a grand jury has been scheduled to convene that same day in an investigation that could reportedly take months, while a police union representative stepped forward to (ironically) urge respect for Darren Wilson's due process rights.  
 
A number of civil rights leaders (e.g. Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Al Sharpton, and Philip Agnew of Dream Defenders, among others) have flown into Ferguson, marching and meeting with community residents. 




Michael Brown's parents at a rally in Ferguson:
 
Some discussion of various issues below by local community leaders and activists:



Protests have been taking place day and night in this Missouri area just outside Saint Louis where most residents are black, yet practically all police officers are white.  Racism is reportedly such an issue in the local police department that one of the few African American police officers in Ferguson, 27 year veteran Captain Ron Johnson, was himself moved to join in with the marching protesters before taking a lead community role urging calm, speaking at a local church gathering, and later seen negotiating order between demonstrators and law enforcement authorities.  

Photo from a livestream:

Some Ferguson protest scenes below, including a makeshift voter registration table urging civic involvement.  Protesters also turned out the following morning to help clean up from protests the night before.



 
The raised matter of calm appeared questionable, as most protesters have been peaceful, with the issues they demand justice on, quite legitimate.  On looting, interestingly enough, Walmart electronics was reported as a major Ferguson target - perhaps what really inspired this massive militarized show of force - against people for things - not even against looters, but citizens exercising their Constitutional rights.  

Indeed, many of these protesters were observed protecting smaller businesses seemingly before the police did so, the police at that point, seemingly more concerned with the marchers - any looters, by then, the raison d'être for quashing innocent protesters' Constitutional rights. 

Below, Ferguson Market shown protected by "Hands Up! Don't Shoot!" protesters:

In the tweet below, community members peacefully but firmly protect a local beauty business:

I don't know if the following photo shows the same beauty business, or a different small beauty business, but this later tweet shows police in charge of guarding a local beauty business,
 
Walmart, now shown below, after massive militarized police response was summoned, and while meanwhile, over in Ohio, a 21 year old Walmart customer is shot and killed by a policeman in the store.


Protests against Michael Brown's killing spread quickly throughout the U.S., from New York City, where numbers swelled considerably, to a light brigade over a midwestern highway, a silent Pacific Northwest vigil, and captured with a defiant fist thrust in the air, to New Orleans where protesters (seen in the youtube below) entered the police department itself vigorously chanting, "Hands Up! Don't Shoot!" - while holding their hands up in surrender - and expressing the unified sentiment of this coast-to-coast outcry - that an unarmed individual who had, at the most, been jaywalking, had, for all purposes, been summarily executed for doing so, in the middle of that street, in the United States of America.  Most certainly, among reasons, because he was black, and the police officer, a white racist.






 
The racists of all racists seemed to agree, declaring with their usual ugliness that they were heading into Ferguson, and that they were fundraising for Wilson:


 
In all fairness to descriptions of public sentiment, the Pew Research Institute released poll results showing that whites tend to view race as an all-too-pervasive emphasis in the Ferguson story, while blacks tend to view race as all-too-relevant to the issues.



Here, I'm not sure what happened to all the other groups.  The poll also does not indicate, on the "face of things," whether or not subjects saw their own due process rights at issue in discussion (and as to what must surely and also concern penalties for jaywalking).  

For a great deal of mainstream coverage centered on the growing militarization of police departments around the U.S., and as the police response in Ferguson often resembled more of a military response to demonstrators protected under the First Amendment, than an initial response to angry looters and occasional bottle throwers.  For example, while some certainly resembled police officers (engaged in a questionable crackdown nevertheless, along with now widely criticized police training),


 
others, like county police, appeared virtually indistinguishable, at a close distance, from U.S. armed servicemen setting foot in .. perhaps Iraq?  The uncomfortable collective sentiment, that they were being set down, this time, say, not on foreign soil, but amidst their very own fellow Americans .. and to quell Constitutionally protected and legitimately growing dissent.  



In the meantime, more journalists were cursed, threatened, and arrested, and Amnesty International observers came in,



 
All, too, as *armed forces* shot at peaceful protesters and journalists, among other projectiles, late Cold War era tear gas canisters landing on residential streets and front yards, and as citizens fled, collected, photographed, tweeted, and analyzed the remnants.




 
The short end of that tale that, not only is this stuff "no joke," to begin with, but that stuff was phased out by the U.S. in favor of "safer gas," though it landed in the hands of Yemini security forces, too, who used it against spring 2011 protesters "causing extreme reactions including convulsions and muscle spasms. The physical effects among protesters were so severe that they initially believed they were being hit with nerve gas."

So went the response in Ferguson, Missouri to justifiable community outrage, and even as the majority of U.S. protesters were non-violent, with many restoring any needed order themselves. A curfew, also known as martial law, was imposed by Missouri Governor Jay Nixon under wide spread criticism, opposed and then removed, while the National Guard was also summoned in.

The hauntingly eloquent J. Cole Michael Brown tribute, Be Free, that has gone viral:

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Saturday, September 21, 2013

It's Not Illegal To Walk In The Street

 NYC PAPERS OUT. Social media use restricted to low res file max 184 x 128 pixels and 72 dpi

The Guardian reports hundreds of CUNY academics signing a petition demanding all charges dropped against six CUNY students arrested during a protest against David Petraeus, his military record, and his presence teaching on their campus.  The petition also calls for the retired general to resign from his position at CUNY. 

Students have been demonstrating regularly against the militarization of their school, the return of ROTC and military recruiters, the hiring of the retired general to teach, and the naming of a building after Colin Powell. 

The six students were violently arrested by NYPD demonstrating outside a fundraiser Petraeus was attending.  While the students were charged with multiple offenses (e.g. disorderly conduct, riot, resisting arrest, obstruction of governmental administration), youtube videos show otherwise, with the police, instead, grabbing and throwing down protesters simply exercising their First Amendment rights to march and chant, and in one case, repeatedly punching a non-resisting individual as he lay on the ground.

 The following video focuses on the repeated punches, in addition to other police conduct;  



More extended footage of the march in the following video;  as one non-violent protester says, "It's not against the law to walk in the street!"  She appears to be one of the arrested protesters shown in the photo above, Angelica Hernandez (see photo description/credit below).



The statement:
Six students were arrested in a brutal, unprovoked police attack during a peaceful protest by the City University of New York's students and faculty against CUNY's appointment of former CIA chief ex-General David Petraeus.  Students were punched, slammed against vehicles and against the pavement by police captains and officers, after the NYPD forced them off the pavement and onto the street.
As graduate students and educators of CUNY, we express our outrage at the violent and unprovoked actions by the NYPD against CUNY students peacefully protesting the appointment of war criminal David Petraeus as a lecturer at the Macaulay Honors College.  We deplore the use of violence and brutal tactics against CUNY students and faculty who were protesting outside the college.  It is unacceptable for the university to allow the police to violently arrest students.
We emphatically support the efforts of these CUNY students to resist the attempts by the U.S. government and the CUNY administration to turn the university into an infamous "war college" with the appointment of Petraeus.  Petraeus is responsible for countless deaths and innumerable destruction in Iraq and Afghanistan as a war commander and chief of the CIA.  Although resigning from his position as CIA director in November, Petraeus has continued his involvement in U.S. foreign policy.  Most recently Petraeus has called on Congress to back a military strike on Syria, stating "failure of Congress to approve the president's request would have serious ramifications not just in the Mideast but around the world."  His current roles as "adjunct" lecturer at CUNY and professor at USC speak to the increasing U.S. military and state security involvement within higher education.
We call on CUNY to terminate Petraeus' appointment and to ask for the charges against these students to be dropped immediately.

The UAW has released a similar statement including signatures from scores of colleagues and academics at other universities. 


Photo credit/via NY Daily News, photographer: Jefferson Siegel, "Four of the six students arrested Rafael Pena (from left), Angelica Hernandez, Denise Ford and Jose Disla and their lawyer, Lamis Deek, in Manhattan Criminal Court Wednesday."
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Friday, April 26, 2013

Documentary Invitation

http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1290341.1363392518!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/teen16n-1-web.jpgOccupyTVNY announces a new documentary in the works telling the true story of Kimani Gray, the East Flatbush teenager killed by two police officers reported as having a history of brutality and falsifying evidence.  His death triggered public outrage and widespread protest.  The documentary will place events in the context of police-community relations in neighborhoods like East Flatbush, filmmakers envisioning "a narrative told by many voices, most of them residents of East Flatbush."   

If you would like to participate in this documentary, please contact atiqzabinski@gmail.com.

Below, Councilman Charles Barron with Kimani's mother, Carol Gray, after her first meeting with District Attorney Charles Hynes regarding the slaying of her son.  




OccupyTVNY will continue to cover events in East Flatbush at this playlist which viewers are encouraged to upload and share. 


*Photo credit/NY Daily News/photographer: Todd Maisel/Picture of a family photograph of Kimani Gray with his mother.
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Monday, September 24, 2012

Announcement

An announcement by Anonymous at the one year anniversary of Occupy Wall Street, and leaking 60 hours of N.Y.P.D. video of the raid and destruction of the Liberty Square encampment.  A transcript of the announcement posted below the video:
Hello Citizens of the Free world.
On November 15, 2011, the NYPD surrounded the Zuccotti Park and poceeded to forcefully dismantle the Occupy Wall Street encampment. As part of this effort, the authorities made all media leave the scene and the only images of what happened came from one live streamer who stayed in the center of the park until his arrest, and one other citizen journalist who kept filming on his camera and managed to somehow smuggle the footage out of the arrest zone. Today We release a trove of video shot by NYPD itself - from 14 different angles including survellience cameras.
While it is clear that a lot of this police footage is incomplete and has been edited , some may say even tampered with, to remove the most damning incidents (sometimes in very obvious edits) there is still enough material to paint the picture of what really happened in Zuccotti park once the media cameras had left.
We the Anonymous Police are placing this information in the public domain for the people to use it to identify offending officers and explore the inconsistencies between the official narrative and reality.
Also, YaBasta500 has posted a short compilation (shown below) from the 60 hours, with links as follows:

Anonymous Leak Info:
http://pastebin.com/ycpyBL20

TORRENT [11GBs, 60hrs, 14-cameras]:
http://thepiratebay.se/torrent/7667268/OWSN15____LIBERTY_LOCKDOWN____THE_DEST...

NYPD Taru Zuccotti Raid Footage
http://youtu.be/-t1bG9UGgj0


  


From the Paste Bin link: 

  1. "Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost."
  2. Thomas Jefferson
  3. Citizens of The internet.
  4. Have you ever been filmed by the police and wondered what their footage looked like?
  5. Well you're in luck!
  6. Because today we release to you a cache of hours Zuccotti park raid footage. Brought to you by the N.Y.P.D. TARU!
  7. As many of you know, the N.Y.P.D denied freedom of press the night of the Zuccotti raid by kicking out the media and keeping them two blocks away.
  8. They also detained and arressted several journalists.
  9. Much of the video being released is edited by the NYPD, and at times the edits are quite blatant, probably trying to cover up their brutality.
  10. Actually, no probably about it, they are covering up their attrocities committed November 15th in Zuccotti park.
  11. As it is clear the film is edited in a byast prospective.
  12. Citizens of the internet, we ask you to download and share this mini-archive.
  13. Bearing in mind that the police now use video surveillance all over the country at peacefull protests, and whereever else they want because they are not being held accountable.
  14.  The totality of this mini-archive brings home the reality of the amount of surveillance US citizens are subjected to as they exercise their political rights, and this isnt even close to the amount of footage they have taken.
  15. But surveillance cuts both ways...  It can also be used to make the authoroties accountable for their actions.
  16. As you watch the videos in this archive...
  17. We Ask you to take down the badge numbers of those that committed crimes against the peacefull occupation protest.
  18. If the badge is unclear, that nifty number on their storm trooper helmets is the badge number.
  19. Report and makes complaints how you see fit.
  20. We ask you to keep an eye out for glitches in tape, timestamp changes, or other things that just are not quite right with the film.
  21. Make Note Of Them
  22. We ask you seek the truth.
  23. We Ask that you demand for the unedited versions of the tapes.
  24. We ask fellow netzens, that you seek the evidence that proves OWS was in violation of the The Handschu agreement,
  25. Which was won in a class action lawsuit against the NYPD as a result of their inability to uphold constitutional rights.
  26. We ask you to demand they prove that they had lawful use to use the TARU.
  27. Share these clips with the world. Let them see how the United States "Respects" it's citizens First Admendment Right to Peaceful Assembly.
  28. Most people don't relize, most of the "laws" and "rules" that the OWS Encampment "broke", were designed specifically to be against the movement, after the movement began.
  29. This is something that is happening coast to coast, sea to sea.
  30. Dictators in other countries have been known to drive street sweepers up and down roads, often for days at a time when they knew a protest
  31. is supposed to be taking place there.
  32. Sound familiar?
  33. The tactics are the same, the methods are the same, the power, is the same.
  34. We ask the people to stand in solidarity with your brothers and sisters around the world.
  35. For our struggle is the same.
  36. The struggle for equality, justice, peace and freedom.
  37. Your secrets keep me peaceful.
  38. Your lies keep me safe.
  39. You are satisfied with my ignorance, and you are in control.
  40. But we are aware.
  41. We are Anonymous
  42. We do not forgive And we do not...Forget.
  44.     Youtube-
  45.     http://youtu.be/-t1bG9UGgj0
  47.     Temporary torrent file located at:
  49.     https://filetea.me/t1s59815
  51.     TORRENT MAGNET
  53.     magnet:?xt=urn:btih:D99F46FC1216F1C3A5255B9244A18350C6D3C61A&dn=OWSN15&tr=udp%3a//tracker.openbittorrent.com%3a80
  55.     VIDEO STILLS:
  57.     http://imgur.com/Hmb34
  59.     http://imgur.com/0b9vN
  61.     http://imgur.com/jtseX
  63.     http://imgur.com/hEipf
  65.     http://imgur.com/wFG5z
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Saturday, September 22, 2012

Active Resistance

SF Gate reports that the Yolo County District Attorney's office has not found criminal conduct by the police officers who pepper sprayed non-violent UC Davis students, and at point blank range, in November, 2011 demonstrations over tuition increases and staggering student debt.

Here, again, is a video taken of the shocking incident on UC Davis campus that day, and which garnered international condemnation:

 

At issue in the report's conclusive reasoning appears to be what the D.A.'s office describes as "active" vs "passive" resistance, and based on the fact that students were "linking arms." 
In the videos, Lt. John Pike of the campus police is seen slowly and deliberately spraying the students, pausing to shake the can before continuing. At least one other officer, Alexander Lee, is also seen spraying.
By linking arms, the seated protesters engaged in "active" rather than "passive" resistance, according to the district attorney's report, which relied not only on the officers' accounts but on University of California-commissioned studies of the incident, on experts in the use of force, and on UC policy.
Officers may use pepper spray when they encounter active resistance, the report says.\
 The Sacramento Bee reports that officials stated, "[...] there is insufficient evidence to establish proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the use of force involved in the November 18, 2011, pepper spraying was unlawful and therefore warrants the filing of criminal charges [...]." 

Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/crime/archives/2012/09/yolo-da-finds-no-criminal-conduct-by-uc-davis-pepper-spray-officers.html#storylink=cpy

Pike was later relieved of duty; his police chief, Annette Spicuzza, resigned under fire; and withering reports from a specially-convened task force led by former state Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso and independent consultant, Kroll, detailed a dysfunctional police department and "systematic and repeated failures" by university leaders.

Alexis Briggs, an attorney for the Davis Dozen (a.k.a. Banker's Dozen) a group facing charges for February and March bank demonstrations, and which includes students who were pepper sprayed in November, expressed disappointment:
"I guess the Reynoso report, the Kroll report and video is sufficient in some cases but not in others. I'm sorry to hear that," Briggs said. "There seems to be a willingness to rely on video evidence in some cases but not others. My thoughts go back to the day itself," she said, adding the events "cast doubt that Lt. Pike and others were acting lawfully."
 

The California Agee reported in April that the "11 students and one professor [in the Davis Dozen] face up to 11 years in prison on the charges of the obstruction of movement in a public place and conspiracy to commit a misdemeanor by Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig."

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Tuesday, September 18, 2012

C.P.R.

S17 protesters chant, demanding, "Courtesy! Professionalism! Respect!" -- the N.Y.P.D. motto, and after N.Y.P.D. officers repeatedly shove and then baton N.Y.C. Council Member Jumaane Williams.

 

Footage of some S17 arrests for no apparent reason: 






Below, artist and occupier Mollie Crabapple talks about her own bewildering and rough arrest for no apparent reason on S17-- also reflecting upon Occupy at its one year anniversary.


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Friday, August 10, 2012

disproportionate

 courtesy of david amerland
on the evolution of police riot gear


many occupy observers have commented on the often disproportionate police presence, along with disproportionate police gear (e.g. swat or riot apparel) - in response to peaceful occupy protesters - even a very small number of peaceful protesters.

an occupy l.a. video has surfaced here at occupypoetry on youtube providing a birds eye example.

gee, who'd they think those people were?

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Saturday, July 28, 2012

drum roll

occupytvny releases more footage of the occupy guitarmy arrests on july 11th after the group completed its 99 mile march from philadelphia to wall street.  n.y.p.d. takes a lead drummer.  but can they stop this music?





why did the police officer in question find the drummer so threatening? the answer, in the opinion of this blogger, lies in the question the crowd poses to the police, at the tape's conclusion:  "who do you protect?  who do you serve?"

not The People, we know, in this instance.  for, historically, drummers symbolize the bravery leading soldiers into just battle - on behalf of The People (not corporations) - the stirring of insurrection, the call of liberty, the spirit of principle.  perhaps the bravest of all, their drum roll readies the troops, maintains them, as the musician walks without gun, often at the front of lines, or in other places within the crowd, but headlong into battle armed with nothing but his or her music and courage - and often, innocence of faith, as they have also been children or youth inspired by what they believe to be heroism.

as standard, the soldiers/crowd protects the drummer, sometimes sacrificing themselves to save the musician - the proverbial inner child - the nation's ideals - its resistance, the heartbeat.  so, of course, in this case, the crowd responds with righteously equal and greater strength to the police officer's fear of, and aggression towards, the "drummer lad" and all that his presence may deeply evoke in americans - as the police actively suppress this important american symbolism - that is supposed to be protected under the first amendment - and by arresting the drummer, even dressed in an american revolutionary's hat. 

then an elderly female protester collapses, and bedlam ensues .. thanks to the boys and girls in blue .. just doing their job for you-- at the gates to zuccotti park:  where the heart of a nation still beats.


courtesy of sonofthesouth.net
on the historical significance of drummers 
to americans - thomas nast's drummer boy
"The illustration shows a spectacular sunrise scene in a Union Civil War camp.  As the sun is rising, a group of Civil War drummer boys can be seen marching through the camp, playing a spirited cadence on their drums as they march through.  The soldiers can be seen waking up and stretching as they realize the time to arise has come." 


Police instigated a conflict shortly after the Guitarmy arrived in liberty plaza, arresting drummer Brandon Hunt as he played on the site of the Occupy Wall Street drum circle in Liberty Plaza. As Occupiers rushed to the West side of the park, the police also arrested a photographer, and seized both his camera and his dog. One protester, Mary Hath Spokane, well known for her Lady Liberty costume, collapsed in the park. Some onlookers said she had been pushed by police as she tried to intervene in one of the arrests. The fire department later claimed she had fainted.
Later, the police and Brookfield Security tried to stop the occupiers from feeding pasta to those assembled. High ranking security made the ludicrous claim that it was a violation of park rules to have food in the park. Local residents and workers constantly dine in the park, often on food purchased from carts lining Cedar Street on the South side of the park and across the street on Broadway. The cops and guards chose to back off but shortly thereafter rushed a homeless man for laying down on a bench. Later in the evening they arrested the livestreamer known as JCOZ, and forced out of the park Marsha Spencer, a resident who often knits there, saying she was not allowed to bring her folding chair.
courtesy of chron.com
photographer:  matt rourke/ap
mary hath spokane of olympia, washington in her well-known lady liberty costume at occupy protests.  ms. hath spokane collapsed as n.y.p.d. arrested the guitarmy drummer.  some say she was first shoved by the police.

courtesy of dalje.com
photographer: monika graff/up
marsha spencer of new york city knitting stars and stripes in zuccotti park prior to bloomberg's "night to remember."  ms. spencer, a familiar occupy protester - evoking for many, the spiritual presence of betsy ross - was forced out of the park by n.y.p.d., july 11th 2012, on the pretext that she was not allowed to have a folding chair.


 Also below, RT discusses how filming police in washington d.c. is, indeed, legal (in case they told you otherwise).


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