Comparing examples of white and black Americans’ encounters with police seems to present undeniable evidence of injustice. But does this type of footage ever make a difference?
Source: www.theroot.com
Abuse of Power
Andy Lopez mural goes up in Roseland
Three miles from where 13-year-old Andy Lopez was shot and killed by a Sonoma County sheriff’s deputy nearly a year ago, a mural of the boy went up.
Santa Rosa artist Mario Uribe installed Friday the temporary 8-foot-by-16-foot mural along the side of a vacant gas station at West Avenue and Sebastopol Road in the heart of Roseland. It’s one of the busiest intersections in the southwest Santa Rosa neighborhood, which was rattled by the fatal Oct. 22 shooting by Sonoma County Sheriff’s Deputy Erick Gelhaus, who reportedly mistook the airsoft BB gun Lopez was carrying for an AK-47 assault rifle that it was designed to resemble.
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Source: justicecoalitionforandylopez.com
Suicide, Kids Giving Up Hope: A Heartbreaking Local Story and Memories Of Losing My Friend To Suicide At A Young Age
Last night I first heard the news that an 11-year-old San Tan Valley, Arizona boy whose father was a police officer committed suicide. Samuel Epps, 11, became upset after an argument with his father, went into his parent’s bedroom, locked the door, took his father’s unsecured 9mm handgun and fatally shot himself in the head. Every indication pointed to suicide and not an accidental shooting.
Initial reports stated that there was no known mental health conditions the boy suffered with nor was there ever any indication he had thoughts of hurting himself or thoughts of suicide. Sadly in Arizona there is no law that requires a gun be locked up and kept out of the reach of children. There are laws on neglect though which this case could fall under.
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Source: worldhumanrights.wordpress.com
Gawker Uncovers Trove NYPD Horror Stories
Media outlet Gawker is currently running an ongoing series documenting horror stories of reader run-ins with the NYPD. With “NYPD Harassment Stories,” writer Jason Parham is attempting to shed light on some of the department’s under-reported incidents of brutality.
“Police brutality, which we believe should be treated as a national crisis, is not limited to streets of New York or Los Angeles,” writes Parham. “But examining the actions of the country’s largest and most famous police force, and giving a voice to the victims of its violence, is a start.”
Here’s one reader’s story:
The incident happened about 2 years ago to my husband. My husband is a Dominican of dark complexion. He was exiting the 4 train in the Bronx after a long day of work, at the time he was working security. He saw some one he knew being stopped by the cops made eye contact with the police and kept it…
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Release Us: A Powerful Short Film on Police Brutality
500 innocent Americans are murdered by police every year (USDOJ). 5,000 since 9/11, equal to the number of US soldiers lost in Iraq.
In 1994 the US Government passed a law authorizing the Pentagon to donate surplus Cold War era military equipment to local police departments.
In the 20 years since, weaponry designed for use on a foreign battlefield, has been handed over for use on American streets…against American citizens.
The “War on Drugs” and the “War on Terror” replaced the Cold War with billions in funding and dozens of laws geared towards this new “war” against its own citizens.
This militarization of the police force has created what is being called an “epidemic of police brutality” sweeping the nation.
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Source: www.filmsforaction.org
Christopher Lollie
Christopher Lollie (1986- ), a Black American musician, was tasered and arrested by St Paul, Minnesota police for Sitting While Black. They did that in front of his two children while he was trying to pick them up from day care. He caught some of it on video with his mobile phone.
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Source: abagond.wordpress.com
LA Times: Border Patrol sued in fatal shooting of man in Mexico
Guillermo Arevalo Pedraza (2nd L) poses with his wife and daughters in an undated photo released by his family in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. REUTERS/Family of Guillermo Arevalo Pedraza/Handout via Reuters
The family of a Mexican man who was shot and killed by U.S. Border Patrol agents two years ago has filed a civil rights lawsuit alleging that the agency sanctioned an unbridled use of deadly force in response to rock throwing.
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Source: soboco.org
Brother Malcolm The Prophet Speaks [VIDEO]
In the early 1960s, Minister Malcolm X gave a speech about the problem of unlawful police actions against black people in America. This is a powerful message concerning police brutality that continues some fifty years later.
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Killed by the NYPD in 2013
Virginia Cop Sentenced To A Mere 3 Years For Killing Unarmed Woman
She has a name; Patricia Cook. She was killed in Culpeper, Virginia on February 9, 2012.
Patricia was 54 years old. No one knows why she was in the parking lot of Epiphany Catholic School, but while there, she was approached by Culpeper Police Officer Daniel Harmon-Wright. Officer Harmon-Wright said he received a call of a suspicious vehicle.
Wright fired two shots into Patricia’s vehicle. The first two rounds, fired at point-blank range, tore into Cook’s face and arm. Patricia managed to drive away, but Harmon-Wright did not stop shooting. He shot Patricia 5 times; a round entered her brain, and the another round severed her spine and veered into her heart.
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Source: blackbutterfly7.wordpress.com