New Orleans, LA – The Orleans Parish Prison Reform Coalition (OPPRC) led a rally outside City Hall before the June 11 city council meeting. The week before, the New Orleans Police Department fired tear gas and rubber stinger rounds at protesters on a bridge 200 feet above the Mississippi River. In response, the rally demanded that the city defund and demilitarize the police.

Sade Dumas of the OPPRC said, “Two-thirds of the city's funds are spent on over-policing and over-incarcerating residents. Those funds can be better used for social services that improve public safety and enhance the lives of all New Orleanians.” Protesters also called for an immediate ban on teargas. Many also favored a community-controlled model for achieving justice and safety.

At the end of the rally, Dumas announced that someone near the facility was hurt. She declared that both the person who was harmed and the person who caused the harm were from the community. Nearby medical students had rushed in as first responders, after marching from a neighboring protest outside Tulane Medical Center. When protesters marched to the other side of Duncan Plaza to see the livestream of the city’s criminal justice hearing, someone announced that the police were arresting a Black woman. Protesters gathered to investigate and support.

Cops prepared to put the community member in their SUV. She demanded they let her go, repeatedly telling them “No!” Concerned protesters arrived at the scene to support her. They relentlessly questioned the police about why they detained the woman but received no answer. Eventually, the officers brought the person into their squad car. Immediately, brave protesters stood in the way of the police cruiser, slowing it to a crawl. The car blared its sirens, which only announced the illegal detainment to everyone in the area. Hundreds of people surrounded the SUV, stopping the vehicle in its tracks.

“Let her go! Let her go!” chanted the demonstrators. They made it clear no one was moving until the police released the woman. Organizers close to the car again asked why the police detained her. The cops finally responded, stating that they were holding her for questioning related to the shooting. Community members reminded the police that they abused their authority. Public defenders on the scene confirmed that police should have just taken a witness statement, without detainment. Cops responded by saying their critics needed to do more research. This condescending reply did not stop the crowd from demanding a release. After nearly 15 minutes of a standoff, the police finally let the woman go into the open arms of her friends and family. Protesters successfully un-arrested her.

The New Orleans Police Department is currently under a federal consent decree. It also denied arresting protesters and firing projectiles at a march the night of June 3. After thorough community pushback, it admitted to all these crimes by that weekend.

Like the un-arrest, the rally at city council also proved successful. Community members submitted over 1500 public comments, the most in the city’s history. The police department responded by saying they would “modify” their use-of-force policies. But this response was about as patronizing as police telling protesters and legal experts at Duncan Plaza to do more research and go home. The people remain committed to revolutionary change.

#NewOrleansLA #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #PoliceBruatality #NewOrleansPoliceDepartment

Minneapolis, MN – A September 5 press conference at the offices of CAIR MN made public new information in the police murder of 23-year-old Isak Aden. Aden, a breadwinner and caregiver for his younger siblings and disabled grandmother, was surrounded on July 2 by 90 officers for four hours in the Twin Cities suburb of Eagan, before fatal shots were fired by five cops from the cities of Eagan and Bloomington.

For two months, his family and hundreds of community members have rallied and marched justice for Isak, demanding the release of audio and video from the incident, and the firing and prosecution of the killers. The officers are back on duty, as the official investigation continues, and no decision has been made on prosecuting the officers. However, pressure has won the release of some information to Aden’s siblings. From hundreds of pages of transcripts and reports, a timeline of events disproves the story that police and media reported at the outset.

Eagan Police Chief Roger New claimed that Isak was involved in a domestic assault, but the documents make it clear that police knew otherwise. Isak’s brother Badrudin Aden said, “In a statement given to Officer Meyers, the reporting party was unable to identify when they saw the supposed weapon and admitted there was never an assault. After receiving the statement, Officer Meyer’s narrative states that he then transported her down to the scene, all while Isak was alive.” According to Badrudin, all of this shows “Isak Aden was never a threat to begin with.”

He continued, “This brings us to the reports about there being a standoff in which ‘after hours of negotiations, shots were fired’. This was clearly worded to leave room for interpretation and assumptions. According to the incident detail report provided by the Bloomington Police department, [Isak] was already sitting down, on the ground with his hands on his face, unarmed, at 8:56 p.m. He was unarmed when they engaged him at 10:38 p.m. They isolated him, mentally and emotionally tortured him, and then essentially executed him.”

Isak’s sister, Sumaya Aden, agreed. “A standoff is defined as a stalemate or a deadlock between two equally matched opponents in a dispute or conflict. There was never a standoff. 90 law enforcement officers in SWAT gear, with armored vehicles, and rifles against an innocent, frightened and unarmed 23-year-old are not equally matched opponents.”

While it was emotional for them to read reports from the night Isak was killed, the siblings also expressed relief that the brother they knew was reflected there, contrary to the false descriptions in public statements by police and in media reports.

Sumaya said, “We know who our brother was, and we have known since the beginning that these allegations were false. We've seen law enforcement time and time again exceed their sworn jurisdiction and abuse power by choosing to act as judge, jury and executioners by murdering innocent, compliant, unarmed black men at a disproportionate rate.”

Before ending her statement, Sumaya Adencalled for an independent prosecutor to handle her brother’s case. Dakota County Prosecutor James Backstrom has never prosecuted police for killing civilians, instead dismissing a dozen such cases without charges.

She described how Prosecutor Backstrom is not impartial, “[He] is now refusing to let the Ramsey County medical examiners release our brother’s autopsy report to us. In 2009, Backstrom was publicly reprimanded by the Minnesota Supreme Court for discouraging a Washington County medical examiner to testify for the defense in a murder trial by saying, ‘you work for us, not them.’”

“Nothing we do from here on out will bring our brother back but what we are determined to do, is to ensure that he gets a fair and impartial prosecutor who will do their job. That is why we are demanding James Backstrom…assign the case to an outside, independent prosecutor with no conflict of interest. County prosecutors have done this in other cases and it is an accepted practice.”

After the press conference, the Aden family became the latest targets of cowardly islamophobic reporting by the local Fox news station. Under the headline, “Family’s attempt to hide public information shrouds Eagan fatal police shooting in transparency controversy,” Fox criticized the family for redacting small portions from the documents.

Sumaya countered, “Let’s ask [Fox reporter] Leah Beno why she cropped out and reported without the time stamps on the far left of the Incident Detail Report that shows that Isak was unarmed for almost two hours when law enforcement engaged and essentially killed him.” She continued, “We wanted to specifically address how this 911 phone call, with confirmation from the reporting party, was false. How Eagan knew that my brother was not a threat to begin with and how he was compliant and unarmed when they engaged & killed him.”

“The 90 officers on the scene mentally and emotionally tortured Isak. This is their and the media’s attempt to do the same to us. But this proud sister is unfazed. We’ve got an amazing family, community, and group of activists behind us with way too much fight in them to let this effect anything. Like I said, come a little harder next time because these two 20-year-olds have seen and been through more than you could ever imagine. And we’re still here – fighting. Ya’ll can work, but our God works harder.”

#MinneapolisMN #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #PoliceBruatality #IsakAden #Eagan

Eagan, MN – Some 200 community members gathered here July 16 to demand justice for Isak Aden, a Somali man who was killed by police in this Saint Paul suburb on July 2. Aden was a 23-year-old college student who was killed by police after a four-hour standoff with 90 officers from nine different agencies. Five police officers from the cities of Eagan and Bloomington were named responsible for his death.

Marching behind a 30-foot banner, about 100 protesters took to the streets around the municipal center, which includes the Eagan Police Department and the Eagan City Hall. Then, the crowd poured into the center, past the police department and into the room where a city council meeting was scheduled to take place.

In the meantime, messages were pouring in via text and social media that Eagan police were continuing to block roads, preventing community members from reaching the protest and council meeting. Despite police roadblocks and threats of arrest, more people made their way, swelling protest numbers to 200, and packing the city council chambers.

While the biggest number of protesters were youth from the Somali community, there were Somali community elders, many from the African American community, and white folks and others who have been organizing for years against police murders and brutality. Fifteen organizations, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations of Minnesota (CAIR-MN), Communities United Against Police Brutality (CUAPB), and Twin Cities Coalition for Justice for Jamar (TCC4J) called for the demonstration, which was led by Isak Aden’s sister, Sumaya, and brother, Badrdin.

Because of several last-minute changes to the council’s schedule and agenda, protesters filled the council chambers ahead of the meeting. When councilmembers arrived and stood for the Pledge of Allegiance, protesters took a knee or raised fists in protest.

CAIR-MN director Jaylani Hussein opened the public comments with the family’s demands that Eagan release body camera and dash footage, that the BCA (Bureau of Criminal Apprehension) do a thorough investigation, and that Aden’s killers be fired and prosecuted. He demanded that the city of Eagan do the right thing and bring justice to Isak’s family.

Isak’s siblings and Michelle Gross (CUAPB) were the first speakers, followed by more than a dozen friends of Isak, community members and residents of Eagan. They called on Eagan’s city council to support the family demands. Many pointed out that two of the killers, including one from Eagan, have killed before. Others recalled standoffs with racist white mass-murderers where killers have been taken alive into custody. Some criticized Eagan police for trying to intimidate and block protesters standing with the Aden family.

Loretta VanPelt, an organizer with TCC4J, demanded that Isak get the same justice that Justine Damond received; Damond’s family was awarded $20 million in damages from the city of Minneapolis after a cop murdered her in 2017. VanPelt said, “If you truly believed, like you said in the pledge, that justice is for all, then mean it!” TCC4J is working in Minneapolis for community control of the police, which would prioritize ousting violent and corrupt cops, especially those who have killed civilians.

Protesters left the chambers after everyone who wanted to speak had spoken, with chants of “We’ll be back.” Family and community members are determined to hold Eagan accountable, along with the other cities and agencies responsible for the murder of Isak Aden.

#EaganMN #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #PoliceBruatality #TwinCitiesCoalitionForJusticeForJamarTCC4J #JusticeForIsakAden

According to neighbors, Damond called police to report a disturbance in her alley. When she went to meet police, she was shot by a cop. The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has started an investigation and they say that the officers’ body cameras were not on at the time of the shooting. At the vigil, Michelle Gross, organizer with Communities United Against Police Brutality, stated that police are only loading five to six hours of body cam footage per month.

According to the Star Tribune newspaper, body cams were required for Minneapolis police officers after the murder of Philando Castile. The Minneapolis police department and the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension are not releasing any more information, and are not even informing the family of what happened to Justine Damond.

#MinneapolisMN #US #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #PoliceBruatality

Los Angeles, CA – On the blistering hot Saturday morning, May 20, a group of angry activists chanted “Jail killer cops!” and “When Chicanos are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!” The group gathered directly outside of the LAPD Hollenbeck police station, in Boyle Heights to demand LAPD officers responsible for the six killings in the last 12 months be jailed.

During the protest, Hollenbeck LAPD was training new LAPD Cadet recruits. LAPD Cadets are youth from ages 13-20 and are trained by LAPD to become either future cops, or to serve as a neighborhood ‘eyes and ears’ to report back to local police. A group of teen cadets peeked from Hollenbeck doors to listen to the protesters, but quickly closed the doors when they heard, “Don’t be the future killers of Boyle Heights!” Some cadets were too scared to walk by the activists, and were escorted by LAPD officers.

Teresa Dominguez, mother of 14-year-old Jesse Romero who was killed by LAPD on August 9, 2016 said, “I thank all of you today for showing up to remind these cops that we are never going to stop fighting for our children.”

“It’s not even about who is a good cop or who is a bad cop. This is about who the cops even serve and protect,” said Luis Sifuentes a public-school bus driver and member of Centro CSO. “We know they only serve and protect the elite – the same ones who rule and dominate over us.”

The LAPD protest was organized by Centro Community Service Organization (Centro CSO). Also present were members from Pasadena City College Students for a Democratic Society, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, and family of Jose Peruzzi Mendez. Mendez was only 16 years old when LAPD shot and killed him on Feb. 6, 2016.

Lawsuits have been filed against LAPD and are still pending investigation, but parents and community members continue putting pressure on LAPD.

Centro CSO is presenting in a workshop at a California Summit on June 10 at the East Los Angeles College. Parents of victims of LAPD killings will be present, and the panel will be led by Chicano revolutionary Carlos Montes. You may RSVP to the workshop here: http://www.facebook.com/events/1892084017726718/

#LosAngelesCA #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #PoliceBruatality

Jacksonville, FL – There is no U.S. state attorney that has caused more injustice, tried more juveniles as adults, and spat in the face of more Black people than Florida State Attorney Angela Corey.

Since being elected to the position in 2008, State Attorney Angela Corey’s record has been one of scandal and high-profile political trials. This means the people of Jacksonville have a special responsibility to make sure she loses her upcoming primary on Aug. 30, which is closed to all but Republican voters because of a dirty move by her office. Why is it so important to get rid of Angela Corey, and what’s the best way to get rid of her?

A look at Angela Corey’s work over the past few years demonstrates why she’s the worst State Attorney in the U.S. Studying community efforts will answer how Jacksonville can finally get rid of Corey and strike a blow against racist discrimination and national oppression in Florida.

Disappointing high-profile cases

Florida tries more juveniles as adults than any other state in the country and Jacksonville’s Angela Corey tries more juveniles as adults than any other city in the state.

In 2011, Angela Corey oversaw the case of Christian Fernandez, a 12-year-old Latino boy who accidentally killed his younger brother. Corey’s grand jury indicted Christian Fernandez as an adult on charges of first degree murder and aggravated child abuse. Christian did time in solitary confinement at an adult facility before his trial, where he eventually pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

In 2012, Republican Governor of Florida Rick Scott appointed Angela Corey to the trial of George Zimmerman for the murder of Trayvon Martin. Miraculously, unlike her case against 12-year-old Christian Fernandez, Corey famously failed to get a conviction of the killer and Zimmerman walked free. This injustice contributed to the creation of the Black Lives Matter slogan, organization and movement. Zimmerman has resurfaced in the media several times since he murdered Trayvon for additional misconduct.

In 2012, Corey also prosecuted a 31-year-old Black woman, Marissa Alexander, for firing a warning shot against her abusive husband. Although no one was harmed in the incident and the husband, Rico Gray, admitted to prosecutors that the abused Alexander tried to leave the home before things escalated, Corey had no problem convicting the innocent woman. After three years, Alexander eventually entered a plea deal and was released from prison.

In 2014, Corey was involved in the trial of Michael Dunn for the murder of Jordan Davis. Michael Dunn was a white killer who pulled a gun and fired ten shots into a car full of Black teenagers parked at a Jacksonville gas station after they refused Dunn’s demand that they turn off their loud music. None of the Black teenagers were armed, but thanks to Angela Corey, Dunn’s first trial resulted in a mistrial verdict. A mass movement brought the case national attention, and Dunn was eventually convicted of Jordan’s murder after a re-trial.

These are only a small handful of Corey’s worst cases, but they prove a point. If you are white and murder a Black youth, Angela Corey is going to protect you. If you are a young Black or Latino person, Angela Corey is probably going to try you as an adult and go for the harshest sentence possible. Chattel slavery and old Jim Crow laws have given way to a new system of Jim Crow discrimination in Jacksonville, with Angela Corey as a primary figurehead.

Rampant corruption and dirty politics

There have been several alleged scandals in Angela Corey’s office over the past few years.

According to some sources who worked for Corey in the past, her office may have hidden important information about Duval County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Margarita Arruza, who developed severe memory loss while on the job. Allegedly, this was kept secret from attorneys working with Arruza. If true, this means that hundreds of cases may be in question since the autopsy data Arruza collected may have been inaccurate.

In addition to that alleged corruption, Angela Corey’s current re-election campaign has also proven questionable. Angela Corey is running as a Republican against Melissa Nelson and Wes White, also Republicans, and a write-in Democratic party candidate.

Angela Corey’s campaign manager was exposed after personally filing paperwork for the Democratic party write-in candidate, who has no real chance of winning the office. Now that a Democrat has entered the State Attorney’s race, the primary has become closed and only those registered as Republicans can vote against Angela Corey on Aug. 30. Over 58% of Duval County citizens are not Republicans, and won’t get any say on Aug. 30. Effectively, whoever wins the Republican primary is almost sure to win against the underfunded and unorganized write-in candidate later this year. It’s worth noting that the write-in candidate is a long-time Angela Corey supporter and even donated money to her campaign in the past.

The story is as ridiculous as it sounds. Alexander Pantinakis resigned as Angela Corey’s campaign manager after local and national media broke the story.

Angela Corey clearly needs to go – it’s time to take a look at how the people of Jacksonville can get her out of office.

Mass political struggle needed in August

There are three main aspects to the fight against Angela Corey from now through the primary. These three aspects are grassroots struggle, using the media and voting.

The most important factor that can help bring Angela Corey’s reign to an end is the mass political struggle growing in Jacksonville. The city of Chicago has proven that a mass movement to remove a state attorney can be victorious. Across Jacksonville, rallies, meetings and teach-ins have been held about the need to get Corey out of office. Readers are welcome to follow the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition (JPC) on Facebook for more information about upcoming events demanding Angela Corey out. By building a popular mass movement against the system of racial and national oppression Angela Corey represents, the people can defeat the rich and powerful supporters of a broken system.

There are three types of media coverage that will help get Angela Corey out of office – mainstream media coverage, independent media coverage, and social media coverage. Several local papers like the Folio and the Florida Times Union have been running articles that expose Angela Corey’s bad track record and corruption. Other sources like The Left Turn News Network and Fight Back! have been covering the fight against Corey from an independent perspective. Across Jacksonville and the entire nation, people are blogging and posting on social media about the terrible things Angela Corey has done and the corruption that is rampant in her office. Spreading the truth about Angela Corey makes it more likely she will lose power this year.

Several groups in town have banded together to form an alliance dedicated to getting everyone to temporarily change their party affiliation to Republican so they can vote Angela Corey out of office in the closed primary on Aug. 30. July 29 was the last day to change party affiliation and still vote in the primary, and reports indicate that efforts resulted in a few thousand citizens changing their party affiliation for the primary. This is good work that will help to strike a blow against the enemy, and will supplement other efforts to build a mass movement against Angela Corey.

Corey is running against Melissa Nelson and Wes White in the Republican primary. While neither Nelson nor White are the candidates Jacksonville deserves, Nelson defended 12-year-old Christian Fernandez back in 2012 and has the most support according to several polls. Wes White describes himself as a constitutional conservative and openly supports Donald Trump for president. Everyone should study the platforms of both candidates and ultimately vote against Angela Corey.

The road forward

People who can vote, should vote against Angela Corey on Aug. 30, and they should do even more to strike blows against her and the system she represents.

Getting Angela Corey out of office is not going to solve every problem Black and working-class people face in Jacksonville, but it will be a start. Across the nation, organizations are looking to the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR) and their Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC) initiative – which essentially boils down to a strong, democratically elected police review board with serious teeth that can withstand intimidation and co-option by the system.

History has shown us that the masses are the makers of history, and when the right political line is applied to a mass struggle, the people can win real victories and strike blows against oppression. Jacksonville will be a center of struggle over the next few weeks, and by relying on the people and organizing in the community, justice is sure to prevail.

#JacksonvilleFl #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #TrayvonMartin #Florida #Antiracism #AngelaCorey #AngelaCoreyOutNow #PoliceBruatality