Seattle, WA – Protesters and community members rallied at Dexter Avenue N and Thomas Street in the late afternoon of January 29 to call for justice for Tyre Nichols, Jaahnavi Kandula and all victims of police violence.

Eighty people gathered at the rally organized by the Seattle Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and held at the intersection where Jaahnavi Kandula was killed by a speeding police vehicle.

“We hate that we have to be out here again and again, but we still don’t have justice for those killed by police terror,” said Clio Jensen, an organizer with SAARPR.

On January 23 a Seattle police officer hit 23-year-old Jaahnavi Kandula at high speed while responding to a suspected overdose with paramedics already on site. SPD has refused to release the name of the officer, fire the officer, or provide any clarity up to this point.

Seattle PD has engaged in cover-ups and denials of justice before. At the rally, Castill Hightower shared the story of her brother Herbert’s murder by the Seattle Police Department in 2004 and her family’s continued fight for justice and change. “Stop killing us! Stop harming us! Stop refusing to hold these officers accountable,” said Hightower, speaking to the crowd of protesters.

 SAARPR members read a statement from Rose Johnson, mother of Ryan Matthew Smith, who was shot and killed by SPD in 2019. “I tried tirelessly to get justice for Ryan. With no success. I hope Jaahnavi’s parents and family get justice for her. A beautiful precious soul taken from them in such a senseless manner.” Smith’s killer continues to work for SPD, and the city has stymied all efforts for accountability and transparency.

“Justice for Tyre!” chanted protesters, calling for justice for Tyre Nichols who was beaten to death by five Memphis, Tennessee police officers on January 7. The horrific video of Tyre’s killing was made public on January 27, sparking protests across the country.

On January 18, Manny “Tortuguita” Paez was killed by Georgia State Troopers while protesting against the construction of “Cop City,” a proposed police headquarters to be built in Atlanta Forest. “Say his name! Tortuguita!” chanted the crowd.

Other community members came to share their stories of police abuse. “I was strangled by the police,” said Victoria Pacho, sharing her experiences as a survivor of police violence. “They put their full weight on my neck. There’s so much pain, and you cannot scream. And the city does nothing to support victims.”

“The end goal is abolition. We just need a tool to get us there,” says Mantak Singh from the Progressive Student Union at the University of Washington. “Community control of the police, through a civilian police accountability council, is the best way to achieve that.”

Throughout the evening, protesters demanded the release of footage related to Jaahnavi’s killing, the identification and firing of the driving officer, safer streets for all pedestrians, justice for Tyre Nichols, justice for Manny “Tortuguita” Paez, justice for all victims of police violence, and community control of the Seattle Police Department. “Enough is enough, we need to take back control for the people,” said Mantak Singh.

#SeattleWA #PoliceBrutality #policeTerror #StopPoliceCrimes #jailKillerCops

The answer of big city politicians to police violence and murder is to ignore it, downplay it, blame the victims, and justify police violence. Police “accountability systems” rarely punish the few cops found guilty of brutality. Truth is, many of the same politicians organize and promote police terror.

Mayor Daley in Chicago and Mayor Guilliani in N.Y. work for the rich and serve the bosses' interests first. As the class of billionaires and multi-millionaires who run this capitalist system get richer and richer, the ranks of poor people swell. The rich need to keep the poor in their place and the police are their front line shock troops!

Many Blacks, Latinos, immigrants, and poor people view the police as an occupying army in their neighborhoods and towns. Every city police department is a racist institution. Even if Blacks and Latinos are in leadership positions and the police force is integrated, the actions of the police speak loud and clear. In the U.S.A., the police are used to control poor communities of color through intimidation and violence. Their purpose is to keep oppressed nationalities – Black, Chicano / Latino, Asian, and Native American peoples – down.

Where there is gentrification of working class neighborhoods, you will find the most heavy-handed police presence and clear increases in police brutality. If real estate developers want your neighborhood, WELL, LOOK OUT! Because the police will do their dirty work to move you out. The rich don't want to buy social peace anymore, they want social peace enforced. In the big cities where gentrification is bringing huge profits to real estate and finance interests, the police are trained to be aggressive, to use deadly force, to turn their guns on poor people and people of color.

The movement against police brutality is strong and getting stronger! People on the street are fed up with police abuse. Some of those who have been murdered by police have done nothing wrong, yet it should not matter if people have committed a crime – THEY DO NOT DESERVE TO DIE FOR IT.

We need people to get involved in building the fight back against police brutality. Those who have been hit hardest by police terror need to take the lead in building this struggle. We need to organize to put a stop to racist police attacks and to demand change. We will win reforms based on the strength of our anti-police brutality movement. And we need to do away with a system that allows these thugs in blue to roam the streets. The mayors and police superintendents will try to stop us. We must not fail, peoples lives depend on us!

#UnitedStates #Editorial #OppressedNationalities #Editorials #PoliceBrutality #policeTerror

Fight Back! talked on May 8 with Elizabeth (Bonnie) Moore, whose son Rasheed, 26, was killed in January by Newark, NJ police officer Thomas Ruane (see Fight Back! March/April 2005.) Fight Back! also talked with Earl Williams, whose son Earl Faison was killed by Orange, NJ policemen in April of 1999. After a struggle of five years, led by the Faison’s family and by the People’s Organization for Progress, four cops were sentenced to terms of 33 months each for violations of the victim’s civil rights. One officer was sentenced to nine years.

Earl Williams is the grandfather of one of Rasheed Moore’s children. He and Mrs. Moore have known each other for years.

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Fight Back!: What was the official story you were told when your sons were killed?

Earl Williams: We were told my son died from heart attack or something like that. They had no idea he had asthma. Come to find out he died from asphyxiation. They beat him unconscious, then they sprayed him with pepper spray, which caused his respiratory system to shut down. I call that murder. Talk about a hurtful loss.

Elizabeth (Bonnie) Moore: The police didn’t talk to me at first. They talked to Odie’s [Rasheed’s] cousin because the car he was in was registered to her. We were at home waiting for him to show up and she called. She said, “He died.” I was sure it was a mistake. It was like it wasn’t even true.

We had to go to Homicide. Detective Sabur told me it was a shooting. I asked who shot who – this kid [Rasheed] doesn’t mess around with guns. They said the cops shot him.

The police said he had rammed their cruiser. It had just snowed. You couldn’t even move through the streets. There isn’t a dent in that car other than the bullet holes. The other cop said the car was dragging him down the street. How could they be dragging one cop down the street and the other one was shooting in the window!

The cops claimed Odie hit their car and knocked it out of control. Pete [a co-passenger shot in the same incident] said the cop kept shooting and even reloaded. The cops told Pete, “You’re supposed to be dead like your partner.”

Earl: Why did they shoot? Where were they gonna go in all that snow?

Bonnie: All they told me was Rasheed had got shot in an altercation. But this boy will walk away from a fight. He had no record at all. They couldn’t find anything at all.

Earl: I can endorse that. This kid wasn’t violent at all. They couldn’t find anything on him. If they can find anything at all on a kid they will bring it up. Like they don’t have kids of their own.

Bonnie: They really messed me up. He took care of me, paid my bills, watched out for me. Now I’m here all by myself. His older girl is starting to miss him now but she doesn’t really know what’s going on. I just can’t believe it. I sit in the kitchen waiting for him to show up. The guys stand out there talking and he’s supposed to be there. I keep telling myself he’s gone away and he’ll be back. I could be sad and he could always say something to cheer me up.

Earl: I was like that for years. You can sit in your house and wait for him to show up. Earl was the same way. Both kids were like that. Earl could bring a smile to your face in the saddest situation.

Bonnie: I didn’t know how many elderly people he knew until they all showed up for his funeral because he had helped them. This is the same way he is.

Earl: As a parent we tend to dread that phone call late in the night if the kids aren’t in the house. But I didn’t worry about Earl at all. He knew how to stay out of trouble out there. In his situation they just snatched him out of a car and beat him up. It got sadistic to the point they took him to the station house and beat him to death.

Bonnie: I still haven’t heard from [Newark Mayor] Sharpe James.

Earl: I didn’t even hear from the mayor of Orange for two years. When he finally tried to reach me I just walked away from it. If you can’t say anything nice don’t say anything. Don’t worry yourself sick like I did.

Fight Back!: How much justice did you get for Earl, and how?

Earl Williams: We went through five years of pure h-e-l-l to get what justice we did. After the cops got convicted, good old [trial] Judge Lifland tried to drop the charges. We had to go to Philly to reinstate the convictions. Four cops got 33 months and one got nine years. He [son Earl Faison] had asthma but that had nothing to do with his death. They beat him to death. If I had done that I would have gone to jail immediately and not for just nine years. Justice is not blind. These guys pick and choose.

Bonnie: The same two cops shot two other kids after they shot Odie. I thought they were supposed to be on desk duty.

Earl: Why sit back and get killed just because? If we got murderers running around out there we got to do something about it. If somebody did something, apprehend them, arrest them. You don’t have to kill them. The cops sit around in the bars and brag about how they beat people.

Bonnie: That’s why I had to quit working for the Irvington Police Department.

Earl: They try to buy you off. I took pictures to [then-Essex County Prosecutor] Patricia Hurt and she was gasping. They got rid of her – they said she was too extravagant spending but just the other day the Star Ledger said they dropped her because of the case. That was supposed to have released Essex County from responsibility some kind of way.

Bonnie: It seems like they don’t have no remorse, it’s just another notch on their trigger fingers. I saw them beat a girl on Bergen Street. They beat her like an animal.

Earl: It was senseless. The city was in a state of emergency with the snow. He couldn’t ever have gotten away from them. There wasn’t any excuse for that. I remember that day two detectives came to our house and told us a young man was deceased. They asked me about a tattoo and I told them no. I’m going, “They made a mistake.” But he had a tattoo he hadn’t told me about. They showed me some pictures but they were from angles. They didn’t show they had beaten Earl so bad his eye was hanging out.

Bonnie: I told myself it wasn’t him. They just showed me a picture.

Earl: Once they finally released his body I spent an hour with my son. I took pictures because I wanted everybody to know what the police can do to you. Things continue to go the way they do because people don’t know the lengths to which the cops will go.

Bonnie: I saw one cop pick up a girl and take her to the side and do what he wanted to do. They rob and take drugs.

Earl: A lot of them feel like a badge makes them super-citizens.

Fight Back!: What does all this say about the social system we live under?

Earl: The social system these days is not too social, especially for black folks. Or Hispanic folks, or poor white folks. Things need to change as far as the social system goes. Mr. [Michael] Chertoff, who is now the head of Homeland Security, was one of the lawyers for the cops in Earl’s case. I could murder everybody in this room and this guy would have you thinking it was your fault.

#NewarkNJ #Interview #PeoplesStruggles #Interviews #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #policeTerror #ElizabethBonnieMoore #NewarkNJPolice #ThomasRuane #EarlWilliams #EarlFaison #RasheedMoore #DetectiveSabur

For a community that had experienced decades of racist discrimination and police violence, enough was enough. For two days, police were confronted in the streets, squad cars were destroyed, and abandoned buildings burned.

An organizer in Benton Harbor's fight for justice, JoNina Abron, chairwoman of the Southwest Michigan Coalition Against Racism and Police Brutality, told Fight Back!, “I call what happened a rebellion, because I believe the community's response was a result of years of pent up rage and frustration. The people of Benton Harbor are fed up with the years of police brutality that they have had to live with. They are outraged by the economic apartheid that they see every day. Benton Harbor's population is 95% Black. They are outraged by the racism of the criminal justice system. Their response was the culmination of many things that came together. The people of Benton Harbor saw an 11-year old boy, Trenton Patterson, struck and killed in September 2000 in another police pursuit case. They saw that nothing was done in that case.”

Benton Harbor police, along with those in the surrounding township, have a history of brutality, which has left more than a few injured or dead.

Tale of Two Cities

Benton Harbor is a small town. The folks that live there are Black. 50% of the population is unemployed. Across the river is St. Joseph. The residents are white, and it is the center for business in Berrien County, where both cities are located. The unemployment rate in white St. Joseph is 2%.

A statement from Benton Harbor community organizers shines a light on this divide. It notes, “At one time, St. Joseph and Benton Harbor were referred to as 'twin cities,' well, no more! The city of Benton Harbor is now 95% Black, while St. Joseph is 95% white. But these figures alone do not tell the whole story. There is the bridge which separates the two communities, which are two different worlds really. They are separate and unequal entities. More importantly, the bridge marks the line of demarcation between those who have power from those who are ruled over.”

The statement also pointed out, “It is no exaggeration at all to say that St. Joseph and Berrien County officials stole the available federal and state funding, which impoverished the city of Benton Harbor to the stage where it is the poorest city in Berrien County and in the state of Michigan. They robbed the community of all wealth, the same as if they had used a gun for armed robbery. All of this made St. Joseph the dominant city in Berrien County, and one of the most affluent in that state, while Benton Harbor became a beggar city of thousands of ever younger Black people. This economic apartheid is a large factor in what led to the revolt of June 17.”

Another facet of the political and economic life of Berrien County is the Whirlpool Corporation, the world's largest manufacturer of home appliances. While it's headquartered in Benton Harbor, the corporation favors the white city of St. Joseph. Fred Upton, heir to Whirlpool's founder, is a right-wing republican. Upton has done everything in his power to make government dollars flow to St. Joseph.

Struggle Continues

On June 12, community organizers issued a statement advancing the demands of the mass movement in Benton Harbor: “We call for an end to the racist outrages against the Black people of Benton Harbor by white politicians in Berrien County, Michigan. We call for an end to racial segregation and economic apartheid in this county. We call for an end to police brutality and to officially sanctioned violence against the black population of Benton Harbor. We call for an end to political disenfranchisement, neo-colonialism and the sharing of political power in Berrien County. We call for an end to the theft of community and economic development funding by county politicians, which has impoverished the black community of Benton Harbor and enriched St. Joseph's white community.”

The statement continued, “We call for the removal of all racist judges and prosecutors in the local judicial system, and immediate cessation of unjust selective prosecution of all those arrested during the June 17-18 rebellion in Benton Harbor. AMNESTY NOW! We want the criminal prosecution of: Benton Charter Township officer Wes Koza, for the death of Terrance Shurn on June 16, 2003; all officers responsible for the death of 11-year old Trenton Patterson in September, 2000; all Benton Township officers involved in the April 27, 2003 strangulation of Arthur Partee and other suspicious deaths of black people in Berrien County. Most importantly, we call for an immediate end to the reckless police pursuit policies through populated black civilian areas.”

Organizers are also calling for a boycott of tourism to St Joseph. The next issue of Fight Back! will contain an account of the ongoing protest movement.

No Justice, No Peace!

#BentonHarborMI #PoorPeoplesMovements #InJusticeSystem #News #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #policeViolence #AfricanAmericanCommunity #rebelledAgainstPoliceTerror #policeTerror #TerranceShurn #policeKilling #JoNinaAbron #SouthwestMichiganCoalitionAgainstRacismAndPoliceBrutality #BentonHarborPolice #WesKoza