After Troy Davis, After Trayvon Martin: What A Real Justice Movement Will Look Like

Bruce A. Dixon, BAR managing editor

05 Apr 2012

by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon

What would a real movement for justice in the wake of Troy Davis and Trayvon Martin look like? How can we actually engage the authorities, and the Obama administration with concrete demands to prevent the next Trayvon Martins? Our friends at the US Human Rights Network have a suggestion worth listening to....

After Troy Davis, After Trayvon Martin: What A Real Justice Movement Will Look Like

by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon

(Note: An earlier version of this article neglected to acknowledge the contribution of Ms. Arlene Eisen in co-authoring and researching with Kali Akuno, the material put forth by the US Human ?Rights Network, the Malcolm X Grassroots Organization and the Black-Left Unity Network.)

The murder of Trayvon Martin by a vigilante and son of a retired Florida judge has sparked more media heat, more column inches, and more protest marches than anything since, well, the murder of Troy Davis only a few months ago. The fact is that literally millions of people have prayed, demanded, forwarded emails, shown up at meetings, marched in the streets and searched for concrete ways to contribute to changing the system that killed Davis, Martin and will continue to kill countless others.

But it's clear that the establishment civil rights leaders and politicians and corporate media have nothing to offer them but the same dance steps they've followed before. Show up at a prayer vigil or demonstration and go quietly home afterward. Wait for the civil rights lawyers to sort it out, wear a hoodie to church. Donate or sign a petition. Vote for or against somebody. And they don't even mention Troy Davis any more, as if this month's atrocity had nothing to do with last month's or next month's.

Beyond trying to repeal a certain kind of dumb law in the handful of states that have it, and opening real investigations into the individual case of Trayvon Martin, our traditional civil rights and political leaders, the black political class, have nothing to offer us. Repealing a couple of bad laws won't do it. The police may have released Martin's shooter because of the bad law. But “stand your ground” doesn't stand up as an explanation of why they performed no canvass to determine other facts of the homicide, and made little or no attempt even to identify the victim. The most plausible explanation then, for the gross police and prosecutorial malpractice in this case is the fact that the shooter's father was a retired local magistrate, and cozy collusion between cops, prosecutors and judges is the way business is done everywhere in the US. It's something police anywhere in the country might plausibly have done, as a “professional courtesy” to the retired judge, whether they had a “stand your ground” law or not.

The black political class has nothing to offer here because they too are deeply tied to the prison state, and to the corporate interests that profit from it. While they will admit that the vigilante killing of Trayvon Martin and the state sanctioned murder of Troy Davis are distinct threads in a seamless garment, their advocacy remains limited to a handful of exemplary cases. The last thing they want to see is a movement independent of them, and of the two parties emerge on this or any issue. The last thing they want to hear are concrete demands for real change, demands they are prepared neither to make or to deal with themselves.

Kali Akuno and Arlene Eissen, of the US Human Rights Network, on the other hand, offer us a glimpse of what concrete demands flowing out of the Trayvon Martin case addressing the seamless garment of vigilante murder, police malpractice and the prison state might look like...

Currently, there is no national database that documents the killings of Black people by police, security guards and self-appointed peacekeepers. To understand the magnitude of the epidemic, we demand it be documented. To ensure that we hold the government accountable to this mandate, we call on all the organizations defending the human dignity and rights of Black people to collaborate on producing an independent database of these summary executions.
We must demand that the priorities of Homeland Security be shifted. As a recent Salon.com article noted, “So much money has gone into armoring and arming local law-enforcement since 9/11 that the federal government could have rebuilt post-Katrina New Orleans five times over and had enough money left in the kitty to provide job training and housing for every one of the record 41,000-plus homeless people in New York City. It could have added in the growing population of 15,000 homeless in Philadelphia, my hometown, and still have had money to spare. Add disintegrating Detroit, Newark, and Camden to the list. Throw in some crumbling bridges and roads, too.”(March 5, 2012) The military industrial complex is no longer a sector of the state—it has become the state—a police state. We must use whatever political rights we have left to demand that the tremendous resources used to fortify this militarized stated be used for human development, such as education, health care, and the development of sustainable energy and technology, not hunt and kill people.
At the same time, Homeland Security grants to police departments should be conditional on institutional overhaul that deprograms racist policies, rules of engagement, training and rewards.

a. Recruitment, training of new recruits and on-going retraining must identify racist assumptions and uproot them. The concept of “suspicious behavior” must be deconstructed under the leadership of community representatives.

b. When a cop has killed or wounded an unarmed “suspect” or used excessive force to subdue a “suspect”, that cops should be suspended without pay until the investigation is complete. If the cop is not cleared, he should be fired. (A number of killer cops are repeat offenders)

c. Cultural and institutional support that allows police departments to lie, cover-up, spin, justify and remain unaccountable for killing Black people must be identified. All actions must be video recorded and made public.

d. Community representatives responsible to community forum should be consulted on all these changes and approve them before implementation. Representatives of families whose loved ones have been killed should participate in these community bodies.

e. Money from one homeland security tank could more than fund high quality training for the entire police force for decades.

Redirect Homeland Security Funds to establish and institutionalize local community mental health programs. Jails and prisons are flooded with people who need support for emotional problems. Treatment, not punishment is needed. And there also should be community support for families—especially those with children who have emotional problems. A tragic number of children get killed by police when desperate parents call for help. This must end. Also, police must be trained, retrained and retrained on how to deal with people exhibiting erratic behavior. The policy of tasing for compliance must be ended.
Overhaul policies that encourage and justify harassment, assault and murder by non-trained, non-accountable citizens, such as “stand your ground”. Eg. Security guards, self-appointed neighborhood watch coordinator and a man defending his “castle” were responsible for at least four murders in the last three months.
Eliminate all the policies and procedures on all levels of government and in all state agencies that sanction the racial profiling of Black and other discriminated and targeted groups.
Stop the War on Drugs and end the mass incarceration of Black people. Reform all of the drug enforcement, quality of life, and mandatory minimum sentencing laws that have resulted in the gross over incarceration of Black people and the largest penal system in the world.
Challenge the cultural and legal climate that demonizes Black people and encourages racist attacks by security guards and vigilantes by instituting a massive public education campaign that addresses the historic legacy of white supremacy and institutional racism and educates the public about their fundamental human rights.
Finally, the Obama administration must create and institute a “National Plan of Action for Racial Justice”^¹ to fulfill the governments obligations under the Convention to Eliminate all forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD)^² by creating a permanent Inter-Agency Working Group to implement all of the aforementioned demands to protect Black and other historically oppressed groups from racial discrimination, targeted violence, and summary executions. For more information on CERD visit http://www.ushrnetwork.org/content/campaignproject/elimination-all-forms-racial-discrimination-icerd.

Instead of patting the First Black President on the back for talking to us about his imaginary son, the one that “would look like Trayvon Martin,” Mr. Akuno and Ms. Eisen suggest we ought to be directly engaging government on every level, and most especially the Obama administration on making these concrete demands happen so that we can begin to limit the number of vigilante killings, police murders and state-sanctioned executions. Our black mayors and local officials don't deserve a pass on this, and our First Black President certainly does not either.

As evidence, as if any was needed, of the systemic nature of vigilante killings alone, they offers a partial list of more than 30 vigilante killings of blacks from the beginning of this year alone.

Date of Death	Name of Dead Family Member	Age	Place	Was “suspect” armed?	Comments
01/12/2012	Donald Johnson	21	New Orleans, LA	Probably	NOPD reported they shot Johnson after led them on a chase and fired on them. He was allegedly involved in a shooting that left 3 dead and 2 wounded.
01/12/2012	Duane Brown	26	East New York, Brooklyn, NY	allegedly	Brown had called police for assistance in stopping a robbery.Police shot him.
01/17/2012	Angelo Clark	31	Little Rock, AK	allegedly	Killed by SWAT Unit serving drug-related search warrant.
01/24/2012	Steven Rodriguez	22	Monterrey Park, CA	Pipe bender	Man in hoodie allegedly broke windows at Carls Jr Fast Food and police were called. They tased him in the face and almost immediately shot him ten times when didn’t surrender. ^³
01/26/2012	Christopher Kissane	26	Cypress Hills, Brooklyn, NY	Probably	An off-duty police lieutenant shot and killed Kissane who he thought was involved in a carjacking.
01/29/2012	Atwain White	17	Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY	Cane	An off-duty detective alleged that White attempted to mug him near the subway station close to midnight. The detective shot him in chest. A 15-year old alleged accomplice was not charged.
02/01/2012	Stephon Watts	15	Calumet City, IL (Chicago suburb)	No	Watts was a child with Asperger’s Syndrome. Police reported he lashed out with a kitchen knife. Mother said he had a small harmless pen knife. Police Dept had been called to this house many times before. Had experience in dealing with this emotionally disturbed child.
02/03/2012	Remarley Graham	18	Bronx, NY	No	Killed after Narcotics Task Force chased Graham into his home.
02/10/2012	Manuel Loggins Jr.	31	San Clemente, CA	No	Loggins was a former Marine Sargeant who followed a daily exercise and prayer routine with his two daughters, aged 9 and 14. His kids were waiting for him in his SUV when Orange County Police shot and killed him on the assumption that he was a threat to the girls.
02/13/2012	Johnnie Kamahi Warren	43	Dotham, AL	No	Warren died after he was shot with a taser twice for being intoxicated. ^⁴
02/26/2012	Trayvon Martin	17	Sanford, FL	No	Shot and killed by George Zimmerman, self-appointed community watch coordinator who thought Martin looked suspicious.
02/29/2012	Raymond Allen	34	Galveston, TX	No	Police, suspected this father of four was under influence of drugs, subjected him to multiple tasings and hog tied him. He died two days later. Wife is suing.
03/01/2012	Justin Sipp	20	New Orleans, LA	No	Off-duty police officer thought Sipp looked suspicious.
03/01/2012	Dante Price	25	Dayton, Ohio	No	Ranger Security Guards at Summit Square Apartments shot him 22 times as he attempted to keep an appointment to babysit his own kids.
03/01/2012	Melvin Lawhorn	26	Kershaw County, SC	No	Shot by County Sheriff when he tried to avoid a drug traffic stop.
03/03/2012	Bo Morrison	20	West Bend, WI	No	When police broke up a party where alcohol was being served to underage people, Morrison ran away and hid on neighbor’s back porch. Homeowner, Adam Kind, shot him in chest. He was not charged because under the “Castle Doctrine” he had the right to defend his home against perceived threat.
03/05/2012	Nehemiah Dillard	29	Gainesville, FL	No	Behaving “strangely”, possibly despondent over divorce. Tased twice and went into cardiac arrest.
03/06/2012	Darryl Berry	45	Bush Creek Township, PA	No	In the aftermath of a car accident involving Berry on a rural stretch of the PA Turnpike, a State Trooper arrived and alleged that Berry attacked him with his dogs, so he shot Berry (not the dogs) 3 times. Cop had no injuries.
03/07/2012	Wendell Allen	20	New Orleans, LA	No	Allen, a high school basketball star, was shirtless and wearing pajama bottoms when he was shot by a plainclothes narcotics officer. Four children were in the home at the time of the raid for marijuana.
03/07/2012	Michael Lembhard	22	Newburgh, NY	allegedly	Police alleged Lembhard came at them (four) with a knife. Hundreds, including the town mayor, attended his funeral and protested the police use of excessive force.
03/10/2012	Marquez Smart	23	Wichita, KS	allegedly	Allegedly refused police order to drop gun. (news story very sketchy. The funeral guest book on line is only indication Smart was Black)
03/12/2012	Jersey Green	37	Aurora, IL	no	Green died after police officers tasered him after he allegedly jumped on the hood of a squad car and moved toward an officer. He may have been in possession of crack cocaine.
3/15/2012	Shereese Francis	30	Jamaica, Queens, NY	no	Francis had a diagnosed mental illness. When her family called for medical assistance, the police arrived, further upset her and in the process of “subduing her”, held her face down on the bed, and suffocated her.
03/21/2012	Robert Dumas Jr.	42	Maple Heights, Cleveland, OH	no	Killed during a car chase and crash with police. He had been speeding.
03/25/2012	Kendrec Lavelle McDade	19	Pasadena, CA	no	Police shot McDade, a Citrus College student, based on false accusation that he had stolen a laptop at gunpoint. Carrillo, the accuser, was charged with manslaughter because his false statement “led” to McDade’s killing.

Researched, & written by Kali Akuno and Arlene Eisen for Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, the Black-Left Unity Network and the US Human Rights Network.

It's not rocket science. Systemic defects and abuses require systemic cures, and systemic cures begin with real, honest extended dialog and leadership. Instead of empty hoodie gestures, Akuno and Eisen, on behalf of the US Human Rights Network, the Malcolm X Grassroots Organization and the Black-Left Unity Network offer us a petition urging President Obama and his administration to participate in such a dialog around these facts and these policy recommendations. If Obama won't lead for the people, maybe he can be led by them.

We hope you'll visit the link, and sign the petition. And we can take ourselves one step closer to a real movement for justice, a movement for all the Troy Davises, for all the Trayvon Martins, for the millions locked out and locked down, for all of our sons and daughters.

Sign the petition, and view the complete statement, “Trayvon Martin Is All Of Us” at http://ushrnetwork.org/content/actionalert/trayvon-martin-petition-learn-and-sign-now

Bruce A. Dixon is managing editor at Black Agenda Report and a member of the state committee of the Georgia Green Party. He can be reached at bruce.dixon(at)blackagendareport.com.

FOOTNOTES:

1 National Plans of Action to eliminate racism and racial discrimination originated within the World Conference Against Racism process from 2001 in Durban, South Africa. To date several close allies of the United States have created National Plans of Action to combat racial discrimination, including Canada, Brazil, Ireland, and Norway to name a few. The National Plan of Action for Racial Justice proposed would address the systemic issues confronting all racialized and historically oppressed peoples in the United States including Indigenous peoples, Chicano/Mexicanos, Puerto Ricans, Indigenous Hawaiians, and others.

2 The United States government formerly ratified the ICERD treaty in 1994 making it officially the law of the land.

3 News One.com reported Rodriguez was African America however other reports and family photos indicate he was Latino.

4 Many written reports do not explicitly identify the race of the victim. Most, however, do show photographs. In the case of Warren, no photo was displayed.

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