No FEAR Coalition Rallies At Justice Department for Mike Brown and Against Police Brutality and Militarization
by Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, No FEAR Coalition
“There are Michael Brown situations occurring throughout the country and the next one could be a member of your family."
On Wednesday, August 27 at 4pm, activists will rally outside the U.S. Justice Department in Washington to call on the Attorney General to help secure justice for Michael Brown and the people of Ferguson, Missouri, as well as an overhaul of US law enforcement tactics in order to stop police brutality and the militarization of our police forces.
The rally speakers will feature legal experts and community organizers, including Institute of the Black World President Ron Daniels and No FEAR Coalition leader Marsha Coleman-Abedayo. After the rally, the group will march to Busboys and Poets on 5th & K St NW to attend “Ferguson and Beyond – The Way Forward,” a town hall meeting on police killings of black men which begins at 6:30 PM. The town hall speakers include Ron Hampton, former head of the National Black Police Association and Hilary Shelton, Director of the DC NAACP.
“Michael's murder is symptomatic of a systemic, racist culture that condones the murder and incarceration of black boys and men at rates highly disproportionate to the general population. U.S. police or vigilantes kill a black man every 28 hours,” says Marsha Coleman-Abedayo of No FEAR Coalition. “We need the full support of the Attorney General’s office to make sure that Michael Brown is not simply another name added to the anonymous statistics and meaningless deaths of African-Americans at the mercy of a merciless system.”
Matthew Fogg
, a retired US Marshall stated: "the criminal justice system is racist and aimed at destroying the lives of African-American boys and men. I was ordered to target the Black community for drug related imprisonment instead of following the evidence. There are Michael Brown situations occurring throughout the country and the next one could be a member of your family."
“Prison sentences confine people of color as indentured servants to for-profit prisons.”
The organizers addressed the following letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder:
“We, the undersigned, are startled and outraged by the recent events in Ferguson, Missouri. Michael Brown, an unarmed, black teenager—who was allegedly surrendering with his arms up—was shot at least 6 times by a white police officer. Michael's murder is symptomatic of a systemic racist culture that condones the murder and incarceration of black boys and men at rates highly disproportionate to the general population: African-American and Latino boys and men comprise under 30% of the general population yet represent upwards of 60% of Federal inmates; U.S. police or vigilantes kill a black man every 28 hours.
“Beyond their literal murder, incarcerating black men and boys—often for minor offenses—is a symbolic form of murder that annihilates families and weakens communities. Prison sentences confine people of color as indentured servants to for-profit prisons. Combined, these factors constitute domestic genocide.
“Birmingham, Selma and Little Rock symbolized the sixties with racial divides frozen in black and white photographs of menacing police, German shepherds, and water hoses. Whether we add Ferguson, Missouri to the lexicon of moments defining African-America—and America—will depend largely on whether your office shows the courage and leadership necessary to stop this systemic assault.
“African-American and progressive communities will not tolerate continued and routine human rights violations, incarcerations, and reckless use of deadly force by police against black boys and men.
“In 1857 the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States wrote in the Dred Scott decision that African-Americans "have no rights that white men or white women are bound to respect." Within 50 years of that ruling 3,500 African-Americans were lynched. Today's incessant police violence against black and brown communities shows that Dred Scott and the Constitution's original decree that Africans are only ¾ human remains the de facto law of the land. According to the NAACP:
- African-Americans now constitute nearly 1 million of the total 2.3 million incarcerated population.
- African-Americans are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of whites.
- African-American and Hispanics comprise 58% of all prisoners in 2008, even though African-Americans and Hispanics make up approximately one quarter of the US population.
“Dred Scott's core values—the very DNA of racism—remain largely the same today. Mr. Attorney General, you have the authority, capability and responsibility to stop this today.
“In Ferguson, American citizens, engaged in Constitutionally-protected public assembly petitioning their government for redress of grievances, are looking down the barrels of high-powered rifles that are trained on them by "police" with little discernible difference between the occupying military deployed in war zones. The police response to Mr. Brown's murder has been to inflict more injury through arrests and injuries on citizens of Missouri and people who have travelled there to stand in solidarity with the embattled, grief-stricken, and rightfully outraged community.
“The militarized presence in Ferguson must be withdrawn immediately. Further, the national militarization of police forces must be dismantled.
“The police response to Mr. Brown's murder has been to inflict more injury.”
“In keeping with your own statements as Attorney General about the standards for determining civil rights violations as being too high, you must now provide new guidelines that lower those standards so that it is possible to hold offending police officers, departments and individuals accountable for violations of citizens' civil rights.
“Our Coalition respects and endorses the demands of the local population of Ferguson. We attach those demands the end of this letter. Mr. Brown's slaying is an individual tragedy yet it is by no means an isolated incident. We, therefore, submit the following demands to be implemented nationally:
- Black boys and men incarcerated for minor crimes must be released immediately.
- Legislation must be introduced that will impose life-sentences for law enforcement officials who murder unarmed boys and men.
- The excessive use of force by police must be prohibited with strong disciplinary sanctions.
- All military personnel and equipment must be withdrawn from Ferguson.
- Assign an independent prosecutor to the Michael Brown case.
- Transparency requires the establishment of an independent citizens' advisory/review board composed of volunteers from civil society to fully participate in the investigation of Michael Brown's execution and all domestic instances of law enforcement involving the use of lethal and/or excessive force.
- Body cameras must be issued to all law enforcement officers to help ensure and protect citizens from harassment, police brutality and murder and to vindicate officers acting lawfully.
- Recall all military equipment already given to cities and states and prohibit its ever being used domestically against US citizens exercising their Constitutional rights.
“Ferguson has already waged a good fight. Without the well-deserved support of your office and a broad left/right coalition that can see this as a moment when the powerless outstrip the powerful, Michael Brown's name can be added to the anonymous statistics and meaningless deaths of African-Americans at the mercy of a merciless system.
“Ferguson has thrown itself against the iron gate of that system. It is up to you and the rest of us to see that the gate gets flown wide open. We offer our assistance to your office and other civil and human rights organizations to finally end what has been an unrelenting history of police brutality, mass incarceration and murder of black and brown boys and men.”
For information, contact Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, No FEAR Coalition, nofearcoalition@aol.com, 301-320-3021, or Alli McCracken, CODEPINK National Coordinator, alli@codepink.org, 860-575-5692.
Signatures:
- No FEAR Coalition
- Code Pink
- Popular Resistance
- Congress Against Racism and Corruption in Law Enforcement
- Bigots with Badges
- We Act Radio - (to be confirmed)
- Federally Employed Women-Legal and Education Fund
- Blacks in Government - Heritage Chapter
- WPFW Radio Station - 89.3 FM
- Peace Action Montgomery
- Blacks in Law Enforcement of America
- The DC Justice Collaborative
- WarIsACrime.org
- The Institute of the Black World
- NetWe.com
- Green Shadow Cabinet
- A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
- Veterans for Peace, Washington, D.C. and Baltimore Chapters
- The Coalition For Change, Inc. (C4C)
- RootsAction.org
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