I call it murder

It’s Black Resistance to Police Terrorism Month, marked by five events in two weeks – four in Oakland, one in Los Angeles – described in these three fliers; be there and get involved!

by Cynthia McKinney

Resistance-Month-0210-web, I call it murder, News & Views They shot this Black man in his genitals and in his back. It sounds like a hate crime to me. How else could one describe it?

Well, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, it was self-defense. But how many times have we heard self-defense by cops used as a cop out?

Well, what about Amadou Diallo? Amadou Diallo was murdered on Feb. 4, 1999, by New York Police Department   cops who mistook a wallet for a gun. They claim that they thought he was going to shoot them and so they shot him in self-defense. One officer fell as if he had been shot. Forty-one bullets later, Amadou Diallo had been shot 19 times.

Young Amadou was only 24 years old. He could survive the itinerant life of an African trading family, moving from Africa to Asia, but he couldn’t survive the mean, racist streets of America. And the killer cops went free. Diallo’s mother and step-father settled with the City of New York for $3 million in a lawsuit alleging wrongful death, racial profiling and violation of Amadou’s civil rights.

Oscar-Grant-Town-Hall-021810-web, I call it murder, News & Views Kathryn Johnston was 92 years old when she was murdered by Atlanta Police Department (APD) officers who claim that they shot her in self-defense after narcotics officers broke into her home on Nov. 21, 2006, using a “no-knock” warrant. Police forced their way into Johnston’s home and claimed to have found a stash of marijuana there. The APD officers claimed that she had injured them with her rusty revolver.

Sadly, it was all lies. Later, it was learned that the Atlanta police officers were actually injured by friendly fire after discharging their firearms 39 times, that they planted marijuana in the Johnston basement, lied on the drug warrant authorizing the raid, invented an informant justifying the raid and pressured an actual drug informant to lie for them. Atlanta’s lying killer cops did serve time – either for manslaughter, conspiracy to violate Johnston’s civil rights resulting in death, or perjury. The three officers were also required to reimburse the Johnston estate the $8,000 cost of her burial.

In the wee hours of Nov. 25, 2006, Sean Bell was murdered in a hail of 50 bullets fired by officers in the New York Police Department. Bell was celebrating his upcoming wedding and was leaving the club where he had just held his bachelor party. Police opened fire after they suspected the victim had a gun. Bell was struck four times in the neck and torso and died from his wounds. When no gun was to be found, they concocted a mystery witness who could possibly have had a gun. New York’s killer cops were acquitted on all charges.

Mumia-0210-web, I call it murder, News & Views Although Diallo, Johnston and Bell were Black, Blacks in the United States are not the only ones who can be victimized by murderous U.S. law enforcement. While on a visit to Cuba, I had the opportunity to meet and apologize to the widow of Filiberto Ojeda Rios, a leading Puerto Rican Independentista.

Wanted by U.S. authorities for actions stemming from his belief that Puerto Rico was a U.S. colony that should be independent, Ojeda Rios was murdered on Sept. 23, 2005, shot by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at his home. An FBI press release stated that Ojeda Rios opened fire on the FBI and that the FBI retaliated, but that claim was not substantiated by an inspector general’s report that noted that the FBI opened the attack on Ojeda Rios with a “flash bang” device. Ojeda Rios shot 10 times and the FBI fired 100 times. Ojeda Rios was struck in the lung by a single sniper’s bullet, fell to the floor and bled to death over 12 to 15 hours with no medical help allowed to save his life.

The United States government wanted to investigate the Aryan Nations, a white supremacist organization in the United States, and solicited Randy Weaver to become an informant. He turned them down. After a series of incitements and retaliations, federal agents trespassed on Ruby Ridge, Weaver’s home in Idaho, incited a response from the Weavers, two of whom left the house to see what was happening, and by the end of the ordeal, Weaver had lost two family members: his wife, Vicky, and his 14-year-old son, Sammy. His dog was killed, while another family member, Kevin Harris, had been wounded.

Randy Weaver was shot in the back. Justifying its attack on the Weavers, the U.S. government claimed that Weaver and Harris had fired at a government helicopter. At trial, the jury believed that federal agents shot and killed the Weaver dog, then shot and killed Sammy, prompting Harris to shoot and kill one of the agents.

The government awarded Randy Weaver $100,000 and one million dollars for each of three children. Although Harris had killed a U.S. agent, for which a jury had acquitted him of murder charges because he had fired only after having been fired upon, the federal government awarded him $380,000 in settlement.

Oscar-Grant-execution-video-frame-courtesy-John-Burris1, I call it murder, News & Views Now, although examples are rife in the Black and Latino communities of ordinary citizens finding themselves at the wrong end of a police muzzle for minor or no infractions, it should be clear that as long as government officials are out of control, no one is safe. That’s why we all should be outraged about excessive force and make our outrage public no matter where it happens or who the victim might be.

JR-spoke-after-Bobby-Seale-at-BPP-43rd-reunion-Laney-102409-by-Malaika-Kambon-web, I call it murder, News & Views That’s why I support the young people who are still facing charges from the fallout from the Oscar Grant New Year’s Day murder. Remove police violence and one would not even have an Oakland 100. And quite frankly, with Oakland under the leadership of my former colleague, Ron Dellums, I’m surprised that this issue had not been more forthrightly dealt with prior to Grant’s murder.

This all brings me to the Jan. 30 report on the murder by the FBI of a Detroit Black man who was also an imam. The case seems to have all of the ingredients of the worst of the above cases: the use of informants, law enforcement claims of self-defense or firing in retaliation for being fired upon, and failure to call for medical assistance after a fatal shooting. The FBI also refuses to release what kind of weapon the imam had.

And more troubling is the autopsy that reportedly shows that Imam Abdullah was shot in the genitals – a vintage, racist attack on Black men used by White men during the days of U.S. slavery and even after the U.S. Civil War – and in the back. I suppose that was self-defense, too.

Imam-Luqman-Ameen-Abdullah-blue-turban2, I call it murder, News & Views Imam Abdullah, with the help of an FBI informant, was led to a warehouse where he was shot by the FBI 21 times. At a press conference, FBI Special Agent Andrew Arena commented: “I take full responsibility for what occurred that day. And I have to be judged: I’ll be judged by you. I’ll be judged by the community. I’ll be judged by my bosses in Washington, D.C., as far as the Justice Department and, quite frankly, God someday.”

The sad fact of the matter is that too many killer cops are still walking around free. Sadly, many continue to serve as law enforcement officials, able to carry out their crimes against the community again and again.

Yes, they all will face God’s judgment when they die, but it would be nice to get some justice here on earth, too. The Obama Justice Department has the opportunity to exact justice on behalf of communities besieged by rogue, killer cops. The verdict is not looking good, unfortunately, on whether the Obama Justice Department will serve the American people much needed, long delayed justice or whether certain perpetrators and their law enforcement departments will be given yet another White House pass.

For news from, by and about Cynthia McKinney, former Georgia congresswoman and Green Party presidential candidate, check these websites: http://dignity.ning.com/, http://www.enduswars.org, http://www.livestream.com/dignity, http://www.twitter.com/dignityaction, http://www.myspace.com/dignityaction, http://www.myspace.com/runcynthiarun, http://www.twitter.com/cynthiamckinney, http://www.facebook.com/CynthiaMcKinney.

Cynthia McKinney to receive ‘Peace through Conscience’ award from Munich American Peace Committee

McKinney will accept the award at a peace conference in the same city as NATO’s Munich Security Conference, which will address the war on Afghanistan; Greens contrast McKinney’s ‘deserved’ award with Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize

Washington, D.C. – The Green Party of the United States congratulated former U.S. Representative Cynthia McKinney after an announcement that she will receive the Peace through Conscience award from the Munich American Peace Committee (MAPC). McKinney was the Green Party’s 2008 nominee for president of the United States.

Cynthia-McKinney-Triumph-Tour-Cynthia-speaking-gorgeous-at-Black-Dot-082109-by-Kamau-web, I call it murder, News & Views McKinney has been invited to participate in an International Peace Conference scheduled to take place in Munich, Germany, from Feb. 6 to 7, coinciding with the Munich Security Conference, which will address NATO strategy towards Afghanistan, including President Obama’s planned troop escalation. A long-time proponent of abolishing NATO, McKinney is scheduled to speak on Feb. 6 at a rally in protest of the NATO conference. After the rally, she will participate in the conference.

MAPC will present the award to Cynthia McKinney during ceremonies of the Munich Peace Conference on the evening of Feb. 6. The MAPC Peace Prize is normally awarded by the previous year’s winner. In McKinney’s case, the award will be presented by André Shepherd, a U.S. Army specialist who applied for asylum in Germany after objecting to the wars in Iraq.

“I am humbled to be so recognized,” said Cynthia McKinney. “Clearly, the MAPC gave more thought to the significance of those whose struggle for peace is based on principle and an unshakeable commitment, despite the personal sacrifices required, than did the Nobel Peace Committee that rewarded our president for war.”

Commenting on the decision to grant President Obama the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, McKinney said, “In this way of thinking, peace is now war, lies are now truth and ignorance is strength.”

Ms. McKinney has urged Americans across Germany to gather in Munich and protest U.S. and NATO war policies, noting that Germany has sent its own troops to Afghanistan. She will meet with American expatriates while in Munich.

“We are very proud of Cynthia McKinney’s work for peace and human rights in the U.S. and internationally,” said Dr. Justine McCabe, co-chair of the Green Party’s International Committee. “Ms. McKinney has led the demand for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and Afghanistan and strongly criticized President Obama’s announcement of a troop surge in Afghanistan. She has challenged NATO’s global expansion of military operations and demanded its abolition.

“Last June, after President Obama urged humanitarian aid for people in Gaza, Ms. McKinney and other Free Gaza activists tried to deliver medical and construction supplies and other relief. They were illegally intercepted by the Israeli navy in international waters and jailed, while the White House remained silent. Unlike our president, Cynthia McKinney deserves a peace prize.”

In a presentation at the 8. Internationale Muenchner Friedenskonferenz (Eighth Munich International Peace Conference), McKinney will discuss chances for a civil and nonviolent U.S. foreign policy, the need to end the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. policies regarding Colombia and its neighbors and efforts toward a nuclear-free world. She will pose the question “What should governments and the politicians at the Security Conference do to promote peace and justice?”

Learn more about the Green Party of the United States at www.gp.org.