In Ferguson, Missouri, an autopsy report showed that unarmed Michael Brown, 18 was shot six times. Whether Michael was physically resisting the police is disputed, but the report found that one of the shots had been through the top of his head. That’s not protecting the people nor is it a reasonable action by an officer trying to protect himself; that’s an execution. In a press conference yesterday, President Obama mentioned that a “gulf of mistrust” that exists between the people and the police.
In the same press conference he was asked about the wisdom of increasing militarization of our police forces. His opening on the topic was good: “Well, I think one of the great things about the United States has been our ability to maintain a distinction between our military and domestic law enforcement. That helps preserve our civil liberties. That helps ensure that the military is accountable to civilian direction. And that has to be preserved.” After that, he gave a non-response regarding the wisdom of our militarized police.
The police killing of Michael Brown is being investigated by the FBI, who followed the announcement of the investigation with a disclaimer that the launching of an investigation doesn’t mean that there was any wrongdoing. One witness attests that Michael was shot while running from the police with his hands in the air. Every night since the killing there have been protests by day and riots by night.
Perhaps the outrage in Ferguson will lead to some changes. Daniel Pantaleo, a NYPD officer who choked Eric Garner, 43, to death during questioning regarding possibly selling loose cigarettes, will finally be facing a grand jury. That was announced today, over a month since the incident. Ramsey Orta, who recorded the video of Eric’s death, was arrested, followed by the arrest of his wife Chrissie Ortiz.
In the video the police commissioner said that an investigation would be done into the appropriateness of the police’s actions, before and after stressing that they were in a lawful place engaged in lawful enforcement activities. The Blue Code of Silence was very much apparent here, with the commissioner closing ranks with the killer cops even while promising that an investigation would be conducted.
On August 5, police killed John Crawford, 22, in Beaverton, Ohio. He had been carrying an airsoft rifle (a BB gun) in a Wal-Mart. According to the mother of his children, who had been on the phone with him at the time: “He said he was at the video games playing videos and he went over there by the toy section where the toy guns were. And the next thing I know, he said ‘It’s not real,’ and the police start shooting and they said ‘Get on the ground,’ but he was already on the ground because they had shot him. And I could hear him just crying and screaming. I feel like they shot him down like he was not even human.”
One of the officers involved in John’s killing was previously cleared of any wrongdoing in a 2010 apartment complex shooting.
Two days after the Ferguson police killed Michael Brown in Missouri, police killed Ezell Ford, 22, in Los Angeles. The police report from the killing doesn’t mention that Ezell was shot in the back. Ezell had been walking along the street when police wanted to stop to talk to him. He didn’t change what he was doing, and they cited “suspicious” hand movements as a reason for their assault. While the police say that Ezell had attacked them after they stopped him, this is disputed by witnesses. Ezell was known in the neighborhood to have a mental illness. Even if Ezell had been assaulting the police, there was no reason to shoot him in the back. Repeatedly.
The huge spate of deaths at the hands of the police in Albuquerque has already been covered here.
The police in Ferguson have asked that the people be reasonable. Michael Brown thought it reasonable to run from the cops with his hands in the air. Eric Garner’s possible offense was selling loose cigarettes. John Crawford was simply walking in Wal-Mart with an impending purchase. Ezell Ford was similarly simply walking. What is reasonable here? Is it not reasonable to run from an organization with above-the-law murderers on staff? Is it not reasonable to protest these killings? The people in Ferguson are rioting. That’s illegal, but property damage shouldn’t be condemned with more force than the state-sanctioned actors who brutalize the people with senseless murders.
While We Slept 