August 12, 2016


News and Views


https://www.yahoo.com/news/california-woman-holds-party-killing-195406307.html?post_id=1605282889713411_1777418442499854#_=_

Terminally ill woman holds party before ending her life
JULIE WATSON
August 11, 2016

Photograph -- This July 24, 2016 photo provided by Niels Alpert, Amanda Friedland, left, surrounded by friends and family adjusts her friend Betsy Davis's sash as she lays on a bed during her "Right To Die Party" in Ojai, Calif. In early July, Davis emailed her closest friends and family to invite them to a two-day celebration, telling them: "These circumstances are unlike any party you have attended before, requiring emotional stamina, centeredness, and openness. And one rule: No crying." The 41-year-old woman diagnosed with ALS, held the party to say goodbye before becoming one of the first California residents to take life-ending drugs under a new law that gave such an option to the terminally ill. (Niels Alpert via AP)


SAN DIEGO (AP) — In early July, Betsy Davis emailed her closest friends and relatives to invite them to a two-day party, telling them: "These circumstances are unlike any party you have attended before, requiring emotional stamina, centeredness and openness."

And just one rule: No crying in front of her.

The 41-year-old artist with ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease, held the gathering to say goodbye before becoming one of the first Californians to take a lethal dose of drugs under the state's new doctor-assisted suicide law for the terminally ill.

"For me and everyone who was invited, it was very challenging to consider, but there was no question that we would be there for her," said Niels Alpert, a cinematographer from New York City.

"The idea to go and spend a beautiful weekend that culminates in their suicide — that is not a normal thing, not a normal, everyday occurrence. In the background of the lovely fun, smiles and laughter that we had that weekend was the knowledge of what was coming."

Davis worked out a detailed schedule for the gathering on the weekend of July 23-24, including the precise hour she planned to slip into a coma, and shared her plans with her guests in the invitation.

More than 30 people came to the party at a home with a wraparound porch in the picturesque Southern California mountain town of Ojai, flying in from New York, Chicago and across California.

One woman brought a cello. A man played a harmonica. There were cocktails, pizza from her favorite local joint, and a screening in her room of one of her favorite movies, "The Dance of Reality," based on the life of a Chilean film director.

As the weekend drew to a close, her friends kissed her goodbye, gathered for a photo and left, and Davis was wheeled out to a canopy bed on a hillside, where she took a combination of morphine, pentobarbital and chloral hydrate prescribed by her doctor.

Kelly Davis said she loved her sister's idea for the gathering, which Betsy Davis referred to as a "rebirth."

"Obviously it was hard for me. It's still hard for me," said Davis, who wrote about it for the online news outlet Voice of San Diego. "The worst was needing to leave the room every now and then, because I would get choked up. But people got it. They understood how much she was suffering and that she was fine with her decision. They respected that. They knew she wanted it to be a joyous occasion."

Davis ended her life a little over a month after a California law giving the option to the terminally ill went into effect. Four other states allow doctor-assisted suicide, with Oregon the first in 1997.

Opponents of the law in lobbying against it before state legislators argued that hastening death was morally wrong, that it puts terminally ill patients at risk for coerced death by loved ones and could become a way out for people who are uninsured or fearful of high medical bills.

Marilyn Golden of the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, said her heart goes out to anyone dealing with a terminal illness, but "there are still millions of people in California threatened by the danger of this law."

Davis spent months planning her exit, feeling empowered after spending the last three years losing control of her body bit by bit. The painter and performance artist could no longer stand, brush her teeth or scratch an itch. Her caretakers had to translate her slurred speech for others.

"Dear rebirth participants you're all very brave for sending me off on my journey," she wrote in her invitation. "There are no rules. Wear what you want, speak your mind, dance, hop, chant, sing, pray, but do not cry in front of me. OK, one rule."

During the party, old friends reconnected and Davis rolled in and out of the rooms in her electric wheelchair and onto the porch, talking with her guests.

At one point, she invited friends to her room to try on the clothes she had picked out for them. They modeled the outfits to laughter. Guests were also invited to take a "Betsy souvenir" — a painting, beauty product or other memento. Her sister had placed sticky notes on the items, explaining each one's significance.

Wearing a Japanese kimono she bought on a bucket-list trip she took after being diagnosed in 2013, she looked out at her last sunset and took the drugs at 6:45 p.m. with her caretaker, her doctor, her massage therapist and her sister by her side. Four hours later, she died.

Friends said it was the final performance for the artist, who once drew pictures on a stage with whipped cream.

"What Betsy did gave her the most beautiful death that any person could ever wish for," Alpert said. "By taking charge, she turned her departure into a work of art."

Her guests agreed to meet again on her birthday in June to scatter her ashes.



DOJ REPORT ON BALTIMORE PD -- A TRULY SHOCKING CASE
THE FOLLOWING ARTICLES NEED NO EXPLANATION.

http://www.democracynow.org/2016/8/11/racist_illegal_justice_department_slams_baltimore

INDEPENDENT GLOBAL NEWS
Racist & Illegal: Justice Department Slams Baltimore Police for Targeting Black Residents
AUGUST 11, 2016 STORY WATCH FULL SHOW

Video -- Baltimore Residents from Rep. Elijah Cummings to Local Activist Speak Out on Being Stopped by Police


"A Justice Department investigation has concluded Baltimore police have carried out a practice of racially discriminatory policing by systematically stopping, searching and arresting black residents at a disproportionate rate. "BPD engages in a pattern or practice of making unconstitutional stops, searches and arrests; using enforcement strategies that produce severe and unjustified disparities in the rates of stops searches and arrests of African-Americans; using excessive force and retaliating against people engaging in constitutionally protected expression," said Deputy Assistant U.S. Attorney General Vanita Gupta. The 163-page report revealed "supervisors have issued explicitly discriminatory orders, such as directing a shift to arrest 'all the black hoodies' in a neighborhood." We speak to Baltimore-based reporter Baynard Woods and activist Ralikh Hayes, the coordinator of Baltimore Bloc, a grassroots collective."

TRANSCRIPT

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: A Justice Department investigation has concluded Baltimore police have carried out a practice of racially discriminatory policing by systematically stopping, searching and arresting black residents at a disproportionate rate. Deputy Assistant U.S. Attorney General Vanita Gupta outlined the findings at a news conference in Baltimore Wednesday.

VANITA GUPTA: We conclude that there is reasonable cause to believe that BPD engages in a pattern or practice of conduct that violates the Constitution and federal antidiscrimination law. BPD engages in a pattern or practice of making unconstitutional stops, searches and arrests, using enforcement strategies that produce severe and unjustified disparities in the rates of stops, searches and arrests of African Americans, using excessive force and retaliating against people engaging in constitutionally protected expression. These violations have deeply eroded the mutual trust between BPD and the community it serves, trust that is essential to effective policing as well as to officer and public safety. The problems in Baltimore didn’t happen overnight or appear in a day. The pattern or practice that we found results from long-standing systemic deficiencies in the BPD.

AMY GOODMAN: The Justice Department launched the investigation following the death of Freddie Gray, who died in 2015 of spinal injuries sustained in police custody. Although charges were brought against six police officers over Gray’s arrest and death, none has been convicted, and all remaining charges have been dropped. Deputy Assistant U.S. Attorney General Vanita Gupta outlined how African Americans are routinely targeted in Baltimore.

VANITA GUPTA: The city’s African-American residents and African-American neighborhoods bore the brunt of this activity. Out of the data we surveyed, the police department made roughly 44 percent of its stops in two small predominantly African-American districts that contain only 11 percent of the city’s population. African Americans accounted for 95 percent of the 410 individuals the police department stopped at least 10 times. Indeed, one African-American man was stopped 30 times in less than four years, with none of the stops resulting in a citation or a criminal charge.

We also found a pattern or practice of excessive force. For example, officers frequently resorted to physical force when a person did not immediately respond to verbal commands, even where the person was posing no imminent threat to the officer or others. Officers were ending up in unnecessarily violent confrontations with people in mental health—with mental health disabilities. We have seen in communities throughout the country that improved policies and enhanced training in de-escalation and dealing with people in crisis can actually enhance officer safety and reduce the need for force.

BPD also violates the First Amendment by retaliating against individuals engaged in constitutionally protected activities. Officers frequently detain and arrest members of the public for engaging in speech that officers perceive to be critical or disrespectful. And BPD officers use force against members of the public who are engaging in protected speech.

AMY GOODMAN: The 163-page report said, quote, "supervisors have issued explicitly discriminatory orders, such as directing a shift to arrest 'all the black hoodies' in a neighborhood," unquote. The DOJ also found Baltimore police use unreasonable force against juveniles and people with mental health disabilities. Officers also show gender bias in handling sexual assault investigations.

For more, we’re joined by two guests. Baynard Woods is a freelance journalist who writes for The Guardian. His recent article is headlined "Two Baltimores: DoJ investigation into police finds vast racial disparity." He’s editor-at-large for the Baltimore City Paper. And Ralikh Hayes, activist and coordinator of Baltimore Bloc, a grassroots collective.

We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Let’s begin with Baynard. Can you lay out these findings that the Justice Department has just released in this 163-page report?

BAYNARD WOODS: Sure. I mean, it’s really striking. On the one hand, it’s what everyone, and especially Baltimore’s black residents, have been saying. But the specificity of the data that was collected by the Department of Justice in the specific targeting of African-American neighborhoods, which goes back to the city’s segregation, that because the city is so segregated, by targeting certain neighborhoods, they’re also targeting certain populations, specifically the city’s black population. And so, you just have these vast—as we were just hearing, these vast discrepancies of more than 80 percent of all pedestrian stops are of African Americans, 95 percent of all of the stops—of all of the people stopped more than 10 times while driving. And so, you see these, and the Department of Justice is very clear in linking it back to the city’s zero-tolerance policy, which was set out to clear corners. And many of the mid-level supervisors, who were trained in that period, are still directing their officers to behave in such a way. And so that single decision or series of decisions has these wide-ranging consequences that you were just talking about.

AMY GOODMAN: Baynard, can you explain what a Terry stop is?

BAYNARD WOODS: Yes, a Terry stop is the Terry v. Ohio—comes from the Terry v. Ohio Supreme Court case. And it’s what you’re legally justified to do if you want to pat someone down. If you believe—if you have reasonable, articulable suspicion that someone has engaged in criminal activity, you can detain them for a very brief period of time in order to make sure that they aren’t armed and to investigate.

And this came up a lot in the Freddie Gray trial—in the Freddie Gray case of the trials of the officers, that it was an argument of whether he was arrested in that long period of detention or whether it was a Terry stop. And the prosecution continued to argue that, and the Department of Justice report backs it up, that it was—it exceeded the norms of a Terry stop, which should be very brief and interrogatory, and then the person is free to go.

AMY GOODMAN: And overall, why this is so significant right now, the significance of these findings, among them, talking about one individual who was stopped how many dozens of times over just a few years? Of course, African-American.

BAYNARD WOODS: Yes. So, there was a guy who was stopped 30 times over the course of the period of the investigation, and none of the stops resulted in any charges, criminal charges, or even traffic citations. And you see this through the report over and over again. Even after excessive force is used, someone will be tased or beaten, punched in the face, and then no charges are ever brought against the individual.

AMY GOODMAN: Ralikh Hayes, your group, Baltimore Bloc, released this, leaked this document. How did you get a hold of it? You were the first to put it out.

RALIKH HAYES: Sorry, I can’t actually answer that. We have to protect those that support us in the movement for liberation.

AMY GOODMAN: So, talk about what your first reaction is in reading it. Do you believe you were the first to see it?

RALIKH HAYES: I don’t think we were the first, maybe the first locally that are on the grassroots level. But I think we were probably not the first to actually have it.

So, my first reaction upon reading it was, well, water is wet, right? Like, these are things that we have been saying for a very long time in the city. We’re not even talking like the decade period in which this report covers, but decades, the entire history of the city, from when the city first began and was, you know, doing protective covenants so black people couldn’t move in certain neighborhoods. That is—this is the history of the Baltimore Police Department, the culture of the Baltimore Police Department. This didn’t just start from zero tolerance under O’Malley. This was bred into the city over decades and decades, and that culminated with zero tolerance, which pretty much gave the officers the ability to act on this culture of racism inside the Baltimore Police Department more overtly.

AMY GOODMAN: During Wednesday’s news conference, Deputy Assistant U.S. Attorney General Vanita Gupta also criticized Baltimore’s zero-tolerance policing policy.

VANITA GUPTA: But these systemic failures alone didn’t cause the problem. The police department’s zero-tolerance street enforcement strategy became a quest to produce large numbers of enforcement actions, pedestrian stops in particular, often without enough consideration of their limited impact on solving crime and their caustic damage to community relationships. With today’s city leaders—and while today’s city’s leaders have recognized these issues, many in the BPD continue to follow this strategy.

Only 3.7 percent of the police department’s more than 300,000 pedestrian stops from January 2010 to May of 2015 resulted in officers issuing a citation or making an arrest. Many of these stops and the resulting frisks lacked constitutional justification, and many of the discretionary arrests were simply street-clearing activities. Supervisors at BPD Central Booking and local prosecutors rejected over 11,000 charges made by BPD officers, because they lacked probable cause or otherwise did not merit prosecution.

AMY GOODMAN: That’s Deputy Assistant U.S. Attorney General Vanita Gupta. Ralikh Hayes, can you respond to what she said?

RALIKH HAYES: I think that is extremely accurate. I think that the Baltimore police are a gang. They’re domestic terrorists in the way they operate and occupy black communities in Baltimore City. And to—like, I know the state’s attorney was on NewsOne Now this morning trying to say, well, you know, it’s just a few bad cops. That is not the case. There is a literal culture in the Baltimore Police Department that indicts the entire system of that department, and actually policing everywhere. Right? Like, this—firing a few officers is not going to fix these issues. Changing a few policies is not going to fix these issues. Right? You can’t put a Band-Aid on a cancer wound and expect that the cancer is going to magically disappear. Right? Like, you have to remove that. Right? And so, to do that, we have to take these issues out by the root, which means there’s a culture change. There’s systemic racism in people’s minds, in the officers of Baltimore City Police Department. And we have to deal with that.

AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to ask you about the DOJ report finding that Baltimore police, as we know, disproportionately stopped African Americans, whether they’re standing, walking or driving. One chart shows the BPD officers made 520 stops for every 1,000 black residents in Baltimore, but only 180 stops for every 1,000 Caucasian residents. The report also shows African Americans are far more likely to be stopped—are far more likely to be stopped multiple times within relatively short periods of time. It reads, quote, "African-Americans accounted for 95 percent of the 410 individuals stopped at least ten times by BPD officers from 2010-2015. During this period, BPD stopped 34 African Americans at least 20 times and seven other African Americans at least 30 times." So, Ralikh, what is Baltimore Bloc calling for?

RALIKH HAYES: We will be releasing a press statement later today. But one of the main things we want to mention about the report is that while the report verifies things that we have been saying—we and others, and black citizens, in general, have been saying for decades, it stops short of describing the trauma that this has placed on communities—right?—and the resulting—the results of that trauma. We also—you know, this also indicts Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s leadership as mayor, because this is over her term, and the failed leadership of our elected officials, because we’ve been saying this, and they say, "Well, you know, it’s not that bad. This is not an issue."

AMY GOODMAN: Well, Ralikh, let me go to Baltimore—

RALIKH HAYES: We’re also calling for an end—

AMY GOODMAN: Let me go to Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who spoke Wednesday about the DOJ’s findings.

MAYOR STEPHANIE RAWLINGS-BLAKE: The report’s assessment and its follow-up to it will help us to heal the relationship between the police and our communities. I also want to be clear that we have not been standing still while this inquiry was underway. Indeed, some of these reforms began before I asked the Department of Justice to investigate the department. The city has taken first steps in a long path to reform, and we’ve begun to see real benefits. Our police department is already making significant changes, the community is providing valuable insight, and officers and citizens are working together to improve our communities and the policing that is happening within them.

AMY GOODMAN: Ralikh, your response to what the mayor said?

RALIKH HAYES: I think she’s a liar. I think that she has no spine when it comes to actually listening to citizens and representing them. I firmly believe that, one, she’s a lame-duck mayor, and she’s going to be out of office relatively soon, so any type of commitment on her part is extremely false. I think the reforms are reforms, and they’re Band-Aid solutions. They’re not going to fix the issues, which is why Bloc is also calling for the release of all the officers’ names who were mentioned in the DOJ report of committing violations, and the firing of all those officers—and proof of their firing, because we don’t trust Commissioner Davis, either.

AMY GOODMAN: In one telling anecdote in The New York Times, they talk about a shift commander provided officers with boilerplate language on how to write up trespassing arrest reports of people found near housing projects. The template contained an automatic description of the arrestee: a black male. Ralikh?

RALIKH HAYES: I think that is the indicator of the fact that the war on drugs and zero-tolerance policing is a war on black people. Right? Like, it is specifically a war on black people and occupying black communities, as the report shows that that is not even a legal way to stop you, and clearing corners isn’t a legal way to stop people, which, for all the things I know about the legal system, I did not actually know that they could not clear corners. I’ve lived in Baltimore 23 years, and I did not know that. I thought that was a legal practice. So what does that say about the Baltimore City Police Department? What does that say about the things that happen here?

BAYNARD WOODS: And one really telling thing on that is that—

AMY GOODMAN: Baynard Woods.

BAYNARD WOODS: —the trespassing charges are so often just when someone is standing in front of a property on the sidewalk and not only—not actually on the property at all, on public space. In one case, two youths, two black youths, were arrested for loitering on their own porch. And so, what it really does come across is that the Baltimore Police Department has criminalized blackness by criminalizing public space for black people, so that being black in a public space or being—and especially them being black and transgender or black and a woman in a public space, becomes criminalized in itself.

RALIKH HAYES: And then they also further criminalize those that dissent and speak out against that, particularly organizers and activists in the community. A lot of us have been followed home, car windows broken, tires slashed. In this moment, I would uplift Tawanda Jones, sister of Tyrone West, who they have been fighting for justice for him for 159 weeks. She still gets harassed to this day. Right? Like, we’re talking over three years, and police are still harassing her.


ON TERRY STOPS --


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_v._Ohio

Terry v. Ohio
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968), was a decision by the United States Supreme Court which held that the Fourth Amendment prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures is not violated when a police officer stops a suspect on the street and frisks him or her without probable cause to arrest, if the police officer has a reasonable suspicion that the person has committed, is committing, or is about to commit a crime and has a reasonable belief that the person "may be armed and presently dangerous."[1]

For their own protection, after a person has been stopped, police may perform a quick surface search of the person’s outer clothing for weapons if they have reasonable suspicion that the person stopped is armed. This reasonable suspicion must be based on "specific and articulable facts" and not merely upon an officer's hunch. This permitted police action has subsequently been referred to in short as a "stop and frisk," or simply a "Terry frisk". The Terry standard was later extended to temporary detentions of persons in vehicles, known as traffic stops; see Terry stop for a summary of subsequent jurisprudence.

The rationale behind the Supreme Court decision revolves around the understanding that, as the opinion notes, "the exclusionary rule has its limitations." The meaning of the rule is to protect persons from unreasonable searches and seizures aimed at gathering evidence, not searches and seizures for other purposes (like prevention of crime or personal protection of police officers).



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exclusionary_rule

Exclusionary rule
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The exclusionary rule is a legal principle in the United States, under constitutional law, which holds that evidence collected or analyzed in violation of the defendant's constitutional rights is sometimes inadmissible for a criminal prosecution in a court of law. This may be considered an example of a prophylactic rule formulated by the judiciary in order to protect a constitutional right. The exclusionary rule may also, in some circumstances at least, be considered to follow directly from the constitutional language, such as the Fifth Amendment's command that no person "shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself" and that no person "shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law".[1]

"The exclusionary rule is grounded in the Fourth Amendment and it is intended to protect citizens from illegal searches and seizures."[2] The exclusionary rule is also designed to provide a remedy and disincentive, which is short of criminal prosecution in response to prosecutors and police who illegally gather evidence in violation of the Fifth Amendment in the Bill of Rights compelled to self-incrimination. The exclusionary rule also protects against violations of the Sixth Amendment, which guarantees the right to counsel.

Most states also have their own exclusionary remedies for illegally obtained evidence under their state constitutions and/or statutes, some of which predate the federal constitutional guarantees against unlawful searches and seizures and compelled self-incrimination.[3]

This rule is occasionally referred to as a legal technicality because it allows defendants a defense that does not address whether the crime was actually committed. In this respect, it is similar to the explicit rule in the Fifth Amendment protecting people from double jeopardy. In strict cases, when an illegal action is used by police/prosecution to gain any incriminating result, all evidence whose recovery stemmed from the illegal action—this evidence is known as "fruit of the poisonous tree"—can be thrown out from a jury (or be grounds for a mistrial if too much information has been irrevocably revealed).

The exclusionary rule applies to all persons within the United States regardless of whether they are citizens, immigrants (legal or illegal), or visitors.



https://www.facebook.com/bmorebloc/posts/1151162498287300:0

Baltimore Bloc
Yesterday at 5:15pm ·

August 11, 2016 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Baltimore Bloc Statement on Department of Justice Report of Baltimore City Police
Contact: Michaela Brown, BaltimoreBloc@gmail.com

"It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains." -Assata Shakur

The DOJ has finally released its investigative report of the Baltimore Police Department, based on data collected from 2010-2016. For most who have been living in Baltimore with eyes wide open, this report reveals nothing new, but rather is a collection of wide-ranging evidence supporting decades-long claims made by community members and organizers alike. While the DOJ’s investigative report is useful in uplifting key issues, it fails to address the following issues:

1. The predatory sexual assaults and rapes of Black women and Black Trans women specifically is not acknowledged in the report. By not accounting for the intersectionality of gender, identity, and race oppression, the predatory acts of sexual violence committed by men in the community (122-123) and men who serve in the BPD (149-150) are ignored, leaving Black women vulnerable to future sexual assaults. BPD’s misogyny literally empowers sexual predators both in the community and on the police force.
2. A pro-police local criminal justice system that fosters collusion between the FOP, BPD, and SAO—whether intentional or not. This institutional arrangement allows BPD officers involved in the death of Freddie Gray, Tyrone West, Anthony Anderson and other victims to escape punishment. It upholds the belief among police that they are above the law and do not have to face consequences for their abuse, discriminatory actions, and misconduct.
3. The outright denial of medical care to detainees¹ such as the medical negligence that led to the death of Freddie Gray and the denial of quality medical care for Keith Davis Jr. who has been in custody for more than a year, suffering from pain due to a bullet lodged in his neck.
4. The lack of mental/public health protocol for addressing brain damage caused by lead poisoning and trauma/PTSD (78-85). Both Korryn Gaines and Freddie Gray were poisoned by lead as children in Baltimore City. There is no training nor protocol that informs police about how police can de-escalate interactions when dealing with victims of lead poison nor trauma such as PTSD. Both lead poison & PTSD impair brain function and alter behavior.
5. Police brutality & the pattern/practice of racist policing constitutes psychological violence and induces race-based trauma and racial battle fatigue. Restorative justice and reparative efforts must ensue to support and promote community healing.
6. The BPD criminalizes Black grief/mourning. This must end immediately.²

"Reform" of the Baltimore Police Department maintains oppression. Our task is to dismantle the system of oppression—root and branch—to allow racial/gender equity and community control to flourish. We demand that the community have control throughout the consent decree process. We demand divestment from police and investment in community-controlled programs be included in the consent decree. We demand each of the factors we have addressed here be included in discussions where we will co-craft a consent decree with the DOJ.



criminalizes Black grief/mourning:

http://www.filmsforaction.org/articles/processing-yet-another-black-man-murdered-by-a-police-officer/

Processing - Yet Another Black Man Murdered by a Police Officer
Two 28 year old men, hiding behind the badges given to them by the city of Baton Rouge and the power given to them by the system that says white is right, murdered a black man, a husband, a father.
By Erica Joy / medium.com

What this article has in it includes something of which the Baltimore Bloc Facebook page is referring to in item number 6 above, but the following article seems to directly address the specific meaning that was implied:


http://abcnews.go.com/US/pastor-challenges-minnesota-gov-put-action-cop-shooting/story?id=40406186

Pastor Shouts at Governor: 'This Is Black Grief,' After Police Shooting of Minnesota Man
By MORGAN WINSOR JULIA JACOBO
Jul 7, 2016, 4:01 PM ET

Video – ABC News confrontation

Pastor Danny Givens didn’t mince words today when he took the microphone after Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton addressed reporters about a police shooting that left Philando Castile, a black school employee, dead after a traffic stop.

Speaking at an NAACP news conference at the governor’s mansion in the state capital, St. Paul, Givens, the founder and senior pastor of the nearby Above Every Name Ministries, said he has been to the residence multiple times, though not because he was invited.

“This is the third time I’ve been to this mansion because of my people being murdered,” he said, turning around with the microphone in hand to speak directly to the governor.

“I’ve been to your house because your people keep killing my people,” he said, shouting.

What We Know About Man Minnesota Police Killed in Traffic Stop
Woman Live-Streams After Police Fatally Shoot Boyfriend in Minnesota
Givens expressed doubt about Dayton’s promises to achieve a just outcome in Castile’s death -- the aftermath of which was captured on video that went viral.

“You keep telling us you’re going to do something,” Givens yelled at the governor while protesters cheered. “I just want you to put some action on it, put some respect on our people’s names. That’s all I want. I just want it to be real. This isn’t black anger. This is black grief!”

Dayton had vowed at the news conference to do everything in his power to ensure a thorough investigation into the death of Castile, who was fatally shot by a Minnesota police officer during a traffic stop in a St. Paul suburb Wednesday night.

Dayton, who was interrupted several times by protesters, said he has asked the U.S. Department of Justice to begin an immediate independent federal probe into the incident. The state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has launched an independent investigation.

“Justice will be served in Minnesota,” he said.

At the press conference, Nekima Levy-Pounds, the president of the NAACP chapter in Minneapolis, called Minnesota the “Jim Crow North” and said the state “should be better than this.”

“There is a culture here that puts its foot on the necks of people of color,” she said.

In a long Facebook post, President Barack Obama wrote, “All Americans should be deeply troubled” by the fatal police shootings of Castile and Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

“What’s clear is that these fatal shootings are not isolated incidents,” Obama wrote. “They are symptomatic of the broader challenges within our criminal justice system, the racial disparities that appear across the system year after year, and the resulting lack of trust that exists between law enforcement and too many of the communities they serve.”

Police said that a man, who they did not identify, was shot during a traffic stop around 9 p.m. Wednesday. They said no one else was injured and a handgun was recovered.

Castile's girlfriend, who was in the car at the time and filmed video of the aftermath, said that they were pulled over for a broken tail light. An officer then came to the window and asked for license and registration, she said. Castile then told the officer that he had a gun for which he had a permit, she said.

“I begin to yell, ‘But he’s licensed to carry,’” she said at the Minnesota governors' residence. “After that, [the officer] begin to take off shots, bop bop bop bop, ‘Don’t move, don’t move!’”

The officer can be heard saying on the video: "I told him not to reach for it. I told him to get his hand out."



President Obama
July 7 ·

All Americans should be deeply troubled by the fatal shootings of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minnesota. We've seen such tragedies far too many times, and our hearts go out to the families and communities who've suffered such a painful loss.

Although I am constrained in commenting on the particular facts of these cases, I am encouraged that the U.S. Department of Justice has opened a civil rights investigation in Baton Rouge, and I have full confidence in their professionalism and their ability to conduct a thoughtful, thorough, and fair inquiry.

But regardless of the outcome of such investigations, what's clear is that these fatal shootings are not isolated incidents. They are symptomatic of the broader challenges within our criminal justice system, the racial disparities that appear across the system year after year, and the resulting lack of trust that exists between law enforcement and too many of the communities they serve.

To admit we've got a serious problem in no way contradicts our respect and appreciation for the vast majority of police officers who put their lives on the line to protect us every single day. It is to say that, as a nation, we can and must do better to institute the best practices that reduce the appearance or reality of racial bias in law enforcement.

That's why, two years ago, I set up a Task Force on 21st Century Policing that convened police officers, community leaders, and activists. Together, they came up with detailed recommendations on how to improve community policing. So even as officials continue to look into this week's tragic shootings, we also need communities to address the underlying fissures that lead to these incidents, and to implement those ideas that can make a difference. That's how we'll keep our communities safe. And that's how we can start restoring confidence that all people in this great nation are equal before the law.

In the meantime, all Americans should recognize the anger, frustration, and grief that so many Americans are feeling -- feelings that are being expressed in peaceful protests and vigils. Michelle and I share those feelings. Rather than fall into a predictable pattern of division and political posturing, let's reflect on what we can do better. Let's come together as a nation, and keep faith with one another, in order to ensure a future where all of our children know that their lives matter.