Who would have thought the global socialists would put Sonoma County conservatives and liberals on the same page as the Black Panthers?
To all: This was just sent out to local and Bay Area media. Please know that a protest may be happening this Saturday with details to come. How ironic that this horrible thing happened in our community on Oct. 22, the date recognized for years (with good reason) as a National Day of Protest Against Police Brutality. Please tell your friends to reserve Saturday and stay tuned. MM
A statement from PACH Police Accountability Clinic & Helpline of Sonoma County in response to the killing of a 13 year old child by Sonoma County Sheriff's Dept on Oct. 22, 2013.
A Child is Dead Oct 23, 2013
My name is Elbert “Big Man”
Howard, and I am a founding member of The Black Panther Party and also of PACH,
the Police Accountability Clinic & Helpline of SonomaCounty. PACH, an all-volunteer organization, was formed to
take reports of police misconduct after community meetings which occurred because
of a series of killings which took place in 2007. I am making this statement on
behalf of myself and PACH and in response and protest to the killing of Andy
Lopez, 13 years of age, by law enforcement.
One of the reasons that the
Black Panther Party was formed in 1966, and why they fought so hard many years
ago, was to have community control of the police – to make the policeaccountable to the community. In the present atmosphere that still exists of
racial profiling and police abuse, the politicians and law enforcement agencies
are accountable to no one.
Now, 47 years later, here I
am, waking up to the news that yesterday, Oct 22nd, on the very day we
recognize as the National day of protest against police brutality, this 13
year-old child has been shot down and killed by Sonoma County Sheriff's
deputies.
Clearly,
police misconduct remains an on-going issue in our community as the civil and
human rights of people in our communities are ignored and violated. Weall need
to protest the police abuse, racial profiling, and the killings by law
enforcement that continue to occur in our community.
Law
enforcement, in this county, is a system against the people. The treatment of
people at the hands of law enforcement remains an ongoing issue, and instead of
improving, has clearly worsened. The fact that this child has been gunned down
is just one example of an entire unjust system.
Details
of these deaths in the past and present are always "not for public
record". The so-called details take
weeks to be obtained. We, as community members, demand an accounting of this
shooting. We want to know why this child is dead.
In order to protest the
police abuse and racial profiling that continues to thrive in our community, we
need to take action in various ways.
One of these ways is that we
need to cease supporting, as taxpayers, the funding of laws, law enforcement
agencies, and criminal penalties that do not work and violate our civil,
constitutional, and human rights.
Some
of you may remember, back in May of 2000, the US Commission on Civil Rights,
after investigating charges of police misconduct in Sonoma County, recommended
that there should be an office formed, independent of the District Attorney’s,
to both investigate and prosecute cases of police abuse. It never happened.Why? Was it due to a lack of community political will?
Are we to continue to ignore
the injustices in our community? Are we to continue to support laws that erode
our basic human and civil rights? We
must form alliances within our community in order to deal with this issue of
misconduct by law enforcement. We must do it now before someone else's child
lies dead at the age of 13.
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