No Indictment: Sandra Bland
BLM activists endured a series of let-downs at the end of 2015. On December 23rd the Waller County grand jury decided against indicting any of the jailers present when 28-year old Sandra Bland was found dead in police custody. Bland was found unresponsive in her cell days after her arrest by a state trooper during a traffic stop in July. Dash cam and amateur video shows Texas state trooper Brian Encinia demanding Bland get out of her vehicle or "I will light you up." Out of camera view, she is heard being slammed to the ground. An investigation by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards found that the Waller County Jail violated minimum standards, including failure to check on prisoners frequently enough.
A team of five special prosecutors appointed by the county district attorney had presented to the grand jury. Yet no attempt has been made to include the Bland family in the investigation process. The prosecutors have conducted the proceedings in secret and have declined to share evidence with the family. They have refused to pursue the case as a homicide and had instead tried to determine if there was any negligence. The prostitution, the authorities, and the grand jury assumed that Sandra Bland killed herself, a conclusion that the family refuses to accept. The plastic bag Bland had supposedly killed herself with was never fingerprinted. Many of the family members believe that a thorough investigation was never conducted. On January 7th state trooper Brian Encinia, the man responsible for wrongfully arresting her, was charged not with homicide, but a perjury misdemeanor.
Nationwide ICE Raids Destroy Lives and Families
Forcible deportations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has escalated at the beginning of this year. Surprise ICE raids have been launched in the wee hours of the morning by the Obama administration, who had made plans to forcibly deport undocumented immigrants who crossed the boarder after May 2014. Large-scale immigration raids were launched in early January, where some 120 persons at a time were taken into custody across the country. Raids have been occurring in several locations across the country including Atlanta, New York City , Texas, Georgia, and North Carolina and Central American immigrants have been targeted in particular. These raids pull apart immigrant families, who often have children born in the U.S as citizens but whose parents are forcibly deported. As Latinx immigrants begin to disappear in their own communities, people are forced to live in a constant state of fear.
- If ICE comes to your house: Do not open your door to let them in. They most likely do not have a warrant to enter and do not believe them if they say that they do. Ask to see the warrant.
- Do not provide them with your immigration information or your ID.
- If they forcibly enter, request the names and badge numbers of the officers for entering without consent
No Indictment: Tamir Rice
On December 28, 2015, a grand jury decision failed to indict officer Timothy Loehmann for the murder of 12 year-old Tamir Rice. During a press conference, Cuyahoga County prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty admitted that he recommended to the grand jury that they not indict the officer. He proceeded to justify Loehmann's actions as reasonable and constitutional: “To charge police, even in a situation as undeniably tragic as the death of her son, the state must be able to show that the officers acted outside the constitutional boundaries set forth by the Supreme Court of the United States. Simply put, given this perfect storm of human error, mistakes and miscommunication by all involved that day, the evidence did not indicate criminal conduct by police.” McGinty did not pursue an indictment from the very beginning of the case, and consistently worked against wishes of the Rice family to pursue a murder charge directly without a grand jury proceeding. If he was not going to pursue an indictment, the Rice family asked for him to step down. Tamir's mother issued a statement in response to the decision stating "as the video shows, Officer Loehmann shot my son in less than a second. All I wanted was someone to be held accountable. But this entire process was a charade."
Video of Cedrick Chatman Released
On January 13, 2016, after three years of withholding the video to the public, the City of Chicago finally released the footage in the killing of Cedrick Chatman by Chicago police. With the mounting outrage over corruption in Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration, the City of Chicago was forced to release the video in an effort to be "more transparent." The video clearly shows Chatman being gunned down as he runs away from police. The police report from claimed that Chatman turned towards officers with a black object in his right hand that was believed to be a gun. The object turned out to be a iPhone box. Furthermore, the video clearly shows Chatman running away from officers, never is he shown turning towards them. After the Laquan Mcdonald video release in November of 2015, many believe that the decision to release the Chatman tape is apart of a public relations campaign to salvage the Emanuel administration.
Fascist Donald Trump throws Muslim Woman Out Of Rally
On January 8, 2016, Muslim woman Rose Hamid was thrown out of a Donald Trump rally in South Carolina for silently protesting against Islamophobia. As Trump spewed Islamophobic epithets about Syrian refugees, saying that they "are probably ISIS," Hamid silently rose from her seat. She was wearing white hijab and a T-shirt reading "Salam, I come in peace." As Trump continued speaking the crowd erupted demanding that Hamid be removed. Hamid was joined by a handful of protesters, each wearing a yellow Star of David to symbolize the Nazi oppression of Jews during the Holocaust. The crowd threw anti-Muslim epithets until Hamid was escorted out by security officers as the crowd of conservative Republicans cheered.
Kizzy Adonis Charged In Eric Garner Case
On January 8, 2016, Sargent Kizzy Adonis was charged with internal departmental charges in connection with the Eric Gardner case. She is the first person officially charged for wrong doing in the Eric Gardner case. Adonis, who is a Black woman, was one of two supervising officers present during the confrontation with Daniel Pantaleo that led to Eric Gardners death. Though she has not been charged with Gardner's death, she has been stripped of her badge and gun. The decision does nothing to hold Daniel Pantaleo, the man who actually killed Gardner, accountable. Eric Gardner'd daughter, Erica Gardner, has condemned the decision and questioned the reason for the charges when Adonis was the only officer on the scene who tried to save her father's life.
THE DECOLONIZER
January 2016
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