US federal, state, county or city authorities circumventing constitutional protections with de facto or de jure martial law based on exaggerated state of emergency conditions reveals police state America in plain sight – enforced against the nation’s most vulnerable, grievously abused, justified in demanding redress.
Killer cops murder Blacks in America with virtual impunity hundreds of times a year – on city streets, in rural areas, private homes, commercial spaces, jail cells among other places.
Ferguson, MO is Exhibit A. Last August, officer Darren Wilson murdered 18-year-old African-American Michael Brown – in cold blood without probable cause. Would he have shot or otherwise abused him if he was Caucasian – especially if he lived in a privileged neighborhood? Would he have been exonerated for murder? He’s one of hundreds of killer cops free to kill again with impunity.
Brown was unarmed. He threatened no one. He had no criminal record. Yet an independent autopsy showed he was shot six times – assassinated by a killer cop knowing he’d be unaccountable.
At the time, ACLU staff attorney Nusrat Choudhury said killing Brown raised disturbing questions about how often police brutalize unarmed African-American and Latino men in America. “(F)ar too often,” she stressed. What happened in Ferguson is epidemic nationwide with nothing done to stop it.
During an August 9 peaceful march in Ferguson commemorating Michael Brown’s murder a year ago, shots were fired. Police wounded 18-year-old Tyrone Harris – a good friend of Brown. He remains in critical condition following emergency surgery.
Both youths graduated together in the same Normandy High School class. Two other protesters were shot. Harris’ father said “(w)e think there’s a lot more to this than what’s being said.” The official police account is “all a bunch of lies.”
Witnesses told him his son was unarmed. He was “running for his life” when police shot him multiple times, the same brutality resulting in Brown’s death a year ago.
Harris clings to life precariously in intensive care. He committed no crimes. Yet county prosecutors outrageously charged him with 10 felony offenses – including shooting at a motor vehicle even though he had no gun.
Two days of nonviolent protests expressed justifiable anger over no redress from continued out-of-control police abuse (with likely more coming). Dozens of arrests were made. Cops attacked crowds violently – tear gas and pepper spray used against peaceful demonstrators.
St. Louis County executive Steve Stenger declared a state of emergency – circumventing rule of law principles, violating constitutional protections, authorizing police to “exercise all powers and duties necessary to preserve order, prevent crimes, and protect the life and property of our citizens” – code language giving them authority to crush legitimate activism for justice and kill with impunity.
Homeland Security officers were involved – collaborating with local police, part of Obama’s war on freedom, using legislative and street brutality tactics, including cold-blooded murder to suppress the constitutional right to petition government for redress of grievances.
On Monday, nonviolent demonstrators declared a “day of civil disobedience.” They marched from St. Louis’ Christ Church Episcopal Cathedral to the Thomas Eagleton federal courthouse.
Dozens formed a living chain – chanting “No justice, no peace.” “The people united shall never be defeated.” They expected police brutality, including multiple arrests.
Prominent academic/activist Cornel West was abused like a criminal, handcuffed and arrested. So were Black Lives Matter activists Deray McKesson and Johnetta Elzie for filming the peaceful protest.
Americans today are threatened by state terror, police state injustice, hot wars, financial ones, anti-populism, mass incarceration, erosion of fundamental rights, killer cops murdering with impunity, and increasing tyranny heading toward becoming full-blown.
Justifiable resistance more than ever is needed. Abuses at all governmental levels are too great to tolerate.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at [email protected].
His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”
http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.
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