Casper Banjo & Governor David Patterson
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by Leroy Moore/PNN On February 23rd 2006 the following statement from then State Senator David Patterson who was running to be Lt. Governor in New York appeared in a local New York City newspaper He (Patterson) has introduced a bill in the State Senate of New York that would require Police Officers to shoot suspects in the arm or leg to disable instead of shooting for center of mass. The author of the piece called Senator Patterson now Governor Patterson a Moron. As I go to bed tonight on March 25, 2008, after attending a candle light vigil for a friend, Casper Banjo, who was also Black and disabled, (Patterson is Black and blind) an artist and an elder I read the New York article and think that Casper Banjo would still be alive if Governor Patterson’s bill was signed into law and replicated here in Oakland, CA. Although I know that Casper was not a suspect but a person looking for help on the night of March 14th, 2008, if we just replace the word “suspect” with “person in need,” Governor Patterson’s proposed state legislation still applies. The candle lights were still flickering as we, Wanda Sabir of the San Francisco Bayview Newspaper, I and a friend drove away from the vigil on 73rd Ave and Garfield Ave in East Oakland. I felt renewed knowing I have another elder guiding my way in heaven and another mentor in political office across the country, Governor David Patterson who continues to fight with and for people like Casper Banjo in NY and else where. |