March Against Police Brutality remembers loved ones lost, brings local community together in resistance
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by Joanna Letz, POOR Magazine Media Justice Intern The lowering sun hits the top of my head and the wind licks my shoulders. We could be the ones making the wind, I think, as I look back and feel the people behind me, in front of me, and to my side. On the loud speaker the names of those whose lives have been stolen by the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) reverberate across the streets. "Justice for Big O Justice for Idriss Stelley Justice for Julio Ayala Justice for Asa Sullivan Justice for Gus Rugley No More Stolen Lives, No Mas Vidas Robadas." The march on Sunday, October 22nd in San Francisco was part of the 11th National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation. Those who took to the streets included family members of those murdered by the police, people who have dealt with police brutality, and many individuals and organizations. Among the organizations represented were: The Answer Coalition, SF Coalition on Homelessness, Mothers with Murdered Children, Berkeley Cop Watch, Poor Magazine, The World Can't Wait, and The United Playaz. The march in San Francisco was organized by the October 22nd Coalition with the strong leadership of Mesha Monge-Irizarry founder of the Idriss Stelley Foundation, and Karen Martin. It was not a huge march, but with it carried the signs, voices, and songs of people who have lost loved ones by the hands of the police. The march was filled with hope and a heaviness that comes from people who have dealt first hand with violence and police repression. As I marched alongside people who had lost family members to bullets shot out of police guns I could not help but think of my family's experience in Europe during the Holocaust. My grandpa and grandma, Isaac and Adele Silber, survived the Hitler regime by hiding in a Christian family's basement. They both witnessed their family being murdered. My grandpa, who just passed away 4 months ago, was always reading the news and was always the first one to point to the many Holocaust's happening around the world. The speakers whose voices surged forth on Sunday also spoke of another Holocaust. This Holocaust is happening on our streets in San Francisco. The Holocaust, the executions, the murders of people of color in our houses, streets, empty movie theaters, and hotel rooms; this is happening in our city. Chanting together on Sunday we took claim to the streets as we walked and made our way from Stanyan and Hate to Jefferson Square Park. Many protest chants echoed along the march. From the loudspeakers to our responses in unison, our voices traveled, "Whose streets? Our streets! Whose streets? Our streets!" From Golden Gate Park, at Stanyan and Hate, we walked, through the Hate, through the Fillmore, and onto Jefferson Square Park. Sunday afternoon shoppers stopped, starred, and took pictures. Mesha yelled on the loud speaker, "Come and join us in our fight against police brutality." I did not notice any of the bystanders join the march. As I heard the wind approaching again I looked back and saw and felt a group of people taking back the streets. The police walked along side the march all the way from Stanyan and Hate to the Park. I stood at the front and saw all along the spine of the march police officers in uniform carrying guns. Nowhere in the crowd were police represented as supporting the fight against police brutality. But the police were there in their uniforms and with their guns. There we were on the streets shouting, proclaiming and attesting to police brutality and walking alongside us were the police in uniform, silently, steadfastly moving, guns in holsters. When we reached Jefferson Square Park the police officers mysteriously disappeared. Across the street loomed a big police station. Orange cones guarded the front and a police officer on a motorbike sat waiting. The police officers did not stay to hear the voices of those affected by police brutality. At the park a memorial stood to those whose lives have been stolen by the police. The memorial, the wall includes names, and photographs of people whose lives have been stolen by police hands. The wall is a symbol of resistance, and of the harsh realities of police murder. The wall was built by The Stolen Lives Project. The Stolen Lives Project also published a book in 1999, "Stolen Lives: Killed by Law Enforcement," which is available on Amazon.com and contains over 2000 cases of people killed nationwide in the decade of the 1990's. The Stolen Lives Project Update Booklet includes information collected since the 1999 book and can be viewed at their website, stolenlives.org. As I write I think of my grandpa. He advocated for being aware of violence going on everywhere and not just listening to the stories of our own family, but knowing and listening to the harsh realities of violence and repression going on in many peoples lives. Big Mike, the brother of Oliver Lefti "Big O" spoke on Sunday. "Big O" was killed on June 24th of this year. Big Mike said, "We pay…. And this is what we get. You pay for, I pay for the bullets that come out of that gun….In New Zealand police don't have guns…." As Big Mike so vividly pointed out, we are the ones paying for the bullets; the bullets that kill and steal the lives of loved ones. With the heaviness of loss and struggle, comes a deep need to be heard, and a deep sense of where things are at in this country, and just how bad the institution known as the police department is. Elvira Pollard, mother of Gus Rugley, who was killed by SFPD on June 29th 2004, said, "June 29th 2004, loosing my son was a terrible way to get inducted into how bad the police really do people. Four different police units sat outside my house. They watched my son from 8:00 am to 6:30 pm. They don't come to ask questions. They come with heavy artillery. At the autopsy thirty-five bullets were pulled out of my son. There was no gunpowder on his hands. They said my son shot two clips…But there was no gunpowder found on his hands. Who told the story that day? The press and the police. They put me in handcuffs. All I said was he's my son. They have someone in jail, a 187 suspect for the crime. But now they don't talk about it…I wasn't wrapped so tight before, but they took something so valuable. I got to fight for my son now. An execution was perpetrated on my son. Get Gavin Newsom out of office…and Heather's too scared of her own troops. OCC (Office of Citizen Complaints) got broken into…We got to pull together and beat this shit at City Hall." Mirna Ayala also spoke about losing her son, Julio Ayala who was killed by police on October 2nd 2005. She said, "He was in a hotel. There was a noise complaint. He was quiet. They came two by two. Thirty police. My son died. His neck broken. My son will never come back. The police stole his life." The march and the rally was a call to listen… listen… To listen to the stories of the mothers who have lost their sons, sons who have been murdered. To listen to community leaders calling for community boards, and community support. To listen to family members resisting and fighting for their lost loved ones. To listen to the stories of those affected by police brutality and to listen to the resistance and to the visions of change. Minister Christopher Muhammad said, "The police are armed for military occupation. Youth of color are treated as if they are enemy combatants. Federal and local police become occupiers and relate to communities of color as if occupying." Minister Muhammad went on to say, "We must insist on enforcing a community model. They never want community control or community review boards. The Department protects themselves and serves their own interests." In Berkeley on October 26th, Berkeley Copwatch held a march and rally to fight for the Berkeley Police Review Commission (PRC). The PRC was started as a civilian review organization to hold cops accountable. A recent California Supreme Court decision (Copley V. San Diego) cuts civilian oversight and closes police records to the public. Khalil Sullivan, brother of Asa Sullivan who was killed by SFPD on June 26 2006, also asks for accountability. He said, "Why are police set free after they murder? Where's the accountability? God Forbid that they loose their families. We need to go to police commission meetings. And if someone can't go, send someone else. We need to create a network of people that speak... We are in control, they work for us." At the end, Khalil asked, "Are they peace officers?" What are these uniforms that separate people? Why were there no police officers supporting the Stop Police Brutality March and Rally? But the police officers were there in their uniforms and with their guns. In New Jersey police officer Delacy Davis has been fighting against police brutality for many years. In 1991 he founded the community-based organization called, Black Cops Against Police Brutality (B-CAP). He recently released a book titled "A Crisis Call to Action." B-CAP recommends the following courses of action: - civilian control and oversight of the police Residency requirements Community Based training for all police officers Cash rewards for the exposure, arrest and conviction of corrupt cops Congressional Public Hearings Mandatory drug testing for all police officers "Zero tolerance" for substance abuse by police officers Integrity tests Annual psychological evaluations Delacy Davis says in his book, "Police brutality reminds me of the darkness in history when the master whipped the slaves just because he could. There can be no more blatant racism than that misuse of power by the police who have been entrusted to protect us." Jewnbug, from POOR Magazine commented on the institution known as the Police Department. She said, "Why was the police system built? It was built on hate and racism…. I hear people talk about good cops and bad cops. There is a uniform and a human being. We need to change the structure. Police escalate abuse and violence. Violence doesn't stop. You displace it, put it in prison and make money off of it….To defeat an oppressive system you have to create a support system. It's more than fighting. In order to rebuild you must destroy." As Jewnbug so articulately pointed out it is not about good and bad cops, but about a system of violence that puts people of color in danger, and leads to murder and stolen lives. Jewnbug also related a story told to her by a friend from South Africa, "In 2002 a South African comrade said to me, in domestic violence cases, someone comes to talk with the people involved to talk and deal with the anger and where it comes from." Jewnbug and others say we need community support to deal with the root of the problems. We are all implicated in this system of abuse and police violence, some people benefiting from the system and many people being abused and murdered. As we chanted at the rally, we refuse to close our eyes to the system of violence and murder. To the many stolen lives, we say their names, and say, presente, in honor and remembrance. |