Police Brutality

Police Uber Alles

But Resistance Grows

March to stop policeburtality,

repression and thecriminalization

of a generation.

By: Sadie & Kayla,Los Angeles Chapter of October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality

Across the country the epidemic of police brutalitycontinues to intensify. From Los Angeles, where the L.A.P.D. is engulfed in thelargest police scandal in U.S. history, to New York where the courts allowedthe cops who gunned down Amadou Diallo in a hail of 41 bullets to walk free anda wave of police killings followed close on the heels of this shameful verdict.Police and other law enforcement agents continue to brutalize and murder peopleat alarming rates and are still almost never punished by the courts. Meanwhileon the southern border, I.N.S. agents and sheriffs work hand-in-glove withvigilantes who are openly organizing the hunting and lynching of immigrants.All too often, politicians cover up this official brutality-or even applaud andencourage it.

The authorities have subjected a whole generation of ouryouth to a cycle of criminalization which includes: harassment for the color oftheir skin, the way they're dressed or having too much attitude; anti-gang lawsthat make it illegal to have a beeper or even just hang out; warehousing themin prison; and legally lynching them on death row. Many of our communities havebeen turned into killing fields. We must transform them into arenas ofresistance as we join together to throw these vicious attacks back in theirfaces!

During the protests at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Philadelphia and theDemocratic National Convention (DNC) inLos Angeles the police and government officials denied some groups permits toassemble and march. They revoked otherpermits in the middle of events. Puppets and other protest materials wereseized by police before the demonstrations even began! Braving a hail ofplastic bullets, LA youth rescued San Francisco's Stolen Lives Memorial Wallpanels and carried them to safety.

The brutality inflicted on the youthful protesters inPhilly and LA is part and parcel of the way a whole generation of youth isbeing treated in the US today. Police beat and sprayed demonstrators withplastic bullets and pepper spray. Demonstrators were subjected to mass arrest. After arrest, many of the protesters were brutalized once in custody; denied food, water, and medicalattention. Bail was initially set atastronomical levels-as much as $500,000 for protesters held in Philly onmisdemeanor charges!

All of this is entirely in keeping with the histories ofthe police departments in Philadelphia and Los Angeles. The LAPD isnotorious for the 1970 bombing of the home of the SymbioneseLiberation Army (SLA), burning twopeople to death. Since then, thetelevised beatings of Rodney King and Alicia Soltero in the early 90's. Today the LAPD is being rocked by the largest police scandal in the history of the US. Cops from the Ramparts District of the LAPDhave been caught brutalizing and murdering people and framing innocent peopleand sending them to jail. 2 cops are already in jail, 20 more havebeen suspended and more than 100 cases of people wrongfully convicted are beingreviewed and re-investigated.

In recent years many, many people of different races andfrom different backgrounds have joined in this important fight. Survivors ofpolice attacks, youth tired of being treated like criminals, lawyers, religiousleaders, teachers, students and many others have fought back, often in the faceof open and underhanded attacks. Stolen Lives: Killed by Law Enforcement, whichdocuments over 2,000 cases of people killed by law enforcement in the U.S. inthe 1990's, has put human faces on the problem of police murder. October 22ndhas become the day to bring all this resistance together. This year, in themidst of the national elections, we must force the problem of police brutalityeven more into the light of day.

Because:

Cops stop, search, harass and arrest peoplebased solely on the color of their skin. Too many people have been victimizedby the police for Driving While Black or Brown (DWB), for walking while Black,for using a cell phone while Black.

Use of torture and other forms of cruel,inhuman punishment against people in police custody is widespread in the U.S.

Youth of color are more likely to bearrested, held in jail and given longer sentences than white youth, even whenthey face the same or similar charges.

Police departments around the country areincreasingly employing harsh repressive tactics to suppress dissent.

Mumia Abu-Jamal, revolutionary andaward-winning journalist, victim of a trial that was a travesty of justice,remains on death row because of his outspoken opposition to police brutalityand other government injustice.

Over 3,600 people are on death row in theU.S. Most of them are people of color, many of them are innocent and almost allof them are too poor to afford decent legal representation.

Over two million people are in prison in theU.S., the most in the world. The majority are non-violent offenders. Women arethe fastest growing section of the US prison population.

Each year, hundreds of immigrants die tryingto cross the U.S.-Mexico border because the U.S. government has militarized theborder. In addition, many hundreds of immigrants are incarcerated in maximumsecurity prisons for the crime of "trying to work". Also, at least100 people are incarcerated under "secret evidence" laws which denythe person on trial access to evidence which the state is using against him orher.

While cops that kill continue to go free,family members of police murder victims, witnesses in police brutality cases,activists, attorneys, and others have been harassed, physically attacked andarrested in retaliation for their opposition to police brutality.

Last year on October 22nd, over 10,000 people took to thestreets in over 60 cities across the U.S., large and small. Many, many more people wore black insolidarity with the protests and in memory of the victims of brutal, murderingpolice. This year we must come out evenstronger. We must do this for all thevictims whose lives have been stolen by law enforcement. They can no longer speak for themselves, sowe must speak, and act, for them. Wemust do this because any of us could be victimized by police brutality. And we must step out on October 22nd for thefuture. Be out there to change thesituation where police can brutalize people for being the in the wrongneighborhood, speaking the wrong language or being the wrong color. Be out there to change the situation wherecops can murder someone for pulling out their wallet or their cell phone. We must rally, demonstrate, hold vigils,march and in many other ways confront the powers-that-be. We must stand together and deliver in a loudvoice a single message:

On October 22, 2000, we call on you to join us in sayingNO MORE! No more to police brutality, to repression and to the criminalizationof a generation. Join us on the National Day of Protest to Stop PoliceBrutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation on October 22,2000!

FOR MORE INFORMATION and TO GET INVOLVED: (323)957-4661 www.unstoppable.com/22nobrutality@cs.com