Tag Archives: police brutality

Healing places and healing hearts

Parlee for Rosalie
ICT writer, Parlee! Go, Ms. Jones, go!!!

By Parlee Jones

It’s been a while since I have put pen to paper. I love to write. I have been busy with my own life. Things are happening. My children are preparing to leave for
college. I’m moving. I work daily with homeless women and families at Abby’s House.

And then, all of a sudden, you wake up and see a video that stops you in your tracks. You have no choice but to pause. You have no choice but to shed tears and tear at your hair as you watch another black man being executed, live and in living color.

On your phone, on television, on your computer.

Over and over again, you see this murder.

My heart is heavy. Aside from the two executions we saw over the week of July 4th, Philando Castille and Alton Sterling, there was the shooting of the Dallas Police Officers, the subsequent bombing of
the alleged shooter of the police officers.

There was a young Black man found hanging in a tree in Atlanta (atlantamagazine.com/news-culture-articles/what-really-happened-to-
the-man-found-hanging-in-piedmont-park).

There were six young Latino brothers who lost their lives to police violence (telesurtv.net/english/news/5-Latinos-Killed-by-US-
Cops-this-WeekAnd-Media-Ignored-It-20160708-0024).

The young brother who was
chased by a group of young white men and died from an asthma attack. (nydailynews.com/new-york/staten-island-teen-dies-asthma-fleeing-racist-crew-
article-1.2659272).

The Black man who was shot by an off-duty cop point blank during
a traffic dispute. (nytimes.com/2016/07/11/nyregion/video-of-fatal-shooting-
by-off-duty-officer-in-brooklyn-emerges).

Were you aware of these incidents of violence?

How my heart is crying for these lost lives. How my heart is mourning for these families who now must bury their people. How my heart is hurting because, instead
of dealing with the truth of systemic racism, and seeing the execution of these men live
and in living color, some folks still need to wait for the investigation.

Some folks say the police were doing their job.

All I have to say about that is: When did the police become judge and jury? Why do we allow men who seem to be afraid of people with
melanin or actually hate people of color, to supposedly protect our communities?

If you are okay with the way our police are policing, you may be part of the problem.

I had the humbling privilege of being a part of the Freedom Circles: Healing for Marginalized Communities Workshop. It was the first of a series of workshops. It is being hosted by BLM Worcester. The first workshop was facilitated by Julius Jones, founder of BLM Worcester. Future sessions will be led by others healers.

Julius is a love-centered activist. He is trained in Family Constellations, a popular healing
modality that explores the ancestral origins of our power, our persistent and “unsolvable” problems and their solutions.

We broke out into groups of two and practiced a technique called “Resonating” where we learn to listen and hold space for each other without projecting our own “stuff” onto them. Then we took a deep dive into internalized oppression. We talked about beginning to undo the harmful messages we receive from others and ourselves.

It was amazing.

After being so assaulted by the
coverage of the murders, I was feeling hopeless. Helpless. This was a space for me to be with like-minded people. People who want to understand true history. Something
that is not taught in schools. Part of the freeing of my own mind was learning Our Story.

If you do not know your true history – the history of your people, regardless of where you are from because unless you are a Native American your people are not from this land we call
home – if you do not learn the TRUE history of America, its founding Fathers and how this systemic racism was born, you truly cannot free your mind.

We have been conditioned to accept whatever is given by the powers that be.

We all belong to each other.

How can I help you understand that?

Body Cameras for the Worcester Police

lily(1)
Walking the beat

By Gordon Davis

Several years ago, Worcester Police Chief Gary Gemme, now retired, announced that the Worcester Police Department was investigating the policy of the use of body cameras for on-duty patrol officers. Like with most “policy” issues in the City of Worcester, the investigation was conducted in secret.

Advocates of the policy of using body cameras pointed out that body cameras protect both the public and the police officers. The information provided by the video is considered indisputable, unlike oral testimony.

With body cameras the actions of a member of the public is clearly shown, and this protects police officers from false or unsubstantial complaints. Also, the actions of the police are clearly recorded, protecting the public from poorly trained police officers or officers who are abusive.

Body cameras are used in at least 42 large police departments nation-wide and many more smaller police departments. Boston is initiating the use of body cameras on a trial basis this year. Leicester (MA) and Brookfield already use them.

The overall results have been that the number of complaints made by the public are down and the number of arrests is also down. Both statistics point to a reduction of frivolous activity by the public and police. Such interactions over what many of us would call “frivolous” often lead to escalations.

The Worcester City Council has essentially abrogated it duty and responsibility to set policy for the Worcester Police Department. The City Manager and City Council are just rubber stamps for whatever the Police Chief and his cronies tell them.

There is no transparency in terms of complaints by the public.

There is no significant external oversight over use of funds.

Several Worcester City Councilors have passed resolutions in effect saying “support the cops – right or wrong.”

A group of residents are petitioning the Worcester City Council to have public hearings on changes to Worcester Police Department policies.

The petition will be given to the Worcester City Council at the August 16, 2016, Worcester City Council meeting.

Hopefully, if approved by City Council, the public hearings will be real and honest.

The public hearings should not be like City Manager Ed Augustus’ Department of Justice hearings in 2015 during which the police chief did not appear and the notes were lost!

The ACLU has come up with a set of rules, a policy for the use of body cameras by the police. The Boston Police Department has adopted 80 percent of the ACLU’s proposals.
These proposals include when the cameras should be turned on or off, who gets access to the videos, verification of the cameras’ operation, etc.

These proposals certainly could be used as a basis for the Worcester City Council establishing a body camera policy for the Worcester Police Department. The City Council should also conduct an audit about any money received via grants for a pilot program for body camera use.

I have been to a lot of City Council meetings and seen a lot of citizen petitions describing good policies for the City of Worcester. I have seen most of these petitions “filed” or thrown away. The petition regarding changes to Worcester Police Department policy is too important to be ignored.

Given the tensions between the public – especially people of color and the poor – and the police, there is a real need for the protection of our rights.

First ever Black Lives Matter agenda …

… released today!

A coalition affiliated with BLM issued the following:

CLICK HERE to read entire document!

“We demand an end to the war against Black people. Since this country’s inception there have been named and unnamed wars on our communities. We demand an end to the criminalization, incarceration, and killing of our people. This includes:

“An immediate end to the criminalization and dehumanization of Black youth across all areas of society including, but not limited to; our nation’s justice and education systems, social service agencies, and media and pop culture. This includes an end to zero-tolerance school policies and arrests of students, the removal of police from schools, and the reallocation of funds from police and punitive school discipline practices to restorative services.

“An end to capital punishment.
An end to money bail, mandatory fines, fees, court surcharges and “defendant funded” court proceedings.

“An end to the use of past criminal history to determine eligibility for housing, education, licenses, voting, loans, employment, and other services and needs.

“An end to the war on Black immigrants including the repeal of the 1996 crime and immigration bills, an end to all deportations, immigrant detention, and Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) raids, and mandated legal representation in immigration court.

“An end to the war on Black trans, queer and gender nonconforming people including their addition to anti-discrimination civil rights protections to ensure they have full access to employment, health, housing and education. …  .”

CLICK HERE to read entire document!

Worcester and the Department of Justice – meeting #1, May 18, 2015

By Gordon Davis

The first of several race relations discussions initiated by Worcester City Manager Edward Augustus began last night at the YWCA, Worcester. The discussions, so far, seemed poorly designed and did not reach the people who needed to be at the table.

Young men of color were conspicuously absent.

In the meeting room, which was filled to capacity, young men of color and those who interact with them could be counted on one hand.

Muhammad Ali-Salaam of the Community Relations Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) explained as best he could what the discussions were about. He had with him a team of facilitators who sat at each table.

Mr. Ali-Salaam said that the DOJ came at the request of the City Manager. The discussions on race relations were intended to vet Augustus’ plan for more diversity in Worcester government/public life and to get input from the community. Augustus said he is hopeful that these discussions would be more fruitful than the other discussions on race held previously in Worcester.

In response to a question about the DOJ investigating the Worcester Police Department for misconduct and Worcester City government for malicious prosecution, Mr. Ali-Salaam said the petition for such investigations should go to Ms. Carmen Ortiz, the U.S. Attorney for this district. She has a field office in Worcester.

Mr. Culin Owyang, Deputy Attorney General for Massachusetts, said he and the Attorney General hoped to have a positive impact on Worcester’s discussions on race and to give them some structure.

On the subject of Worcester District Attorney (DA) Joseph Early Jr. recusing his office from the prosecution of a Worcester police officer accused of beating a shackled prisoner and transferring the prosecution to Attorney General Maura Healy’s office, Mr. Owyang had no comment.

He said DA Early should be asked those questions. He had no comment on why DA Early did not erect a legal wall around the prosecution or appoint a special prosecutor.

Several people in attendance said the racial tension in Worcester has been centered around Black Lives Matter demonstrations and Worcester Police misconduct and alleged public safety issues at North High School.

There were few, if any protesters, from Black Lives Matter and no high school students from North High School.

Why???

The outreach could be better for the city’s upcoming discussions on public safety and education.

Two young men of color who were at the meeting expressed disappointment with the low turnout of young men of color.

Born Taylor, a young Black man, said he felt that some good could come from the discussions, but he also felt that the division of attendees by table could have been better. He thought discussions would not attain some of their goals if more young men of color did not attend.

Caleb Encarnacion-Rivera, a young Hispanic man, said he came in order to help the improvement of the city. He was especially motivated because now he had a child in the Worcester Public Schools.

Like Mr. Taylor, Mr. Encarnacion-Rivera hoped that more young men of color would attend the future discussions.

Two Worcester city councillors, Gary Rosen and Sarai Rivera, said they were there to learn more.

City Manager Augustus said we should not be held captive by the past, where similar discussions started out enthusiastically but nothing significant came about.

One white woman said there is no racial problem in Worcester. She said that there were only agitators stirring things up, causing the problems. While she was speaking, my thoughts went to the old civil rights movement where Bull Connors said something similar about happy Negroes and outside agitators.

Another white woman said some in the room were unaware that the term “color blindness” in terms of race had shifted from a relatively progressive phrase to a code word for institutional racism. Although honest and a plea for discourse, such comments will make the discussions difficult for some people of color.

A black woman who said that the DOJ should investigate the Worcester Police was booed by some white people, even though the facilitators told the participants that they should be respectful of everyone’s ideas and opinions.

Instead of reducing racial tensions in Worcester, the discussions might be the source of increased racial tensions.

One person noticeably absent was Brenda Jenkins of the YMCA and the Mosaic Cultural Complex. She is an important Black leader in the City of Worcester. Several people came to me and asked me where Brenda was. They speculated that she might not have come because the populations she works with did not go.

There are also rumors that the City of Worcester is pressuring Brenda’s program – the Mosaic Cultural Complex-  by reviewing the funds the City of Worcester awards her group. Is Augustus going to pull Brenda’s funding to pressure Brenda to “shut up”? Or has that already happened? Or has Brenda, like other Black leaders in Worcester before her, people of color on the city payroll, people of color with ties to Worcester city government/jobs/funds self-censoring herself??? To save her city money?

I suppose the politics of Worcester might suddenly change, and the city will take more substantial and positive actions towards race relations.

Unfortunately it looks a lot like business as usual – or worse.

From Baltimore to Worcester

Text and photos by Gordon Davis

WSU 4-29-15

This week a coalition of Worcester State University and Clark University students, local residents and others held a rally and march in solidarity with the people in Baltimore who are protesting the killing of Freddie Gray by the Baltimore police.

Rally at WSU

The day started for one of the organizers when at 8:30 AM the principal of May Street School called. The principal was concerned that the rally at Worcester State would somehow be disruptive.  The rally, which stated at 2 PM at Worcester State University, was covered by the media which also wanted to know about any disruption that would take place. The organizer s assured everyone that no disruption was planned.

A small crowd of about fifteen people stood with signs reading “Black (all) Lives Matter.” Nick, one of the organizers talked about how racism must end and of solidarity with the protests in Baltimore. He reminded the group that the event was to be non violent.

The group then marched down May Street to Park Ave. and met up with about twenty more people, seemingly from Clark University. The enlarged group then marched down Park Ave. chanting slogans such as “No justice, no peace, no racist police!”

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Upon reaching Elm Park, at the corner of Park Ave. and Highland St., the protesters displayed their signs to the heavy traffic which travels that intersection around 3 PM on a week day. About ten more protesters were waiting in the park and joined the group.

Some of the passing motorists were supportive and waved or sounded their horns. A couple of motorists were annoyed. Most of the drivers did not express any explicit interest.

The Worcester City Council meeting of the previous night was condemned by one of the speaker who chanted “City Council, you can’t hide; we charge you with genocide!”

The rally broke up around 3:45 PM. Some of the protesters said that they intended to go and support the anti-police brutality rally in Boston at 6 PM.

Power to the people! 25,000 march against racism in NYC. Thousands more march in Washington D.C. … Worcesterites join them! Welcome to the NEW Civil Rights Movement!

NYC_12-13-14 Young Faces from Worcester in New York City. Photo courtesy of Robert Blackwell Gibbs.

Our young people are part of a new nation-wide civil rights movement! Go, Worcester young people, go!!!!

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO JOIN/LEARN MORE ABOUT AMERICA’S NEW CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT, START NOW! Email Gordon at hellowithfire1@aol.com and he’ll connect you!

By Gordon T. Davis

The demonstrations against the killing of unarmed Black men are a good thing.

This fight against racism will eventually benefit everyone, as it will cause a review of police procedures and policies throughout America.

Our criminal justice system is rigged in such a way that no police officer who kills anyone is ever indicted. This should change to a new standard: any police officer who wrongfully kills someone should be fired. The standard will be a long struggle before it’s effectuated. And it might never be accomplished without an overhaul of our justice system.

On November 13, 2014, there were demonstrations for racial justice in Worcester, Boston, New York City, and Washington D.C. At least 25 people from Worcester went to the NYC demonstration. The trip to New York was organized by Communities United Collective (CUC) – a group formed shortly after a Support Ferguson Mo rally in July of 2014 on the Worcester Common.

The CUC consists of mostly relatively young people of all races who are too young to have participated in the civil rights movement of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.  All of the people in CUC are enthusiastic and this showed when they and students boldly blocked the streets of Worcester and made their voices heard at the Worcester City Council meeting.

A weakness of the CUC seems to be that they are never certain from meeting to meeting what is needed to be done, but their description of the rally in New York by some of the people who went shows their enthusiasm and hope:

Jules:

The Millions March was a peacefully organized Rally. It was very successful. We shut the streets down and raised awareness. This won’t end until justice is brought to those who ripped families apart and took the lives of the innocent. If I had to do it again, I’d do it a thousand times over.”

Jonathan:

The bosses have to have heard and that is why they are discrediting the marchers in any way that they can. This was no rowdy bunch of hoodlums. This was an extremely well organized political action. I expect reforms to come in the long term. This is just the beginning of a growing movement. The police can’t do this anymore. The people aren’t going to let them.”

Ed:

“… I thought it went really great, and it was amazing how many people came out in solidarity. I think our point of why we’re fighting got across, but we still have a ways to go, and we need to take that people-power past protesting.”

Robert:

“Uplifting while sorrowful! It was moving to see so many like minds there for the main cause. The police were calm, but we knew what they really wanted. When we all took Brooklyn Bridge and shut down both sides to traffic it was a show of real power.”

********

The rally in Washington D.C. might indicate a difference in tactics between the old guard civil rights activists and the young activists. For example, a group of younger demonstrators from St. Louis wanted to go up on the stage where the TV cameras were and speak. The people running the rally said that the people from St. Louis needed VIP passes to get on stage!

This new civil rights movement apparently has reached a critical stage. What is next? More blocked streets, more teach-ins – or something else? Will there be a division between the younger and the older civil rights activists?

Hopefully, our new Civil Rights Movement will have the lasting power and the effectiveness of the old.

**********

This Baby Boomer considers herself old guard. And we old guard-types had great musical spokespeople who sang what we all felt: Dylan, Baez, Havens, Hendrix, Odetta, Young, Lennon, to name just a few. YOUNG PEOPLE TODAY NEED TO FIND THEIR DYLANS, THEIR LENNONS, their own musical/political geniuses! They’re out there – we just know it!
– R. Tirella

Holden Haze

By Rosalie Tirella

How lovely to be driving down Salisbury Street in Holden one night with my eyes aching from an alergic reaction I had to an old blanket I washed the day before! My eyes were hurting! Then just as I was about to turn onto Main Street, a car pulled out of the Holden Recreation Area parking lot on Salisbury Street. The car tailgated me with headlights on strong – and then boom! Sirens screeched and lights flashed. Yes, gentle readers, it was a Holden police officer in a Holden police cruiser! And when the cop stopped me and I looked up at him from my car window, he looked just about ready to shoot me. In Holden! One of the prettiest towns in Massachusetts!

He – Holden Police Officer Gregg Sculthorpe – tells me: You went over the yellow line (on the road).
I tell him: I went over the yellow line just a little because a car – yours – was on my tail with the headlights on strong! I told him my eyes were aching that day – I didn’t know why – and that I had made an appointment to see an opthamologist the next day. Continue reading Holden Haze

Fourth of July special, courtesy of the Worcester Police Department!

By Rosalie Tirella

How sad this had to happen right before the Fourth of July:

About three or so days ago, a guy and a Worcester cop were infront of a Worcester pharmacy – the guy getting arrested. The guy gives some lip service to one of Worcester’s finest as he’s being arrested, and the Nazi – I mean Worcester Police Officer – would have none of the guy’s sass. So what did the cop do? He pounced on the guy and began whacking him in the balls! Again and again! And after he was finished, he swung his arm around several times – as if to say: Whew! That took a lot outa me! Gotta stretch the ol’ muscles!

“Happy Fourth of July, Worcester! 

– body blows and kisses from the WPD!” Continue reading Fourth of July special, courtesy of the Worcester Police Department!