I associate November with many happy events, my mother’s birthday, my sister’s birthday, my half-brother’s & his wife’s birthdays, my parents anniversary, my grandmother’s birthday which is mine also, election day (my civic duty), Veteran’s day, and my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving. Yeah, I do understand that there is cultural significance which is problematic for Native American peoples. I am not ignoring that problem. I choose to enjoy the food, family, and all-day football fete, don’t have to buy presents or pretend to go to church.
Unfortunately, many families must traverse the anniversaries of the death of a loved one due to police and mostly white male violence.
Malissa Williams & Timothy Russell
In November 2012, shortly after Mr. Obama was re-elected, Malissa Williams & Timothy Russell were murdered by the Cleveland police after a long high speed car chase ending up in a school parking lot in a hail of 137 bullets. No police have lost their jobs or been convicted. The two victims were unarmed, but they were tried in the court of public opinion and convicted of not being white enough. There was one trial, although a total of 13 officers shot at the vehicle. The judge decided that the lone prosecuted police officer was not guilty. The killers are still working for the Cleveland Police Department, although there was a minor punishment 1 week of paid vacation oops I mean paid leave — Cleveland police officer Michael Brelo’s firing is still pending.
Jordan Davis
On November 23, 2012, Jordan Davis and friends were sitting in a parking lot of a convienince store. After objecting to their choice of music and how loud it was, a man went to his car, got out a 9 mm handgun and shot at the vehicle. They fled from the scene, under fire. So did the perp, Dunn. He was arrested the next day after returning home. This is problematic in that Dunn was convicted only because he left witnesses, Jordan Davis’s friends, IMO. The first trial resulted in the lesser charges of attempted murder for the other young men, but a hung jury on the 2nd degree murder charge. Almost 2 years after Jordan’s murder, Dunn was finally convicted in October 2014.
Tanisha Anderson
In Nov. 2014, Tanisha Anderson suffered from schizophrenia and needed help. Her family called the police. She was handcuffed, and in some kind of interaction she was slammed into the ground. She became unconscious. After a 20 minute-wait for an ambulance in a state of undress caused by the evil police, she was taken. She died in the hospital. A contributing factor in her death was heart disease.
Tamir Rice
On November 22, 2014, Tamir was playing outside a neighborhood recreation center with a toy gun. Two Cleveland police officers drove up and shot him point blank in less than 2 (two) seconds after their arrival. The car had not completely stopped. They did not render aid. They assaulted his sister as she tried to render aid and placed her in the back seat of the patrol car. Two other law enforcement officers arrived and rendered aid. The first two did not ever help the boy. Tamir Rice was taken to Metro Health Medical Center, the local trauma hospital and died the next day. Until the video came of the incident was released, all police officers lied about the events. It still does NOT make sense to me other than the cops were acting like reckless, stupid, and disrespectful cowboys. Many people have said vicious things about Tamir’s family. The local prosecutor dragged his feet. However, there are many who are disgusted and concerned about this senseless murder. I call it murder because the cowardly cops were disrespectful of his rights as a human being. The one-year anniversary of his death is on Sunday. Tamir Rice didn’t even have a chance. It is just so very wrong and shows how rotten the Cleveland Police Department is, the local prosecutor, and the local paper. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!
Summary
Each of these deaths was caused by a reckless disregard for human life and their rights as citizens by their killers.
So unfortunately, many families will have to suffer through a Thanksgiving holiday without loved ones, because their loved ones were killed by senseless gun violence either by criminals or by criminal law enforcement. I have no words.
For More Information:
A year without Tamir
A vigil for the one year anniversary of Tanisha Anderson
Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams death in Wikipedia
Jordan Davis: A most American way to die
The counted
#BLM
2thanks:
You may feel powerless after reading the above essay. Sometimes the antidote to powerlessness is doing something. A year ago, we were just like many of our readers. Members of the Daily Kos group Support the Dream Defenders felt powerless and angry and frustrated and depressed. But then we drew ourselves together and started doing things. You can see the list of our projects in the box at the bottom of the story. If you would like to let your anger, powerlessness, and frustration motivate you to do something, you could join us in any of the following activities that we need help with. We cannot accomplish these projects without help. If these activities are not to your liking, please find others. In the meantime, please do what you can do to promote this diary via your social media.
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Can you help us? We ask you to do the following:
a) Print out the Michael Brown Over-Policed Rights Act and send it your representatives.
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d) Call your representatives and ask what are they doing about police brutality in general and implementing our law in particular.
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Our goal is to change the culture of policing in this country.
About Support the Dream Defenders
(Wordcloud composed of Support the Dream Defenders, Michael Brown Over-Policed Rights Act, Expand Medicaid, Freedom of Information Act Project, Combat Racism, Demand Equality.)
Members of the Daily Kos group Support the Dream Defenders invigorate four ongoing projects:
1. We coalesced to support the Dream Defenders in Florida and their mission, our first project and the origin of our name. The Dream Defenders defend the Dream of Martin Luther King Jr. by "develop[ing] the next generation of radical leaders to realize and exercise our independent collective power; building alternative systems and organizing to disrupt the structures that oppress our communities." Please donate here.
2. Our Michael Brown Over-Policed Rights Act, crowd-sourced at Daily Kos in the fall of 2014 after the death of Michael Brown. Our bill quickly earned endorsements from the NAACP and the ACLU. The NAACP forwarded our bill to members of Congress, and we distributed it to members of the Congressional Black Caucus and other progressive members of Congress. President Obama signed into a law a small piece of our bill in December 2014. The Department of Justice included parts of our law in their reports on Ferguson, Missouri, in 2015. Our state version of the MBOPRA is currently in committee in the Kansas legislature.
3. Our Freedom of Information Act project. Nineteen Republican governors chose to kill poor people by not expanding Medicaid. Ebola has killed about 9000 people in total; Republican governors kill 23,000 people PER YEAR by refusing federal support for Medicaid, a story ignored by traditional media. Our project forces those governors to out themselves, clapping them in a Catch 22. With the support of readers, we publicize our results through letters to the editor, press releases, and petitions.
4. Our Law Enforcement Documentation Act of 2016.
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