New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s call for people to end all protests and political debate related to police brutality out of respect for the weekend killings of two police officers has been rejected, and demonstrations continued today.
NYPD Commissioner William Bratton called the protests “unfortunate,” but the protesters say that so long as police don’t stop killing people, they won’t stop protesting against it.
De Blasio’s push to stifle public dissent came after NYPD anger directed at him, as police union leaders were blaming him for giving lip service to the need for reform previously.
The police have been using the weekend killings to try to muzzle criticism, but not successfully, with efforts to get Facebook to ban Cop Block’s page as “hate speech” ending unsuccessfully, with Facebook saying the page doesn’t violate their community standards.
Does he not know of a quaint old document known as the US Constitution that demands that the people have that right?
The First Amendment is always the "first freedom" to go. The BEST way to put an end to protests about Police violence would be for the Police to stop shooting and beating people. People need to look at Police violence like this. Perhaps the most fundamental right of a citizen is not the right to vote, but the right to sit on a jury and by direct action decide what things we will call crime in our society. When citizens convict a criminal the citizens are saying the actions were wrong. When citizens acquit, the citizens are saying the behavior was acceptable. Every time the Police kill an alleged criminal those Police are depriving citizens of their right to sit on a jury and pass judgment on the criminality of the person the Police executed. Thus, when the Police execute alleged criminals there is a double rights violation: the Police violate the right of the alleged criminal to due process AND the Police deprive citizens of the right to sit on a jury and pass judgment. Every time the Police execute an alleged criminal, the Police do violence to the rights of all citizens.
Death by provocation — Cops ordered to inflame violence
Yesterday, just 2 miles from Ferguson, another black teen was fatally shot by police. So, the headlines read, “Black teen killed after pointing gun at police.” But, the teen did not fire his weapon and in no way was that what actually happened.
For first the cop deliberately strapped a killing machine to his leg, up high and slightly to the front where it would surely provoke the maximum violence in any confrontation with the public. Then, as the cop walked up to the black teen with his killing machine ready to kill, the teen being provoked to the breaking point decided to pull out his gun. Then, the cop knowing that in all probability that the teen would never fire his weapon, the cop took the time to pull out his gun, to point his gun and to fire his gun a dozen times or more.
Question is, why is it that the cop did not freeze petrified when he saw a gun pointed directly at him? Because, for a fact, those who rule over law enforcement know that pointing a gun at a cop is nothing more then a harmless protest. For in all probability, if the cop backs away and ends his aggression, the encounter would be resolved without violence.
When I grew up in slums of Milwaukee, there were an overabundance of cops but you never saw their killing machines as their jacket kept it hidden. So, why is it that those who rule law enforcement so hell-bent on going in the wrong direction, militarizing police, shoving loaded assault rifles in your face and doing what will provoke the most violence between police and the impoverished people of society?
Because, all of the wealth is now hoarded by the upper half of society, soon a severe austerity program will give all wealth to just the 25% most wealthy and then watch the provoked violence give our ruling-class an excuse to gun us down wholesale.
Sorry, but what I have read is that he asked for a 'temporary' halt until after the cops' funerals. That's very different than the portrayal that he is demanding a total stop. Funny how it gets screwed around. http://news.yahoo.com/police-departments-alert-co…
Right, in NY you don't have the right to express your opinion because some mayor can't stand up to the militarized police mafia.
De Blasio is the usual liberal fake civil liberties advocate. Can you imagine the outrage if some conservative Texas mayor told protesters (whoever they are) to shut up and ordered no protests in similar circumstances? This is a clear effort by a government official with executive power to stifle and stop free speech. So the cops don't want to hear it? So what? We are subjected to their endless lies and whining yet no one claims the right to order them to stand down and shut up.
De Blasio only cares about his own political power. Cops kill with impunity, lie afterwards, are not even given public trials but instead let off. Then some nut kills a couple of them and they go ballistic. I guess the concept of "blowback" is new to them. But if some gangster or hood hurts a cop, then the blowback concept is well understood by the boys in blue. Odd that…
Watson — ”he asked for a ‘temporary’ halt until after the cops funerals.”
After several cops held Eric Garner to the ground while a sadistic murder slowly suffocated the black man, a human being that they all considered worthless, as he cried out, “I can’t breath… I can’t breath… I can’t breath,” did the Mayor head of the NYPD ask for a temporary halt to the police violence so that a proper and dignified funeral could be had?
After Michael Brown’s body rotted on the street for half a day in the hot August sun, did the Mayor Head of the NYPD express any kind of public outrage?
What does the NYPD think happens when they engage in brutality? Of course, its only a matter of time before some whaco starts shooting. If that is not a message, I do not know what is. The police need to reform. Simple as that.
An important lesson – the NAACP was founded in what? 1909 or maybe 1913. For fifty some years their polite protests, little petitions, etc. got them nothing – bupkis. Then Watts got burnt down. Within months civil rights legislation started passing in Congress. As wise people know, authority (especially evil authority) doesn't respond to requests – it responds only when fear strikes their cramped little souls. And they change only enough to quiet things down. For the protestors to back off now, they may as well forget any permanent change. It may not be politically correct, but they need to let the chips fall where they may. If innocents can die like dogs for no good reason, so can the killers. The authorities; in this case the militarized police- are seeking a return to the status quo, and that is their only goal.
Good point!
Wild west justice — Shoot first or your dead
Problem is, after black men have been humbled unto desecration by thousands upon thousands of years of chain slavery and starvation wages, until they are now the most pacifist humans on earth, to the point that the police all know that if a black points a gun at them that there is not one chance in a million that he will ever pull the trigger, is it not cool blooded murder what the police are now doing to the black men among us?