... but we need a Missouri resident to file the request. We also need residents in 16 other states to step up. Residents in 3 states have already stepped up! (See chart below.)
We have come to appreciate that the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is a powerful weapon in the hands of informed citizens. Not only should we plan on using the FOIA against evil, contemptible Republican governors, but how about against cowardly, tone deaf, dishonorable Democratic governors like Jay Nixon of Missouri?
We need to take a closer look at Governor Nixon. When asked to explain what was happening in Ferguson, he responded with this Palinsque, garbled nonsense:
We are, um, you know, it uh, it uh, you know, our goal here is to, is to, you know, keep the peace and allow folks voices to, uh, uh, to be heard. Um, and in that balance, I am attempting, you know I am, using the resources we have to marshal to be predictable, uh, for both those pillars. I, I don't, I am more ... I, I have to say I don't spend a tremendous amount of time personalizing this vis-a-vis me.
"I, I have to say I don't spend a tremendous amount of time personalizing this vis-a-vis me."
The buck should stop somewhere. The citizens of Missouri need to ask some good hard questions of their chief executive. He should not be allowed to use deflections, half-truths, and strategically-placed black faces to mask the stench of incompetence, racism, and corruption permeating the air over Missouri.
The grand jury that was empaneled to recommend whether Darren Wilson should be indicted cannot dawdle forever; they must say something sooner or later. (Rumors float that a decision will be handed down today, Friday.) But before the jury reports their recommendations, the inept governor wants us to know that violence will not be tolerated. Violence, that is, against property and
upstanding citizens will not be tolerated.
"That ugliness was not representative of Missouri and it cannot be repeated," Nixon said.
You may ask: What ugliness is the man referring to?
... The fact that three young black men were killed by law enforcement officers in less than 60 days? The fact that nobody has been disciplined, much less arrested for those murders killings?
Michael Brown
Michael Brown was shot at least six times, including twice in the head, when he was killed by a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer, according to a preliminary autopsy.
Read more:
http://www.politico.com/...
Kajieme Powell
Not taking anything away from the myriad of questions surrounding the murder of Michael Brown, and of which there exists no actual (known) video footage pertaining to his murder (other than after the fact), in this instance, with regard to the outright murder of Kajieme Powell, the video speaks for itself. This man was clearly, without question, gunned down by two white police officers, near Ferguson Missouri. The two policeman shot first (at least nine shots into Kajieme) and did not even bother to try to talk him down, or to even question him, or make any effort to diffuse the situation. The police claim that Kajieme held a knife is difficult to ascertain from the video, regardless, he was not attacking the officers.
http://www.counterpunch.org/...
Vonderrit Myers
18-year-old Vonderrit Myers (although some media is reporting his name was Vonderrick) was yet another unarmed Black teen who was shot and killed by police. His autopsy was recently released and proves that not only was he shot eight times, but six of those shots were from behind. The shot that killed Myers was a brutal shot to the side of his face. Myers was shot by an off-duty police officer who moonlights as a security guard. This officer name has still not been released.
Read more:
http://hellobeautiful.com/...
We think that Jay Nixon has some 'splainin' to do. He needs to be forced to give an account for the over-policing of Ferguson by what appears to be an occupying force. Explain the militarization of his police departments, the documented corruption, and the dereliction of duty (cop murders boy and files no report). Jay Nixon must not be allowed to get away with ignoring or explaining away the murders of black boys, while at the very same time using his goon squads ("fucking animals") to curtail the rights of citizens who want to protest those murders. Journalists and civil rights activists have used the FOIA to get information about what has been happening to the residents of Ferguson, and the story they tell is not pretty. We now know of the discriminatory practices that have prevailed for years, and we are due some answers.
The office of Missouri’s attorney general concluded in an annual report last year that Ferguson police were twice as likely to arrest African Americans during traffic stops as they were whites.
Read more:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
We need residents from the state of Missouri to volunteer to act on behalf of Michael Brown, Vonderrit Myers, and Kajieme Powell. We need help in fashioning a Freedom of Information Act Request for Governor Jay Nixon. The FOIA requests in Ferguson are not free. Journalists and activists have been complaining about how much officials have been asking, sometimes up to $135.00 an hour.
Officials in Ferguson, Missouri, are charging nearly 10 times the cost of some of their own employees' salaries before they will agree to turn over files under public records laws about the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown.
Read more:
http://bigstory.ap.org/....
Questions for Governor Nixon
Please tell us the questions you'd like to ask Governor Nixon of Missouri.
We can do this.