Do you want to live in a country that looks like this?
... Or do you want to live in a country that looks like this? Young and alive Mike Brown, brother Andre and sister Deja in happier times.
From the Department of No Shit Sherlock we get a
DOJ Report on how the abysmal response of the Ferguson police department exacerbated civil unrest:
The report was critical of the use of force and instances in which tactics served to undermine community trust at critical junctures. It condemned the use of snipers deployed atop military vehicles, saying the tactic was better suited for active-shooter scenes, but were “ineffective and inappropriate for crowd control.” Police officers also reported back receiving inconsistent orders outlining which activities warranted a protester’s arrest. “There was no standing order,” officers told investigators, “the order changed every day.”
So they tell us what we knew all along, that the police used excessive, even military, force and had no plan/organization so that they were making it up as they went along. The MSNBC article linked above continues:
Law enforcement actions intended to disperse crowds only served to exacerbate tensions, the report found. The lack of transparency surrounding the investigation left the community with few answers and further fueled discontent. Missouri Governor Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency and imposed a nightly curfew that was soon seen as ineffective.
This final quote explains very clearly how police actions not only did not stop unrest, they actually caused more conflict:
“Many members of the crowd interpreted the police actions as ‘sending a message’ to intimidate the African-American community,” investigators found.
Here is a link to the full DOJ report, 188 pages, courtesy of St. Louis Public Radio. You can browse the table of contents, search through pages, or go to specific sections.
It is abundantly clear that the police (all 16,000 forces in our Country) are out of control and need to be re-structured so that they will do what they are actually supposed to do: protect and serve. For more examples of how out of control the police are, please see two stories on police issues right here at Daily Kos.
Tim Wise posted a story: "Blue Lies Matter: Exposing Police Propaganda and the Right's Assault on Justice"
Front pager Shaun King posted a story: "American police are 300% more likely to kill themselves than be shot and killed by someone else."
Last week, we felt pretty good about what we have accomplished so far in the last year, but that is clearly not enough. We ask that you join us in the following efforts:
a) Print out the Michael Brown Over-Policed Rights Act and send it your representatives.
b) Email the law to your representatives and to civil rights organizations.
c) Tweet the law to your representatives and to the Democratic presidential candidates.
d) Call your representatives and ask what are they doing about police brutality in general and implementing our law in particular.
e) Contact your United States senator and contact your representative in the United States Congress. Call their office. Talk to a staff member. Call every week. Set up meetings. Organize a group to go to a meeting with your congressperson.
Remember, our aim is to change the culture of policing in this country.
#LetOurPoorPeopleLive
Update on Our FOIA Progress
All governors and their enablers acceded to our requests or caved to our demands. Only one state investigated to see how many poor people would suffer and die. Only Texas. None of them expanded Medicaid. Not one. They don't give a s$$t. They don't give a rat's a$$. They don't give a flying f$ck how many poor people die, how many suffer, how many lose their homes. They claim to be Christian, yet ignore our poor. Ebola killed 2 Americans. Those Republican poorkillers axe 63 Americans per day!
Charting Our FOIA Progress: #LetOurPoorPeopleLive #STDDs
(Dark green indicates we have heard back.)
|
State |
Sent |
Heard Back |
Recipient |
Deaths |
Alabama |
|
|
Gov R.J. Bentley-R |
215-562 |
Alaska |
|
|
Gov Bill Warner-I (Thanks!) |
0 |
Florida |
|
|
Gov Rick Scott-R |
1158-2221 |
Georgia |
|
|
Gov Nathan Deal-R |
561-1176 |
Idaho |
|
|
Gov Butch Otter-R |
76-179 |
Kansas |
|
|
Gov Sam Brownback-R |
113-330 |
Louisiana |
|
|
Gov Bobby Jindal-R |
249-542 |
Maine |
|
|
Gov Paul LePage-R |
31-157 |
Mississippi |
|
|
Gov Phil Bryant-R |
141-343 |
Missouri |
|
|
Sen Kurt Schaefer-R |
218-700 |
Montana |
|
|
Sen Art Wittich-R |
50-117 |
Nebraska |
|
|
Gov Pete Ricketts-R |
67-212 |
North Carolina |
|
|
Gov Pat McCrory-R |
455-1145 |
Oklahoma |
|
|
Gov Mary Fallin-R |
174-439 |
South Carolina |
|
|
Gov Nikki Haley-R |
209-551 |
South Dakota |
|
|
Gov Dennis Daugaard-R |
36-95 |
Tennessee |
|
|
Gov Bill Haslam-R |
284-759 |
Texas |
|
|
Gov Greg Abbott-R |
8000-9000 |
Utah |
|
|
Rep Gregory Hughes-R |
102-316 |
Virginia |
|
|
Sen Kathy J. Byron-R |
266-987 |
Wisconsin |
|
|
Gov Scott Walker-R |
139-671 |
Wyoming |
|
|
Gov Matt Mead-R |
22-69 |
|
|
|
Total per Year
(Lowest Estimate) |
23,000 |
Notes:
Abbreviations R Republican. D Democratic. I Independent. Gov Governor. Sen State Senator. Rep State Representative.
Alaska: Gov Bill Warner will sidestep the GOP-controlled legislature and expand Medicaid on his own as of July 16, 2015. Thank you, Gov Warner! Indiana: The Governor now supports the Medicaid expansion. Montana: Montana is waiting for federal approval of their version of Medicaid expansion. Utah: Gregory H. Hughes is the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Wisconsin: STDDs continue to support Citizen Action of Wisconsin; however, we filed our own FOIA request for Wisconsin.
Source: Health Affairs Blog: Opting Out Of Medicaid Expansion: The Health And Financial Impacts.
Next Action Steps:
1. Letters to the editor by readers, Kossacks, and followers and members of Support the Dream Defenders.
2. Press releases by readers, Kossacks, and followers and members of Support the Dream Defenders. |
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About Support the Dream Defenders
Members of the Daily Kos group Support the Dream Defenders invigorate three 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. This bill quickly gained the support of 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. 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. We will publicize our results through letters to the editor, press releases, and petitions.
More information about STTDs here.
You can receive all future stories of Support the Dream Defenders by clicking here. Then click "Follow," which will make all STDD stories show up in "My Stream" of your Daily Kos page.
This is a community diary.
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