When We Gonna Wake Up…..Americans are Oppressed, Too

http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts02042011.html

 By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

Police in the US now rival criminals, and exceed terrorists, as the greatest threat to the American public. Rogelio Serrato is the latest case to be in the news of an innocent person murdered by the police. Serrato was the wrong man, but the Monterey County, California, SWAT team killed the 31-year old father of four and left the family home a charred ruin.

US Police Wage War on Cameras

By RT

Today's high tech world has made it a lot easier to videotape police, but it may have also made it more dangerous. RT's Ramon Galindo shows us how a high school student has become the latest target in the war on cameras.

Posted January 08, 2011

Pat-Downs Hit Middle America Where It Counts

Nov 24, 2010  By David Coleman

The recent outrage expressed by white males and females over intrusive airport pat-downs may have an upside. At least at the nation’s airports, non-minority airline passengers who seek to board an airplane are being sensitized to the indignities that are a routine part of the lives of some men of color who merely walk or drive down a street.

  AP / Ted S. Warren

Good times: A traveler endures a pat-down during a TSA security screening on Nov. 19 at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

The word is that raids will begin on Monday, July 19th.  Cops hunt down outside-sleeping people every night, but these raids will be broad-sweeping and perhaps more orchestrated.

These raids will violate the rights of the houseless people.  There are no legal, free-of-charge places to sleep in Eureka (or Arcata), so there are no options for almost all people who have no shelter except to sleep where they can find a hidden piece of ground.  Then ya gotta be able to protect yourself from the rain, wind, cold, dew.

This is not a new situation.  But all too often, people who are housed dismiss the reality of the situation by simply saying, "Well, there are homeless shelters for them to go to."  That is completely INACCURATE.

WHY WE PROTESTED AT THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE

On Thursday, April 8, 2010, fifteen to twenty community members gathered in the reception area of the District Attorney's office, fourth floor of the courthouse, to address Paul Gallegos regarding a recent incident and the systematic injustice related to that and many other instances.  As you may remember, on March 15th of this year, two people from Redwood Curtain CopWatch were arrested because Sheriff's Deputy Joseph Marsh did not want to be videotaped while he was detaining and searching a man in Eureka.

On April 6, 2010, the two of us who were arrested learned that the DA had not (yet) charged us with any crime related to our arrests.  After we were arrested and in jail, we signed Agreements to Appear in court on April 6th.  When signing an Agreement to Appear, the document informs the signer that if s/he does not appear on that date, s/he can be arrested again.

On April 6, we were not on the court schedule, which means the DA had not yet decided what charges or if he would charge us at all.

Christopher Arrion Burgess, 16 year-old Native American boy. He was
pepper sprayed by a probation officer who stormed into a house where
Christopher was watching a movie with friends. EPD officer Terry Liles,
who had pulled Christopher out of sleep about 3 years earlier (13 years
old) and beat him until the boy's skull was fractured, chased Christopher
on October 23, 2006, and shot him in the heart. Killed him. And this,
after years of Christopher being systematically criminalized, and still