Tag: police murders

‘I can’t breathe’ uttered by dozens in fatal police holds across U.S.

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This Marine veteran has 2 Purple Hearts
Damn big heart of his own, as well

In Columbus, Georgia, a 300-pound police officer sat on Hector Arreola’s back while another held a knee to his neck and kept him face down outside his neighbor’s house for six minutes until he stopped moving and later died.

In Phoenix, four police officers placed the weight of their bodies on Muhammad Abdul Muhaymin’s head, neck, back and limbs as he lay face-down and handcuffed before going into cardiac arrest and dying.

Three officers in Aurora, Colorado, tackled Elijah McClain as he walked home with groceries, using a stranglehold around his neck and handcuffing him as he pleaded and vomited. He was removed from life support days later.

In all three cases, the unarmed men uttered the same phrase as police wrestled them into custody.

“I can’t breathe.”

Their warnings were ignored.

The phrase has become an international rallying cry against police brutality after the high-profile deaths of Eric Garner in 2014 and George Floyd on Memorial Day. But, across the country, dozens of people have died in police custody under similar circumstances.

RRTFA and weep for the dead and their families. Then, stand up and march to stop legalized murder by your local coppers. They already know the odds are overwhelming they will get away with murder. With your murder…especially if you are Black. But, regardless of color, of age, language you speak, they will get away with your murder unless you stop them. That requires intimidating elected officials at every level of government with the fear of losing their job.

Yes, there’s lots more to do besides march. It ain’t a bad way to start! That ex-Marine up top picked a day with no demonstrations scheduled at Utah’s state capitol to stand at attention for 3 hours in the afternoon sun to express his opinion.

Remember when Philly coppers killed 11 – including 5 children – in a Black neighborhood?

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Thirty years ago…in an act of state-sponsored terrorism, police in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, dropped powerful bombs on a home that served as the headquarters of the MOVE organization, resulting in the deaths of 11 people, including 5 children.

The MOVE organization was a Black liberation group that also exposed a radical environmental outlook. The organization and its members were seen as a thorn in the side of Philadelphia police and city officials.

Police and MOVE members had clashed before, resulting in the death of one police officer in 1978 and the imprisonment of 9 members of the organization for their role. That incident would pale in comparison to the events of May 13, 1985.

City officials, firefighters, and heavily-armed police arrived at the headquarters of the organizations, a fortified row house in a residential area of West Philadelphia. Police had come to arrest four members of the group for relatively minor offenses such as parole violations.

When members — who were adamantly opposed to police actions — put up resistance, police responded with startling brutality.

Firefighters attempted to flush people out of the building using powerful fire houses. When that didn’t work police fired tear gas into the building before firing thousands of rounds of live ammunition. None of those actions were successful. It was then that Philadelphia police commissioner George Sambor ordered a police helicopter to drop two bombs on the roof of the house.

The resulting explosion tore through the building and ultimately burned approximately 60 neighboring houses. Ramona Africa, one of two survivors, stated that police shot live rounds at people who attempted to flee the inferno.

The firefighters on scene were ordered to let the building burn.

Despite a commission ordered by then Mayor Wilson Goode that deemed the actions “unconscionable,” not one city official or police officer was ever prosecuted. A grand jury, steered by police-friendly prosecutors, cleared all involved of any criminal liability.

If we had a Justice Department and a President back then who at least allowed an investigation – do you think something might have been done? Something that had sufficient effect upon police violence to have prevented some of the murders of unarmed civilians by cops, nowadays?