Baltimore – ANOTHER BLACK MAN’S LIFE STOLEN BY THE POLICE!

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Baltimore – ANOTHER BLACK MAN’S LIFE STOLEN BY THE POLICE!


Baltimore – ANOTHER BLACK MAN’S LIFE STOLEN BY THE POLICE! by Carl Dix, Co-founder, Stop Mass Incarceration Network Freddie Gray, a 25 year old Blac



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Baltimore – ANOTHER BLACK MAN’S LIFE STOLEN BY THE POLICE!

by Carl Dix, Co-founder, Stop Mass Incarceration Network

Freddie Gray, a 25 year old Black man, is dead after being taken into custody by Baltimore City cops. Freddie was chased and arrested on April 12. Why - we don’t know because police haven’t yet made public why they arrested him. All we know is that Freddie ran when the cops swaggered into the neighborhood like an occupying army. A video made by a witness to his arrest shows him being dragged to the police van screaming like he was in excruciating pain and seemingly unable to walk. 40 minutes later, the police call an ambulance to the precinct Freddie was taken to, and at the hospital doctors find his spinal cord had been broken. Freddie died a week later. The city has exploded in protest, with 2000 people in the streets on April 21 demanding Justice For Freddie.

Baltimore City officials are saying, ‘People should wait for the results of our thorough investigation.’ Apologists for the cops ask, ‘Why did he run in the 11st place?’ I don’t want to hear any of that crap. Freddie is another Black man whose life was stolen by the police. This is a horror that has been going on for decades and is intensifying today. It is a concentration of the slow genocide being enforced on Black and Latino people by this capitalist/imperialist system. It will take revolution, nothing less to end this, and all the other horrors this system forces humanity to endure. And everybody who refuses to stand by while the color of someone’s skin determines how they live and whether they live needs to join those in the streets of Baltimore and everywhere else saying that “Police Getting Away With Murder Must STOP!”

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Send a Stop Mass Incarceration Network team to Baltimore! Donate Now!

We are calling on people to donate and to find ways to support a Stop Mass Incarceration Network and NYC Revolution Club Team going down south to Baltimore!

It’s only been a week since #ShutDownA14, and things are heating up now in Baltimore! The police arrested Freddie Gray – beating him viciously on April 12th, Gray was screaming in pain as the cops dragged him and threw him into a van and delayed getting him medical attention. A lawyer for the Gray family said his spine was 80% severed at his neck while in custody and he fell into a coma before dying. Since April 18th, Baltimore protesters have taken to the streets.

Check out the video on Freddie Gray. (https://go.madmimi.com/redirects/1429719008-7d595d1d608ae1581f1df706cfd74dd2-9772a77?pa=29798326580)

Join up with the Stop Mass Incarceration Network and Revolution Club team and the defiant resisters there in Baltimore! There is an advance team going down Wednesday morning, and we hear demonstrations are planned for Thursday and Saturday. More people are planning to go for the weekend.

We need to raise money so that people can get down to Baltimore, so they are able to function and get around the city, and to have all the materials they need! Ask friends, family. Call in to the Stop Mass Incarceration Network -- 929-249-7996 -- to be on the phone banking team. Donations can also be left at Revolution Books (https://go.madmimi.com/redirects/1429719008-ba5824e82e79ecc84207cd41b9c138c7-9772a77?pa=29798326580), 146 West 26th Street, between 6th and 7th Avenue.

The Stop Mass Incarceration Network has an indiegogo campaign (https://go.madmimi.com/redirects/1429719008-fa4f071a2097a29036ffe8cfb8a26fdb-9772a77?pa=29798326580) to raise funds for A14 expenses. On April 14: We revived the spirit of Ferguson, that spirit of refusing to accept police getting away with murdering Black and Latino people; and delivered the message that we are back in the streets, and we aren't going anywhere until the system stops giving a green light to brutal, murdering cops. The people of Baltimore are calling!

Contribute at http://igg.me/at/shutdownA14. Let everyone know about it.
Facebook: stopmassincerationnetwork * Twitter: @StopMassIncNet

***
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Baltimore protest demands justice for Freddie Gray, murdered by police

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By Michael Sampson

Baltimore, MD - On the evening of April 21, over 1000 community members in West Baltimore met on the corner of Mount Street and Presbury. The angry crowd marched on the Western District of the Baltimore Police Department. Protesters marched demanding justice for Freddie Gray, an African American man murdered by police.

Gray was forced to the ground and then abused by Baltimore Police on April 12. While being detained, Gray's voice box was crushed and his spine damaged by police. Gray died of the spinal injury one week later on April 19 after lapsing into a coma.

Protesters chanted, "Tell the truth and stop the lies, Freddie Gray didn't have to die" as well as "No justice, no peace!”

The family of Freddie Gray called for the action. Other organizations such as the Baltimore Bloc, Baltimore People's Power Assembly and local African American clergy played a role as well. Protesters demanded that the Baltimore Police stop lying about the accounts of what happened to Gray while he was in police custody. Marchers called for the cops involved in Gray's brutal arrest and murder to be arrested and charged.

Those killer cops are Lt. Brian Rice, 41, who joined the department in 1997; Officer Caesar Goodson, 45, who joined in 1999; Sgt. Alicia White, 30, who joined in 2010; Officer William Porter, 25, who joined in 2012; Officer Garrett Miller, 26, who joined in 2012; and Officer Edward Nero, 29, who joined in 2012.

Community members at the protest where outraged by the murder of Gray and promised more action until police terror in Baltimore is brought to an end.

Eniubong Iniunam expressed the view of many people who live in West Baltimore, "I'm out here to support. There have been so many protests and this one hit real close to home. I saw pictures of the victim. I knew this kid. He's from here. I can be seriously next".

Baltimore Bloc, one of the groups leading protests said in a statement, "Baltimore Bloc stands in solidarity with the victims of this week's police violence and all the victims of the vicious, bloodthirsty gang known as the Baltimore Police Department. We will do everything in our power to bring this killing spree to an end.”

Police detained one of the Baltimore Bloc organizers at the start of the protest, only releasing him when the protest ended.

Read more News and Views from the Peoples Struggle at http://www.fightbacknews.org. You can write to us at [email protected]

[ckaihatsu]

Protests continue against Baltimore’s killer cops

Demand justice for Freddie Gray

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By Michael Sampson

Baltimore, MD - Hundreds of Baltimore residents took to the streets for the fourth consecutive day, April 22, demanding justice for Freddie Gray. Gray was an African American man murdered while in Baltimore police custody. Protesters held a long marched from West Baltimore to City Hall, shutting down major intersections along the way, chanting, "All night, all day, we gonna fight for Freddie Gray."

Protesters demanded the six police officers involved with Gray's murder be arrested and jailed for their crimes. They chanted, “We want all six!”

"Cops don't appreciate our lives. Police suppose to protect us but are the ones that are killing us," said Joseph Snowden, long-time West Baltimore resident. "All we have is ourselves."

Protesters attempted to march on Interstate 83 but were met with police car barricades and officers in formation. Protesters then marched back to the Western District Police Department headquarters, joining other demonstrators already gathered. Speakers called for more actions until justice is done and the six police are arrested and jailed.

Read more News and Views from the Peoples Struggle at http://www.fightbacknews.org. You can write to us at [email protected]

[ckaihatsu]

Carl Dix On the Uprising in Baltimore

MSBNC homepage tonight: protester holds "Stolen Lives" poster up to police ALERT: A generous donor will match all donations for a total of $4,000 on



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MSBNC homepage tonight: protester holds "Stolen Lives" poster up to police

ALERT: A generous donor will match all donations for a total of $4,000 on the indiegogo campaign to Support the Movement to Stop Murder by Police.

Give NOW and your donation will be doubled. With 52 hours to go, we're at $6550 of the $15,000 goal. Once we get to $10,400 the $4,000 will come in. We CAN do this if everyone pitches in.

Statement of Carl Dix
8:00 pm EST April 27, 2015

On the Uprising in Baltimore

The uprising in Baltimore tonight has delivered an unmistakeable and powerful message that the time is over when people will just take the unending and outrageous murder and brutality carried out by police. The torture and murder of Freddie Gray for nothing – and the ongoing, infuriating lies and coverup -- is only the latest in a long line of such horrors in not only Baltimore but all over the U.S. From North Charleston, SC to Ferguson, Missouri from Pasco, Washington to New York City and beyond – THIS MUST STOP!

The authorities and the media grunt about “violence.” They get outraged about broken windows, but not the broken neck of Freddie Gray. They get mad about the destruction of property, but not the destruction of Black and Brown children. Violence? What about the unending violence carried out against the masses of Black and Latino people all over America by the police? What about the world-record violence embodied in a society in which a young Black boy has a 1 in 3 chance of spending time in prison before he dies? The violence in which nearly one million Black men and increasing numbers of women are now languishing in prison? The violence in which police behave like occupying armies in the ghettos and barrios – and the occupying armies of the US behave like police all over the world? This is America, and this whole system was built on vicious, unjust, endless violence here and around the world and it continues to carry this out. These world-class criminals, and apologists for criminals, have absolutely no right to say anything about what the masses of people do when they are fed up, when they can’t take it anymore, and when they must express this. In the face of murder and terror, is not resistance justified?

They insult those who rebel as thugs, while the real thugs go unpunished, on paid vacation… and those who give orders to those thugs not only get no punishment, but sit at the highest reaches of government. Here – in the land of the thief and home of the slave -- they accuse those who rebel of looting, when the powers-that-be have looted Black people as a people for centuries, along with and as part of looting whole continents. They promise justice from the Department of INjustice, and from their rigged court system – this is just a ploy to throw mud in people’s eyes. Bringing in the National Guard means only one thing – more wanton violence against the people. NO! NO! NO!

History and present-day reality show that unless and until people stand up and refuse to go along with it, injustice, outrage and horror will continue. Everyone should stand with the defiant ones in Baltimore, refuse to condemn them, and to step up the struggle to STOP police murder and mass incarceration. This is a cry and clarion call to all of society to stand up and say NO MORE! THIS MUST STOP!

end of statement

Calling everyone on the east coast & beyond: PROTEST Saturday May 2
Come to Baltimore. Contact Stop Mass Incarceration Network 646 709 1961

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Protests continue in Baltimore demanding justice for Freddy Gray, National Guard called in

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By Michael Sampson

Baltimore, MD - Protesters’ clashes with police continued throughout the evening of April 27 as police moved into West Baltimore, setting up blockades of riot police everywhere and stopping residents from coming and going freely where they live.

A rebellion is sweeping Baltimore in response to the police murder of Freddy Gray.

Police used tear gas, smoke bombs and the LRAD sound canons attempting to disperse protesters. Those efforts had little effect in stopping the people of West Baltimore. Some shouted at police, "Get out of our community."

The governor of Maryland called in the National Guard an attempt to quell protests demanding justice for Freddy Gray. The city has issued a curfew throughout this week for Baltimore residents.

Read more News and Views from the Peoples Struggle at http://www.fightbacknews.org. You can write to us at [email protected]

[ckaihatsu]

Baltimore police use tear gas, fire rubber bullets at protesting high school students

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By Michael Sampson

Baltimore, MD - High school students leaving school, protesting for Justice For Freddy Gray were met by Baltimore Police in riot gear on the afternoon of April 27. Police responded to the student protest near the Mondawin Mall on Baltimore's West side with well over 200 police officers in riot gear, who tear-gassed high school students when they didn't disperse. Police also shot rubber bullets into the crowd.

Students and youth met the riot police with rocks, throwing them from across the street as cops moved for arrests. However, most youth were successful at evading the police.

Read more News and Views from the Peoples Struggle at http://www.fightbacknews.org. You can write to us at [email protected]

[ckaihatsu]

Freddie Gray


Dear Chris,

It has been more than two weeks since Baltimore police killed Freddie Gray and no officer has been fired, arrested, or prosecuted. Local officials don't even have answers to the most basic questions: Why did police violently arrest Gray? Why was this healthy 25-year-old's voice box crushed, his spleen ruptured and 80% of his spine severed after 45 minutes with Baltimore law enforcement? 1

The lack of accountability for Gray's killing is unacceptable and the solution to Baltimore's policing crisis is not martial law or more militarized policing. Right now, we need widespread public pressure to ensure the necessary leadership and independent oversight to bring Gray's killers to justice and overhaul the Baltimore Police Department. Without independent oversight it's unlikely that Gray's killers will be held accountable. Local prosecutors work too closely with police on a day to day basis to hold them accountable — and they almost never do.2

Demand that Governor Hogan appoint Maryland's Attorney General to assist in the case. (http://act.colorofchange.org/sign/gov-hogan-justice4freddiegray/?t=1&akid=4315.872082.bURTrF)

https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.colorofchange.org/images/FreddieGrayMailing.jpg

To be Black in Baltimore means every day is a risk. In a city overcome with racism, police violence, and a police union blocking reform,3 even the most simple activities — a walk down the street or the drive to work — could mean an unlawful arrest or deadly attack at the hands of law enforcement. According to an investigation by the Baltimore Sun, in just 5 years, 100 Baltimore residents have won $5.7 million worth of settlements relating to police brutality and civil rights. The stories are shocking, yet almost none of the officers were held accountable:4

Jerriel Lyles, who was attacked by police on his way out of a convenience store: "The blow was so heavy. My eyes swelled up. Blood was dripping down my nose and out my eye.”

Starr Brown, a pregnant woman slammed to the ground and kneed in the back by police after calling them for help: "They slammed me down on my face...The skin was gone on my face"

An 87-year-old grandmother, who was attacked after calling an ambulance for her wounded son, was told: "B****, you ain’t no better than any of the other old black b**** I have locked up.”

Following Freddie Gray's killing, a community tired of living under siege and facing decades of employment discrimination and decimated public housing is rising up to demand change.5 Last night, as the National Guard moved into Baltimore, images of militarized police tear gassing and beating protestors, fires, and outrage once again flashed across our TV screens. The best way to restore peace to Baltimore is for Governor Hogan and local leadership to undo the structural racism targeting its people. But right now, police are preparing to announce even harsher measures to crack down on the protests — like a curfew for youth6 — that will likely continue to escalate an already unacceptable level of confrontation and violence between police and citizens.

Protestors in Baltimore are showing the same courageous resistance and vision for a better country that we see coming out of Ferguson, Madison, New York, Cleveland, Milwaukee, and other cities across the country. And just as in Ferguson, justice for the brutal police killing of Freddie Gray depends on Governor Hogan's leadership to do more than ramp up law enforcement.

Tell Governor Hogan and Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby to bring in Attorney General Brian Frosh to help secure justice for Freddie Gray. (http://act.colorofchange.org/sign/gov-hogan-justice4freddiegray/?t=3&akid=4315.872082.bURTrF)

Thanks and peace,

— Rashad, Matt, Arisha, Lyla, Shani, and the rest of the ColorOfChange team

April 28th, 2015

Help support our work. (http://act.colorofchange.org/go/205?t=4&akid=4315.872082.bURTrF) ColorOfChange.org is powered by YOU—your energy and dollars. We take no money from lobbyists or large corporations that don't share our values, and our tiny staff ensures your contributions go a long way.

References

1. "Nonviolence as Compliance," The Atlantic 04-27-2015 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/4768?t=6&akid=4315.872082.bURTrF

2. "Why I Don’t Trust Baltimore Prosecutors with Freddie Gray Case," Legal Speaks 04-22-2015 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/4769?t=8&akid=4315.872082.bURTrF

3. "Maryland Cop Lobbyists Helped Block Reforms Just Last Month," Intercept 04-28-2015 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/4770?t=10&akid=4315.872082.bURTrF

4. "Undue Force," The Baltimore Sun 09-04-2014 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/4771?t=12&akid=4315.872082.bURTrF

5. "Baltimore’s shame is America’s shame: How job flight and police brutality spelled doom for Freddie Gray’s neighborhood," Salon 04-28-2015 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/4772?t=14&akid=4315.872082.bURTrF

6. "Gov. Larry Hogan promises more than 1,000 additional troops, vows to prevent rioting," The Baltimore Sun 04-28-2015 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/4773?t=16&akid=4315.872082.bURTrF


ColorOfChange is building a movement to elevate the voices of Black folks and our allies, and win real social and political change. Help keep our movement strong.

If you're absolutely sure you don't want to hear from ColorOfChange again, click here to unsubscribe.

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Baltimore Rebellion: what happens to a dream deferred

Party for Socialism and Liberation

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Baltimore’s rebellion:
what happens to a dream deferred

Statement from the Party for Socialism and Liberation
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Baltimore’s rebellion: what happens to a dream deferred

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If the young people of Ferguson had not rebelled, Mike Brown’s name would have been forgotten. The town would still have the same mayor and police chief. The cops would still be fining and arresting Black people for every conceivable thing, including “Manner of Walking in Roadway,” “High Grass and Weeds,” and even bleeding on police uniforms during a beat-down. There would have been no Justice Department investigations or presidential commissions. If the young people of Ferguson had not rebelled, the city would be, for most of the country, just another dot on the map; just another forgotten impoverished Black community.

Now the whole world knows Ferguson. The people who rose up declare their hometown with pride. And now the whole world knows Baltimore and they will remember Freddie Gray’s name.

“They are destroying their own neighborhoods!” the news anchors shout. Yes, and Nat Turner destroyed “his own” plantation. We wouldn’t be surprised if some of his associates first ransacked the cupboards either.

Was Baltimore not destroyed before yesterday? Who really tore up its neighborhoods? Who split the city’s spine? Which 9th graders at Forest Park or Fredrick Douglass high school boarded up the city’s 47,000 vacant properties? Was it the Bloods or the Crips that eliminated or outsourced 100,000 manufacturing jobs? Which teenagers let the city’s streets and services erode? Was it the kid with the red or black bandanna that cut the after-school programs? Which one recently settled lawsuits for the brutal beatings of Jerriel Lyles, Venus Green and Starr Brown? And which one severed Freddie Gray’s neck?

Take a 5-minute walk through any of the forgotten neighborhoods where yesterday’s clashes took place. From every angle society is telling these young people, “we do not give a damn about you,” and now they are returning the middle finger. They feel they have nothing to lose.

That is the essential truth that all the racist commentary and liberal lectures are leaving out.

The first rule of struggle, learned by every striking worker and every police brutality activist, is that you cannot trust the corporate media to tell the real story and give the people’s perspective. The retelling of Saturday’s violence near Camden Yards left out the fact that thousands had marched powerfully and without incident until they came into contact with groups of drunk white racists who provoked and assaulted them. Photos of white protesters coming to the assistance of their Black counterparts were portrayed as the opposite, as if there was a “race riot” initiated by aggressive Black people. A white woman photographed supposedly being robbed was, according to eyewitnesses, actually lunging for a Black man’s bag.

Then came the lie about the Bloods, Crips and Black Guerrilla Family – the claim that they had signed a truce to jointly kill cops. In fact, their truce was aimed at unifying the city’s young Black men at a critical time of struggle. These organizations have been in the streets – along with the Nation of Islam and other community groups – trying to minimize looting and refocus the youth’s righteous militancy.

That militancy has to be understood and accepted. It is not going away. The young people in the streets are tired of hearing that they must work within the very system that is brutalizing them – the same system that keeps letting killer cops walk. And although many tactics have displayed the people’s unity and power, from die-ins to mass marches, these have not materially changed conditions on the ground, nor stopped the epidemic of police terror. Even with a Black mayor, attorney general and president, there has been no justice. President Obama called those on the streets “thugs” who need to “be treated like criminals.” So when the politicians and community misleaders say “this violence accomplishes nothing,” many young people rightfully wonder, “and what has your way accomplished?”

As the young people came to feel their collective power, they have first gone after the easiest targets, the retail stores in their own neighborhoods. The police and the politicians above them were of course perfectly willing to let this happen.

When state authority appears to collapse, people go after the things they have long been denied or cannot normally afford. For many in Baltimore, that includes basic household items, food, cleaning supplies and diapers – which is what one could see being taken from CVS.

But the phenomenon of property destruction and looting is common to all rebellions and revolutions throughout history. The American Revolution’s Sons of Liberty, who we’re taught to admire and who today’s Tea Party claims to follow, sacked the wine cellars of their enemies, broke their windows and dragged them out of their homes to humiliate them in the streets. Of course, this was not the conduct of the most serious and dedicated rebels, but no one teaches that such excesses and drunken revelry invalidated the American Revolution. That event is understood for its deeper social causes.

In fact, revolutionary action and violence is upheld as a righteous thing as long as it happened over 200 years ago — and was led by rich white men and slaveholders!

The PSL is joining with those on the ground in Baltimore who are making the case that it is far better to direct the unfolding rebellion towards the real power: City Hall, the Inner Harbor, the neighborhoods where the the ruling class luxuriates and the Wall Street banks that directed the city’s de-industrialization. This rebellion needs to spread to cities and towns across the country, among all poor and oppressed people. It needs to be supported by people of conscience from all walks of life, who understood that this country is overdue for a change, overdue for a revolution.

All that requires more organization and coordination. That requires dedicated revolutionaries who will first and foremost stand with the brave young rebels rather than lecture and condemn them.

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Solidarity actions are being planned for Wednesday across the country. Return to this page (http://nb.pslweb.org/r?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.liberationnews.org%2Fbaltimor es-rebellion-happens-dream-deferred%2F&e=abd3874785e4b1eb1b1eb17fd6ba95c7&utm_source=psl&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=baltimore_rebel&n=11) for details.

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[The Intransigent Faction]

I've read a few articles about this, but this somehow stood out.

0HaaRZ8nxd4

Any thoughts? There's something off-putting about people condemning the looting of businesses because it "makes them look bad"...but given their perspective it's hard to argue with, especially as a white male in another country watching this unfold through the media.

[ckaihatsu]

I've read a few articles about this, but this somehow stood out.




Any thoughts? There's something off-putting about people condemning the looting of businesses because it "makes them look bad"...but given their perspective it's hard to argue with, especially as a white male in another country watching this unfold through the media.


The political issue, and title of the video, is 'Gang members: We did not make truce to harm cops', and that's what the young people of color are speaking to. They've been put on the defensive by allegations that they've surmounted differences of affiliation only so as to present a threat to police.

Additionally they've been immediately-politicized in the context of the looting of businesses since their alleged criminal character now comes to the fore in the light of these materially destructive actions taking place.

Under 'regular' circumstances they might be seen as being merely *aspiring*, as petty-bourgeois wannabes, and particularly in-the-floodlights due to general conditions of oppression against people of color -- with any actual transgressions against persons aside.

Finally, even if they *had* actually surmounted their affiliations *to* present a threat to cops, that's certainly not of any concern or interest to the working class -- it's basically a *non-issue* if the powers-that-be are confronted by aspirational types, for whatever reasons. (I could draw a loose parallel to the U.S. versus the Islamic State.)

[ckaihatsu]

Justice for Freddie Gray! - Jail Killer Cops! - National Guard Out of Baltimore! -- Statement by National Committee of Socialist Organizer


http://socialistorganizer.org/justice-for-freddie-gray-jail-the-killer-cops-national-guard-out-of-baltimore/

Justice for Freddie Gray!

Jail Killer Cops!

National Guard Out of Baltimore!

Statement by National Committee of Socialist Organizer

Baltimore police have yet to release a plausible and acceptable explanation of the death in police custody of Freddie Gray. At 8:39 am on April 12, Freddie Gray ran away from three cops in West Baltimore and was placed under arrest. Police claim he was in possession of a “switchblade” knife. A week later, on the April 19, Gray was dead from a severe spinal cord injury. It’s unclear whether Gray’s injury was sustained from a cop kneeling on his neck during the arrest or as the result of what police refer to as a “rough ride.” The “rough ride” is a common police practice, where cops put someone in the back of the police van handcuffed but not strapped in. They then accelerate and brake violently, throwing the arrestee around the back of the van.

Immediately following the death of Freddie Gray, protests were mainly peaceful. On Saturday, April 25, a protest march went past the ballpark during an Orioles game. Media images of protesters attacking an open-air bar outside the ballpark leave out the fact that the bar patrons were calling protesters all sorts of racist epithets.

From protest to rebellion the day of Freddie Gray’s funeral

Thousands attended the funeral of Freddie Gray on April 27. A spontaneous demonstration of youth and community members after the funeral was met with police repression by cops in riot gear. As the situation escalated, demonstrators threw rocks, bottles and bricks at police, at times forcing cops to retreat.

Police officials have made unsubstantiated claims that “gangs” have targeted police when the only “targeting” seems to be Black people targeted by cops. A CVS drug store was burned, retail establishments looted, and several police cars were burned.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who was sworn in Monday, condemned the "senseless acts of violence" for causing "a shattering of the peace in the city of Baltimore." Whose senseless acts of violence? The cops who murdered Freddie Gray are still walking free. The mayor of Baltimore condemned “outside agitators” and “thugs” for the violence. By evening, the National Guard and State Police had begun moving into Baltimore, and a curfew had been declared.

The racist, white supremacist, U.S. capitalist system -- with its police brutality, poverty, unemployment and inadequate housing -- is the root cause of violence We should not be surprised when the oppressed rise up. There is a breaking point, a point where people no longer accept the everyday insults and injuries of this system.

“A slave-owner who through cunning and violence shackles a slave in chains, and a slave who through cunning or violence breaks the chains -- let not the contemptible eunuchs tell us that they are equals before a court of morality!” stated Leon Trotsky.

Economic roots of an uprising

Baltimore, especially the Black community, has suffered under capitalism. Baltimore’s Black working class has not shared in any of the fruits of downtown “revitalization” projects. Unemployment is high -- almost 60% of Black people between the ages of 16 and 64 are out of work. About 30% of buildings in Baltimore’s Black community are vacant. Baltimore’s poverty rate stands above 25 percent. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that the poverty rate in the city has risen by about 5 percentage points since the recession of 2008.

While the bourgeois media seem perplexed about the source of the outrage in the community, one surprising source, the Chief Operating Officer of the Baltimore Orioles baseball team, John Angelos, said “my greater source of personal concern, outrage and sympathy beyond this particular case is focused neither upon one night’s property damage nor upon the acts, but is focused rather upon the past four-decade period during which an American political elite have shipped middle class and working class jobs away from Baltimore and cities and towns around the U.S. to third-world dictatorships like China and others, plunged tens of millions of good, hard-working Americans into economic devastation, and then followed that action around the nation by diminishing every American’s civil rights protections in order to control an unfairly impoverished population living under an ever-declining standard of living and suffering at the butt end of an ever-more militarized and aggressive surveillance state.”

We demand a Justice Department investigation for the murder of Freddie Gray and the indictment and trial of the killer cops responsible for his death. We demand the lifting of all curfews and the withdrawal of all National Guard and police forces from the community.

A comprehensive program of economic reconstruction of cities like Baltimore is needed to address the deep poverty that afflicts Black people across the country. A national public works jobs program to create jobs for all at union wages, along with a national health program to guarantee healthcare for all is a necessary step. But economic programs alone are not enough to address the racist, apartheid-like, conditions faced by Black people. Racism, white supremacy, and the prison-industrial complex must be relentlessly fought against and dismantled.

Justice for Freddie Gray!

Jail Killer Cops!

National Guard and State Police Out of Baltimore!

[cyu]

Baltimore police have yet to release a plausible and acceptable explanation of the death in police custody Cover ups and falsification of evidence takes a lot of time to put together. You also need to put various key people through a battery of training so that they'll be able to answer all possible questions the press might throw at them, without looking like they're lying.

[ckaihatsu]

He broke his own neck?


Dear Chris,

It looks like Baltimore police are trying to blame Freddie Gray for his own death.

Police and prosecutors are refusing to officially release information about the investigation into Freddie Gray's death. But at the same time, someone just leaked a police document that quotes a prisoner who rode in the same van as Gray, saying that Gray "was intentionally trying to injure himself."1This anonymous leak almost certainly came from someone in the Baltimore police department.

It's despicable. And it's exactly the same type of victim-blaming we saw years ago when Baltimore police gave another Baltimore resident a "rough ride," paralyzing him and eventually killing him in a hauntingly similar case.2

We've seen time and time again what happens when police are given the authority and political cover to police themselves. No transparency. No accountability. No prosecution. Unless Governor Hogan brings independent oversight to this case, we can expect the same familiar miscarriage of justice.3,4

Will you help escalate pressure on Governor Hogan to appoint Attorney General Frosh to assist the case against Freddie Gray's killers?

1. Tweet at Governor Hogan (http://act.colorofchange.org/go/4791?t=1&akid=4323.872082._UDiz4) and write a comment on his Facebook page (http://act.colorofchange.org/go/4781?t=2&akid=4323.872082._UDiz4)

2. Share the campaign via email (http://act.colorofchange.org/go/4782?t=3&akid=4323.872082._UDiz4) with your friends and family

https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.colorofchange.org/images/22BALTIMOREjp-master675.jpg

The prisoner quoted in this leak was separated from Gray by a metal barrier, so he couldn't have seen Gray. According to the leaked document, he claims he heard Gray banging on the walls, and that he thinks Gray was trying to hurt himself. But if Gray was banging on the walls, it could be because he was desperately trying to get help.5We already know that he had been requesting medical attention, and those requests were ignored.

And Gray might not have been banging on the walls at all. According to other versions of the story, Gray was unresponsive by the time the second person was loaded into the van.6Whatever happened, what's clear is that this leak is an attempt to shape the story in a way that absolves police of responsibility — at a time when law enforcement is refusing to release other information about the case.

Nearly 40,000 ColorOfChange members are urging Governor Hogan to send Attorney General Frosh to support the investigation and prosecution of Freddie Gray's death. This leak makes it clear that the current investigation cannot be trusted. Baltimore police and State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby are heading down the same path of denied justice that has allowed Baltimore's crisis of discriminatory police violence to flourish for years.

In 2014, 100% of people killed by Baltimore Police were Black. And almost none of those officers have ever been held accountable.7 Over the past 5 years, Baltimore police have paid millions to people injured and paralyzed by police "rough rides."8 Freddie Gray was killed. And his family, Baltimore, and America have the right to an independent investigation that gets to the bottom of what happened and ensures the greatest measure of justice.

Take action to escalate pressure on Governor Hogan and build the widespread support we will need to win:

1. Tweet Governor Hogan (http://act.colorofchange.org/go/4791?t=5&akid=4323.872082._UDiz4) and post a comment (http://act.colorofchange.org/go/4781?t=6&akid=4323.872082._UDiz4) on his Facebook page

2. Share the campaign via email (http://act.colorofchange.org/go/4792?t=7&akid=4323.872082._UDiz4)

Thanks and peace,

— Rashad, Matt, Arisha, Lyla, Shani, and the rest of the ColorOfChange team

April 30th, 2015

References

1. "Prisoner in van said Freddie Gray was ‘trying to injure himself,’ document says," Washington Post 4-29-2015
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/4783?t=9&akid=4323.872082._UDiz4

2. "Freddie Gray not the first to come out of Baltimore police van with serious injuries," The Baltimore Sun Post 04-23-2015
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/4784?t=11&akid=4323.872082._UDiz4

3. "Police Kill Black Women All The Time, Too — We Just Don't Hear About It," Bustle 12-08-2014
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/4785?t=13&akid=4323.872082._UDiz4

4. "Why I Don't Trust Baltimore Prosecutors with Freddie Gray Case," Legal Speaks 4-22-2015
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/4769?t=15&akid=4323.872082._UDiz4

5. "Prisoner Was Wrong: Freddie Gray Didn't Kill Himself," Daily Beast, 4-30-2015
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/4789?t=17&akid=4323.872082._UDiz4

6. "Baltimore Cop's Relative Claims Freddie Gray Was Injured Before He Got In Van," Daily Beast, 4-30-2015
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/4790?t=19&akid=4323.872082._UDiz4

7. BaltimoreUprising.org
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/4788?t=21&akid=4323.872082._UDiz4

8. "Baltimore's "rough rides": the city has paid out millions to people injured in police vans," Vox, 04-28-2015
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/4786?t=23&akid=4323.872082._UDiz4


ColorOfChange is building a movement to elevate the voices of Black folks and our allies, and win real social and political change. Help keep our movement strong.

If you're absolutely sure you don't want to hear from ColorOfChange again, click here to unsubscribe.

[ckaihatsu]

Emergency Appeal from Baltimore: Demand Justice for Freddie Grey and Amnesty for All Jailed Youth

Click HERE (http://www.solidarityweb.com/lists/lt.php?id=Lh8AAQUKGQdXBEhXD1QBAw) to view in browser PLEASE SHARE WIDELY! Facebook Twitter Addthis

An Emergency Appeal from the Baltimore People’s Power Assembly

Demand Justice for Freddie Grey – Indict, Convict & Jail Killer Police!

AMNESTY FOR ALL JAILED YOUTH - END THE POLICE STATE!

Over 300 people have been arrested in Baltimore since April 25. The first arrests took place after the Saturday protests that spilled into the night both in downtown Baltimore and at the Western District Police Station. Police donned riot gear and charged into young protesters both downtown and in West Baltimore. In the neighborhood where Freddie Grey was murdered police chased youth, formed police *******es that swept streets and clubbed people.

Following the funeral of Freddie Grey, youth again poured into the streets. Last night hundreds more were arrested.

We have yet to find out the extent of the charges that many of these youth are being held on. Legal support is being organized, and slowly youth are being released. At this moment, the majority remain in jail.

SOLIDARITY WITH THE ARRESTED YOUTH IS CRITICAL

It is most important that we stand in solidarity with these young people and that we demand amnesty and their release from jail.

The anger, pent-up frustration, and rage that many people across this country have witnessed on their television screens is based on decades of racist abuse and neglect in communities all across Baltimore.

It is about police terror. It is also about unemployment and low wages, decaying housing and lack of services. Just two weeks ago, prior to Freddie Grey’s murder, the city announced water shut-offs to 25,000 households.

The Baltimore People’s Power Assembly, which has been organizing against police terror for many years, has heard first-hand accounts from youths as young as 12 years old that have been handcuffed and driven around in police cruisers, terrorized and then released. Women have spoken to us about sexual assaults by police. Beatings and shake downs are common.

Freddie Grey is not the first victim of police murder in this mostly Black city. His name is added to a long list of victims: Tyrone West, Darin Hutchins, Anthony Anderson, George King, Maurice Johnson and many others.

We cannot allow the city, police or media to divide us. We cannot equate property damage with the loss of human life. Freddie Grey cannot be brought back to his family or friends; a window can be repaired.

OUTSIDE AGITATORS, A DIVERSION

The Baltimore People’s Power Assembly, whose organizers have lived in this city for decades, welcome all those who want to come to Baltimore in solidarity with the people. We understand that police terror and structural racism is a national problem and that it is not confined just to our city.

The Baltimore Police Department and Mayor have used the “outside agitator” card to distract attention from the real issue of indicting, convicting and jailing the six police who killed Freddie Grey. If the Mayor is indeed worried about “outsiders” then get the cops out of the community, the majority who do not live in the city and who constitute a virtual occupation army. We say tell Governor Hogan to withdraw the State Police who he has deployed.

Please call Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake at 410-396-4900, Police Commissioner Anthony Batts at 410-396-2020 and State’s Attorney Scott D. Schellenberger at 410-887-6600 to demand:

-- Justice for Freddie Grey – indict, convict, and jail killer police.

-- In this crucial hour, we demand full amnesty for all arrestees, their release from jail, and an end to police repression and arrests.

For those who would like to contribute to the struggle for justice, we have set up two pay pal accounts:

One for general protest expenses which include flyers, posters, banners, food, water and other supplies: click

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=66U3G8YMX57ZQ

And a special legal defense fund:

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=XS2B8GYQWHV2A



2011 Charles St. Baltimore 21218 443-221-3775

*Please note that the Baltimore Peoples Assembly is using the spelling “Grey” in respect for Freddie Carlos Grey, who spelled his name with an “e” and the many friends and family in the community who have confirmed this.



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[cyu]

http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/CIAtimeline.html

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/03/false-flag-5.html

I don't want to be insulting, but it occurs to me that when the system is corrupt, only idiots would even bother waiting to hear what a corrupt system has to say about anything.

[The Intransigent Faction]

So, six cops were charged in connection with Freddie Gray's death. That's at least not a bad thing, but people seem to realize that it goes beyond six "bad apples" and justice for one man. Also, of course, charges far from necessarily mean conviction.

[ckaihatsu]

http://www.legitgov.org/#breaking_news




Ms. Mosby said warrants had been issued for the officers' arrests; she did not know if anyone was in custody.


If the actual offending officers can't be found perhaps six of their colleagues would volunteer to step up in their place, in the interests of justice.

[ckaihatsu]

WEDNESDAY, APR 29, 2015 10:45 AM CDT

Black America’s Baltimore schism: Why the Freddie Gray tragedy demands serious soul-searching

Divisions are now showing within the Black community between those demanding respectability and those who reject it

BRITTNEY COOPER

http://www.salon.com/2015/04/29/black_americas_baltimore_schism_why_the_freddie_gr ay_tragedy_demands_serious_soul_searching/

[cyu]

The house Negro usually lived close to his master. He dressed like his master. He wore his master's second-hand clothes. He ate food that his master left on the table. And he lived in his master's house--probably in the basement or the attic--but he still lived in the master's house.

So whenever that house Negro identified himself, he always identified himself in the same sense that his master identified himself. When his master said, "We have good food," the house Negro would say, "Yes, we have plenty of good food." "We" have plenty of good food. When the master said that "we have a fine home here," the house Negro said, "Yes, we have a fine home here." When the master would be sick, the house Negro identified himself so much with his master he'd say, "What's the matter boss, we sick?" His master's pain was his pain. And it hurt him more for his master to be sick than for him to be sick himself. When the house started burning down, that type of Negro would fight harder to put the master's house out than the master himself would.

Malcolm X

http://cooldigitalphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/When-the-axe-came-into-the-woods-many-of-the-trees-said-At-least-the-handle-is-one-of-us-900x610.jpg

[Red Banana]

Bail has been posted for all six cops and they are now out of jail. Their bail was set at $350,000. Meanwhile Allen Bullock, the 18 year old who smashed a cop car's windshield with a traffic cone the Saturday before last (4/25) when things got hairy at the demonstration, is still in jail with his bail set at $500,000.

[ckaihatsu]

Minneapolis: Immigrants, workers, Black Lives Matter march together on May 1

http://www.fightbacknews.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/article-lead-photo/1may_mpls2.JPG

By staff

Minneapolis, MN - On May 1, the annual International Workers Day march for immigrant and workers rights merged in the streets with a Black Lives Matter march. During rush hour the combined march took over all lanes in both directions of major arterial streets as they marched downtown to the Hennepin County Government Center. Chants and songs alternated between the themes of immigrant rights, workers’ rights and Black Lives Matter.

Earlier in the day, high school students walked out from many area schools and converged in Martin Luther King Park for a Black Lives Matter rally. From there they marched down Nicollet Avenue to join forces with the immigrant and workers’ rights march.

The Black Lives Matter walkout was “in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and the #MOA36 on their next court date while demanding that #BlackLivesMatter in all our classrooms. We will demand alternatives to suspensions, more African American History taught in the classrooms, no police officers in schools, and more. This is a moment for students to stand up and demand that Black lives matter in their classrooms and in this country!”

The International Workers Day march had four broad themes: respect, dignity, justice and equality, with nine specific demands focusing on immigrant and workers’ rights and equality. This year, in the context of mass protests and uprisings against racist police killings around the country, two of the march’s key demands aimed to unite the African American and Latino communities: “No racist police and ICE repression of our communities,” and “No more militarization of our borders, streets and barrios.”

International Workers Day marches have become an annual event here in the Twin Cities and in major cities around the country since 2006, where immigrant workers and unions march together to stand up for equality and legalization for immigrant workers, as well as basic rights for all workers and for unions.

According to the rally speech by Cherrene Horazuk, president of AFSCME Local 3800 , “International Workers’ Day is our day to stand united and raise our voices for our rights, respect, dignity and equality. It’s our day to show that its the working class that produces everything, and our fight for justice in our workplaces and our communities continues to grow.”

Marco Cruz Blanco, a Chicano Studies student at the University of Minnesota and a member of the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), said, “There is something intrinsically powerful about marching side by side with our sisters and brothers for a social, as well as racial, equity in the workplace. We march collectively because our struggle extends beyond livable wages; we march because economic justice is social justice.”

While marching down Nicollet Avenue, the protest stopped in front of McDonalds, where a McDonalds worker from the Centro for Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha (CTUL) spoke about their struggle for $15 per hour and a union. Further down Nicollet the march also stopped in front of a Marshalls store, where CTUL highlighted the struggle of the workers who clean the store.

This year’s Minneapolis May 1st Coalition included over 40 organizations including many important Minnesota immigrant rights organizations, unions, student groups and social justice organizations.

May 1 is celebrated in most of the world as International Workers Day. In many countries it is a national holiday. International Workers Day has its origin in the fight for an 8-hour workday in the U.S., where there were massive strikes and sharp confrontations in May of 1886. Eight strike leaders were framed up and faced the death penalty. Four of them were executed, while one committed suicide and the other three were freed a decade later. May 1 was taken up as a day to remember the “Martyrs of Chicago” and the workers’ struggle around the world.

Read more News and Views from the Peoples Struggle at http://www.fightbacknews.org. You can write to us at [email protected]

[ckaihatsu]

Baltimore Rebellion Leads to Indictment of Police Officers in the Death of Freddie Gray! PLUS Report on May Day Action at Port of Oakland (CA) to Stop the Police Killings!

IN THIS MESSAGE:

- Baltimore Rebellion Leads to Indictment of Police Officers in the Death of Freddie Gray! – by Alan Benjamin

- May Day Protests Begin With Port Shutdown (reprinted from East Bay Express, May 2, 2015)

- Message from Local 10 Member Clarence Thomas to Oakland May Day Rally

* * * * * * * * * *

Baltimore Rebellion Leads to Indictment of

Police Officers in the Death of Freddie Gray!

By Alan Benjamin

On Saturday, May 2, thousands celebrated in the streets of Baltimore in the aftermath of the indictment of six police officers on charges relating to the death of Freddie Gray. On April 12, Gray ran away from three cops in West Baltimore and was placed under arrest. A week later, he was dead from a severe spinal cord injury.

Maryland State Attorney Marilyn Mosby filed charges against the police officers on May 1, announcing that Gray had died after suffering a broken neck while inside a police van. One officer is charged with second-degree murder. Three others are charged with involuntary manslaughter and two with second-degree assault.

Activists at the May 2 celebration rally insisted, however, that justice for Gray has not yet been won. The Rev. Jamal Bryant, a leader of the mass protests, drew deafening cheers from the crowd when he said that the killer cops must be sent to prison for their crimes. “We’ve got to see this all the way through, until all six officers trade in their blue uniform for an orange uniform,” Bryant said. Other speakers recalled the backlash of rightwing protests that ended with the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the death of Trayvon Martin, warning of a long trial process that could exonerate the six cops.

These warnings have great merit; the backlash has begun. The Fraternal Order of the Police in Baltimore is demanding an independent prosecutor, while leading media outlets, including many considered to be “liberal,” are insisting that Mosby’s indictments were “precipitous” and "did not take into account the police version of events."

From protest to rebellion

Following the arrest of Freddie Gray, tens of thousands of people, mainly Black youth (many of whom walked out of classes at their high schools and colleges), mobilized in the streets on a daily basis in mass peaceful protests, chanting, “No Justice, No Peace, No Racist Police!” and demanding “Justice for Freddie Gray!”

The largest mobilization was on April 27, the day of Gray’s funeral. That is when the protest turned into a rebellion. A spontaneous demonstration of youth and community members after the funeral was met with police repression by cops in riot gear. As the situation escalated, the demonstrators threw rocks, bottles and bricks at police, at times forcing cops to retreat.

Obama’s new Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, who had just been sworn into office the day of Gray’s funeral, condemned the "senseless acts of violence" for causing "a shattering of the peace in the city of Baltimore." The mayor of Baltimore condemned “outside agitators” and “thugs” for the violence. President Obama, likewise, referred to the Baltimore protesters as “thugs.” The Rev. Al Sharpton, who poses as a friend of labor and of the Black freedom struggle, was even more forceful in his denunciation of the Baltimore rebellion, thus providing cover to the National Guard and State Police who were sent into Baltimore to “restore the peace.”

The National Committee of Socialist Organizer issued a statement on April 29 explaining who is responsible for the violence in Baltimore and demanding justice for Freddie Gray. It reads in part:

“The racist capitalist system -- with its police brutality, poverty, unemployment and inadequate housing -- is the root cause of violence. We should not be surprised when the oppressed rise up. There is a breaking point, a point where people no longer accept the everyday insults and injuries of this system.

“Unemployment is high -- almost 60% of Black people between the ages of 16 and 64 are out of work. About 30% of buildings in Baltimore’s Black community are vacant. Baltimore’s poverty rate stands above 25 percent. . . .

“We demand the indictment, trial, and sentencing of the killer cops responsible for his death.

“A comprehensive program of economic reconstruction of cities like Baltimore is needed to address the deep poverty that afflicts Black people across the country. A national public works jobs program to create jobs for all at union wages, along with a national health program to guarantee healthcare for all is a necessary step. But economic programs alone are not enough to address the racist, Apartheid-like, conditions faced by Black people. Racism, white supremacy, and the prison-industrial complex must be relentlessly fought against and dismantled.”


* * * * * * * * * *


May Day Protests Begin With Port Shutdown

(reprinted from East Bay Express, May 2, 2015)

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/SevenDays/archives/2015/05/01/may-day-protests-begin-with-port-shutdown

By Darwin Bond Graham

Members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 10 who handle cargo at the Port of Oakland -- one of the busiest US seaports -- stopped work across the Bay Area today to protest against police brutality. Rallying near the gate of an idle port terminal, Bay Area longshore workers were joined by labor leaders representing BART train operators, city and county workers, port workers from Los Angeles, as well as hundreds of community members.

“There is an epidemic of police terror,” said Jack Heyman, a retired Oakland port worker. “We in the longshore union are here to let them know it’s got to stop!” Heyman said the port shutdown was part of the larger movement to disrupt business as usual and force the system to change.

Longshore workers have idled West Coast ports in the past to fight South African Apartheid, and oppose the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. Longshore workers also shutdown Bay Area ports in 2010 to demand charges be pressed against the BART police officer who shot and killed Oscar Grant.

Stacey Rodgers, a rank-and-file port worker who sits on ILWU Local 10’s executive board, said Bay Area longshore workers felt the time had come to take action.

“Walter Scott was a relative of some South Carolina longshore workers,” Rodgers said. On April 4, Scott was shot in the back and killed by a North Charleston police officer as he fled on foot. “We here in our union had been talking about his murder, and about other people getting shot by the police. I felt that we needed to do something.”

Family members of those killed by the police climbed into the bed of a truck to speak to the growing crowd gathered at a port terminal gate.

“I’m the sister of Jeremiah Moore. He was killed in his front yard by the Vallejo police,” Rebecca Moore said. Jeremiah Moore, 29, was shot on October 21, 2012. The family disputes the police department’s account of the incident and has filed a lawsuit. “He was an autistic young man who was shot and killed while he had his hands up,” said Moore.

Signs naming those shot and killed by Bay Area police, including Richard Perez, Kenneth Harding, Jr., and Yuvette Henderson, bobbed above the sea of heads.

Mollie Costello of the Alan Blueford Center for Justice, told the rally that after Blueford was killed by an Oakland police officer in 2012, one of the first groups to support the family was the port workers union. “This is how we are going to win, through solidarity and love,” said Costello. “We are united to say, end state-sponsored police terror.”

Devon Thomas, another Oakland longshore worker, stood in the truck with his son, a young Black man. “The kids being targeted these days are his age,” said Thomas. “It’s a shame when I have to worry about my son from what the police might do to him.”

After leaving the port the protesters marched through West Oakland chanting: “Don’t fear the revolution, Black freedom is the solution!” A heavy police presence followed the march.


* * * * * * * * * *


Message from Local 10 Member Clarence Thomas to Oakland May Day Rally

Solidarity greetings to the delegation from Charleston South Carolina, to the rank and file of local 10, labor and all others assembled here today.

The ILWU Local 10 is once again in the vanguard of the entire U.S. labor movement, withholding its labor on May 1, International Workers Day. We demand an end to racialized police murder of unarmed men, women and children in Black and Brown communities across this nation on a daily basis. This is nothing more than a reign of police terror. In many instances vigilant community members capture these acts on cell phones so it cannot be denied and for the world to see.

This mobilization today is beyond protest. It is an act of resistance. Local 10 is shutting down the movement of international cargo. By silencing the cranes at the ports, we, the working class, make our voices heard loudly around the world today.

If we want to stop this police reign of terror and violence we have to stop commerce. We must stop the money -- it is one of the most important things we as workers can do. When the workers shut down, America shuts down. This is the only thing the corporate interests that control the politicians understand. The police in the Black and Brown communities are not there to protect and serve our interests. So whose interest are they serving?

We in the ILWU know that when there is strike, the police come out to protect and serve the bosses, the owners. On July 5, 1934, in San Francisco on what we call Bloody Thursday, two strikers were killed by the police. So we know first hand whose interest the police serve. That is why we are mobilizing today.

This is an anti-racist, working class conscious, rank and file led action today. We call on all of labor to join with the youth such as Black Lives Matter.

Together we can and must build a mass movement. A mass movement that draws upon the actions of labor during the 1930s, the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s, the Black Liberation and anti-war movement of the 60s and 70s. We need a rebirth of all of these in a grand coalition to win the just equal, and peaceful society we all want.

The supreme task of labor is to challenge corporate America -- head on -- as part of a new peoples movement for all workers and the oppressed in this country.

An injury to one is an injury to all!

[ckaihatsu]

http://www.liberationnews.org/petition-campaign-amnesty-arrested-demanding-justice-freddie-gray/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=shared_article&utm_campaign=Liberation%20News


http://www.liberationnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Amn3.png

Petition campaign: Amnesty for ALL those arrested demanding justice for Freddie Gray!

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Sign and distribute the petition (http://nb.pslweb.org/r?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.answercoalition.org%2Famnesty _for_all_those_arrested_demanding_justice_for_fred die_gray&e=abd3874785e4b1eb1b1eb17fd6ba95c7&utm_source=psl&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nwsltr5_5_15&n=12) to drop the charges!

Spread this effort with the hashtag #Amnesty4Baltimore

An estimated 300 people have been arrested in Baltimore in the last two weeks. Many have been brutalized, beaten and pepper-sprayed by police in the streets, and held for days in inhumane conditions. Those arrested include journalists, medics and legal observers.

One individual arrested for property destruction of a police vehicle is now facing life in prison and is being held on $500,000 bail. That's $150,000 more than the officer charged with the murder of Freddie Gray. Sign the petition to drop the charges on all those arrested. (http://nb.pslweb.org/r?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.answercoalition.org%2Famnesty _for_all_baltimore_protesters_and_rebels&e=abd3874785e4b1eb1b1eb17fd6ba95c7&utm_source=psl&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nwsltr5_5_15&n=14)

The legal system has made it clear that they care more about broken windows than broken necks; more about a CVS than the lives of Baltimore's Black residents.

They showed no hesitation in arresting Baltimore's protesters and rebels, and sending in the National Guard, but took 19 days to put a single one of the killer cops in handcuffs. This was the outrageous double standard that led to the Baltimore Uprising.

It is because of that determined uprising that the six officers responsible for the death of Freddie Gray were indicted, as the state prosecutor herself admitted.

#Amnesty4Baltimore

Read more (http://nb.pslweb.org/r?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.liberationnews.org%2Fpetition-campaign-amnesty-arrested-demanding-justice-freddie-gray%3Futm_source%3Dfacebook%26utm_medium%3Dshared _article%26utm_campaign%3DLiberation%2520News&e=abd3874785e4b1eb1b1eb17fd6ba95c7&utm_source=psl&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nwsltr5_5_15&n=15)

[cyu]

Revolution is not a crime if the government is overthrown.

Governments avoid revolution either by not oppressing their people, or by oppressing them and punishing revolution.

[ckaihatsu]

Philadelphia: The MOVE Bombing 30 Years Later -- by John Leslie

The Organizer <[email protected]>


http://socialistorganizer.org/philadelphia-the-move-bombing-30-years-later/

Philadelphia: The MOVE Bombing 30 Years Later

By JOHN LESLIE

PHILADELPHIA -- This year we remember the 30th anniversary of the worst crime in the history of the City of Philadelphia. On May 13, 1985, Philly cops bombed the house of the MOVE organization and destroyed a neighborhood, killing 11 people.

The MOVE organization -- a group that lives on principles based on natural law, anti-oppression and opposition to racism -- was founded by John Africa in 1972. This group would later be targeted by Philadelphia’s out-of-control cops, who had a policy of brutality and repression against Black radical organizations, like the Student Non Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and Black Panthers, and the community at large.

The 1978 Powelton Village confrontation

Police harassment of MOVE led to a standoff that lasted for almost a year as cops blockaded MOVE’s house in the Powelton Village section of the city, including a 50-day siege where no one was allowed in or out of the house in an attempt to starve residents out. Neighbors had complained about MOVE to city officials and the police.

On August 8 at 4 am, 600 cops surrounded the house on N 33rd St. “The police made the first move. O’Neill ordered a bulldozer, which had a Lexan plastic shield to protect the operator from gunfire, to mow down the barricade. A long-armed ram tore the windows out of the upper floors. With the windows gone, fire hoses threw streams of water into the house.” (Frank Rizzo, The last big man in big city America by S.A Paolantonio)

At approximately 8:10 am, shooting started and Police Officer James Ramp was struck and killed. Police rained bullets into the house, as well as tear gas -- and more water streamed from fire trucks. MOVE members surrendered, and cops savagely beat Delbert Africa in full view of news cameras.

Police commanders ordered the house destroyed with heavy equipment later the same day, destroying any remaining forensic evidence. Police claim they found 11 or 12 weapons in the house.

Nine MOVE members were tried and convicted in the death of Officer Ramp, in spite of evidence that he was killed by the gunfire of other cops. Seven members of the MOVE 9 remain imprisoned. Two, Phil and Merle Africa, have died in prison. John Africa was found not guilty on Federal conspiracy and weapons charges. Three cops who participated in the beating of Delbert Africa were later acquitted. Speaking at a support rally for the 3 cops, the head of the cop union said, “They should have killed them all.”

“At his press conference following the cop assault, Frank Rizzo, then the mayor, looked directly at Mumia (Abu-Jamal) and declared that a “new breed of journalism” was to blame for Ramp’s death and that someday those like Mumia were “going to have to be held responsible and accountable.”” (“The Fight to Free Mumia Jamal” by Rachel Wolkenstein)

Mumia Abu-Jamal, having left the Black Panther Party and become a respected radio journalist, covered the Powelton Village siege and assault. He was elected president of the Philadelphia chapter of the Association of Black Journalists.

Mumia’s sharp criticisms of the PPD, and his refusal to back down in his advocacy for justice for the MOVE 9, cost him his job as a journalist and he took a job driving a taxi to pay his bills. On December 9, 1981, just months after John Africa’s acquittal, Mumia was shot, severely beaten and charged with the shooting death of Police Officer Daniel Faulkner.

In spite of the fact that evidence and eyewitness accounts pointed to the presence of another person, who fled after he shot Faulkner, the PPD and Philadelphia’s power structure railroaded Mumia and put him on Pennsylvania’s death row.

In 1982, MOVE members took up residence at 6221 Osage Avenue in West Philadelphia and began to fortify the house against police raids. Given the history of police harassment and violence against MOVE, these defensive steps were sensible. Neighbors in this Black working class neighborhood expressed concern about the construction activity and also about MOVE’s use of loudspeakers to advocate of justice for their framed-up members.

The Philly police, using neighbor complaints as a pretext for action, began to develop a military-style plan of attack that would end in tragedy. In August of 1984, Philly cops surrounded the house in what appeared to be a replay of the Powelton Avenue showdown. After 24 hours the cops withdrew. Surveillance and harassment of MOVE continued.

On May 11, 1985, police obtained search and arrest warrants, claiming that MOVE had explosives and firearms in the house. Checkpoints were set up to control who could go in and out of the neighborhood.

Just before 6 am on May 13th, Police Commissioner Sambor shouted into a bullhorn, “Attention MOVE! This is America! You have to abide by the laws of the United States!” Shortly after, two assault teams entered the houses on either side of 6221 Osage carrying explosives and automatic weapons. In an attack lasting hours, police used plastic explosives to try to breach holes in the walls between the row homes in order to pump tear gas into the house. Police bombs blew the front of the house off.

Police fired more than 10,000 rounds of ammunition in 90 minutes. Fire trucks deluged the house with 450,000 gallons of water. Later that day, a police helicopter dropped a bomb, made of the explosives C-4 and Tovex, on the roof of the house in order to get rid of what cops and the media term as a “bunker.” The “bunker” remained intact, but a fire broke out. Police Commissioner Gregore J. Sambor and Fire Commissioner William C. Richmond decided to let the fire burn in order to take out the alleged bunker. The fire burned out of control, destroying the neighborhood. Hundreds who had gathered on surrounding streets shouted, “Murderers!” at police.

Six adult members of MOVE, including founder John Africa, and five children were killed. Sixty-one homes were destroyed, and more than 250 people were left homeless. Not one of the cops or city officials who perpetrated this crime served a day in jail. One of the two survivors, Ramona Africa, is the only person to serve any jail time in this whole catastrophe.

After the tragedy on Osage Avenue, District Attorney Ed Rendell declined to prosecute a single City official -- not Mayor Wilson Goode, the Police Commissioner or any police officer. Hearings held by the Mayor’s investigative commission were termed a “farce, a circus, a ploy” by Laverne Sims, a former MOVE member.

The struggle for justice for justice for murdered MOVE members continues. On May 13, 2015, community members in Philadelphia will commemorate the worst crime committed by a municipality against its own residents. We demand justice for those murdered by police on Osage Avenue and the release of the remaining members of the MOVE 9. We demand the release of Mumia Abu-Jamal. We demand justice for Brandon Tate-Brown, who was gunned down by Philly cops just a few months ago.

The ruling class wants us to forget what happened on May 13th. The recent growth of the Black Lives Matter Movement signals the potential for a New Civil Rights Movement -- a movement that will not accept the crimes of the past and will demand justice for all.

Mass uprisings in Ferguson and Baltimore have shown that the oppressed will no longer tolerate the violence of police aimed at communities of color. This new period requires us to build a united movement in solidarity with the oppressed and against police brutality and mass incarceration. Revolutionary leadership, based on a multi-racial revolutionary socialist party, must be trained and tested for the battles ahead.

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SIGN to Drop All Charges on Shalana Little, Xaime Casillas and All Los Angeles Police Brutality Protesters.


Click HERE (http://www.solidarityweb.com/lists/lt.php?id=Lh8AAQMNGQdUA0hXD1QBAw) to view in browser PLEASE SHARE WIDELY Facebook Twitter Addthis

Shalana Little’s arrest for “Lynching” is an outrage. She stands trial in June - Take action now!

SIGN the ONLINE PETITION HERE (http://www.solidarityweb.com/lists/lt.php?id=Lh8AAQMMGQdUA0hXD1QBAw)

http://peoplespowerassemblies.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/LA-CopLineNov26.jpg

November 26, 2014, Mass protest in Los Angeles in response to no indictment verdict of police officer Darren Wilson for killing Michael Brown

On December 19, 2014, the Los Angeles Police Department arrested Shalana Little, an activist in the Ferguson solidarity movement in LA, on the outrageous charge of felony “lynching”, following the aggressive tactics of the police to disrupt a march in Hollywood. She was severely mistreated during her arrest, was held on $30,000 bail for four days, and finally released on Christmas eve. Although the lynching charge has been dropped against her, she faces the possibility of years in prison on the remaining charges.

Shalana is not the only Californian activist facing charges that paint protesters as violent agitators. Over 400 people have been arrested in recent months during mass protests against police brutality in Los Angeles, but Shalana and a few others are facing some of the most serious charges. Xaime Casillas stands trial this Monday - May 18 - for five counts of resisting arrest and one count of battery against an officer -- crimes of which he is innocent. In Sacramento, Maile Hampton (http://www.solidarityweb.com/lists/lt.php?id=Lh8AAQMIGQdUA0hXD1QBAw) faced arraignment on a lynching charge, which was subsequently dropped to one count of resisting arrest last month.

Using California’s lynching law against protesters is an outrage. First passed in 1933, the law was passed to prevent mobs from forcibly taking people from police custody in the name of vigilante justice. Yet, today, a law once won in large part by anti-racist activists is now being used to perpetuate police repression against those anti-racist activists fighting against police terror. These arrests and prosecutions are part of a national trend to target Black activists with more serious charges like “lynching," while doing nothing to stop the true lynchers: the killer cops.

But we are fighting back!

Shalana is going to trial in late June. Xaime stands trial this Monday on May 18th. We won’t play their game any longer. We must pressure the prosecutor to drop all these charges now!

What you can do:

1) Click here to sign the petition (http://www.solidarityweb.com/lists/lt.php?id=Lh8AAQMMGQdUA0hXD1QBAw) demanding that the Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer drop all charges against Shalana Little, Xaime Casillas, and all other protesters now.

2) Make a personal phone call to the Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer directly at 213-978-8100, and demand that Shalana’s and Xaime's charges - and all other charges against protesters - be dropped. Twitter storm @Mike_Feuer and @cityattorneyla with the following tweet:

@Mike_Feuer @cityattorneyla Drop the charges against Shalana Little, Xaime Casillas and all who protest racist police killings NOW!

3) Contribute to Shalana’s and Xaime's legal defense fund (http://www.solidarityweb.com/lists/lt.php?id=Lh8AAQwLGQdUA0hXD1QBAw)

http://peoplespowerassemblies.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/shalanaatcourthouse.jpg

Shalana Little (on the right in cap) and Xaime Casillas (center in suit and tie) with supporters in front of county courthouse in Los Angeles.

Read more:

When she was arrested, the LAPD falsely claimed that Shalana was guilty of obstructing justice and removing a person from police custody -- “lynching” under California law.

Shalana’s charges have since been reduced to three counts of resisting arrest and one count of failure to disperse. We should not, however, mistake these reductions as a ‘win’. The reduction of charges is all part of a strategy pursued by the city attorney in close cooperation with the LAPD to appease the public: it lessens the possibility of an outcry against the LAPD’s racist arrest, while ensuring that activists of color continue to be prosecuted for their commitment to justice. Instead of dropping all charges–as the city attorney should have done–they have used the lynching charge and their decision to reduce the charges to pressure activists to take plea agreements while appearing to be “compassionate.” But nothing could be further from the truth: this racially loaded strategy of over-charging and subsequently dropping those charges is part of a carefully choreographed stunt to get us to stop fighting for justice for Shalana and all be happy she “only” has to spend four years in jail for defending Black lives.

Lynching is what mobs of white racists committed against thousands of Black people in the United States. They took Black people from the custody of the police with the tacit consent of the cops and state. The mobs then beat, mutilated, tortured and hanged them. This ironic plot to charge an anti-racist Black protester with lynching screams arrogance on the part of the cops and the DA. The people see through these charges. We charge the state with lynching. We charge the state with attempting to lynch the Black Lives Matter Movement.

In fact it is the police who are guilty of obstructing justice, in this case and historically. These charges against Shalana are in reality "revenge" charges against leading activists of the Black Lives Matter movement. We in the S.T.O.P. Brutality coalition, along with a wide network of endorsing organizations, are mobilizing to fight back against this police repression.

The story that the police and city attorney present is entirely different from the facts of what actually happened. In reality, on the two nights that Shalana was arrested - Nov 26 and Dec 19 2014 – Black Lives Matter marches were disrupted by police who wanted to shut it down because of its political content. The police violated the protesters’ right to free speech and arrested several people. The police were the aggressors, not the activists. It is the police who are obstructing justice, not the protestors.

Get involved!

Click here to sign the petition (http://www.solidarityweb.com/lists/lt.php?id=Lh8AAQMMGQdUA0hXD1QBAw) demanding that the Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer drop all charges against Shalana Little now.








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http://www.legitgov.org/#breaking_news

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/freddie-gray/bs-md-ci-appeals-court-ruling-freddie-gray-20160308-story.html


News Maryland Freddie Gray Case Trials


Freddie Gray case: Maryland high court says Officer Porter must testify against all five co-defendants

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/cbsbal-new-ruling-ofc.-porter-must-20160308-premiumvideo.html
The Maryland Court of Appeals has ruled Officer William Porter will have to testify in the five trials of the five Baltimore police officers allegedly involved in the death of Freddie Gray after being in police custody.

Justin Fenton Justin FentonContact Reporter
The Baltimore Sun

Maryland appeals court says Officer Porter must testify against all 5 co-defendants in Freddie Gray case

MARCH 8, 2016, 9:03 PM

Maryland's highest court ruled in favor of prosecutors in the Freddie Gray cases Tuesday, ordering that Baltimore police Officer William G. Porter can be compelled to testify against his five fellow officers.

The Court of Appeals rejected Porter's request that he not be forced to testify at the trials of Officer Caesar R. Goodson Jr. and Sgt. Alicia D. White. It also reversed an order by Circuit Judge Barry G. Williams that denied prosecutors' request to call Porter to testify against three other officers, Edward M. Nero, Garrett E. Miller and Lt. Brian W. Rice.

The rulings allow for the resumption of the officers' trials, which have been halted since January. On Tuesday, Rice's trial — originally set to begin Wednesday — was rescheduled for April 13, judiciary spokeswoman Terri Charles said. She noted that the date could change, and it will be up to the court to set a schedule for the remaining trials.

The high court's decision was a victory for prosecutors, who argued that Porter's Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination would not be violated by requiring him to testify under a grant of limited immunity. Under the immunity, his testimony at the officers' trials cannot be used at his own retrial. Porter's first trial ended in a mistrial in December when jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict on any of the four charges against him.

Prosecutors also contended that Williams wrongly blocked their authority when he ruled that they could not call Porter to testify at the Nero, Miller and Rice trials. They had not said previously that Porter was considered a witness in those cases, and Williams said their deciding to call him later was a stall tactic.

http://www.trbimg.com/img-56df7419/turbine/bs-md-rodricks-0309-20160308/400/400x225
Another strange, headache-inducing twist in Freddie Gray cases
"I think [prosecutors] have weathered the storm," said Douglas Colbert, a law professor at the University of Maryland. "They've been doing that since the beginning. There have been so many efforts to either delay or derail the prosecution. ... Both sides as well as the public are served when we are able to hear the truth about what happened to Freddie Gray on April 12th."

It was not clear whether Porter's attorneys, Gary Proctor and Joseph Murtha, would try to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. In the wake of the Court of Appeals rulings, Porter must testify or face jail time for contempt.

Court rules Porter must testify against fellow officers in Freddie Gray cases
The Maryland Court of Appeals ruled for the prosecution, meaning Officer William Porter must testify against his fellow officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray. The cases were sent back to the lower court for trial. (kim Hairston/Baltimore Sun video)
Attorneys in the cases, who are barred by gag order from speaking publicly about them, declined to comment.

William "Billy" Murphy Jr., the civil attorney for Gray's family, said prosecutors' request to call Porter as a witness was "straightforward" and the appeals court ruling was correct.

"This is the definitive ruling for all intents and purposes," Murphy said.

The high court judges did not expound on their decision, which came in the form of a two-page order less than a week after the judges heard arguments in Annapolis. A more detailed ruling is expected to be issued in the coming weeks.

Attorneys on both sides, as well as Williams, agreed that while prosecutors have discretion to grant immunity, it was unprecedented in Maryland for a defendant awaiting trial to be compelled to testify against co-defendants.

Defense attorneys say that could open the door for prosecutors to force co-defendants, even those who had invoked their right to remain silent, to testify at the trials of others.

David Jaros, a law professor at the University of Baltimore, said attorneys will be anxiously awaiting the more detailed ruling to determine how the court viewed the issues.

"What remains to be seen is whether or not this is a narrow victory that simply speaks to what can be done in the Freddie Gray cases, or if this is a new arrow in the quiver of prosecutors when they deal with co-defendant cases," Jaros said. "I hope the answer is that the kind of unique circumstances here makes this OK in this instance, but shouldn't and will not change how co-defendant cases are typically tried."

Williams ordered last year that the six officers would have separate trials and set a schedule that put Porter's trial first. After the Porter case ended in a mistrial, the court moved on to Goodson's case, with White's to follow. But those trials were postponed after Porter appealed Williams' order that he testify to the Court of Special Appeals, the state's second-highest court.

That moved up the trials of Nero, Miller and Rice. But when Williams denied the state's motion to compel Porter to testify in those trials, prosecutors appealed, and all five cases were halted and taken up by the Court of Appeals.

Gray, 25, died after being arrested in April. The state medical examiner's office said Gray suffered a severed spine while being transported without restraints in the back of a police van. His death occurred amid heightened focus nationwide on deaths of black men in police custody, and touched off weeks of unrest in Baltimore that escalated into rioting. The city has agreed to pay a $6.4 million settlement to Gray's family.

The six officers involved in Gray's arrest and death face charges that including manslaughter, assault, second-degree murder and misconduct in office. All have pleaded not guilty and are free on bail.

Those involved in the case say prosecutors face a complicated task in their quest to retry Porter later. They will have to prove that nothing Porter says during his testimony under immunity will be used against him or be considered, a process that could require a so-called taint team to screen the testimony.

Yet Assistant Maryland Attorney General Carrie Williams, who argued the prosecutors' case last week before Maryland's high court, contended that Porter's first trial offers a road map for what prosecutors knew before any later testimony, benefiting both Porter and the state.

"I think everyone's better off," she told the judges.

Porter's argument against being forced to testify against his co-defendants revolved around his attorneys' fears that prosecutors had called him a liar during his trial and could seek to trip him up through his testimony at other trials and charge him with perjury. They also contended that the limited immunity he had received would not protect him from possible federal charges.

"Didn't he make himself a witness?" Court of Appeals Judge Clayton Greene Jr. asked at last week's hearing, referring to the fact Porter gave statements to police and testified on his own behalf. "Isn't the cat out of the bag?"

Meanwhile, defense attorneys and many legal observers believed prosecutors were making a long-shot appeal of Williams' order denying their request to call Porter as a witness at the other trials.

Much of that contention was based on procedural grounds. A variety of rulings are issued by judges during pretrial motions, but can only be appealed once the trial has concluded. The Court of Appeals seemed unsure whether the issue was appealable, asking the parties to address it in their briefs to the court.

Rice's attorney, Michael Belsky, told the judges that there was not a single instance "in American jurisprudence" when such an appeal was taken up mid-trial. And defense lawyers said the state was asking the judge to be a "rubber stamp" for the prosecution by taking away his discretion.

The Baltimore state's attorney's office's chief deputy, Michael Schatzow, said state law required Williams to approve prosecutors' requests, and contended that Williams' ruling on the motion was actually a self-contained civil hearing that had concluded and could be appealed.

Schatzow said Williams' ruling had "undermined the state's case in a pending proceeding, violated Maryland's separation of powers principles, and, if allowed to stand, threatens to impede criminal prosecutions and investigations throughout the state."

What's next

The court is expected to set a new trial schedule for the Baltimore police officers charged in the Freddie Gray case, said judiciary spokeswoman Terri Charles. On Tuesday, the court rescheduled the trial of Lt. Brian W. Rice — originally set to begin today — to April 13, though that could change, Charles said.


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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/02/us/walter-scott-michael-slager-shooting-charleston.html


Jury Appears One Vote Short of Convicting Ex-Police Officer in Walter Scott’s Death
By ALAN BLINDER DEC. 2, 2016

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Michael T. Slager, right, a former police officer in North Charleston, S.C., arrived at the courthouse in Charleston on Friday for his murder trial. Credit Chuck Burton/Associated Press

CHARLESTON, S.C. — A jury signaled here on Friday that it was within a single vote of convicting a white former police officer in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man.

But confusion reigned in the courtroom as the jury wavered about whether it was hopelessly deadlocked about the killing, which was recorded on video and became a symbol of the nation’s heated debate about race and policing.

Over the misgivings of a defense lawyer, Judge Clifton B. Newman, who presided over a four-week trial, did not declare a mistrial in the case of the former officer, Michael T. Slager, who shot and killed Walter L. Scott in North Charleston, S.C., on April 4, 2015. Jurors had been deliberating for about 48 hours and, by day’s end, had decided to resume their discussions on Monday.

Yet Friday’s proceedings, before a crowded courtroom that alternated between focused and flummoxed, were a remarkable display of the divisions in one of the country’s most closely watched cases. It has been seen as a bellwether for whether video evidence could lead to a rare conviction of a law enforcement officer in an on-duty killing.

“I cannot in good conscience consider a guilty verdict,” an unidentified juror wrote in a letter to Judge Newman, who read it aloud in court. The juror added that the panel “may never reach a unanimous decision.”

In a separate note, the jury’s foreman, the sole black member of the panel, appeared curt, writing, “It’s just one juror that has the issues.”

It was not clear whether the panel favored a conviction for murder, which could lead to a sentence of life in prison, or voluntary manslaughter, which carries a sentence of two to 30 years. Mr. Slager was indicted on a murder charge, and Judge Newman allowed jurors this week to consider the lesser offense of manslaughter.

But the dueling messages — and the shifting positions from jurors about whether additional talks or instructions might yield a verdict — were a stunning turn in a case that began nearly 20 months ago, when Mr. Scott was shot and killed after fleeing from a traffic stop for a broken taillight.

Mr. Slager, whom North Charleston fired after the shooting, testified that he had become involved in a physical struggle with Mr. Scott over his Taser device, leaving him in “total fear” and causing him to open fire in a lot behind a pawnshop in the city of about 108,000.

“He didn’t shoot him because of the brake light,” Andrew J. Savage III, Mr. Slager’s lead defense lawyer, said of the former officer during his closing argument. “He shot him in fear of his life.”

It was an account that, at first, local officials believed. But within days, a pedestrian’s cellphone video became public and showed a gruesome shooting that shook this region and reverberated around the world: Mr. Slager firing eight rounds toward Mr. Scott, who was running away and was at least 17 feet from Mr. Slager.

Prosecutors argued that Mr. Slager had “malice aforethought” when he shot Mr. Scott, and that he had staged evidence in a frantic effort to justify the shooting, the first time he had fired his service weapon while on patrol.

“The badge is supposed to be a shield, not a sword,” Scarlett A. Wilson, the chief prosecutor for Charleston County, said during her final presentation to the jury, when she argued that jurors could not acquit Mr. Slager “knowing these facts and South Carolina law.”

For a time on Friday, the proceedings appeared poised to end in a mistrial, an outcome that would have been similar to the results of other cases involving accusations of police misconduct. A judge in Baltimore declared a mistrial in December when a jury could not reach a decision in the case of an officer charged in connection with the death of Freddie Gray, and a Cincinnati jury deadlocked last month during its deliberations about a police officer who had shot and killed an unarmed black motorist.

Shortly after lunch on Friday, the jury sent a note indicating it was at an impasse, prompting Judge Newman to deliver what is known as an Allen charge, a set of legal instructions intended to break deadlocks during deliberations.

“You have a duty to make every reasonable effort to reach a unanimous verdict,” the judge told the jury of seven men and five women as he read the Allen charge, named for the 1896 Supreme Court case that enshrined such guidance.

“The majority should consider the minority’s position, and the minority should consider the majority’s position,” Judge Newman told the jurors before ordering them to resume their deliberations in hopes that they would come to one of three conclusions: a conviction for murder, a conviction for manslaughter or an acquittal.

The outward orderliness of the trial collapsed within hours, when the jury sent more notes that revealed details about the deliberations. The jurors veered from hopelessly deadlocked to willing to talk more, rattling the courtroom, which was filled with members of the Scott and Slager families, as well as onlookers who had gathered, they thought, to see an end to the trial.

But Judge Newman was reluctant to end the proceedings, even as Mr. Savage protested that continued deliberations could be “extremely coercive.”

The jury, after sending another note announcing that it was exhausted, left the courthouse after nightfall. And Mr. Savage, a longtime defense lawyer in Charleston, seemed bewildered as he walked through a crowd of cameras after the court adjourned.

“Let’s just wait till Monday, see what happens Monday and then we’ll come in after that,” he said.

A lawyer for Mr. Scott’s family, L. Chris Stewart, offered a similar reflection as he left the courthouse.

“It’s not over,” Mr. Stewart said. “We kept hearing: ‘It’s over. It’s over.’ It’s not over. Justice is still coming.”

A version of this article appears in print on December 3, 2016, on page A10 of the New York edition with the headline: Jury Appears One Vote Shy of Convicting Ex-Officer in Fatal Shooting. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe

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