Dear friends,
We ‘celebrate’ Presidents Day this year with the news that the majority of Senators agreed that Trump incited an insurrection on January 6. But there were too many Senators who applauded Capitol Officer Eugene Goodman for saving their sorry asses and then voted to acquit the former president.
Justice is a precious and elusive thing.
In Phoenix, Maricopa County Attorney’s Office dismissed the charges against the 15 Black Lives Matters protesters from October after body camera footage was released. The footage captured conversation among officers that affirmed the defense attorney’s argument that “the prosecutions were politically motivated.” The charges against the protesters included
rioting, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and resisting arrest. They were also charged with assisting a street gang.
A police officer argued in court that the protesters met the criteria for a gang because their chants of “All cops are b-------” could be considered a self-proclamation. The protesters mostly dressed in black and carried umbrellas — possibly to defend against pepper spray — which could be considered a uniform.
The gang members in this case were definitely in uniform:
[T]hree Phoenix police officers sat in a squad car allegedly lamenting that they hadn’t trampled the group and doused them in pepper spray.
“Why didn’t we just stomp on them when they were leaving?” an officer asks in body-camera video published by ABC15.
“Gas 'em,” another says, suggesting that they should “just gas them and let them run like crazy.”
Officers in Rochester pepper-sprayed a nine-year-old in Rochester last month. Buffalo officers who knocked a man to the ground causing a fractured skull and brain injury (requiring a month-long hospital stay) will not face charges.
There are exceptions to statements like “All cops are bastards.” Capitol Police office Eugene Goodman really did save many lives as he led insurrectionists away from the Senate chamber. Officer Hodges, of DC’s Metropolitan Police, who was crushed in a door by the rioters, said
If it wasn’t my job, I would have done that for free. It was absolutely my pleasure to crush a white-nationalist insurrection, and we’ll do it as many times as it takes.
Law enforcement and justice are not the same, and between the heroizing and demonizing of officers is the ugly truth that the system is rotten (even the Cato Institute, formerly known as the Charles Koch Foundation, acknowledges as much):
America’s criminal justice system is fundamentally rotten, but the effects of its dysfunction are not felt equally by all Americans. Instead, it is the marginalized and politically disenfranchised who bear the brunt of that injustice, including particularly communities of color. Although both the root causes and the significance of racial disparities in our criminal justice system are debatable, the existence of those disparities is not.
Contribute to The Bail Project. 100% of funds are used to bring people home.
A Texas judge, appointed by the twice-impeached former president, blocked Biden’s 100-day moratorium on deportations, but called on ICE to focus primarily on expelling only those migrants who posed a danger. ICE agents seem to have ignored the guidance.
Black lawmakers, including Ilhan Omar, Mondaire Jones, and Yvette Clarke, have called on the Administration to stop deportations of Black migrants to nations that are in the midst of violent political turmoil, such as Haiti and Cameroon.
Migrants are still being removed under a Trump administration order that allowed the expulsion of recently arrived people under Title 42, Section 265, of the public health law that aims to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Advocates for immigrants tracking the flights say Immigration and Customs Enforcement has expelled approximately 900 Haitians, including dozens of children, in the past two weeks.
About ten percent of the Black population in the US is made up of immigrants. The letter to the Administration expresses the concern “that ICE is disparately targeting Black asylum-seekers and immigrants for detention, torture, and deportation.” Hmmm. I bet they’re right.
Support the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, which is organizing and advocating for racial, social and economic justice.
Secretary for Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas announced that 25,000 asylum seekers who have been stuck in detention under the ‘Remain in Mexico’ protocols will be able to commence the asylum process this week. Walker Dawson, a journalist who is also a family friend, has reported extensively on the humanitarian crisis among African asylum-seekers who try to enter the US from Mexico.
Sign the petition urging the Biden administration to welcome all refugees and asylum-seekers.
Contribute to the Black Immigrant Bail Fund to eradicate the mass incarceration of black immigrants.
with love,
L