Demonstrations in U.S. for Accountability, Defunding and Control of Police Persist
Demonstrations September 26, 2020, as actions
continue in Louisville, Kentucky demanding justice
for Breonna Taylor.
Demonstrations across the U.S. persist as anger
grows with
racist police killings and refusal by governments
to charge
police. As one, millions have been unrelenting in
saying that
justice means accountability from all levels of
authority --
police, mayors, governors, Congress, the President
and the
courts. Everywhere the demand is made for people
in cities and
communities to have the power to themselves
control safety and
security. Calls for defunding and demilitarizing
police and
increasing funding for social services, including by cutting Pentagon funding, are
widespread. The people are taking
up their
social responsibility as city after city responds
to injustice
wherever it occurs -- as happened with George
Floyd and is now
occurring with Breonna Taylor and in many other
cases.
Louisville, Kentucky has been in the forefront
this past week
with demonstrators insistent on justice for
Breonna Taylor,
an African-American emergency room technician gunned
down in her
home in a hail of 32 bullets. Her home was raided
around 1:00 am,
with police lying about her involvement in drugs
to secure the
warrant and the suspect they sought already in
custody. Taylor's
autopsy showed no alcohol or drugs in her system
and no drugs
were found in her home. People are furious that
the two police
directly involved in her killing were not charged,
and a third, Brett
Hankison, was charged only with "wanton endangerment" -- and
that no
responsibility has been taken for all the police activity that led to
her death. Given the warrant was illegally
obtained with lies,
everything that follows is illegal as well.
Louisville, Kentucky, September 27, 2020.
One of the grand jurors in Breonna Taylor's case
has now gone
to court to demand that all the recordings,
transcripts, evidence
and instructions presented to the Grand Jury by
the Attorney
General be made public. This includes freedom to
discuss what did
not take place in the Grand Jury proceedings --
including "any
potential charges and defendants presented or not
presented."
This juror was angered that Kentucky Attorney
General Daniel Cameron put the blame on the jurors for
not indicting
the police officers involved in Breonna's killing.
He used them
as a shield to deflect accountability and
responsibility for the
lack of charges. The attorney for the juror wrote
in the filing, "The full story and absolute truth of how
this matter was
handled from beginning to end is now an issue of
great public
interest and has become a large part of the
discussion of public
trust throughout the country."
The juror also called on the court to allow all
jurors in the
case to speak and to be protected from possible
contempt charges
for making materials public. Grand Jury
proceedings are secret
and jurors forbidden to talk about them.
In addition to the juror's demands, the judge
hearing the case
for Hankison asked for the recording of the Grand
Jury
proceedings to be made public. Attorney General Cameron released
the recording
October 2. This is the minimum needed and the
juror is rightly
asking for far more.
 Making everything
public will no doubt show the insufficient
and pro-police presentation by the state,
essentially barring the
jurors from making other charges. For example, the
state claimed
the warrant was legal; likely did question why 32
shots were
"needed"; why non-lethal methods were not used;
why no effort was
made to announce themselves once inside; and
instead firing at
Taylor and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, also
African
American.
The juror's just stand has been applauded. Both
her efforts
and those of the demonstrators forced the Attorney General to
admit that he did
not recommend any charges against the two police.
He said their
actions were "reasonable" as they were acting in
"self-defence."
The justification given was that Walker, licensed
to carry a gun,
had fired once. Before doing so he had called 911
to say there
was a burglary in the home. Both he and many
neighbours said
police did not announce themselves and barged in
at night, armed
and well-protected.
Within two hours of Taylor's killing, Kenny Walker
was arrested
and charged with attempted murder. He was later
released and
charges dropped, but they could be reinstated. He
has filed a
lawsuit, saying he was defending Taylor and
himself. Recognizing
the need for broader accountability, the lawsuit
targets Attorney General
Cameron, Louisville Metro government, Mayor Greg
Fischer, 13
Louisville police officers, former Police Chief Steve
Conrad and interim
Police Chief Rob Schroeder. The suit says police
"threatened Kenny's
life, illegally detained Kenny, interrogated him
under false
pretenses, ignored his account as corroborated by
neighbours, and
arrested and jailed Kenny." According to his
lawyer, he has
evidence that Walker is not the one who wounded
one of the
officers, shot with a 9mm gun. Instead, Hankison,
who had been
issued a 9mm gun, did so. He added that evidence
shows that the
officer wounded was not shot immediately, as
police claim, but
more than a minute-and-a-half into the raid.
Many of the demonstrations are demanding that the
laws and
police policies that permit the widespread
impunity for racist
police crimes be eliminated, as a minimum step.
The existing
structures in society in security, the
economy and
politics guarantee inequality, not only before the
law but far
more broadly, in all aspects of life. How else can
police across
the country consistently use the same
justification of
"self-defence" or "fear" for their lives for
totally unjustified
killings? How can the elected officials and
government attorneys
all agree that such impunity is "legal?" As
actions go forward,
the consciousness that existing structures of
governance cannot
provide equality, justice or accountability is
increasing and that the
need for new institutions where the people decide
taken up for
solution.
Louisville, Kentucky, September 26, 2020.
Actions
Across the Country September 25-October 2
Seattle, Washington
Portland, Oregon
 
Memorial for Patrick Kimmons, who was shot
and killed by Portland police in 2018.
September 30, 2020 also marked the 115th day of
protests.
Mass mobilization in Portland, Oregon, to affirm
Black Lives Matter at the same time as a Proud
Boys rally was being held in the city, September
26, 2020.
Sacramento, California
Los Angeles, California
San Diego, California
Denver, Colorado
Chicago Illinois
Teach-in
and memorial for Laquan McDonald, killed by Chicago police in 2014. The
400 balloons released there marked the 400 days it took for the truth
to come out about his murder. 
Youth set up an info table, September 26, 2020,
calling for an end to
police brutality and the establishment of a
civilian police
accountability committee.
Kirksville, Mississippi
Nashville, Tennessee
  
Graham, North Carolina
 
Atlanta, Georgia
Boston, Massachusetts
Rochester, New York
 
New York City, New York
Abolish
Immigration and Customs Enforcement protest
demands freedom for all
detained and an end to detentions, spying and
abuse. Their banner names
those who have died in ICE custody, October
2, 2020.
Housing
activists call on Mayor Cuomo to extend the
moratorium on evictions, as
many face homelessness during ongoing pandemic and
economic crisis,
October 1, 2020.
Action against police impunity and violence,
September 26, 2020.
Washington, DC
Protesters demand recognition of LGBTQ+ rights,
October 2, 2020, following Supreme
Court nomination.
Miami, Florida
 
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