[Peace-discuss] RE: Get Off the Bus: What Happened on April 5th?

[cu at veya.org]

Right now I have a daughter and son who is out enjoying themselves with their 
friends and I would go ballistic if I got that call that my kids got beat down 
by the police. Imagine how the families and especially the kids, who are 
freshman in high school are feeling. They have never had any trouble with the 
law but are now locked up in jail traumatized.  These kids are being emotional 
scarred and we as adults say oh they need to comply with law, just because and 
with no other reason.  Julia Reitz stated in the NG that Gina Jackson informed 
her that the police did not use excessive force. I totally disagree with this 
statement. This young man has bruises and permanent scars all over his face 
and body and is emotionally, physically, traumatized for the rest of his life. 
We blame the kids and the parents, but no accountability for are Chambana 
leadership. Rev.Chambers stated that our kids need to be in compliance but 
here is a person that sat in the meeting that was held at the Urban League 
with the NG and while I was talking about me and my families pain and 
suffering to the NG editors Rev. Chambers stated that I an on some N**** Shit 
and it did not matter that other people at the table heard him. Of course I 
did not hear him but later confronted him and told him if I ever heard him 
state something like that again I will forget who he is. Some of are 
leadership are out of touch with the community and don’t even come into the 
community. So average citizens are not encouraged or supported to come out and 
vote and be involved in the community. We know the government has all the 
money in the world and still can’t make the changes. It is the people and 
action that make the changes not one person nor one entity.

PDT

Quoting Ruth Wyman <rewyman at hotmail.com>:

> This Saturday (April 7)- at 9 am at the Douglas Park Annex, 805 N. Fifth 
> St., there will be a short rally and then free transportation to the 
> Champaign County Clerk's office for Early Voting.  Bring a government issued
> 
> photo i.d. (driver's license, state of Illinois i.d., for example), and get 
> on the bus to go early vote.  Things can change if we change who is on the 
> Champaign City Council.
> Also, tonight on Channel 3 at 10 pm, they will have the results of their 
> online poll - should the city of champaign have a citizen police review 
> board?  Please vote at www.illinoishomepage.net
> -ruth wyman
> 
> 
> >From: "Brian Dolinar" <briandolinar at gmail.com>
> >To: announce at communitycourtwatch.org, "Public i" <print at ucimc.org>, 
> >"coalition policereview" <cprb at lists.chambana.net>, "Peace Discuss" 
> ><peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>, stop at iresist.org, 
> >mmonson at newsgazette.com, "pwood at news-gazette.com" <pwood at news-gazette.com>,
> 
> >willnewsroom at uiuc.edu, "Esther Patt" <estherpatt at hotmail.com>, "Giraldo 
> >Rosales" <grosales at ad.uiuc.edu>, "Julian Scharman" <jscharm2 at uiuc.edu>, 
> >"Sky Opila" <sky.opila at gmail.com>, "cu at veya.org" <cu at veya.org>, "Matthew 
> >Gladney" <dj_matt_99 at yahoo.com>, "Jenny Putman" <jenny-p at sbcglobal.net>, 
> >"Ruth Wyman" <rewyman at hotmail.com>
> >Subject: Get Off the Bus: What Happened on April 5th?
> >Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2007 19:00:13 -0500
> >
> >Get Off the Bus: What Happened on April 5th?
> >
> >On April 5, 2007, two black youth were arrested by police in a second
> >altercation that has exposed the undercurrent of hostility between local
> >police and the black community. At approximately 4 p.m. on Thursday
> >afternoon, an incident at the Champaign bus terminal led to two 15 year-old
> >black young men being arrested by Champaign police and taken to the 
> >juvenile
> >detention center. One of the youth claims he was choked by police and a
> >witness says she was threatened with pepper spray.
> >
> >This occurred just six days after another incident on March 30, when a 17
> >year-old black youth was arrested by Champaign police in Douglass Park.
> >Police say they stopped the youth for being in the Douglass Park after 
> >dusk,
> >when the park closes. The youth says that he and a 15 year-old were
> >escorting an 8 year-old home after playing basketball at the Douglass
> >Centergymnasium. What happened afterwards is unclear, but the police
> >ended up
> >pepper-spraying the youth and sending him to the hospital.
> >
> >These two incidents have again shown how police frequently approach black
> >youth in "arrest mode." This was exposed by videographers Patrick Thompson
> >and Martel Miller in their 2004 documentary *Citizen's Watch*. The
> >relationship between police and the black community has clearly not 
> >improved
> >since then. Champaign Police Chief R.T. Finney says that excessive force 
> >was
> >not used in either of these two incidents and that the police were simply
> >following procedure. If this is police policy for handling black youth, 
> >then
> >it needs to be seriously reexamined.
> >
> >How the Law Works
> >
> >While still trying to figure out what happened on Friday, March 30, I was 
> >at
> >the Champaign Police station filing a Freedom of Information Act request 
> >for
> >police reports [which as of April 6, a week later, have still not been
> >released due to a pending investigation]. I was interrupted by a crowd of
> >black youth who had come into the station angry with police. They were told
> >to go outside and two black cops, Sgt. Shelton and officer Westfield, were
> >sent to handle the crowd. I followed the youth outside to get the story.
> >
> >Officer Westfield addressed the youth with techniques of crowd control in
> >such an instance. He told the crowd of 12-15 youth, "Tell me where you all
> >go to school, I will contact the S.R.O. [School Resource Officer] there, 
> >and
> >they will come give a presentation to your class on how the law works." 
> >From
> >the reaction of the youth, they knew exactly how the law works.
> >
> >When one of the youth was asked what his name was, he said, "I ain't 
> >talking
> >to no fucking police." Without any parents present, officer Westfield began
> >to get the youths' names as witnesses to the incident. Those unwilling to
> >give names were told to leave. Yet these same youth were willing to talk to
> >me about what happened.
> >
> >A brother and sister were at the bus station after school, horse-playing 
> >and
> >joking around. Authorities thought they were fighting and called the 
> >police.
> >The two kids got onto a bus to go home. But before pulling off, a security
> >guard came on and told them to get off the bus. Police finally showed up 
> >and
> >had a conversation with the two youth in front of the bus station. Whatever
> >transpired after that was surely captured on video cameras that are posted
> >around the bus terminal.
> >
> >Police claim there was a disorderly crowd of black youth. According to
> >witnesses at the bus station I spoke to after the incident, there were
> >police everywhere.
> >
> >Police spokesperson Lieutenant Holly Nearing told the *News-Gazette*, "The
> >officers had to use a minimal amount of force to make the arrests."
> >
> >One of the members in the crowd had questioned why the police were messing
> >with the young man being ushered out by police. Police turned on this youth
> >and arrested him. The police then returned to the young man they had
> >received the call about. According to the youth's mother, a police officer
> >rushed at her son, grabbed him by the neck, choking him, and told him he 
> >was
> >under arrest. The youth cried out that he could not breath. Police placed
> >him in handcuffs and took him to the Youth Detention Center. The two 15
> >year-olds will be in court Monday, April 9. They are charged with 
> >aggravated
> >battery and resisting arrest.
> >
> >According to the mother, her daughter had calmed her son down just before 
> >he
> >was arrested. Police then stepped in telling her daughter they were going 
> >to
> >pepper spray her and proceeded to "subdue" her son.
> >
> >Once again, as this incident reveals, the police only further escalated an
> >already tense situation. Their tactics of crowd control were unsuccessful
> >and lead to two arrests. It nearly erupted into further violence. Witnesses
> >were incited to enter the fray and only raised the tensions. The suspect's
> >sister was more successful in calming the situation down than the police
> >officers. Were the police at the bus station to ensure everyone got home
> >safely? Or were they there to teach the youth a lesson about authority?
> >
> >What Happened On Friday Night, March 30th?
> >
> >It has now been a week after a 17 year-old black youth was sent to the
> >hospital by Champaign police. As the pending investigation suggests, there
> >were contrary reports of what happened the night of March 30th. The second
> >incident on April 5 proves that police have learned little and have 
> >received
> >no instruction from Chief Finney about how to better handle black youth.
> >
> >The question of why Champaign police stopped the three black youth on 
> >Friday
> >night, March 30th has still not been fully answered. Police say Douglass
> >Park is closed at dusk, but Douglass Park manager Terry Townsend told me
> >there are programs at the center that go on until 11 p.m. The three youth
> >had left the gymnasium at 8:30 p.m. and were walking home. Again, rather
> >than returning home safely, the youth were stopped by police. One of the
> >youth was brutalized and the others had to watch in horror.
> >
> >Police say that no excessive force was used, but an ambulance was called,
> >and the youth had to be taken to the hospital. Designated leaders of the
> >black community have echoed the police claims that no excessive force was
> >used.
> >
> >At the Champaign City Council Tuesday night, April 3, Martel Miller brought
> >the 17 year-old and his mother to the meeting and questioned what the city
> >council was doing to improve relations between police and the community. He
> >cited other African Americans in the community who have died at the hands 
> >of
> >the Champaign police in recent years. Miller also cited Illinois Department
> >of Transportation statistics that show the gross disparities in racial
> >profiling in Champaign.
> >
> >City council member Gina Jackson responded to Miller's remarks unashamedly,
> >"Yes, there's racial profiling, that's nothing new." She continued, "That's
> >been the case for years, and it probably won't change real quick
. Things
> >work slowly."
> >
> >For asking why things were working so slowly, Miller was kicked out of the
> >city council meeting. He was escorted out not only by Police Chief Finney,
> >but also by Mayor Schweighart, himself a former Champaign police officer 
> >and
> >still acting as if he operates in this function as Mayor.
> >
> >The question of when things are going to change has still not been 
> >answered.
> >The second incident at the bus station, and the police response to both
> >events, has been nothing but blatant denial and indignation at the public's
> >concerns. Indeed, these things will not change until the public demands a
> >change in their leadership.
> >
> >Come out to join us in Douglass Park the next two Saturdays before the 
> >April
> >17 election to educate public about these injustices and shuttle community
> >members to early voting at the polls. A change in police/community 
> >relations
> >is long overdue.
> >--
> >Brian Dolinar, Ph.D.
> >303 W. Locust St.
> >Urbana, IL 61801
> >briandolinar at gmail.com
> 
> _________________________________________________________________
> Can’t afford to quit your job? – Earn your AS, BS, or MS degree online in 1 
> year. 
> http://www.classesusa.com/clickcount.cfm?id=866145&goto=http%3A%2F%
2Fwww.classesusa.com%2Ffeaturedschools%2Fonlinedegreesmp%2Fform-dyn1.html%
3Fsplovr%3D866143
> 
>