Re: [Discuss] [Peace] FOIA’d Emails in Kiwane Carrington Case Reveal Monitoring of Local Activist Groups

[John W.]

On Sun, Dec 20, 2009 at 8:43 PM, Jenifer Cartwright <jencart13 at yahoo.com>wrote:



>   Let me get this straight:
> Two kids appeared to be trying to break into a house but did not
> actually do so. As a result, one is dead and the other has charges pending
> against him.
> Then the police actually did break into- and ransacked the house (because??
> warrant??), and all officers involved are alive w/ no charges pending
> against any ot them.
>
> Doesn't make sense when you actually look at the facts, does it...
>  --Jenifer
>


No.  But when you look at the Rule of Law, it all makes perfect sense.  :-(




>
>
> --- On *Sun, 12/20/09, Brian Dolinar <briandolinar at gmail.com>* wrote:
>
>
> From: Brian Dolinar <briandolinar at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Peace] FOIA’d Emails in Kiwane Carrington Case Reveal Monitoring
> of Local Activist Groups
> To: "discuss list" <discuss at communitycourtwatch.org>, stop at iresist.org,
> coalition at iresist.org, "AWARE peace" <peace at lists.chambana.net>
> Date: Sunday, December 20, 2009, 10:10 AM
>
>
> On November 3, 2009, several people spoke before Champaign city council
> about the police killing of Kiwane Carrington and demanded that Police Chief
> R.T. Finney, who was at the scene, be fired. After public comments, City
> Manager Steve Carter responded by saying that he had conducted his own
> investigation, talking to the state police and State’s Attorney Julia Rietz,
> and concluded that Finney had done nothing wrong.. “He is an excellent
> police chief,” Carter said.
>
> Upon hearing this, CU Citizens for Peace and Justice decided to file a
> Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for all the correspondence between
> Carter and local officials to find out more about this supposed
> investigation. While no documents were provided related to the details of
> the case (most of these conversations were probably done in person or on the
> phone, leaving no paper trail), emails exchanged show that local authorities
> were sharing information about community organizing in the wake of the
> shooting. Emails were being forwarded to Steve Carter from mass emails being
> sent out by CU Citizens for Peace and Justice (CUCPJ) and posted to
> listservs maintained by the Anti-War Anti-Racist Effort (AWARE), Students
> Transforming Oppression and Privilege (STOP), and the lesbian/feminist
> chorus Amasong.
>
> Emails collected show that even the local mainstream media was
> participating in this information sharing. On Monday morning, Oct. 12, CUCPJ
> was planning a press conference at the IMC with family members of the two
> youth involved in the incident. Steve Bauer of the News-Gazette sent an
> email to Deputy Police Chief Troy Daniels inquiring about a Champaign
> Community and Police (CCAP) meeting and notifying him, “As you probably
> know, there is a press conference at 10 a.m. Monday at the Independent Media
> Center.”
>
> After audio and video of the press conference was posted at the IMC web
> site, an email with the link was sent to the Amasong list, as well as the
> notice of an upcoming vigil. Council member Deb Feinan, who is on the list,
> forwarded the email to Steve Carter, the City Manager’s Assistant Joan
> Walls, and Neighborhood Services Director Dorothy David with the message, “I
> thought you would like to see the latest in case you haven’t seen it.”
> Feinan also forwarded an email the next week calling for people to attend a
> city council meeting and a Speak Out event at the Boys and Girls Club.
>
> On Wednesday, Oct. 14, a vigil was held attended by hundreds of community
> members and followed by an appearance by State Senator and Vice-President of
> Operation Push, Rev. James Meeks at the New Hope Church of God. Rev. Meeks
> gave a rousing speech to a crowded room and demanded justice. An email from
> earlier in the week on Monday indicates that Will Kyles, the only African
> American city council member, was trying to pacify the city authorities
> about Meeks’ visit. Steve Carter sent a message to Dorothy David, Joan
> Walls, and Chief Finney saying that Kyles had told him the “primary reason”
> Meeks was in town was not for the Carrington case, but to “solicit support
> for [Cheryle] Jackson’s bid for the US Senate…. He was not intending to get
> involved in the community issue. Will wanted me to pass that along.” When
> Meeks was told about Carrington’s killing the next day by members of CUCPJ,
> he willingly spoke to the community.
>
> Former African American city council member Gina Jackson was receiving
> emails I had sent to the AWARE list and forwarding several of them to Steve
> Carter. On October 19, I sent out an email about an upcoming march from the
> Illinois Terminal, past the Champaign police station, and to Boys and Girls
> Club. It was forwarded to Chief Finney, who sent it on to police command
> staff members Troy Daniels, John Murphy, and Holly Nearing. This email, in
> part, was the reason why on the night of the march the police station was
> surrounded in yellow tape, with 8-10 police standing at the entrance and
> reportedly more waiting in the lobby to respond to a possible riot.
>
> Most disturbing was the realization that the head of the local chapter of
> the NAACP, Rev. Jerome Chambers, was forwarding my emails to city
> authorities. On Tuesday, Nov. 3, I sent out an email to the STOP list about
> that night’s city council meeting in which we were addressing the Champaign
> Police Department’s seeking of accreditation from the Illinois Law
> Enforcement Accreditation Program (ILEAP). Rev. Chambers passed the email to
> Steve Carter with the comment, “FYI as promised.”
>
> I had the opportunity to ask Carter what Chambers had promised him. Carter
> admitted they may have been sharing information about activities planned,
> but said he had “no recollection” of anything promised to him by Chambers.
> When I asked Chambers about the email, he said he did not “deliberately”
> send it to Carter and pleaded, “I don’t want you to do a number on me.” Yet
> he would not explain what he had promised to Carter.
>
> These individuals have every right to be on activist listservs, yet their
> intentions should be called into question. Rarely, if ever, are they present
> for community actions held by these organizations. The aforementioned
> examples suggest that their objective is to monitor local activist groups,
> not to play the leadership role they have assumed.
>
> While local authorities were collecting our emails, they refused to return
> our phone calls. Something which has received little attention in local
> coverage of the story is that after Carrington was shot, police broke down
> the back door at 906 W. Vine and ransacked the house. The woman who lived
> there, Deborah Thomas, was not able to return to her home that night. The
> next day, black community activist Martel Miller left messages with
> Champaign police to address the situation, but he did not hear back from
> them. Deputy Chief Holly Nearing sent an email to Troy Daniels and Assistant
> to the Police Chief Rene Dunn, cc’ing Chief Finney. It read, “Martel Miller
> is calling the PD wanting to know why we are not providing the resident at
> 906 W. Vine a secure house or a place to stay. Any ideas on responding to
> the resident?”
>
> Immediately after the incident, Carrington’s family was not allowed to
> identify the body of their loved one. Instead, police used a school
> photograph to identify him. On Oct. 10, Holly Nearing wrote to Troy Daniels
> and Chief Finney indicating that the family wanted to view Carrington’s
> body. She also made mention, “Brian Dollinar [sic] is involved in this
> viewing issue, he has been calling the front desk.” My phone calls were
> never returned and the family did not view the body until three days after
> he was killed.
>
> Meanwhile, city council members were communicating about the case with the
> State’s Attorney while the investigation by the state police was pending. On
> Oct. 21, Deb Feinan sent an email to Julia Rietz that only included the
> message, “Julia, Please give me a call when you get a chance. Deb.” On Oct.
> 27, Marci Dodds forwarded the names of two potential witnesses to Rietz with
> the personal note, “It was fun to see you on Sunday.”
>
> Documents acquired under the Freedom of Information Act reveal significant
> communication between Champaign city officials, Champaign police, and the
> State’s Attorney. Even while they urged the community to be patient, emails
> show that they rushed to handle damage control in the aftermath of the
> police shooting.
>
> BD
> --
> Brian Dolinar, Ph.D.
> 303 W. Locust St.
> Urbana, IL 61801
> briandolinar at gmail.com
>
>
>
>
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