The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is calling for a march of 10,000 people or more to denounce the decision not to discipline the Stephanie Phillips, the Fort Worth police officer who murdered Michael Patrick Jacobs by Mayor Mike Moncrief and the City of Fort Worth.
For more information contact (817) 966-7625 or sclctarrantcounty@yahoo.com
"It is time for the nation to come together and denounce this kind of terrorist taser torture on American citizens by home grown terrorist who are supposed to protect and serve," says the Reverend Kyev Tatum, Fort Worth Chapter President of the SCLC. "We have had enough of this foolishness."The March for Dignity is scheduled for Saturday, November 7, 2009 at 12 noon, starting at the Fort Worth City Hall and will end at the Tarrant County Courthouse on Main and Belknap Street.
"We are tired of the torture abuse by the police."Founded by the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1957, the SCLC first asked for a ban on taser electronic torture devices in 2005.
For more information contact (817) 966-7625 or sclctarrantcounty@yahoo.com
7 comments:
Amazing.
I frequently see the use of the words "murder" and "torture" flung at the cops regarding Taser use. Indeed, I frequently see protestations about cops being "judge, jury, and exectuioner".
Are you not as guilty as any of them may be? You sit in judgement on policie officer's actions when you weren't there, only know what was reported in a biref news article, or were told second hand... and you think that is enough information to conclude that a person was murdered, when the evidence is ambiguous at best?
Gunfighter, The taser death of Michael Jacobs Jr. was a tragedy, in and of itself. Notwithstanding what we call it, the Tarrant County Medical Examiner ruled it a "homicide". Of course, we, community activists, called for an investigation of this 24-year old mentally ill man, who was guilty of no crime, nor intoxicated with drugs or alcohol.
DOES THAT SEEM "JUDGMENTAL"?
We know that there is an established policy and set of procedures which police departments follow, whenever someone dies in their custody.
As community activists, we only asked that those policies and procedures be followed to the letter, that the medical examination be fair and not shrouded in psychobabble. Cause of death "homicide" is easier to understand than cause of death by "excited delirium", which has been the customary rulings in such cases.
The Medical Examiner stands by his ruling and positioned himself against criticism. It was a fair and accurate ruling.
Again, not our fault. We did not pull the taser trigger, neither have we called the officer a murderer. It is now up to the Tarrant County DA to present the facts of the case to the grand jury.
As far as I know, none of us are members of the grand jury; therefore, we are in no position to judge. And, Christians do not judge. Devils do.
And, do not assume that we are on the outside looking in. One activist is best friend and neighbor of the family. The rest of us were called in by the family. A lawyer stepped in and helped pay the funeral cost, because the determination of the cause of death was delayed. And sure, we demanded a timely ruling, because of the deferred costs and expenses.
The family has not been hostile toward the FWISD, and neither have we. In this case, we have them. They do not have us. We have been patient and understanding with them.
The Chief of Police is a great admirer of our work and has followed our advice. We have met with him and spoke with him, and all other parties involved.
The Michael Jacobs Jr. case belong to us. He was our child. While he was with us, he was our responsibility.
Your assumptions, Gunfighter, sounds like that of a FOX commentator. You assume that all we have are brief news articles and second hand information.
The AfroSpear collects first hand information from on-the-spot people, victims, and leaders, in cities, states, and different countries. Otherwise, the story is not told.
And, by the way, what do you think we are anyway? A bunch of gadflies looking for a cause?
Please note that I made no judgement, nor did I speak to the Jacobs issue directly.
Regarding the use of the term homicide... homicide means death at the hands of another. Homicide and murder are not the same things.
As far as sounding like a FOX news commentator... I'll ignore that, because that, sir, is silly. I'm talking about the use of factual information vs. emotional rhetoric.
I'll discuss this further on December 4th.
No debate, Gunfighter. But you said: "You sit in judgement on policie officer's actions when you weren't there, only know what was reported in a biref news article, or were told second hand... and you think that is enough information to conclude that a person was murdered, when the evidence is ambiguous at best?"
We are experienced professionals at this kind of work. The above phrase reminds me of recent FOX commentary on the Boston Police-Gates affair... "you were not there... you only have part of the information"
We got all of the ME information: Homicide, and we did not say "murder". It is what it is. Why embellish it?
I'm happy people are beginning to protest these deaths, and not just talk.
Eddie - I hope that someone from SCLC group is planning on creating YouTube video on the march so that we can share it on our blogs around the nation.
Just a thought!
Gunfighter - I acknowledge that I'm not on the scene of the taser-related killings. However, I try to provide a service by keeping a roll-call of these weekly deaths. Something is terribly wrong with the system when this number of people keep getting killed. Taser International seemed to admit as much earlier this month when they asked police to know longer shoot tasers into the chest area.
In any case, I appreciate your LEO-perspective and I look forward to seeing your perspective on Dec 4th during the Day of Blogging for Justice.
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