[Occupymendocino] Fwd: JUSTICE in #Ferguson for Mike Brown: It's time to demilitarize the police

[Irene L. Malone]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Charles Chamberlain, Democracy for America"  
> <info at democracyforamerica.com>
> Date: August 15, 2014 6:17:24 AM PDT
> To: "Irene Malone" <irenelsm at mcn.org>
> Subject: JUSTICE in #Ferguson for Mike Brown: It's time to  
> demilitarize the police
> Reply-To: info at democracyforamerica.com
>

> Irene --
>
> Sniper rifles aimed at protesters. Armored vehicles that look like  
> tanks. Police dressed like storm troopers.
>
> It looks like Baghdad. But it's not. It's America.
>
> It's a town of 20,000 people in the Heartland.
>
> The images from Ferguson, Missouri, are shocking. In an outrageous  
> overreaction to the protests that have erupted demanding answers  
> and accountability in the police killing of unarmed teenager  
> Michael Brown, police responded by shooting tear gas, rubber  
> bullets, and stun grenades at children, nonviolent protesters and  
> reporters.
>
> When Huffington Post reporter Ryan J. Reilly was unfairly arrested  
> by police on Wednesday, he said that "the police resembled soldiers  
> more than officers."
>
> This isn't "protect and serve." It's an occupying army. And these  
> military tactics and weapons used by police have escalated tensions  
> and made Ferguson less safe. Even moderate Democrats like Missouri  
> Senator Claire McCaskill are calling on police to demilitarize to  
> help calm the situation.
>
> This problem isn't unique to Ferguson.
>
> Chances are that your own police department already has militarized  
> itself. The Pentagon has used part of a little known law, known as  
> Section 1033, to sell surplus weapons from the Afghanistan and Iraq  
> wars to local police. Instead of getting out of their cars and  
> working with communities to tackle crime, police increasingly hide  
> behind high tech weapons, vehicles and armor made for use on a  
> battlefield -- not the city streets of small town America. In  
> Ferguson, we are starkly witnessing how this limits freedom and  
> puts law-abiding Americans' safety at risk.
>
> Sen. McCaskill's comments are an excellent start. Now we need  
> elected leaders across America to take immediate action. Join us by  
> telling Congress to reform Section 1033 and stop the flow of  
> military weapons and hardware to local police.
>
> This policy is turning every city in America into the next possible  
> battlefield. Even worse, we've heard from several Iraq and  
> Afghanistan veterans that the armor and weapons the police are  
> using in Ferguson are more than they ever used overseas. These  
> veterans were astonished and troubled to see American police  
> pointing the barrel of a gun at nonviolent protesters.
>
> This is not a new trend. Military weapons and tactics have been  
> used to quash protests against inequality and corporate power since  
> the World Trade Organization protests in Seattle in 1999. And I  
> still remember seeing grenades and tanks used to crush Occupy Wall  
> Street protests in 2011. These tactics don't make anyone safer.  
> Instead they injure innocent people, sow distrust between the  
> public and the police, and undermine our Constitutional rights.
>
> Our country is built upon the right to speak out in protest -- and  
> we declared independence in part because of a military occupation  
> of Boston. Military weapons and tactics have no place in our local  
> police forces. Our officers should be partnering with the public to  
> fight crime together rather than targeting the public with weapons  
> previously used in overseas wars.
>
> Congress needs to hear from us loud and clear: it's time to  
> demilitarize the police in America. Sign our petition demanding  
> Congress reform Section 1033 now.
>
> Thank you for taking action and standing up for a safer America.
>
> - Charles
>
> Charles Chamberlain, Executive Director
> Democracy for America
>
>

> Paid for by Democracy for America, http:// 
> www.democracyforamerica.com/?t=4&akid=5140.2420166.mHJjs3 and not  
> authorized by any candidate. Contributions to Democracy for America  
> are not deductible for federal income tax purposes.
> This message was sent to irenelsm at mcn.org Click here to unsubscribe  
> from further communications.
>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.mcn.org/pipermail/occupymendocino/attachments/20140816/3722b342/attachment.html 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Ferguson.png
Type: image/png
Size: 307448 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.mcn.org/pipermail/occupymendocino/attachments/20140816/3722b342/attachment.png 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: red_without_cash.png
Type: image/png
Size: 9121 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.mcn.org/pipermail/occupymendocino/attachments/20140816/3722b342/attachment-0001.png