Black Lives Matter

Police use of lethal violence in the United States—as powerfully documented by the Guardian and the Washington Post

  • June 21, 2015
  • By:

“Bernard Harcourt, who wrote influential books and authored studies debunking the famous Broken Windows theory of policing (the debated idea that focusing on low-level “urban disorder” will curtail serious crime), recently pointed out (Guardian, 6/6/15) that the “crime wave” politics being carried by right-wing and corporate centrist media outlets are a classic response to a political movement that takes on racist policing in America: The point of the “Ferguson effect,” though, is not to be accurate. It is instead to distract us from the growing evidence about the magnitude and extent of police use of lethal violence in the United States—as…

Cleveland’s Second Chance at Police Reform

May 27, 2015, 6:19 pm ET by Sarah Childress FRONTLINE Enterprise Journalism Group Cleveland city officials this week signed an agreement with the Department of Justice (DOJ) to impose widespread reforms of the city’s police — marking the second time federal officials have pushed for reforms in the department. The Cleveland police department has been under investigation by the Justice Department for allegations that its officers have a pattern of using excessive force against civilians, in particular against people who are mentally ill. In December, the DOJ found major structural problems in the department, including the use of “poor and…

Statement from Vanita Gupta, Head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division–Cleveland Aquittal

Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Saturday, May 23, 2015 Statement from Vanita Gupta, Head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, U.S. Attorney Steven M. Dettlebach for the Northern District of Ohio and Special Agent in Charge Stephen D. Anthony for the FBI Statement from Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, U.S. Attorney Steven M. Dettelbach for the Northern District of Ohio and Special Agent in Charge Stephen D. Anthony for the FBI: “The U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Civil Rights Division of the Department of…

Cleveland cop found not guilty in deaths of two African Americans

IANS/Cleveland Star Sunday 24th May, 2015 CLEVELAND, Ohio – A police officer in Cleveland, Ohio, was acquitted by a judge for the shooting deaths of two unarmed suspects, both black, after police chased the victims’ car on November 2012. After a four-week trial, Judge John P. O’Donnell on Saturday handed down the verdict in the case against white policeman Michael Brelo, 31, for the deaths of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams. http://www.clevelandstar.com/index.php/sid/233142667 see also: US Justice Department to Review Cleveland Police Shooting

Cleveland Streets Are Calm, but Anger Lingers Day After Officer’s Acquittal

MAY 24, 2015 CLEVELAND — The 10 a.m. service at Elizabeth Baptist Church should have been a joyous occasion. It was Pentecost Sunday. The weather was beautiful. Worshipers applauded schoolchildren who received A’s and B’s on their report cards. But 24 hours before the congregants gathered to sing hymns and take communion, a judge had acquitted a Cleveland police officer of manslaughter for his role in a car pursuit that ended with two unarmed black people fatally shot. The not-guilty verdict sparked demonstrations Saturday that began in orderly fashion but ended with dozens of arrests and prompted conversations at Elizabeth…

13 of 16
910111213141516