March against police brutality
By adamg - Fri, 10/14/2005 - 7:10am.
Dan reports on a march on the 22nd:
We're going to be meeting at the Christian Science Center near Massachusetts Avenue at 2:30 on Saturday, having a little rally/speakout then marching to the Ruggles police station from 3 to 4. Join us for a fun and meaningful anti-authoritarian event!
That's one day after the anniversary last year of Victoria Snelgrove, killed by a "non-lethal" police pepper ball:
But we'd like to protest brutality in general and against poor and young people as well as communities of color. We'll be gathering some statistics about acts of police abuse in Boston soon and I will post those as soon as I get them.
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A Pointless March By Clueless People
Clearly, there's no reason to hold this march. Boston Police are not known for their brutality. If you want to march to remember Victoria Snelgrove, or to remind the police of her (as if they'd ever forget), then go for it. But a march against police brutality in Boston is a waste of time and an insult to our police and our city.
Dan's website linked above includes this telling bit:
"We’ll be gathering some statistics about acts of police abuse in Boston soon and I will post those as soon as I get them.
Get it? THEY DON'T HAVE THE STATISTICS, BUT THEY ASSUME THE POLICE ARE BRUTAL.
Hey, Dan, Get a clue. You and your fellow anti-authority types are far more of a problem in Boston than any (incredibly rare) police abuse.
police brutality
Didn't I just read in the globe this morning about two incidents where police were absolved of criminal wrong doing in the deaths of two people? One of which was an mentally challenged elderly man.
You wrote it yourself: they were *absolved*
Dan,
The cops were in an enclosed, dark room when the man attacked them with knives. They ordered him to drop the knives, but he didn't. He kept coming toward them, making stabbing motions. They shot him in self-defense. If you call that abuse, you really do hate cops.
One murder by police is one too many
The march is justified until such time as the (ir)reponsible officers are fired and criminally charged with homicide.
I don't think the facts are there.
Ron, I agree the death of Ms. Snelgrove is an outrage. I have written about it fairly extensively on my site, as you know. But I don't think it's a criminal homicide - the officer neither intended her death nor had reason to believe it would occur.
Firing seems like an option worth considering, though I might reject it as the PD did. Note that the commander surely would have been fired but for his resigning.
But Dan and his cop-hating friends aren't marching to protest about Ms. Snelgrove alone. They are claiming widespread police abuse in Boston. I just don't think they have a basis for that claim.
Finally, I don't categorize the Snelgrove shooting as abuse. It was lots of things, but abusive isn't one of them. Abuse requires some intent to exercise excessive control or use excessive power or inflict harm on someone weaker, I think. All those cops were trying to do, it seems to me, is stop a riot and get themselves to safety.
How do you know?
I don't know the statistics for the city of Boston. However, I'm not shooting off at the mouth about whether this march is justified or not. I think it'd be wise to research the issue first before criticizing the marchers, no?
And certainly if not Boston, than New Orleans and Montreal could benefit from this event, considering the recent behavior of their local police forces....
Aqua, your point is *almost* right
It would be wise to research the issue before scheduling a march. Which was my whole point.
Dan and his fellow anti-authority types don't care what the facts are, they just don't like cops, or the establishment, or whatever.