PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Free Getu Coalition's Concert Against Racial Injustice
by Dan Kyle Wednesday, Dec. 04, 2002 at 12:49 PM
daniel_kyle@hotmail.com

With the final trial of Getu Towalde drawing near, the Free Getu Coalition is putting on a concert to smash racism on December 5th. Getu is a legal Ethiopian immigrant who was arrested as a terrorist, with little evidence outside of his skin color and foriegn accent.

Racial Injustice Speak Out on December 5th!

The Free Getu Coalition has one more mobilizing event planned before the long-awaited trial of Getu Tewolde: an anti-racist speak out concert on Thursday, December 5th at the Quiet Storm. This all ages show will feature local performers, musicians, and poets collaborating their talents, interspersed with people sharing their stories whom have been victimized by racism.

Topping the list of speakers is Getu Berhanu Tewolde. As you may know, Getu was arrested at the greyhound station in Pittsburgh on February 1st, 2001. A legal immigrant from Ethiopia, Getu was beaten by the police and arrested after other passengers complained he was “acting suspicious” and feared he might be a terrorist. According to Getu, the officer never identified himself and failed to produce a badge before taking him to the ground, disarming him of his perceived weapon: a pen. The FBI refused to charge him, but Pittsburgh Police went forward with charges of making terroristic threats, causing and risking a catastrophe, and simple and aggravated assault. Getu was then jailed in the Mental Health pod of the Allegheny county jail and given 8 pills a day, without any attempt at justification. Possibly most disturbing of all, Getu was the third innocent minority arrested in Pittsburgh in the three months following the September 11th tragedy for being a terrorist without any supporting evidence. The racial hysteria displayed by transportation employees, the public, the police, and the media turned Getu's life into a nightmare. His trial date is set for December 12th.

Also slated to speak is Monty Clay, a featherweight champion boxer and full time jitney driver from Rankin who was brutalized by police from Braddock, Edgewood, and Swissvale while unarmed on January 19th, 2002. Despite the fact Monty was not charged nor arrested for any misconduct that evening, his injuries were so severe he was unable to box for seven months. This has been devastating to the career of the two-time "Golden Gloves" champion of Pennsylvania, who was picked at the time to be a likely qualifier for the 2004 Olympic Games. The injuries robbed him of the chance to fight in the ABF semifinal bout, eliminating his Olympic dreams. After he filed a civil suit against these boroughs, he was harassed three days afterwards and eventually arrested on two counts of crack/cocaine possession and intent to distribute. The drugs were found in the back of Monty's jitney, and the passenger who owned the drugs is willing to testify that the officer who arrested them offered to let him off as long as the passenger would say Monty owned the drugs. His preliminary hearing is December 6th. The coincidence of the arrest happening three days after charges of police brutality were filed begs the question: why doesn't such police misconduct happen in more affluent neighborhoods, where all the big drug busts seem to take place?

Racism often manifests itself on the six o'clock news and in police actions, leading to unjustified arrests, beatings, and in the case of the Hill District lately, death. Yet racism in Pittsburgh happens far more frequently than it is reported. Racism is often more subtle and secretive when committed by the general public. As I sat in a CCAC classroom recently, an instructor told the class that in our profession, you have the right to deny services to anyone for any reason, saying: "for example, I won't work with Muslims. I tell my boss to give the case to someone else. I will refuse to work with anyone with a turban on their heads." To my horror, the majority of the class, mostly middle class, educated professionals, verbalized agreement. Until the people within our neighborhoods realize the damage done by racism, we can expect the police and media to continue the demonization of minorities.

Anyone who wants to share his or her story of race-based discriminations is invited to speak at the December 5th concert at the Quiet Storm. From 7pm until 11pm, Getu, Monty, and others will bring us face to face with the one of the biggest social problems in our community, and will hopefully unite us in a struggle against it.

Slated to perform are Butler-area acoustic songwriter David Guras, Homewood rap duo Badr Regiment, the pollitico-accoustic-rock juggernaught Chandrika, The Raging Grannies and Radical Cheerleaders, Thomas Merton Center Board member and international performer Anne Feeney, and others. For the latest updates, check http://www.freegetu.org , http://www.zi-activism.net , and the Thomas Merton Center Website http://www.thomasmertoncenter.org. Hope to see you there!

-Dan Kyle

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