PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Call to Action: Stop Police Violence on Oct 22
by PAPV Tuesday, Sep. 28, 2004 at 11:11 AM
justice@papv.org (email address validated)

Call to action for PAPV protest on October 22.

CALL TO ACTION:
Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation

WHAT: Rally and March, part of the October 22nd Coalition's national day of protest.

WHEN: 4pm, Friday, October 22

WHERE: Rally at Freedom Corner (Centre Ave. & Crawford St.) then march downtown to the County and Federal Courthouses.

WHY:

Damian Jordon, 26, died in police custody in Mt. Oliver in 1999. Charles Dixon, 43, was asphyxiated by police in Mt. Oliver in 2002. Michael Ellerbe, 12, was shot and killed by PA State Police in 2002. Bernard Rogers, 26, was shot and killed by Pittsburgh Housing Authority Police in 2002. Michael Hunter, 24, was shot and killed by Pittsburgh Police in 2002. Dion Hall, 17, was shot and killed by Pittsburgh police in 2003.

In none of those cases has a single officer been charged. Stephen A. Zappala, District Attorney of Allegheny County, and Mary Beth Buchanan, United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania have both failed to take seriously the concerns of our community. We must hold the police who murder Black men and the prosecutors who refuse to do their job accountable for their wrong doing.

Young Black men today stand a better chance of being imprisoned or even shot by the police than they do finding a job. This epidemic of police violence is developing hand-in-hand with an increase in repressive laws, an expansion of targeted populations and the criminalization of dissent, all done under the name of "the war on drugs" and “the war on terrorism.” The current attacks on Muslim, Arab and South Asian immigrants--including mandatory registration, “preemptive” arrests, indefinite detentions and secret trials--should be seen for what they are: the latest addition to racial profiling. From the the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib by an army reservist employed as a prison guard at the State Correctional Institution at Greene in Waynesburg, PA, to the streets of Mt. Oliver, brutality, repression and criminalization run rampant and must be stopped.

WHO: This call is sponsored by People Against Police Violence, a Pittsburgh-based community group that works with the families of victims to advocate for justice for the victims of police violence, increase community awareness, and demand that guilty cops serve maximum prison sentences. For more information visit www.papv.org, email justice@papv.org, or call 412-657-4268.

www.papv.org

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