Posts Tagged ‘pittsburgh police’

PITTSBURGH: Justice for Elijah Brewer?


Saturday, May 30th, 2020

Anonymous submission received on 05.29.20

On the night of March 5th, 2020, the Pittsburgh police murdered Elijah Brewer, a 25 year-old black man from Mt. Oliver. There were no protests, no hashtags… most of Pittsburgh didn’t even seem to notice. But why?

Both the corporate media and the white liberal-left are guilty of perpetuating the silence around Elijah’s murder. The corporate media focused on sensationalizing unverified police speculations, painting Elijah as nothing more than a criminal before abruptly discontinuing coverage of the story. Likely turned off by the media’s portrayal of Elijah, Pittsburgh’s liberal-left largely dismissed or ignored his murder.

In seizing this historical moment, let us end this silence.

1) The Corporate Media


Allegheny County police Superintendent Coleman McDonough held one press conference. Despite having attended the exact same press conference, nearly every corporate media outlet presents a strikingly different narrative of events.

At 6:55pm, 3 detectives and 1 intelligence officer in an unmarked GMC Yukon pulled over Elijah Brewer (the passenger) and his friend (the driver remains unnamed) around the 200 block of East Ohio Street. The officers asked both men to step out of the vehicle…

Then, at around 7pm…

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, WESA, WPXI, and KDKA (CBS Pittsburgh) all report that Elijah fired first, possibly twice, and that an unknown number of detectives then “returned fire” with an unknown number of bullets, killing Elijah.

Meanwhile, WTAE, PATCH, and TribLive report that it is unclear who shot first.

During the alleged firefight, one officer was reportedly wounded by gunfire originating from…

That officer was struck in the…

Naturally, none of what has been reported has been verified given that not one of the four officers wore a body-camera, the undercover vehicle had no dashboard camera, and the police say there are no known security cameras in the area and that they’d like help finding one. Allegheny County police Superintendent Coleman McDonough explained this in his press conference by stating that all four of the detectives were simultaneously wearing official police vests and unmarked plainclothes, which makes perfect sense if you don’t think about it.

More could be said, but this is nothing new. The police and the capitalist media are just tools of a white supremacist settler state; the “facts” that get reported are either the stories that sell to racist suburbanites, or they are the stories spoon-fed to journalists by state officials. For all we know, the gun could’ve been planted.

2) The Liberal-Left

The liberal-left is equally responsible for the silence around Elijah’s murder. It is possible that some leftists in Pittsburgh may have ignored this instance of police violence because they believed one of the various corporate media narratives. Others maybe remained quiet because felt that it would be too difficult to exploit this tragedy to recruit for their organization, as that would require publicly supporting a black man who might have been “guilty.” Perhaps some on the left even believed that this extra-judicial execution was justified, because Elijah was a convicted felon and was alleged to have fired upon officers of the law.

Elijah was 25 years old. His obituary reads,

 

Elijah Brewer,  “EZ” as he was affectionately known, 25 of Mt. Oliver departed this life 3/5/20, born to Clinton and Jarmayne Brewer 10/29/1994 in Sheridan Pennsylvania.

He obtained his GED from Pittsburgh Job Corps September of 2011 soon after getting his GED he attended CCAC to study Music and Business Management. He became a certified Fitness Trainer 3/2019. He was employed at Roots in Oakland as a Food Service Worker until his death. He enjoyed music, bodybuilding, and nutrition as well as playing basketball, reading, writing, and poetry.

EZ loved family and was family oriented, he was a well-known Rap Artist (started rapping at the age of 12) and loved his Rap brothers to no end, Nathan Freeman Jr. ( Nizzy ), DaShauntae Jones-Peeples, Davon Nichols. He believed in opportunities, welcomed challenges and inspired all who came to know him.

5e68f7f081dea

The authors of this article believe that the question of Elijah’s innocence or guilt is entirely irrelevant.

He shouldn’t have been pulled over in the first place. Racism and wealth-disparity shouldn’t exist in the first place. The institutional successor to slave patrols commonly known as “the police” shouldn’t exist in the first place.

We are firmly on Elijah’s side in every version of events that’s been presented, including the one where he shoots first.

We speak on behalf of no one but ourselves. We write this for those who feel similarly—to let you know that you are not alone, and that we will see you in the streets over the coming weeks.

Only the system is guilty. Fuck the police.

Rest in Power, Elijah Jamaal Brewer.

Rest in Power, George Floyd.
Rest in Power, Antwon Rose Jr.
Rest in Power, Mark Daniels.

It’s 1312 in 412,
– some anarchists

Tags:, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Local News, Mobilize! | Comments Closed

A Brief Look at Pittsburgh’s New Protest Guidelines — TORCHLIGHT

Thursday, August 23rd, 2018

Originally published by Torchlight

The latest guidelines for unpermitted street protests issued by the Pittsburgh cops have generated a lot of outrage, but not much in the way of tactical or strategic analysis. We gave the document a quick glance to see what it might reveal about the cops’ plans and thoughts. In no particular order:

  • It’s tempting to laugh at the list of intersections and colored coded zones for revealing exactly where protesters should set up blockades for maximum disruption, but let’s face it, that wasn’t exactly classified information anyway. More interesting are the locations that were left out. Butler Street in Lawrenceville? Allegheny Center in Northside? Both are perfectly acceptable protest spots under the new rules, and both are virtual parking lots during rush hour even under ideal conditions. Pittsburgh’s, um, idiosyncratic street layout offers many more such choke points. Maybe it’s time to branch out geographically, if only for the hilarity of watching a police liaison wave a copy of the guidelines under the nose of a frustrated cop, screaming “We’re nowhere NEAR the red zone, what are you even complaining about???”

    They do give themselves some wiggle room toward the end with “Officers may use their discretion to make other roadways or intersections off limits to protests if judged necessary to ensure public safety”, but still…
  • This sentence is highly interesting: “Whenever possible, warnings should be given with a bullhorn, a squad car PA system or LRAD.” For those unfamiliar with the term, “LRAD” stands for Long Range Acoustic Device, a crowd dispersal weapon that emits a piercing noise loud enough to cause pain and hearing damage. It can also be used as a loudspeaker. The LRAD made its US debut right here in Pittsburgh during the 2009 G20 protests, where it permanently damaged the hearing of a woman who wasn’t even protesting. She sued the city, won a $72,000 settlement, and Pittsburgh’s LRAD has been in mothballs ever since. The guidelines only mention the LRAD’s loudspeaker function, but the fact that the cops are bringing it up at all is intriguing. However, given their past experience with the thing, and their general hands-off approach to the protests for Antwon Rose II, they’re probably bluffing. Even if they bring it out, chances are they won’t use the crowd dispersal function. Protesters are advised to pack earplugs just in case though.
  • The guidelines say absolutely nothing about requiring permits. This should be a standing rebuke to all the liberal nonprofit organizations in Pittsburgh that refuse to set foot in the street without getting permission from the people they’re protesting against.
  • Zooming out a little, the guidelines as a whole make it obvious that the cops are gaining confidence and worrying less about Pittsburgh going up like Ferguson. At the most recent march for Antwon they shadowed the march with the usual phalanx of city cops, but they didn’t feel it necessary to call in the state police, and no more than one undercover was spotted in the crowd. Even after marchers got right up in the face of Chief Schubert and Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich, no further reinforcements were called in. If the cops feel like they’re getting away with the current set of restrictions, more will surely follow.

Tags:, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Analysis | Comments Closed

Rise Up for Antwon: Report-Backs from Pittsburgh

Saturday, July 7th, 2018

The following reports cover several of the latest autonomous actions taken during the ongoing mobilization demanding justice for Antwon Rose Jr, including two demonstrations held outside the homes of killer cop michael rosfeld and judge/collaborator jeffrey manning.

All reports were submitted anonymously to Filler PGH or It’s Going Down.

j4a.jpeg

Rally & Vigil Held Outside East Pittsburgh Officer michael rosfeld’s Home

June 27

Pittsburgh residents and organizers held a vigil and rally to remember Antwon Rose Jr. at the home of killer cop michael rosfeld.

Rosfeld had been released on a $250,000 unsecured bond (on a criminal homicide charge…) just a few hours prior, and so some folks coordinating as part of the steel city autonomous movement (SCAM) thought we’d welcome him home; the charging of michael rosfeld is a small victory, but justice demands that we take direct action towards the abolition of white supremacy.

We are outraged, saddened, yet unsurprised by the actions of the police. State-sponsored violence is how those in power uphold white supremacist capitalism. With this in mind, we also called attention to the history of local police brutality, commemorating Mark Daniels and Bruce Kelley Jr. among others recently murdered by the state. Successfully convicting rosfeld of homicide does not prove he is only ‘one bad apple’; there is a larger culture of police and city authorities who are complicit in state violence, and that must be accounted for.

It’s important that the community of Verona — the officer’s current neighborhood of residence — be made aware that they are living in close proximity to someone who did not hesitate to kill an unarmed black teen by shooting him three times: in the back, arm, and face.

During the demonstration, some neighbors shouted in support, while others made sure demonstrators did not go on their private property. There is a community divide, but there is necessity in confronting that divide. The demonstration served as a way to show where neighbors stand, and to elicit responses from residents. Police are public officials, and rosfeld’s address was publicly available. Rallying outside the jagoff’s residence is the necessary social consequence to murders committed by police.

After the action, dozens of folks decided to go back with more numbers and held their ground until around 11pm / midnight. 

DgvrjA8XkAA4y65

As an excerpt from a flyer that was distributed to neighbors reads,

[…] systemic racism is woven deeply into the greater Pittsburgh area. Because one of the most deeply segregated urban regions in the country is patrolled by cops that belong to a powerful right-wing union—the FOP. Because in this reality, the police are only harbingers of violence to communities of color; killing or incarcerating, creating trauma, breaking apart families. It was only 4 months ago that the Pittsburgh Police shot and killed Mark Daniels here, an unarmed 39-year-old grandfather, another black man killed by another white cop. This is the same policing system that, in 2010, jumped 18 year old Jordan Miles, beating him beyond recognition while he was walking to his grandmother’s house, drinking a soda the cops claimed was a gun.

To close, here is a quote from a report-back that was released after another autonomous home demonstration in Pittsburgh—this one from last October, taking place outside the home of the brutally violent officer andrew jacobs.

Cops aren’t afraid of their fellow cops, of their bosses, of courts or prosecutors or legislatures. But they’re afraid of us. A little research and some word of mouth is all it takes for us to bring the fight from our neighborhoods to theirs.

Organizing against police violence challenges the separation of people from political power, the social logic of the badge made material by the physical force of the baton. Power insulates individuals from the consequences of their actions. This power must be seized through collective action and abolished, disorienting the powerful by rejecting the justification for their every misdeed.

We have a message for every cop, every ICE agent, every judge, every politician—for all the agents of white supremacy who continue to separate families through “legal” violence:

You have names and numbers, just like us. Just like us, you have homes that can be surveilled, neighbors that can be turned against you, communities that will reject you if the alternative becomes too costly. Just like us, your actions have consequences.

Activists accept targeted retaliation as a basic fact of their work. It’s time the police reckon with something similar.

pigs.jpeg

“I’m very comfortable with what I did. If either side doesn’t like it they know what to do.”
– Judge Jeffrey Manning.

The judge got one thing right: we know what to do.

(This quote is often erroneously attributed to rosfeld when in fact it was another white supremacist collaborator, the judge).

3

Pittsburgh House Demo
&
Suburban Intersection Shut Down for Antwon

July 4th

Demonstrations continue in Pittsburgh following the murder of seventeen year old Antwon Rose Jr., and as patriots in Judge Jeffrey Manning’s quiet suburban neighborhood were celebrating another year on stolen land, the peace was disturbed as rows of angry people chanted enroute to the judge’s house. Judge Jeffrey Manning of 535 Kingsberry Circle Mt. Lebanon PA, gave killer cop Michael Rosfeld a $250,000 unsecured bond on a criminal homicide charge. Never before in the state of PA has anyone charged with homicide been released on these terms, and released he was on the dime of the FOP the fucking day of his arrest.

This while seventeen year old Zaijuan Hester, who was charged with criminal attempted homicide, and was allegedly running from the traffic stop with Antwon, sits in jail without bond. We know the judges are not and will never be our allies, so of course shit is going down this way, but a little public shaming and intimidation to highlight just how much of a piece of shit Manning is is both empowering to those putting his shit on blast, and informative to the community he lurks in.

Everyone met up outside dude’s cul de sac in the grass listening to Jimmy Wopo and just kicking it, sharing water and perspectives about why they were there. This group was a lot smaller than the bigger street marches – about 35 people –  and was made up of Antwon’s community members, medics, legal observers, anarchists and antifascists, and black liberation activists. The mood was pretty posi with undertones of grief and anger about the situation, but in general people were feeling empowered and ready to storm this ding dong’s neighborhood. Folks silently marched single file in lines of two, some masked, some not; everyone with fists raised.

The chanting didn’t begin until the group arrived at Manning’s manor, where people began to shout, “What was his name? Antwon Rose Jr! How old was he? 17! Who did this? The police did this!” Speakers talked about the murder and the judge’s role in it all, songs were sung, and then the group reformed the two lines and marched through the neighborhood saying, “Three shots in the back, how you justify that?”

The pigs showed up late to the party and everyone was pretty much on to the next thing by the time several squad cars arrived. Everyone got out just fine. The second part of the day’s actions was to shut down the intersection at Connor and Gilkeson Road, a pretty big intersection for the amount of people who came out. This was right in front of a mall and a main route to various suburbanite July 4th parties, so that was tight. The small group shut shit down successfully with the help of a down ass semi driver who saw what was up and parked his rig in front of the exit route many cars were attempting to take. The cops were frazzled, a lot of fancy cars got fucked up hopping the median, and the intersection was held successfully for a good chunk of time in the 95 degree heat and direct sun.

One woman tried to drive her car through a group of about five, but that didn’t work out and she mostly got made fun of for like a half hour. Cops tried to pull at the heart strings of protesters by pleading for the ‘scared children’ in the blocked cars, met with the response, “Antwon was a scared kid.”

When the last car was turned around and bottomed out, the crew marched down the street with fists in the air singing, “Antwon Rose was a freedom fighter and he taught us how to fight; we gonna fight all day and night until we get it right. Which side are you on, my people? Which side are you on?” The semi driver honked and threw up a fist before trucking off.

Sixteen days ago, people came out into the streets in mass to protest Antwon’s murder, many for the first time. The first intersection shut down in front of the EPGH Police Dept was chaotic, powerful, sad, and confusing. On that first night, a cop tried to drive his cruiser through the crowd, and some intense in-fighting errupted when some folks decided to put their bodies in the way of the vehicle. There were arguments about weather white people should even be there, who the fuck are these people in masks, etc. Sixteen days later, at this demonstration, crews of all identities and backgrounds were tight and working together with understanding and respect for each other. Way more people were masked up, kids were helping each other figure out the best ways to tie t-shirts over their faces, road flares were embraced by everyone there, and everyone was reminding each other to use Signal. More crews are being formed, and they’re not planning on going away any time soon. The July 4 demo was def one of the smaller groups in the scope of things, but that tightness in the small number was super powerful. Friendships and comradery are being built in a way that will strengthen as we continue on in this fight, and forward.

All Cops Are Michael Rosfeld

Fuck All Judges Forever

The slideshow below is a compilation of graffiti actions that were claimed in solidarity with the movement, including one from comrades in Philly.

DgJFagLXUAE39nP.jpg large

Related counter-information:

*the image below should read: East Pittsburgh police officer…

DgP3pcLXcAAQilV

yup

1234Dgnt2GqWsAQUQL4.jpg largea-face-you-can-trust_front_black_and_whiteHow to Do it Posterfillertorch

 

Tags:, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Communiqués and Report-Backs | Comments Closed

Friday Night March for Antwon Rose Jr. Reportback — TORCHLIGHT PGH

Monday, June 25th, 2018

Originally published by
Torchlight — Anarchist News from Pittsburgh

Friday saw more protests over the police murder of Antwon Rose in East Pittsburgh. The evening’s action started conventionally enough, meeting at the Wood Street subway station downtown at 5:30, and stepping off around 6. At least 200 people took the streets, marching slowly through downtown and stopping frequently to block intersections while holding speakouts. A trailing caravan of cops accompanied the march, but they weren’t doing anything yet. More cops on motorcycles circled, blocking off intersections as marchers approached, and causing even further disruption to rush hour traffic.

From downtown protesters made their way over the Sixth Street bridge toward PNC Park, where a Pirates game was getting under way. After stopping on the bridge, and again in front of the left field entrance, to give the fans an earful, marchers took General Robinson over to the Seventh Street bridge and back downtown for what was meant to be the finale. Surrounded by police vehicles in Market Square, almost exactly two hours after first taking to the street, organizers with bullhorns led the group in chants of “We’ll be back! We’ll be back!”, clearly intending to send everyone home.

It didn’t quite work out that way. While some people drifted off, a smaller but highly determined group closed ranks and headed back out. Brandi Fisher and another woman with a megaphone held them up at the edge of Liberty Avenue to make a long passive-aggressive speech about how people could do what they wanted, BUT the cops had tear gas, and they should think of the children, and they were all likely to get arrested. The crowd listened respectfully until the speeches were over, and then rolled out onto Liberty.

They headed back toward the ballpark, at the same slow pace, and with the same police accompaniment, but the target was a little different. Instead of taking a different bridge back to town the march kept going on General Robinson toward the I-279 on ramp. Our correspondent takes up the tale:

“I ended up staying with a smaller group who didn’t want to take the highway, so we hung back to blockade the intersection at General Robinson and River Street. A couple of motorcycle cops stayed with us, and a legal observer came running back from the main group a few minutes later. We had just enough people to hold the blockade, so we did that for a while and then headed north past the Giant Eagle and kept going on Cedar. When we got to East Ohio we found a pleasant surprise – the main group, who had gotten off the highway at the East Ohio exit and come back to us. I swear it was bigger than when it left. I don’t know if people just jumped in off the sidewalk, or some of the folks who had left earlier came back or what, but either way our numbers were back close to what we started with.

We stayed at East Ohio and Cedar for a while blocking the intersection. A couple of big vans full of riot cops pulled up, and the cops got out and lined up in two columns looking menacing. That was it though. When we started moving again they had to stuff themselves back in the vans before they could follow us. We had about ten minutes with no cops except a couple of motorcycles and a few really obvious undercovers who had been tagging along all night.”

The march arrived back at the ballpark in the top of the 11th inning of a 0-0 game between Pittsburgh and the Arizona Diamondbacks, and promptly blockaded the intersection at General Robinson and Federal. The riot cops did the same thing they had at East Ohio, and had an even longer delay following the march when it moved down to the home plate entrance. They still hadn’t caught up by the time the march continued to the parking garage on General Robinson. Our correspondent again:

“It was really confused. People were yelling about splitting up to blockade both entrances to the garage. A few people went around the corner and pulled some loose crowd control barrier fence sections into the street. Some asshole in a black Mercedes pushed through the crowd and turned the corner with a bunch of people screaming and hitting the car. Other people at the barriers picked them up to swing at the car, which actually made it easier for the asshole to break through and escape. A couple of cops came running up on foot but all they did was put the barriers back on the sidewalk. It was really lucky nobody got hurt.”

The game was finally over by the time the police arrived in force, but many of the fans stayed in the park for Fireworks Night. The riot cops piled out of their vans yet again, and arranged themselves in a diagonal line across the intersection of General Robinson and Dorsett, blockading it more thoroughly than the march had. Marchers held their ground, lining up across both streets facing the cops. A rear line of foot cops, sans helmets, stood facing away from the protesters toward a couple of drunk white guys yelling on the sidewalk, as the fireworks began to go off in the background. A tense standoff persisted throughout the fireworks display and continued as the crowd leaving PNC Park began to thin out. By that time Pittsburgh police chief Scott Schubert was on the scene, as was a contingent of Pennsylvania state police. A line of cop cars stretched all the way back to the ballpark, and news crews were posted up wherever they could get a good view.

And finally, the marchers did again what they had proven adept at all night – moving on just as it looked like the cops were maybe going to do something. This time though, it was really over. Marchers filtered out past the cops on the sidewalk and took the street again near home plate entrance, but the chanting was quieter, and there were no more blockades. By midnight everyone arrived back at Market Square and dispersed.

mercedes

Related counter-information:

*the image below should read East Pittsburgh police officer…

DgP3pcLXcAAQilVyup

Tags:, , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Communiqués and Report-Backs | Comments Closed

Reportback From the First Rally for Antwon Rose — TORCHLIGHT PGH

Saturday, June 23rd, 2018

Originally published by Torchlight PGH — Anarchist News from Pittsburgh

Torchlight received the following reportback from an anarchist who attended the first rally for Antwon Rose on Wednesday evening. There was also a larger rally and march Thursday night that blocked Parkway East for over five hours. The reportback has been lightly edited for spelling and grammar, but is otherwise unchanged.

It’s Going Down has posted another reportback from the same rally.

2012-EF-frack-blockade-PA-1-1-3

I got there late, about a half hour after the 6 PM start time. There were about 300 people there, most of them young and Black, rallying at an intersection. I recognized some people I knew, but not as many as I would have hoped ordinarily. East Pittsburgh is a pretty long way from where most of the anarchists live, and the protest was called with only a few hours notice.

The rally split up into a couple of groups, one in the intersection and another further up Electric Avenue (yup, Electric Avenue). The second group seemed louder so I gravitated in their direction. A bunch of people were screaming at the cops, especially this one pig in a white shirt. There were cops there from a bunch of different towns, including a few I hadn’t even heard of. None from Pittsburgh though, and I didn’t see any state cops either. The cops who were being screamed at backed off slowly and made a line across the road, but eventually pulled back to the sidewalks.

The other group was bigger but less confrontational. At one point a white unmarked cop SUV tried to drive through the big group and people started screaming and lined up to block it in. All the cops from Electric Avenue came over and surrounded the thing while it did a slow three point turn and finally left. That was as intense as anything got while I was there. After the SUV left some people started yelling at a few kids in black bloc about violence, which seemed kind of ridiculous when you think about what we were protesting.

Pretty soon after that people mad a giant circle in the intersection of Electric and Braddock and seemed prepared to stay for a while. Then the clouds started gathering, the news helicopter dippe out, and it began to rain hard. People clustered under a railroad bridge that runs over Electric and a few people sat down in the middle of the road. It seemed ilke the rain was thinning out the crowd though, and I eventually headed out because my ride was leaving.

Nobody seemed very well prepared, including the cops, but I guess that’s not surprising. I saw a couple of green legal observer hats, but no marked medics. A few people were there in black bloc, but in my opinion that wasn’t a great place for a bloc. They stood out more than if they had just worn regular clothes. The cops were mostly hands off. The Allegheny County pigs showed up, but they didn’t bring their horses. Nobody was in riot gear. The only crowd control weapons I saw were these assault-looking rifles that I think fire rubber bullets. Some cops from Monroeville had those, but they put them away pretty early. Except for the SUV incident they didn’t seem to be doing anything to provoke people.

The rain definitely took a lot of the fight out of the crowd but even before that people seemed more about grieving and venting their anger at the cops than throwing down. There’s going to be another protest downtown tomorrow at noon at the county courthouse, so we’ll see what happens there.

***

Related counter-information:

*the image below should read East Pittsburgh police officer…

DgP3pcLXcAAQilVyup

Tags:, , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Communiqués and Report-Backs | Comments Closed

I AM NOT WHAT YOU THINK; fighting for the memory and life of Antwon Rose Jr.

Friday, June 22nd, 2018

Anonymous submission received 6.12.18

I AM NOT WHAT YOU THINK;
fighting for the memory and life of Antwon Rose Jr.

I AM NOT WHAT YOU THINK!
A Poem by Antwon Rose – 5/16/2016

I am confused and afraid
I wonder what path I will take
I hear that there’s only two ways out
I see mothers bury their sons
I want my mom to never feel that pain
I am confused and afraid

I pretend all is fine
I feel like I’m suffocating
I touch nothing so I believe all is fine
I worry that it isn’t though
I cry no more
I am confused and afraid

I understand people believe I’m just a statistic
I say to them I’m different
I dream of life getting easier
I try my best to make my dreams true
I hope that it does
I am confused and afraid

DgJFagLXUAE39nP.jpg large

Antwon Rose Jr. was murdered by the East Pittsburgh Police Tuesday night, June 19th. Officer Michael Rosfeld pulled over the jitney (An unregistered cab in Pittsburgh) Antwon was riding in, alleging that it matched a car involved in a drive-by shooting 15 minutes prior. Reports say that Rosfeld ordered the occupants to the ground, guns drawn. When Antwon and one other individual fled, Rosfeld starting firing. With three shots in the back, unarmed 17 year old Antwon Rose Jr. lay dying. The officer who pulled the trigger, Michael Rosfeld, was sworn in merely 90 minutes prior to the shooting. A cellphone video shot from an apartment window spread quickly, showing Antwon running then being shot down video here, the women in the video asking “why are they shooting at him, he was running?”

Why? Since the shooting, the Pittsburgh FOP has been quick to back their 90 minutes in the force trigger happy buddy. The mainstream news has gone wild trying to link Antwon with this drive-by that as of yet, has no evidence to link him to. Why would the cops release the jitney driver without charge if that was the case? Why would the police shoot someone unarmed in the back without provocation?

Why? Because of systemic racism of the greater Pittsburgh area police. Because the police are only harbingers of violence to communities of color; killing or incarcerating, creating trauma and breaking apart families. It was only 4 months ago that the Pittsburgh Police shot and killed Mark Daniels here, an unarmed 39-year-old grandfather, a black man killed by a white cop. This is the same policing system that, in 2010, jumped 18 year old Jordan Miles, beating him beyond recognition while he was walking to his grandmother’s house, drinking a soda the cops claimed was a gun. The 90-minute cop, Michael Rosfeld , and all his buddies see Antwon, Mark, Jordon, and all people of color in Pittsburgh as threatening.

Today we stand three days since Antwon was shot, and the anger in the streets is not letting up. Day and night in Pittsburgh and the surrounding boroughs, there have been rallys, vigils, and marches. There has been major traffic stoppage, and in these spaces real grieving is being worked through as people yell at police, and demand their anger to be heard. The usual false-promise politicians have stolen the megaphones, trying score some votes, but others refuse to let their anger be quelled.

As we move forward as a city, balancing anger with grief, we search for new ways to support each other, new ways to know each other, and new ways to tear this modern day plantation disguised as a liberal, “green” tech mecca the fuck down.

Rest in Power Antwon Rose Jr.

We will keep fighting.

DgP3pcLXcAAQilV

Tags:, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Communiqués and Report-Backs | Comments Closed

PITTSBURGH: Justice for Mark Daniels

Thursday, February 15th, 2018

Anonymous submission, received 2.14.18

5-18

Early Sunday morning, February 11th, Mark Daniels, a black man of the Homewood neighborhood of Pittsburgh, was killed by police. This is the same city that had to be taken over by the U.S. Justice Department to stem a pattern of civil rights abuses; the same city that paralyzed Leon Ford, that killed Bruce Kelley Jr. The same police department that is facing its second corruption investigation in five years.

The police started stalking Mark after he left a convenience store—why, exactly, the police have yet to say. Then, somebody shot a gun, police allege it was Mark shooting at them, while multiple witnesses in the neighborhood say it was unrelated fire away from the police. Regardless, the police shot Mark in the shoulder and he ran, likely fearing for his life. Mark arrived at the backdoor of a nearby house asking for a glass of water. Police followed him to the backdoor, threw him to the ground, and took him away. A half hour later he was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.

How could this happen? Mark was shot in the shoulder, a serious, but often survivable injury. After running down the block to ask for water, the woman who answered described him as alert and lucid. As the police were dragging Mark away, multiple witnesses say they saw officers beating him relentlessly. Officers contend that they were preforming CPR, but somehow no one seems to have seen this.

No gun was found at the scene, but after two days of putting the neighborhood on lock down and searching it with dogs, police did eventually turn up a .40 caliber hand gun. However, the coroner reports that there was no gun powder residue on Marks hands at the time of his death. And it’s unclear what caliber of gun was fired that night. So what does the discovered gun have to do with Mark?

As of this writing, Mark’s mother has yet to be allowed to view his body.

Mark was a father, a grandfather, a son, a brother, and a friend to many. His absence has left a hole in his community. His family has requested that as many people as possible attend a police accountability meeting to hold the police’s feet to the fire and raise questions.

Thursday, February 15th
Kingsley Center @ 6PM
6435 Frankstown Ave, Pittsburgh

Corporate media coverage:

http://www.wtae.com/article/suspect-shot-killed-by-police-after-chase-in-homewood-south/17011066

http://www.wtae.com/article/witness-speaks-after-fatal-police-involved-shooting/17236928

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2018/02/12/Pittsburgh-police-officer-involved-shooting-fatal-Homewood-gun-Mark-Daniels/stories/201802120114

Update: Benefit event this Saturday!

28164770_10155910619195731_6841900433341990802_o

mark-daniels

Tags:, , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Mobilize! | Comments Closed

« Older Entries