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Tag Archives: racial residential segregation

American Assassination History: Fred Hampton (1948-1969)

04 Fri Dec 2020

Posted by ztnh in Anti-Capitalism, Civic Engagement (Activism), First Amendment (U.S. Constitution), Freedom of Speech, History, U.S. History: 20th Century

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Black Panther Party, COINTELPRO, Dr. Peter Dale Scott (b. 1929), Fred Hampton (1948-1969), Jacobin Magazine, racial residential segregation, yellow journalism, Zinn Education Project

Fred_Hampton.jpg (220×265)

LUMPENPROLETARIAT—Today in U.S. assassination history…  If the exact date isn’t seared into your memory, December 4th, then perhaps the image of Fred Hampton’s bloodied mattress or his bloodied, lifeless body is. The TV news, radio, and newspapers of the day reported back in December of ’69 that Fred Hampton, the Chair of the Chicago Chapter of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, was assassinated during a night raid by cops, in ‘an intense shootout’. 

One of the effects upon the American consciousness of the yellow journalism involving the assassination of Fred Hampton, specifically, and the Black Panther Party, generally, was to create a false image of the Panthers as a violent organization, when the historical record reveals, basically, a peaceful neighborhood watch group, which developed free breakfast programs for underserved communities among other social welfare policies.  The Black Panther Party (BPP) had been gaining national political traction when Fred Hampton was assassinated.  Most importantly, the BPP had dared to call out what they saw as bullshit in the plainest terms of any of their contemporaries.  And the BPP also dared to practice their Constitutional rights to observe, monitor, and document police and state practices in black, brown, and poor communities.  It is well-documented that those police practices, which the BPP insisted on monitoring and holding accountable, had been historically abusive toward black, brown, and poor people, especially by enforcing the de facto apartheid state in America’s major cities, such as Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, and Kansas City. 

Racial residential segregation, racism in real estate policies, redlining, and other economic assaults against black and brown people were further enforced on the streets by police, for example, keeping blacks east of the so-called “Troost Wall”, east of Troost Avenue, in Kansas City, Missouri.  Similarly, in Los Angeles, blacks were confined primarily to South Central Los Angeles; and browns were confined primarily to East Los Angeles.  When people of color stepped out of line, for example, by daring to venture out into predominantly white neighborhoods, cops were ready to engage in fascist policing in order to put them back in their place.  Even anti-miscegenation laws served to enforce the de facto American apartheid state. 

This canary-in-the-gold-mine preview of American fascism experienced by indigenous Americans, by black and brown people, by non-white immigrants, is why people of color are often ahead of the curve in recognizing the failure of the American ship of state, as Chris Hedges (i.e., “Politics of Despair”), and others readily acknowledge today.  The people, who have experienced a state’s abuse of power first are also usually the first to recognize when they’re living in a failed state, or a failed democracy.

It was not the Black Panthers, who were violent.  They simply practiced their First and Second Amendment rights, among other rights, and taught many other Americans to do the same, at a time when our nation was filled with a repressed and/or oppressed citizenry, who had been quiet, but was now ready to speak out.  People, like Fred Hampton, were powerful symbols of that American passion to speak out about the antidemocratic and fascist forces lurking in the halls of justice with the Red Scares, McCarthyism, U.S. imperialism and war profiteering, Jim Crow, de facto apartheid segregation, police abuses, and other ongoing examples of state abuse of power.

Fred Hampton’s leadership of the Black Panther Party, as a charismatic American patriot, was precisely the type of voice America needed to defend democracy, but to which the state was mortally opposed.  Or, more precisely, it was the “American deep state”, what Dr. Peter Dale Scott describes as an ongoing political culture and confluence of corporatist, capitalist, and militarist interests, which are advanced and guarded by authoritarian, right-wing intelligence agencies, such as the CIA, and other elites manipulating government.  It was the police, the FBI, and the state, from the outset, who were hostile and violent towards the Black Panther Party, towards the series of protests later known as the Civil Rights Movement, and towards any political agency presented by people of color. 

The American state, with its intelligence apparatus, never wanted the Black Panther Party to gain electoral traction.  That’s why the state surveilled political groups, like the Black Panther Party for Self Defense.  The state was determined to undermine the Black Panther Party at any cost.  By the time, the Black Panther Party had earned national reach, with chapters across the nation, and Fred Hampton began to build the original Rainbow Coalition, which began to unite black, brown, and white people against racism and capitalism across the country, they were poised for meaningful electoral traction.  This evidently posed a threat to the state, as we learned from COINTELPRO documents and books, like The American Deep State by Dr. Peter Dale Scott, Giants: The Global Power Elite by Dr. Peter Phillips, and others.

The common narrative painted in the dominant media at the time suggested a violent, bloody shootout between Chicago cops and Black Panthers. The reality is closer to a premeditated massacre by cops of Black Panther Party members, working class activists resisting racism, police state authoritarianism, and capitalist economic oppression. It turns out, the Chicago Black Panther leaders were completely caught off guard during the predawn raid.  Fred Hampton and his fiancée Deborah Johnson were sleeping at the time.  And, of the nightwatchmen guarding the Hamptons, Black Panther Mark Clark fired only one shot in self-defense. And even that single gunshot blast was likely an accidental shot as Clark fell over after being fatally shot in the heart.

It turns out Fred Hampton didn’t have to die during the predawn raid, despite the nearly hundred shots fired by cops as they stormed the Black Panther Party’s Chicago home, according to attorney Jeffrey Haas, who spoke with Deborah Johnson, Hampton’s then-pregnant fiancée on the morning after the cops’ bloody raid. But, evidently, the state wanted Hampton dead, not alive. Miraculously, Johnson wasn’t shot during the cops’ barrage of bullets, as she lay in bed beside Hampton. When cops found both of them alive in the bedroom, they forced then-pregnant Deborah Johnson out of the bedroom. She then heard two gunshots. Those two gunshots, we now know, were gunshots to Fred Hampton’s head, execution style, as he lay unconscious on the bed, evidently drugged beforehand by a paid FBI informant.

On the evening of December 3, 1969, William O’Neal, who was employed by the FBI to infiltrate the BPP, slipped a powerful sleeping drug into Hampton’s drink then left.  Officers were dispatched to raid his apartment.

National Archives, African American Heritage, Fred Hampton (August 30, 1948-December 4, 1969)

Like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination, mounting evidence is painting an even grimmer picture than the official narratives usually cited. The killing of Fred Hampton was likely a cold-blooded execution, rather than an unfortunate outcome in a heated gun battle. In his book, An Act of State, attorney and personal friend of Dr. King, William Pepper described how Dr. King was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital, where he was still alive. A surgical nurse named Shelby was the last person to see Dr. King alive in his hospital room, before two men in suits entered the room. According to an actual quote from actual deposition statements, sworn under oath, one of the men said, “Stop working on that nigger! Get out and just let him die.” Pepper included deposition transcripts in his book. Granted, Dr. King may have died anyway from his gunshot wounds. But the fact that this evidence was suppressed should be of great concern to all Americans, who remember the assassination of Dr. King and commemorate his legacy.

Similarly, as we learn more about the assassination of Fred Hampton, we learn more about the dangerous and antidemocratic forces, which predominate the American state. One such antidemocratic force was the FBI’s illegal COINTELPRO program, which had identified Fred Hampton, as a “radical threat” for effectively organizing black, brown, and white people against racism and capitalism.

In 1990, the Chicago City Council unanimously passed a resolution, introduced by then-Alderman Madeline Haithcock, commemorating December 4, 2004, as “Fred Hampton Day in Chicago”. The resolution read in part: “Fred Hampton, who was only 21 years old, made his mark in Chicago history not so much by his death as by the heroic efforts of his life and by his goals of empowering the most oppressed sector of Chicago’s Black community, bringing people into political life through participation in their own freedom fighting organization. We commemorate December 4, 2004 as “Fred Hampton Day in America”.

Messina

***

ZINN EDUCATION PROJECT—On the morning of December 4, 1969, lawyer Jeffrey Haas received a call from his partner at the People’s Law Office, informing him that early that morning Chicago police had raided the apartment of Illinois Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton at 2337 West Monroe Street in Chicago.

Tragically, Hampton and fellow Panther Mark Clark had both been shot dead, and four other Panthers in the apartment had critical gunshot wounds. Police were uninjured and had fired their guns 90-99 times. In sharp contrast, the Panthers had shot once, from the shotgun held by Mark Clark, which had most likely been fired after Clark had been fatally shot in the heart and was falling to the ground.

Haas went straight to the police station to speak with Hampton’s fiancée, Deborah Johnson, who was then eight months pregnant with Hampton’s son. She had been sleeping in bed next to Hampton when the police attacked and began shooting into the apartment and towards the bedroom where they were sleeping. Miraculously, Johnson had not been shot, but her account given to Haas was chilling. Throughout the assault Hampton had remained unconscious (strong evidence emerged later that a paid FBI informant had given Hampton a sedative that prevented him from waking up) and after police forced Johnson out of the bedroom, two officers entered the room where Hampton still lay unconscious. Johnson heard one officer ask, “Is he still alive?” After two gunshots were fired inside the room, the other officer said, “He’s good and dead now.”

Jeffrey Haas’ account of this conversation with Johnson jumps right out from the inside cover of The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther. In this excellent book, Haas gives his personal account of defending the Panther survivors of the December 4 police assault against the criminal charges that were later dropped, and of filing a civil rights lawsuit, Hampton v. Hanrahan, on behalf of the survivors and the families of Mark Clark and Fred Hampton.  [Description from full review by Hans Bennett on TowardsFreedom.com.]

This book of the assassination of a sleeping Fred Hampton by Chicago police working for a mad state’s attorney is more important NOW than it was THEN. It is a revelation of how the powerful of our city use power to keep truth distant. The hard truth is that this is a remarkable work. — Studs Terkel

ISBN: 9781569767092 | Published by Lawrence Hill Books.

Learn more at ZINN EDUCATION PROJECT.

***

film trailer: Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)

***

https://www.democracynow.org/embed/story/2009/12/4/the_assassination_of_fred_hampton_how/

***

Democracy Now!, 4 DEC 2009, featured an interview with Jeffrey Haas, author of The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther (2009).

***

The Murder of Fred Hampton, posted to YouTube as “Fred Hampton (Documentary)” by TheBlackestPanther, circa 2016

***

THE NATION—[25 DEC 1976] Was Fred Hampton Executed? Seven years after the shootings of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark by the Chicago police, a civil suit reveals the sordid details behind the assassination.

In the predawn hours of December 4, 1969, Chicago police, under the direction of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, raided the ramshackle headquarters of the local chapter of the Black Panther Party. When the smoke cleared, Chairman Fred Hampton and party member Mark Clark were dead; four others lay seriously wounded.

Today in Chicago, seven years after the raid, the facts are slowly emerging, as a civil trial crawls through its tenth month. The families of Hampton and Clark, along with the seven who survived the foray, have filed a $47.7 million damage suit. Edward Hanrahan, three former and present FBI agents, an ex-FBI informant, and twenty-six other police personnel stand accused of having conspired to violate the civil rights of the Panthers, and then of covering it up. In essence, the plaintiffs and their lawyers are out to prove that the FBI/police conspired to execute Fred Hampton.

At 17, Hampton was a black youth on the road to “making it” in white America. He was graduated from high school in Maywood, Ill, with academic honors, three varsity letters, and a Junior Achievement Award. Four years later he was dead.

— snip —

Learn more at THE NATION.

***

[4 DEC 2020]

[Last modified on 4 JAN 2021 at 08:55 PST]

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Police State Terrorism: The Murder of Alex Nieto

07 Mon Mar 2016

Posted by ztnh in Anti-Fascism, Mindfulness, Police State, Racism (phenotype)

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Benjamin Bac Sierra, Bernal Heights, Buddhism, City College of San Francisco, CopWatch, cowboy cops, Dennis Bernstein, Flashpoints, gentrification, Justice4AlexNieto, KPFA, Mission District (San Francisco), Pacifica Radio Network, Phillip Burton Federal Building, racial profiling, racial residential segregation, San Francisco, San Francisco Bay Area, Sergeant Jason Sawyer (SFPD), transcript

AlexNieto-ryns-wedding-3-copy1LUMPENPROLETARIAT  Some, such as Dr. Michel Chossudovsky, have argued that corruption, having reached saturation point, had now entered the age of inquisition, where the state openly kills in broad daylight, not by accident, but by design and with the intent to intimidate the general public and send a message of horror, to show the people what the state is now capable of doing.

Messina

 

JUSTICE FOR ALEX NIETO—[accessed 8 MAR 2016]  Who was Alex Nieto?

Alex Nieto was born and raised in the Bernal Heights and Mission districts. He was a beloved son and brother, and an active peaceful member of the community. He was an accomplished:

ryns wedding (3) - Copy

  • Full-time scholarship student at CCSF, earning a criminal justice degree and applying for transfer to a 4 year college program
  • Full-time security guard at El Toro nightclub
  • Provider for his family
  • Practicing Buddhist pacifist
  • Prior intern at the Youth Guidance Center’s Probation Department
  • Member of the Mission Peace Collaborative
  • Campaign volunteer in federal and local elections (Tom Ammiano, Bill Clinton, etc.)
  • Volunteer at youth organizations (Coleman Advocates, HOMEY, etc.)
  • Community event participant and organizer (Carnaval, poetry readings, etc)

Alex dreamt of helping guide youth in a positive direction, which is why he aspired to become a probation officer. He had a gigantic heart, and everyone loved him for his intellect, gentleness, and kindness.

Alex is survived by his loving parents and brother. [Learn more about the Nieto Family.]

SFPD MURDERED ALEX NIETO

On Friday evening, March 21, 2014, Alejandro “Alex” Nieto, 28 years old, was killed when he was struck by 14 to 15 bullets (of a total of 59 shots) fired by four San Francisco Police Department officers, on Bernal Hill Park, without justification. The officers who killed Alex Nieto are: Sgt. Jason Sawyer (then lieutenant), Officer Roger Morse, Officer Richard Schiff, and Officer Nathan Chew. (Read more about the 9 month struggle to obtain their names here.)

Alex was enjoying his dinner near a bench with a sunset view to Twin Peaks, dressed for his security guard shift with his licensed taser at his hip. He was also wearing his elegant new 49ers jacket, and minding his own business.

A dogwalker called 911 simply because he didn’t like the sight of this young Latino working class man on Bernal Heights. Police confronted Alex as he was walking downhill on his way out of the park, and killed him with two sequential volley of shots. The first volley took him down to the ground. The second volley of over ten shots killed him.

New Justice for Alex Nieto Banner!

A KEY FACT: NO THREAT REPORTED

Alex Nieto posed no threat to anyone on Bernal Hill on the clear sunset evening. A witness told reporters: “…he wasn’t threatening to me. He seemed like a guy just eating a burrito.” [Source: ABCLocal; SFBG]

In the 911 Call (narrated by Chief Suhr at the Town Hall Meeting) and in dispatch audio, Alex is simply described as eating sunflower seeds or chips with his taser “at his hip”, never drawn. He is never described as threatening anyone.

All the same, a battalion of officers was sent to the hill to confront him.

A Bernal Heights native, Alex routinely ate dinner in Bernal Park, before going to his security guard shift. He had been with his parents before going out.

WHAT WE BELIEVE HAPPENED: A POLICE COVER-UP

Greg Suhr refuses to release names of officers involved in Alex's shooting

Officers racially profiled Alex as a gangbanger exclusively based on his description as a Latino male wearing a red jacket. Racial profiling is illegal and a violation of civil rights.

Officers gave Alex no chance to respond to warning before they shot him to the ground with two or three shots. With Alex injured on the ground, officers decide—without any evidence of danger—to continue shooting at him, until he stopped moving. 59 bullets were fired.

This looks to us like an unjustifiable police murder —a deliberate execution— of an innocent man.

We also believe SFPD and the City and County of San Francisco are involved in a cover-up of an unlawful killing. We believe they fabricated a false narrative of events and have hid or tampered with evidence.

OPPOSING VERSION OF EVENTS:

WHAT CHIEF OF POLICE GREG SUHR SAYS HAPPENED*

WHAT FEDERAL CIVIL LAWSUIT SAYS HAPPENED**

* [Source: Chief Suhr, Town Hall Meeting 3/25/2014.] [Listen to KQED audio of Town Hall Meeting.] ** [Source: Civil Federal Lawsuit filed 8/22/2014. Read Case Status & original filings.]

EYEWITNESSES PRIOR TO SHOOTING

  • Alex is reported behaving erratically by eyewitnesses.
  • Witnesses recount seeing Alex at the park peacefully sitting alone on the bench enjoying his burrito.

911 CALL

  • 7:11pm: 911 dispatch receives a call reporting a Latin male adult with a red jacket, black pants, and a handgun on his hip, pacing near a bench close to a chain linked fence on Bernal Hill.
  •    7:14pm: Caller (who stays on the line while police arrive) reports Alex eating chips or sunflower seeds.
  •    7:18pm: Calling party hears shots fired by police.
  • A couple -Timothy Isgitt and Justin Fritz- called 911 and erroneously reported Alex as having a black gun on his hip.
  • Alex was carrying his licensed *holstered* taser.
  • The caller does not report that Alex is bothering anyone or posing any type of threat.
  • The caller simply reports Alex is walking near the bench, and eating.

THE TASER

  • Alex was wearing a holstered taser that looks like a gun.
  • When drawn, this type of taser emits a red dot.
  • Alex  was dressed for work, wearing a *holstered*, licensed taser, as part of his security guard uniform.

THE SHOOTING

  • A Sergeant and Officer from Ingleside are the first to arrive on scene.
  • Alex is engaged 75 feet away up a hill, with his back to the west, Officers looking towards horizon.
  • An SFPD Patrol car entered the park and drove up a fire trail before stopping approximately 75 to 100 feet away.
  • Alex at that time was casually walking down the trail to the Park’s entrance, with his hands in his pockets.
  • Two Officers emerged from the patrol car and immediately took cover using their car for protection.
  • Two other Officers arrive.
  • Several other Officers had also gathered on the jogging path, appeared to be carrying rifle-type guns and were positioned behind Alex. (i.e. not facing western horizon as SFPD says.)
  • Alex has his hands behind him. Officers asked him “to show his hands.”
  • Alex responded “you show me your hands.”
  • Alex drew his taser, and tracked officers with the red taser dot.
  • Officers shoot him.
  • Alex wounded, goes down in a prone and tactical position.
  • One of the Officers behind the patrol car called out and ordered Alex to “stop.”
  • Within seconds a quick volley of bullets were fired at Alex.

Ear and eye witness’ revelations say:

  • No additional orders or any other verbal communication was heard between the first Officer yelling “stop” and the initial volley of gunfire that rang out.
  • Alex did not threaten anyone nor verbally resisted Officers.
  • Alex did not attempt to grab or point any object at the Officers prior to being shot.
  • Alex falls to the ground after the initial shots.
  • Prone, wounded, and on the ground, Alex continues to “track” Officers with the red laser dot.
  • Eye witness’ revelations do not see Alex point any object at the Officers, before or after Officers shoot him to the ground.
  • Eye witness believes Alex to be mortally wounded after the initial shots, and says Alex falls over his hands.
  • Officers say they feared for their lives and shot him repeatedly, until he stopped moving.
  • After a brief pause of just a second or two, another barrage of shots were fired.
  • The Officers’ bullets struck Alex in his forehead and at least nine other places leaving his body grossly disfigured and mortally wounded.

THE AUTOPSY REPORT:

Nearly six months after Alex was killed, the Medical Examiner released an autopsy report that deems his death a homicide. The autopsy confirms fourteen to fifteen bullet wounds (one entrance wound is for two shots, therefore, at least 15 shots hit Alex.) Eleven out of the fifteen shots caused downward trajectory wounds. That is, eleven shots are fired from above Alex into his face, temple, chest, shoulders, and back. Seven of those shots are in a head to toe downward trajectory indicating that Alex was in a completely defenseless position when officers fatally wounded him. This could imply criminal intent and murder.

Please check our Diagram and Analysis of the Autopsy Report, for more information.

Alex Nieto Autopsy Side w Title_001

AUDIO:

Audio from a home security camera reveals TWO initial shots fired  (possibly a 3rd), followed by a 6 second pause. Then a continuous volley of at least 10 shots. (We now know that there was a total of 48 bullets fired at Alex.)

The pause between the first and second series of shots is relevant because officers made a deliberate decision to barrage Alex with the shots that actually killed him. This could imply criminal intent and murder.

Learn more at JUSTICE FOR ALEX NIETO.

***

[Partial transcript by Messina for Lumpenproletariat and Flashpoints] [2]

FLASHPOINTS—[7 MAR 2016]  Today, on Flashpoints, we update you in the federal civil trial of the murder of Alex Nieto by  San Francisco police.  Also, an update on Haiti with [Flashpoints] senior producer Kevin Pina.  And, later, we’ll hear from a Canadian writer and activist on Canadian general Roméo [Antonius] Dallaire and his prominence in Canadian national mythology.  My name is Mike Biggs, in for Dennis Bernstein.  All this, straight on Flashpoints. Stay tuned.  (c. 1:00)  [brief music break]

DENNIS BERNSTEIN:  “In Berkeley, I’m Dennis Bernstein.  You’re listening to Flashpoints on Pacifica Radio

“We turn our attention back to the police murder of Alex Nieto.  There is a federal trial taking place, right now, in San Francisco.  This is an incredibly important case, in which the police shot down—one more time—shot down somebody, who—I guess—they just felt like killing a person of colour.

“Joining us to talk about this situation is a spokesperson for the Justice4AlexNieto; his name is Ben Bac Sierra.  And he joins us from San Francisco.  It was a busy day in court.  And, I wanna hear all about that.

“But first of all, for people who don’t really understand what happened here, please set the scene.  (c. 01:42)

BENJAMIN BAC SIERRA:  “I will.  Thank you for inviting me to talk, Dennis.  Alex Nieto was a security guard, a City College of San Francisco student, a beloved son, community activist.

“He was a security guard who was going to work on Friday, March 21st of the year 2014.  He had bought a burrito and some chips.  And he was eating it at a very peaceful, beautiful place to enjoy the view called Bernal Heights, which was only one block away from his house.

“And, so, he had gone up there to relax, to meditate, to eat before what was, probably, going to be a pretty busy night at the nightclub where he worked as a security guard.  He was already dressed for work.  He was wearing black pants, his work boots.  And he also had his licensed Taser holstered at his hip.

“Now, the people who called the police on him do not even claim that Alex Nieto ever even looked at them.  But they called the police anyway because they thought Alex had a gun on his hip.

“And the police come in a military, tactical fashion, very aggressive.  And why did they come in such an aggressive fashion?  Well, even though Alex Nieto has done nothing wrong, they get over the radio a description that he is a Latino male, six-foot tall, wearing a red jacket.  And, with that description, they immediately profile Alex Nieto as a gang member, even though Alex Nieto has never been arrested in his life.  He has actually volunteered at the Juvenile Correctional Facility to help out youth.  I knew him very well.  He was a practicing Buddhist.

“He had no idea anybody had called the police on him.  He walks down the hill.  The police are approaching him in a very aggressive fashion.  In fact, we now know, based on the testimony in court, that they think they are cowboy cops.  They do not wait for any type of back up.  They actually bypass other police officers, that are near them.  And they go to kill whoever is on the hill that fateful, unfortunate night.

“They see Alex Nieto, a neutral witness claims, that Alex Nieto was casually walking.  The officer, the lead person in charge that evening, Sergeant [Jason] Sawyer, he actually claims when he sees Alex Nieto, Alex Nieto was eating from a bag of chips, walking down a hill.

“Now, you figure it out.  That, in no way, is any type of menacing figure, yet they jumped out of their car with their weapons drawn.  And the witness states that they simply shouted, Stop!, once.  Then, they immediately began firing.  (c. 5:06)

“And the testimony today is even more specific about what happened.  But that is the general story of what happened to Alex Nieto.  It is:  He was shot at 58, 59 times, struck at least 14 to 16 times.  And numerous of those shots were while Alex Nieto was face down on the ground.

“And, so, this is a fight, that we’re fighting, that we’ve been fighting for approximately two years now.  March 21st is coming up soon.  March 21st, and that will be the two-year anniversary of his killing.

“We made it to federal court.  And, so, this is a very rare event because we usually do not get this.  They dismiss the case.  Or they will settle out of court.  And, in this case, we actually get to hear the evidence, present it.

“And that’s what I’ve been doing for the past two days now in court. (c. 6:09)

“Yesterday, we had a rally with hundreds, if not a thousand, people in front of the federal court building in San Francisco. [1]  And we did poetry.  We did singing.  We had Aztec danzantes, Buddhist chanting.  And, so, this is a very beautiful, revolutionary moment.  We look forward to all of the evidence coming out.

“But I do have an update for you about the evidence.  But I’d like to ask you if you have any further questions.”

DENNIS BERNSTEIN:  “Yeah, well, let me come in here.  And, before we get the latest breaking news, I think it’s very important for people listening outside of San Francisco—and we broadcast across the country—that they understand the context here.  That there is an attack on the Mission District, this beautiful, historic Mission District, that is really a part of Central and Latin America, has played a very important role in the City.  People love the Mission District.

“But, of course, now a certain kind of 1% and the people working for the 1% are moving in.  So, there is a major battle going on, a major gentrification, all kinds of crazy fires, every kind of attempt to gentrify and get rid of the people who made the Mission what it is.  You want to talk a little bit about that?  The sort of, the social context.”  (c. 7:41)

BENJAMIN BAC SIERRA:  “Dennis.  Dennis, Alex Nieto was killed specifically because of gentrification.

“I did not fully explain the context of why somebody called the police.  Alright?  We have two new gentrifiers, new as a far as new to the neighborhood, who come into Bernal Heights.  And Bernal Heights was a working class, blue-collar neighborhood, full of African-Americans, Latinos, working class whites, Filipinos, Samoans, multicultural, diverse.

“Alex Nieto had lived there his entire life.  However, he was able to live there because of rent control.  Now, unfortunately, what happened is, starting in the ’90s, that area began to become gentrified.  And, not, it’s thought to be one of the most expensive places to live in the United States of America.  Places where you could buy a house, back in the ’70s, for $35,000 are now—the same, exact piece of property, the wood hasn’t changed, right, it’s not made of gold now—those same houses are now worth $1.7 million dollars.

“And, so, these new people came into the neighborhood.  And they see Alex Nieto.  And they think of him as being out of place.  And they end up calling the police because they have never had to have a security guard job.  They don’t understand.  What?  A Latino with a red jacket and he has a gun on his hip?  He’s not even facing them.  He’s actually peacefully eating a burrito.  But, supposedly, these people see him with his hand resting on his hip.

“And they, actually, they do not both see it.  Only one of them sees this.  And he tells his friend: Hey, did you see the guy with the gun?  His partner tells him:  No, I don’t see the guy.  I didn’t see a guy with a gun.  And the guy who supposedly saw the weapon first, he doesn’t even have the guts to call the police, himself.  He tells his friend:  Well, I saw a guy with a gun.  You call the police.

“This is total gentrification, racial profiling, and, unfortunately, it was part of the reason why Alex Nieto was killed because he was profiled by the people who called the police.  And he was also racially profiled by the police, who came and killed him.” (c. 10:20)

DENNIS BERNSTEIN:  “Let me also ask you to describe how the police treated the family of Alex Nieto.”

BENJAMIN BAC SIERRA:  “Oh, what a horrible story.  A very horrible story, here, is that we what have is the police understanding immediately after they killed Alex Nieto, unjustifiably killed Alex Nieto.  Because right after they killed him, they knew that this man did not have a hand gun.  And they claimed that Alex Nieto—it seems like they were just concocting the story.  And we’re proving this right now.

“But I will go over what the police narrative is.  The police narrative is that this person, Alex Nieto, who has never been arrested in his life, who has less than two hours before he has to go to work, is walking down the hill.  And, notice here, the police officer, himself, Officer Sawyer, said:  He’s eating from a bag of chip.  This person, he’s eating from a bag of chips.

“Now, think about that.  When we think about a stereotypical person relaxing, we think about:  Well, that person is a stiff.  You’re on your couch, eating a bag of chips.  This person is walking down the hill, eating from a bag of chips.  There’s absolutely no reason to regard this person as a menace.  And this person, eating from a bag of chips, would have the mind set to, then, know that two officers, who jump out of their vehicle and point their weapons at him is going to, then, throw his bag of chips on the floor, go into his holster, point a weapon at them, and, you know, with a Taser, that doesn’t even fire more than 15 feet—and they’re supposedly 100 feet away—and he’s gonna do this.  Right?

“So, they immediately concocted this story.  And this was all in the mainstream media.  You have the police spokesperson saying:  The person who was killed in Bernal Heights had a gun.  They knew immediately that he did not have a gun.  The knew he only had a Taser.  And they knew immediately who he was.  (c. 12:32)

“Yet, it took them 18 hours to, I guess, think about what they were gonna say.  And try to find out as much dirt, as they could on Alex Nieto and try to go ahead and—18 hours later—go to the parents, and then begin to question the parents without an interpreter.  The parents speak only Spanish.  Without an interpreter, they go over there, start grilling them about Alex Nieto.  And, about 45 minutes into this interview, these very humble, beautiful people, the father ends up asking them.  He had invited them into the house already.  They start rummaging through the house, without a warrant.  And he asked them:  Why are you here?”  (c. 13:30)

DENNIS BERNSTEIN:  “The father asked the cops?”

BENJAMIN BAC SIERRA:  “Why are you here? 

DENNIS BERNSTEIN:  “The father asked the cops.”

BENJAMIN BAC SIERRA:  “Yes.  And it is only, then, that the police officers tell them.  Well, we’re here because your son was killed by the police.”

DENNIS BERNSTEIN:  “Wow.”

BENJAMIN BAC SIERRA:  “And that is just horrific.  There is absolutely no justification for that.  But it leads to us.  It leads us to understand the totality of these circumstances, which is cover up.”

DENNIS BERNSTEIN:  “That’s right.”

BENJAMIN BAC SIERRA:  “Cover up!  Cover up.”  (c. 14:03)

DENNIS BERNSTEIN:  “Alright.  Let me jump in here because we’re running out of time.”

BENJAMIN BAC SIERRA:  “Yeah.”

DENNIS BERNSTEIN:  “We’re speaking with Ben Bac Sierra.”

BENJAMIN BAC SIERRA:  “M-hm.”

DENNIS BERNSTEIN:  “We’re talking about a federal civil trial, that’s taking place in San Francisco now on behalf of the late Alex Nieto, who was gunned down, brutally, by police, a Buddhist, somebody who was actually interested in law enforcement—”

BENJAMIN BAC SIERRA:  “Yes.”

DENNIS BERNSTEIN:  “—worked with young people, an upstanding member of the community, gunned down.  Give just—we only have a few seconds left.  But, what’s new in the—was it powerful in the courtroom?”

BENJAMIN BAC SIERRA:  “What we understood is all of the officers, for one, are professional testifiers, even the rookie, who was on the stand, at the beginning of today.  He has claimed that he has testified already over 50 times.  His father is a San Francisco Police Department officer.  And this person is well-groomed on how to stay consistently accurate with concocted types of stories.

“Yet, we saw that the story is being broken down by excellent attorneys from the law offices of John Burris.  Adante Pointer noted that, very important here, the rookie officer, who first started firing at Alex, claims that he first started firing at Alex because Alex Nieto was walking purposely down; and he made eye contact with Alex Nieto.  He saw into his eyes and saw Alex was angry.  And he also saw his forehead scrunching.  Note, here, it was proven by the evidence today that Alex Nieto had sunglasses on!  And that he had a baseball cap on!  So, it would be impossible for him to have seen his forehead scrunching.  (c. 15:54)

“These are all pieces of evidence, that will show the inconsistency and the illogic; and also I have to say the physical evidence will also prove that the police are–just.  It’s impossible for us to believe their narrative.

“I invite you all, listening today, to follow on Justice4AlexNieto.org.

“You could also Google my name, Benjamn Bac Sierra.  I am posting daily updates about the specifics of the testimony.”

DENNIS BERNSTEIN:  “Alright.  Were gonna leave it right there.  But Ben Bac Sierra, we’re gonna stay in touch with you.  We appreciate the great work you’re doing.  And we will remember and celebrate the life and times of Alex Nieto, how he died.  And we will cover that moment when that justice comes.

“Thank you so much for being with us on Flashpoints.”

BENJAMIN BAC SIERRA:  “Thank you, Dennis.  Have a great night.  Goodbye.”

DENNIS BERNSTEIN:  “Bye bye, now.”  (c. 16:52)  [SNIP]

[SNIP]  (c. 59:59)

Learn more at FLASHPOINTS.

[This transcript will be expanded, as time constraints allow.  Contact us to help transcribe important free speech radio broadcasts.]

***

[1] RALLY!  THE TRIAL: ALEX NIETO VERSUS THE SFPD, MARCH 1st, 2016

The rally was held on day one of the trial in front of the United States federal courthouse in San Francisco’s Civic Center at 450 Golden Gate Avenue.  The federal court building is also known as the Phillip Burton Federal Building.

[2]  Terrestrial radio transmission, 94.1 FM (KPFA, Berkeley, CA) with online simulcast and digital archiving:  Flashpoints, hosted by Dennis Bernstein, for Monday, 7 MAR 2016, 17:00 PDT.

***

[8 MAR 2016]

[Last modified 16:45 PDT  10 MAR 2016]

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Show Me A Hero on HBO Analyses Racial Residential Segregation

14 Mon Sep 2015

Posted by ztnh in Fiction, urban economics

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

HBO, housing policy, racial residential segregation, Show Me A Hero, The Baltimore Sun

Show_Me_a_Hero_Poster LUMPENPROLETARIAT—It is, indeed, appalling how large a percentage of our incomes some of us spend on cable television.  But, at least, there are some perks.  Show Me A Hero is one of them.  This new mini-series starring Oscar Isaac with Jim Belushi, Catherine Keener, Winona Ryder and various other notable actors is a fascinating view of urban economics and politics.

—Messina

Show Me A Hero on HBO (start date: August 16, 2015)

***

TAKE ON TELEVISION—(14 AUG 2015) “Welcome to Take On Television. I’m Andy Bienstock with Dave Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun. Dave, starting on Sunday night on HBO, a new series from David Simon.”

DAVID ZURAWIK: “Yeah, Andy. And it’s far and away the best production of the summer. I think it’s one of the best productions I’ve seen in years on television—period. It’s called Show Me a Hero. It’s a six-hour mini-series the next three Sundays on HBO—two hours a night. It’s really outstanding work. It’s written and executive produced by David Simon and Bill Zorzi, both of whom had been [Baltimore] Sun employees. And it’s directed and executive produced by Paul Haggis from [the film] Crash, who’s outstanding—great, great talent.

“It covers a desegregation battle in Yonkers, New York, a city of about 200,000 north of New York in 1987. It started in 1987. This mini-series covers 1987 and 1993. It’s based on a non-fiction book by then-New York Times reporter Lisa Belkin. And it’s a terrific, a really outstanding book. They went and re-reported it. They did the story.

“It follows a young, on-the-rise, elected official in Yonkers named Nick Wasicsko. And he’s played in this by Oscar Isaac. You may not have heard of Oscar Isaac. He is outstanding—honestly. An Emmy doesn’t even seem good enough for the performance he turns in as the city councilman who becomes mayor at 27, the youngest mayor in a mid-to-large American city. But, then, there’s a desegregation lawsuit from the NAACP and the Justice Department, that aims only, really, to build 200 units of low-income housing in the part of Yonkers, that was predominantly white. He is chewed up in this battle. His career is shredded. His life is disrupted. It’s a great story.

“In addition to his story and the desegregation narrative, two of the major story lines, you have stories of four women of colour, who are trying to move out of really bad low-income housing into these new units. They’re hoping to move into these new units. The new units are the promised land for them. The way they juggle these story lines is fantastic. I think a lot of that, of course, is the script. A lot of it is also Haggis. But this is—you know—the title is based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famous saying: Show me a hero; and I’ll write you a tragedy. I’m not gonna give any spoilers. It’s a tragedy in the end, but it’s one of the richest productions I’ve seen. And it speaks to post-Ferguson, post-Freddie Gray America like nothing else in American art.”

ANDY BIENSTOCK: “Show Me a Hero starts Sunday night on HBO. That’s Dave Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun. And I’m Andy Bienstock for Take On Television on WYPR.”

Transcript of WYPR radio broadcast by Messina

***

THE BALTIMORE SUN—(14 AUG 2015) When David Simon first contacted William F. Zorzi in the fall of 2001 about the book “Show Me a Hero,” Simon’s former Baltimore Sun colleague says he was mainly annoyed.

“I was on the desk and on deadline at The Sun,” said Zorzi, who was then working as an assistant city editor.

“Could you [expletive] call at a more inconvenient time?” he remembers asking Simon, who had already left the paper to write for television. “Clearly, you’ve not been doing this very long or you’ve forgotten what it was like.”

But when Simon called back three weeks later, Zorzi still had not read the book. He couldn’t even remember the title.

“Well, you better read the [expletive] thing,” Zorzi quotes Simon as saying after he repeated the title, “because we’re going out to HBO in three weeks.”

Not only did Zorzi read journalist Lisa Belkin’s non-fiction book about a community-wrenching housing desegregation battle in the late 1980s in Yorkers, N.Y., he came to live it for the next 13 1/2 years.

The veteran political reporter quit The Sun in 2002, went to Yonkers to “re-report” the book, and has been working on the project on and off ever since. Off includes three seasons on Simon’s “The Wire” as a writer, including the final year of episodes in which he also played himself onscreen as a Sun reporter named Bill Zorzi.

The result of that kind of commitment shows in virtually every frame of this six-hour HBO miniseries that speaks to our post-Ferguson-post-Freddie-Gray America like no other work on TV — or in any other form of art so far.

Learn more at THE BALTIMORE SUN.

***

Also see this related Lumpenproletariat.org article:

  • “Race, Real Estate, and Uneven Development (2002) by Kevin Fox Gotham, Ph.D., University of Kansas“

***

[12:45 PST 17 SEP 2015]

[Last modified 10:25 PST 18 SEP 2015]

[Thanks to brother RDM for screening this for me; and, priorly, to Democracy Now! for sharing this with non-HBO-subscribing people.]

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