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Tag Archives: school-to-prison pipeline

Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools by Dr. Monique W. Morris

24 Thu Mar 2016

Posted by ztnh in Education, Police State, Racism (phenotype)

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Tags

Anita Johnson, Black Girl, black identity, Black Lives Matter, Deputy Ben Fields, Dr. Monique W. Morris, Hard Knock Radio, identity politics, KPFA, Lenny Kravitz, Marcus Books (Oakland, Massive Attack, National Black Women's Justice Institute, Pacifica Radio Network, Protection, Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools, school-to-prison pipeline, The Coup, The Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality (Georgetown Law), Too Beautiful For Words, trauma-informed care

1-Morris_7067_Print-370x230LUMPENPROLETARIAT  Today’s episode of free speech radio’s Hard Knock Radio introduces many of us to what is poised to be an important book, not to mention an important scholar.  Dr. Monique W. Morris, who holds a Doctor of Education doctoral degree, has published Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in School.

This is a timely book and a timely radio broadcast, given the racist demagoguery of Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump (who, for example, invokes fascist icon Benito Mussolini) and the dangerous opportunism of Democrat contender Hillary Clinton (whose bloodied hands have helped overthrow the democratically-elected president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, and caused the Central American nation to become one of the most dangerous places on Earth for peace and justice workers; she makes Margaret Thatcher seem tame).

Free speech radio’s Hard Knock Radio spoke with Dr. Monique W. Morris about one of the sharpest tools used by reactionaries toward divisiveness and conquest, the unscientific concept of race—more technically understood as ethnicity, or phenotype—and its intersections with gender and other identities toward an emancipatory understanding of black femininity.  Listen here. [1]

Messina

***

[Partial transcript draft by Messina for Lumpenproletariat and Hard Knock Radio]

HARD KNOCK RADIO—[24 MAR 2016]  (c. 1:11) “What’s up, fam.  You’re tuned to Hard Knock, here on the Pacifica [Radio] Network.  On today’s show, we bring you Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools.  All this and more ahead, but first these News Headlines.”

[News Headlines omitted by scribe]

ANITA JOHNSON:  (c. 6:45) “Wussup, fam?  You are tuned in to Hard Knock on the Pacifica Network.  I’m Anita Johnson.

“News surrounding the violent removal of a student by a school resource officer in South Carolina made national headlines last year, while raising new questions about the role race plays in the disciplining of black girls.  School officials asked Deputy Ben Fields to not return to the school during the investigation and quickly moved to downplay the incident.  But video of the violent altercation, recorded by students, shows something more complicated.  By the end of the incident, the resource officer had picked her up from the desk and thrown her several feet across the classroom.

“This is just one incident, of many, that have played out across the country, in which reported misconduct by black girls at schools prompt a seemingly disproportionate, and often violent, response by school and local authorities.  But why?  That’s what Monique W. Morris set out to explain in her new book, Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools, ‘an examination of the experiences of black girls across the country, whose intricate lives are misunderstood—highly judged by teachers, administrators, and the justice system—and degraded by the very institutions charged with helping them fluorish.’

“In her new book, Morris shows ‘how, despite obstacles, stigmas, stereotypes, and despair, black girls still find ways to breathe remarkable dignity into their lives in classrooms, juvenile facilities, and beyond.’

“Miss Monique W. Morris, once again, welcome to the programme.”  (c. 8:19)

DR. MONIQUE W. MORRIS:  “Thank you.  Thanks for having me on.”

ANITA JOHNSON:  “Nah, absolutely.  I was hoping, uh, in the past I was very hopeful that we would have you as a regular contributor.  I want to throw that out there right now, back into the universe with the hopes that we can maybe, uh, at some point in her busy professional career, maybe have her bless Hard Knock Radio listeners with her insight on a regular basis.

“But, today, let’s focus on the new book, Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools.

“What was the genesis of Pushout and, for you, why now?”

DR. MONIQUE W. MORRIS:  “Thanks for asking that question.  It has long been on my soul, the need for us to address what is happening with our girls in schools and to, specifically, look at the ways black girls are vulnerable to criminalisation and victimisation and contact with the criminal and juvenile legal systems.

“And, so, writing Pushout, with the subtitle, The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools, was really about expanding the discussion about what most people understand as the school-to-prison pipeline to engage our girls, to engage our young women, to talk about some of the unique pathways, that render them vulnerable to contact with the criminal and juvenile legal systems, some of the conditions, that take place in our schools and that impact their learning in a way, that rendered them vulnerable to contact with the justice system.

“And, so, in many ways, Pushout is an extension of a conversation, that I’ve been having since the 1990s [laughs]—”

ANITA JOHNSON:  “Wow.”

DR. MONIQUE W. MORRIS:  “—when I first started doing work on juvenile justice and young people who are in contact with the justice system.

“And this work—you know, I say in the first part of this book that this work was really coming to fruition at the time that I wrote the novel, Too Beautiful for Words.  And some may remember Too Beautiful for Words as a street novel, that was inspired by The Coup‘s song, “Me and Jesus the Pimp in a ’79 Granada Last Night“.  (c. 10:27)

ANITA JOHNSON:  “M-hm.”

DR. MONIQUE W. MORRIS:  “And the novel, itself, talks about prostitution.  It talks about revolution.  It talks about life and hustle.  And, in the process of going around and talking to young people about Too Beautiful for Words, I discovered many girls and young women, who were in detention facilities, who had been pushed out, who had been marginalised in their learning, and, therefore, extremely vulnerable to underground economies, that rendered them vulnerable to contact with the criminal and juvenile legal systems.

ANITA JOHNSON:  “Mm.”

DR. MONIQUE W. MORRIS:  “So, this book, in many ways, is an extension of the questioning and the discussions, that I started in Too Beautiful for Words, but really from a more, you know, non-fiction statistics and narrative driven discussion about the policies and practices, that are making our girls vulnerable.”  (c. 11:22)  [SNIP]

[SNIP] (c. 29:08)

DR. MONIQUE W. MORRIS:  “[SNIP] Or, you know, the professionals will send me a note and say:  I just got into that with my supervisor, as you were just saying.

“And it is something that other scholars, on whose shoulders I stand on have tried to explain and tried to explore.  And, somehow, we have yet to, sort of, traverse that threshold into a space where folks will clearly understand that our expressions of femininity are our expressions.  Or, the norms, that are associated with our understanding of how to be strong and lead with conviction are not worthy of others’ scrutiny and criminalisation.

“And we have long-lived—and this is something, that I talk about in Pushout—is that we have long lived in this public gaze, that renders black femininity as angry, or that renders black feminine expression of critical thinking as an affront to authority. (c. 30:10)

“And these are critical intervention points—[laughs]—”

ANITA JOHNSON:  “Right.”

DR. MONIQUE W. MORRIS:  “—and opportunities for there to be some very deep understanding, some corrective action around what biases are informing that read—”

ANITA JOHNSON:  “Absolutely.”

DR. MONIQUE W. MORRIS:  “—and how we teach our girls that they can absolutely speak their truths without being vulnerable to criminalisation.

“You know, this attitude—I spent an entire chapter talking about this so-called [a’tude], which I say is, actually, an open inquiry for me, which means we don’t really have an answer.  Right?  We don’t really know what is an attitude.

“I’m sure there are some listeners who are like, I know what an attitude is.”

ANITA JOHNSON:  “[laughs]”

DR. MONIQUE W. MORRIS:  “My daughter has one.

“But the truth of the matter is it’s such a subjective term.  And it’s something, that is rooted in our own understandings, based upon our level of exposure to the norms in particular communities and, certainly, how we identify and come to define femininity.”

ANITA JOHNSON:  “Right.”

DR. MONIQUE W. MORRIS:  “And for girls who are vulnerable to pushout, that is really a critical issue.  It’s how we come to define their attitudes.  It’s how we come to understand their expressions.

“And, really, at the end of it all, what I’m hopeful people will take away from that conversation is that we have a lot more work to do to better understand in the public domain what black femininity looks like for girls and to respond to that, not through a lens of judgment and punishment—”

ANITA JOHNSON:  “M-hm.”

DR. MONIQUE W. MORRIS:  “—but to understand that these expressions, these acts of questioning are not an affront to authority, but an expression of critical thinking.  Right?”

ANITA JOHNSON:  “Absolutely.”

DR. MONIQUE W. MORRIS:  “We’re listening.  That’s why respond the way we do.  We feel what’s happening.  That’s why we are responding. [laughs]  Right?

“And, so, I hope others will feel and listen, so that they can respond also.”  (c. 32:17)

ANITA JOHNSON:  “[SNIP] (c. 32:45)

DR. MONIQUE W. MORRIS:  “Well, first let me start with the first question about, sort of, what my thoughts are about how we create an environment, that’s conducive to the learning of our girls, not to their pushout.

“I say in the book that there are really four core areas, that I would like to see, um, developed toward that goal.  And I take—you know, there’s been a lot of talk about trauma-informed care and some of the lessons from, you know, our colleagues in the [S.F.] Bay Area, who have been challenging that work, have really been about shifting our focus beyond trauma toward healing.

“And, so, in the book I talk about the development of healing-informed responses to problematic student behaviour.  So, really, looking at restorative opportunities, restorative approaches to resolving conflict with girls, um, bridging programmes for girls with a delinquency history. (c. 33:38)

“Really, we’ve gotta reexamine the impact of the dress codes and look at some of those codes of conduct through a healing-informed lens, but also looking at what happens in the classrooms in schools.

“So, look at the, you know, affirmative—the affirmation of education as a tool for social justice, so that girls really clearly understand why they are getting an education and how it relates to their lives; some emotional counselling, that can be there for the girls; college and career pathways.

“So, in my work, a lot of the girls wanna learn.  They understand that education i.s a critical issue for them.  They understand the research, that says that education, for girls, is a critical protective factor against involvement in the juvenile and criminal legal systems.  But they don’t still get why they have to do it, or why they have to go, if it’s not a place where they feel safe.

“And, so, I think it’s important for us to establish, you know, school-based opportunities to lead for black girls, to really look at developing internships, having speakers come in that can make those connections for them, so that they understand the value of what they’re doing and how they’re spending their day.” (c. 34:45)

ANITA JOHNSON:  “M-hm.”

DR. MONIQUE W. MORRIS: [SNIP]

[SNIP] (c. 38:57)

“Currently, there’s the national conversation of Black Lives Matter.  Everyone’s talking about it, whether they want to or not.  This is part of the national discourse, thanks to the mobilisation of many people, especially around the issues of anti-police terrorism [i.e., opposition to police terrorism].

“My question to you, however, is:  How do you see, if at all, the national conversation of Black Lives Matter constructing the discourse around the protection of black girls, especially in the space of reexaming law enforcement culture within schools?” (c. 39:27)

DR. MONIQUE W. MORRIS:  “Well, um, so, I’ll say that I have long been a part of a community, that has always felt that black lives matter. [chuckles]”

ANITA JOHNSON:  “M-hm.”

DR. MONIQUE W. MORRIS:  “And I think that most of the people who follow that movement, or who are involved directly in that movement, have firmly held on to this notion.

“And I think that what Black Lives Matter has done is provide a context to explore the presence and impact of increased surveillance and law enforcement presence in our communities.

“That said, the majority of those conversations have centered men and boys and have centered a particular manifestation of violence against black communities.  And that particular manifestation of violence against black communities has, largely, rendered women and girls invisible.  And I don’t think it was intentional.  But I do think that, in our conversations about, you know, black lives mattering, we don’t often talk about the sexual victimisation of girls, or the exploitation of girls, or their educational underperformance, or the way in which structural violence has impacted girls and young women. (c. 40:47)

“However, I do think that having—I do think it’s an opportunity, though, because there are a lot of ways in which the Lives Matter framework has presented us with an opportunity to explore all black lives.  Right?”

ANITA JOHNSON:  “Right.”

DR. MONIQUE W. MORRIS:  “At least that’s  what Alicia Garza wrote publicly:  When I said black lives matter, I meant all lives, all black lives.  Right?  And that means along the gender continuum—right?—that the expression of black identity along the gender continuum is something that is uniquely vulnerable to violence in our communities.

“And, so, with that context established, and with an open conversation now about the presence of law enforcement and its role in our communities, I think there is an opportunity for us to talk about  the increased surveillance, what I call the structures of surveillance, or instruments of surveillance, in the book.  That it’s not only about law enforcement.  Right?  That it’s about the metal detectors.  It’s about the cameras.  It’s about all the ways in which our communities have this increased surveillance, but not necessarily safer.  And there are opportunities for us to explore when—you know—those who are supposed to protect our communities are not necessarily doing that either, as it pertains to girls and young women. (c. 42:08)

“So, I think that there are important opportunities laid.  I do think that there’s a particular rigor we can add to this conversation, that does intersect gender in a much more concrete and intentional way, so that when we talk about the lives, that matter in our communities we wrap our arms around all of those lives and really understand the unique ways in which in which they might be impacted by some of these issues.”

ANITA JOHNSON:  “I wanna say that’s a very insightful critique.  And I can appreciate that.  When we think about ‘intentional ways‘, how would—or how should the conversation go in regards to Black Lives Matter and the protection of black girls in the instance of, say, the sister in South Carolina or the young girl in Chicago?  How should that narrative have happened in context to the larger conversation of Black Lives Matter?” (c. 43.01)

DR. MONIQUE W. MORRIS:  “Well, I think—you know, in my opinion—I think—”

ANITA JOHNSON:  “Because my thought is: It shouldn’t just be when somebody is killed.”

DR. MONIQUE W. MORRIS:  “Well, that’s what I mean—”

ANITA JOHNSON:  “[laughs]”

DR. MONIQUE W. MORRIS:  “—right?  I think that we do that almost all organically, that there have been many ways in which there’s been an extension of the Black Lives Matter—at least the usage of the hashtag—[laughs] you know—to declare the value of black lives in association with all of these structures of oppression.  Right?  And I think that we could be more intentional with the use and the engagement around the development of the policies, practice, and advocacy agenda, that really does respond.  You know?  What does it mean for our policies to reflect that black lives matter?  Right?  What does a school system need to look like in order to fully uplift that black lives matter?  Right?

“And it doesn’t look like threatening girls with suspension if they wear their hair in Afros. [chuckles]  Right?  It doesn’t look like sending a girl home because it’s 90 degrees out and she wore short shorts.  It doesn’t look like suspending girls for ten days because they had a fight in the hall.

“It means that we have to think differently about how we respond to conflict how we understand what these behaviours are and the kinds of assessments, that we do on the policies and practices, the kinds of training and professional development, that we have in place. (c. 44:28)

“I’m not of the mind that increased surveillance leads to safety.  You know?  I don’t think that cameras alone can resolve anything. [chuckles]  I think they record.  They don’t necessarily resolve.”

ANITA JOHNSON:  “M-hm.”

DR. MONIQUE W. MORRIS:  “They don’t resolve.  I’ll say that.  But I do think that it’s important to center a response to the historical oppression and trauma and to really begin to understand that when we engage in practices that facilitate healing opportunities for black girls and talk to them about intersections between race and gender biases, that they will, then, be able to have language to identify when they feel wronged and to work with one adult, at least one adult, in their life, who can help them advocate for their own safety.

“And that is, really, what I think will begin to transform some of the conversations we’ve had about the manifestations of danger, the assessments of threat, and the kinds of conversations, that we have with people about responses.

“My organisation, the National Black Women’s Justice Institute, is in partnership with the Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality, now conducting a study on the relationship between school resource officers and girls of colour.” (c. 45:45)

ANITA JOHNSON:  “Mm.”

DR. MONIQUE W. MORRIS:  “And I think it’s important for us to have conversations with people about how they are functioning in our communities, how they are engaging our young people, and what some of the opportunities are for intervention.

“I am clearly in the space, personally, of needing to develop remedy.  I think we have done a good job of articulating the problem.  And there’s always room to grow, in terms of articulating the problem.  But I do think that we are in a space now where we’ve gotta be ready to say:  Okay, then what?  [chuckles]  Right?  If we don’t want that, what do we want?”

ANITA JOHNSON:  “M-hm.”

DR. MONIQUE W. MORRIS:  “And, so, the work, that I’ve been engaged in recently has really been about developing pilot initiatives to test:  What do we want?  To explore this development of, both, policy and practice, that can be more responsive to the needs of girls, so that when we have an opportunity to work with school districts, or we have an opportunity to work with law enforcement, or we have an opportunity to go inside of our communities and talk to the concerned community of adults, we really have something to say—we want to test and we want to explore more deeply—and, that we want to use to replace the structures of oppression, that are currently in place.” (c. 46:59)

ANITA JOHNSON:  “Again, that is the voice of Monique W. Morris.  I wanna say Dr. Morris.  Is that alright?  [laughs]”

DR. MONIQUE W. MORRIS:  “[laughs]”

ANITA JOHNSON:  “Dr. Morris, um, you know, it’s been great having this conversation with you.  Again, you’re the author of the new book Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools.

“How can our listeners pick up a copy?  And, then, also let us know if there’s an upcoming speaking engagement in the Bay Area.  And how can people just plug in to what you’re doing, the very important work, that you’re doing?” (c. 47:31)

DR. MONIQUE W. MORRIS:  “Well, I appreciate that.  The book is available, I believe, through all major booksellers, certainly online.  But, certainly, check out your local bookstore.  I’m always a supporter of that as well.

“There are several [S.F.] Bay Area appearances, that I’ll have.  And you can go to my website at MoniqueWMorris.com for a complete listing of those opportunities.

“I will be at Marcus Books on April the 23rd.  So, definitely come check us out.  I’m hopeful that all the events, that I do and all the events, that I make, or the book, Pushout, develop into many strategy sessions for how we begin to wrap our arms and minds around this issue for our girls.  And, so, I certainly encourage folks to come out.

“But I’ll, also, be in Chicago and Columbus.  I’m doing an event in San Francisco.  Actually, I’m really excited about that event because it’s for the Black Infant Health Conference.  And Angela Davis will be there, who is one of my personal sheroes, on March 29th, which is the actual launch of the book, but, certainly, to the Marcus Books event on April 23rd.”

ANITA JOHNSON:  “I appreciate your insight.  And, again, this is another important book, that you’ve presented to our listeners.  And, hopefully, folks will pick it up.

“Thanks so much for taking the time to speak with us.”

DR. MONIQUE W. MORRIS:  “Well, I appreciate it.  I thank you for what you do.”

ANITA JOHNSON:  “Alright.  Again, this is Hard Knock.  I am Anita Johnson.  Stay tuned.  We’ll be right back [with a segment from Davey D]. (c. 49:00)

[SNIP] (c. 59:59)

Learn more at HARD KNOCK RADIO.

[This transcript draft will be expanded as time constraints, and/or demand or resources, allow.  However, as of Friday, 8 APR 2016, this interview has been removed from KPFA’s free speech radio archives.  And it was never made available for downloading as an mp3.  So, it is unlikely that we will be able to access an audio file of this broadcast in order to complete this transcription.  Perhaps, we will be able to contact Hard Knock Radio and acquire a copy.  In past years, I have transcribed Hard Knock Radio broadcasts for Media Roots, which Hard Knock Radio‘s Davey D has re-Tweeted to his massive Twitter following in appreciation.  At that time, Davey D mentioned enthusiastically that he had never seen his radio journalism in print form before.  This was great synergy.]

***

“Black Girl” by Lenny Kravitz

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“Protection” by Massive Attack

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[1]  Hour-long terrestrial radio transmission, 94.1 FM (KPFA, Berkeley, CA) with online simulcast and digital archiving:  Hard Knock Radio, for Thursday, 24 MAR 2016, 16:00 PDT.  N.B.: Hard Knock Radio usually removes audio archives two weeks after initial radio transmission.

***

[24 MAR 2016]

[Last modified 17:10 PDT  10 APR 2016]

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Historical Archives: Police State America with Constitutional Attorney John W. Whitehead

19 Tue May 2015

Posted by ztnh in Anti-Imperialism, Anti-War, Free Speech, Historical Archives, Police State

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

ALEC, American Legislative Exchange Council, Atlas Four Androids, Bonnie Faulkner, ECHELON programme, fusion centers, Google and the NSA, Guns and Butter, Joanna C. Schwartz, John W. Whitehead, KPFA, Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights, LEOBoR, MRAPs, no-knock raids, Offices of Inspector General, OIG, Operation Vigilant Eagle, Pacifica Radio, school-to-prison pipeline, SWAT, TSA, VIPR Team

Guns_and_butter_logoLUMPENPROLETARIAT—From the Guns and Butter archives:  On 11 MAR 2015, friend of indie media, such as Lumpenproletariat.org (and MediaRoots.org), Bonnie Faulkner rebroadcast a notable show from the archives (as a stop-gap, whilst dealing with production/funding challenges) on free speech radio.  (Please support free speech indie media.)  Dedicated KPFA and Pacifica listeners may recall this programme was originally broadcast last summer on 4 JUNE 2014 (Guns and Butter #301).  One may access the audio here (or here). [1]  (Transcript pending.)

In this classic Guns and Butter broadcast, Bonnie Faulkner spoke with author and constitutional attorney, John W. Whitehead, the founder of the non-profit civil liberties group The Rutherford Institute based in Charlottesville, Virginia.  Whitehead discussed his book, A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State (2013).  Whitehead also discussed Operation Vigilant Eagle, designed to keep tabs on dissident vets under various pretexts.  Whitehead tells the story of one decorated vet, who was visited by police who arrested and took him in because they were concerned about his political free speech published on his personal Facebook webpage.  Since this Guns and Butter broadcast, Whitehead has published the follow-up book, Battlefield America: The War on the American People (2015).

Whitehead offers a fascinating overview of what celebrity intellectual, linguist, and anarchosyndicalist Noam Chomsky has long described in the USA, as a slow motion creep toward fascism.  Recently, citing the New York University Law Review, he paraphrased law professor Joanna C. Schwartz thusly:  “Police officers are more likely to be struck by lightning than be held financially accountable for their actions.”  (One may read Schwartz’s 121-page article here.)

Bonnie Faulkner’s programme summary describes the topics discussed as including the characteristics of:

“The Corporate State; American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC); Offices of Inspector General (OIG); SWAT Teams; No-Knock Raids; the Schoolhouse to Jailhouse Track; the New York Prototype; MRAPs; Operation Vigilant Eagle; Atlas Four Androids; TSA and VIPR Teams; Google and the NSA; Fusion Centers.”

—Messina

***

GUNS AND BUTTER—[4 JUNE 2014 (Guns and Butter #301)] This is Guns and Butter:

JOHN W. WHITEHEAD:  “I actually had a former NSA agent tell me.  I said: Would you still work for the government?  He didn’t like what the NSA was doing.  And he said:  Yeah.  I said: Is there any branch of the government, that you wouldn’t work for?  And he looked at me and said: Yeah, the Department of Homeland Security, their thugs.”

[SNIP]

[This is a rush transcript. This transcript is currently under construction.]

[SNIP]  (c. 53:50)

BONNIE FAULKNER:  “Now, what are these mobile x-ray scanners.  What’s that?”

WHITEHEAD:  “Those are probably the least invasive, compared to what the drones will do.  But in major cities, they have have vans, that they can go by your home with x-ray scans.  And they can see what you’re doing in your home.  They can see you walking around, what you’re doing.  Supposedly, it’s used for criminals.  But, let’s say you’re driving down the street and you want to see what everybody’s doing, if you’re a policeman.  And I’m sure this happens.  They’ll scan everybody’s home.  That’s collected and fed into the computer.

“The drones in Afghanistan and Iraq are equipped with scanning devices.  So, they will be able to see through your walls into your home.  And you won’t know it, by the way.  Supposedly, they’re developing a proto-type mosquito, which can land on you and extract DNA.  But it will also be able to inject something into you, supposedly, a proto-type.”

BONNIE FAULKNER: “Now, these mobile x-ray scanners, if they’re driving by your house scanning you, does that mean you’re getting radiated?”

WHITEHEAD: “Yeah because–I suppose; I’m not a scientist–how close they are–because I know the airport scanners.  But, yeah, to a certain extent, I would think that would be true, depending on how powerful they are.

“But here’s the thing and, just talking to people in and out of government, who don’t like what’s going on, they’ll talk occasionally.  They’ll say:  The technology the government has, we’re seeing the tip of the iceberg.  We don’t know how deep it goes or how invasive it is.  We do know though, however, with the recent revelations about the NSA that the computers the NSA have are awesome.

“Also, the NSA has the ECHELON programme.  They have bases all over the world.  So, when we talk about electronic concetration camps, Google is just getting ready to launch 180 satellites worldwide, which will hook into the NSA, as well.  If people are trying to esape the United States, if they wanna find you, folks, you can’t do anyting electronic.  You can go live in a cave.  But caves are kind of scarce.”

BONNIE FAULKNER: “You’re saying that Google is gonna launch 180 satellites?”

WHITEHEAD: “They announced it a couple days ago to bring wi-fi to isolated areas.  The problem with it is it creates–they work with the NSA, they admit it.  They work regularly with the NSA.  They work with the NSA.  Google admits it.  It’s a scary scenario because you’re talking about the biggest corporation in the world, essentially Google, working with the biggest spy agency in the world, which is the NSA.

“The NSA has a black-ops budget, by the way.  So, we don’t know how much money they have or who works for them or how many people.  But they have a lot of money.

“Let me go ahead and take it a step further.  I would say:  Entities like the NSA, essentially, run the government.  They would have to because they have so much power.”

BONNIE FAULKNER: “John Whitehead, thank you very much.”

WHITEHEAD: “Thank you, ma’am.  Keep up the good fight.”

Transcript by Messina

***

HUFFINGTON POST—If you can be kicked, punched, tasered, shot, intimidated, harassed, stripped, searched, brutalized, terrorized, wrongfully arrested, and even killed by a police officer, and that officer is never held accountable for violating your rights and his oath of office to serve and protect, never forced to make amends, never told that what he did was wrong, and never made to change his modus operandi, then you don’t live in a constitutional republic.

You live in a police state.

It doesn’t even matter that “crime is at historic lows” and most cities are safer than they have been in generations, for residents and officers alike,” as the New York Times reports.

What matters is whether you’re going to make it through a police confrontation alive and with your health and freedoms intact. For a growing number of Americans, those confrontations do not end well.

Making matters worse, in the cop culture that is America today, the Bill of Rights doesn’t amount to much. Unless, that is, it’s the Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights (LEOBoR), which protects police officers from being subjected to the kinds of debilitating indignities heaped upon the average citizen.

Most Americans, oblivious about their own rights, aren’t even aware that police officers have their own Bill of Rights. Yet at the same time that our own protections against government abuses have been reduced to little more than historic window dressing, police officers accused of a crime are being given special due process rights and privileges not afforded to the average citizen.

In other words, the LEOBor protects police officers from being treated as we are treated during criminal investigations:  questioned unmercifully for hours on end, harassed, harangued, browbeaten, denied food, water and bathroom breaks, subjected to hostile interrogations, and left in the dark about our accusers and any charges and evidence against us.

Learn more from the work of John W. Whitehead at HUFFINGTON POST.

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Learn more, including the full list of 72 Types of Americans Considered ‘Potential Terrorists’, at PBS.

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[1]  Previously archived here:  http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/111987  Unfortunately, many archives at kpfa.org are sometimes, seemingly randomly, taken down or are moved without indicating new web location or links.

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[Last modified 17:55 CDT  19 MAY 2015]

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