Community forum held on on combating
police brutality
By Liz Allen
Asheville, North Carolina, Apr. 26 (AGR) – A
group of around 30 individuals gathered at the YWCA at 4pm on Saturday,
Apr. 24 for a community forum focused on finding solutions to police
brutality. The group sat in a circle; there was a facilitator and a
note-taker, but no one person or group was responsible for the event.
Racial profiling, use of excessive force, and police accountability
were some of the concerns repeatedly expressed by attendees of the meeting.
A free meal was served and childcare provided.
After a brief introduction of the intent of the event najwa, a community
activist, spoke about what is involved in forming and operating a copwatch
locally, based on information from established copwatches in Texas and
Greenville, NC. The copwatch mission is “non-violent, non-confrontational
community patrols” where “ordinary people observe and record
police activities.” Groups have been successful in keeping police
activity in check as well as getting specific officers fired. Copwatch
groups acknowledge the existence of racism, and aim to end it.
The presentation explained that copwatch groups use a combination of
observation and education. The a model for operating a copwatch group
presented at the forum suggested that members use scanners to find out
where in the area police are being called. Next members go to the area
and announce their presence from a safe distance, and video tape everything.
Najwa suggested having two people to film, one from close in and another
from a further distance who would be filming the whole scene, including
the person doing the close-in video recording. Another member should
also be responsible for writing down names of officers, badge and squad
car numbers, as well as any other relevant details. After police leave
the scene, copwatch participants may hand out “know your rights”
cards. At the end of copwatch shifts participants then regroup and document
and store the information on the incidents observed. Another suggestion
for groups was always to have a lawyer working with the group.
Next on the agenda at the forum was a time for open exchange of experiences
with law enforcement officials. Many stories were reflective of the
tendency in law enforcement to criminalize youth. An recent incident
was reported that took place in the Hillcrest housing projects when
a person banned from Hillcrest was in the area and the police pulled
their guns on the person as well as neighborhood children as young as
six and made them lie on the ground. Another incident reported involved
seven police cars and an undercover cop showing up to when a group of
six 11 and 12 year old children had thrown an egg at a car.
Rebecca Jones, who is 20, said she had just moved out of The Bartlett,
a building run by the Housing Authority, consisting of mostly elderly
people. Jones spoke of an incident where an elderly woman in the building
died after a fire and the television coverage, “instead of saying
we need to learn to take better care of our parents and grandparents,
they focused on the young people.” She said that a police officer,
employed by the Housing Authority as well as the Asheville Police Department
(APD) came to her apartment and displayed “no compassion at all”
when she was seven months pregnant and sick, unable to get out of bed.
She reported that the officer told her to get out of bed and clean and
sweep the apartment herself and that the officer said he would be returning
the next day. Jones said that she complied with the request but lost
her baby due to the extra effort.
Then, within that same week Jones reported that her puppy was taken
and put to sleep for biting a resident. Jones reported that the police
officer that treated her harshly still works in the building and it
makes going to collect her belongings that are still in the apartment
frightening. She said she did return one night briefly to retrieve a
trunk, and her brother who had given her a ride was waiting for her
in a truck in the apartment property. He was arrested for trespassing
“simply because he is a young man, out at two in the morning,”
Jones said.
The Buncombe County Detention Center was another often brought up point.
Finn Finneran, mentioned that prior to coming to the event he spoke
with three men who had been in what they had referred to as “the
rubber room” in the jail where “they [the correction officers]
take you in there and they tell you you’re about to have a good
time and they beat you up.” Leon Lowinger said that the jail recieves
over $100 from the state for each inmate, “The jails are so crowded
and why do you think they’re so crowded? — It’s for money.”
Local media, specifically the Asheville Citizen Times, was criticized
for not reporting or misreporting incidents of excessive force. An immigrant
who was fatally shot seven times in Flat Rock after leaving his girlfriend’s
house, and not understanding orders from police to stop because they
were only given in English, was not reported by the newspaper.
In preparing for the event different neighborhoods where canvassed and
over 1,000 people were spoken with individually. Canvassers reported
discussing with residents the problems of police not showing up when
called into certain neighborhoods and housing projects, police cars
speeding through streets where children are playing. Another canvasser
reported that a lot of things were happening that people were afraid
to talk about and perhaps that is why many people weren’t there.
There was little representation of the neighborhoods canvassed at the
meeting, and two of the only African Americans in the room left early
on in the meeting.
An agenda item was set to discuss how to better connect with communities
that are disporportionatly affected by police brutality because of racism.
Adam McBroom said he worked with Asheville Justice Watch last year and
went to the Shiloh community center to hold some meeting on combating
police brutality. “Basically what these people get is people showing
interest like once a year. I think to make ties we first have to make
an investment.” Fears about acting condescending or patronizing
were also expressed.
The group ended agreeing to continue to meet and work on forming a copwatch,
already it was reported that a video camera is being sent to Asheville
by a man who sued the San Fransisco police department after they knocked
his teeth out and he is now using the money, five years later to buy
video cameras for different cities to do copwatch.
Anti–war demonstration at federal
building
By Liz Allen
Asheville, North Carolina, Apr. 26 (AGR) –
Images of suffering predominated the scene at the Federal Building in
downtown Asheville on Wednesday, Apr. 21. Shortly after 4pm, around
35 people gathered in a line on the sidewalk in front of the building,
facing Patton Ave. In opposition to the occupation of and war on Iraq,
demonstators held original paintings of black, white, and red images
of victims of war in pain. Others held signs with slogans written across
them. Two arrests were made after plastic babies were lit on fire and
burnt in the middle of the intersection of Patton and O’Henry in
front of the building.
Prior to the march, Pieter Wessels, a University of North Carolina Asheville
student, involved with Students for Democracy and Peace, the group that
organized the silent demonstration, commented that he was out there
for the “Symbolic value and in solidarity. Amazing how many cops
are here and there are no protestors here yet.”
At one point eight marked police cars were counted in the area and there
were many uniformed and plainclothes law enforcement officials visibly
patrolling the area, including downtown commander John Kirkpatrick,
who was in uniform and wearing sunglasses.
Demonstrators were asked by a security guard on duty to stay on the
sidewalk and not to get on the property of the federal building because
the last time there was a demonstration at the location, people were
rowdy and the building was graffitied. However, discourse between some
of the protesters and the security guard showed agreement that there
is a legal right to stand on the federal property, as it is paid for
with the public’s tax dollars.
Robert Powell, a retiree who lives in Asheville, carrying a bag that
had a sticker that read “Stop Mad Cowboy Disease,” said he
feels like “right now I don’t think it matters very much,
I don’t think it’s a very big impact, people are not ready
to listen, it may be a few months.”
Many cameras and video cameras were present among the demonstrators.
Among those recording were two students from the University of North
Carolina Charlotte who attended the demonstration as part of an assignment
for a social movements class. One of the students, Allison Frigg said
that she had never been to a protest like this one before. She said
in Charlotte the political climate is “right wing conservative.”
During the protest passing cars honked and gave thumbs up signs. James
Jackson, who works in Asheville said that he agreed with the demonstrators.
“I don’t think Bush should be in office to start with, over
there killing our soldiers, families and he ain’t worried about
it, he just wants them people’s oil. He started what his daddy
couldn’t finish. They are spending so much money over there on
that war and they have a war right here at home — war on drugs,
war on homeless. I’m homeless myself, I live out here in the shelter.”
