A Call for the End of Anti-Abortion Terror in Philadelphia

From PhillyIMC - access the original here

Anti-abortion Terrorism Can Be Prevented
by Cyril Mychalejko | 06.20.2009

The assassination of Dr. George Tiller last month by anti-abortion extremist Scott Roeder set off a fiery debate about the potential culpability of the anti-choice movement and whether this heinous act could have been prevented.

This is an uncomfortable conversation to have. It's a conversation that will offend some people. But it is one we must continue to have in order to ensure that we create the conditions that will inhibit similar violent acts from happening in the future.

In March 2005 the The Congressional Quarterly (CQ) published an article about how the Department of Homeland Security under President George W. Bush refused to list right-wing domestic terrorist groups, such as the anti-abortion group Army of God, on a list of threats to our nation's security. Back in 1993 Army of God member Rachelle "Shelley" Shannon shot Dr. Tiller twice in an unsuccessful assassination attempt. The group's website currently has statements approving of the recent murder on its George Tiller "Baby Killer" link page.

“If for some reason the government no longer considers them a threat, I think they will regret that,” Mike German, a 16-year undercover agent for the FBI who spent most of his career infiltrating radical right-wing groups told CQ.

We now know that German's words were prophetic. Rather than using federal and state law enforcement agencies to spy on or infiltrate anti-war Quakers in Florida and anti-death penalty activists in Baltimore, President Bush should have committed his resources on domestic terrorists committed to violence - not pacifists. Hopefully Republicans and conservatives who didn't learn the lesson then, and who just a few months ago scoffed at and criticized the recent Homeland Security report "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment," will finally face the facts and put the public's interests over narrow ideological ones.

Now one might accuse me of using an extremist organization or individual to tar an entire movement. But more "mainstream" anti-abortion advocates such as Fox's Bill O'Reilly, who repeatedly told viewers that Tiller is running a "death mill" and compared him to a Nazi, and former Senator Rick Santorum, who writing in The Philadelphia Inquirer accused President Obama of "infanticide" and of "justifying the killing of newborn babies," use the same imagery and demagoguery as The Army of God terrorists.

While reigning in irresponsible and incendiary hate speech is one step that the "Pro-Life" movement needs to take, and calling for and supporting the monitoring and investigation of right-wing terrorists and terrorist groups, the government needs to enforce the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE Act.

Returning to ideologically driven policy, according to journalist Daphne Eviatar writing in The Washington Independent, "under the Bush administration, criminal enforcement of the federal law designed to protect abortion providers and clinics had declined by more than 75 percent over the last eight years."

Tiller's alleged killer, Scott Roeder, was actually videotaped vandalizing a clinic both a week and day before the murder. The FBI was informed, but Roeder was never picked up. This reveals an institutional bias that abortion providers face - something that effects local and national law enforcement agencies.

“Often local police won’t enforce the local laws against trespassing,” Cathleen Mahoney, the former federal prosecutor, told Eviatar. “It’s politically charged and local police want to stay out of it.”

I hope that Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey will make our city the gold standard when it comes to enforcing the FACE Act. They should both read these words that President Bill Clinton spoke when he signed the FACE Act into law in 1994:

“No person seeking medical care, no physician providing that care should have to endure harassments or threats or obstruction or intimidation or even murder from vigilantes who take the law into their own hands because they think they know what the law ought to be.”

Police brutality in Philadelphia

Protest says police killed dozens of unarmed Black men

By Betsey Piette
Philadelphia


Over 50 protesters braved stormy weather and a reign of terror on April 20 to gather outside the headquarters of the Fraternal Order of Police and take a stand against police brutality in the Black community. Rally organizers charged that in the Philadelphia area 36 unarmed Black men were killed by police between May 2008 and April 2009.

Initiated by the African American Freedom and Reconstruction League, the demonstrations denounced the bigotry, bias and racist murders that have been committed by the Philadelphia Police Department.

Leon Williams, speaking on behalf of AAFRL, said, “We have a situation where none of us are safe in Philadelphia. We need accountability. Mayor [Michael] Nutter is not doing anything. Police Commissioner [Charles] Ramsey is not doing anything. The police Internal Affairs are not doing anything. The only way things will change is when citizens stand up and be vigilant. Let’s get rid of the corrupt, abusive police and do it now.”

Several speakers denounced the FOP’s attack on Craig Washington, an African-American municipal judge who in February asked police to remove photos and flowers left in memory of a slain police officer from his courtroom in the 35th District police headquarters, which serves as an official courtroom for preliminary hearings. When the police officers denied his request to remove the items, Washington turned a picture over on his own “to avoid any appearance of bias in this courtroom.”

The FOP sought Washington’s transfer and is now conducting a campaign to vote him out of office in November. Referring to a large banner reading “Dump Judge Craig Washington” that adorned the outside of the FOP building, AAFRL spokesperson Brother Robert denounced this campaign. “The FOP is a disgrace to have the audacity to try to trash a judge for being principled,” he said. “But what do you expect from an organization which has all kinds of corrupt police, white and Black?

“Internal Affairs is like the fox guarding the hen house,” he continued. “They need to be investigated. The FOP is racist to the core. Let a police officer in Philadelphia stub his toe and the city comes to a standstill. They allow drugs and guns to flow freely into our communities. They do nothing about it.” Brother Robert continued, “The police have been given license to kill.”

Legislative Black Caucus calls for investigation

A growing number of community leaders, including state legislators, are calling for an investigation to address allegations of police misconduct and abuse. The Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus joined this call in the aftermath of an incident involving State Rep. Jewell Williams.

Williams, who is Black, was driving in his North Philadelphia neighborhood on March 28 when he observed two police officers frisking an elderly Black man. He started to intervene out of concern over how the officers were treating the man. When Williams got out of his car to ask if everything was okay, the police officer replied, “Get the f**k back in your car before I give you a bunch of tickets.”

Williams identified himself, asked to speak with the officer’s supervisor, and was subsequently handcuffed. Both officers involved in the incident, members of the Narcotics Strike Force, had been named in earlier cases of police brutality and excessive use of force.

The calls for an investigation have been sparked by other allegations of racism by officers, including a report by a Temple University student who allegedly heard one officer refer to residents in his North Philadelphia precinct as “animals.”

Speakers at the rally talked about Williams’ arrest, and noted that not even Black politicians or Black police are safe. “The FOP is organized crime,” Pam Africa of International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal told the gathering. “They have organized media. They have organized courts. These are our children they are beating down, our children they are killing.

“Our children can’t stand on the corner because the police allow drugs in our neighborhoods. They know who brings drugs in and they protect them,” said Africa.

Shahrazad Ali, mother of an 8-year-old and an adult son, described her constant concern that her sons could be shot or locked up. “Mayor Nutter has given police the political right to come up against us,” Ali said, referring to Nutter’s “stop and frisk” policy, which gives police license to stop anyone on the streets at anytime. The program is allegedly designed to stem the number of murders in the city.

“Black people don’t make the guns and bullets,” Ali noted. “They come from outside our community.”

Police brutality victim Abdul Jon described being beaten by police inside City Hall with a baseball bat in 1981. He spent five days in the hospital and five months in jail before going to court, where a judge described the beating as “insignificant.” Jon said, “We’re suffering under a state of police tyranny. They’re about terrorizing us. It’s not just an issue of brutality.”

Articles copyright 1995-2009 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.

Philadelphia Cop Not Allowed to Wear a Headscarf

Found here

By STEPHEN ZOOK
Philadelphia Daily News

zooks@phillynews.com

A Muslim woman who works as a Philadelphia Police officer Wednesday lost her court fight to be allowed to wear her head scarf while on duty.

The Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that granting Kimberlie Webb an exception to a regulation banning religious symbols while in uniform would impose an "undue hardship" on the city of Philadelphia.

Webb, a Philadelphia cop since 1995, requested permission in February 2003 to wear her head scarf while on duty. She was denied that permission, and filed complaints with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

In August 2003, Webb showed up to work wearing her head scarf. When she refused to remove it, she was sent home. This was repeated on two additional days.

"There is a history of allowing palms in police cars on Palm Sunday," said Jeffrey Pollock, Webb's lawyer. "[Washington,] D.C., New York City and Chicago all allow officers to wear religious symbols.

"Why can't the Philadelphia Police make the exception?"

In October 2005, Webb brought a lawsuit against the city, claiming religious and sex discrimination.

The court's opinion said that "uniform requirements are crucial to the safety of officers (so that the public will be able to identify officers as genuine, based on their uniform appearance)."

The appeals court also declined to consider Constitutional issues brought up by Pollock. Those issues were not raised at trial, so the court did not have to consider them, according to the opinion of the three-judge panel.

A lower court already had ruled that the city would suffer undue hardship if it were required to accommodate Webb's request.

"I respect [the judges], but I'm obviously disappointed," Pollock said.

Pollock said that no decision has been made about whether to appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Continuing struggles..

There's new technology for policing the border apparently - people can be minutemen now from the comfort of their living rooms. For the full article on NPR click here

Texas sheriffs have erected a series of surveillance cameras along the Rio Grande and connected them to the Internet.

Thousands of people are now virtual Border Patrol agents — and they're on the lookout for drug smugglers and illegal immigrants.

On Blueservo's Web site, each camera focuses on an area that's known for illegal crossing. Next to a real-time view of a grassy meadow is the message: "Look for individuals on foot carrying backpacks." A shot of a border highway says, "If you see movement from the right to the left, please report this activity."

When a citizen spots suspicious activity, they click a button on the Web site and write a report. That message goes to the corresponding sheriff's office. The sheriff may handle the problem or call the U.S. Border Patrol.

To date, more than 43,000 people have logged on and become, as the Web site calls them, "virtual Texas deputies."

But resistance to the military/prison industrial complex lives on.

PhillyIMC reports that:

On Monday, February 16th, a diverse group of 30 anti-war and peace activists occupied the Army Experience Center at the Franklin Mills Mall in Northeast Philadelphia for about ten minutes. Activists had taped signs to their chests that read WAR IS NOT A GAME. Upon the arrival of two officers from the Philadelphia police civil affairs unit, the activists who had been holding freeze positions left the Center. A press release was read to the retired Army civilian director of the Center and two Army officer connected with it. For the full story read here

It's time for change - I'm feeling optimistic

In these most desperate of times change may be coming.

Attempts to control youth are failing!! Twelve young people in Mass juvenile prisons may be liberated after the Supreme Judicial Court "struck down a law that allowed the state to keep juvenile offenders in custody for three years after they turned 18, if officials believed they would be "physically dangerous to the public.'"(read more here)
Also, even though youth curfews exist in neighboring cities and towns, a youth curfew has been overturned in Oakland after massive resistance to the mass criminalization of young people. (News report here)

AND KIDS WILL GET HEALTHCARE!! And President Obama signed the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act, expanding the SCHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Program ) health insurance program for children of low-income families and enabling states to provide an additional 4 million children with health insurance.

Senate: Yea-66, Nay-32

House: Yea-290, Nay-135

The bill awaits the president's signature.

In Philadelphia, public schools are considering a new "turnaround” strategy for "chronically underperforming schools, one based on Chicago’s controversial Renaissance 2010 project that closes existing schools and opens new ones under a different management structure." A big part of this proposal involves charter schools which are controversial, but it COULD provide immediate relief to some of the least-resourced schools in the country.
From "The Notebook:

At the proposed “contract schools,” outside managers would have more independence than the private managers currently operating schools under the District’s existing “diverse provider” model – they would be able to employ their own staff, for example.

In addition, some schools – to be called “innovation schools” – would be reconstituted from the ground up with new teachers and leadership, but managed by the District with union teachers.

“Performance schools” would not be reconstituted with new personnel, but like the others would be given more “autonomy” over school management in exchange for “greater accountability."
Complete article here

Women in Iran are protesting for rights and what makes me excited is that this is not imposed from a foreign organization but rather from "the people" themselves:
"Women’s rights advocates say Iranian women are displaying a growing determination to achieve equal status in this conservative Muslim theocracy, where male supremacy is still enscribed in the legal code. One in five marriages now end in divorce, according to government data, a fourfold increase in the past 15 years." (Full NYT article here)

The Obama administration named three people to posts in its intergovernmental affairs office on Friday, including Jodi Archambault Gillette, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. The Lakota woman will serve as a deputy associate director in an office that functions as a mediator between the administration and state, tribal and local governments. This is a huge step and the highest position a Native person has held in the U.S. Details here

The Migration Policy Institute’s published a list of 36 recommendations for the Obama administration on immigration. These changes include reassessing the border fence, and ending the criminal prosecution of undocumented immigrants. The hope is that this would give the federal government a chance to look at the actual effectiveness of its enforcement mechanisms. .

From Racewire:
That pragmatism would be a great improvement over the ideologically-driven measures that immigration restrictionists have successfully pushed for the last eight years. The country could stop wasting both resources and human rights credentials in silly projects that distract us from focusing on more serious problems, like human trafficking and terrorism.

The report also recommends a number of changes that would bring due process to the immigration system, including steps that prevent indefinite, unlawful and unsafe detention of migrants. These are mostly administrative, bureaucratic changes, but they will provide relief to real human beings who are now having their border communities torn up by fence construction, being separated from their families, rounded up in raids, and held in detention centers where people are dying. One of the things we should assess is how much these practices generate racial profiling.

[...]

It’s unlikely that the Obama Administration, with enforcement-oriented Janet Napolitano at the helm of Homeland Security, will adopt most of them unless they hear from the call from US residents who aren’t ideologically tied to pushing out immigrants. Conservatives say that they only oppose undocumented immigration, but people on both sides of the debate know that the line between those with papers and without is very thin, that families and communities hold both, and that policies directed at undocumented immigrants inevitably affect the documented too.

LINK to the full RaceWire article

Boston cops may have escorted two gay porn stars to a nightclub - I'm skeptical but if so this might have beeen the most radical police action ... ever? Read about it here

AND MEXICO CITY'S MAYOR IS GIVING OUT VIAGRA TO 'POOR MEN' AGE 60 AND ABOVE. NYT Article here

Mumia update

From Philly IMC

On Friday, Dec. 19, 2008, death-row journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal filed his appeal to the US Supreme Court, asking it to consider his case for a new guilt-phase trial. One month before, the Philadelphia DA filed its separate appeal to the court asking to have Abu-Jamal executed without a new sentencing-phase trial. Both are appealing the March 27, 2008 rulings by the US Third Circuit Court.

For more links, videos, photos, etc. go here or go to Abu-Jamal News

In this holiday season of thanks and light, let us remember everyone who is incarcerated and everyone whose loved ones are locked up.