I attented a rally & press conference held at the Wilson Building last week to protest the killing of DeOnte Rawlings, demand the police officers responsible be held accountable, demand compensation for the Rawlings family, and keep DC from putting AR-15s in the hands of cops on DC streets. The oppressive heat and humidity of this early summer heat wave DC was enduring were nothing compared to the oppressive policies at hand and were not enough to deter a healthy turnout, both from the press and supporters. While we were there, a couple of cops showed up. One of them was the fatass on the segway seen above.
From the announcement:
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Last year 14 year old DeOnte Rawlings was shot in the back of the head by off duty police officers. The officers claimed to have been fired on first but, no gun was recovered and the off duty cops fled the scene after shooting DeOnte down.
Last month all charges were dropped against the officers. The U.S. Attorney's Office announced "that investigators have found no wrongdoing by D.C. police officers."
It was also recently announced that D.C. cops will be issued AR-15 assault riffles. The police department says that officers need to be heavily armed to take on the powerful weaponry they claim is increasingly possessed by criminals.
We say that DeOnte's killers must be fully prosecuted and that plans to arm cops with machine guns must be halted immediately. We also demand compensation for DeOnte's family and a memorial for victims of police murder. Join us for a rally and press conference to shed light on these issues and build momentum against police violence and impunity.
Sponsored by the Black August Planning Organization & the International Socialist Organization
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Naji Muhamid was there representing the Black August Planning Organization and spoke at length about the history of police brutality towards blacks in America and the lack of accountability. Obi Egbuna was there and lay down the fire for Cease Fire. My favorite speaker that day was Matthew Fogg. I first met Matthew at the Whistleblower's Conference hosted by the No Fear Institute where he introduced himself as a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. Right away I felt an afinity for him as a member of LEAP because of the parallel with Iraq Veterans Against the War. We are both people who carried out policies that we are speaking out against now. He was speaking on behalf of the Congress Against Racism & Corruption in Law Enforcement, and as always, did a wonderful job as a police officer speaking critically about law enforcement policies in DC. Here is a video of a speech he gave for the ACLU recently:
