BART murder update

[gordonzola]

Hey,

You may have already seen this but if not check it out. BART cops have been more rogue than other cops for a long time now and community activists have been pushing for some kind of oversight for decades. Oversight isn't perfect by any means, but it is certainly better than nothing.

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I know you have heard about the shooting death of Oscar Grant by a BART police officer. Did you know that BART police have been accused of using excessive and unnecessary force in two other shooting deaths in the past? And that BART has resisted creating a civilian oversight board to provide public accountability?

We can do something about that. Click the link below to learn about Assemblymember Tom Ammiano and State Senator Leland Yee's efforts to create a civilian oversight board, and join me, the Courage Campaign and Color of Change in signing a letter in support of their proposed law -- and to demand that they pass the strongest bill possible:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/NeverAgain

The officer who shot and killed Oscar Grant must be held accountable. But that alone will not ensure this never happens to any other BART rider again.

We all need to talk to our family and friends about the importance of bringing accountability to the BART police to ensure this tragedy never happens again.

That is why I am asking you to sign this letter in support of Ammiano and Yee's bill, and help build the progressive movement for justice in California.

Thanks.

Comments

[the-living-end.livejournal.com]

signed! thanks for the link.

[ayun.livejournal.com]

Aw, Tom Ammiano. He's great.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

He is.

[lnghnds.livejournal.com]

How much effect do online petitions have, do you think? Even more than regular petitions they are so easy to have huge numbers of fraudulent respondents that are even harder to validate.

(just to be explicit: Not to at all deny the worthiness of the cause)

[nihilistic-kid.livejournal.com]

This is more of a consciousness-raising tool than an actual petition to demand change explicitly.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

yeah, what Nick said. It's going through the State Senate right now and I'm sure if more specific lobbying needs to get done, there will be a new alert.

something about transit cops

[substitute.livejournal.com]

The only transit cop in history who has not been a waste of space was Walter Matthau's fictional one in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three.

We dissolved ours in L.A. years ago.

Re: something about transit cops

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

I loved that movie. Even great men must urinate..."

[pegsioux.livejournal.com]

I remember back around 1992 (when I was, um...associated with a certain activist group whose name included my favorite tasty baked good), sitting in a meeting with Pat Norman from the SF Police Commission, Van Jones from CopWatch, Tom Ammiano (who'd been kind enough to broker the meet), and a man named Hall. We were trying to talk about how the cops could maybe stop beating the shit out of people of color, queers, and both.

Hall's son had been murdered by the BART police, shot in the back of the head, because he resembled a suspect that stole a walkman on a BART train. He was unarmed. (that story is here: http://www.sfbg.com/entry.php?entry_id=7799)

BART police weren't accountable then, not by a long fucking shot. Jesus god I hope people start holding them accountable now.