You Call THIS Outrage?

This new Blog covers some of the pertinent issues regarding the E.P.D. police killing of 22 year old Thomas McClain in their posting today that is worth sharing here: "GUN OR NO GUN, THAT’S NOT "REALLY" THE ISSUE." [Emphasis mine.]

REALLY? What IS the "issue" then?

Occasionally, these people produce something worthwhile and pertinent, unfortunately they use these occasions to demonstrate the true gutless nature of their deceptive hypocrisy. Sadly these credulous wannabe standard bearers for law and justice, and moral civic good puke out with this closing statement of their position - their issue:

In summary this family was minding their own business, committing no crimes, and on their private property. Tommy McClain then is gunned down by the EPD. 

The bottom line here is there is no justification for the use of deadly force in this incident. This is a textbook wrongful death case. We hope the Federal Government takes a hard look at this civil rights violation. [Emphasis mine.]

 "Wrongful death?" No justification? Then this is murder plain and simple. The E.P.D. knows who shot and killed that boy and the officers should be fired and indicted, if not in jail. These cops broke or violated the law and are criminals. If the police chief refuses to act, then he should be summarily fired too. You want these trigger-happy cops back on the streets of Eureka? If the Tuluwaa Crybabies cannot state these simple truths, then they participate in the pending coverup and whitewash the outrage. "We hope the Federal Government takes a hard look at this civil rights violation" is pure sick bullshit from people that are just as paranoid as the E.P.D. and their bosses.

Here is the rest of their post:

Eureka Police Chief Andy Mills did confirm that “there was a gun recovered. I don’t want to get into where exactly the gun was until I can prove that forensically to my satisfaction…..” 

For the purposes of discussion and debate for this blog post we are going to assume that the Police recovered a gun. 

The point of fact number 1 is that Tommy McClain was on his property and he was 100% within his rights to be in possession of a gun. 

Number 2 the police were not responding to reports of a crime. They were in the area for completely unrelated reasons. So no crime was committed by Tommy or anyone else at that residence. 

Number 3 so far as reported, NO request or command to “drop the weapon” was made. 

Number 4 the family reports that had been celebrating a birthday and consumed alcohol. Again you can be as drunk as you want at your own home, that’s perfectly legal.

What's described here is plain and simple murder. No one needs to be "patient" and "wait for the facts" to know that. The people of Eureka should understand, refuse uphold and enforce accountability to the law and ultimately it is the people of Eureka that will pay the price. These cops will just keep on killing innocent people. WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE? See what I mean, read the comments with care, they'll make you sick.

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[UPDATE on Comments]
The reason why cops have carte blanche immunity in this country and in Humboldt County - Simpleminded people that think and act like Fred. Here is his comment on this TE posting. The simple fact that someone legally has a gun in his or her hand does NOT, nor should it constitute a reasonable threat to a police officer or anyone else. Cops do not legally have the right to kill people because they "feel" threatened or that "their lives are in danger." If so, then they are killing people based upon what they are feeling and thinking and not on what the person is actually doing - their lawless criminal behavior, in this case, literally threatening their lives. The simple possession of a weapon, gun in this case, in your hand, in your belt or holster or standing against the door jam or lying on a table does NOT constitute a de facto threat to anyone, only in the unstable minds of paranoid scared crapless, trigger-happy police officers. Which is exactly what society gets when you do not enforce the law. It's been my experience that they feel threatened and can get really hostile when you simply ask them a question they do not want to answer. Such a reality neutralizes or negates the legal rights of law abiding citizens to posses weapons for any reason, let alone for their legal right to self-defense without putting their lives and family's lives in mortal danger. It was the police officers acting upon their worthless, misguided "beliefs" that has judged them - as it has Fred.

Fred

September 28, 2014
12:45 pm

OPJ wrote, “Obviously the dropped gun isn’t registered to the victim so the victim becomes a felon for carrying an unregistered gun and the shooting becomes justified.”

I believe that’s irrelevant in this instance. The only thing that matters is whether the officers had justification to fire at the guy. They had no idea who owned the gun. A handgun laying on the ground or on a table some feet away wouldn’t qualify as justification, imo, no matter who owned the gun.

Even if the gun turned out to be stolen, it wouldn’t justify a shooting in and of itself.

The point of contention should be, and is, whether he had a gun in his had(sp), or whether the officers had reason to believe he had a gun in his hand, thus feeling their lives were in danger. [Emphasis mine]

--Joe

Where Is the OUTRAGE?

[UPDATE :: EIGHT DAYS NOW & STILL NOTHING!] 
What's the matter with the people in Eureka? Do you not see what you are doing to this community by cowing to this idea that the police have the right, no questions asked? What about the new District Attorney?

I was always proud to be born and raised in Eureka and Humboldt County - Now I'm just ashamed.

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[UPDATE II : Thursday, September 25]
Another blasé statement from the Tuluwa Examiner surfaced this morning. Mostly a political whitewash of the boy's murder. Of interest, among other things, is their suggesting the "need" for a citizen's review board. No suggestion as to how to get one, though. No mention of any concerns for a criminal indictment or anything relevant from the District Attorney's office or why not. Still, worth a read. And don't forget to read the comments. They'll give you a hint why the people of Eureka are not outraged at the threat we are all subjected to if these killers are treated with impunity. It isn't just the wanton killing of the boy that is the crime. As bad as that is, it is the in-your-face threat we are all facing. When some scared shitless paranoid cop sticks a gun in your face the time for talking is over.

By the way, after posting the above Update, I read the North Coast Journal article: "Officer Involved - Inside EPD's Protocol" by Thadeus Greenson. Greenson's articles in the past, as observed here multiple times, were often contradictory and conflicting and always biased for the police. The Tuluwa posting is, either way, pretty much a knockoff of what the Journal said. This idea that these so-called community blogs keep pumping out that we need to be patient for justice is a betrayal of their trust. Justice demands transparency and urgent and timely truth-telling by everyone involved. In a Democracy, the people have legal right to know the truth. Anything else is a coverup and a whitewash. Enforce the law.

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Here it is, four days after the Eureka Police shot and killed 22 year old Thomas McClain, and absolutely NOTHING!

Did Thomas McClain need to be black before anyone gets angry? Are black people the only ones in this country that have a decent heart? Are black people the only ones with any kind of moral clarity? Are black people the only ones with any kind of integrity, and love for the law?

I checked the Times-Standard newspaper and its Letter to the Editors, nothing but nominal bullshit. I checked the local blogs, starting with the wannabe community leader in all things moral and ethical in Eureka, the Tuluwaa Waa Crybaby. Their first blog was a total capitulation. Then today they posted this, MILLS: “THERE WAS A GUN RECOVERED. I DON’T WANT TO GET INTO WHERE……”(TILL WE GET OUR STORY STRAIGHT)

This is how they start the post:

On Wednesday, we urged readers to be cautious before jumping to conclusions regarding the young man who was shot to death by a Eureka Police Officer.  In trying to be fair and objective, we asked readers to wait for more facts before making judgements about the tragedy.  At that time, all we had was a press release which was very short on details.  The release basically stated that the police had been looking for warrant suspects in the area, saw two people arguing, one of which “appeared” to have a gun.  Officers supposedly gave commands, and the victim reached for the apparent gun and was shot to death by an officer.

"All they had was the police press release" which is to say all they had is the POLICE VERSION. This is how they end their article posted today, Saturday, September 20, 2012, four days since the incident:

The fact that a young man was gunned down by police while standing in his own front yard, and that there was no call for the police to be there is nothing less than completely heartbreaking.

While this article: MILLS: “THERE WAS A GUN RECOVERED. I DON’T WANT TO GET INTO WHERE……”(TILL WE GET OUR STORY STRAIGHT) raises some valid points and is well worth reading and our graciously linking it to our blog, there is not a hint of outrage. "Completely heartbreaking" they say? Do they know that considering the points they make that the people of Eureka CANNOT tolerate such a police department! These people are a cancer that physically threatens every living citizen in this town and every other person that comes here to visit.

One more point regarding the Tuluwat Examiner commentary:

The fact that Mills hasn’t disputed the claims about whether the victim was holding a cell phone or a gun is very telling about his leadership, which harkens back to the bad old days of EPD.

Very telling about his "leadership"? What it is telling about" is his capacity to tell the TRUTH. The "bad old days of EPD" has to do with mealy-mouthed, lying and thug bullying by Merl Harpham. That's what Andrew Mills is exposing.

Then there is the Lost Coast Outpost: The Death of Tommy McClain: What Happened in Wednesday's Officer-Involved Shooting by Kym Kemp - NOTHING! No outrage from her. Absolutely PATHETIC. From an informational point of view, well worth reading, though except for this:

A neighbor who wishes to remain anonymous disagreed. In an interview today the individual said, “I did see an object in his hand.” The individual did not want to describe the situation further except to say, “I feel that the level of force used was justified. It was a clear threat to the officer’s life. I feel it was unfortunate. But it was fortunate that no others were injured.”

This person is sick. First, the "anonymous" person's opinion is totally worthless and should NEVER be included as if it has some validity. Second "an object in a person's hand does NOT constitute a "clear threat to the officers (apparently four (4) officers) lives. That person's statement is totally ludicrous and demonstrates Kym Kemp's propensity as an avid apologist; a bigoted and biased supporter of all things police.

All other blogs, not even a mention. Check out the comments section of the different blogs and you won't find any outrage there either.

The lives of the people of Eureka, Kym Kemp lives on Salmon Creek Road in Southern Humboldt, hang on the good wishes of scared shitless paranoid police officer feelings of personal threat. As far as I am concerned every last one of them deserves what they get.

YOUR LIVES ARE IN MORTAL DANGER EVERY DAY AND YOU ARE WAY TO STUPID TO KNOW IT!

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[UPDATE Wednesday, 24, 2014]

Here's a Facebook link I found: Justice For Tommy McClain - A good place for expressing yourself. Unfortunately, their About Page says:

On 9/17/14 at 12:30am a precious life was taken due to a Eureka Police Officer making the wrong call. EPD needs to know they did wrong. RIP Tommy ♥

The emphasis is mine to point out the subtly of buying into the brainwashed propaganda that is a lie. Those officers did NOT make a "wrong call." They did not just do a "wrong," they committed a crime - they shot that boy down like a dog. He was dead no matter what he did. In their minds he was armed with a gun, a gun they say was only verified when they confronted him at the point of a gun and that's all they need to justify their violent confrontation. They made NO "wrong call." Such a confrontation could happen to anyone of us in this town. Time to accept the reality of our situation in this town. Then you can start talking about justice.

--Joe

EPD Kill Another One

[UPDATE Below] [UPDATE II :: Newspaper gets it right - Headline: "MAN SHOT, KILLED BY POLICE OFFICER]
[UPDATE III :: Gun found - Killing justified?]

Both Channel 3 News and the Times-Standard are announcing an EPD Press Release that some guy with a gun was shot and killed Tuesday at about 11 p.m. - Packing a gun in Humboldt County is suicide if the police see you - "fear" being the operable word here. No matter what you do you are a mortal threat to them and they know what to do about that. "As officers gave commands to the man with the gun which was now visible, the subject grabbed for the gun. A Eureka Police officer fired his weapon striking the subject." He merely "grabbed" as averse to "reach"? Did he literally threaten the multiple officers? Like say, have the actual gun in his hand and point it at one of them? Or did he growl at them like a dog?

The tragic reality is that you don't need to be packing a gun to get killed by the police. The only escalation here is what the EPD Officer did: "Fearing the argument was escalating he summoned additional officers who then confronted the man with the gun." Maybe if the officer wasn't scared shitless he would have simply handled that matter as an "argument" and not out of "fear." But then, what's a life worth?

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[UPDATE II :: Additional info at The North Coast Journal]

Officer involved shooting in Eureka : Channel 3 New

Police investigate fatal officer-involved shooting in Eureka

The Times-Standard

POSTED:   09/17/2014 05:10:24 AM PDT6 COMMENTS| UPDATED:   ABOUT 3 HOURS AGO

From a Eureka Police Department press release:

Members of the multi-agency officer involved shooting investigative team are investigating an officer-involved shooting in Eureka.

On Tuesday at about 11 p.m., officers from the Eureka Police Department were in the area of 1600 Allard Street looking for two subjects wanted on felony warrants. A short time later an officer observed two men arguing on 1600 Allard Street. During the argument one of the men appeared have a handgun. Fearing the argument was escalating he summoned additional officers who then confronted the man with the gun.

As officers gave commands to the man with the gun which was now visible, the subject grabbed for the gun. A Eureka Police officer fired his weapon striking the subject. The wounded man was transported to St. Joseph Hospital by paramedics where he was pronounced dead. His name is being withheld pending notification of family members.

The officer's name will be released at a later time. He has been a police officer for 13 years.

Anyone with information about this shooting should call EPD investigators at 707-441-4060.

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[UPDATE]

What two people can get or NOT get from reading the same Press Release. I'm posting this because I want the reader to see why this blogger has NO credibility whatsoever. These people have been mealy-mouthing the new police chief and the EPD ad infinitum ever since they started this blog and now when something really serious and important happens in Eureka involving the EPD, what do they do? They bail out! Like the gutless, chickenshit, hypocrites they've shown themselves to be.

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[UPDATE II: Thursday, September 18, 2014]

Here are three of the latest relevant comments on the above posting - Absolutely PATHETIC! "Wait a little longer before making a statement?" Are they nuts? Their above referenced post IS A STATEMENT! Notably, also joined in that statement is John Chiv. No credibility there,  not now nor in the future.

jchiv
September 17, 2014
5:11 pm
The Tuluwat Examiner and I agree on this one. Great post.

Johnny Maniac
September 18, 2014
8:28 am
I am “chilling”….BUT….I am almost ready to stand in front of the Court House and demand an update. The fact the Police are not providing a factual update is actually giving me the Chills.

tuluwatexaminer
September 18, 2014
9:33 am
We share your frustration, but we are going to wait a little longer before making any statement. [Emphasis mine.]

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 CHILL, TAKE A DEEP BREATH AND DON’T JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS….YET

The Eureka Police Department had an officer involved shooting last night. A person is dead. An officer took a life. The situation is tragic. 

The Examiner Staff would like to urge caution in jumping to conclusions about the shooting. At this point, there aren’t many facts and there won’t be for sometime. Eureka has had it’s share of shootings, and believing the comments section of a blog is not where you’ll get many accurate descriptions of what happened. Not all officer involved shootings are avoidable, but on the same token, some are. 

Let us be patient and see what unfolds surrounding this shooting. Keep in mind that a human being is now dead. Also keep in mind that on Officer, who is also a person, took that life. The Officer will now have to deal with the consequences of having taken a life, even if those consequences are purely psychological.

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[UPDATE II]

The Thursday, September 18, 2014, edition of the Times-Standard says: "Man shot, KILLED BY POLICE OFFICER" - "Killed" for doing what? Committing what crime?

The newspaper reports that an eye witness to the shooting said the person shot was on the phone a minute BEFORE being shot and raised his hands as ordered by the police. Can't very well be "grabbing for a gun" if his hands are in the air. Doesn't sound like this person  was in any kind of personal argument of a nature justifying police intervention or committing any crime justifying a squad of police attacking him for simply packing a gun on private property.

The account of what supposedly happened as published in the press release and what's printed in the newspaper doesn't add up - like normal, when it comes to something like this. The new police chief didn't solve the problem, did he?

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[UPDATE III :: Friday, September 19, 2014]

The North Coast Journal reports as they and the Times-Standard newspaper reports "shooting victim's name": 

Eureka Police Chief Andy Mills said this afternoon that a gun was recovered from the scene of an officer involved shooting that occurred on Allard Avenue early Wednesday morning, and pledged that the ongoing investigation into the fatal shooting will be thorough and objective.

So, the fact that there was a gun at the scene, that justifies the initial police assault? It seems the Chief Andy Mills is piecemealing out the so-called facts that support and justify the killing just like the incident in Ferguson Missouri. He says the investigation will be "thorough and objective." I guess we are expected to take his word on that. But, will it be transparent? 

What I'd like to know, is what crime did Thomas McClain observedly commit that justified a gang of police confronting him at gun point? Why hasn't he given us the shooter's name? Was there more than one shooter?

--Joe

Eureka Police Go After Children

[UPDATE Below :: Local EPD officers too stupid to understand Municipal Code.]

The new police chief works to tighten the screws on his police state policies by attacking our bicycle riding youth.

On Tuesday, September 9, 2014, the Times-Standard headline reports: Chief peddles tougher bike laws - Transportation Safety Commission to hear proposed ordinance.

No riding bicycles on  any sidewalks and increase penalties for disobeying traffic laws while riding a bike is his idea for reducing accidents and to make it more manageable for the police to monitor bike riders. [Emphasis mine.] They might try monitoring stop sign compliance for motor vehicles first. Then when they show us that they can enforce existing laws, maybe there wouldn't be such an issue with bike riders safety.

When the EPD is unable to enforce existing traffic laws, something positive that WOULD reduce traffic accident, this effort is just another ruse to enforce the militarization of "stop and frisk" policing on our youth. The EPD operate right now without any legitimate authority to effect an arrest without first getting the individual to agree by surrendering. Couple that with the fact that they operate in a nearly total state of paranoia, where they are, most of the time, scared crapless.

Considering the danger the average person experiences in any encounter with the police, do you want your young children faced with these kinds of violent confrontations? And it is a violent confrontation when they can confiscate the childs bicycles for not doing what they are told. I don't see the benefit of treating grammar school children as criminals, other than assault their self-worth and legitimate individuality.

When I was a kid my parents lived in the country and came into Eureka once a month for shopping. We always visited my grandparents after they were finished with business. I was eight or nine years old when I found a bicycle in the basement. After that, I spent the rest of those afternoons exploring Eureka. I went everywhere and NEVER worried about doing something that would attract a police officer. I don't ever remember having a bad encounter with a motor vehicle or a pedestrian. That problem only occurred when I graduated to riding motorcycle. Even then I didn't worry that the CHP officer was a scared silly paranoid just jerking me around to make sure I knew my place like they regularly did to the Hell's Angels.

It's a sad day the Eureka Police Chief believes such laws are necessary for the betterment of the City of Eureka. We really need to leave the Islamic State and their way of thinking to their own devises where they originated.

Here are some pro's and con's on bike riding on sidewalks I found with the picture at the Bike to Work Blog.

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[UPDATE Saturday, September 13, 2014]
Apparently, one of those Tuluwaa crybabies attended Police Chief Andy Mills presentation (request) for new law at the Traffic Safety Committee. They have some very interesting and relevant observations, one in particular that caught my eye:

"In his presentation Mills went on to say that the Municipal Code was too complicated for patrol officers to memorize or understand, so the new law regarding outlawing all sidewalk bicycle riding was necessary." [Emphasis mine.]

 If what he said is true, then this is very serious and disturbing. If these cops are too stupid to understand the LAWS (code) they are enforcing then t hey are clearly unfit to be carrying a badge and packing a gun - licensed and authorized to kill civilians. The solution is clear, get rid of the stupid cops, which is probably the most safe and prudent solution, or simply the Municipal Code.

My question, however, is what about the children from 5 to 15? Are they, today, supposed to learn and understand the "Municipal Code" to legally ride bicycles in this city? Yet, I see fathers taking their 6 to 10 year old children out riding bikes, on sidewalks and off; right up the middle of the street in my neighborhood all the time. They are a danger to themselves and to the motor vehicles try to navigate by them.

It seems to me that if the Motor Vehicle Code and the City Municipal Code applies to all bike riders regardless of their age, then underage bike riders are legally prohibited from riding on city streets. What is next, licencing all bike riders whatever their age.

At least someone at the Tuluwat Examiner had the necessary gumption to attend Chief Mills presentation and report on it. Good job. Chief Andrew Mills, apparently in his own words, exposed the sickness infecting the Eureka Police Department. I'd say, once exposed, this sickness infects far more than just the EPD.

--Joe

A Warning - Militarizing the American Police

What you can expect if you can't take a stand for LAW and don't speak out. Henry Siegman's "A Slaughter of Innocents": a Venerable Jewish Voice for Peace, on Gaza expresses my thinking extremely well on Democracy Now, where he identifies the main issue conflicting all humanity, that of "public silence," "allowing evil to prevail"  -- in a Democracy, a disease as deadly and virulent as the Ebola plague.

"I always thought that the important lesson of the Holocaust is not that there is evil, that there are evil people in this world who could do the most unimaginable, unimaginably cruel things. That was not the great lesson of the Holocaust. The great lesson of the Holocaust is that decent, cultured people, people we would otherwise consider good people, can allow such evil to prevail, that the German public—these were not monsters, but it was OK with them that the Nazi machine did what it did. Now I draw no comparisons between the Nazi machine and Israeli policy. And what I resent most deeply is when people say, "How dare you invoke the Nazi experience?" The point isn’t, you know, what exactly they did, but the point is the evidence that they gave that decent people can watch evil and do nothing about it. That is the most important lesson of the Holocaust, not the Hitlers and not the SS, but the public that allowed this to happen. And my deep disappointment is that the Israeli public, precisely because Israel is a democracy and cannot say, "We’re not responsible what our leaders do," that the public puts these people back into office again and again." [Emphasis mine.]

All you get on these blogs are people rehashing their brainwashed propaganda. Or attacking someone with their personal lies and invective. No one stands up for the Law or the truth. And if you dare speak about the evil and the evil incarnates, they enforce their evil upon you with a vengeance. These people are NOT the "decent people" Henry Siegman is talking about. They are the very "Nazi machine and Israeli policy" "monsters" in action.

Well, if what Cosme Caal says below, doesn't scare the hell out of you, nothing will. Personally, I think it is way too late to do anything about what has happened to America. Certainly not any peaceful solution.

The Latin Americanization of U.S. Police Forces

August 27, 2014

by COSME CAAL

Guatemala City.

From Guatemala City I have been keeping up with the events in Ferguson, Missouri and my heart goes out to those United States citizens who are actively resisting a brutal local police state. I sit awake at night and contemplate how one of the greatest nations in the world has become militarized and despotic. Impunity is now normalized in most police departments across the United States and in the minds of many Americans. I did not know I would live to see this phenomenon, yet, the more I peruse online news feeds, the more evident it is to me that Americans, especially minorities, are in great danger of militarized suppression as a matter of state policy.

From our experience in half a century in Latin America I can tell you that, once the human rights of a minority are compromised, it is only a matter of time before they are compromised for an entire nation. From that same experience I can tell you it will take decades before they can be regained. Militarized police forces take on a life of their down, at the expense of the society’s well-being. The social contract that gives the state the duty to organize police forces itself becomes obsolete, almost a joke. Citizens begin to obey agents of the state not out of respect or cooperation, but out of fear of those sworn to protect them. Eventually, the militarized power of the police reaches such magnitude that political leaders lose all ability to rein them in. We experienced this USA-backed militarized transformation of the police in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Chile, and Colombia. What the U.S. helped do to Latin America, it is now doing to itself.

Even when there will officers who want to adhere to the law, militarized policing organizations become an unstoppable and despotic force. The very ideologies that give them life become obsolete, as do all existing laws that protect citizens. Central American dictatorships backed and armed by the United States government in the 1970’s built police forces, outfitted them with military gear, and allowed them to brutalize and kill with impunity. The murder or incarceration of progressive democratic leaders who resisted this transformation was sanctioned by United States intelligence agencies.

I call out to white United States citizens, and those police officers that believe in democracy and the rule of law, to unite with racial minorities who are now being suppressed, and to resist the catastrophic militarization of police forces across the United States. For white Americans to think that their race makes them immune to police brutality is a mistake that cannot be afforded. Central American urban mestizo masses ignored the genocide of hundreds of thousands of indigenous peoples. They saw these massacres as not their problem. Today we all suffer militarized suppression. Racial division was our greatest weakness.

We must not shy away from the reality of a racialized United States of America. We must face our racial diversity, embrace its beauty, and unite as one democratic and leading nation. We are not divided at heart or by nature. Media pundits play with our emotions by telling divisive stories of racial conflict. Recently they have trained many white Americans to fear Central Americans who have courageously made it to our borders, escaping undeclared and unstoppable internal conflicts. These are murderous conflicts born out of the very militarization of Central American nation-states by the United States. In Guatemala alone more than 800,000 citizens have been murdered since the peace accords were signed in 1996, after a thirty-six year internal militarized conflict.

But militarized police are not the only problem. Since the 1980’s, government, from Washington D.C. to the states and cities, has been poisoned with inept and cynical politicians who play a racist card to keep Americans divided. And this is a necessary part of a militarized state equation. In fact, 21st century United States politics follows a developing path in place in much of Latin America for half a century. I call it the Latinamericanization of the United States. This path includes politicians selling society to the highest bidder, eradicating laws that protect civilians against poverty, disease, job insecurity, and police brutality.

In Guatemala, for example, politicians have no economic or politics training, or educational experience to hold powerful and influential government office. Social breakdown is such that the average citizen is in danger of death by warring gangs, extortion mafias, or the police. Politicians have carved out the legislative and executive branches in such a way that the military and the police state serves their safety, and that of their families and friends. The police also guard the great fortunes and economic interests. Everyone else must suffer insecurity, poverty, prison, and sometimes, random death. Protests are now officially terrorist acts. Meanwhile the United States continues to provide weapons and military training to these Guatemalan elites.

We can no longer argue that the United States is a country where civil liberties and human rights are protected. While an elite class remains immune to political and police corruption and militarization, this does not hold truth for the majority.

Part of my family escaped to the United States in the 1980’s. We escaped Guatemala’s poverty, racism, and a raging internal conflict, in hopes of a better life. Our story is not new; it is the same story told millions of times over in the last two centuries by earlier migrants. We ended up in Los Angeles, California. I was blessed with my mother’s support to educate myself while she toiled away in underpaid jobs. That did not matter to her. It did not matter to me. We Mayans have been toiling at staying alive for the last five centuries. We are the continuation of that struggle for survival.

I was taught to love the United States by my teachers, and to work hard to contribute to a nation that held so much promise. I did. With great effort and dedication I became a sociologist and historian. I wanted to understand the social fabric that sustains us as Americans and sustains me as a survivor of genocide.

Although pockmarked with racism, my experience in graduate school was one of support by white professors, fellow graduate students, and my beloved students. I learned to have hope in the white American society. I strove to teach my students to understand and take advantage of their privilege to help us make of the United States a better racial democracy.

But living in South Los Angeles in the last decade also revealed to me the parallels of militarized Latin America to many pockets of the United States, and it gave me front row seat to observe the fast militarization of police departments in the United States. African Americans and Latin@s are on lock down in that part of Los Angeles. LAPD will kill anyone in South LA with impunity. Their impunity is now part of the Californian political structure, just as in Latin America. No overseeing agency, citizen watchdog or Californian political coalition can realistically reform the LAPD. For decades people have been suffering. The LA riots of 1992 were an example of that suffering.

In the Rampart scandal police officers sworn to crack down on gangs became a murderous gang themselves. This is a familiar pattern seen across Latin America, where police forces were encouraged to take on tougher tactics to combat the products of mass poverty and severe inequality. Extortion mafias now have Guatemala and El Salvador societies on their knees. Their militarized police forces are riddled with corruption, ineptitude, and seemingly ubiquitous violence. Violence is everywhere. America seems to be heading this way.

Let us not think we will not experience this in the United States. The footage from Ferguson shows the frightening militarization of police officers, playing war against civil society. They will not stop. The governor of Missouri will not stop them. Perhaps he can’t.

I call out to all white Americans, to unite with suppressed minorities who are incarcerated daily, killed in the streets, and who hold little political power against these militarized police forces. It is in their utmost interest to understand that, just as in Latin America, when the white peoples, the mestizos of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, stood aside as indigenous peoples were massacred, subjugation for all is certain once militarized monsters awaken, learn to walk, and find their own developmental path.

Cosme Caal is a community activist and scholar from the Americas. His interests include political mobilization of Mayans in Guatemala and Los Angeles, and the Pachakutik indigenous political organization in the Andean region.