Local War on Children Takes Its Toll

U.S.

High school basketballers out of tournament for 'I Can't Breathe' T-shirts

California students' silent protest over police brutality follows those by professional athletes including LeBron James

December 27, 2014 4:10PM ET

A high school basketball tournament on the Northern California coast has become the latest flashpoint in the ongoing protests over police killings of unarmed black men, after a school was disinvited because of concerns its players would wear T-shirts printed with the words "I Can't Breathe" during warm-ups.

The athletic director for Mendocino High School was informed by his counterpart at Fort Bragg High School this week that neither the boys’ nor girls’ teams would be allowed to participate in the three-day tournament hosted by Fort Bragg High starting Monday, Mendocino Unified School District Superintendent Jason Morse said.

The boys were reinstated after all but one player agreed not to wear the shirts inspired by the last words of Eric Garner — the New York man who died after an officer put him in a chokehold — while on the Fort Bragg campus during the Vern Piver Holiday Classic tournament, Morse said. Too few girl players accepted the condition for the team to field a tournament squad, he said.

Click here for more coverage of Flashpoint: Ferguson

Brian Triplett, the athletic director at Fort Bragg High, did not return a call and email seeking comment. Principal Rebecca Walker issued a written statement Friday saying that school administrators respected the Mendocino teams "for paying attention to what is going on in the world around them," and that the T-shirts were being prohibited as a security precaution.

"To protect the safety and well-being of all tournament participants it is necessary to ensure that all political statements and or protests are kept away from this tournament," wrote Walker, who said she was speaking on behalf of the athletic director and the Fort Bragg school superintendent. "We are a small school district that simply does not have the resources to ensure the safety and well-being of our staff, students and guests at the tournament should someone get upset and choose to act out."

Mendocino varsity teams first wore the "I Can't Breathe" T-shirts before a game with Fort Bragg on Dec. 16, according to the girls’ coach, Caedyn Feehan. The girls also wore them before games at two other tournaments and didn't receive any blowback, Feehan said.

"I didn't even know what it meant. I thought it was a joke about how I had conditioned them so hard," Feehan said. "None of the administrators knew what it was or that any of them were doing it in advance. This was entirely for their cause that they had strong feelings about."

Professional basketball players such as LeBron James, Derrick Rose and Kyrie Irving wore "I Can't Breathe" shirtsduring warm-ups this month without repercussions from the NBA. After Kobe Bryant and other Laker player wore them before a game and on the bench on Dec. 9, coach Byron Scott said he viewed it as a matter of "freedom of choice and freedom of speech."

That's how Marc Woods, whose 16-year-old son Connor plans to sit out the tournament, sees it. Connor wore the T-shirt at the Dec. 16 game in the name of team solidarity, but "now that's become a First Amendment violation, that's what he is fired up about," the father said.

Woods, whose father was a California Highway Patrol officer, said he is outraged by what he sees as using intimidation to silence players and fans. Fort Bragg administrators have warned spectators who plan to protest the T-shirt ban that they will be asked to leave, he said.

"It doesn't take a lot to suppress the exchange of ideas when you put fear into it," Woods said.

Both schools are located in Mendocino County — known for redwood forests, rugged coastline and marijuana growing — 120 miles north of San Francisco. The student bodies at the two schools are 1 percent black, 50 percent white and 41 percent Hispanic at Fort Bragg; and 75 percent white and 9 percent Hispanic at Mendocino.

A county sheriff's deputy, Ricky Del Fiorentino, was killed in March by a man suspected of murder and carjacking in Eugene, Oregon. The suspect was killed by a Fort Bragg police officer.

Walker referred to Del Fiorentino's death, saying "We simply feel this issue is too emotionally charged to allow such a demonstration to happen in our tournament and be able to ensure the safety and well-being of all involved."

The Associated Press

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--Joe

Dream On

[UPDATE Below]

Dream On "Send A Message." Meet the Joke called Accountability.

Attorney: Cotton verdict sends message; City: $4.5 million award will not impact general fund

Anyone see the joke?

So who will it "impact"? Will it "impact" the Eureka Police Department? Are these offending officers still working in Eureka on the E.P.D.? How many people were brutally beaten in Eureka during the past ten years, but didn't have the misfortune of dying?

The next time you are confronted by one of these three police officers and you see their name tag, Laird, Winkle or Whitmer, you'd better realize they're no joke.

When you read what Police Chief Murl Harpham has to say about this incident and his defence of his and his officer's continued right to use excessive force anytime they determine some "suspect" is not "compliant" you should clearly understand his definition of and what he means by "tough cop." It certainly doesn't have anything to do with restraining someone for transport. It has everything to do with beating or torturing someone into submission. When the city endows a group of people with that right - a right that puts them totally above the law, with complete impunity, you empower a gang or pack mentality and Cotten was just one of the many  guaranteed casualties. Read the deeper meaning emphasized by what Murl Harpham says as quoted in the Tuesday, September 29, 2011, issue of the Time-Standard. Harpham's defense of this kind of police action makes him and his officers defacto judge, jury and executioners. What he fails to understand is that his attitude in trying to make such a defense is what delegitimizes the justification of his authority and mandates the pack or gang mentality that permeates policing today. As such, they become the law, dictating to everyone what they can and can't do on any given whim.

What impressed me is how candidly Murl Harpham defines the war and simplifies whose lives are most valuable in this community.

The only people that award, if paid, sends a message to are the people that own property and pay taxes in the City of Eureka. Problem is, THEY ARE NOT LISTENING. If they are "hearing the word," they're afraid somone might brand or accuse them of being a "cop hater."

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[UPDATE] Humboldt Herald has some terse and wanting re-write of this matter. He says: Eureka Police lose big in Martin Cotton case – How he comes to that conclusion is a rather dark mystery. Sounds like this blogger's been spending too much time with the people over at the Times-Standard.

--Joe

Police State Example Served Up Locally

This is an update to the following post: Is The U.S. Really A Police State?

Since the 9/11/2001 incident after George W. Bush took control of the United States government this country has sunk deeper into a lawless state of anarchy. The Ruling Elite, a small group of wealthy individuals and corporations encompassing all relevant political parties, has literally trashed the U.S. Constitution. That universal Law is only as good as the people make it. Unfortunately, they've decided the Rule of Man is more to their liking and subsequently have co-opted, corrupted and perverted the Law and the Courts with their arrogant, self-serving lawlessness. Glenn Greewald has a timely article today: Guantanamo death highlights U.S. detention policy - You may think that what happens to a few "rag-head" Arabs that supposedly hate our guts has nothing to do with you or your family and the long-held belief that our home is our castle and we are always safe there, you may want to re-think your beliefs.

Thursday's February 3, 2011, Times-Standard has an extremely revealing expose by Jeffrey Schwartz in the My Word: Up in arms: Search warrant folly. You may think the we are people with certain, guaranteed rights with honorable, decent and just men stationed in high offices to protect those rights. Armed to the teeth, masked gunmen can't just cave your door in sometime in the early morning, shouting police, drag you and your family out of bed, providing you didn't do something stupid, like trying to defend yourself and your family in your own home, on your own property, and get shot dead, or can they. Mr. Schwartz says they not only can, but do on a regular basis right here in Humboldt County.

Today we see people living in the more brutal, domineering totalitarian police states beginning to stand up for their personal and collective rights as equal human beings - both men and women. What's becoming more and more widespread in this country has been going on in these other countries for decades. All with American blessings. Considering the fact that Mr. Schwartz had the courage to write that article, making us all aware of what's going on in our names, tells me we won't wait decades to put a stop to this lawless corruption.

What puts everyone's life, liberty and citizenship in jeopardy is who Mr. Schwartz says is responsible for this, what I consider criminal conduct and perversion of the law, the gutless and sycophantic District Attorney and Superior Court Judges. They legitimize this outlandish police action, what amounts to a pure, raw act of terrorism, without any apparent substantive evidence of probable cause other than someone's unproven accusation. This situation puts everyone under the gun and at risk.

What is to stop anyone, an irate neighbor, a family member or anyone else from calling the police and telling them some wild, unsubstantiated lie about you? Mr. Schwartz says:

But if you own a handgun or rifle, just imagine this: A judge issued a warrant to search your house because someone you know saw you with it and they don't know whether or not you have a license to own it.

Sadly, Jeffrey Schwartz doesn't offer much hope for all of the common, law-abiding people that live in this county, other than to say:

"It remains to be seen if it is OK with the higher courts and juries in civil rights actions against law enforcement officers." [Emphasis added]

 "Higher courts." Our history tells us where that goes. Courts (Judges) protect themselves in these kinds of situation involving police power. And "juries in civil rights actions against law enforcement officer"? The problem is NOT with the "law enforcement officers." It is with the District Attorney and the Superior Court Judges.
For the complete article: Up in arms: Search warrant folly click the link or continue reading.