Community activists make demands at stop police brutality rally relative to 137 shots deadly shooting by Cleveland police of unarmed Blacks Malissa Williams and Tim Russell
EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio-Greater
Cleveland community
activists, other community members and police brutality victims
families members gathered for a rally on July 1, 2014 in
the parking lot at Heritage Middle School at
14410 Terrace Road in East Cleveland where a deadly shooting
occurred the night of November 29, 2012 following a police
car chase that began in downtown Cleveland and ended in
neighboring East Cleveland. The purpose, in part, is to highlight
police brutality issues and to make the following demands as to
the 137 bullets fatal shooting by 13 non- Black Cleveland police
officers of unarmed Blacks Malissa Williams, 30, and Tim
Russell, 43, at Heritage Middle School that dark night in November:
-That
another Cuyahoga County Grand Jury convene, as is done with Black
people when a previous grand jury fails to indict, since the
previous grand jury failed to indict 12 of the 13 police officers
that did the shooting on criminal charges following the prejudicial
influence by Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty.
(Note: This grand jury should proceed independent of any prejudicial
influence by Tim McGinty, who recommended to
the previous grand jury and others that the 12 Cleveland cops at
issue go
free, after allegedly promising Cleveland Police Union President
Jeffrey Follmer to protect police union members involved
in the unprecedented shooting)
-That
U.S. District Attorney Steve Dettelbach
push for federal Civil Rights and other charges similar to
the Rodney King case against the
13 police officers
that did the shooting and collectively fired the 137 shots that
killed Malissa and Tim, and the six police supervisors,
five sergeants and one lieutenant, and
none of whom are Black, involved in the tragic shooting.
-That
the 13 Cleveland police officers that did the shooting, including
Michael Brelo, who faces two counts of voluntary manslaughter for
jumping aboard the hood of Russell's 1979 Chevy Malibu and firing 49
shots through the windshield, and the six police supervisors, who
are charged with misdemeanor dereliction of duty, be
immediately fired by Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and the
city of Cleveland for violating a host of city and police policies
and due to the killings
themselves as
well as the negligence and malfeasance around the killings
-That
the grand jury process be examined by state lawmakers and
others for
potential changes in public policy or state law, including amending
the state law and precluding Ohio common pleas judges from choosing
the county grand jury foremen to manipulate the process and possibly
influence the outcome in a case that could subsequently end up
before the judge that has handpicked the grand jury foreman (Note:
Currently the state law at issue, under Ohio Revised Code Chapter
2939, permits either the grand jury itself or a common pleas judge
to choose the grand jury foreman in Ohio)
-That the U.S. Department of Justice act upon its findings relative to the majority White Cleveland Police Department, including the need for more diversity among supervisors and the top brass, the community complaints against police that are getting ignored and deemed frivolous when they have merit, and that the entire police department needs to be overhauled to deal with documented systemic problems detrimental to the larger Cleveland community and the Black community in particular. (Note:The city of Cleveland is a majority Black major American city).
-That the U.S. Department of Justice act upon its findings relative to the majority White Cleveland Police Department, including the need for more diversity among supervisors and the top brass, the community complaints against police that are getting ignored and deemed frivolous when they have merit, and that the entire police department needs to be overhauled to deal with documented systemic problems detrimental to the larger Cleveland community and the Black community in particular. (Note:The city of Cleveland is a majority Black major American city).
-That
the Cleveland Chapter NAACP, under the leadership of President
The Reverend Hilton
Smith, other Civil Rights organizations such as the Urban League, and the
Ohio ACLU, other community groups, Black clergy, and politicians,
both Black, White and other, join community activists and police
brutality victims families and sign on as to the
aforementioned demands and relative to the call for justice for
Malissa Williams and Tim Russell, and all like them that are subject
to police brutality and excessive force
Activists groups include Black on Black Crime, Peace in the Hood, The Carl Stokes Brigade, The Imperial Women Coalition, Stop Targeting Ohio's Poor, The Oppressed People's Nation, The Cleveland Chapter of the New Black Panther Party, The Greater Cleveland Immigrant Support Network, Sister to Sister, The Task Force for Community Mobilization, The People's Forum, Survivors/Victims of Tragedy, The Joaquin Hicks Real People's Movement, People for the Imperial Act, The Women's Federation, and Revolution Books.
For
more information call rally organizers of Greater
Cleveland Immigrant Support Network President Don Bryant at
(216) 772-6788, and Imperial Women Coalition Leader Kathy
Wray Coleman at (216) 659-0473.
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