black lives matter – Page 3

January 23, 2015January 24, 2015

Homeless, civil liberty defenders decry anti-highway blocking bill

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Supporters of civil liberties and marginalized people are criticizing Coventry Sen. Lou Raptakis’ bill that would make it a felony, punishable by at least a year in jail, to block a highway.

Raptakis, a conservative who owns a pizza place in Coventry, submitted the controversial bill yesterday. It is a direct response, he has said, to the highway protests, in Providence and across the country, led by Black Lives Matter activists, who organized to counter racial injustice and police violence against Black people in America.

The bill says: “A person commits the crime of unlawful interference with traffic if he or she intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly: (1) Stands, sits, kneels, or otherwise loiters on any federal or state highway under such circumstances that said conduct could reasonably be construed as interfering with the lawful movement of traffic.” It was co-signed by Senators Frank Lombardo, of Johnston, Frank Lombardi, of Crnaston, Michael McCaffrey, of Warwick, and Paul Jabour, of Providence.

Raptakis’ bill has drawn a sharp rebuke from civil libertarians, homelessness advocates as well as groups promoting an end to racism.

The Rhode Island Homeless Advocacy Project and the RI ACLU released a joint statement yesterday.

“Legislation introduced by Senator Raptakis today, ostensibly to deal with protesters creating a public safety hazard by blocking roadways, is both short-sighted and unnecessary. The bill, S-129, would make it a felony to cause the ‘interruption, obstruction, distraction, or delay of any motorist,’ punishable by between one and three years in prison for a first offense. On its face, this legislation is unnecessary because there are already statutes under which individuals can be charged for this conduct, as happened to several protesters involved in the I-95 demonstration in November.

Apparently feeling that the punishment isn’t severe enough, the Senator would like to give these mostly young people a felony record, potentially impacting severely their future employment, housing and other opportunities for the rest of their lives. The introduction of the bill this week is particularly ironic, considering that we just celebrated the life of Martin Luther King, Jr., whose historic Selma-to-Montgomery march had to have been one of the country’s greatest “obstruction, distraction or delay” of motorists ever. Do we really want to reserve a prison cell for three years to hold his successor?

“The bill also has the potential to curtail the civil liberties not only of lawful protesters but also of individuals experiencing homelessness and living in poverty. The legislation’s broadly-worded and ambiguous language leaves open the possibility that individuals panhandling on sidewalks or medians – a means of survival and a legal exercise of one’s First Amendment rights – could be accused of distracting motorists and jailed under the proposed law.

“Such use of this legislation has negative consequences both for the individual charged and for our state more broadly. To charge an individual attempting to meet his or her basic needs in a legal manner with a felony is both cruel and illogical. Both the court proceedings and the subsequent incarceration of the individual are extremely costly to the state. Furthermore, because of a felony conviction’s impact on employment and housing, the charge could also lengthen bouts of homelessness, which are expensive to taxpayers.

“If Senator Raptakis’ intention is to ensure public safety, this end could better be achieved by fostering constructive dialogue between the police and marginalized communities – whether communities of color protesting unequal treatment or the homeless community securing basic needs – about collaborative solutions to the injustices they face daily. Filling the prisons even more is not the answer.”

January 23, 2015January 23, 2015

Raptakis’ highway blocking bill mars MLK’s legacy

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The movie Selma with its vivid celebration of human courage and dignity, creates poignant and powerful imagery affirming the reason we conmemorate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. How gut-wrenching it was then, to see Dr. King’s holiday marred with a press release by Rhode Island Senator Leonidas Raptakis announcing proposed legislation to charge peaceful protestors, like those who marched along the Edmund Pettus Bridge, with felonies.

Anyone who has watched Henry Hampton’s Eyes on the Prize series, read books like J.L. Chestnut’s Black in Selma, or simply listened to their parents or grandparents tell it, knows that as powerful as the movie Selma was, it only depicts a small slice of the massive grassroots organizing work that went on in Alabama and throughout the Blackbelt. People met, planned, strategized, and analyzed. And people marched. 600 people marched on Bloody Sunday, and at least 25,000 in the final leg into Montgomery on March 24, 1965. Route 80 was merely the terrain in a people’s struggle for justice.

Fifty years later the marching continues so that Black lives will be treated as more than disposable by the system of policing in this country. While being stuck in traffic is a pain, how much greater is the pain of losing a loved one to police violence, and then seeing no repercussions whatsoever for his killer?

Senator Raptakis and other critics of protests that include blocking highways have suddenly become fervent advocates for smooth travel by emergency vehicles. Where is their concern when emergency vehicles are slowed to a crawl during sporting events, construction, or Waterfire? The response of this new cadre of traffic safety advocates is something to the effect of, “Yes, but people going to sporting events or boat shows aren’t blocking traffic on purpose,” as if thinking only of fun and games is somehow morally superior than using desperate means to draw attention to unchecked police racism and violence.

However in a string of cases dating back through the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s, courts, even those in the Deep South, made it clear that “from time time out of mind … [s]uch use of the streets and public places has … been a part of the privileges, immunities, rights, and liberties of citizens.” In 1965, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama addressed the issue of whether people could march along U.S. Highway 80 from Selma to Montgomery. Williams v.

Wallace, 240 F. Supp. 100 (N.D. AL 1965). Hardly a liberal institution, the court held, “it seems basic to our constitutional principles that the extent of the right to assemble, demonstrate and march peaceably along the highways and streets in an orderly manner should be commensurate with the enormity of the wrongs that are being protested and petitioned against.”

The rights protected in these court decisions belong to everyone; consider that disruptive, intentional protest up to and including blocking entrance ramps to Route 95 was part of a mainly white, middle class protest by Credit Union depositors in 1991, as recently reported by The Coalition talk

Fifty years after Bloody Sunday, people still march and sometimes block highways or shut down malls and train stations because Black lives do matter. And as Dr. King said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Yet Senator Raptakis would have us charged with felonies and jailed for up to five years for something that even courts in the segregated south in 1965 recognized as a fundamental constitutional right.

We hope he has a chance to see Selma.

This op/ed was co-signed by:

Shannah Kurland, Member, National Lawyers Guild, Rhode Island Chapter
Fred Ordoñez, Executive Director, Direct Action for Rights and Equality
Sarath Suong, Executive Director, Providence Youth Student Movement

January 21, 2015January 21, 2015

Voices and video from RISD panel on Ferguson

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The panel discussion had an audience of about one hundred people.

Earlier this month more than 100 RISD students and community members gathered at the Canal St. Auditorium for a panel discussion on institutional racism and police violence.

The panelists represented a variety of local organizations. The Providence NAACP was represented by chapter president James Vincent. Panelists (and RISD alumnus) Jess X Chen and Jonathan Key co-founded the Artists Against Police Violence collective. Steven Roberts (a RIC alumnus) helped to create End Police Brutality PVD (which organized the Nov. 25th #IndictAmerica and the Dec. 5th #ThisEndsToday marches). Finally, Yelitsa Jean-Charles (a student) and Normand Gamache (director of public safety) represented RISD.

Organizations represented at the panel include the NAACP Providence Branch, Artists Against Police Violence, and End Police Brutality PVD

Opening Remarks were presented by RISD Director of Residential Life Kevin Forti and RISD President Rosanne Somerson. Forti’s introduction provided a brief history of Black and White race relations in America, connecting the killings (and subsequent non-indictments) of Michael Brown and Eric Garner with the advances and setbacks faced by the Black community following the end of the Civil Rights movement. Forti contrasted the election of President Barack Obama with Florida’s controversial “Stand Your Ground” laws, the repeal of sections of the Voting Rights Act, and the pronounced economic inequality resulting in high rates of poverty and unemployment in the Black community.

President Somerson recognized the historical importance of artists in defining revolutions and movements. She recognized that visual art has the capability to express concepts that may be difficult to articulate otherwise. Somerson’s remarks reminded the audience that RISD values social justice, and implored the audience to be proactive agents of change.

The panel discussion began by relating key issues specific to the Ferguson case with larger social trends. Providence NAACP chapter president James Vincent was the first to answer, describing the racial disparity between the Black community and a mostly White police force. Michael Brown’s representation as a “thug” was used to justify the use of lethal force against an unarmed man. The use of “thug” to describe Brown is particularly dangerous, as it is based upon racial profiling of Black men as dangerous, and is used to justify officer-involved shootings of unarmed suspects. Normand Gamache drew upon his experience in law enforcement to state that the Ferguson police department was not acting properly as it failed to properly engage the community.

Yelitsa Jean-Charles described the lack of accountability for police departments. Part of the lack of accountability includes recognition of implicit biases, which are split-second, subconscious judgments made without conscious input. Implicit racial bias, historically measured by a race-specific version of the Implicit Association Test (IAT), could explain the increased rate of officer-involved shootings of unarmed Black victims. Administration of the IAT to officers could gather more information on implicit biases present in the active duty police force.

Steven Roberts, of End Police Brutality PVD and the Providence 7.

Finally, Steven Roberts described the historical role of police forces in anti-Black violence. Roberts mentioned the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which required law enforcement officers across the country to re-capture anyone suspected of being a slave. Captured individuals would be returned to the alleged owner without a jury trial, with a sworn statement of ownership being sufficient proof in some cases. Officers were legally obligated to return any suspected fugitive slaves, setting the ground for a system of racial profiling by law enforcement officers.

Artists Against Police Violence co-facilitator Jonathan Key speaks.

The next set of questions related the topics of institutional racism to the art world, and RISD students’ future role as image-makers. Key and Chen both described the problems they encountered as artists of color. Chen described the difficulties showing works in a White-dominated environment – the majority of her peers could not relate to the experiences that the piece described, and she did not feel comfortable sharing in this environment. Key described how artwork from the perspective of people of color, or artwork that addressed White supremacy was not taken seriously. White art directors would ask him if he could do art that “wasn’t about race”, which devalued his voice as a Black artist.

December 29, 2014December 29, 2014

PVD7: Interview with Ferguson protester CBattle

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CBattle, as he has asked to be called for this interview, is originally from Florida, but currently resides near the Providence area. He works with youth in Providence, and on November 25th was one of seven people arrested for allegedly engaging in disorderly conduct on the highway during a Ferguson protest.

CBattle was kind enough to answer some questions for RI Future, the second in a series of interviews I’m working on with the PVD7. You can read the first interview with Tess Brown-Lavoie here.

RI Future: Why were you at the protest?

CBattle: My purpose for protesting is doing my civic duty to address the adversities and oppressions in society. In this particular instance justice has not been served, rather, unlawfulness is being justified, and its implications have a direct effect in the living of my people, all people. We are taught to police ourselves, because of the fear their actions have instilled into our conscious. These actions stem from a profile that is based on us, a target that has been placed on us and a stigma that has been cultivated since the time of America’s forefathers. The time has come for that conditioning to end.

RI Future: What motivates you?

CBattle: My motivation is the vision of a more progressive, productive, and self sustaining society. Too much we depend on the vehicles around us, waiting for the arbitrary to come and deliver us from our doom. Our deliverance starts with us. In my opinion we must refine ourselves first, in order that we may prepare for a society without chaos, one that is not reactionary but stationary.

RI Future: What kind of history/education/experiences have you had that brought you out to the march/rally?

CBattle: I was raised in the deep south, where such issues are about as frequent as the newspaper delivery. That alone has served as a constant reminder that oppression is relevant no matter how far north you travel. Of the murders that do get reported, there are still countless others that go unrecognized. I have two nephews aged 17, and they could easily be victims we are discussing, but before it hits home, before it hits me, I am doing my due diligence to see this come to an end.

RI Future: Where do you see this issue going? Do you hope for any political solutions to this?

CBattle: I would like to see this issue continue to resonate with the people, so that we may all collectively wake up and see what’s happening to us. Some Americans have highlighted some of the criminal action that victims of police brutality have engaged in, and to that point I would say what is the driving force for such actions? Why do young black and brown males turn to drugs or crime as a means of survival? Why is poverty only relegated to one section of our cities? Why does legal segregation still exist through zoning laws? These cycles have been perpetuated for far too long and who’s answering for the epidemic of drugs? Gun usage? The answer is not another dead piece of evidence. I am faithful the people will continue to provide the fire for these hot water topics, invigorate the call for social change. Our government can invoke any law or statute, but it is our responsibility to demonstrate humanity.We too, require a stable and equal plain to do so.

Here’s CBattle speaking at the forum, Racism, State Oppression, and the Black Community Ferguson Beyond on December 20th:

Steve Alquist is profiling people arrested at the November 25 BlackLivesMatter march that temporarily closed down Interstate 95 in Providence. Read the other interviews here:

Interview with Ferguson protester Tess Brown-Lavioe

December 16, 2014December 17, 2014

Video: New voices at the State Police community outreach forum

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Last night’s “New Beginnings Community Outreach Forum: A Follow-Up to the Ferguson Decision” at the South Providence Recreation Center was an attempt by the RI State Police and the Providence Police Department to reach out and establish a dialog with community groups in the wake of protests held here in response to racial profiling and the events in Ferguson and Long Island.

The last time I covered an event like this, in October, the Providence Police Department was introducing 53 new police officers to the public, and about 60 members of the community attended. That event was pointed at times, but cordial. This time, at least four times as many community members were in attendance, with representatives from at least 15 community organizations, and the “dialog” was heated, exposing not only the rift between community and police, but the fractures in the community itself.

The younger attendees not only had words for the police, but seemed dissatisfied with their community leadership. There is a call for new solutions: some radical, like the abolition of police departments all together, and some moderate, like the abolition of the police officer’s bill of rights in concert with an empowered citizens review board. One idea not discussed was the use of police body cameras, an issue that seemed so hot a month ago, but since the non-indictment of the police officers who killed Eric Garner, whose death was caught on video, police body cameras seem kind of pointless.

For the most part, rather than a dialog, those in attendance were treated to a series of monologs. Community members and police seemed to be speaking at each other, declaring grievances or defending policies. During the program, and for a short time afterward, I saw actual conversations occurring between the community and the police, but these were smaller one-on-one interactions.

Providence Police Chief, Colonel Hugh Clements, while defending his police force overall, acknowledged that things sometimes go wrong, and several times used the phrase, “Can we do better? Yes we can.” Colonel Steven G. O’Donnel represented the RI State Police.

In selecting the videos below, I tried to highlight voices I hadn’t heard before.

“I don’t see it as policing, I see it as the criminalization of communities… It’s not you personally, you guys as human beings, it’s the racist institution of the police that’s built upon this racist state, the United States of America. Built upon genocide, built upon slavery of all our ancestors, black and brown people here in this room, and so you guys are just a manifestation of that racism…”

“My question is about community policing. My understanding is that we do not currently have a model of community policing…”

“When I asked all the officers, and this was about 67 new recruits, about seven of them were from Providence. The rest are from other parts of the [state]. And I said, ‘Why do you guys all want to come work for Providence?’ and all their [answers] was, “Because that’s where all the action is.'”

“What do I tell my black students, my Latino students… when they get to class late… not just driving, but walking…” because the police have pulled them over for no reason.

“I think just today I was reading an article about people of color being pulled over much more frequently than people who are not of color, people who are white…”

“Of the 52 new recruits, how many were Southeast Asians?”

“I believe there were two.”

“Are you sure they were Southeast Asians?”

“I’m not positive. I’m not prepared to answer that.”

“I get stopped all the time by the troopers… More than three times they’ve tried to open the car and get into the car without a warrant..”

“Most media here is white. There’s no media representing us. No media. And I’m going to say that because watch when people report out, it is not going to come out like it’s supposed to come out…”

“They put me on the ground, in my driveway, with my children looking out of the window, this was in 2010, telling me that I did not live here, ‘you cannot afford to live here’…”

“I remember when I was about 5,6,7,8 years old and the Providence Police Department, you guys used to do that Bike Safety Drive… and I remember thinking that the police officers were on our side, and that you guys cared for us… so, at what age does a young person of color have to be for you guys to stop caring about us?”

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December 15, 2014December 15, 2014

Providence Police recorded local Ferguson protests

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The whole world was watching. And when #BlackLivesMatter solidarity demonstrators gathered in downtown Providence, the Providence police were taping. Officer Ron Pino filmed throughout the event on Friday, December 5, sometimes from within the march itself.

“He is videotaping the protest in the event we need it for evidence,” said Providence Public Safety spokeswoman Lindsay Lague.

According to Lague, “both protests were filmed by a uniformed Providence Police Officer” including the November 25th march which resulted in six arrests. At the Dec. 5 action, Officer Pino was not wearing a badge.

Officer Ron Pino videotapes protesters rallying at the Central High School parking lot.

Prior to the march, organizers expressed concerns that the Providence Police department would use facial recognition software to identify and track individuals involved with the movement. The group used social media outlets to spread these concerns to attendees. After the event, Lague said, “The PPD [Providence Police Department] does not use facial recognition technology at all at this time.”

Officer Ron Pino videotapes the marchers blocking traffic and staging a die-in at Westminster and Empire.

Providence Public Safety Commissioner Steven Paré was also present within the march itself. Commissioner Paré was in frequent contact via hand-held radio and cellular telephone, though a spokesperson declined to comment on Commissioner Paré’s exact role during the march.

Providence Public Safety Comissioner Steven Pare coordinates police response from within the march.

December 11, 2014December 12, 2014

State Police to host Ferguson forum in South Providence

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The Rhode Island State Police are hosting in South Providence on Monday night what a press release called a ““New Beginnings Community Outreach Forum: A Follow-Up to the Ferguson Decision.”

According to the press release, “The forum will address the recent issues surrounding the grand jury decisions in Ferguson, Missouri and New York City and the impact it has made on law enforcement and the communities they serve.”

The forum is Monday, December 15, 2014 8:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at South Providence Recreation Center 674 Prairie Ave. in Providence.

The press release says the forum is “in partnership with Project Night Vision, the Center for Southeast Asians, the Hispanic Ministerial Association of Rhode Island, the NAACP, the Multi-Cultural Center for All, the Mount Hope Neighborhood Association, the Chad Brown Alumni Association, the African Alliance, the Institute for the Study and Practice of Non-Violence, and other community groups.”

Jim Vincent, president of the Providence chapter of the NAACP, said the forum will be beneficial for both residents and police officer.

“The people in South Providence, they don’t know the police,” Vincent said. “And for too many people, they don’t trust the police. They see them as occupiers. We want the police in our communities, we need them in our neighborhoods. But we don’t need to feel in fear of them, we don’t need to feel threatened. It’s counter-productive.”

Vincent said local law enforcement has, by and large, done a decent job handling the recent unrest in Providence. But he was critical of Providence Public Safety’s decision to publicly reprimand a Black firefighter for showing support for protesters and publicly exonerating a White police officer for using a skateboard to pin down a Black suspect. He said those two actions drew an unfortunate picture.

December 11, 2014December 11, 2014

Black business group says RI violates minority contractor law

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New development on I-195 lands, as well as other public construction projects, violate a state law if 10 percent of a project aren’t awarded to minority business enterprises, said Lisa Ranglin, president of the Rhode Island Black Business Association.

“There is a law on the books,” Ranglin said. “Put it in the contracts, or it’s meaningless.”

Ranglin and the RIBBA say the I-195 Commission is neglecting to enforce a 1986 law as it moves forward with selling state land to private contractors for redevelopment. “RIBBA is putting together a team of professionals, business experts and local contractors committed to full enforcement of the MBE 10% set aside within this project to be developed by PPC Land Ventures,” according to a press release from the RIBBA.

A state law dictates that minority-owned businesses are to be awarded 10 percent of the value of public construction projects and procurements, Ranglin said.

RI law 37-14.1, passed in 1986, reads, “Minority business enterprises shall be included in all procurements and construction projects under this chapter and shall be awarded a minimum of ten percent (10%) of the dollar value of the entire procurement or project. The director of the department of administration is further authorized to establish by rules and regulation formulas for giving minority business enterprises a preference in contract and subcontract awards.”

The law has been systematically ignored over the years, said Ranglin.

Dyana Koelsch, a paid spokeswoman for the I-195 project, could not be reached for comment (updated below). But on Twitter yesterday she said Ranglin made a “good point” about the 10 percent minority business enterprise law. Here’s the exchange between Koelsch and Ranglin:

@LisaRanglin @JournalKate @projo Looks like you got some bad info Lisa. No PLA in P&S. In fact P&S specifically encourages MBE/WBE

— DyanaKoelsch (@DyanaK) December 10, 2014

@DyanaK @JournalKate @projo Key word "encourages", where is the enforcement? RI law on the books since 1986 for 10%, it never worked.

— Lisa Ranglin (@LisaRanglin) December 10, 2014

@LisaRanglin Good point. Only taking issue with the "blocking" language and the PLA assertion in your release

— DyanaKoelsch (@DyanaK) December 10, 2014

Ranglin said the RIBBA decided at a strategy meeting on Saturday to force the state and the I-195 Commission to enforce the law. “The strategy meeting on Saturday is the start of a new day,” Ranglin said in a press release. “For black and minority contractors, the existing legislatively approved 10% set aside for minority and women contractors has proven to be almost meaningless in practice.”

Ranglin, in an interview with RI Future, said the RIBBA is working with NAACP legal experts om how to force the state to comply with the law.

“We’re going to be out there in full force to make sure our community is thriving,” she told RI Future. “People in under-served communities, are stories are never told because we’re not powerful.”

But, she added, “We’re on the right side of the law here. It’s right there in black and white.”

Attorney General Peter Kilmartin’s office was contacted for an opinion on whether the I-195 Commission needs to comply with this law. The Secretary of State office’s and the city of Providence have also been asked for data on historical compliance. This post will be updated if and when they respond.

UPDATE: Dyana Koelsch sent this statement on behalf of the I-195 Commission:

The 195 Redevelopment Commission explicitly encourages the participation of MBE/WBE firms in the development of The LINK. This is reflected in the Purchase and Sale Agreement with Lincoln/ Phoenix Properties and its affiliate firm, “Friendship & Clifford” which is the developer of Parcel 28.

The Commission welcomes an open and productive dialogue with the Rhode Island Black Business Association regarding its concerns. By way of a correction and clarification, the RIBBA incorrectly stated the P&S includes a Project Labor Agreement. It does not. The P&S, which is public record, does include specific language on the utilization of MBE/WBE resources, firms and employees. The text of Paragraph 13 from the P&S is included below:

PURCHASER’S AGREEMENT REGARDING CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF PROJECT.

Purchaser agrees in connection with the development and construction of the Project that it will endeavor to employ and source from Rhode Island-based firms and employees to the extent reasonably possible. Purchaser also agrees that it will use its best efforts to employ minority- and women-owned firms and contractors to the extent reasonably possible and to encourage any contractors or subcontractors to do the same. Purchaser will register job vacancies as it deems appropriate with the City of Providence Department of Economic Development for inclusion in their First Source database and further agrees to use its best efforts to fill job vacancies with minority and women candidates from the First Source List. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Purchaser shall comply with the provisions of each and every term of the Tax Stabilization Agreement with respect to employment of Rhode Island residents, minorities and women.

December 9, 2014December 10, 2014

Protesters’ lawyer wants state trooper call tapes

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Shanna Kurland, the lawyer for five of the six people arrested November 25th for allegedly trespassing on the highway during a Ferguson protest here in Providence, asked for time to interview, “hundreds of witnesses” and view “countless hours of video” at the pretrial meeting held in district court before Judge Christine Jabour this morning.

Molly Kitiyakara, 19, Tess Brown-Lavoie, 25, Steven Roberts, 23, Larry Miller, 29 and Cameron Battle, 28 arrived in the courtroom at 9am and sat quietly as the court systematically processed other cases before finally calling each defendant separately before the judge.

The defendants and the state have not made any progress in resolving the case, Kurland told Judge Jabour. She requested all state police call recordings made before and during the arrests as part of the discovery.

The sixth person arrested the night of the protests. Servio Gomez, 23, faces more serious charges of assault, resisting arrest and the malicious damage of property. He is being tried separately.

Kurland is also a defendant in a recently-filed ACLU complaint against Providence police for violating protesters First Amendment rights by moving them away from a political event at a public park.

Judge Jabour has set the date for the next pretrial hearing for January 6, 2015.

Click here for much more on the Ferguson-related protests in Providence.

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December 6, 2014December 9, 2014

Video from Friday night’s #ThisStopsToday protest

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Friday night’s #ThisStopsToday march through downtown Providence was filled with excitement and drama.

The march and rally was held to draw attention to the violence against black and brown persons being perpetrated across the country by police departments that routinely engage in racial profiling and police brutality. Many see the problem as systemic, that is, racism is cooked into policing so completely that you can’t have one without the other.

So protesters took to the streets of Providence, and at one point made an abortive attempt to shut down the highway as they did on November 25th. Though it has been reported elsewhere that the Providence Police and the State Police repelled the protesters, in truth it was the protesters themselves that prevented the shutdown. The video below is from two cameras, the first by me, the second by Adam Miner. You will see some protesters jump the fence, but many in the crowd call them back, saying, “It’s too soon!” and “the energy isn’t right.” By the time the police arrive, the protesters are already working their way back to the fence.

The first of the two “Die-Ins” was staged at the corner of Empire St and Washington, near Trinity Rep. The two videos below are the same event from two cameras. The second camera was operated by Adam Miner.

More dramatic was the second Die-In at the corner of Memorial Blvd and Francis St, in front of the highway on-ramp near the Providence Place Mall. Here the protesters lay on the ground, thumping their chests to the rhythm of a heartbeat.

“That’s a heartbeat,” said an organizer, “something we have the privilege of hearing. Other people don’t.”

After the second Die-In the protesters attempted to enter the Providence Place Mall. This is when the Providence Police became physical, strong arming the protesters out the door and physically preventing their entry. This might have been the most fraught moment of the evening, from my perspective.

A lot has been said about the irresponsibility of the protesters in blocking the roads, or blocking the highways in regards to delaying or preventing ambulances from being able to respond to emergencies. Last night the protesters encountered an ambulance, and their reaction is worth noting:

By now I’ve spoken to several people who were on the highway on November 25th. They tell me that when the police first arrived on the scene the protesters tried to negotiate an open lane for emergency vehicles, but the police refused to negotiate.

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December 6, 2014December 9, 2014

Photos from Friday night’s #ThisStopsToday protest

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Protesters took to the streets of Providence Friday night in an entirely peaceful #ThisStopsToday march through downtown. Here are some photos from the event.

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December 5, 2014December 6, 2014

PVD police officer pinned protester down with skateboard

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Providence police officer Robert Heaton was cleared of excessive forces allegations stemming from the arrest, pictured above, of Steven Roberts on Nov. 25 when #BlackLivesMatter protesters were blocking I-95 in Providence, according to Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare.

“He assisted in using force necessary to effectuate the arrest,” Pare said. “There were 4/5 police officers that were needed to subdue this protester. The actions of these police officers were lawful and appropriate. We reviewed the video and photograph and use of force reports and concluded proper force was used in this circumstance by the Providence Police Officers.”

Jim Vincent, director of the Providence branch of the NAACP is calling for a full investigation. “To just make a snap judgement that it wasn’t excessive force, I don’t know how you make that judgment,” Vincent told ABC6.

Steven Roberts, the man being arrested in the photo was quoted in a Nov. 26 Providence Journal story on the protest and arrests. “Just because Providence police aren’t out there actively killing young black folk and young brown folk, they are part of an overall system that does,” he was quoted in the Providence Journal as saying. “We wanted to protest against that. We wanted to disrupt the traffic just to show that.”

The picture spread on social media and was first seen on Tumblr, an important tool for Ferguson activists across the nation. ABC6 was the first traditional media outlet to publish the photo. The Providence Journal published online the police response to the photo without publishing the photo.

ABC6 – Providence, RI and New Bedford, MA News, Weather

December 5, 2014December 5, 2014

A sit down with firefighter Khari O’Connor

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Khari O’Connor was two weeks shy of 10 years old in 1997 when his 17-year-old brother, Malik, was shot and killed in a drive by shooting. Khari remembers hearing the voices screaming for his parents on the answering machine in his home that night. He was too young to understand everything that was going on, but he knew something had gone wrong. Malik and two friends were sitting in a car when the bullets struck. Malik’s friend was hit 10 times, and lived. Malik was hit once, and died.

Years later, as Khari stood inside the Providence Public Safety Complex watching the Providence Ferguson Protests, activists chanting, “All Black Lives Matter” stirred thoughts of his brother. The activists had been burning an American Flag, but the fire was all but out when Khari noticed a sign, held by a protester that said, “Equality.” Almost unbidden, Khari’s arm rose in solidarity with the ideas of equality and the importance of black lives.

I caught Khari’s act on video, it was brought to the attention of Providence Public Safety Superintendent Steven Paré, and now Khari faces official censure from the Providence Fire Department for the vague reason of “not being neutral.” Khari feels that if he accepts the punishment being meted out by Paré, he’s essentially admitting to raising his fist in support of the flag burning.

Worse, despite Khari’s anonymity being protected by Paré and department brass, his name has been spread all over the comments by anonymous trolls who have a lot of inside information about Khari and his position on the force. Rather than admit to something he did not do and suffer the rumors and innuendo that will inevitably follow him in his firefighting career, Khari has decided to fight.

Khari looks young, but he’s 27 years old, lean, easy going and soft spoken. He’s a good looking man, and radiates sincerity.

“I would never desecrate my country’s flag,” says Khari, “I would never support that.”

Khari comes from a family of veterans. His father and his uncle were both Marines, and both earned Purple Hearts in the Vietnam War. His grandfather servedin the Army in WWII, and one of his two older brothers was a Marine. “There’s been an American Flag in front of my house for over 20 years,” say Khari proudly.

Khari’s father confirms it. “You can ask any of our neighbors,” he says, “It’s been there forever.”

Khari can name almost all the houses on his parent’s street where veterans live. One of his high school friends lost his legs in Iraq. For Khari to support the burning of an American Flag is unthinkable.

“It’s preposterous. That’s not who I am. I was raised by a moral family.”

Malik’s death was the reason Khari joined the Fire Department. “I applied so I could help someone in [Malik’s] position,” says Khari, “To give back to him in a spiritual way…”

Malik has inspired Khari in other ways as well. When Malik died, Khari discovered the music cassettes his brother had left behind. With the greatest of care Khari would listen to his brother’s music, and learn about the artists from his brother’s magazines.

This love of music led Khari to his other career as DJ Knockout (Knockout, or K.O., are Khari O’Connor’s initials.) As DJ Knockout, Khari has hosted a radio show on WBRU Sundays for almost a year now.

Khari feels that the judgment by the Fire Department to censure him was rushed. “I didn’t do anything wrong,” says Khari.

Some community leaders and activists agree. At the “March 4 Khari” rally held Thursday night outside the Providence Public Safety Complex, Ray Watson implied bias when he asked the crowd “How many times have we complained about misconduct on behalf of law enforcement officials and we ain’t never seen a reaction as swift as we’re seeing with [Khari].”

A woman speaking at the rally pointed out that the police officers working on the night Khari raised his fist “didn’t agree with our message and had no problem showing it. They were yawning, they were laughing, they were texting, they were taking pictures- They did not take any of this seriously.

“When they say that Khari, standing in solidarity with his people, incited violence and incited a crowd that was going to uncontrollable, that’s a lie,” the woman continued, “What incited violence was that police officer that pushed that brother down with his own skateboard.”

Shortly after our interview, Khari was due at work for 4:30pm. An interview he had done with Channel 6 news was due to air at 5pm, and there was a rally in support of Khari scheduled to march on the Providence Public Safety Complex scheduled for 5:30pm. I wondered how all this was going to affect his job.

Khari didn’t know.

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December 4, 2014December 4, 2014

Jorge Elorza on #BlackLivesMatter movement

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The lack of police officer indictments in the deaths of Michael Brown, in Ferguson, and Eric Garner, in New York, continue to inspire protests in Rhode Island and across the country.

In Providence, where a firefighter showed solidarity with the protesters, Mayor-elect Jorge Elorza emailed the below statement to RI Future:

The events in Ferguson and Staten Island were tragic, and my heart goes out to the families of Michael Brown and Eric Garner and the entire communities that surround them. I understand the grief and concern that so many in our city and country are feeling in the wake of these decisions. As Mayor, I am committed to doing everything in my power to ensure that each of our residents is treated fairly under the law, and I will work every day to strengthen and rebuild the trust between the community and the police.

Tomorrow night in downtown Providence, the city holds its annual tree-lighting ceremony near Burnside Park at 6pm. At the same time, there is a protest action planned to begin at Central High School.

December 3, 2014December 3, 2014

PVD Police Dept.: one of least racially representative in the country

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A lot of American cities have police departments that don’t proportionally represent the racial mix of residents. And Providence is one of the worst.

According to data provided by the office of the Public Safety Commissioner, the 444-officer Providence Police Department is 76.3 percent White, 11.7 percent Hispanic, 9.0 percent Black, 2.7 percent Asian or Pacific Islander, and 0.2 percent American Indian. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city as a whole is 37.8 percent White, 38.3 percent Hispanic, 16.1 percent Black, 6.5 percent Asian or Pacific Islander, and 1.4 percent American Indian.

That means the white portion of the PPD is 38.6 percentage points overrepresentative of the city as a whole, while the Hispanic portion is 26.5 percentage points underrepresentative, the black portion is 7.1 points underrepresentative, the Asian/P.I. portion is 3.8 points underrepresentative, and the American Indian portion is 1.2 points underrepresentative.

These numbers seem vaguely interesting without context, but in the context of other cities, they’re far more troublesome.

On October 1, data journalism blog FiveThirtyEight.com published an analysis of the 75 largest municipal police forces in the country. Providence has approximately the 90th-most officers in the country, so was not included in that analysis. The main thrust of that analysis was examining the effectiveness of residency requirements (tldr?: They actually correlate with worse representativeness). However, there is an excellent visualization putting all 75 departments side by side, ranked in order of how racially misrepresentative they are of their cities. I highly recommend checking it out.

So Providence wasn’t included in that analysis, and there are about 15 other departments that also weren’t included and have bigger departments than we do. But how do we compare to the 75 cities included in the analysis?

Only three of the cities FiveThirtyEight looked at have police departments worse at representing their communities than Providence. So that’s a problem.

In a statement, Providence Public Safety Commissioner Steven Paré said, “Recruiting a diverse workforce is always a priority. We hired two recruit classes for the PFD and one recruit class for the PPD. It was one of the most diverse classes we’ve had in our history. Our goal is to mirror the community we serve. The challenge is to reach out to the available workforce in the region and recruit the best candidates.”

The new class of 53 police officers was the most diverse in 20 years, with 9 Hispanic recruits and 13 other minorities. But the class itself overrepresented white Providence by 20%, and barely budged the underrepresentation of Latinos.

When it comes to recruiting new and diverse officers, Paré said he’s “battl[ing] the perception that you need to have a connection to become a police officer,” he said. “It exists in the profession.” He acknowledged the fire department “can do a better job…recruiting more women. It is always difficult to get women interested in the fire services because of the physical demands that is required.” (What, because women have trouble doing physical work? *facepalm*)

Importantly, Paré welcomes ideas from the community. “We have invited community stakeholders to become part of the process for their input, ideas and recommendations to improve how we hire police and fire,” he said. “They have been critical partners in these last 3 training academies.”

There’s racial misrepresentation to address in Providence Public Safety, but with willing leadership and the active participation of community groups, maybe we can solve the problem together.

November 26, 2014January 26, 2015

VIDEO: Providence Ferguson protesters block I-95

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This is my take. I was there, this is what I heard and saw, but there were hundreds of perspectives at last night’s Ferguson Rally in Providence, so don’t think of mine as definitive. I’ll do more than one piece on this, but I think it makes sense to start near the end, with the protesters jumping over the fence and descending onto the highway, Route 95, where the protesters blocked southbound traffic for about twenty minutes.

After a long march, we found ourselves at the Providence Public Safety Complex, where police officers blocked the entrance, and the protesters proceeded to demonstrate outside. After doing chalk outlines on the pavement like those drawn around murder victims, and after burning an American Flag, (which would surely have been the most controversial moment of the night, had the protesters not taken the highway) there was a small moment of silence as the protesters tried to reach consensus as to what to do next.

Someone said, “We could block the highway.” It sounded like an afterthought.

The statement electrified the crowd.

Almost immediately the crowd dispersed, and a significant number of them, between 100 and 150 by my count, crossed the street towards the highway, jumped the fence, and descended onto the highway en masse.

I might have followed, but I was burdened with a backpack, a video camera on a tripod, and a still camera around my neck. Also, I wasn’t entirely sure I could climb back.

I saw the protesters successfully block southbound traffic, and watched as they attempted to block northbound traffic as well. A state police car appeared almost immediately, and as more and more troopers arrived, they managed to keep the north bound lane clear. I watched from a patch of grass that runs along the outside of the fenced highway, about the width of a sidewalk.

A police officer unsuccessfully tried to tell those on the legal side of the fence that they had to move away, but I held my place, because I was trying to get the incident on video. I was warned several times that I would be arrested if I stayed where I was, but I was breaking no laws. (and was not arrested.)

Down below, on the highway, the protesters were confronting the police. I was told the following by a person who was down there, a white male:

“It was crazy. There were like five of us, three white guys and two black guys. The police, when they came at us, went right after the black guys. They weren’t interested in me at all, and I was right there.”

The police started to make arrests. I’m not sure what the criteria for who was arrested and who was not. I saw at least two people being arrested, but I was constantly being jostled by fence hoppers (now passing both ways) and being pushed from behind by police officers attempting to clear the fence, so I apologize for the shaky footage.

Soon the police corralled the protesters off the highway and then shouted and yelled for them to get on the other side of the fence or be arrested. The police officers were either very angry or pretending to be. There was only a certain speed at which that many people could hop over a fence, and screams and threats were not going to make it go any faster.

After the highway was cleared, I learned that six people had been arrested – four by state troopers and two by Providence police. One young man wearing a white hoodie, was pointed out by the police, who proceeded to surround and restrain him, over the protests of the crowd. The officers put the young man into the back of a police cruiser, but the opposite window of the cruiser was rolled down, so the man jumped through the window and made a run for it.

Here are my photos:

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