A new report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) by Richard Rothstein titled The Making of Ferguson: Public Policies at the Root of its Troubles puts some of the recent brouhaha over RhodeMap RI into keen perspective. We all know the story of the police murder of Mike Brown in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, MO, the high profile demonstrations from the black community in response, and the heavy handed, militarized police reaction. The US Department of Justice released a shocking report of systemic racism and economic exploitation of the black citizens of Ferguson, but the report from the EPI provides insight into how a racially segregated, predominantly low income African-American community like Ferguson can develop in the first place.

Rothstein begins by blaming racial prejudice and racist public policy. “No doubt, private prejudice and suburbanites’ desire for homogenous affluent environments contributed to segregation in St. Louis and other metropolitan areas. But these explanations are too partial, and too conveniently excuse public policy from responsibility. A more powerful cause of metropolitan segregation in St. Louis and nationwide has been the explicit intents of federal, state, and local governments to create racially segregated metropolises.”

It’s important to understand that the policies Rothstein exposes in his report are not located only in the immediate area of St. Louis, these policies existed across the nation, and even where such policies no longer officially exist, their effects can still be felt today. These policies, according to Rothstein, include:

• Government subsidies for white suburban developments that excluded blacks, depriving African Americans of the 20th century home-equity driven wealth gains reaped by whites;
• Denial of adequate municipal services in ghettos, leading to slum conditions in black neighborhoods that reinforced whites’ conviction that “blacks” and “slums” were synonymous;
• Boundary, annexation, spot zoning, and municipal incorporation policies designed to remove African Americans from residence near white neighborhoods, or to prevent them from establishing residence near white neighborhoods;
• Urban renewal and redevelopment programs to shift ghetto locations, in the guise of cleaning up those slums.

RhodeMap RI was developed with an understanding of many of the problems Rothstein cites. The public review draft of RhodeMap has a section at the end concentrating on social equity that explicitly called on the plan to “implement a new economic model based on equity, fairness, and opportunity.” It is this part of the plan, the part that seeks to undo the kind of problems that plague communities of color like Ferguson, that seems to most bother RhodeMap opponents.

Rothstein takes a shot at offering possible solutions towards the end of his report, writing, “Many practical programs and regulatory strategies can address problems of Ferguson and similar communities nationwide.” For instance, governments might “require even outer-ring suburbs to repeal zoning ordinances that prohibit construction of housing that lower- or moderate-income residents – white or black – can afford. Going further, we could require every community to permit development of housing to accommodate a ‘fair share’ of its region’s low-income and minority populations…”

• Racial injustice vs. property rights: Ferguson and RhodeMap
• Gary Morse stokes suburban fears with racially charged half truths
• Setting the record straight on RhodeMapRI
• RhodeMapRI opponents fear future plans, affordable housing

Rhode Island has something of a fair share law (as part of the Rhode Island Comprehensive Housing Production and Rehabilitation Act of 2004 and Rhode Island Low and Moderate Income Housing Act (Rhode Island General Laws 45-53)) which sets a 10% goal for each of the state’s cities and town to meet—the goal being that 10% of the units in a town are “affordable.”

Most of the pushback against RhodeMap comes from communities that have very little affordable rental housing and are predominantly White. Legislation to undermine existing laws requiring cities and towns to plan for affordable housing is part of that pushback , such as House Bill 5643, which would “eliminate the mandate requiring cities and towns to include an affordable housing program in their comprehensive plans” or House Bill 5644 which “would remove the mandate requiring cities and towns to include an affordable housing program in their comprehensive plans and would provide an opt-out provision regarding any provision in the state guide plan regarding affordable housing and any related land use provisions” are naked attempts to keep affordable housing, and those who need it, out of their communities.

The legislators who are introducing and supporting the bills are all Republicans, or in one case an “Independent” representing primarily suburban and rural communities like Richmond (Note: part of Rep. Justin Price’s district), West Greenwich (part of Rep. Sherry Robert’s district) Coventry, Hopkinton, Charlestown, Portsmouth, Exeter and East Greenwich. Note that Richmond and West Greenwich have made “no progress” and East Greenwich has made “no significant progress” in meeting the 10% goal.

Undoing the damage of decades of racist housing policy and preventing future Fergusons requires a plan. RhodeMap RI isn’t quite that plan, it’s more a collection of guidelines to help communities develop a plan, but it’s a good step in the right direction. Those opposed to RhodeMap like to put on their “free market” hats and declare that any government intervention into housing is some sort of fascist violation of property rights. However, racially segregated housing is the product of just the kind of government sponsored social engineering that RhodeMap opponents complain of, and many of those opponents have also waged fights to prevent construction of affordable rental units in places such as Barrington and East Greenwich.

To be consistent these defenders of the free market should be calling for a repeal of all zoning restrictions in their communities, but of course they will not. Instead, they will zealously guard the status quo by defending zoning laws that the prevent construction of low income housing too close to their safe suburban enclaves. Opponents of RhodeMap object to being called racists, but when their claims of defending property rights are not equally applied to property owners who want to build affordable housing on their land, what else are we to think?

In my opinion Adele Bourne, speaking in front of the Senate Judiciary committee on behalf of the American Friends Service Committee in opposition to Senator Leo Raptakis‘ bill to make blocking the highway during a political protest a felony, has put the last nail in the coffin of this ill considered legislative overreach.

“I would have a rap sheet a mile long if this were taking place in Webster Groves, Missouri in 1953,” said Bourne, who was a senior in high school at the time, “There were good reasons. I’m not a wild eyed pacifist or liberal but in 1953 in Webster Groves, Missouri, our religious leaders and our wonderful school teacher… black and white, they got us all together, the kids, and we got rid of a corrupt mayor. We opened up a new pool and recreation area, paid for by everybody, used only by whites: we changed that. So when school desegregation came three years later there was no problem whatsoever.”

Bourne spoke directly to the danger of passing laws that run contrary to civil rights, saying, “At the time there were real problems and my ministers and my teachers and I would have been put in jail because we had to cross a highway at one point or another.”

Webster Groves is only 14 miles from Ferguson.

Bourne brought up the case of Father Michael Doyle, a New Jersey priest arrested in 1971 as part of the Camden 28 for breaking into a draft office as part of a protest against the Vietnam War.  “I’m old enough that I have been able to know some of the leading people for political change and social change in this country. That’s one advantage of being so ancient. Father Michael Doyle of Camden, New Jersey would be behind bars under mandatory sentencing.”

Instead, Father Michael Doyle has spent that last four decades, “feeding, housing, and educating the poor.”

It’s important to remember that the people blocking the highways today are the Adele Bournes and Michael Doyles of the future. We cannot let ourselves become so fearful of change that we criminalize our best and brightest.

You can view the rest of last night’s testimony on the Raptakis’ highway bill here.

“Any movement that seeks to establish community control of the police must begin by challenging the legitimacy of the police,” said Glen Ford, journalist and executive editor of the Black Agenda Report and former member of the Black Panthers, “With Ferguson we saw a burgeoning movement that challenged the legitimacy of the system itself.”

Ford was speaking at New Urban Arts in Providence as part of a panel sponsored by End Police Brutality PVD entitled The Struggle for Community Control Past and Present: From the Black Panther Party to Providence Today.  Also on the panel were Monay McNeil, a student at Rhode Island College, Steve Roberts and Servio G., protesters awaiting trial for allegedly blocking the highway during a Black Lives Matter protest last November, Suzette Cook, whose son was allegedly assaulted by members of the Providence Police Department in 2013, Justice, founder of the “Original Men” and Ashanti Alston, black anarchist and former Black Panther.

Over 100 community members were in attendance. My only quibble with the excellent discussion was that the number of panelists meant that some speakers were not afforded the time needed to fully expand upon their ideas. Still, this was a fascinating discussion in which the new movement is seeking to learn from civil rights movements of the past.

Moderator Andrea Sterling loosely set the parameters of the discussion as being about “Black Autonomy” and “Community Liberation.” The panel was concerned with the classic problem all nascent social movements must confront: “Where do we go from here?” The description of the event asserts that “activists must choose whether to challenge the foundations of the system that made Black lives immaterial in the first place, or be sucked into the morass of patchwork reforms that enfeeble the movement while failing to alter relationships of power.”

In other words, does the movement seek to reform or overthrow the system? Most of the panelists seemed to think that there was a need for system change, and that such change will not come easily.

“The system is a very racist system,” said Justice, who spent 10 years in prison, “We have to acknowledge that. The relationship between African Americans and establishment power in this country has always been based on violence.”

Suzette Cook, after outlining some of the circumstances in the beating of her son, agreed, “We are literally in a state of war in our own country.”

“I was a soldier in the Black Liberation Army,” said former Black Panther Ashanti Alston. Things in America are no different “than in Palestine. We’ve got to fight.” Then Alston grew philosophical, “The acceptance of death allows us to live for our highest ideals.”

Servio has been involved in radical movements for a few years, starting with Occupy, but quickly became disillusioned. “I found out that the Occupy movement didn’t care about anyone who wasn’t white.” Still, he is unwavering in his commitment to system change, observing that, “This is a system of power that uses the police to keep us in our place.”

Minor reforms won’t do, in Servio’s opinion, “The change has to be way more fundamental than that.”

Tess Brown-Lavoie

Defense attorney Shannah Kurland announced her intention to appeal the verdict to Superior Court.

The trial lasted about four hours, with the state calling only three witnesses. The key witness was Rhode Island state police officer Franklin Navarro, a ten year veteran who before joining the force was a practicing attorney. Navarro testified that he did not see Brown-Lavoie on the night the highway was blocked until she was already under arrest and placed in the back of a police transport van with the four other individuals. Navarro was able to identify Brown-Lavoie in the videos provided by WPRI-12 and WLVI-6, shot the night of the protest.

Defense attorney Kurland questioned the relevance of Navarro’s testimony. The officer, claimed Kurland, was not testifying exclusively to events he personally witnessed the night of the protest, but also on what he could see in the video that was shot by others while his attention was drawn elsewhere. Judge Jabour initially supported Kurland’s arguments, but then reversed herself as she allowed the prosecutors, assistant attorney general Stephen Regine and attorney Eric Batista, to slowly move through the 20 minutes of video asking Trooper Navarro to narrate what he was seeing, sometimes frame-by-frame.

Navarro scrutinized the video, pointing out figures in the crowd he claimed to be Brown-Lavoie based on her long hair, hoodie, jeans and “teal blue” shirt. The identifications Trooper Navarro made were not apparent to me or to many in the courtroom. Attorney Kurland spent some time pointing out inconsistencies in Navarro’s account, but Judge Jabour ultimately found the trooper’s testimony compelling, and cited Navarro’s testimony in her judgement as the main reason for the guilty verdict.

Navarro’s account

Perhaps the most interesting part of Navarro’s testimony was his description of the events that transpired on the night of the protest. Navarro arrived at the state police barracks on Route 146 in Lincoln just before the call came in about a disturbance on Route 95 near the Washington St. bridge. Four troopers in four cars responded from the barracks, and hit heavy traffic, caused by the protesters blocking the highway, where 146 meets 95.

Navarro testified that he used his lights and sirens to cleave a path through the cars until the road became hopelessly blocked and he was forced to leave his vehicle and walk the remaining 100 feet to the site of the disturbance. Upon arriving at the scene, Navarro noticed orange traffic cones blocking the travel lanes. Navarro met with his commanding officer and then attempted to persuade the protesters to leave the highway verbally. After a “few minutes” the police organized a line and successfully corralled the crowd off the travel lanes and onto the breakdown lane and the embankment.

It was while ordering the crowd up the embankment and over the fence back onto the service road that runs parallel to the highway and alongside the Providence Public Safety Complex that Navarro noted an altercation and noted that his fellow officers were in the process of arresting two black men. Navarro focused on his portion of the crowd, commanding the protesters up the embankment and back over the fence.

After the crowd was cleared and the arrests made, Navarro was then ordered to escort the van back to the state police barracks in Lincoln. It was at this point that he first saw Lavoie-Brown, who was in the van with the others arrested by the state police that night. Navarro escorted Lavoie-Brown and Molly Kitiyakara into the state police barracks for photos and fingerprinting.

Constitutional challenge

Judge Jabour  dealt with a constitutional challenge to the disorderly conduct statute under which Brown-Lavoie was charged. (A copy of the memorandum, filed for another defendant, can be viewed here.) Attorney Kurland maintained in the memorandum that the law as written is vague, in that it states that protests on the highway are illegal, unless part of a legal protest. This leads to ambiguity, as differentiating between legal and illegal protests is not part of the law as written. Jabour rejected this reasoning, saying that the law “was not vague and could not be more specific” in listing the kinds of behavior the law is meant to curtail.

Kurland’s second objection was based on “time, place and manner” restrictions. The #blacklivesmatter in Providence protests were scheduled to occur the day after the grand jury verdict in Ferguson that ultimately brought no charges against Darren Wilson, the officer who shot and killed Michael Brown. Applications to the Rhode Island State Traffic Commission must be turned in 7 days in advance of an event, making timely protests all but impossible, in contravention of first amendment case law. Further, there is no history of a permit to protest on a highway ever being granted in Rhode Island, and there is the question as to whether our constitutional rights should be turned over to an administrative body such as the State Traffic Commission.

Judge Jabour also rejected this reasoning, saying that “laws are presumed constitutional unless the defendant proves [otherwise] beyond a reasonable doubt,” which in Jabour’s opinion, Kurland had failed to do.

Effects on proposed legislation in the General Assembly

Pending appeal, Lavoie-Brown’s conviction seems to demonstrate that new laws making blocking the highway a felony or a misdemeanor separate from disorderly conduct are unnecessary. The state has successfully prosecuted two cases under existing laws, and the penalties, though not as onerous as those suggested by Senator Leo  Raptakis, are within the range being discussed in Representative Dennis Canario’s bill. Passing new laws after defendants have been successfully prosecuted and sentenced to sufficient punishment under existing law would seem to most people to be a waste of time and effort.

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

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.

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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• Video from Friday night’s #ThisStopsToday protest
• Photos from Friday night’s #ThisStopsToday protest

I have footage of all that in another post, but for now, let’s hear from the two speakers who opened the march.

“To say that ‘black lives matter’ seems to be a revolutionary belief in a nation where the possibility that a young black man may have stolen some cigarettes or that some self-appointed watchman was scared enough is enough to justify the murders of black bodies…”

“Why is success being quantified as a simple linear equation, hard work plus motivation equals success? Why do we not consider the other factors like race, gender, class that affect this so-called path? Michael Brown’s mother did everything she could for her son. Together they worked hard tirelessly so that he could have the opportunity to attend college where previously there was none. But in the matter of a few minutes, that did not matter. It didn’t matter that he studied. It didn’t matter that he applied. It didn’t matter that he did the work. In a matter of seconds he was nothing more than a black body…”

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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.

• Photos from Friday night’s #ThisStopsToday protest
• Voices from Friday nights’ #ThisStopsToday protest

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

• Video from Friday night’s #ThisStopsToday protest
• Voices from Friday nights’ #ThisStopsToday protest

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