Execution by a lack of compassion

I read that a 7 year old child died Wednesday while in custody of Border Patrol.....a 7 year old. The girl and her father had apparently been detained by Border Patrol 8 hours prior for "illegally" crossing the border. She and a group of 163 refugees from Guatemala had arrived at the border Dec. 6. They approached agents and simply turned themselves in, there was no violence, they didn't angrily demand entry, they just turned themselves in with the hopes that they would be given the opportunity to become citizens here. These people flee the desperate conditions they live in in their home countries, countries that ironically enough had events transpire in them that was spurred by our country, and several decades later the result has been economic and social conditions so horrid that millions every year flee their countries to escape the suffering.

This poor child died from a combination of shock and dehydration, and had been in custody for at least 6 hours prior to her death. It was learned the she had not eaten or had water to drink for several days, which begs the question were these people even offered anything? Are they simply being rounded up like cattle and locked away? How desperate are these people that they willingly travel thousands of miles, at times without food or water for potentially days? They're willing to sacrifice their lives for a better life for themselves and their children here. Just as any one of us who is a parent desires better than what we had for our children, they desire the exact same. The striking difference is that they've become so desperate from suffering in their home countries that they're willing to risk everything they love and hold dear.

A child...just a year younger than my older daughter, a year older than my younger. I can't imagine the pain felt by her father let alone imagine his pain if that's his only child. The main reason he risked everything is now gone, it's heartbreaking to me, and I don't know of any person who has the slightest inkling of compassion that wouldn't feel the same. Has the light that was a beacon of hope for the tired, poor, and huddled masses faded?

Richard Trotsky

Problems in the Halls of Justice

America has a justice problem and we all know about it.

First there is your social class. Face it, rich people are treated much differently and better than the (ever disappearing) middle class and poor. Money talks, so to speak.

Then there is race. There is no argument here that white people are treated differently than everyone else. Asians might get treated better than Hispanics. And everyone gets treated better than African Americans. Jim Crow still exists in the hall of justice, or injustice as the case may be.

Then there is next divider: Gender. Males are treated differently than females and LGBTQ individuals.

Police are sworn to protect and serve. Nice half a sentence. Whom are they supposed to be protecting?

In the case of India Cummings, it seems to be themselves. We are how many months after her death and only now is there being an autopsy on her body. And at that, they are bringing in the coroner from Rochester, NY to do the autopsy because Buffalo and Erie County seem to be drowning in opioid deaths.

Seriously? They have to do a full blown autopsy to determine if an opioid killed someone? I have a student that is in jail and the night he was apprehended after a lengthly police chase (in car and on foot) they determined (by blood test) that he was high on marijuana and that he had been drinking alcohol. Now, why can't the coroner's office do a blood test to see if opioids are in the blood stream and ask the police if fowl play is suspected? Just my rant for a little common sense. Either that or cut some salaries in government offices and hire a few more coroners.

And the Buffalo News reports today (June 16 2016) that prisoners asked the police officer on duty to get India some medical treatment because (in their words) “she needed it.” The officer responded that he “knew how to do his [expletive deleted] job.”

And we still don't know how much of India's incarceration is on video or how many witnesses there are to what happened to her.

Smells like a cover up to me.

Some one is trying to hide something.

Shaun Porter may have benefited from what happened to India. Because of all the negative publicity, press, and protests a lieutenant on duty took action the night Shaun was assaulted while in police custody and he received the appropriate medical care.

Furthermore, charges are pending against the officer that assaulted him and two other officers are on unpaid administrative leave for not intervening when they saw Shaun being mistreated.

A federal prosecutor, William Hochol, is investigating the case and there is a chance that Shaun Porter may see some justice because of what happened to him. The officer that assaulted him could see up to ten years in prison. The two other officers should face some sort of discipline. (I hope.)

The sad part is all three officers are white and I'm not holding my breath for any sort of a long sentence.

The fact of the matter is that we are lucky we are seeing what we are seeing.

And the only reason we are seeing this is because people got loud.

Perhaps we need to get louder so that India can get justice.

Then again, we need another system of justice that sees African Americans whites, Hispanics, and Asians, males, females, and LGBTQ as the same before the law.

That's going to take a revolution.

And it is one that that the system is going to try at all costs to stop.

Justice moves sometimes

It depends upon the victim, but in this case it was just under a month after the incident, rather than the years it sometimes takes. Go to Rikers Island and other hell holes for that duration.

Shaun T Porter was arrested on May 19 for a domestic violence incident. While at the Erie County Jail, located in the basement of Buffalo City Court, he was slammed into a door at the cell block by Mattew J Jaskula, for no good reason. (There is never a good reason to use violence against a restrained inmate. Any person that is arrested needs to be treated with dignity and respect as a citizen of this nation.)

He was then dragged down the hall and to an open cell where his head struck the door frame. Not a wooden frame – but a metal frame. Jails and prisons are built for security. There were injuries to his face and head as a result of Jaskula's unreasonable and unnecessary use of force.

He (Porter) was put into a restraint chair and restrained (presumably). He was left there and denied medical care for two hours. Jaskula told the supervising lieutenants that Porter had a bloody nose and refused treatment. (Well, I've been tossed around in my time and after a good head shot I'd deny any treatment too. Reason – I was too stunned and in shock to know what was going on. Thankfully others has their heads on straight and I received treatment.)

Porter eventually complained of chest pains and was taken to ECMC where he was treated for a broken nose and a cut to his face.

Now, to give the Buffalo PD some credit, it took less that 3 weeks for these individuals to be dealt with. Not years, but weeks. This is because lieutenants at the Jail became suspicious of the injuries to Porter and reviewed the videos that showed his jailing.

Porter's mistreatment was caught on video and Jaskula was arrested and released on (only) $5000 bail. He faces up to ten years in prison for his actions. I doubt he will receive anything more than five.

Now, justice moved again because two officers that witnessed the assault are now suspended form the force (without pay) pending an investigation. Evidently one, laughed as Jaskula slammed Porter into the metal door. The other one was shocked.

Why the one laughed is beyond me. I have no comment on him and he deserves his suspension and more. Someone who acts like that is unfit for the uniform and should be stripped of his badge and terminated with extreme prejudice, if not jailed as an accomplice to the crime. His degree and certification also need to be stripped from him as well.

The one that was shocked – why didn't he report the event himself? Why, or how, was he silenced? His silence leads me to question his ability to represent the citizens of Buffalo and Erie County as a law enforcement officer. He deserves a demotion, at the least, and some degree of sensitivity and backbone training.

To the credit of the lieutenants that viewed the video – they reported the incident to Internal Affairs and the FBI and the US Attorney's office. William Hochol is prosecuting this case and we will see some amount of justice. Jaskula is finished with the force most likely. If convicted. With the video, this should be a slam dunk. Key words = “should be.”

The two other officers will receive reprimands at the most, sadly. Granted they are suspended without pay, but that does not stop them from working as bouncers at bars or in other security positions. (Guards at concerts, etc.)

Now, compared to events that we receive about Rikers Island and other places, this is the Road Runner racing a snail.

The fact of the matter is that this incident should never have happened in the first place.

Police officers, as representatives of the community, need to be more mature and responsible than the average citizen. I do not know what Porter said to Jaskula, but a mature individual would have blown it off and ignored it, At most, he should have reported the comments to the lieutenants on duty for documentation during a court hearing.

Because he took action on his own (and outside of the law) he is now going to face the law that he is supposed to uphold.

Buffalo does have a bad reputation because of incidents at the Erie County Holding Center. Because of the numerous protests by many organizations, including BLACKlife585 (from Rochester, NY), about the criminal behavior of law enforcement justice moved a little faster in this case.

Note – just a little.

My question – Why did this take three weeks?

It should have taken less than one.

We're still waiting on justice for India Cummings.
Is this event a harbinger of change for the Buffalo Police & law enforcement?

Tilting the Scal(ia) of Justice

It's been all over the news, so I thought I'd weigh in on it. Normally I like to focus on local and regional events, but after a few discussions with people and after hearing all the clap trap on the media, I thought I'd add in my own 2¢.

Scalia's dead. It happens. Deal with it.

That being said, President Obama has a Constitutionally mandated responsibility to nominate a successor. The (supposed Constitution abiding) Republican(t)s are wrong on saying that he should leave it for whoever comes next. Their argument is that a “lame duck” president should not make a lifetime appointment to the bench.

Question(s): Did Nixon or Reagan appoint someone in their second (lame duck) terms? Or Clinton? If yes, then their argument holds about as much water as a shot glass with a hole in it.

The Constitution states that the President “shall.” Not, it would be nice if he did. “Shall.” Case closed there.

That being said, I'm not impressed with any of the possible nominees that the media has put forth. So, I shall not damage any electrons (or other units of electronic measurement) in going over why they should be rejected. I can put electrons (and the other units) to better use.

Who should be nominated?

Someone that will represent the working class over corporate interests. A young(er) Noam Chomsky or Mike Parenti would be interesting on the Court. Glen Ford would be very interesting. (There's nothing that says the nominee has to have a law degree. Check it out for yourself.)

I'm still digging up ideas and open to suggestions. (Got any? ) 

Jeff Mackler - Chairperson of Socialist Action (Oakland Branch) is a practising lawyer.

Think he'd take the nomination?

The fact of the matter is that we need someone that whole heartedly respects and represents the interests of the working class and oppressed peoples in this nation.

Ruth Bader Ginsberg does pretty good (I find the “Notorious RBG” meme on the web pretty funny.) and Sonia Sotomayor (spelling?) is good.

I want someone to the left of them.

The Republican(t) controlled Congress definitely won't give the time of day, but we need to let the people in the halls of government know that their power is derived from us.

The Constitution starts with “We the People” and we should have someone on the Court that sees things our way – the working class and oppressed peoples' way.

Give us our voice on the bench.
Corporate America has too many.
 

New York’s Prison Problem

New York has 54,000 (that’s thousand) prisoners in 53 prisons and, according to the Marshall Project, a host of problems that go along with it.  And NY is moving slowly to work out a solution to address it.  A system of electronically monitoring complaints is supposed to be completely set up by the end of 2016.  Given all the data tracking that is done on regular civilians, why this wasn’t set up earlier is beyond anyone’s logic.

Currently there are around, if not over, 4,000(!) open investigations of prison guard abuse against prisoners.  These include grievances and lawsuits.  Most of these are dismissed (to protect the guards?) but in 2010 the taxpayers paid out over $8.8 million in settlements and jury awards, according the Buffalo News. 

The thing is, according to the article, 207 guards names come up repeatedly.  And 30 names come up in 2 or more cases that result in jury awards.  Is someone asleep at the wheel?  I work in a school and if a student’s name comes up repeatedly for the same offense, the administration puts their foot down and fast.  Why not in prisons?

Sad to say, in many cases where a prisoner’s suit is found to be based in fact and reality, the guard is rarely prosecuted.  Rarely, if ever does a guard go to jail for committing an act of violence against an inmate.  They are there to provide security and instead, the guards become the security threat.

We need to remember why we have prisons- to control the population.  Capitalism cannot provide what it claims it can, so we have to do something with the excess population.  Prisons are one way of dealing with them. And especially the minorities. Numerous studies have shown that if 2 people – one black and one white – commit the same crime, the white will get a lesser punishment and the black person will get a harsher punishment.  Look at the sentencing of cocaine versus crack cocaine.  White versus black drug and, until recently, what was the sentencing disparity? 

My bigger problem is that the prison guards are rarely if ever tried, convicted, and sentenced.  The old line is that a DA/Grand Jury can indict a ham sandwich if it wants to.  It doesn’t seem to want to.  If I assaulted someone in public the same way some of the prison guards assault prisoners, I would be criminally charged (no question) and sentenced.  If a prison guard does the same thing in a prison setting, nothing would happen.

This is just wrong.

As socialists we demand justice for prisoners. 

-Prison guards that assault prisoners need to be criminally investigated, charged, and convicted.  They need to be sentenced the same as civilians and serve the same sentences.

-Inmates that are assaulted need just and timely justice and compensation.

-Inmates that are assaulted need to have their sentences reevaluated and possibly lessened.

-Inmates also will need counseling to deal with the trauma that was inflicted upon them.

New York also needs to change its criminal injustice system.

-Drug, alcohol, and other non-violent crimes need to be treated with social workers and counselling

-Issues of theft (depending upon the amount) are better dealt with restitution.  That better communicates value

Lastly, we need a new economic system.  One that give full and meaningful employment.  One that provides enough for people to live life to its fullest.

If we do not address this overarching problem, the Attica riots of 1971 will not just repeat themselves, they will become too commonplace. 

That will be a real tragedy.