On July 18, 2018, a story came out on a local San Diego news outlet that insisted that those involved in the Earl McNeil protests were planning on joining with some non-existent national black lives matter organizers to "stage riots".
Other outlets have done a good job elaborating how wrong and dangerous this false report was and I have already shared my thoughts on it. I bring it up again because it is possible that this false report may have contributed in the events that followed:
For the July 24th meeting at National City, the only real thing that was planned were the peaceful die-ins protests. Members would walk toward the council with their hands up, which were painted red, and then lie down on the floor and chant until they were removed. Media and Copwatchers were there to make sure things would stay deescalated and once our friends were safely transported, most of us would call it a day.
Yet when we first arrived on this particular day, we immediately noticed that the Sheriffs were around. We figured it was in response to the false article, but we were hoping that they would keep them hidden since there wasn't a large amount of protesters. We then noticed that "plants" were inserted into the line to get into the Chamber. They tried to fit in and put us at ease with conversation, but they stuck out like soar thumbs. One of them gave themselves away when they sat exactly where we expected they'd sit - they failed to take into account that we would have noticed I guess. To put this particular plant at ease, I let him pretend he was in control and when he tried to make friendly talk, explained the philosophy of cop-watching, which is mainly about deescalation by public exposure.
When the meeting started, many people spoke on the case of Earl McNeil. Once public comments were finished and the council tried to move on to other business, did the actual civil disobedience come in. Six people, including Tasha Williamson and Aeiramique Blake, participated in a peaceful die-in. Police responded by forming a line to block the cameras. Other officers picked up most of the protesters by their arms and legs, and carried them off, but when it came to Tasha, they decided to cuff her by her back and then drag her out by her handcuffs - knowing that she was already injured form a previous arrest. Despite being blocked by police, cameras still caught that. It was told that they dropped Aeiramique on her face once they went into the other room. It was one of the most despicable displays of law enforcement brutality in this generation.
Once they were out of the room, we left the chambers and went to the north side of the building to make sure the ones taken into custody were transported safely, except we were met by sheriff deputes in riot gear as well two dickwads in full SWAT gear. A few hours later we were met by officers from four other agencies who marched in to the area and successfully shoved around like 20 protestors plus media to prove they had the "balls" to show a needless use of force. Chief Nisleit, who has been spending his first year trying to appeal to the public, sent police to participate in this circus and will certainly answer for his part when we come to San Diego to ask #JusticeForRaulRivera. The police did whatever they could to incite violence in the crowd this night, but the crowd refused to bite, choosing instead to curse, yell, chant and sing, but not throw anything or push anyone.
Even though the article that accused us of trying to set up riots had been changed, the original article had been up for almost 12 hours before changes took place and the lies in the article had already traveled far and wide. Ron Morrison and all other agencies can try to paint us as violent all they want. They can try to act like we were going to break people out of custody, blame everyone else for the problems National City caused all they want as well. However, National City PD has also taken the opportunity to purposely block our footage, while failing to block our use of history to expose their racist precedent of covering up evidence - their corruption is still exposed. Here is a growing list of past controversies involving NCPD.
http://www.aflunky.com/scribes-journal/cop-wont-face-trial-12-04-1975
http://www.aflunky.com/scribes-journal/morgan-orders-probe-of-hispanic-complaints-06-30-1983
http://www.aflunky.com/scribes-journal/woman-guilty-in-police-fight-08211983
http://articles.latimes.com/1987-04-09/local/me-198_1_national-city-police
There is also a court case stemming from 2015 called "Flores vs Pierson". Full court documents will be available soon.
(This is just a fraction of corruption that was found)
I do want to point out one aspect of Flores vs Pierson which uses an example of how the Police Officer's Bill of rights is used in legal issues:
Other outlets have done a good job elaborating how wrong and dangerous this false report was and I have already shared my thoughts on it. I bring it up again because it is possible that this false report may have contributed in the events that followed:
For the July 24th meeting at National City, the only real thing that was planned were the peaceful die-ins protests. Members would walk toward the council with their hands up, which were painted red, and then lie down on the floor and chant until they were removed. Media and Copwatchers were there to make sure things would stay deescalated and once our friends were safely transported, most of us would call it a day.
Yet when we first arrived on this particular day, we immediately noticed that the Sheriffs were around. We figured it was in response to the false article, but we were hoping that they would keep them hidden since there wasn't a large amount of protesters. We then noticed that "plants" were inserted into the line to get into the Chamber. They tried to fit in and put us at ease with conversation, but they stuck out like soar thumbs. One of them gave themselves away when they sat exactly where we expected they'd sit - they failed to take into account that we would have noticed I guess. To put this particular plant at ease, I let him pretend he was in control and when he tried to make friendly talk, explained the philosophy of cop-watching, which is mainly about deescalation by public exposure.
When the meeting started, many people spoke on the case of Earl McNeil. Once public comments were finished and the council tried to move on to other business, did the actual civil disobedience come in. Six people, including Tasha Williamson and Aeiramique Blake, participated in a peaceful die-in. Police responded by forming a line to block the cameras. Other officers picked up most of the protesters by their arms and legs, and carried them off, but when it came to Tasha, they decided to cuff her by her back and then drag her out by her handcuffs - knowing that she was already injured form a previous arrest. Despite being blocked by police, cameras still caught that. It was told that they dropped Aeiramique on her face once they went into the other room. It was one of the most despicable displays of law enforcement brutality in this generation.
Once they were out of the room, we left the chambers and went to the north side of the building to make sure the ones taken into custody were transported safely, except we were met by sheriff deputes in riot gear as well two dickwads in full SWAT gear. A few hours later we were met by officers from four other agencies who marched in to the area and successfully shoved around like 20 protestors plus media to prove they had the "balls" to show a needless use of force. Chief Nisleit, who has been spending his first year trying to appeal to the public, sent police to participate in this circus and will certainly answer for his part when we come to San Diego to ask #JusticeForRaulRivera. The police did whatever they could to incite violence in the crowd this night, but the crowd refused to bite, choosing instead to curse, yell, chant and sing, but not throw anything or push anyone.
Even though the article that accused us of trying to set up riots had been changed, the original article had been up for almost 12 hours before changes took place and the lies in the article had already traveled far and wide. Ron Morrison and all other agencies can try to paint us as violent all they want. They can try to act like we were going to break people out of custody, blame everyone else for the problems National City caused all they want as well. However, National City PD has also taken the opportunity to purposely block our footage, while failing to block our use of history to expose their racist precedent of covering up evidence - their corruption is still exposed. Here is a growing list of past controversies involving NCPD.
http://www.aflunky.com/scribes-journal/cop-wont-face-trial-12-04-1975
http://www.aflunky.com/scribes-journal/morgan-orders-probe-of-hispanic-complaints-06-30-1983
http://www.aflunky.com/scribes-journal/woman-guilty-in-police-fight-08211983
http://articles.latimes.com/1987-04-09/local/me-198_1_national-city-police
There is also a court case stemming from 2015 called "Flores vs Pierson". Full court documents will be available soon.
(This is just a fraction of corruption that was found)
I do want to point out one aspect of Flores vs Pierson which uses an example of how the Police Officer's Bill of rights is used in legal issues:
In the end, Mayor Ron Morrison has only succeeded in giving himself and National City another black eye in the department of civil rights in the modern days. We have been loud, but non-violent from the start and the escalation of force by the City is dangerous and stupid. Ron and his Police Chief will be looked at as the idiot pair who left National City in disgrace. I deplore Chief Nisleit, Sheriff Gore, and other police department heads to question the motivations of the NCPD Chief and Mayor, next time they ask for their help.
We'll be back and we'll be just as loud and as disruptive as before, but we will not give into their bait and become violent. Their hypocrisy of responding to peace with force has already been nationally exposed and nobody is liking it. National City never even tried to control the narrative until this story started to grow. Too late now though, they lost the narrative once they kept changing their story.
-Art Fusco
We'll be back and we'll be just as loud and as disruptive as before, but we will not give into their bait and become violent. Their hypocrisy of responding to peace with force has already been nationally exposed and nobody is liking it. National City never even tried to control the narrative until this story started to grow. Too late now though, they lost the narrative once they kept changing their story.
-Art Fusco
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