Albuquerque, New Mexico:
The Dogs Are Still in the Street... And So Are the People
June 30, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
From a reader:
On June 21, 500 people took to the streets of Albuquerque, New Mexico, to protest continuing police violence in that city. The Albuquerque Police Department (APD) has shot at 40 people since 2010—36 have been hit by police bullets and 26 people have died from these police shootings.
The June 21 protest comes three months after the shooting of James Boyd, a homeless man executed in cold blood by the APD, in the Sandia Mountain foothills of Albuquerque. Hundreds of thousands of people have viewed the APD's military-style execution of Boyd on YouTube.
Photo: Burque Media
Leading into this recent protest, a new video of the police murder of Boyd has come out. This video clearly shows the grotesque police murder of a 38-year-old man with mental illness. Boyd, who was seeking some solitude in the mountains and not bothering a soul when he was confronted by the APD, was cut down in premeditated fashion: the video shows Boyd turning to pick up his belongings to leave with police when a police stun-grenade is fired. Then Boyd is shot three times in the back with a high power rifle. The police video then shows Boyd on his stomach and on the ground, wheezing for breath as officers sic a dog on his legs and fire beanbag rounds at him. The Office of the Medical Investigator confirmed on May 29 that Boyd was shot in the back. Boyd also suffered several blunt-force injuries, contusions and abrasions on his buttock and right leg, some of which were "consistent with injuries produced by a dog."
Two protests within two weeks after Boyd's murder by police rocked Albuquerque and sent shock waves nationally, including the March 30 protest of 1,000 people who took the streets of Albuquerque in a combative 10-hour protest in the face of hundreds of riot police.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has been sent in to try to cool things out, to try to demobilize the people and delude them into thinking the Feds will enforce reforms on the APD... so people should now go home and stop protesting. On April 10, the DOJ reported their findings of a civil investigation into the APD. The DOJ report says the APD engages in a pattern or practice of use of excessive force, including deadly force. But that hasn't stopped the APD from killing Alfred Redwine, Mary Hawkes, Armand Martin, and Ralph Chavez, one right after the other, since the James Boyd murder on March 16.
Photo: David Correia
On May 5, angry demonstrators crowded an Albuquerque city council meeting and took over council chambers to protest APD police shootings. News of this city council "takeover" made national and international news. Then, on Monday, June 2, more than two dozen demonstrators stormed the mayor's office and held a sit-in in the lobby before tactical police moved in to arrest protesters. For more than an hour demonstrators sat in the mayor's office while one protester chained herself to a stand holding a piece of Southwest pottery, stunning city officials who quickly put City Hall on lockdown. The demonstration ended with the arrests of 13 people charged with criminal trespass, unlawful assembly, and interfering with a public official or staff. One person, University of New Mexico assistant professor David Correia, was charged with a felony for allegedly pushing a member of the mayor's security detail. In reality, some protesters, including family members who'd lost loved ones to police murder, were brutalized during their arrests, including Nora Tachias Anaya, a longtime anti-police-brutality activist in Albuquerque. (The APD 20 killed Nora Anaya's nephew, George Levi Tachias, years ago.)
Photo: Burque Media
At the June 21 march and rally of 500 people, the chant went up: "They say 'justified'! We say 'homicide'!" The day featured a "people's trial" of the city's police chief, Gordon Eden. The marchers also a held a "die-in" with participants holding mock tombstones for those shot dead.
The Call for an October Month of Resistance to Mass Incarceration, Police Terror, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation was spread amongst the participants, with new people joining this crucial national initiative in Albuquerque. Revolution newspaper got out in both English and Spanish editions, including to people who'd never seen Revolution before. It is especially timely that a revolutionary communist analysis and solution is in this mix. There is serious wrestling and debate over what is the actual problem, over critical questions like the essential nature of the police and the U.S. Department of Justice, and over is there truly a solution that could lead to actually stopping these outrageous crimes and murders by police, finally and for good. Is a better world really possible and what will it take to get there?
The dogs are still in the streets, and so are the people... Fight the Power, and Transform the People, for Revolution!
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