Press Coverage Spreads Call for #A14 to 100s of Thousands in U.S. and Beyond
Updated April 13 | Published April 11, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
In a wide range of media, from a major front page story in La Opinión the largest Spanish language newspaper in the U.S.... to a story in Jet magazine... to community, campus, and religious newspapers... calls for #ShutDownA14 are breaking into the mainstream, creating a buzz in media, and reaching hundreds of thousands of people.
AllHipHop.com
4/13/15: AllHipHop.com interviews Carl Dix on #ShutDownA14!
Carl Dix responds to questions including: Why march on April 14? What happened to the movement of last fall? Is the problem that white people are indifferent to the police murder of Black men? And what kind of unity is being forged for April 14?
Jet Magazine / JetMag.com
The Jet story (April 9) was titled “Cornel West Sparks #ShutDownA14 Movement: Movement seeks to put a stop to police killings...” It reported: “Dr. Cornel West has called for people across America to participate in a national movement to put a stop to the killing of black and Latino people. Dr. West’s call to action is trending on social media under the hashtag #ShutDownA14, with supporters and participants of the movement using the expression to speak out on the injustice of police brutality.” The article—online—embedded video of Cornel West speaking at the emergency program held on Monday, April 7, at the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew in New York.
Los Angeles
La Opinión. April 10, 2015, page 1
La Opinión. April 10, 2015, page 2
A major front-page story in La Opinión (April 10) featured a large photo of the Stolen Lives Banner, with “Tuesday April 14 / #ShutDownA14 / STOP MURDER BY POLICE,” and a headline “Todos Somos South Carolina” (We are all South Carolina—referring to the police murder of Walter L. Scott). The article included a call from Stop Mass Incarceration Network (SMIN) at a press conference for people to be at LAPD Headquarters at 1 pm on April 14. (See English translation by www.revcom.us.)
Page 2 of the April 10 issue included a large photo of the front page of Revolución calling for April 14, photos of posters for April 14, and a substantial article about the need for protest on that day.
Coverage of the call for April 14 has been included in a number of stories about police brutality in the past few days, including coverage of the brutal beating of a man by Riverside County Sheriffs on April 10.
New York
NY1 coverage includes video of Stop Mass Incarceration Network calling for April 14.
On April 10, El Diario reprinted the headline article from La Opinion under the headline "Desde Los Ángeles convocan a paro nacional por tiroteos de policías".
NY cable news channel, NY1 announced on April 11: “City Activists Call for Nationwide Day of Protests in Response to Shooting Death of Unarmed Man in South Carolina”. The article includes a video of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network rallying in front of City Hall in downtown NY calling on people to stop business as usual in America on April 14.”
Chicago
The Chicago Defender, in an article titled “Dr. Cornel West To Address Police Killings Of Unarmed People“ (April 6) reported: “On Monday, April 6, Dr. Cornel West and Carl Dix, co-initiators of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network, will discuss police brutality against unarmed people at Church of St. Paul & St. Andrew in New York, NY. The emergency meeting was called to address the need for people to gather for a national mass shutdown held by the Stop Mass Incarceration Network on Tuesday, April 14.”
An article in the Final Call (April 7), “Time for top cop to go! say Chicago activists,” covered a press conference denouncing Chicago’s stop-and-frisk practice that subjected 1,500 minority youths to illegal harassment per day, and quoted Grant Newburger from Chicago Stop Mass Incarceration Network calling for “a massive national day of protest and walkouts against police brutality on April 14.”
On April 10 eNews Park Forest (Illinois) wrote on the April 6 Emergency Meeting in New York City: “Cornel West spoke with fury seldom heard, scathing against those in power and all who stand aside when the business as usual of police killing unarmed people goes on, even before video showed the most recent police killing of unarmed Walter Scott Saturday in South Carolina.” And quoted Carl Dix: “On April 14, we're going to revive the spirit of Ferguson, that spirit of refusing to suffer the brutality of the system in silence. . .We have to get back out into the streets to declare that we're not backing down, we're not going away.” The article provides links to videos from the event.
Cleveland
The newsweekly Cleveland Scene (April 8), in a story titled “Better Than a Listening Tour: ‘People’s Tribunal’ on Police Brutality Scheduled For Saturday“ announced a people’s tribunal on police brutality and reported “the local branch of the national Puncture the Silence-Stop Mass Incarceration Network is gearing up for another disruptive action on April 14. It will likely take the same form as the marches and protests Cleveland saw in October and November, in the immediate wake of Tamir Rice’s shooting.”
Berkeley, California
The April 10 issue of the University of California, Berkeley newspaper, the Daily Cal, ran a story “‘Speak-out’ event at campus’s multicultural center calls for end to police brutality,” which reported on the speak-out ,which it described as “a prelude to” April 14 protests.
Pasco, Washington
An article in the Tri-City Herald in Washington on ongoing outrage over the murder of Antonio Zambrano-Montes (“Frustrations still high two months after Pasco police shooting”) ends: “Tri-Cities Community Solutions is taking part in a nationwide day of protest against police brutality April 14. The group asks people to step out of their daily routine and “walk out,” according to a news release. The April 14 event begins with a Unity Walk at 8 a.m. at John Dam Plaza, 1815 George Washington Way, Richland. It will move through the Tri-Cities and end at 3 p.m. with a rally, featuring speakers and musicians, at Volunteer Park in Pasco.”
Latin America
On April 9 and 10, Spanish and Portuguese language media coverage in Latin America of police murder in the U.S. included notice of calls by the Stop Mass Incarceration Network for protests on April 14. (See, for example, “Pedem investigação sobre caso de violência policial nos EUA.”)
The SMIN press conference, including the time and place for the protest was also covered by Fox Noticias Mundial (World News).
An article in the Mexican newspaper El Tiempo (4/11) calls attention to Shutdown April 14. The article quotes Carl Dix and includes a full size image of the centerfold with the faces of those killed by police.
Global Research
An article by Revolution correspondent Raymond Lotta distributed through GlobalResearch, “The Murder of Walter Scott in South Carolina. On April 14, People across America will take to the Streets” (4/12/15) begins:
The murder of Walter Scott in South Carolina, shot down the way a slave chaser would gun down a rebellious slave, on top of everything else that has happened in the past months, calls out to us: What are you going to do now?
On April 14, people in cities across the country will take to the streets to disrupt business as usual because business as usual includes police getting away with murdering Black and Brown people. What will you do on this day?
Mexico
The northern Mexico newspaper El Diario de Coahuila had major coverage of the call for #ShutDownA14.
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