Jail and Convict the Cold-Blooded Murderers of Mario Woods!
December 7, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
The video of the December 2 firing-squad execution of Mario Woodsby San Francisco’s “swinest” has gone viral. For good reason! You look at it and don’t see one reason for his murder. Six pigs, guns drawn, surround him, box him in. Mario is trying to walk, not run away. The only “aggressive move” was by one pig who keeps stepping in front of him. Six big, baad police, all buffed up, could have found a dozen other ways to handle this without killing Mario. But no, it’s a “free one”—15 shots—open hunting season on another Black youth. They know the system will have their backs, as it always does.
The following evening, Thursday, hundreds of people of all nationalities converged in San Francisco’s Bayview neighborhood marching, rallying, calling for justice for Mario, and taking up the chant, “Indict, Convict, Send the Killer Cops to Jail, the Whole Damn System Is Guilty as Hell.” At one point they took to the streets, standing off against riot-clad police and shutting down street cars and traffic for a couple of hours. Many other families of police murder victims came out to offer support.
Mario Woods with his mother, Gwendolyn Woods.
Gwendolyn Woods, Mario’s mother, said he was mentally unsound after being incarcerated for years after a robbery conviction, but he was still a good person. “They’re going to paint my child out to be a monster, and he wasn’t a monster,” she said. “He would give you the shirt off his back. I was born and raised here in this community,” she said, “and officers don’t care an iota about people of color. You feel inferior. It’s an ugly dynamic.” She spoke about how her son was working to get his life on track following a stint in prison for a robbery conviction. He had just gotten a UPS uniform, she said, for his new job.
“How can you feel a threat when you have 10 cops around you?” said Chemika Hollis, a 26-year-old Bayview resident and partner of Nathaniel Wilks, a young man who was murdered by Oakland police in August. (Chemika was also one of the families to take part in Rise Up October in New York.)
People crammed into a meeting hall the following evening to confront the chief of police. Residents and others challenged him on his lie that the police had no option but to kill Mario. He asked for people to be patient while a thorough investigation is conducted. Bullshit! The video speaks for itself. This is one of the largest manifestations of outrage against police murder in San Francisco in recent years. The people have delivered their verdict: Cold-Blooded Murder!
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