Police attack Black activist at university debate
By
Larry Hales
Denver
Published Feb 17, 2005 9:33 PM
Police in the Denver
metropolitan area have once again shown their bigotry and brutality. This time
the cops were campus police, and they attacked a Black activist at a Colorado
University Board of Regents meeting Feb. 3.
Police seize Shareef Aleem and drag him from discussion.
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The activist, Shareef Aleem,
was asking the Board of Regents if it would allow students to speak on behalf of
CU professor Ward Churchill. Soon after Sept. 11, 2001, Churchill made
statements whose sentiment was that U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East had
led to the attacks on 9/11.
Churchill made this as a blanket statement
that attacked the victims in the Twin Towers as "little Eichmanns," which he
himself now concedes was not a progressive or effective way of explaining his
criticism of U.S. aggression in the region.
Right-wing forces have seized
on Churchill's statement to launch a witch-hunt and threaten his job.
At
the Feb. 3 meeting, when Aleem asked if the students were going to be allowed to
speak, he reminded the regents that the meeting was advertised as being open.
Earlier, police had removed a student for asking the same question.
The
incident with Aleem was videotaped. On the tape the police are seen approaching
Aleem and an older Black woman. They later suggested that her walking stick
could be a weapon. Aleem came to the defense of the woman and told the police to
remove their hands. A scuffled ensued, and police piled on top of Aleem,
breaking his glasses, binding his hands and finally shooting him in his neck
with a taser.
Though the whole incident was caught on tape, and many
students were outraged by the behavior of the police, Aleem was charged with
second degree assault on an officer.
Shareef Aleem is well known as a Cop
Watch activist. He spearheaded "Opera tion Get Tourney." Tourney is a Denver cop
who shot Paul Childs and Greg Smith, two disabled Black males, to death.
Now Aleem has been attacked, denied the right to speak at a public
meeting and imprisoned for refusing to let the cops silence and brutalize
him.
Later, police in riot gear were called to the regents meeting, all to
quell the voices of college students who wanted their input to be heard.
A
deeper look at the rampant brutality by cops in the Denver metropolitan area
exposes a clear picture of bigotry. Almost four months ago, in Aurora, a city
adjacent to Denver, a white male shot a Black couple. Aaron Davis died and his
companion, Benita Coleman-Davis, was hospitalized in critical
condition.
The shooter, Glen Eichstedt, was never even taken to the police
station, although he was still holding his gun when police arrived. He was asked
a few questions at the scene, allowed to leave and presented his statement
through a friend.
As of Feb. 14, no charges have been brought. Eichstedt,
a business owner, walks free. Some would say that there are some good cops that
try to be good, but one need only look at a picket line or demonstration, or at
this public meeting and see how the cops behave. Cops are instruments of
control. Their role is to protect the ruling class and their
interests.
The police have always been used to silence poor and oppressed
workers fighting for a better life and trying to voice dissent. Racism is part
of being a cop and upholding the status quo--hence the brutality displayed when
the police deal with Black, Latino, Native or any oppressed people.
Aleem
is fighting the charges, and the community of left political activists has
rallied to support him, even putting up his bail money. It should be a clear-cut
case, but there is rarely a clear-cut case when prosecuting cops for their
brutality. There is justice only when the public demand is so overwhelming that
the city is given no choice, and that is what must happen in this case.
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