BALTIMORE
Protest, not 'thanksgiving,' for families of cop
victims
By Jeff
Bigelow
Baltimore
President Bill Clinton took the opportunity of the
official "thanksgiving" holiday to pardon former Baltimore
City Council President Walter Orlinsky, who has admitted
stealing $10,000.
On same day, Nov. 23, some 150 people here demonstrated in
memory of Eli McCoy--an unarmed African American youth who
was killed by Baltimore police on the suspicion that he had
stolen $20.
This is a tale of two systems of justice. One for African
Americans, other people of color, and poor and working
people, and another for the wealthy and powerful who rule
Baltimore.
The protest against the system that killed Eli McCoy took
place on the National Day of Mourning--a day when Native
people tell the real story about the arrival of colonialism
on these shores.
Eric Easton, organizer of the demonstration here, opened
the protest by acknow ledging the Day of Mourning and
struggles of Native peoples on this continent.
People across the United States and around the world have
demanded that Clinton pardon Native political prisoner
Leonard Peltier before he leaves office. But so far the
president has not lifted a finger to do so.
Peltier was charged with shooting two FBI agents who had
invaded Native land. People all around the world have
insisted that Peltier is a political prisoner who was jailed
because he is a leader in resistance to oppression. Even
though the government admits it cannot prove Peltier shot the
agents, this Native prisoner languishes behind bars.
Yet Clinton was moved to pardon an admittedly guilty white
politician.
Two systems of justice.
Uniformed killing machine
The strong turnout at the demonstration here was swelled
by impressive numbers from the anti-addiction group "I Can't,
We Can."
The protest focused on the police killing of Eli McCoy a
year ago. At the rally, McCoy's father said his son was
murdered because he was Black and assumed to be armed and
assumed to be guilty of stealing $20.
Yet McCoy was unarmed. And he will never be able to tell
his side of the story about the $20.
Debra Carr joined the protest. Police killed her son Larry
Hubbard only a month before McCoy. Renee Washington, an
All-Peoples Congress organizer whose fiancé was
murdered by the police, also took part.
Their combined presence at the rally was testament to the
fact that McCoy's killing was no accident. It's just the way
that poor people--and especially nationally oppressed
people--are treated in Baltimore.
Contrast this with the treatment of Orlinsky. He admitted
stealing $10,000 and using his position as City Council
president to extort money from city contractors.
No cops cornered him or assumed he carried a gun. No cops
gunned him down. He served less than five months in very
pampered conditions and was then released.
Orlinsky's presidential pardon was the result of calls of
support from senators and judges and all the other powerful
people who intervened for him--those who recoil and shudder
every time a homeless person extends a hand for pennies.
But the lives of demonstrators at the Day of Mourning here
are torn with grief. The people they love have been killed in
cold blood. These protesters are outraged that the killers in
uniform--the police--always go free.
The week before this demonstration Maryland's highest
court threw out the conviction of the police sergeant who
killed Preston Barnes in 1996.
Barnes, unarmed, held his hands in the air and was shot in
the armpit. He lay in the street for hours after police
refused to send for an ambulance or let his mother come to
his side.
City officials have given a green light to the cops. They
talk of "zero tolerance"--a code word for unleashed racism
and repression. These politicians stand for more executions
rather than more jobs and education.
They've gotten the green light from the rich man's courts
that have never kept a cop in jail for killing a resident of
Baltimore.
They've gotten the green light from the corporate media
and the financial powerhouses that consider poor and working
people as the "help"--necessary for their businesses to make
big profits, but expendable.
The Nov. 23 demonstration was part of a movement exposing
injustice and demanding that killer cops be jailed. It's a
movement demanding community control of the police--the
community's right to hire, fire and punish the cops.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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