Interview with Colorado anti-racist activist

On Feb. 3 Black activist Shareef Aleem was arrested while addressing a public meeting of the Colorado University Board of Regents, which he was also recording for Denver Community Television.

Shareef Aleem

Aleem was also showing support for the students’ dissent against education cuts and fee hikes and their protest of attacks on Ward Churchill, a professor who blamed U.S. foreign policy for leading to the 9/11 attacks.

Aleem stood up in the meeting after one activist had been asked to leave for openly addressing the Regents. He reiterated that the meeting was advertised as being public and stated, “Is this a free country or not? Do we live in a democracy or not? If not, let’s stop calling it that.”

Campus cops then pushed aside an older Black woman and began grabbing Aleem, who told them to leave him alone and not touch him. He said he had a right to be there and that the students should be allowed to speak.

FIST

This reporter interviewed Aleem on April 24. Aleem described the confrontation, which was recorded on tape. It ended as cops shot Aleem in the neck with a taser, then arrested him and charged him with second-degree assault on an officer.

Larry Hales: When did you first become active
here in Denver?

Shareef Aleem: I’ve always been active, but I began to get increasingly active while I was selling incense and oils, and I began listening to people’s stories about police brutality. That was in 1988. Then I went to the Million Man March in 1995, came back and started working with Black activists in the community.

Three years ago I formed the New Urban Perspective, to educate youth of color through hip hop culture. I taught classes out of a storefront mosque. After Paul Childs [a 15-year-old mentally disabled Black youth killed by Denver cop James Tourney, who had killed an 18-year-old disabled Black youth, Greg Smith, a year earlier] was killed, I formed Operation Get Tourney and joined Denver Copwatch. I’ve also worked against the city jail proposal, lecture at schools, teach yoga and give classes on health.

LH: What does Copwatch do, and what did you do with Operation Get Tourney?

SA: Copwatch watches cops, at traffic stops, anywhere we see them doing arrests. We get their actions on videotape and inform people of their rights when being stopped and harassed by cops.

Operation Get Tourney set up large demonstrations and rallied the community to get James Tourney off our streets, and to win justice for the Childs family. We were instrumental in getting a 10-month suspension for Tourney, which was a small victory, albeit a slap on the wrist. The city overturned the suspension, gave Tourney 10 months of back pay and let him back on the job.

LH: Have you met with many people that have been the victims of police brutality?

SA: I’ve met with the Childs family, Denise Washington’s family, Frank Lobato’s family and the Bonner family. They all had family members killed by cops here in Denver or the surrounding areas. Most people I talk to are from Denver or Aurora.

I got hours of testimonies from people, even a woman attacked this Friday. She lived next door to where Frank Lobato was killed. The cops broke through her door, and began asking her about her daughter. She was asserting her rights, and one cop called her a “b---h.” She got bruises on her legs, her arms, and she thinks one of her wrists is broken because it’s swollen and she can’t move it, but she doesn’t have insurance.

LH: What happened on February 3?

SA: I went to the Board of Regents meeting as press, for DCTV, and to support the students. I was videotaping, and I got tired of them trying to silence the students, so I spoke up, and the cops attacked me. I told them to leave me alone, that I had a right to be there, and they kept trying to grab me. A cop pulled me down on top of him. You can see that in the tape. This whole thing is bogus, but they charged me with assaulting an officer when I didn’t do anything.

LH: How can people support you?

SA: Writing the judge or the district attorney. My next court date is May 26. Man, since I’ve been active, I’ve lost my house, my car. I have five kids and I’m trying to make a living, but I’m gonna fight the system, because I believe we can win, and don’t want my children to have to deal with this. I don’t want them to be brutalized by the cops. I want them to be really free. That’s my life, and I do what I gotta do. Martin Luther King Jr. said, a man that isn’t willing to die for something, is not willing to live.

In defense of Aleem, send emails to [email protected] and cards or letters of support in care of Aleem to 4860 Chambers Road, P.O. Box 173. Denver, CO 80239. Letters of protest can also be sent to Judge Michael A. Cox, Adams County Justice Center, 1100 Judicial Center Dr., Brighton, CO 80601, or to Don Quick, 17th Judicial District Attorney, 1000 Judicial Center Dr., Suite 100, Brighton, CO 80601.