denver

Endorsing Call for Demonstration Against Denver Police January 29th

TO THE STREETS! – SATURDAY, JANUARY 29TH AT 6 PM. DENVER SKATE PARK.
FUCK THE POLICE

It has been more than six months since the senseless murder of Marvin Booker by the Denver Sheriff's department. Marvin, a homeless street preacher booked on minor charges, was only asking to grab his shoes when he was choked, beaten and tazed by five jail guards before succumbing to death. His killers were cleared of any wrong-doing, even amidst a roar of public outcry, and internal affairs refuses to release the multi-angle video of the incident to the family or the larger community demanding accountability.

Marvin isn't the only casualty of Denver's police. In fact, it's getting difficult to keep track of how many people have been brutalized by the police across the state this year. Lawsuits are flooding the courts, ranging from accusations of racially motivated assaults to coercive rape. Presently, there are police in the Denver metro area being investigated for sexually abusing children and possessing vast troves of child pornography. The police are shooting first and spinning it in the media later far more often than the typical “isolated incident” pattern their public relations departments shill us. These are not “our neighbors” or “people just trying to do a job.” They are sociopathic, power-hungry, violent fiends. They are our enemies, they are extremely powerful, and they are at war with the people of this city.

Wikileaks, Denver, Radicals & a Critique of Messaging

In Denver, Colorado outrage about the case of Julian Assange and the illegal attacks on Wikileaks is almost invisible.  Exceptions to the rule include random messaging on college campuses, such as Auroria Denver, and street messaging, such as this graffiti picture, taken from a locomotive next to the Lightrail at the 10th and Osage station.  These messages are beautifully done, and certainly it is better that these exist than nothing at all.  However, these meager offerings, moderately inspiring though they might be to some, are only in reaction to the dominant discourse.  At best these messages are an attempt to radicalize people at an incremental level, influencing the discourse and encouraging people to action and inquiry, however shallow.  At worst they honestly hope to influence policy about Wikileaks or the attack on Julian Assange with some pressure-group theory of politics.  Unfortunately, the current mode of production, system, or totality (krapitalism, the spectacle, the commodity relationship, class rule) not only determines the dominant discourse, it defines it.

Denver O22 reportback: Taking back the streets to remember Marvin Booker

In communities across North America October 22nd has become a day to commemorate victims of police repression and violence. For many communities, October 22, 2010 took on a more urgent meaning in the wake of severe police repression and violence that has plagued cities large and small. In Denver, this year's October 22nd event saw a rise in hostility towards the cops and an increased militancy from years' past.

 Throughout 2010, police in the metro area have repeatedly made headlines with horrific acts of violence directed at community members. Ranging from allegations of sexual assault, rapes of children, murders, and beatings, news stories have painted a picture of a department that is clearly running amok and waging war on the residents of Colorado. Offending officers are rarely held accountable and department leadership deftly sweeps incidents under the rug to stave off an increasingly angry public.

One of the most violent and high profile incidents occurred in July. Denver Sheriff's Deputies serving as guards at the new Denver Justice Center murdered 56 year old Marvin Booker, a homeless preacher being held as a prisoner at the jail. Marvin had asked for access to his shoes before he would comply with orders to return to his cell. In response, five deputies tackled him, placed him in repeated choke and pain compliance holds, tasered him, and beat him. Marvin died shortly after the attack. While the local coroner deemed the death a homicide, the DA announced in late September that no charges would be filed against any of the officers involved.

Support the Family of Marvin Booker at the New Jail in Denver at 10:00am

I just received this Email and know that many of you are as outraged by this as I am. Please be there to lend support and your love to the family of Marvin Booker and to show that people in Denver are tired of this sort of conduct by our police and government.

Greetings,

Firstly, apologies for the short notice, however this is urgent and just came together.

Marvin's family including his father and brothers, have arrived in Denver to get answers regarding the brutal murder. The family, along with his attorney's, are demanding entrance into the jail to relive and attempt to put to rest the horrific tragedy that occurred by the hands of the Denver Sheriff's department.

*Join the Family for a press conference and to Demand Justice for Marvin Booker*

*When: Tomorrow, August 11th @ 10:00 am
*

*Where: **Van Cise-Simonet Detention Center, located at 490 W.**Colfax Ave

*Bring your love, prayers, and rage*

*in solidarity,
WDCW
 

Oscar Grant: Denver stands in solidarity with Oakland

http://denverabc.wordpress.com/2...

Justice for oscarDenver, January 8, 2010: At the same time that crowds started to gather in Oakland to respond to the verdict in the trial of BART police officer Johannes Mehserle, residents of Denver rallied in opposition to the murder of Oscar Grant and to the occupation of our neighborhoods by the police.

Denver Anarchist Black Cross put out a call for a solidarity demonstration to start at 7pm local time at the Sheriff’s Department headquarters at 13th and Cherokee in downtown. OscarAbout 35 folks showed up with 2 hours notice with banners and signs that read “All cops are murderers” and “From Oakland to Denver, we will always remember”.

After spending half an hour at the Sheriff’s Department, the crowd moved to a busier intersection outside the U.S. Mint at Colfax and Cherokee. After another half hour, and many honks, raised fists, and cheers of support, the group marched to the corner of Broadway and Colfax, one of the busiest intersections in downtown Denver.

Denver joins in world protests of Flotilla massacre

As I write this there is a crowd gathered in front of the Colorado State Capitol building in Denver holding a demonstration in protest of the massacre of civilians committed by the Israeli military on Monday, May 31, 2010, aboard the Mavi Marmara as it sailed in international waters en route to Gaza to deliver much needed humanitarian aid in defiance of the Israeli State's illegal blockade, which has claimed countless Palestinian lives. 

The protest is being held in solidarity with massive protests around the world over this heinous crime committed by the Israeli military. The crowd is relatively large and the press was present from television news outlets. The signs are large and visible along with Palestinian and American flags. 

The number of people killed aboard the Mavi Marmara is still not confirmed, last I heard it was around 20 or more, and most recent reports from eye-witness/activists who have returned to Turkey and Greece say the Israeli military opened fire on the Freedom Flotilla prior to their soldiers' boarding the Mavi Marmara, according to a report yesterday by the Guardian/UK ("Israelis opened fire before boarding Gaza flotilla, say released activists," published Tuesday June 1, 2010, by Dorian Jones from Istanbul, Turkey, and Helena Smith in London.)

The demonstration gathered on Lincoln and Colfax at 5:30 P.M. and will likely run until dark, so if anyone reading can join the crowd there is still time. Thank you to everyone attending and expressing solidarity with the victims of the flotilla massacre and the people of Gaza still under siege after more than a year of Israel's illegal blockade. 

Corporate Media Spin: 'Juggalo' stigma taints double stabbing

Around 6:00 p.m., MST, on Monday, May 31, two people were stabbed outside Wendy's on Colfax Ave. and Emerson Street in Denver, Colorado.

The two victims were on their way to attend the Insane Clown Posse (I.C.P.) concert at the Fillmore Auditorium next door, at Colfax and Clarkson, when a fight broke out that ended with two people stabbed and one person fleeing the seen, who was later taken into custody by Denver Police. The witnesses, a group of young women, adolescent ages, who were not attending the concert but came downtown to look at the many artistic face-paint designs displayed traditionally now by fans of I.C.P., often known as "Juggalos" and "Jugalettes." They explained that two men started yelling at one another, then some unidentified person hit another person with a rock over the head just shortly before a man pulled out a knife and stabbed another man. Then, according to local corporate media reports, the person attempted to flee the seen and was chased by another man, presumably a friend or acquaintance of the first victim. The alleged perpetrator then stabbed this individual as well. The young women began explaining that I.C.P. fans are "not peaceful people." They speculated the stabbing was part of some kind of "I.C.P. gang" issue, however, another man who was not only a witness but allegedly spoke to the victims' friends, when I asked the young women to elaborate, the man interrupted and explained that the incident had absolutely nothing to do with 'Juggalos' per se. He explained that the fight that broke out was actually a domestic dispute - two men fighting over a woman with whom they both allegedly had relations. This, naturally, would therefore have nothing to do with the band I.C.P., a very controversial hip hop group whose fans have been tagged as gang members and placed on gang lists by police around the United States. 

May 26: Protest Uranium Mining Conference in Denver, and Support Indigenous Resistance!

Please forward widely.

Support New Mexico Indigenous Leaders in Protesting the Expansion of Uranium Mining and the Nuclear Cycle of Destruction!

Demand a Clean Up of This Toxic Legacy and Respect for Sacred Lands

Wednesday, May 26, Noon

Grand Hyatt Hotel

1750 Welton Street, Denver, Colorado

On May 25-27 a delegation of Navajo community leaders will come to Denver to protest US Government support for expanding the nuclear industry that has already had a devastating impact on Native American and Chicano communities in New Mexico.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the National Mining Association will host a “Uranium Recovery” conference designed to make it easier for mining companies to move forward with a new era of uranium mining.

When the uranium boom ended over thirty years ago, mining companies skipped town and left New Mexico with a devastating legacy of sick communities—including high rates of cancers, respiratory diseases, reproductive disorders and miscarriages. They also left contaminated water, soil, and air. There are still hundreds of abandoned uranium mines in New Mexico, largely located on Navajo land and Pueblo lands, and state and federal agencies are only now beginning to inventory those mines and begin the cleanup process.

The 2010 school walkout, massive!

Several schools missed hundreds of students today as not only was it "senior ditch day," it was rumored, but one of the most historically significant, largest and most vibrant protests called students out of their classrooms and into the streets against the newest American pariah state, Arizona. 

 

One week after Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R-AZ) signed Senate Bill (SB) 1070 into law, thousands of students around the United States participated in school walkouts akin to the 1968 school blowouts that famously marked the rise of the Chicano movement in Los Angeles, an inspiration that spread rapidly around the U.S., and a fire that still hasn't dimmed as of yet. It's looking like it is only picking up momentum, enough to burn out that unconstitutional law in Arizona, as today's school walkouts are in concert with May Day (May 1st), "International Workers Day," for which an even larger critical mass is expected to turn out, and the theme this year is what is becoming an apparently fast-spreading and mostly spontaneous (self-motivated/grassroots) world-wide boycott of the State of Arizona. Not merely by not visiting but by not buying produce from Arizona, and other materials. A state with world famous amenities attracting tourists from all over can't withstand the blow delivered by a loss in the workforce, a loss in visitor profits from tourism, divestment and a drop in exports of produce and other useful materials. 

 

Perhaps Gov. Brewer believes the personal cost doesn't outweigh the benefits, but politically her signing that bill was probably the most ridiculous political blunder by any Governor since ... George W. Bush? Sarah Palin? Pick one. What a sad state of affairs.

 

West Denver Copwatch

 West Denver Copwatch's website is up and running along with our newest addition, a police database.  We hope that this will be a great tool for the community to be able to commend good actions of the police, but also to be able to track and post about their abuses of power and people.  Through this hopefully we can all come together and attempt to hold officers accountable for their actions. westdenvercopwatch.wordpress.com

A little about us:

 

We are a group of individuals who come together in order to attempt to make the police accountable for their actions by videotaping police encounters in the streets.  We predominantly work in the West Denver area, but also are in cooperation with Aurora Copwatch along with other Copwatch organizations around the Metro Area.  

Police are consistently traumatizing and occupying our communities. Something as simple as a video camera, a pen and a pad of paper can significantly help deter the police from violating our community members’ rights.  We collect footage that both holds the police accountable and informs the people of their abuse of power.

Crucial in combatting police abuses is understanding and knowing your rights. However, in no way can this guarantee that violations will still not occur.  We strive to educate the people on their own individual rights and apply them in dealing with close encounters of the po-lice-kind.

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