On Monday September 18th the family of Timothy Davis along with their lawyers and over 200 supporters arrived at City Hall. Timothy Davis's brutal beating, stripping and tasing on September 1st at the hands of over 10 Columbus was caught on multiple cell phone videos that went viral. Davis, who the police claim was sought on a warrant, was finally arraigned that morning in his jail cell.
On January 29th over 1000 people descended on the Columbus International Airport to protest Donald Trump's ban on immigration and travel from seven countries. The brief protest was organized on a few hours notice and mirrored similar actions in New York, DC, LA, Denver, Chicago, Dallas, Minneapolis, Detroit and other cities. It set the stage for the largest protest in recent Columbus history.
While the rebellious streets in Charlotte seem to have quieted by a curfew and threats of National Guard deployment, and extra security at today's Panther's game against the Vikings hindered a planned protest, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department is no closer to telling the truth.
On August 16th former Miami Chief of Police John Timoney passed away after a brief bout with lung cancer. Prior to serving as Chief of the Miami Police Department he served as Superintendent of Police in Philadelphia. His obituaries in the Miami Herald and other news outlets, despite being laden with praise from his friends and former colleagues, failed to give his record of brutality and repression the spotlight it truly deserves in these trying times. It is rare when the liberal media gives American heroes the respect they have earned from a life time of service.
Rodney King was the first break in the dam. The beating that sparked the rebellion in 1992 was not new. What was new was video cameras. Now everybody could see the unrestrained violence against the defenseless that America calls “law enforcement.” Consumer electronics have advanced. There are cameras in every phone. Video has now recorded the recent deaths Philando Castile and Alton Sterling. It did not record the less nationally known case of Henry Green V here in Columbus.
On July 14 a forum on police community relations was held at the New Birth Christian Ministries on Refugee Road. The turnout, which included City Council Staffers and off duty police was less than half the size of recent local protests against police murder. There was a panel discussion which included a Westerville police department representative, City Council President Zach Klein, three representatives of the Columbus Police Department and Civil Rights Attorney Sean Walton.
Jamison Edgerley is in Grant Hospital on the seventh floor. He has had multiple surgeries in the last week. Most of his large intestine has been removed. Police bullets have also shattered his hand, utterly destroying bone and nerves. He may loose complete use of it. He is there because of a volley of police gunfire that struck him through a privacy fence on the night of July 4.
The video rolls into this office faster than it can be processed. American police have celebrated the nation's independence with a wave of public executions bringing the total number of unarmed black men killed to 115 in 2016. That is more than twice the number killed in the Pulse Nightclub massacre carried out by private security contractor and former prison guard Omar Mateen.
There is a great deal to be said about Baltimore. A human rights reporter can write a dozen stories. My fact based dis-assembly of the lies from mainstream media sources, the stories told by the police and the aspirations of the politicians will be out soon. This editorial needed to be written now. I've been sitting on some of this for decades, and it is not opinion. This is experience.