The Fight to Stop Police Brutality Must Go On

<strong>THE FIGHT TO STOP POLICE BRUTALITY MUST GO ON!</strong>
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As the authorities move to gut civil liberties and human rights and justify racial profiling, the October 22 Coalition feels it is more important than ever that people from different races and backgrounds take to the streets in cities across the United States on October 22, 2001, the 6th annual National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation. Our hearts go out to the many people who are grieving the loss of a loved one or a friend killed when planes flew into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept 11. Because our coalition memorializes and fights for justice for the thousands who have been killed or brutalized by police and other law enforcement agents in this country, we know what it's like to have a loved one leave home in the morning and never return.
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In Detroit, 19-year-old Talena Carpenter was shot in the head by police while sitting in her car outside a neighborhood store on Sept 16th. The police cordoned off the site of the shooting and refused to let her be taken to the hospital for an hour! Now she is barely clinging to life. In Cincinnati, the cop who shot Timothy Thomas was just found not guilty by a judge after a trial where he faced a maximum of only 9 months in jail for stealing a young Black man's life! Some of the people arrested for protesting this murder face up to 15 years. The brutality and murder hasn't stopped. The authorities haven't stopped letting cops who brutalize and kill go free. SO OUR RESISTANCE TO THIS OFFICIAL BRUTALITY CANNOT STOP!
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In this time of grief, the authorities are attempting to manipulate us into giving them a blank check to put in place more repressive laws and policies. We must not give it to them. Racial profiling is wrong whether it's aimed at Black and Latino people on the New Jersey turnpike or Arab-Americans in airports and other places nationwide.
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In the name of the so-called wars on crime and drugs, the authorities have treated our youth like criminals, guilty until proven innocent. Now in the name of the so-called war on terrorism, they want us to support them as they criminalize people because of the country they come from or the religion they practice. We must not do so.
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We must continue the fight to stop police brutality, police murder and official violence. We must fight the government's efforts to use this situation to expand repressive laws and policies. We must fight their plans to criminalize even more sections of the people. The fight for justice for the victims of this official violence and murder is too important to be put aside. Join us on October 22, 2001.
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STOP POLICE BRUTALITY, REPRESSION and the CRIMINALIZATION of a GENERATION!
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-- Carl Dix, Arnetta Grable and Efia Nwangaza for the National Coordinating Committee of the October 22 Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation
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For more information, call (415) 864-5153 or email Oct22sf [at] energy-net.org<br>
Youth and Student Network: slambrutality [at] yahoo.com<br>