From my dear friend Boots Riley, concerning his cousin- lets all call the courthouse listed below in order to help support Carlos Riley Jr. Two years ago, my 21 year old cousin, Carlos Riley Jr., was was pulled over by an off-duty cop under suspicion of weed possession in Durham, NC. During the stop, the cop started assaulting Carlos while he was still in the car. At some point, the cop yelled expletives and said Im gonna kill you! Carlos fought for his life. Luckily, while the cop drew his gun- he shot himself in the leg (a common occurrence- and not disputed by the cop). Scared for his life, Carlos took the cops gun and ran. Had he not taken the gun, he may very well have been another Black man who got shot in the back by police. A few hours later, with witnesses around, he called the police and turned himself in (police decided to arrest his witnesses as well). Carlos was convicted of stealing the cops gun and sentenced to 10 years in federal prison- where he sits now. Apparently, he should have just let the cop kill him. Many things have since come out (some on video) about the dastardly and abusive tactics used by the Durham Police Department. I am so glad that Carlos is alive, surviving the attack. This Thursday, Jan. 22, Carlos Jr, through his lawyer, will be asking a judge to dismiss these charges. We need you to act now to show that #BlackLivesMatter. Lets support those who successfully evade murder attempted by the police. A stigma is sometimes put on those who fight back and win. Lets not do that. We know how the nonchalantly the cops can terminate lives of those they feel are not worthy. It makes perfect sense to fight back in many situations. This cop was actually Black, but we all know that to be a cop, one has to see communities of color as the enemy, no matter what their background is. (Once, when going to fight White supremacists who were being protected by cops- some of them Black- I asked How could you protect the Aryan Nation? Youre Black! The Black cop responded Im not Black, Im Blue.) The idea that you fight crime by patrolling communities of color is inherently racist. You fight crime by making a system in which there are jobs for everyone, jobs that people can actually survive on. Everything- school, the news, movies and TV- tells us that poverty and crime comes from the bad decisions of poor people. This is actually just a ruse so that we dont understand that crime is a natural outgrowth of poverty and that poverty is a natural and necessary outgrowth of capitalism. If you dont understand that, you might believe that whole communities of people are morally decrepit, or lazy, or stupid. If you believe that, youll become a cop and your idea of being a hero is going to be to be a villain to those communities. Join us in calling for the District Attorney to dismiss the charges against Carlos Riley Jr. Here are two things we need you to do now: 1. Call Durham District Attorney Roger Echols to urge him to dismiss the charges against Carlos Riley, Jr. Carlos shouldnt be further punished for acting in self-defense. The phone number is (919) 808-3010. 2. On Thursday, at 10 AM, join organizers at the Durham County Courthouse, Room 7D, to stand in support and solidarity with Carlos, Jr. and his family. Please wear purple if you can. (It is Carlos Jrs favorite color).
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 03:11:40 +0000
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