Our New Movement Wins First Victory Against Police Brutality and Racism in Detroit! Damen Smith Aquitted of All Charges-Jury Rejects Cop Lies and Cover-up Join BAMN and the New Civil Rights Movement! January 3, 2015 The movement has scored an important victory in the first of 3 cases that came out of the August 13th police shooting on the east side near Nottingham and Berkshire just a few days after the police murder of Michael Brown and uprising of the community of Ferguson, Missouri. On December 17th, a jury at Frank Murphy Hall of Justice acquitted Damen Smith, a young black man who was attacked and pepper-sprayed by police and arrested during the large gathering of neighborhood residents who came out to confront police after the cops opened fire on two men, Darnell Martin and Dennis Arnold, shooting Darnell in the shoulder. Outraged by the police violence and inspired by the recent wave of resistance in Ferguson and around the country, the crowd likely saved the lives of Dennis and Darnell by making the police think twice before pursuing and executing them. After police attacked and arrested Damen for no reason other than to make an example of him, he was charged with resisting and obstructing. BAMN took up the cases of Damen, Darnell and Dennis and has been holding marches through the community every Saturday to build the power of the movement to back the police off and out of our neighborhoods. The victory resulted from the combination of Damens own determination to defend himself, the support of Damens friends and neighbors, BAMNs political leadership, and BAMN attorney Shanta Drivers relentless and aggressive approach in the courtroom. Damen’s case went to trial just after another national wave of mass protests against the grand jury decision not to indict Darren Wilson, the police officer who killed Michael Brown. Just as the mass resistance of the people of Ferguson interrupted the routine of police murder, cover-up and blaming the victim, BAMN’s defense of Damen put the Detroit police on trial and threw a monkey wrench into the cynical business-as-usual routine at the Frank Murphy Court where the judges, prosecutors, police and defense attorneys all work together as a machine that churns out guilty verdicts to Detroiters every day. The strength of the movement against racist police brutality sparked by the people of Ferguson this past summer is still being felt today. For the black and Latino communities it has become a sign of hope and inspiration to stand up against daily racist unequal treatment. The actions of the movement are happening daily events across the country. The determination and sense of our power grows. In the case of Damen Smith, Ferguson was felt in the courtroom with each BAMN argument. And it became more real as the racism of the prosecutor was displayed with each racist attack against the character of Damen, of his friends and family and the entire black community of the East Side of Detroit. For the prosecutor and the police, there were no real arguments other than the racist character of the law and prejudices against young black men in this society, as well as the assumption of the right of police officers to harass, discriminate, brutalize and even kill minority youth without consequences. For BAMN, our strongest argument was our reliance on the strength of the movement inspired by Ferguson. We won by exposing and shaming the racism of the Detroit Police Department, standing on the truth and drawing out the most progressive side of the people in the jury who have been inspired by Ferguson and the fight against the growing racist inequality in America. The jurors felt the pressure of the national movement by the presence of BAMN organizers and community members in the courtroom and were at the end reassured to vote for real justice by finding Damen not guilty and siding with our marches, rallies, tribunals, occupations and other direct actions of the movement that are now shaking the nation. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration & Immigrant Rights, and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) bamn Instagram:Joinbamn Twitter:@followbamn email@bamn Kate: 313-575-9329 Jose:323-944-8762
Posted on: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 16:46:00 +0000
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