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A socialist newsweekly published in the interests of working people
Vol. 64/No. 37October 2, 2000


Cop beating of youth in Miami sparks protest
 
BY MIKE ITALIE  
MIAMI--A meeting of 250 people sponsored by the NAACP here September 14 turned into a speakout against the brutal police beating of Jerome McClellion the day before.

"These police beat and kick our children and get away with it. When we discipline our children they send us to jail," said one participant at the meeting. The Miami-Dade County NAACP-sponsored event, organized as a candidates forum in Coconut Grove, grew in size as people responded to radio notices stating the event would take on the issue of police brutality.

Victor Curry, president of the Miami-Dade NAACP, said each of the candidates should state their views on the beating of McClellion and police brutality. "If what the cops did was OK, we wouldn't need the judges, attorneys, or court system--the police can act as judge, jury, and executioner," he said.

McClellion, 19, was the target of a savage police beating after a two-county police chase, which ended with McClellion on the ground. TV news cameras recorded a cop on top of him, pushing his face into an anthill, and another cop kicking him in the head. They stopped once they realized TV news helicopters were overhead, but then a third cop arrived and delivered a knee blow to the youth. The three Miami-Dade cops involved--Mike Ramirez, Chris Johnson, and Nathan Johnston--are members of the Robbery Intervention Detail and have been transferred to desk jobs.

Repeated airing of the attack on the TV news that night along with front-page photos of the beating in local papers the next morning, made clear to millions of people in south Florida and across the country that the police had carried out a vicious assault.  
 
Police cover-up
The cover-up began rapidly. At first the cops claimed McClellion had waved a gun at them, and that a bullet hole in one police car was likely fired by that gun. This story fell apart when the Miami Herald reported McClellion was unarmed and the bullet hole in the police car was caused by a shot from another cop's gun. Instead, the Herald quoted extensively from Douglas Hartman, attorney for the police involved, who claimed McClellion made a momentary motion downward with his right arm that showed that he was after the policeman's gun. "Anyone who saw that movement, in my opinion, had the right to use deadly force" Hartman said.

The Herald also sought to justify the cop violence by painting McClellion as someone who vowed to "go out in a blaze of glory" and highlighted his arrest record. It published letters to the editor appearing under the heading, "McClellion's victim: Police did a good job." The lead letter was from a person who said they were the owner of the Cadillac SUV that McClellion is charged with stealing. The writer applauded "the police in a job well done" against "worthless punks."

"You can be caught on video--hand in the cookie jar, crumbs around your mouth--and still one of the police attorneys says the victim 'was reaching for an officer's gun' and that's why they had to kick him in the head," NAACP leader Curry said at the public meeting in response to this campaign. Curry stated that no protests are planned, because then "the media could paint us as a bunch of rioters."  
 
Socialist candidate joins discussion
James Harris, Socialist Workers candidate for president of the United States, attended the meeting with campaign supporters. "If something happens one time then it's an accident; twice and there's a problem," he said in the discussion period. "But if it happens everywhere, and consistently, such as is the case with police brutality, then there is a systematic problem. The truth is the police are organized to carry out this kind of violence against working people." He said that what is needed is not more investigations and "sensitivity training" for the police, but that instead "the cops who carry out this kind of beating must be put behind bars."

Some came to the meeting because they had also been targets of police violence and wanted to speak out about it. One man jumped up from the floor to tell the candidates, "You all better stick to the subject: police brutality. This sticks with me because it happened to me and there was no video camera."

James Wallace spoke briefly about his case, in which the police stopped him for speeding and then turned police dogs on him. One ripped at his leg for a minute and a half, while the cops put another barking dog within inches of his face. He continues to receive daily therapy for his injuries and is facing resisting arrest and other charges. He came to the meeting to get together with others who wanted to fight against police brutality. "I want to commit myself to be part of an organization, a national organization, that will fight this kind of injustice," he said.

Mike Italie is a member of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees.

 
 
 
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