Vol. 81/No. 14 April 10, 2017
200 protest cop killings, brutality in Bakersfield
“I will never accept or forget the beat down and cowardly murder of my son,” said Merri Silva speaking at the spot her son David was beaten on May 7, 2013, by nine Bakersfield and Kern County cops. He was bitten by police dogs, hogtied and eventually died as a result.
“At the beginning there were just a few of us, look at us now,” said Chris Silva, David’s brother, gesturing to the crowd. He noted the widespread publicity the protests and killings had received and that family members were involved in suits against the cops. “Our loved ones are getting killed and they’re giving us money to shut up. We’re not going to shut up.”
A growing list of names of those killed by cops here since 1994 was printed on the backs of T-shirts of the marchers.
The last name was Francisco Serna, a 73-year-old grandfather shot by Bakersfield cops outside his home last December. Serna had early stages of dementia and when he didn’t comply immediately when cops shouted orders at him, one opened fire. As Serna lay dying, the cops refused to allow his wife or daughter to come to his side. They threatened other family members who arrived, saying they would be arrested or tasered if they tried to reach him.
“They cuffed him and let dogs on him, they didn’t need to torture him,” Laura Serna, who was there when her father was shot, told Dennis Richter, recently announced Socialist Workers Party candidate for congress in the 34th CD in Los Angeles.
“The police do this all over because they are not serving and protecting us, instead they protect the system of wealthy capitalists, that’s who they serve and they look at all of us as potential criminals,” Richter said. “They can’t be reformed.”
“It will take revolutionary changes, where working people fight to take power out of the hands of the ruling wealthy, to have a different justice system built in our interests,” he said.
The march also stopped where James De La Rosa was shot in November 2014 and at the Walgreens where Ronnie Ledesma was beaten by cops and later died.
The impact of the protests forced the California state attorney general to open an investigation into the Bakersfield and Kern County cops in December, shortly after the killing of Francisco Serna.
The county District Attorney decided to drop charges against Xavier Hines and Timothy Grismore, Black students at Bakersfield College, who were stopped by the cops as they went for pizza after studying one night. One was beaten and both were arrested, framed up on charges of jaywalking and resisting arrest. However, the NAACP released a video interview with them about how they were treated and the case blew up.
Related articles:
New charges filed against Chicago cop who killed youth
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