By Glynn Wilson –
MOBILE, Ala. – More than 100 protesters marched for justice and spoke against police brutality here Tuesday due to recent cases of African Americans being shot and killed across the country from Baton Rouge to St. Paul, seeking information on the death of Mike Moore, an African American teen killed by white Mobile Police officer Harold Hurst during a deadly traffic stop.
A coalition of community activist groups led the peaceful demonstration in Cathedral Square Park, where protesters staged a die-in on the lawn, and the march around downtown, with chants of “no peace, no justice” echoing off the buildings, grabbing the attention of passing motorists. One white man riding by the park with his window down stuck his middle finger in the air aimed at the protesters and yelled: “F___ you racist scum,” before speeding off.
Unlike protests on other cities, such as Dallas Texas and Baton Rouge Louisiana, there were no incidents of violence and very few police, none in riot gear. One Mobile Police Captain sat leisurely on a park bench and watched, and when asked about it, said he was just there to make sure the demonstrators were safe in “doing their thing.”
Many speakers brought up discrepancies in the information that has been released by police and reported by the local press and broadcast media in the case of Michael Moore, and you can watch much of the action and hear what they said on the video produced to go with this story.
Since there was no major incident at the rally, some of the local press and media did minor perfunctary stories. Some TV news stations didn’t bother to show up at all. We say these poeple need to have their day and be heard in a national archive people can access for years to come.
Watch the Video
As the only national and local news organization asking the tough questions in this case, we call on Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson and Police Chief James Barber to be more forthright with the people here and answer the questions raised in this story.
A Killing by Police Leaves Mobile on the Brink
The Justice Department’s FBI is conducting an investigation into the case and offering a reward to anyone who can produce a video of the incident.
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Related Story – Second Amendment Debate Takes On New Meaning When Gun Holder is Black
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The scene in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
ACLU Sues the City of Baton Rouge for First Amendment Violations at Alton Sterling Protest
BATON ROUGE, La. — Local organizing groups and the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana filed a lawsuit today against the Baton Rouge Police Department for violating the First Amendment rights of demonstrators who were protesting peacefully against the killing of Alton Sterling. The case is co-counseled by Sima Atri, staff attorney at the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice and cooperating counsel Ron Wilson on behalf of on behalf of Black Youth Project 100 and the Louisiana chapter of the National Lawyers Guild.
The lawsuit alleges that the police used excessive force, physical and verbal abuse, and wrongful arrests to disperse protestors who were gathered peacefully to speak out against the police killing of Alton Sterling. Eyewitness accounts recorded by plaintiffs in the suit show police in full riot gear with assault rifles, lunging and grabbing at peacefully assembled people and throwing them to the ground.
“[The police response] made me afraid to protest. Seeing the way the police were manhandling folks caused me to hide, scream out of fear, and finally flee for my safety. I had to run. A peaceful demonstration should never be like that,” expressed Crystal Williams, local resident and organizer with North Baton Rouge Matters, “I feel like speech is my most powerful tool to ensure my community and my family are safe. But now I feel totally silenced.”
Louisiana Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild President and Catholic nun Alison Renee McCrary: “I witnessed firsthand as peaceful protestors were violently attacked and arrested, assault weapons pointed at them with fingers on the triggers, some dragged across the cement, their clothes ripped off of them. What I saw happening was an immediate threat to life. My and other demonstrators’ speech was chilled because of this event.”
Counsel also filed for a temporary restraining order against the defendants to prevent them from interfering with people’s constitutionally protected right to gather peacefully moving forward.
“The police didn’t do their job in Baton Rouge, again. They are bound to protect us from harm, to keep us safe, to do everything possible before throwing someone to the ground or pulling the trigger. Yet Alton Sterling is on the long list of Black people killed needlessly by our nation’s police, and protests in his honor have turned into circuses of violence where the First Amendment is tossed aside,” said ACLU of Louisiana Executive Director Marjorie Esman. “We can’t bring Alton Sterling back but at minimum, the police can stop blocking our right to protest in his name.”
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