SFPD murders another Black man; activists demand answers

Close to two hundred activists, family members and 
supporters confronted the San Francisco Police Commission 
on August 8 demanding an end to the cover-up of the brutal 
murder of a young Black man by the SF police department. 
Idriss Stelley, a 23-year old college student, was killed 
by cops on June 13th inside an empty movie theater at the 
Metreon. Two months later we still do not know how many 
pigs were on the scene (estimates range from 8 to 16), the 
names of the responsible cops, how many bullets were fired 
into Stelley's body (more than 20), or the names of the 
witnesses to his murder (there were five people interviewed 
by the police who have apparently now disappeared). 

The cops were called to the Metreon specifically to deal 
with a psychiatric crisis -- Stelley had a history of 
mental illness -- not because he was committing a dangerous 
crime. The pigs entered the theater in bullet proof vests, 
fully armed. Stelley was alone with only a small 2 inch 
utility knife on him, yet it took at least 8 cops, more 
than 20 bullet holes in Idriss Stelley, and two cops 
wounded by "friendly" fire, for the pigs to control the 
situation. It is no wonder that one of the speakers at the 
open comment session of the Commission meeting asked of the 
police "who protects us from you?" stating that there is 
"no way in hell I would call the SFPD if I'm in trouble." 
The protester's signs reading "911 = Blood Bath" reflect 
not only the murder of Idriss Stelley but the history of 
police occupation of the Black community in the U.$. 

Before the Police Commission meeting opened the floor for 
comments the chair of the meeting stated that the 
commission does not engaged in dialogue during this part of 
the meeting. Apparently "public comment" is just a time for 
the public to pretend they are being heard. He then went on 
to allow Assistant Police Chief Sanders a chance to comment 
before the public was allowed to speak. The Chief used this 
time to pose for the TV cameras and pretend to be 
reasonable, offering to sit down after the meeting with 
leaders of the protesters, after not returning their calls 
or answering their questions for two months. In response 
the crowd started chanting "answers" demanding the 
information about the investigation be made public now.

To add to the insult, the public was forced to crowd into a 
room far too small, with many people standing in the aisles 
and overflowing into the hall. At the previous meeting, a 
month before, over 200 people showed up and the Police 
Commission refused to move the meeting to a larger room, 
claiming that they had not had sufficient notice to prepare 
another room but promising to accommodate such crowds in 
the future. 

This time the activists called the Commission three weeks 
prior to the public meeting to request that it be held in a 
larger space. Initially representatives for the Police 
Commission had told activists that the meeting could not be 
moved because it would be too expensive to rent the tape 
recorder for the larger auditorium. When the meeting began 
the Commissioner said that it was not possible to move the 
meeting to the auditorium because he had been told it is 
not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. 
This was clearly a last minute ruse to try to keep the 
public out of "public comment". Chanting "Public meeting, 
we want seating" activists pointed out that the police have 
had no problem accommodating larger crowds in other rooms 
and at other venues outside of the SF Hall of Justice when 
the crowds consisted of police officers, business people, 
and others considered worthy of the effort by the 
Commission. 

In reality the so-called public meeting held by the Police 
Commission is nothing more than a cover for the complete 
lack of accountability by the police. It might be better if 
no public contact was allowed at all, this would more 
accurately reflect the reality of the power the cops enjoy. 

Demonstrating the farce of "democracy" under capitalism, 
the Police Commission was kind enough to schedule a few 
items of business before the public comment section of the 
meeting. The most time consuming item involved a report by 
a police sergeant regarding a bike race in the city 
scheduled for September. This cop gave a detailed report on 
the police preparation for the event including information 
on who will be moving the street barricades and how often 
this can happen, which roads traffic will be diverted to, 
how many cops this will take, and speculation on whether or 
not people watching the race might attend on bikes.

This is a good example of the waste of micromanagement. The 
whole presentation was so ridiculous this reporter had to 
wonder if it wasn't just a stalling tactic by the 
commission. Several audience members were laughing as they 
listened to the waste of time. It was a clear example 
parasitism and useless jobs done for high pay under 
capitalism. There was no information in the cop's report 
that was useful to the Police Commission and the details of 
traffic during a bike race should be easily delegated to 
appropriate authorities who should be trusted to do their 
jobs or removed from their positions if they fail. But in 
imperialist countries like the u.s., useless paper pushing 
jobs like generating unnecessary detailed reports and 
listening to these reports are what keep the (mostly white) 
people wealthy.

Stelley's fiancé spoke at the meeting, saying "This was a 
cold blooded murder." At the end of her comments she turned 
to the Police Chief and asked if he would now give her the 
names of the cops who killed her fiancé. Clearly not taking 
the meeting seriously the Chief Pig responded that he could 
not do this because he had received a letter from her 
lawyer demanding that he refrain from contact with her 
(after the cops had interrogated her and Stelley's mother 
for hours without a lawyer present after Stelley was 
murdered). 

In response another activist stood up and asked if the 
Chief Pig would give him the names of the cops, pointing 
out that he does not have a lawyer so surely this stupid 
reasoning could not apply to him. At that point the Chief 
Pig Sanders was forced to respond saying "no, at the 
appropriate time the names will be released." The 
appropriate time after the killing of other people by the 
police in the recent past has been within 24 hours or 48 
hours. The longer the cops wait the clearer it becomes that 
they don't even have a good cover story to explain the 
murder. They are hoping that public outcry will die down if 
they wait long enough.

But it is unlikely that attention or interest in this case 
will lessen. Not only is Stelley's fiancé active in the 
organizing against the cops but his mother is traveling the 
world gathering support and raising international 
awareness. Idriss Stelley holds dual citizenship in France 
and the u.s. and his mother was in France during this 
meeting where there is tremendous outcry against the SFPD 
for the murder of Idriss. She spoke to the Police 
Commission via phone, informing them that a formal inquiry 
has been initiated by the French government, there have 
been 3940 visits to a web site set up about her son's 
murder, and 846 messages of support and petitions are 
circulating all over Europe. She made it clear that this 
will not stop until the people get justice for the killing 
of Idriss Stelley, warning the Police Commission "Prepare 
yourselves, you have a war on your hands."

Later in the meeting, again pretending to be reasonable, 
Sanders promised to release the information to the family's 
attorney by 9am the next morning, giving them a phone 
number to call. But this turned out to be just another lie 
from the police department. The next day there was no 
answer at the number Sanders gave out (and no answering 
service). Sander's direct line was busy all day, making it 
impossible for anyone, including media, to get through.

Activists are demanding a release of all information 
pertaining to the murder of Idriss, an independent criminal 
investigation by a special prosecutor, and mandatory police 
crisis intervention training for the SFPD. MIM agrees with 
the demands for release of information, and although we 
expect that an "independent" investigation would probably 
still exonerate the pigs of responsibility for murder, this 
investigation would help expose the crimes of the cops. 
Crisis Intervention Training for the pigs might be a good 
use of time keeping the cops off the streets and in 
classrooms where they can't hurt anyone, but attempts to 
train the fascists to be nicer fascists will not solve the 
problem of police brutality and murder. 

The problem with the cops is not lack of training but 
instead it is rooted in the definition of their position. 
The police in the U.$ exist as an occupying army. Their job 
is to maintain the status quo as a part of the criminal 
injustice system: social control. No amount of training 
will change this job description. While we expose the cops 
for their murder and brutality we have to fight the system 
that puts them on the streets while leaving the biggest 
criminals running the country.