MIM Notes 208 April 15, 2000 Diallo's killers roam the streets & run the kkkountry by MC53 The four pigs directly responsible for the vicious murder of Amadou Diallo continue to roam the streets. This comes as no surprise to revolutionaries organizing in a kkkountry that is at war with oppressed nations around the world and responsible for the deaths of millions. We mourn the death of Diallo, but we do not demand that the four pigs be brought to "justice" within the current system. Violence against oppressed nationals cannot be eliminated from imperialism, because it is imperialism's main prop. The oppressor nation's courts justify or cover-up the slaughter of the oppressed. There are two choices: You can grab the carrot that the murderers are holding and believe the lie that they will reform, or you can join MIM in overthrowing this brutal and corrupt system. For those sitting on the fence, MIM would happily set you to work addressing the masses' immediate needs and simultaneously provide you with information to choose a side. Amerikan kkkangaroo kkkourts A jury acquitted the four pigs charged with the murder of Amadou Diallo on February 25. An important factor in the acquittal seems to have been acceptance of the pigs' versions of events. The pigs were not debriefed following the shooting and only told their versions after a year of preparation. After this period for preparation, the pigs claimed Diallo acted suspiciously. (What Black man in Amerika would not act cautiously around four white men late at night?) The pigs justified their actions by stating they thought Diallo may have recently committed a crime. They claim that they thought that the wallet-wielding man endangered their lives. (Diallo offered the officers his wallet, which they say they mistook for a weapon.) Each of the officers testified that they had not considered that Guinean immigrant Diallo might not have understood English or might have been deaf, but they did assume that the Black man was a robber or a rapist.(The New York Times, 15 February 2000, p. A25) The underlying assumption in Amerika is that the cops' job on the streets is a just one. When they murder someone, they are not questioned as a civilian would be because they are expected to enforce Amerika's oppressive system through force. They are expected to kill. Despite the fact that only about 2.6 percent of the people stopped by the pigs for suspicion of carrying a gun actually were, kkkops are allowed to treat citizens as guilty before a trial. Because of the national chauvinism of the cops' training, they are more likely to suspect oppressed nationals. This suspicion has no basis in fact. The Street Crime Unit's statistics themselves show this is ridiculous. For every 16 Blacks stopped, 1 was arrested; one out of every 10 whites stopped. Still, 62.7% of those stopped by the unit were Black. The appellate court ruled to move the trial to Albany because of "public clamor." The Appellate court said that if the trial were held in New York City, the jurors would be "pressured to reach the verdict demanded by public opinion." There had been little effort to investigate the possibility of an impartial jury in NYC. Albany is 85.8 percent white and 9.2 percent Black. The Bronx is 48.3 percent Latino, 29.4 percent Black and 18.6 percent white. (The New York Times, 17 December 1999, pp.A27 and A1.) In picking out the jury, the Defense tried at first to eliminate jurors "based on their attitudes about race." The defense even wanted to eliminate Albany residents who had close ties with the Bronx because they might share their opinions about conditions in the Bronx with the rest of the jury. Amerika's court system portrays itself as being fair; one of the ways it does this is by moving trials to places where people are out of touch with the reality of the crime being addressed in the trial. According to a pathologist, the shot that probably killed Diallo happened early within the barrage. He also testified that three bullets hit Diallo when while he was lying on the floor. The defense tried to give the impression that the pigs did not riddle Diallo with bullets; rather, the pigs had reason to think that the Diallo was still a threat even after they had shot him several times.(New York Times, 11 February 2000, A25) The judge instructed the jury that there were three legal reasons to justify the shooting: the cops believed they were being attacked; they believed that a robbery had been committed; or they were making an arrest for a felony. Just before the jury decided the verdict, the judge told the jury that the pigs "should not be considered the aggressor in a situation just because [a cop] gives chase or pulls his gun."(The New York Times, 26 February 2000, p. A13.) The judge specifically did not instruct the jury that the officers had a duty to retreat if they could do so safely which is what citizens must do. (The New York Times, 18 February A28.) The prosecutor did not push to have the judge instruct the jury that in New York, a citizen is legally entitled to ignore a pig's inquiry if he is not committing any crime. In Amerika's KKKangaroo KKKourts, the assumptions about police action, the prosecution tactics, and the judge's instructions have a political bias. This political bias makes genuine justice for the oppressed impossible. Revolution, not reform One of the reasons that MIM sees no hope in reforming the current system is that each step within the Criminal INjustice System demonstrates that the whole bushel is rotten, not just one apple. We regularly cover the inhumane treatment of prisoners, biased courts happy to convict innocent oppressed nationals, abuse by gestapo cops and the benefits that the white settler nation gets from this increasingly fascistic aspect of Amerika. In the case of the four cops acquitted of Diallo's murder, the inherent injustices of the united snakes shine through. One pig interviewed while watching the trial said "It's terrible. It seems like he [Diallo] was a good guy." And what? If he had stolen a car he would have deserved to be filled with bullets?(The New York Times, 4 February 2000, p. A23.) How can you reform a system where cops are explicitly permitted to act as judge and jury? Many liberals spend time calling for reform of Amerika's police system. Before the verdict, Al Sharpton said that the jury was "diverse" because it had four blacks and 8 whites. (The New York Times, 2 February 2000, A 23.) Leaders that cannot distinguish between skin color and national interest will continue to lead righteously angry masses astray. In the most recent publicized cop killer case in New York City, Guiliani is doing the same thing: justifying the murder of an unarmed Black man and saying that it had nothing to do with national oppression because the kops were Black and "hispanic". On the tail of the Diallo verdict, pigs murdered another Black man in the Bronx. Giuliani said that the murder was justified because the man killed, Malcolm Ferguson, was carrying heroin, had a history of drug crimes and had fled from, and struggled with the pigs. Ferguson was unarmed.(The New York Times, 3 March 2000, p. A23) Pigs say that because Ferguson had committed a crime, his killing was justified. No doubt the Amerikan justice system will rubber stamp that opinion. Allegedly the Street Crime Unit has been drastically changed and its base shut down since Diallo's murder. But last month the administration opened Operation Condor, "A crackdown on street-level drug trafficking". (The New York Times, 27 February 2000, pp. A1 and A27). Different name, same system of national oppression. The U.$. police system is but a tool to perpetuate national oppression. With over 2 million prisoners locked up, it should be evident that kops that kill are not the only weapon being used against oppressed nations. Ultimately, the struggle against police brutality must be a struggle for national liberation, th overthrow of u.$. imperialism, and socialism.