Question private security forces.

Citizen is a privately-owned “public safety” app that reports neighborhood crime to residents. It has 5 million active users, more App Store downloads than Twitter (Forbes), and is backed by venture capital firms like Sequoia Capital, which is also investing in heavyweights like Cisco, Instagram, and YouTube (Sequoia). It’s a rebrand of an app called Vigilante, which actually encouraged users to go after suspected criminals (Tech Crunch). After the Pacific Palisades fire last month, Citizen sent the full name and photo of a suspected arsonist to 860,000 users. Citizen put a $30,000 bounty on this man, who was unhoused (Oaklandside), and, as in its days as Vigilante, encouraged its users to “get out there and bring this guy to justice” (Vox). As it turns out, he was innocent.

It's Friday and we're back with another Anti-Racism Daily. Our nation's history of policing isn't just seen in law enforcement, but privatized security, too. The Citizen app is purportedly releasing their own private security system that users can deploy at will. Andrew shares more in today's newsletter.

Thank you for keeping this independent platform going. In honor of our one year anniversary, become a monthly subscriber on our website or Patreon this week and we'll send you some swag! You can also give one-time on Venmo (@nicoleacardoza), PayPal or our website.

– Nicole

TAKE ACTION

#DeleteCitizen and encourage others to do the same.
Follow and support efforts to disrupt white supremacist vigilantism.
Engage with efforts to disarm and regulate private security. Invest instead in community-led public safety initiatives.

GET EDUCATED

By Andrew Lee (he/him)

Days later, the news broke that a black Citizen SUV was prowling Los Angeles. Citizen said the vehicle, connected to a local “subscription law enforcement” firm, is part of a “pilot project.” It seems Citizen plans to augment its surveillance and vigilantism network with private police (Vice). Many have expressed concerns that this could lead to harassment and violence based on racial profiling.

The past year has thrown light on two pillars of American white supremacy. On one hand, the police commit atrocities against Black and Brown people with few consequences. On the other, neo-Nazis and militant nativists commit “lone wolf” attacks in an attempt to provoke a race war. (For why we don’t refer to such zealots as terrorists, see this previous article.)

Citizen exemplifies a third pillar: the vigilantes, civic groups, and private companies that enforce white supremacy. Unlike the police or National Guard, they aren’t an arm of the state. And unlike neo-Nazi mass shooters, they aren’t right-wing revolutionaries seeking to replace the political order with something even worse. This third pillar is composed of organizations that operate, with the tacit or official support of the authorities, to maintain the current economic, political, and racial order. That is, they are private enforcers of what supporters of a deeply unequal society might deem “public order.”

In the past, the government empowered citizens to kill Indigenous people and kidnap people who escaped from slavery. The 20th century Ku Klux Klan recruited white Protestants who felt threatened by immigration and the Bolshevik revolution (Britannica). Though the Klan wasn’t the government, “in Muncie, Indiana—the ‘Middletown’ that sociologists Robert Staughton Lynd and Helen Merrell Lynd studied as the embodiment of 1920s America—the mayor was a loyal Klansman, as were the president of the local school board and the secretary of the YMCA.” “Sundown town” legislation that barred people of color after dark was enforced not only by local police but also by the threat of lynchings from local residents (The Atlantic). Last year, New Mexican law enforcement saw an ally in the New Mexico Civil Guard, a militia organization that shot an antifascist counterprotester (History News Network).

In 1892, thousands of Southern and Eastern European immigrant mill workers went on strike. The owners, Carnegie Steel, brought in 300 heavily-armed private soldiers from the Pinkerton Detective Agency, who murdered 7 striking workers as they attempted to clear the mill (Britannica). At this time, the Pinkertons were larger than the U.S. Army (History).

In the present day, private security firm G4S was paid $1.7 million to run Guantánamo Bay. Israeli government-contracted G4S to run prisons in the occupied West Bank where children are kept in solitary confinement (Guardian); in Australia, an Aboriginal elder was “cooked to death” in a G4S prison van (Guardian). A G4S subsidiary was acquired by another security firm, Allied Universal, making it the third-largest employer in North America (Yahoo).

Section 8 residents are patrolled by private security with automatic rifles and mauled by their guard dogs (Chicago Reporter). Though not law enforcement, campus police are able to harass and abuse non-students residing close to campus. In one case, University of Chicago police stopped, stripped, and beat a man with a malfunctioning car horn (Leagle). See the interview with Alecia from the Cops Off Campus coalition. Mall security killed a Black man in Detroit who died crying out “I can’t breathe” (Huff Post). Private security stabbed a man in the chest after confronting him for theft (Fox 5). When Luis Quintero tried to explain a parking dispute to an Allied Universal security officer at a Texas mall, she pulled a gun with her finger on the trigger (ABC 13).

When fighting for racial justice, we need to keep violent non-state actors like vigilantes and security firms front and center. Citizen is both: a massive business that both inspires vigilantism and aspires to become privatized law enforcement. As Hari Ziyad wrote in a piece on abolition, “Safety is not a universally recognized phenomenon, as much as it is pretended to be. The meaning of safety depends on what exactly you find worthy of protection” (Salon).

Key Takeaways

The app Citizen has 5 million users. It has encouraged vigilantism and unjustified arrest and is taking steps to become private law enforcement.
Private security firms have committed numerous killings and abuses with little oversight.
White vigilante groups have long collaborated with law enforcement to enact racist laws and commit extrajudicial murders.
We need to interrogate “public safety” in a racist, classist society.

2/15/2021 | Advocate for Black immigrants.

12/9/2020 | Amplify mental health resources for immigrants.

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Thank you for all your financial contributions! If you haven't already, consider making a monthly donation to this work. These funds will help me operationalize this work for greatest impact.

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Nicole Cardoza 4/14/21 Nicole Cardoza 4/14/21

Abolish qualified immunity.

The death has been referred to as an “accidental discharge.” But there is nothing accidental about the death of an unarmed Black man by law enforcement. Our system is designed to maximize interactions between Black and brown people and police officers, which all but ensures that harm will happen. This is enforced through the practice of over-policing, initiatives that have justified increased levels of policing for the sake of the greater good, but often with adverse consequences (Scientific American).

Happy Wednesday and welcome back to the Anti-Racism Daily. Our previous two newsletters both depict the atrocities of our criminal justice system, emphasizing that abolition is the only way forward. Qualified immunity is part of that narrative, too, and garnering more attention this month. Today I thought it would be wise to revisit its history and context in current events.

This newsletter is a free resource and that's made possible by our paying subscribers. Consider giving $7/month on our website or Patreon. Or you can give one-time on our website or PayPal. You can also support us by joining our curated digital community. Thank you to all those that support!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Encourage your local Congresspeople to sponsor the BREATHE Act, which includes the support of ending qualified immunity in alignment with the Ending Qualified Immunity Act.
Send a letter to your Senators to support the “Ending Qualified Immunity Act”.
Research to see what the latest efforts are to ending qualified immunity in your state.

GET EDUCATED

By Nicole Cardoza (she/her)

The latest series of body camera videos released in conjunction to police brutality have reignited conversations about the role of qualified immunity in holding law enforcement accountable.

Some members of law enforcement act like the law don’t apply to them. And because of qualified immunity, they're kind of right. Qualified immunity means that government officials are shielded from charges that violate constitutional and civil rights – unless the victims can prove that these rights were “clearly established law.” This means that in order to charge the perpetrator, the victim must first find an exact same example of the case that's already been ruled illegal or unconstitutional to establish its legitimacy (USA Today).

Still confused? Here's a TikTok video that demonstrates it more simply. Bless TikTok creators.

Here's a real-life example. In February 2020, the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that a prison guard in Texas who pepper-sprayed an inmate in his locked cell “for no reason” did not violate clearly established law because similar cited cases involved guards who had hit and tased inmates "for no reason,” rather than pepper-spraying them (USA Today). The full report notes that if the victim was punched or hit by a baton "for no reason" the assault would violate clearly established law (PDF).

Another example is the story of Malaika Brooks, a Black woman who was seven months pregnant and pulled over for speeding while dropping her 11-year-old off at school. She refused to sign the speeding ticket (mistakenly thinking it was an acknowledgment of guilt). She was then tased three times, dragged into the street, pressed facedown into the ground, and cuffed (NYTimes). Although the judges saw that her constitutional rights were violated, they dismissed the case, arguing that "no precedent had 'clearly established' that tasing a woman in Ms. Brooks’s circumstances was unconstitutional at the time" (NYTimes).

This creates a paradoxical situation: how can we starting holding law enforcement accountable if their specific violations haven't been held accountable in the past? Justices are allowed to interpret "clearly established law" as specifically as they choose. And what's worse – the more egregious the violation, the more likely it doesn't fit neatly into a previous case. It's no surprise that, according to George F. Will, the Supreme Court, applying its “clearly established law” doctrine, has denied immunity only twice in its past 30 cases (Washington Post). There are dozens and dozens of examples just like the ones above, preventing citizens from holding police accountable for harm.

"
Important constitutional questions go unanswered precisely because those questions are yet unanswered. Courts then rely on that judicial silence to conclude there’s no equivalent case on the books. No precedent = no clearly established law = no liability. An Escherian Stairwell. Heads defendants win, tails plaintiffs lose.

Judge Don Willett, U.S. Circuit Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in The New Republic

So, how did we get here? Qualified immunity is buried in Section 1983 (named for its number in U.S. code, not the year), a provision from the Civil Rights Act of 1871, also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act. After the Civil War, the federal government was focused on re-integrating the South. But they faced violent resistance from the Klan, who waged a war of domestic terrorism by "killing Black Americans and white Republicans, burning down their homes and churches, and intimidating local communities into accepting white-supremacist rule" (The New Republic).

The government had to act, so it passed the Ku Klux Klan Act, granting it more power to intervene against violations of the 14th Amendment (house.gov). Within it, Section 1983 gave private citizens the ability to sue state and local officials who were violating federal constitutional rights – building more personal accountability into the work (The New Republic). Although the Supreme Court removed power granted by the Ku Klux Klan Act after the Reconstruction Act, Section 1983 remained, dormant until 1961.

This was when James Monroe, a Black man, and his family were pulled from their beds late one night and assaulted by thirteen police officers with no warrant (sound familiar)? Monroe was then held for interrogation without being charged a crime, or access to a lawyer, for 10 hours. In the case Monroe v. Pape, the Supreme Court ruled that they had the right to hold the police officers accountable, using the terms of Section 1983 as reference. This grounded the provision as a part of holding law enforcement accountable in today's rhetoric (The New Republic).

But a shift in terminology has made this more challenging to execute. In 1982, the Supreme Court revised Section 1983 to ensure that government officials were entitled to “qualified immunity” from such lawsuits unless their actions violated a “clearly established law” (The New Republic).

“

Qualified immunity shields police from accountability, impedes true justice, and undermines the constitutional rights of every person in this country. There can be no justice without healing and accountability, and there can be no true accountability with qualified immunity. It’s past time to end qualified immunity, and that’s exactly what this bill does.

Ayanna Pressley, U.S. Representative for Massachusetts's 7th Congressional District, on her website.

A wide range of organizations advocate for ending qualified immunity, including the ACLU, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Movement for Black Lives and the Institute for Justice. The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which recently passed in the House, includes ending qualified immunity for law enforcement (although many Black-led organizations oppose most of the other aspects of this legislation). To bolster it, the bill entitled “Ending Qualified Immunity Act” was re-introduced to the House of Representatives, which would end qualified immunity not just for law enforcement, but all government officials (Congresswoman Pressley). And Some states are also ending laws that act similarly to qualified immunity on the state level (The New Republic). Ending qualified immunity is a necessary step towards abolition.

RELATED ISSUES

12/15/2020 | Repeal stand your ground laws.

9/3/2020 | Support mental health response services.

8/26/2020 | Be an active bystander.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 4/8/21 Nicole Cardoza 4/8/21

Learn about COINTELPRO.

COINTELPRO, a shortening of “Counter Intelligence Program,” was a series of covert and illegal initiatives by the FBI designed to disrupt and discredit significant movements in the 1960s. Although it was initially focused on Communism in the U.S., it quickly began to target any movement related to equity and social justice. But one of its main goals was to "expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize the activities of the Black nationalists" (PBS). Under FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover’s direction, this group either directly or indirectly caused the death and incarceration of major civil rights leaders.

Happy Thursday! As we’ve written previously, the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. has been whitewashed and sanitized to fit into the image that society wants us to believe, one that is repackaged and resold each year on Martin Luther King Day in the U.S. But another danger of this narrative is the lack of awareness and accountability on his assassination. However, if we fully understand the circumstances surrounding his death – and the fates of other civil rights leaders – we have a more accurate depiction of the true impact of his life. Today’s email is a VERY basic overview, and I highly recommend digging into the articles provided to learn more.

This newsletter is a free resource and that's made possible by our paying subscribers. Consider giving $7/month on our website or Patreon. Or you can give one-time on our website or PayPal. You can also support us by joining our curated digital community. Thank you to all those that support!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Protect protesters. Watch this video to learn how to identify surveillance technologies at protests, and learn how to protect your identity.
Black activists targeted and surveilled under COINTELPRO are still imprisoned. Support efforts to release Dr. Mutulu Shakur and Mumia Abu-Jamal, activists that advocates emphasize were falsely imprisoned.

GET EDUCATED

By Nicole Cardoza (she/her)

Most of its focus was on dismantling the Black Panther Party, which Hoover saw as “the greatest threat to the country’” (Berkeley). Some of their actions were direct: they often organized raids with local law enforcement to kill or displace members. One of these resulted in Fred Hampton’s death, the 21-year-old chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party. In 1969, Fourteen plainclothes police officers raided the apartment building where Black Panther members and their families lay sleeping, firing over 90 times from pistols, shotguns, and a machine gun (History). Hampton and chapter member Mark Clark were killed, and four others were physically injured during the raid.

But they also created lies and deceit to influence the actions of leaders and those around them. To disarm the Black Panther Party, they seeded false information to create rifts between BPP leaders (most notably, Eldridge Cleaver and Huey P. Newton) and create dissent between the BPP and Black nationalist groups. They also drove the actress Jean Seberg, who financially supported the BPP, to die by suicide. They leaked a fake letter to the press insinuating that she was pregnant not by her husband but a high-ranking official of the Black Panther Party (NYTimes). The stress of this controversy caused Seberg to go into labor early, ultimately losing her child. She ultimately died by suicide.

COINTELPRO targeted many other notable civil rights leaders. Their actions led to the assassination of Malcolm X and drove Assata Shakur out of the country. It spied on famed boxer Muhammad Ali and his relationship with the Nation of Islam for years. Through COINTELPRO, the FBI collected a 1,884-page file about the author and activist James Baldwin.

The COINTELPRO program was disbanded after a group of activists exposed them – with proof. On March 8, 1971, four people broke into an FBI field office in Media, Pennsylvania, and stole classified documents outlining the program. The group chose this night specifically; it was the night of the “Fight of the Century,” the boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, and they knew people would likely be out of office. They seized over 1,000 documents and promptly mailed them anonymously to newspapers across the country (Zinn Education Project). Betty Medsger is reportedly the first person to break teh story at the Washington Post, and you can read more about her experience here. The burglars’ identities remained a secret until 2014 when three of them joined Medsger in an interview with Democracy Now!

This exposure helped to contextualize the loss of great figures, and, in some cases, encourage the families of victims to speak out. One case was after the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. On April 4, 1968, Dr. King was assassinated, shot while standing on his hotel room’s balcony. The suspect, James Earl Ray, was arrested a couple of months later. Ray confessed and pled guilty to the murder. He was sentenced to 99 years in prison (Stanford).

But days later, he recanted his confession and said he was coerced by law enforcement (Washington Post). This information, paired with the exposure of COINTELPRO in the early ’70s, led the family of Dr. King to be suspicious of the circumstances of his death. Because COINTELPRO had, of course, been actively surveilling Dr. King, too. Since 1963, the bureau regularly wiretapped King’s home, offices, and hotel rooms. They also sent him a tape of a recording of his sex life, along with a blackmail note threatening to expose him publicly unless he killed himself (NYTimes). Other civil rights leaders who surrounded Dr. King, like Bayard Rustin. More extensive records of surveillance of Dr. King, including FBI investigations of his death, will be released to the public in 2027.

In 1993, another man admitted he was part of a conspiracy to kill Dr. King (History). These claims led the King family to sue for wrongful death for a symbolic $100, as the case was solely about seeking justice. The case, Coretta Scott King v. Loyd Jowers, found that Dr. King was the victim of a conspiracy involving the Memphis police and federal agencies. This was a civil, not criminal case, so no one was charged, nor was the federal government on trial. The Department of Justice subsequently rejected the trial results, and the allegations included (DOJ). Regardless, the family is still adamant about the conspiracy (The Grio).

“

There is abundant evidence of a major high level conspiracy in the assassination of my husband, Martin Luther King, Jr. And the civil court's unanimous verdict has validated our belief. I wholeheartedly applaud the verdict of the jury, and I feel that justice has been well served in their deliberations.

Coretta Scott King, The Transcription of the King Family Press Conference on the MLK Assassination Trial Verdict, The King Center

It’s important to remember that COINTELPRO wasn’t the start of violence against civil rights leaders but a more formalized approach to a long history of these kinds of tactics. Much of this work also happened under the War on Drugs led by the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (established by Hoover, led by Harry Anslinger). The famed artist Billie Holiday was hounded by law enforcement throughout her life, which ultimately led to her death (28 Days of Black History).

And surveillance continues on civil rights movements to this day. In 2015, it was revealed that the Oregon Department of Justice was conducting digital surveillance on state residents that used the Black Lives Matter hashtag online (Oregon Live). And as protests unfolded across the U.S. last summer, there were a series of reports of law enforcement agencies deploying advanced surveillance technology, including facial recognition, aerial surveillance, and cellular phone exploitation (EFF). More gravely, six activists in the Ferguson, Missouri, community have been found dead in the four years since Michael Brown was killed (CBS News).

Many educational textbooks skip COINTELPRO altogether, which means that many people don’t have this context when they read about the importance of securing our identity in this technologically advanced, connected age. But we can’t forget about the past as we fight to protect our future. COINTELPRO might seem long in the past, but its influence is still causing harm today.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

COINTELPRO was a series of covert and illegal initiatives by the FBI designed to disrupt and discredit significant movements in the 1960s
It is directly responsible for the death, exile, deportation, etc of prominent civil rights leaders of the 1960s
The family of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. are adamant that the FBI conspired in his death
Surveillance still continues of the current Black Lives Matter movement

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 2/26/21 Nicole Cardoza 2/26/21

Honor the legacy of Malcolm X.

Sunday, February 21 marked the 56th anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X, a muslim minister and prominent human rights activist during the civil rights movement in the 1960s. As his family and the world prepared for the remembrance of his life on this tragic day in history, new evidence of devastating but also long-time speculated news came to light through the form of a written letter. Written by a former NYPD policeman, the letter serves as somewhat of a confession of his alleged helping hand in the murder of controversial leader Malcolm X, also known as el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz. The case was put to rest more than fifty years ago when three members of the Nation of Islam were charged for the heinous crimes, but the evidence presented by the Shabazz family has prompted them to revisit the case with government groups like the New York Police Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation in the line of fire.

Happy Friday and welcome back to the Anti-Racism Daily. I've been reflecting on how so many of our great Civil Rights leaders – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, Fred Hampton, Malcolm X – knew that their lives would be cut short because of the work they did. And in many of these cases, law enforcement played a part. This week, on the anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X, new information suggests that the NYPD were involved. Today, Kashea shares more – and urges us to understand the impact Malcolm X had on the civil rights movement of today.

This newsletter is a free resource and that's made possible by our paying subscribers. Consider giving $7/month on Patreon. Or you can give one-time on our website, PayPal, or Venmo (@nicoleacardoza). You can also support us by joining our curated digital community. Thank you to all those that support!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Watch the documentary “The Lost Tapes: Malcolm X” to learn about the legacy and impact of Malcolm X.
Donate to The Shabazz Center, which honors the memory of Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz with events & programs that promote cultural engagement and public discourse.
Consider your perspective on the legacy of Malcolm X, how the media portrayed him, and how it may differ from his true teachings.

GET EDUCATED

By Kashea McCowan (she/her)

It is said that everything that is hidden must come to light and nearly sixty years after his death, there’s still apprehension and suspicion about who killed Malcolm X, one of the civil rights most prominent players. On February 20, the day before the 56th anniversary of their father’s assassination, the Shabazz sisters—Qubiliah, Ilyasah, and Gamilah—and attorney Ben Crump stood in the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center—formerly known as the Audubon Ballroom where Malcolm X was assassinated—and presented the letter given to them by Reggie Wood, the brother of Raymond A. Wood. At Raymond’s request, the letter he wrote in 2011 was not to be released until after his death by Reggie who serves as the administrator over his estate. Raymond died in November 2020 and Reggie delivered the letter to Malcolm X’s family.

In the letter, Raymond A. Wood addresses the alleged events leading up to Malcolm X’s assassination. Wood states that he was approached by his supervisors at the New York Police Department to coax two members of Malcolm X’s security team into committing crimes that led to their arrests just a few days before the assassination (The Washington Post). As a result, the men were unable to perform their duties in securing the doors of the Audubon ballroom where Malcolm X was speaking the day he was killed. The letter began with a tone of disappointment, embarrassment, and regret.

“I was a black New York City undercover police officer between May of 1964 through May of 1971. I participated in actions that in hindsight were deplorable and detrimental to my own black people,” Wood writes. “. . . Under the direction of my handlers, I was told to encourage leaders and members of the civil rights groups to commit felonious acts” (The Washington Post).

The letter says that the NYPD and the FBI covered up details of the assassination and that they were actually the ones who set in motion and conspired a plan to murder Malcolm X in Harlem. Because Malcolm X’s popularity with the Nation of Islam began to dwindle and he decided to leave the Black Separatist group to start his own organization called The Muslim Mosque, it was the perfect cover-up for these groups to proceed with their evil plans.

“Ray Wood, an undercover police officer at the time, confessed in a deathbed declaration letter that the NYPD and the FBI conspired to undermine the legitimacy of the civil rights movement and its leader. Without any training, Wood’s job was to infiltrate civil rights organizations and encourage leaders and members to commit felonious attacks,” says Crump (Atlanta Daily World).

Wood had several roles as an undercover police officer for the Bureau of Special Services and Investigation (BOSSI). He reportedly earned his reputation for infiltrating the Bronx Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) chapter under the name Ray Woodall in 1964. In 1965, he was reassigned to infiltrate a group calling itself the Black Liberation Movement (BLM) and received credit for defusing a plot to bomb the Statue of Liberty (Atlanta Daily World).

“Who more personified the Black Liberation Movement in America in 1965 than civil rights icon Malcolm X? [The FBI] was trying to stop another Black messiah from uniting African Americans. This was orchestrated, and the only way we get to justice . . . restorative justice or otherwise, is with truth,” says Crump (The Washington Post).

Though Wood committed wrongful acts against his own Black people, it is important to note and highlight the major roles that law enforcement played in the attempts to extinguish Black movements and individuals, especially civil rights activists and prominent Black leaders of the 1960s such as Martin Luther King Jr., Fred Hampton, the chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party, Angela Davis, Billie Holiday—for the messages she sang about in many of her Jazz records such as “Strange Fruit”—and many others. Still today, this brutality ignited by the involvement of law enforcement rears its ugly head as violence took over the nation during the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020. The brutal murders of innocent Black men and women including Ahmaud Arbery, Eric Garner, and many others, demonstrates that the resentment that law enforcement has towards Black and Brown populations have yet to cease. But, it is necessary—no matter how long it takes—to fight for the truth whether it is seeking justice for Breonna Taylor or radical figures such as Malcolm X.

“Any evidence that provides greater insight into the truth behind that terrible tragedy should be thoroughly investigated,” says Ilyasah Shabazz (BBC).

The FBI has so far made no public comment on the issue and the NYPD has provided all available records relevant to that case to the district attorney. The department is committed to assist with that review in any way (BBC).

It is unfathomable to think that at least two of the men arrested could have served time in prison at the hands of the NYPD and FBI. In addition to this, justice—as it were—has not yet been served for the famed Black Leader who we know as Malcolm X. The 2020 Netflix TV series, Who Killed Malcolm X?, is evidence that there is somewhat of a “dis-ease” surrounding this case. Although, digging up the past is no fun, when trash rises to the surface, you have no choice but to go through it. The family is pushing for the case to be reopened. Like Ilyasah Shabazz says, the investigation should undergo a thorough review, and hopefully this new evidence will shine a light on the hidden truth behind Malcolm X’s tragic death.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Sunday, February 21 marked the 56th anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X.
On February 20, the day before the 56th anniversary of their father’s assassination, the Shabazz sisters—Qubiliah, Ilyasah, and Gamilah—and attorney Ben Crump presented the declaration letter written by Raymond A. Wood
Wood was an undercover policeman who helped coax members of Malcolm’s security to felonious crimes preventing them the ability to guard the doors at the Audubon Ballroom the day of Malcolm X’s death.
The letter says that the NYPD and the FBI covered up details of the assassination and that they were actually the ones who set in motion and conspired a plan to murder Malcolm X in Harlem.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 9/14/20 Nicole Cardoza 9/14/20

Stop the use of ketamine in arrests.

Happy Monday!

We're kicking off the week with an urgent call-to-action. Today, Sydney from the Justice for Elijah McClain advocacy group shares more about the dangers of ketamine, and how we can make a difference TODAY by contacting local officials. I urge you to take part. You can read more about Elijah McClain in a previous newsletter.

Thank you all for your contributions. To support our work, you can give one-time on our website, PayPal or Venmo (@nicoleacardoza), or subscribe for $5/mo on our Patreon.

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Call or email to demand a temporary ban on the use of ketamine in Aurora, Colorado, is put in place until at least 30 days after Elijah McClain’s case is complete. A council meeting to discuss the ban will be held on September 14, 2020, at 7:30 p.m.
Sign and share the Justice for Elijah petition to hold the officers and paramedics accountable for his death.
If you have been injected with ketamine, or have used ketamine as an EMT or paramedic in partnership with law enforcement? Share your story in this survey.

GET EDUCATED

By Sydney Cobb (she/her)

Ketamine is commonly used as an anesthetic in hospitals and veterinary clinics. It is typically regarded as safe if the proper dosage is administered, but it can have severe and lethal side effects in certain situations. Ketamine blocks pain receptors in the brain, often leading to people either falling unconscious or entering a trancelike state (The Cut). Emergency medical workers often use ketamine in order to subdue suspects at the scene of an arrest if they appear to be “violently agitated” or uncooperative.

Paramedics and first responders often describe suspects as “violently agitated” in order to justify their unnecessary use of sedatives. Ketamine is meant to subdue someone who is actively resisting arrest, but paramedics and first responders have frequently misused it. There are many cases in which suspects have been rendered helpless, with their hands cuffed behind their backs, yet they are injected with ketamine for illegitimate reasons. In some cases, it is believed that police officers involve themselves in the decision of whether or not to administer ketamine at the scene of an arrest (The Denver Post).

For example, Joseph Baker, a former Minnesota paramedic, recently spoke out against the use of ketamine for law enforcement purposes. Baker filed a whistleblower lawsuit in which he claimed that police officers attempted to coerce him into administering ketamine during an arrest. In an interview, Baker stated that the man being arrested clearly had a mental health illness and was not resisting arrest enough to justify the use of a sedative. After refusing to comply with the officers’ wishes, Baker felt that he was practically being pushed out of his job. Throughout the lawsuit, Baker emphasized that the relationship between police officers and Emergency Medical Service (EMS) workers has allowed officers to feel comfortable using coercive tactics to encourage paramedics to administer ketamine (The Intercept).

Unfortunately, Elijah McClain’s entanglement with the Aurora Police Department is one of many arrests that ended in unwarranted sedation. Max Johnson, a diabetic Black man from Minneapolis, is yet another example of how the use of ketamine can have dangerous effects. On July 26, 2020, Johnson began having a seizure as a result of low blood sugar. Abby Wulfing, Johnson’s girlfriend, called 911 and informed the dispatcher that Johnson was seizing, prompting them to send Emergency Medical Service (EMS) workers to evaluate the situation. Wulfing says that the EMS responders seemed to believe that Johnson’s seizures were caused by illegal drugs, even after she had explained the actual cause.

After continuously questioning Max’s sobriety, they began to physically restrain him and call the police for backup. After 7 minutes of pleading with the EMS workers to administer glucagon to combat Johnson’s low blood sugar, they finally obliged. Following the glucagon, the workers injected Johnson with 500 milligrams of ketamine. Wulfing stated that there was no need to inject Johnson with ketamine because he was already in a calm, post-seizure state once the EMS workers arrived. The dosage of ketamine put Johnson in a hospital intensive care unit on a ventilator for two days. Wulfing believes that the treatment Johnson received from the EMS workers was heavily influenced by the fact that he is a Black man (Star Tribune).

Both McClain and Johnson were unnecessarily injected with ketamine and endured severe health complications as a result. A sedative was not necessary in either case, considering that both men were following police orders and remaining calm in highly stressful situations. While McClain and Johnson’s cases are entirely separate, the parallels between the two are not anomalous; they indicate a larger issue with the unwarranted use of ketamine injections.

For decades, law enforcement has labeled people of color as ‘aggressive’ and ‘uncooperative’ in order to justify their unnecessary use of force. While ketamine is not a form of physical force, it can have similar or worse effects on one’s well-being. McClain and Johnson are only two examples of how police officers and paramedics unjustifiably use sedatives that ultimately lead to severe health complications.

It is imperative that we hold police departments and EMS workers accountable for misusing ketamine as a tool of brutality on ALL people, but specifically people of color. We cannot allow officers to further perpetuate the notion that Black people are disobliging and aggressive with law enforcement.

Key Takeaways

The symbiotic relationship between police officers and paramedics can lead to officers feeling comfortable with coercing paramedics into administering ketamine, therefore putting more people at risk of experiencing the harmful side effects of the sedative.
While the use of ketamine for law enforcement purposes is not limited to people of color, it is yet another way that police are wrongly labeling them as “aggressive” and “agitated.”
The use of ketamine is usually not necessary or justified.

8/27/2020 | Help decriminalize drug possession.

8/26/2020 | Be an active bystander.

8/24/2020 | Demand justice for Jacob Blake.

8/12/2020 | Demand justice for Elijah McClain.

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