By SJ Otto
Yesterday, Saturday, I attended a rally called “A
Demonstration for Justice,” at
Wichita’s
Century II. This was intended to be a part of the nation wide protests going on
across the US.
All across this country people have been marching in protest and indignation
for the unnecessary deaths of Breonna Taylor, shot to death by police with a “no-knock warrant.”
Those kinds of warrants were developed mostly under then President
Richard Nixon as a part of the on-going war on drugs. There use accelerated
under President Ronald Reagan. The no-knock warrant stops a suspected drug
peddler or user of knowing that the police are after him/her. The problem is
that it can lead to the death of innocent people, when police have the wrong
address or some other similar problem.
Since the time of Nixon there have been political leaders
who are so intent on getting at drug dealers they just don’t care if an
innocent person dies.
Saturday’s march was small, less than 50 people. But our
activists were part of a nationwide movement of marchers. While our march was
small, others in US
major cities were not. For example see these excerpts:
Portland, Oregon-
“Three separate protests of groups
with vastly different ideologies took place in relatively close proximity to
each other around noon Saturday.
The far-right group Proud Boys held a
rally at Delta Park
in North Portland to support President Donald
Trump and the police and condemn anti-fascists that the group accuses of
“domestic terrorism.”
Anti-fascist groups held a rally
about 3 miles away at Peninsula
Park. A third rally, this
one from Black Lives Matter supporters, was planned for Historic Vanport.
The history between the groups that
often spills into violence spurred Gov. Kate Brown to use her emergency
authority to appoint Multnomah County Sheriff Mike Reese and Oregon State
Police Superintendent Travis Hampton joint incident commanders of Portland for
a 48-hour period between Saturday and Sunday……..”
Hartford
Connecticut-
“Black Lives Matter and Justice
for Breonna Taylor protest through Hartford,
organized by Black Lives Matter 860…..”
Atlanta
Georgia-
“Tear Gas Deployed In Atlanta
During Breonna Taylor Protests
Demonstrators took to the streets
in downtown Atlanta on Wednesday night to voice
anger over a Kentucky grand jury's decision
not to charge three Louisville
police officers directly in the killing of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor in March…..”
San
Diego California-
“Three Arrests Made At Downtown Protest Friday
— 10:42 a.m., Saturday, Sept.
26, 2020
Protests in response to the
grand jury decision regarding the Breonna Taylor case continued throughout the
U.S. for a third night, including in San Diego.
Three arrests were made as
protestors gathered in downtown San
Diego Friday night. In a tweet posted at 7:36 p.m.,
the San Diego Police Department said the crowd was 40 to 50 people. Later at
10:40 p.m., the department tweeted that arrests had been made at B St. and Columbia St…..”
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