By Diane Bukowski
Editorial
Nate Weekley, brother of Joseph, who killed Aiyana Jones, 7, in Detroit posts racist rant, gets demoted, not jailed
(National stories follow this VOD commentary)
July 11, 2016
DETROIT – Detroit cop Nate Weekley, the brother of cop Joseph Weekley, who shot and killed Aiyana Jones, 7, on May 16, 2010, this week posted racist comments on Facebook about the Black Lives Matter protesters who continue to pour into the nation’s streets this week.
Detroit Police Chief James Craig reported that he has been demoted, but he has not been taken into custody as have four Detroiters who allegedly posted threats against police officers, according to the Channel 2 video above.
This story goes to the heart of the controversy over the brutal police killings of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, and Philando Castile in Minnesota this past week, the huge protests that have erupted across the U.S. in response, and adverse reactions to the killing of five police officers in Dallas, Texas, allegedly by Micah Xavier Johnson, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan who evidently came back home enlightened.
Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway (l) let killer cop Joseph Weekley (r) go free after he shot Aiyana Jones, 7, in the head with an MP-5, killing her as family members watched.
Nate Weekley, though demoted, remains armed every day and still on the streets. He can kill another Black child anytime he wants. After all, his brother Joseph Weekley, who likely shares his racist sentiments, got away with the murder of Aiyana.
Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway conspired with Assistant Prosecutor Robert Moran and defense attorney Steve Fishman to bring about two hung juries, and then finally dismissed “involuntary manslaughter” and firearms charges against Weekley. Even some in the prosecutor’s office were reportedly upset about this outrage.
The death of Aiyana is appropriately called a “murder” here. This reporter has been the ONLY one in Detroit who, after covering every single hearing in the trials of Weekley and also of Aiyana’s father Charles Jones and uncle Chauncey Owens, has concluded that beautiful innocent little Aiyana was MURDERED without a doubt.
Mertilla Jones confronts Weekley (far r) and his attorney Steve Fishman as she leaves court crying out, “WHY DID YOU DO THIS?”
Her grandmother Mertilla Jones was fiercely scolded by Hathaway and denounced by other reporters for saying Weekley and his fellow SWAT team members “came to kill.” She had watched as Weekley blew Aiyana’s head off when he entered their home in the dead of night May 16, 2010. Aiyana’s entire family was there, including her parents, two baby brothers, her great-aunt, and several cousins.
Worthy brought charges against Aiyana’s father Charles Jones and uncle Chauncey Owens in the killing of Je’rean Blake two days previously. The conviction of Charles Jones, who is serving a sentence of 40-60 years, was based largely on the testimony of two “jailhouse snitches.”
Jones’ assessment was validated by the following FACTS, gleaned from trial testimony:
- The raid was a set-up to gain publicity for the Detroit Police on A & E’s “48 Hours.” Weekley and other members of the raid team were stars on that show.
- Police surveilled the area all day prior to the raid and saw their target Chauncey Owens in the street at least twice, during which he could have easily been arrested. He was NOT hiding out—he lived upstairs at the home with Aiyana’s aunt Krystal.
Protesters marched with a banner remembering Aiyana on April 28, 2015, after police killed Terrance Kellom, 19, in his father’s home, which is behind them.
Photos of toys outside the home were shown at Weekley’s trial, taken by surveillance officers during the day. Aiyana’s cousin cried out to the raid team that there were children in the house.
- Weekley entered the home first after a “flash-bang” grenade was thrown onto the couch where little Aiyana lay sleeping with her grandmother.
- Weekley fired his MP-5 semi-automatic directly into Aiyana’s head seconds after he entered. A firearms expert testified at his trial that there was no way his gun could have been fired “accidentally,” as the mainstream media continues to claim. Other officers testified that they are trained until it becomes automatic reflex to keep their fingers on the slide of their guns, and off the trigger, until they decide to shoot.
- Weekley informed an acquaintance of his that the safety was OFF his gun when he entered the home.
- The mainstream media completely ignored the comments of the assistant Wayne County Medical Examiner at Weekley’s trial that the lack of gunshot residue on Aiyana’s head could have come from a “contact wound,” in which the residue enters the wound. The defense claimed the lack of GSR meant his gun was fired from a distance, supporting its claim that this was an “accidental” shooting.
Micah Xavier Johnson, who allegedly killed five Dallas cops after returning home from Afghanistan.
The fact that Nate Weekley felt free to post this racist comment, knowing the media would discover who his brother is, exposes the true nature of police forces in the U.S. They are here to “serve and protect” the interests of the wealthy elite in this country, not Black, Latin, Asian and poor people.
NOT ONE COP HAS GONE TO PRISON FOR THE KILLINGS OF THOUSANDS OF BLACK, LATIN AND POOR PEOPLE SINCE MICHAEL BROWN, 18, DIED IN FERGUSON MISSOURI IN 2014. NOT ONE COP HAS GONE TO PRISON FOR THE DEATH OF AIYANA JONES AND DOZENS OF OTHERS KILLED IN DETROIT OVER THE LAST 20 YEARS.
Liberal protest leaders continue to call out, NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE as they try to calm the rising tide of fury in the U.S., shown not only in the massive protests and arrests of demonstrators, but also in direct action taken in retaliation against police officers.
WHERE IS THE JUSTICE? WHY SHOULD THERE BE PEACE?
March against Dearborn police murder of Kevin Matthews: Dearborn cop tells march leader Rev. Chas. WIlliams of NAN what the route will be. There still has been no justice in his case.
The Dearborn cop who murdered Kevin Matthews last Dec. 23 has not been charged, although the Michigan State Police report on the case is on the desk of Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy.
The Dearborn cops who murdered Janet Wilson outside Fairlane Mall in January of this year have not been charged. Worthy earlier refused to charge Detroit and federal police who gunned down Terrance Kellom in his father’s home, despite her admission that the hammer cops claimed Kellom used to pound a hole in the floor and then brandish at them has none of his fingerprints on it.
Why should there be peace in a country that has five percent of the world’s population and 25 percent of its incarcerated population? Why should there be peace in a country founded on the genocide of its indigenous population of American Indians, the genocide and enslavement of kidnapped Africans, and genocidal wars across the world?
WHY SHOULD MICAH ZAVIER JOHNSON HAVE HELD HIS PEACE?
VIDEO BY IVAN KING OF DETROIT BLACK FRIDAY PROTEST AGAINST POLICE KILLINGS JULY 8, 2016
AT LEAST FOUR ARRESTED IN DETROIT FOR FACEBOOK POSTS PRAISING DALLAS SHOOTER
By Hannah Parry For Dailymail.com
July 11, 2016
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
- Four men arrested for on threat allegations
- One praised Dallas gunman Micah Johnson as his ‘hero’
- ‘All lives can’t matter until black lives matter,’ wrote a third suspect
- Two were released, while two have been detained on unrelated warrants.
Dorian Ruff claims he was arrested on Saturday for his post on Facebook. He had posted a picture of Johnson captioned: ‘Definitely a black hero.’ Police woud not confirm if Ruff, of Detroit, was one of the four suspects.
One of the suspects [allegedly] wrote: ‘All lives can’t matter until black lives matter. Kill all white cops.’
Another [allegedly] said: ‘It’s time to wage war and shoot the police first’, while a third [allegedly] said Johnson was his ‘hero’ and had ‘inspired me to do the exact same thing.’
One of the men arrested had posted pictures and videos of officers being shot on his Facebook wall and wrote: ‘This needs to happen more often,’ according to police.
Detroit Chief James Craig said in the wake of the Dallas mass shooting, he is taking the threats to his officers very seriously as he said his department is ‘in a higher state of alertness.’
Two of the four African-American men arrested have been released. The rest are in jail on unrelated, outstanding warrants, according to police.
VOD: PROTESTS CONTINUED TODAY, JULY 13, IN MINNEAPOLIS:
DOZENS ARRESTED AS PROTESTS AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY CONTINUED LAST WEEK
NBC News (videos added)
Phil Helsel and Elisha Fieldstadt and Matthew Grimson and The Associated Press
July 10, 2016
Dozens of protesters were arrested and several police were injured Saturday night as tense protests over police force against African-Americans continued across the nation.
Police used smoke bombs to clear demonstrators blocking Interstate 94 in Saint Paul, Minnesota, late Saturday, while more than 30 people were arrested in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Both cities continue reel after the deaths of two black men at the hands of white officers last week.
In Saint Paul, protesters chanted the name of Philando Castile, 32, who was fatally shot by a St. Anthony police officer in Falcon Heights on Wednesday.
Police said on Twitter that people on an overpass were “throwing objects at officers, dumping liquid on officers” and others were throwing rocks and a construction material called rebar. Police also said a molotov cocktail was thrown at officers.
Police were heard telling the crowd, “leave the interstate now or you’ll be subject to a use of force” shortly after 10:30 p.m. Police blamed “aggressors” for throwing rocks and other objects at officers, and said police were using “marking rounds.”
Police said at least five officers in all were injured by thrown objects, but none of the injuries were serious. Authorities used smoke bombs when 200 protesters refused to leave the roadway just after midnight. By 12:45 a.m. Sunday, police said they were clearing debris from the road in order to reopen the highway.
Authorities said arrests had been made, but it was not clear how many.
In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, hundreds of protesters gathered for another day of demonstrations over the fatal shooting of Alton Sterling. Some wore T-shirts that read, “I can’t keep calm I have a black son” or “Black Lives Matter.”
Prominent “Black Lives Matter” activist DeRay McKesson was among those arrested.
Arthur “Silky Slim” Reed, with the group Stop the Killing Inc., demands the resignation of Baton Rouge Mayor Kip Holden during a news conference.
Baton Rouge resident Marie Flowers came to the protest with her three children.
Pointing to the crowds along a fence surrounding the police department she said: “To me, this is just a snapshot of north Baton Rouge and how frustrated they are. They are so frustrated with this bull c**p.”
At one point, she gestured to her 12-year-old son and said they were there to protect men like him. “Black boys are being killed and this is just the culmination of what has been going on for decades,” Flowers said.
A reporter for public radio station WNWO was also arrested, the radio station said.
Hundreds of protesters blocked a major highway in Oakland, California on Thursday evening, protesting the fatal police shootings of two African-American men, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile and what they consider racist policing.
Several hundred protesters took to the streets of San Francisco, blocking several roads and ramps to get on and off the Bay Bridge.
The California Highway Patrol closed access to the bridge at least two times Saturday afternoon when protesters took over freeway ramps, causing traffic to back up.
The group began marching from the city’s Hall of Justice to the downtown shopping area, causing a temporary shutdown of a popular mall as the crowd gathered there to chant slogans and make speeches.
In central California, several hundred protesters blocked several intersections as they marched against police brutality in central Fresno. Officers in riot gear blocked an on-ramp to keep the protesters from entering State Route 41.
In Chicago, hundreds of protesters held demonstrations downtown Saturday, and a group attempted to disrupt the a city-sponsored food and music festival.
“No Justice, NO REVENUE,” said a Facebook invitation to the demonstration, set to be held at “Taste of Chicago.”
The festival was not closed, NBC Chicago reported. Protesters continued on a march and staged sit-ins and blocked intersections, the station reported.
Protest in Denver, Colorado
The deaths of Sterling and Castile renewed scrutiny of the use of deadly police force on African-Americans. As a protest was underway in Dallas Thursday, a gunman who said he was upset at white people opened fire on police officers, killing five officers and wounding seven others in what officials described as a targeted attack. The gunman was killed by police.
Hundreds of people also marched in West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale Saturday as part of the Black Lives Matter movement in demonstrations that ended peacefully.
Protesters in Fort Lauderdale chanted “No justice, no peace” and “Hands up, don’t shoot.” At one point the protest stopped outside a Broward County jail and prisoners banged on windows in support, but the protest was largely calm.
“It’s love out here. Everybody is happy and peaceful. It’s not something that we are coming to tear another race down,” a rally organizer told NBC Miami.
A protest march was also held in Philadelphia. “Clearly this is REVOLUTION time. We know this,” an organizer wrote on Facebook.
Elsewhere in Pennsylvania, several hundred people broke off from Pittsburgh’s 200th anniversary parade and marched to a courthouse to denounce the shootings of black men.
More than 150 people also gathered in downtown Newport, Rhode Island, in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Seneca Pender of Middletown organized the rally. He told the crowd that the senseless killings of black people “have to stop.”
Pender also thanked law enforcement officers who provided security at the rally in Newport and decried the deadly attack Thursday on police officers in Dallas.
FIRST BLACK MISS ALABAMA CALLS DALLAS POLICE SHOOTER A ‘MARTYR’
USA TODAY Network 10 a.m. EDT July 12, 2016
The first black woman to be named Miss Alabama called Dallas police shooter Micah Xavier Johnson a ‘martyr’ in an emotional Facebook live video Sunday.
Kalyn Chapman James, who was crowned Miss Alabama in 1993, said in a Facebook live video that she decided to speak out about her conflicted feelings towards the incident in Dallas after much prayer.
“I am dealing with a bit of guilt because I don’t feel sad for the officers that lost their lives and I know that’s not really my heart,” she said in the video.
James said while she values human life and knows the officers had families, she can’t help but sympathize with Johnson, the lone gunman who killed five police officers and wounded nine others Thursday in downtown Dallas.
Baton Rouge police attack marchers protesting deaths of Alton Sterling and
“I can’t help but feeling like the shooter was a martyr,” she said. “And I know it’s not the right way to feel because nobody deserves to lose their lives, and I know those police officers had families.”
James, an Alabama native who lives in Miami, said she believes that many people feel the same way.
“I am so torn up in my heart about seeing these men, these black men being gunned down in our community,” she said. “I wasn’t surprised by what the shooter did to those cops, and I think a lot of us feel the same way.”
James told AL.com in a statement, that she does not condone violence or killing, but that she stands by the comments she made in the Sunday Facebook Live post.
‘The fact that my opinion was considered newsworthy makes me feel like speaking up was exactly what I should do, because I can voice what so many people are feeling and dealing with and they should know they are not alone,” James said in a statement to AL.com.
Follow @MaryBowerman on Twitter.
BLM SUPPORTER SHOT DEAD BY OFF-DUTY COP FOLLOWING FACEBOOK ARGUMENT; COP CLAIMS TYLER GEBHARD TRIED TO BREAK IN HOME
Updated 13:56, 11 Jul 2016
The Daily Mirror
Tyler Gebhard
A Black Lives Matter supporter was shot dead by an off-duty police officer after allegedly breaking into the cop’s home following a row on Facebook.
Police said Tyler Gebhard, 20, smashed a window at the officer’s home before he was shot in the chest in St Louis, Missouri.
Gebhard, who suffered from bi-polar disorder, was said to have become embroiled in a row with the officer on Facebook over the Black Lives Matter campaign and allegedly made threats towards him and his family.
The incident comes in the wake of the shooting of five police officers at a Black Lives Matter protest in Dallas on Thursday. The demonstration had been organised following the deaths of two black men – Philando Castile and Alton Sterling – shot dead by police last week.
The unnamed officer has been placed on leave following the incident.
PROF. GRIFF OF PUBLIC ENEMY TARGETED BY DALLAS POLICE
Griff: ‘I do not advocate killing cops,” did not know Micah Johnson
Bryan Logan
July 7, 2016
LAS VEGAS, NV – JUNE 06: Rapper Professor Griff of Public Enemy performs at The Joint inside the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on June 6, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
The Dallas Police Department, in its ongoing investigation into the police ambush that left five officers dead on Thursday, has been sharing information on its findings via its blog, The DPD Beat.
In an update posted Friday afternoon, the blog announced information that it says investigators found about the lone shooter, Micah Xavier Johnson, a US Army reservist who died during a standoff with police.
Pointing to a Facebook account that apparently belonged to Johnson, DPD Beat noted that the Facebook page included information about “Richard GRIFFIN aka Professor Griff.” Griffin is a rapper best-known for his work with the Grammy-nominated music group, Public Enemy.
Prof. Griff said on his Twitter site that he did not know Micah Johnson. This photo clearly appears to have been altered. Johnson’s head is out of proportion to the body of the man in the photo, and appears pasted on.
“GRIFFIN embraces a radical form of Afrocentrism,” The DPD post read, “and GRIFFIN wrote a book A Warriors Tapestry.”
DPD’s characterization of Griffin appears to have been directly lifted from his Wikipedia page, though the entry does not make clear what is meant by the phrase “a radical form of Afrocentrism.” Griffin’s Wikipedia page was last edited on July 4.
Apparently taking issue with the department’s framing of him, Griffin tweeted, “I do not advocate killing cops.”
Griffin also tweeted a picture that originated from the Daily Mail, in which he is pictured locking hands with Johnson. The Daily Mail’s posting was later deleted. In response, Griffin tweeted, “The police and FBI have been watching me and tapping my phone they know who I talk to. I DO NOT KNOW THE SHOOTER.”
#JAILRACISTKILLERCOPS, #STOPWARONBLACKAMERICA, #JUSTICE4ALTONSTERLING, #JUSTICE4PHILANDOCASTILE, #POLICESTATE, #PRISONNATION, #BEATBACKTHEBULLIES, #BLACKLIVESMATTER, #SAVEOURCHILDREN, #JUSTICE4AIYANA, #POLICEOUTOFBLACKANDPOORCOMMUNITIES
