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Ramarley Graham, 18, with his little brother and grandmother, who saw white NYC cop Richard Haste shoot him to death in their home in 2012.

Feds refuse to file civil rights charges against white cop Richard Haste

Earlier state manslaughter charge dismissed

Family wants all cops involved charged and fired

By Colleen Long

March 10, 2016

Killer cop Richard Haste is applauded by his fellow white NYC cops as he leaves court.

NEW YORK (AP) — The family and friends of an unarmed black teen shot to death in front of his grandmother and 6-year-old brother by a white police officer demanded the officer’s badge Thursday and argued that if the races had been reversed, justice would be swifter.

This week, federal prosecutors declined to file federal civil rights charges against Officer Richard Haste in the 2012 death of 18-year-old Ramarley Graham. The decision ended the possibility of criminal charges for Haste, who was indicted earlier on a state manslaughter charge that a judge dismissed, saying prosecutors had improperly instructed grand jurors. Another grand jury then declined to indict Haste, who said he fired at Graham because he thought Graham would shoot him.

The police department hit Haste with internal charges. Disciplinary proceedings are now moving forward now that criminal proceedings are completed, which is standard procedure.

Ramarley’s mother Constance Malcolm and father Franclot Graham weep at press conference. His father sang to him as a baby, “Ramarley Charley, you are my Charley Ramarley.” His nickname became Charley.

Haste was reassigned to the fleet services division and remains stripped of his gun and badge. He could request an internal trial and faces being fired, though Commissioner William Bratton has the ultimate say.

On Thursday, the frustration by Graham’s family was palpable — they believe Haste, his supervisor that day and any other officer involved should already be fired.

“We are tired,” said Constance Malcolm, Graham’s mother. “It’s four years, and I still don’t have an answer for why my son is dead.”

There’s also a larger problem at hand, they said. City Councilman Andy King said he is pressing Mayor Bill de Blasio and his colleagues for more candid discussion of how the black community is policed in New York, but he’s not getting anywhere fast enough and he’s tired of what he sees as a double standard.

New York City Councilman Charles Barron, a member of the Freedom Party.

“If this had been a black officer knocking down the door to a house of a white person and shoot a white teenager, see what kind of conversation we’d be having today,” he said.

City Councilman Charles Barron said so much disappointment within the black community could turn the movement from peaceful to violent.

“We’re not going to take this lying down,” he said. “Don’t blame me when people start saying, ‘An eye for an eye.'”

Haste’s lawyer Stuart London said that his client was gratified he wasn’t facing civil rights charges but that “there never were any winners in this case.”

And his union echoed the sentiment.

“The officer was working to combat the scourge of guns and drugs in the community,” said Patrick J. Lynch, head of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association. “The good-faith effort to combat those ills brought us to this tragedy. We extend our sympathies to the family.”

Graham’s family settled with the city in January 2015 for $3.9 million.

One of many rallies for Ramarley Graham, whose case was known around the world.

Photos of Ramarley and protest from his family’s official website at http://ramarleyscall.net/pages/ .

Historic Finney High School, closed in 2009 at a cost of $2.9 million from 1994 bond, replaced later by East English Village Academy at a cost of $58.6 million from 2009 bond. It bordered the wealthy Grosse Pointe suburbs.

By Marty Townsend on October 28, 2013

(VOD editor’s note: this story is several years old, but gives a clear and concise understanding, with examples, of what has happened to Detroit Public Schools bond money from 1994 to 2013, emphasizing the theft of billions of dollars for unregulated, non-public charter schools, the Educational Achievement Authority, and school closings and demolition. It does not emphasize the enormous amounts the banks have made from those bonds, which VOD will be doing in a story on Judge Steven Rhodes’ takeover of DPS, shortly forthcoming.)

DETROIT — In the city of Detroit, Michigan, a school bond of $1.5 billion was voted for in 1994 that started a cascade of debt that residents will be paying for until at least 2040. The original bond was to be used to repair and renovate school buildings to service a then stable student enrollment of 167,000 students.

Douglass Academy students walkout over school conditions 2012.

Detroit Public Schools had, at that time, 261 schools not including administration buildings. Total repair costs and construction estimates stood at $3.9 billion, well above the bond amount. Construction delays caused by problems with the building plans stalled renovations so much that by 1999, very little of the bond money had actually been used to improve schools. Enrollment had continued rising, topping out at 173,000 students. (VOD–school activists said at the time that the real reason for not spending the bond money was DPS’ majority-Black governance. An article in Education Week in 1996 alleged that only one-third of the bond was to go to refurbishing current schools; Michigan’s State Treasurer had to approve any spending from the bond.  See http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/1996/02/21/22detroi.h15.html .)

Also in 1999, citing low academic achievement and mismanagement of the district, the state enacted special legislation (Public Act 10 of 1999) for the purpose of allowing then-Governor John Engler to replace the democratically elected school board with state-appointed board members. Residents were not happy about the forced take-over of their school district and loss of local control. The immediate result was a loss of 5,000 students from the district for the next school year which began a hemorrhage of students that will continue long into the future.

The remains of the original Frederick Douglass High School on the city’s east side long after its closure. This tragic photo was posted by author to hail graffiti art. The neighborhood around the school has deteriorated to below-poverty conditions.

(VOD note:  the paragraph above cites “low academic achievement” as a purported cause of the first state takeover in 1999, while in fact DPS student scores were rising rapidly, and the district had a budget SURPLUS of close to $100 million. After the takeover, the $1.5 Billion bond was handed over to national white-owned corporations like Barton-Malow, which used it for primarily for unnecessary new school construction rather than renovation.)

Detroit Public Schools was operated under [state] receivership from 1999 through 2005. When DPS was first put into receivership, they actually had a stable budget with a slight surplus. Since then, the surplus has been depleted and Detroit Public Schools has been pushed to the brink of bankruptcy. An Emergency Financial Manager was put in charge of DPS again in 2009 by then-Governor Jennifer Granholm under the provisions of PA72 of 1990, the Local Government Fiscal Responsibility Act.

Rally to stop the first Emergency Manager Law, PA 4, in Lansing, MI April, 2013.

A second bond was voted for in 2009, under Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb, adding another $500.5 million for building improvement, even though the district had lost over half of its student enrollment and closed dozens of buildings by then.

Whatever became of the bond money? It was spent on facilities, because by law it could not be spent on anything else such as decreasing the deficit, day-to-day operations or teachers salaries. The problem is in what happened to those buildings after renovations. Some were demolished; many have been leased to charter schools; and many more have been shuttered where they lay in disrepair attracting vandals, vagrants, drug dealers, feral animals, and scrap collectors who have gutted the structures and left nothing but barren shells of formerly majestic century-old showplaces.

Some of the more costly bond funded renovations went to the following projects:

Jared Finney High School as originally built.

Finney High School was demolished at a cost of $2.5 million under the 1994 bond, prior to the approval of the 2009 bond by voters.

Under the new bond, construction of a new high school on the former site of Finney HS was completed at a cost of $56.9 million. The new high school was named East English Village Preparatory Academy in 2012 and remains open to service DPS high school students. The school concentrates on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and Fine and Performing Arts. Students must undergo an application and admissions process to attend this public school, so it is not an open admission neighborhood school available to all DPS students.

Demolition of historic Mumford High School, contracted out to Walbridge Aldinger, whose CEO John Rakolta is a close ally of Michigan Governor Rick Snyder.

Mumford High School was demolished and replaced with a new building at a cost of $56 million.

Upon completion in 2012, Mumford High School was immediately leased to the Educational Achievement Authority, a newly created statewide school reform district comprised of the 5% lowest performing schools in [the state–all in Detroit]. The lease amount is for $1 million per year, which will amortize the construction cost in a mere 56 years.

The EAA has benefited greatly from bond money intended to improve DPS buildings. Southeastern High School and Central High School both received renovations and repairs amounting to more than $50 million for each building and are also being leased to the EAA.

Kettering High School students walked out in 2009 to protest closure of the famous “K.” Sign supports the school’s principal.  Photo: WSWS

Kettering High School, renovated at a cost of $6.9 million, was closed in 2012 and remains vacant. Kettering was specially outfitted to service physically disabled students, with one entire wing converted for this purpose. Southwestern High School was closed in 2012 and remains vacant following a $6.5 million bond investment that included revamping the auditorium.

The bulk of the bond money paid by the residents of Detroit to improve their school system was spent between 1999 and 2006 (from the 1994 bond), and from 2009 through 2012 (from the 2009 bond). During all but a short period of time in 2006, Detroit Public Schools has been under the control of state appointed school board members or an Emergency Financial Manager.

Gov. John Engler (R)

Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D)

Gov. Rick Snyder (R)

For years, the waste of funding has been blamed on Detroiters and poor election choices, but that is certainly not the case when it comes to the problems incurred by DPS. Those issues lay solely at the feet of the state, under three different governors (Engler until the end of 2002, Granholm from January 2003 through December 2010, and Rick Snyder from January 2011 to present). Money that was spent to build new buildings or improve buildings seems to be overwhelmingly benefitting the EAA reform district and not DPS students.

Chadsey High School, permanently closed, after several student walkouts, was renowned for its multi-racial, multi-cultural student population.

There are currently 87 vacant or underutilized buildings belonging to DPS that are for sale or lease. A total of $78.6 million was spent on improvements or renovations to 83 of those buildings. There have been 26 buildings demolished at a cost of $27.4 million. Another 28 buildings received a whopping $295.4 million investment and are now leased to community organizations, the EAA reform district, or charter schools. DPS has also sold several buildings that received a total $36.4 million in renovations and repairs prior to the sales. That is a lot of expenditure for buildings not being used by DPS. In fact, just over half of the bond money was spent on buildings that are still in use by DPS for Detroit students.

The previous two decades has been full of misspent funding by governor-appointed school boards, elected officials, and governor appointed Emergency Financial Managers. The toll this has taken on the Detroit Public Schools district has been devastating. But the biggest change in district enrollment numbers has an entirely different source– the rapid increase in Charter Schools following the enactment of the charter school law in 1994 (Public Act 362 of 1993).

School choice has been the single most devastating fact that has caused the decline of Detroit Public Schools. Residents are currently liable for the two bonds, plus interest, for building renovations on school buildings that the district is now leasing to charter corporations that are in direct competition with DPS for declining student enrollments. Over the past ten years, DPS has been forced to shut down a full two-thirds of their neighborhood schools. Enrollment in DPS has decreased to fewer than 50,000 students, while enrollment in competing charter schools has increased to 68,000.

That is the real cost of unlimited charter school expansion.

Detroit Public Schools teachers walked out across the district in 2001 to rally in Lansing against bill that would have opened the way to more charter schools. They succeeded for the time being, only to face the devastation to come.

Salt Lake police battle rock throwers after shooting

Associated Press 8:05 a.m. EST February 28, 2016

A woman holds a frightened child as police battle protesters after cops shot a 16-year-old in Salt Lake City. Photo: Lennie Mahler, AP

SALT LAKE CITY – Unrest broke out in a Salt Lake City neighborhood after what appeared to be a shooting involving a police officer.

The shooting happened about 8:15 p.m. Saturday near downtown. Selam Mohammad told the Salt Lake Tribune that a police officer shot a 16-year-old boy who was his friend.

In a tweet late Saturday night, Salt Lake City police said that officers were responding to an unrelated call in area when they were told of an assault in progress. The officers “tried to engage altercation,” the tweet says.

Detective Greg Wilking told the Tribune that “shots were fired,” but not how many or whether an officer fired them. Later Saturday, Salt Lake City police told the newspaper that one officer, and possibly a second one, were involved in the shooting,

Selam Mohammad says it was his friend police shot.

Mohammad told the Tribune that the victim and a man were in a confrontation, and the victim was holding part of a broomstick at his side when officers arrived.

“They told him to put it down, once,” Mohammad said, and “started shooting him as soon as he turned around.”

The teenager was hit in the chest and stomach, Mohammad said. The victim was taken to a hospital, the Tribune reported.

City police were helped by officers from three other departments as onlookers threw rocks at officers and yelled obscenities, the Tribune said. Police closed a light rail stop in the neighborhood.

Police detained multiple people, but Wilking could not elaborate on the reason for the detentions.

Friends of Salt Lake City teen shot by cops say he is from Kenya.

There were “a lot of hostile people upset about what had taken place,” Wilking told the Tribune.

At 8:40 p.m., a line of officers moved protesters down a sidewalk, the newspaper reported.

There are a number of homeless shelters in the neighborhood, and business owners have long complained about the homeless population and drug dealing, the Tribune said.

Rasmea Odeh, a long-time activist in Chicago after her immigration to the U.S, participates in protest against killings by U.S. police.

Court unanimously says U.S. Detroit Judge Gershwin Drain erred in refusing to allow testimony about Odeh’s torture, rape by Israeli military

By Charlotte Silver

The Electronic Intifada

February 25, 2016

A US court of appeals vacated the conviction of Palestinian American activist Rasmea Odeh on Thursday, returning her case to the district judge for a possible retrial.

U.S. District Court Judge Gershwin Drain

In November 2014, Odeh, 68, was convicted of immigration fraud for failing to disclose her 1969 arrest and conviction by the Israeli military on her immigration and naturalization documents filed respectively in 1994 and 2005.

Her lawyers appealed her conviction on the basis that US District Judge Gershwin Drain had denied Odeh the opportunity to present a complete defense by prohibiting her from speaking about the torture and abuse she endured that led to her signing a false confession in 1969.

Drain refused to allow Odeh to call Mary Fabri, an expert on torture, who had submitted an affidavit for the defense stating that that Odeh suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from her torture, including rape, by Israeli interrogators.

Torture testimony

Fabri testified that Odeh’s PTSD may have affected her state of mind when she failed to disclose her military court conviction on her citizenship application.

Protest at U.S. District Court in Detroit during Rasmea’s trial.

The panel of three justices reviewed Fabri’s testimony and unanimously agreed that the trial judge erred on his basis for excluding it from Odeh’s trial.

Judge Drain had barred it on the basis that Odeh was charged with a “general intent” crime rather than a “specific intent” crime – a legal distinction he held would make her state of mind irrelevant to the case.

“Regardless of whether [it] was a specific or general intent crime,” the ruling states, “Dr. Fabri’s proffered testimony is relevant to whether Odeh knew that her statements were false.”

Now Judge Drain must determine if there is another basis on which to exclude the expert testimony. Failing that, Odeh will be allowed to have a new a trial with the expert testimony.

Attorney Michael Deutsch with Rasmea Odeh.

“I feel confident she will get a new trial,” Michael Deutsch, Odeh’s lead attorney, told The Electronic Intifada.

“I don’t see another reasonable reason to exclude the expert testimony.”

Deutsch called the appellate court’s ruling a “a great victory.”

The Rasmea Defense Committee is calling today’s decision a “partial victory.”

“The conviction wasn’t overturned altogether, but at least Judge Drain will be forced to rethink his decision on the torture evidence,” Nesreen Hasan said in a press release.

The Center for Constitutional Rights had filed a brief supporting Odeh’s appeal, on behalf of five organizations with expertise on the impact of torture, including the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims, Bellevue/NYU Program For Survivors of Torture, Public Committee Against Torture In Israel, REDRESS and the World Organization Against Torture.

Prejudicial material

The Israeli military has been exposed for its rampant beatings and torture of Palestinian children.

Odeh’s defense had also argued that the government should not have been permitted to use Israeli military court documents during Odeh’s trial.

The documents included the Israeli military’s indictment against Odeh.

In 1969, Odeh was convicted of helping coordinate two bombings in West Jerusalem that caused the death of two civilians.

Odeh maintained that the conviction by an Israeli military court was the result of her prolonged torture.

Her defense argued that these details were prejudicial in a trial that was concerned with alleged immigration fraud, not her decades-old conviction.

One of the justices in the appellate court agreed that those details should have been excluded.

Attorney Deutsch told The Electronic Intifada that if there is a retrial, Odeh’s defense will argue again that those military court documents should be left out of the courtroom.

• Charlotte Silver’s blog

https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/rasmea-odeh-may-get-new-trial-us-appeal-court-rules

Related from VOD:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/11/07/palestinian-heroine-torture-victim-rasmea-odeh-convicted-in-detroit-appeal-planned/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/10/18/injustice-in-detroit-support-chicago-palestinian-leader-in-detroit-federal-court-oct-21-trial-nov-4/