VOICE OF DETROIT: The city's independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan at Brush Park press conference; Dan Gilbert is major player in project.

The ongoing white-out of Detroit: over 800 largely Black Brush Park residents were driven out from late 90’s through recent years

 Only 20 percent of housing in new $70 million plan for “low-income” residents

Dan Gilbert’s 8.4 acre project part of 30 acre Brush Park plan including Brewster Wheeler Rec Center, Brewster Douglass site

 Rec Center awarded to suburbanite whites Curt Catallo, Keith Crain

By Diane Bukowski 

March 14, 2015 

Architects’ rendering of plan for portion of Brush Park, controlled by billionaire Dan Gilbert.

DETROIT – Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, with his  crony Steve Rosenthal of billionaire Dan Gilbert’s Bedrock Real Estate Services, announced a $70 million plan May 6 to re-develop 8.4 acres of Detroit’s 100-acre Brush Park neighborhood.  So far, the price the developers are paying for the land, which is adjacent to downtown, mostly city-owned and “primarily vacant,” has not been disclosed.

The plan still must be approved by the Detroit City Council, a mere formality since the state-appointed Detroit Financial Review Team (DFRT) still dictates what the city’s elected leaders do under terms of the city’s bankruptcy. Ironically, one member of the “Brush Park Redevelopment Partners” (BPDP) handling the project is Darrell Burks, who sits on the DFRT.

Buddies in Detroit white-out, “Mayor” Mike Duggan, billionaire Dan Gilbert

During a press conference, the developers said they will rehab four historic mansions and build 337 units of housing for sale and rent, as well as retail and green space.  They announced that home mortgages will be available through Gilbert’s Quicken Loans, currently being sued by the federal government for fraudulent lending practices.

“I love these old houses, and I love seeing them restored,” Duggan said. “The city let too many of these treasures go. This is a red-letter day. People will want to live here.”

Only 20 percent of the housing would be set aside for “low-income” residents, with a household income of $21,060, 80 percent of the city’s average median income. Detroit families have a 39 percent poverty rate, with children at 59 percent. Only families with 4 or more members could meet even that income rate.

Duggan and cronies at Brewster Wheeler press conference. They said culinary arts classes will be provided for Detroit youth, who have virtually no public recreation centers left. See photos of Catallo and Crain below for real beneficiaries.

The 8.4 acre BPDP redevelopment is only part of the complete “white-out” of Brush Park and its history.

Keith and Mary Kay Crain

Curt Catallo, wife of Clarkston

Duggan earlier announced a $50 million redevelopment of the former Brewster Wheeler Recreation Center in Brush Park, with a restaurant, 150 residential units, and retail stores. That project has been awarded to restaurateur Curt Catallo of Clarkston, Michigan, and Keith Crain of Crain Communications, who has dozens of prestigious addresses ranging from Bloomfield Hills, MI to Vero Beach, FL.

The city also plans to redevelop the 18 acres of land where the former Brewster Douglass housing projects stood, for a total of 30 acres of land. The last of the Douglass high rises were demolished in 2014, completing the goals of President Bill Clinton’s “HOPE VI” plan which has razed low-income housing across the U.S.

Gwen Mingo at home on Watson Street in Brush Park.

“They’ve come out with a lot of plans and allocated a lot of money over the years, but all I’ve seen is people chased out, and the neighborhood burnt up,” said Gwen Mingo, a Brush Park resident renowned for the long battle she waged in the late’s 90’s and 2000’s to save the homes and apartments of predominantly Black residents in her district.

“It was my obligation as head of the Brush Park Citizens District Council to fight to protect the rights of everyone living in that district,” she said.

Mingo was also chair of the city-wide CDC panel.

It is estimated that over 800 mostly Black residents living in both homes and apartment buildings there were driven out during that period. City officials and developers used tactics ranging from de-funding of the CDC’s, mass evictions, arson, asbestos contamination, arrests (Mingo herself faced ongoing harassment by the police), and likely even murder.

Map shows the small area of Brush Park involved in the Duggan-Gilbert development. Note its proximity to Mike Illitch’s new Red Wings arena/residential/ retail site, as well as Comerica Park and Ford Field. Brush Park’s original area ranged W. of Woodward to E. of 1-75.

Former Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr abolished the CDC’s in October, 2014 with a stroke of his bankruptcy pen, replacing them with neighborhood “managers” appointed by the mayor. His action was part of a long assault on the CDC’s which began during the Archer administration, which included de-funding and other strategies.

But, Mingo said, “They still can’t re-design the area without our input. They’ve never approached me or sent me a letter about the new plan. They know I’m still here. This is illegal. Anytime they develop an area, they are supposed to consult with anybody in a certain radius. They’re just tearing up and banking the land and it’s going to be a disaster once again.”

Gilbert already owns over 70 parcels of prime downtown Detroit property, most of them as yet incompletely developed. Of those that are complete, most, marked by “Opportunity Detroit” signs, are still unoccupied.

Brush Park burns as city drives out Black residents in previous years.

Mingo lives in a historic home on Watson, adjacent to the parcel targeted by the Gilbert consortium.  She said the devastation of the original Brush Park neighborhood began in in the 1970’s and even before.

She noted Brush Park boundaries originally extended west of Woodward and east of I-75 to include the fabled Paradise Valley of Black-owned businesses and entertainment venues, parts of the “Black Bottom” neighborhood, occupied by Black participants in “The Great Migration” from the south beginning in the 1920’s, and the Brewster-Douglass apartments and townhomes, the first housing project built to provide decent housing for Blacks in the U.S., under the auspices of Eleanor Roosevelt.

Flame Show Bar in Paradise Valley. Black business district was wiped out by construction of 1-75 freeway though its heart.

Reporter Ron Seigel chronicled the city’s deliberate devastation of  the remainder of Brush Park in an extraordinary series in the now-defunct Michigan Citizen. He describes what happened in a companion article for the Voice of Detroit (shortly to come). Meanwhile a chronological compilation of his articles is available in a link below this story.

In contrast, the City’s Request for Proposal (RFP) on the project claims, “The 1960’s saw the Brush Park neighborhood substantially deteriorate, with a high incidence of vacancy, crime, and abandonment with subsequent demolition. Since the mid 1990’s the City of Detroit has initiated an aggressive campaign in order to save the remaining historic properties, and to promote historically influenced residential infill of the vacant land left by demolition.”

That “historically influenced” infill has so far included the blandly modern Crosswinds Communities condominiums lining Woodward, built by notorious real estate mogul Bernie Glieberman, who defaulted on $100 million in corporate loans in 2009.

Crosswinds “Garden Lofts” on Woodward replaced much of historic Brush Park.

According to the project RFP, the city has invested $39 million over the last 13 years in Brush Park, “inclusive of infrastructure, demolition, acquisition and historic rehabilitation,” Mingo, however, states that figure is more likely in the hundreds of millions.

BPDP, however, is spending a mere $7.8 million on the project. Duggan denied the project is getting tax credits, so the remaining financing is still a mystery.

In addition to principal Steve Rosenthal, the BPDP also includes:

• Marvin Beatty, a board member of the Greektown Casino owned by Gilbert;
• Sam Thomas of Star Development, involved with the Whirlpool Corporation in the ongoing takeover of public land in Benton Harbor;
• Darrell Burks, a member of the state-appointed Detroit Financial Review Commission, whose authority supersedes that of Detroit’s elected officials;
• Freman Hendrix, CEO of Advanced Security & Investigative Solutions, which includes former local, regional and federal law enforcement agents;
• Pamela Rodgers, president of Rodgers Chevrolet and a member of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy board, which controls much of the city’s east riverfront land.

Charlie Beckham

“This neighborhood goes back to early 1800’s and used to be called Little Paris,” Charlie Beckham, Duggan’s group executive for Detroit neighborhoods, said during the press conference. “You see some of the architectural renderings and motifs on the buildings here. We’re going to try to maintain that. Hopefully the families of Brush and Adelaide and Edmund and a lot of the names that you see on the streets right here will be happy with what we’re doing.”

Joe Foster, a major Black landholder in Brush Park through the late 20^th century, must have been ready to rise up from his grave at Beckham’s remarks. He and his fiancée were murdered in 1997 in cases that have never been solved. Many felt their deaths were linked to a land grab by whites abetted by the city government.

Joe Foster, Jr. owned FIne Arts Theater in Brush Park until his murder in 1997. The city drove it out of business the following year, raiding it with helicopters and SWAT as  middle-class patrons attended a jazz concert.

Beckham’s comments were historically inaccurate. According to various records, Edmund Brush, the wealthy son of Elijah Brush, the second mayor of Detroit in 1806, developed the area for the city’s “elite” citizens, naming the streets Edmund, Alfred, Adelaine and Brush after his family members.

Elijah Brush held African Peter Denison in indentured servitude for a year. When he tried to free him, Denison’s “owner” Catherine Tucker appealed, winning a decision by Judge Augustus Woodward which upheld slavery status for all who had been kidnapped before 1796, when the British turned the Michigan Territory over to the U.S.

Denison became a prominent leader, heading a Black militia that fought alongside U.S. forces and Native Americans against British forces in the War of 1812, then migrating to Canada, where he was no longer considered a “slave.”

Mona Ross at earlier press conference with Duggan et al.

During the press conference, Duggan thrust Mona Ross, of the Brush Park Community Development Corporation (also known as a CDC), into the spotlight, falsely claiming it was the first time neighborhood representatives have been involved in planning new developments.

Ross, who runs a bed and breakfast out of one of Brush Park’s historic mansions, gave thanks to God, then to Duggan, Gilbert, and other BPDP partners, for the opportunity.

“This is nothing but identity theft,” Mingo reacted. “They are making people think the Citizens District Council is involved because of the same initials, but a Development Corporation is not an elected or governmental agency. It’s a private corporation.”

Gwen Mingo speaks against takeover of Detroit during bankruptcy proceedings, at protest May 1, 2014.

 RELATED DOCUMENT:

Brush Park articles 1995 to 2004 Michigan Citizen Ron Seigel

RELATED ARTICLES:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2010/09/29/detroit-works-project-violate-state-law/

http://www.bhbanco.org/2006/02/city-commissioners-clear-way-for-take.html

http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2009/11/report_michigan_housing_chief.html

http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2015/04/50_million_development_coming.html

Protesters march in Madison, Wisconsin, on Tuesday, May 12, 2015, after a prosecutor announced that a police officer will not be charged for killing 19-year-old Tony Robinson. Reuters/Ben Brewer

WISCONSIN DA: NO CHARGES V. COP IN TONY ROBINSON, JR. KILLING

Young, Gifted & Black calls for school walk-outs, recalls Aiyana Jones, 7, killed by Detroit police May 16, 2010 

Protesters flood Madison streets

May 13, 2015

Tony Robinson, Jr. at high school graduation.

MADISON, Wis. (AP)

The mother of an unarmed biracial man who was killed by a white Madison police officer March 6 is questioning the official investigation of the incident.

Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said Tuesday that he won’t charge Officer Matt Kenny for shooting and killing Tony Robinson. The announcement triggered new protests Tuesday and Wednesday from those who want Kenny to stand trial.

Andrea Irwin says she doesn’t think the authorities have released all of the facts regarding her 19-year-old son’s death. She disputes Kenny’s account of the moments leading up to the shooting.

Kenny told investigators that Robinson hit him in the head and he feared Robinson would take his gun. Irwin says there’s no way Kenny’s story could have played out in such a short amount of time.

1:15 p.m.

People angry about a prosecutor’s decision not to charge a white Madison police officer for killing an unarmed biracial man have conducted a mock trial of the officer in protest.

Madison cop Matt Kenny shot Tony Robinson, Jr. 7 times, killing him.

About 150 to 200 protesters marched through the streets of Wisconsin’s capital city on Wednesday before gathering outside of the Dane County Courthouse to stage the fake trial.

The crowd cheered when actors said they would charge Officer Matt Kenny in the March killing of 19-year-old Tony Robinson. Members of the Young, Gifted and Black Coalition, which has led protests since the killing, said the demonstration was intended to represent the processes they wished Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne had used.

Ozanne said Tuesday that he believes Kenny’s actions were justified and didn’t warrant charges.

11:50 a.m.

(M.P. King/Wisconsin State Journal via AP). Andrea Irwin, center, mother of Tony Robinson, and her boyfriend, Jeff Jackson, center right, participate in a protest march on Williamson Street, Tuesday, May 12, 2015, in Madison, Wis. Dane County District.

Madison Mayor Paul Soglin says any protesters who break the law should expect to be arrested.

Scores of people are marching through the city to protest a prosecutor’s decision not to charge Madison police Officer Matt Kenny for shooting and killing an unarmed biracial man in March. Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said Tuesday that he believes the shooting was justified.

Madison Mayor Paul Soglin

Soglin says the city will provide “the greatest latitude” for anyone expressing their beliefs. But he says police won’t tolerate illegal acts such as the blocking of ambulances. He also urged protesters not to interfere with the arrests of others.

The mayor acknowledged that many community members are unhappy about Ozanne’s decision, but he said there are many who support it.

11:30 a.m.

Hundreds of protesters are blocking a downtown Madison intersection as they rally against a prosecutor’s decision not to charge a white police officer in the death of an unarmed biracial man.

The crowd blocked the intersection for about five minutes Wednesday morning during a march to the Dane County Courthouse, where they plan to stage a street trial of the city’s police department. The demonstration’s leaders say they need to put their bodies on the line to show the public that black lives matter.

Officer Matt Kenny shot 19-year-old Tony Robinson in an apartment house on March 6. According to investigative reports, Robinson was high on mushrooms and punched Kenny in the head.

9:39 a.m.

Olga Ennis touches a memorial on Wednesday, May 13, 2015, on the porch of the Williamson Street home in Madison where Tony Robinson Jr. was killed by police. Ennis said she is a neighborhood resident who knew Robinson. Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said Tuesday, May 12, that he wouldn’t file charges against Madison Officer Matt Kenny in the March 6 death of Robinson, saying the officer used lawful deadly force after he was staggered by a punch to the head and feared for his life. (Photo: John Hart/Wisconsin State Journal/AP)

Scores of protesters have gathered outside of an apartment house where a white Wisconsin police officer shot and killed an unarmed biracial man in March.

Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said Tuesday that he wouldn’t charge Madison Officer Matt Kenny in 19-year-old Tony Robinson’s death because he believes the shooting was justified.

Outside apartment building where Tony Robinson, Jr. was killed, protesters march May 13.

About 100 demonstrators had gathered by 9:30 a.m. and were shouting protest slogans, including “No justice, no peace, no racist police.”

They plan to march downtown and conduct a street trial of the Madison Police Department. Volunteers from community groups such as 100 Black Men and the Urban League are watching the protesters and plan to advise anyone who appears to be on the verge of committing a crime to think twice.

9 a.m.

Protesters are gathering outside an apartment house where a white Wisconsin police officer shot and killed an unarmed biracial man in March.

The Young, Gifted and Black Coalition (http://www.ygbcoalition.org/) is asking people to leave work and school Wednesday and join them on a march from the apartment house to downtown Madison, where they plan to set up a street court to try the Madison Police Department themselves.

Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said Tuesday that he wouldn’t charge Officer Matt Kenny in Tony Robinson’s death because he believes the shooting was justified.

About a dozen people had gathered at the apartment house as of 9 a.m. with wagons loaded with coffee and water bottles.

1 a.m.

An activist group that has led several demonstrations over the police shooting of an unarmed man in Madison is calling for a widespread walkout.

Aiyana Jones, 7, killed by Detroit police May 16, 2010 was recalled by Young, Gifted and Black in Madison, WI.

Young, Gifted and Black is calling the effort Black Out Wednesday. They say it recognizes the death in March of Tony Robinson Jr., as well as struggles such as poverty and mass incarceration that blacks face in America.

The group is staging its effort one day after a Wisconsin prosecutor declined to charge a white police officer in the death of Robinson, who was biracial. The prosecutor said the officer used lawful deadly force after he was punched in the head by Robinson and feared for his life.

Some 300 people staged a peaceful march Tuesday from the apartment building where Robinson was shot to the Capitol.

YGB PETITION TO THE UNITED NATIONS

YGB needs your voice in order to get an investigation by the United Nations as we elevate the conversation of oracial disparities in Madison and fight for justice for Tony Robinson, the unarmed black teen murdered at the hands of officer Matt Kenny of the Madison Police Department. SIGN THE PETITION HERE.

Dane County, District Attorney Ismael Ozanne announced Tuesday afternoon that he would not bring criminal charges against the Madison, Wisconsin, police officer who shot and killed unarmed 19-year-old Tony Robinson, Jr. on March 6 of this year.

Dane County DA Ismael Ozanne wipes sweat from his face as he announces decision not to charge white cop in Tony Robinson, Jr. death March 6.

Nervously dabbing sweat from his face during his 30-minute statement, the DA told reporters that he had concluded that Matt Kenny used a “lawful amount of force” when he ended Robinson’s life.

The killing of Robinson sparked walkouts and protests by thousands of students and workers in the state capital. Kenny, who had previously shot and killed a mentally disturbed white man in 2007, was placed on paid administrative leave.

To prove his bona fides, Ozanne began the speech by referring to the fact that, like Tony Robinson, he is biracial, and that his African-American mother participated in the civil rights movement in the 1960s. He also drew attention to the fact that he is the first non-white DA in the history of the state.

“My decision will not bring Tony back. My decision will not end racial disparities that exist in our criminal justice system. My decision is not based on emotion. Rather, this decision is based on the facts as they’ve been investigated and reported to me—guided by rule of law and the oath I took to uphold the constitution of the United States and the state of Wisconsin,” he said.

Video above: part of massive protests across the state after Robinson killing

He then launched into an official account of the moments before Robinson’s killing. According to Ozanne, Kenny and other officers were responding to 911 calls reporting that Robinson had assaulted one of his friends and was assaulting pedestrians and disrupting traffic. The young man was apparently having a negative reaction to hallucinogenic mushrooms that he had ingested a short time before.

As Kenny arrived on the scene Robinson had already returned to his friend’s apartment. Ozanne reported that Kenny then entered the second floor flat through a door that had already been broken open by Robinson after he heard a disturbance.

According to Ozanne, the officer announced himself, after which Robinson allegedly rushed the officer, hitting him in the face with his fist, knocking him back against the stairwell wall. As he retreated backward down the stairwell the officer opened fire seven times, emptying his gun into the unarmed Robinson, hitting him seven times. Robinson was pronounced dead at the hospital with bullet wounds in his head, torso, and right arm.

Dashcam video released by police shows cop shooting rapidfire into the building Tony was in; there is no footage of Tony himself.

The family’s attorney, John Loevy, questioned the DA’s accounting of the event, highlighting video evidence that reportedly shows the police officer firing the seventh and final shot which killed Robinson from outside the house. Loevy also stated that Kenny was warned by dispatchers not to pursue Robinson and unnecessarily escalated the situation.

The district attorney concluded his news conference Tuesday by quoting Martin Luther King, Jr. as a warning to those who might protest his decision, encouraging them to instead turn their anger and frustration back into the electoral system. “I am reminded that true and lasting change does not come from violence but from exercising our voices and our votes,” he stated. “The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said ‘violence brings only temporary change, violence by creating many more social problems than it solves never brings permanent peace.’”

(See commentary below on Ozanne’s slander of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s real beliefs on violence.)

Jeff Jackson, left, comforts his girlfriend, Andrea Irwin, the mother of Tony Robinson, while escorting her during a protest march on Williamson Street, Tuesday, May 12, 2015, in Madison, Wis. (M.P. King/Wisconsin State Journal via AP)

Ozanne’s remarks gave expression to the deep concern amongst the ruling elite about growing social opposition, especially in the wake of mass protests against the killing of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Maryland, where the National Guard was deployed for a week in order to suppress popular anger.

Police officers were mobilized in advance of the DA’s news conference to respond to any spontaneous protests in response to his decision. Several hundred protestors holding banners which read “#JusticeforTony” and “Black Lives Matter” marched on the State Capitol building Tuesday evening. The protest organization Young Gifted and Black has called for students to walk out of school Wednesday to protest the decision not to bring charges.

Robinson was just one of more than 100 people killed by the police across the United States in March. According to killedbypolice.net Robinson was the 192nd person killed by police since the beginning of 2015, and since his death another 227 people have been killed as the result of an encounter with the police.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/no-charges-in-madison-wisconsin-police-killing-of-unarmed-youth-tony-robinson-jr/5449220

The DA arrogantly and cynically misconstrued Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s approach to revolutionary violence. Dr. King said:

“As I have walked among the desperate, rejected, and angry young men, I have told them that Molotov cocktails and rifles would not solve their problem. I have tried to offer my deepest compassion while maintaining my conviction that social change comes most meaningfully through non-violent action. But they asked, and rightfully so, “What about Vietnam?” Their questions hit home and I knew I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today: my own government.”

Dr. King’s historic meeting with Malcolm X, both revolutionaries.

A Jan. 15, 2015 Counterpunch article by Eric Mann titled “Martin Luther King and the Black Revolutionary Tradition” explains how Dr. King used non-violent civil disobedience as a strategy, while aiming at the overturn of the entire racist, imperialist, capitalist system in the U.S.

Click on Martin Luther King and the Black Revolutionary Tradition or go to internet link at http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/01/19/martin-luther-king-and-the-black-revolutionary-tradition/.

Related articles:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2015/03/07/black-teen-tony-robinson-shot-dead-by-madison-serial-killer-kop-matt-kenny-police-out-now/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2015/01/29/cops-kill-girls-charges-dismissed-in-death-of-aiyana-jones-7-two-teens-dead-in-colorado-texas/

Mother’s Day march in Washington, D.C. by mothers who lost their chidren to police violence, May 9, 2015. It was organized by Maria Hamilton, mother of Dontre Hamilton, 31, killed by police office last year./Linda Davidson, the Washington Post

(VOD is re-publishing this article by an independent writer,  from the Washington Post, to remember all our mothers throughout Detroit and surrounding areas who have lost their children to the police, or fought relentlessly to free their children from prison or from the hands of State Child Protective Services. Some of their photos have been inserted, but they represent only a few of the many who have lost children to police killings or who have had children snatched by the criminal justice system or by Child Protective Services.)

By Brigid Schulte May 9 at 9:15 PM

Dominika Jones, mother of Aiyana Jones, with Aiyana’s father Charles Jones at upper left. Aiyana was killed by Detroit police May 16, 2010.

They wore photos of their dead sons’ faces on buttons pinned to their chests, like joyless Mother’s Day corsages. They wore T-shirts emblazoned with their dead sons’ names. They carried signs that read, “Stop Racist Police Terror” and “We Are Not Criminals” and “They are ALL our sons.”

Like incantations, they chanted the names of their unarmed sons who they said were shot in the back, shot point blank in the chest, shot 14 times, shot on their bikes, shot in parks, shot after leaving a dance, or left to bleed to death in the street. They chanted the names of those whose deaths inflamed a nation: Freddie Gray. Michael Brown. Amadou Diallo. Tony Robinson.

Mertilla Jones, grandmother of Aiyana and mother of Charles, who was framed by police and is now serving a 40-60 year sentence.

And the names of those perhaps remembered only by the grieving mothers themselves, such as Tremaine Flythe, who was shot by two D.C. police officers while walking to his mother’s house for breakfast the day after Christmas in 2009.

For several hours Saturday afternoon, more than a dozen mothers from around the country whose sons or daughters had been killed by police, or who died while in police custody, were joined by several hundred protesters in a “Million Mom March” to the steps of the Justice Department to demand sweeping police reforms.

“Not another life. Not another son. Not another daughter. We will not stop. We cannot stop until the killing ends,” pastor Traci Blackmon, of Ferguson, Mo., shouted to the mournful and angry crowd.

Nelda Kellom, mother of Terrance Kellom, 19, executed by a Detroit police task force April 19, 2015, shot nine times.

“We have come here because a blue uniform does not make you God.”

The march, which is not associated with another Million Mom March to protest gun violence in 2000, was organized on a shoestring by Maria Hamilton, who founded Mothers for Justice United in Milwaukee after her son, Dontre, 31, was shot and killed by a police officer in 2014.

Dontre Hamilton, who had a history of mental illness, had been sleeping in a park when employees from a nearby Starbucks called the police to complain three times. A scuffle with a police officer who responded ended when he shot Hamilton 14 times.

Arnetta Grable (center), mother of Lamar Grable, executed by three time killer cop Eugene Brown in 1996, with her family, lawyers and supporters, celebrating victory in civil lawsuit that took 10 long hard years of struggle.

Maria Hamilton buried her son one year ago to the day. Organizing the protest, she said, was a way to help with the shock and numbness that set in after he died. The recent death of Freddie Gray, who suffered a severe spine injury while in police custody in Baltimore, steeled her reserve.

Jacquelyn Porter, (2nd from l) with husband Tommie Staples Sr. at her left, and their children. Detroit police killed Staples Sr. for advocating for children stopped by police in their neighborhood.

“This is something that had to be done,” she said, noting that, in many of the cases, including Dontre’s, the officers have gone unpunished.

“The officer shot Dontre 14 times, emptied his clip, reloaded, and shot him in the back. And the district attorney found that that wasn’t excessive force. I won’t be satisfied until I see true change.”

After a spirited but peaceful march down Constitution Avenue, in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol, the mainly African American mothers and a diverse crowd of marchers waited on a hot day for nearly an hour to deliver their 13 demands for police reform.

Maryanne Godboldo, who stood off a Detroit police SWAT team for 11 hours as they tried to seize her daughter Ariana and medicate her with a dangerous drug,

They want the Justice Department to compile a public directory of all officer-related deaths in the past five years, as data like that is hard to come by; to require independent investigations when someone’s been shot or killed by a police officer; body cameras and better training; and to put an end to racial profiling and arming local police with military-style weapons.

Kevin Lewis, a spokesman for the Justice Department, took the demands, promised that the department would review them and spoke briefly to the crowd.

“No officer should be above the law,” he said.

Many of the mothers met with White House officials Friday in what Lewis described as a “productive and very emotional” meeting.

Taminko Sanford-Tilmon, fighting for her son Davontae Sanford, falsely jailed for 8 years since the age of 14 for murders to which hitman Vincent Smothers confessed,

Many of the group’s demands are already under consideration — including gathering better data on police shootings, better training to reduce bias and examining the distribution and use of military-style weapons — as part of the soon-to-be-released recommendations of the White House Task Force on 21st Century Policing.

Obama appointed the task force to assuage what he called “deep-rooted frustration” over law enforcement practices in communities of color.

Marchers thrust photos of dead sons, dead nephews, dead brothers at Lewis as police sought to lead him out of the crowd.

Leda Reed with son Anthony Clark Reed, 24 when he died during a Detroit police traffic stop March 30, 2015.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” he told one. Just before he addressed the crowd, Lewis, 32, who is African American, embraced a weeping Maria Hamilton. “I told her I very well could have been her son,” he said.

Marion Gray-Hopkins, a retired bank executive in Maryland, marched so the world would not forget her son, Gary Hopkins Jr., who was shot and killed by police in November 1999 after a dance at a local fire station. He was 19.

Andrea Irwin flew in from Madison, Wis., so the world would not forget her son, Tony Terrell Robinson, who was shot in the chest, face and back by police officers March 6. He was 19. She wore a T-shirt with a photo of the 6-foot-4 Robinson, smiling and dressed in a suit.

Lidjinet Barber with poster remembering her son Ian May, 18, killed unnecessarily by a retired Detroit cop with a brutal past,

“I called him my gentle giant,” she said, wiping her eyes.

Janet Baker, a recently laid-off human resources worker, paid her own way to come from Houston to remember her only child, her son, Jordan, who was killed by an off-duty police officer while riding his bike because the officer thought the 26-year-old looked like a suspect.

“I feel like I’m walking around with a terminal illness, like I have no heart,” she said. “He was my everything. Now, fighting for justice for Jordan is my everything.”

Betty Flythe found out about the march Saturday morning. And though nearly crippled with arthritis, she leaned on her cane and marched to remember her son, Tremaine.

The late Jamiliah Sombai (2nd from l) with daughter Akua Tuere (l). Their son and brother Rahaab White was killed by Detroit cop.

“It felt good to yell out his name. To finally tell people his story,” she said. “And to let them know, he would have had a good life.”

Brigid Schulte

Brigid Schulte writes about Good-Life: work-life issues, time, productivity, gender and income inequality. She is the author of the bestselling Overwhelmed: Work, Love and Play when No One has Time.

Imam Dawud Walid of Mi-CAIR (2nd from l) speaks during rally  for Terrance Kellom, other I.C.E. victims

“Can’t stop, won’t stop until killer cops are in cell blocks” 

Speakers say Kellom killing recalls assassination of Iman Luqman Abdullah, other I.C.E. raids 

I.C.E. also involved in bringing drugs across U.S. borders

Water shut-offs, foreclosures cited as part of broad attack on Blacks

VOD, Freep file FOIA requests for Kellom autopsy

By Diane Bukowski

 May 9, 2015 

Terrance Kellom, killed at 19 by police, with baby son.

DETROIT – A coalition of groups gathered outside Detroit’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office on East Jefferson May 8, to demand justice for 19-year-old father Terrance Kellom, shot to death April 19 by ICE officer Mitchell Quinn with Detroit police. Speakers said they wanted ICE to stop taking part in multi-jurisdictional task forces, and called for transparency in the investigation of Kellom’s death.

They chanted “Can’t stop, won’t stop until killer cops are in cell blocks,” and “No justice, no peace, no racist police.”

The groups included Michigan United, Black Lives Matter-Detroit, the Coalition for Black Struggle, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan, the National Action Network, the Northern Borders Coalition, the Michigan Council on American Islamic Relations (Mi-CAIR), and the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, Inc. according to a release from Michigan United.

Detroits Imam Luqman Abdullah, slaughtered by 66 federal agents and local police Oct. 28, 2009.

“We want law enforcement to respect our people and not be involved in extra-judicial killings,” Imam Dawud Walid of Mi-CAIR, said. “I.C.E. was also involved in the assassination of Imam Luqman Abdullah in 2009. The autopsy report in Iman Abdullah’s case was withheld just as in the Kellom case. We had to go to court to get it. This just fuels more distrust of the entire criminal justice system.”

Sixty-six federal agents, with local officials, slaughtered Imam Abdullah, leader of the majority-Black Masjid El-Haqq mosque on Detroit’s west side, on Oct. 28, 2009. He sustained 21 gunshot wounds, a broken arm, and lacerations to his face and upper body, resulting from police dog bites, during a raid on an abandoned Dearborn warehouse. The Imam and his members had been set up on conspiracy and theft charges by the FBI, using confidential informants.

Walid said Imam Abdullah’s family has a lawsuit pending in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, naming then Detroit FBI director Andrew Arena and others as defendants. Arena now heads the non-profit Detroit Crime Commission.

Mourners at Terrance Kellom’s funeral salute with “Hands Up Don’t Shoot” gestures and closed fists as his coffin is carried out for burial.

Kellom was shot to death nine times. His distraught father Kevin Kellom witnessed only the first two shots by Quinn before he was pulled away from the scene by police. He has repeatedly denied police claims that his son threatened police with a hammer. According to Ron Scott, who said at a vigil for Kellom that he had seen the autopsy report, the young man sustained seven gunshot wounds in the front of his body, and two in his back.

Kellom was laid to rest Wed. May 6, with over 200 attending his funeral. Young relatives and friends gave the “Hands Up Don’t Shoot” and power fist signals l as his coffin was carried out for burial.

Many in the community are now questioning whether Detroit police as well as Quinn shot Kellom. Family members have not been given a copy of the autopsy report, which Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy announced this week would be sealed. Some members of Kellom’s extended family issued a press release demanding a copy May 5.

Jerry Bell, Jr. and his cousin Kevin Kellom, father of Terrance, at vigil May 2, 2015.

“I believe there may be a cover-up. . . . There was no need for such a slaughter,” Jerry Bell, a cousin of Kevin Kellom’s, said in the release. “My cousin was turning his life around, because of his children, and he would not have caused his own death by confronting the police.” (See full release at Terrance Kellom press release.)

Both the Voice of Detroit and the Detroit Free Press have filed Freedom of Information Act requests demanding copies of the report. The Freep earlier won a case, Swickard v. Wayne County Medical Examiner (1991), which held autopsy reports to be public record. It is questionable whether Worthy has the right, independent of judicial proceedings, to seal the report.

During the rally, Grover Easterling III, a youth working with the Coalition for Black Struggle, said, “American law enforcement is killing our people. We want an end to the militarization of the police and task forces like the one that killed Terrance Kellom. We also stand in solidarity with other organizations fighting water shut-offs and evictions, another form of violence against our people.”

Grover Easterling III of the Coalition for Black Struggle, wearing green button for Terrance Kellom, addresses rally as Monica Lewis Patrick of People’s Water Board (background), Elder Louise listen.

Monica Lewis Patrick of the People’s Water Board and Dianne Feeley of Detroit Eviction Defense also spoke. Detroit is expected to begin more water shut-offs this month, while Feeley said activist Cheryl West was evicted from her home May 7 after a long battle. She noted that victims of shut-offs and foreclosures in Detroit are predominantly Black.

“For many decades now, I.C.E. has been abusing its power on the southern borders, including many killings,” said a spokesman for the Northern Borders Coalition. “Now they are escalating actions in the north, where 80 percent of the immigrantss it has detained in raids are held on nothing more than traffic violations.”

Luis Valencia (r)describes I.C.E. raid during which he was brutalized.

Luis Valencia, a former reporter in Mexico, said his brother was killed by the drug cartels there, and his life and that of his mother were threatened. They fled to the U.S., only to experience more brutality from I.C.E., he said.

“In 2007, I.C.E. raided my workplace and ordered everybody to drop on the floor. I could not because of my hip injury, so they shoved me down and kicked and yelled at me. They told a judge that I tried to run away, but I showed the judge how I can barely walk. That was the only reason I was released from detention.”

In a federal trial in Chicago during April 2011,  Jesus Vicente Zambada Niebla, a top leader of the Mexican Sinaloa drug-trafficking cartel, claimed to have been working with the U.S. government for years according to pleadings filed in federal court in Chicago.

Jesus Vicente Zambada Niebla trafficked drugs for I.C.E., other U.S. agencies.

Zambada Niebla said he was working “on behalf of the U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration (‘DEA’); and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (‘FBI’); and the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (‘ICE’).” He said they gave the Sinaloa cartel permission to traffic drugs in the U.S. as part of a scheme to capture members of a rival cartel.

According to a story by Deborah Dupre in the Examiner, Niebla is also connected to the Gulfstream II jet that crashed in 2007 with four tons of cocaine aboard. European investigators linked the wrecked plane’s tail number, N987SA, to CIA “rendition” operations.  (See link below.)

Protesters including Grover Easterling III, Ron Scott, and Imam Dawud Walid were denied entrance to I.C.E. offices. They had intended to meet with I.C.E. Special Agent in Charge Rebecca Adducci. Guards informed them both she and an I.C.E. press representative were out of the city.

For further information, contact Erik Shelley of Michigan United at 248-982-6326.

Related stories:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2015/05/05/family-members-want-terrance-kelloms-autopsy-report-unsealed-funeral-announced-to-public/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2015/05/03/hundreds-comfort-terrance-kelloms-family-at-vigil-will-autopsy-show-both-feds-dpd-shot-him/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2015/04/30/police-assassination-of-terrance-kellom-19-detroit-chief-craig-feds-have-blood-on-hands/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/08/05/targeted-dead-journalist-gary-webbs-allegations-of-fed-involvement-in-drug-trafficking-further-vindicated/

Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream

http://illblognews.com/breaking-news-baltimore-police-shoot-handcuffed-unarmed-black-man/

WHO TO BELIEVE? Man allegedly seen on Baltimore CCTV with a gun, then ran and tried to pull it out. BIG BROTHER IS NOW A REALITY.

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/fox-news-crew-witnesses-baltimore-police-shoot-man/#ooid=80c2x2dDrc4mAJxlhQjYxRCPEDGor1F_

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/fox-news-crew-witnesses-baltimore-police-shoot-man/#ooid=wzOG12dDrIfirmoAczVaBJFe2dh0WRi3

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/report-of-officer-involved-shooting-baltimore-unfounded-police/2015/05/04/0b2429ac-f290-11e4-bcc4-e8141e5eb0c9_story.html

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CALL 313-460-3175

See full Channel 7 report at

http://www.wxyz.com/news/local-news/investigations/dearborn-police-beatings

MAP: 16901 Michigan Avenue east of Southfield Fwy.

Terrance Kellom’s father Kevin Kellom, with his wife at left, and mother Nelda Kellom (center) greet large family turnout of all ages at vigil.

200 remember Terrance Kellom with sorrow, prayers, call for justice

Candlelight, balloons and floating lanterns provide comfort in midst of grief

Did DPD shoot 19-year-old father too? Autopsy alleged to show 7 shots in front, 2 in back, despite Chief Craig’s denial that DPD “took action” at scene

Uncle: Family members with toddlers were in home when police, including DPD, invaded

Crowd sends floating lanterns skyward in honor of 19-year-old father Terrance Kellom.

May 2, 2015 By Diane Bukowski

Terrance Kellom, 19, with baby son.

DETROIT — When a squad of cops shot Terrance Kellom to death April 19, their bullets also entered the hearts of hundreds of his family members and friends, who crowded his father’s front yard today to grieve for the 19-year-old father of one baby son, who will never see his second child born.

They wore dozens of varying T-shirts commemorating the young son, brother, cousin, and friend they called “Tee Tee.” “I will truly miss my Tee Tee,” one young woman said. “He was at my home every weekend with my brothers, and I’d be tripping over bodies. Now that he’s gone, I wish he was back.”

Family members in prayer at beginning of vigil. They raised funds through refreshments and donations for funeral expenses.

Another young woman remembered “Tee Tee” cutting off his sister’s ponytail when he was a child, then going on to collect other ponytails as well, for which he was whipped.

Jerry Bell, in light blue shirt, comforts his cousin as candles are lit.

His father Kevin Kellom bent over in tears at first, comforted by his cousin Jerry Bell and other family members, before telling the crowd how much he appreciated the outpouring of support to lift him up at this time.

Bell told VOD that his “little cousin” was getting his life back together, knowing he would have two children to raise. Kellom’s “Auntie Bobbie,” related to both sides of the family, called on them to keep their heads up.

Child comforts young woman.

“They were here for me when I lost my daughter at the age of 18,” she remembered.

Sandra Hines said, “They’re telling a lot of stories right now. But no matter what the story is, they didn’t have to shoot him. It was a slaughter. They took one of our precious loved ones again, and we cannot continue to stand for this.”

Detroit Police Chief James Craig has told the media that Kellom threatened Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) agent Mitchell Quinn with a hammer before the agent shot and killed Kellom, allegedly wanted on an armed robbery warrant.  Craig said Detroit police who were part of the multi-agency fugitive task force that barged into the Kellom home “took no action” themselves.

Some of the hundreds who attended the vigil.

But Kevin Kellom showed VOD today how his son was brought downstairs with two cops in front and two in back. He said he witnessed the first two shots by the agent, then was dragged into the dining room as a volley of other shots went off.

Uncle Tony Kellom, father Kevin Kellom, cousin Jerry Bell.

The mainstream media has basically debunked police claims that Terrance Kellom jumped on the second floor storage place until he fell through, startling the cops. A tour of the house showed there was no damage to the crawl space floor.

Kellom said that his son could easily have been arrested earlier when he took a walk with him to the local gas station.

Police have admitted that they had the family under surveillance. Chief Craig alleged that the senior Kellom has an outstanding warrant, but claimed he would “give him time to grieve” before arresting him. However, Third Judicial Circuit Court records show no such warrant. Kellom’s last encounter with the courts was in 2008, when he was given probation for the offense in question.

Family members also present at the scene, including Kevin’s brother Tony, told VOD there were numerous Detroit police in the home at the time. Tony Kellom said he, his brother, two of his brother’s daughters, and three little grandchildren were there during the raid.

Speaking in memory of Terrance Kellom.

“I’m here to help my brother get justice,” he said. “I heard my nephew call out, ‘Dad and Uncle Tony, help me.'” He said he was in the home’s basement during the invasion.

Children help each other light candles.

During the vigil, Ron Scott reported “unofficially” that the completed autopsy shows Kellom was shot seven times in the chest and twice in the back, which would make it highly likely that cops other than Quinn also shot the young man, in what the elder Kellom has called an “assassination.”

Police reported in their search warrant return that they had recovered seven shell casings and four fired bullet fragments from areas including the hallway at the bottom of the stairs, adjacent bedrooms, the bathroom and the molding of the door leading to the stairway. A funeral for Terrance Kellom is planned for Wed. May 6, 2015, according to a family member.

Family members and friends held hands in a large circle that surrounded both front yards.

But chief on today’s agenda was the huge outpouring of support from all over the city, including the North End where much of the family grew up. So the rest of this story is being told in pictures, so that the community of Detroit and police of all agencies may know who else was shot in the heart that day.

Memories of Tee Tee

We miss you!

Jerry Bell’s sons

Floating lanterns are lit.

A child donates to the family.

Clasping hands in comfort.

Encouragement for Kevin and his wife.

Terrance Kellom’s mother Nelda Kellom is comforted.

Signing cards for Tee Tee

You will never be forgotten.

Arnetta Grable, Jr., whose older brother Lamar Grable was killed by cop Eugene Brown in 1996, joins vigil with friends of family.

Launching balloons into the heavens.

Lanterns float into sky with Tee Tee’s spirit.

Look skyward to remember Tee Tee.

Kevin Kellom tells protesters April 26 about his son’s “execution,” posted by Keith Horton on Youtube. Related: http://voiceofdetroit.net/2015/04/30/police-assassination-of-terrance-kellom-19-detroit-chief-craig-feds-have-blood-on-hands/

Officers charged in Freddie Gray’s death: Clockwise from top left, Baltimore police officers William G. Porter, Garrett E. Miller, Caesar R. Goodson Jr., Edward M. Nero, Alicia D. White and Brian W. Rice. (Baltimore Police Department)

UPDATE: Above, Kevin Moore took original video of Freddie Gray’s arrest. He questions why it is the Black van driver, Caesar Goodson, Jr. who is facing the heaviest charges. He says the officers who first arrested Freddie on the street were responsible for his mortal injuries. A white woman cop shown in the arrest video  has NOT been charged at all; three of six cops charged are Black. See Washington Post article on charges at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/who-are-the-police-officers-charged-in-the-death-of-freddie-gray/2015/05/01/dde6bc2e-f01f-11e4-8666-a1d756d0218e_story.html

Charges Against 6 Officers In Freddie Gray’s Death Range From Murder To Assault

Gray’s arrest declared illegal

Most severe charge, second degree depraved heart murder, which carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison, leveled at driver of van.

Bill Chappell

May 01, 2015 8:30 AM ET

Elected State’s Attorney for the City of Baltimore Marilyn J. Mosby announces charges against six cops involved in Freddie Gray’s death.

The death of Freddie Gray was a homicide, and six Baltimore police officers now face criminal charges that include second degree murder and involuntary manslaughter, Baltimore chief prosecutor Marilyn J. Mosby says.

Mosby announced the charges Friday morning, citing her office’s “thorough and independent” investigation and the medical examiner’s report on Gray’s death. She said warrants were issued today for the officers’ arrest.

The city’s recently elected state’s attorney, Mosby detailed a range of charges against several officers, with the offenses ranging from one count of second degree murder and four counts of involuntary manslaughter to assault and misconduct in office.

Freddie Gray screams in agony as he is arrested April 12, 2015. He had no pulse on arrival to the hospital, but was resuscitated. He succumbed to severe spinal cord injuries April 19. Officials now say he received the fatal injury in the police van during a “rough ride,” but others earlier reported that one of the cops above knelt on his neck at the time of the arrest. He could not walk afterwards and was dragged to the van by the cops and thrown inside “like a pretzel” said one observer.

The most severe charges are leveled against Officer Caesar R. Goodson, Jr., identified as the driver of the van that transported Gray to a police station. He is charged with second degree depraved heart murder, which carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.

The investigation by the prosecutor’s office found there had been no reason to detain Gray — and that his arrest was in itself illegal, Mosby said. She said that the knife that police officers had found on Gray turned out to be legal.

After announcing the charges, Mosby noted her own ties to the police community — including her mother and father. She thanked officers who are committed to serving the community.

Baltimore police brutalize a demonstrator during the days of protest after Freddie Gray’s death.

We’ll have more details from the announcement and any documents released by the prosecutor’s office.

From the release:

Officer Caesar R. Goodson, Jr.: Second degree depraved heart murder; involuntary manslaughter; second-degree assault; manslaughter by vehicle (gross negligence); manslaughter by vehicle (criminal negligence); misconduct in office

Officer William G. Porter: Involuntary manslaughter; second degree assault; misconduct in office

Lt. Brian W. Rice: Involuntary manslaughter; two counts of second degree assault; manslaughter by vehicle (gross negligence); two counts of misconduct in office; false imprisonment

THE FIRE THIS TIME: Baltimore goes up in flames during rebellion April 27, 2015.

Officer Edward M. Nero: Two counts of second degree assault; manslaughter by vehicle (gross negligence); two counts of misconduct in office; false imprisonment

Officer Garrett E. Miller: Two counts of second degree assault; two counts of misconduct in office; false imprisonment

Sgt. Alicia D. White: Involuntary manslaughter; second degree assault; misconduct in office

Update at 10:51 a.m. ET: Recounting Details Of Gray’s Arrest

Running down an exhaustive account of Gray’s arrest and treatment while in custody, Baltimore’s chief prosecutor is listing numerous occasions on which Gray was not properly restrained with a seatbelt while he rode in the back of a police van.

Update at 10:48 a.m. ET: Gray’s Death A Homicide, Prosecutor Says

Gloria Darden, mother of Freddie Gray, center, sits in front of Gray’s casket at his burial, Monday, April 27, 2015, at Woodlawn Cemetery in Baltimore. Gray died from spinal injuries about a week after he was arrested and transported in a Baltimore Police Department van. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Mosby said she has assured Gray’s family that “no one is above the law,” also cited her oath of office, in which she promised “uphold justice.”

She said that her review of the case found there had been no reason to detain Gray, and that his arrest was illegal.

The leading prosecutor in Baltimore spoke at a 10:30 a.m. news conference held in downtown Baltimore. The occasion brought a large show of force from both police and National Guard personnel who have been called on to secure the area since violence and vandalism broke out Monday night.

Gene Ryan, Pres. of Baltimore FOP (Fraternal Order of Police)

Earlier today, the local chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police says it has sent a letter to Mosby, asking her to appoint a special independent prosecutor in the case. The chapter’s president alleged that she had “many conflicts of interest” in the case. This morning, Mosby said she would be handling the case herself, adding that the people of Baltimore had elected her.

Mosby spoke one day after receiving the Baltimore Police Department’s report on Gray’s death. The findings aren’t public, and police revealed only a few new details when they announced the transition in the case Thursday.

NPR and other news organizations have asked Baltimore’s police department to release its report on the arrest and death of Freddie Gray, as well as for related documents and materials such as tapes of 911 calls made when Gray was taken into custody.

Our original post continues:

Freddie Gray tossed into police van after arrest.

Gray died on April 19, one week after being taken into custody. Police have said that during his transport, Gray wasn’t buckled in properly and did not receive timely medical care. Six police officers remain suspended over the case.

As the Two-Way has reported, when police turned over the documents to State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby in Baltimore, they announced that “the van transporting Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old black man who suffered a serious spine injury while in police custody and later died, made one more stop than previously thought.”

The roughly 40 minutes that Gray spent in the van have emerged as the focal point in the inquiry over how he sustained the injury.

That extra stop was discovered through a review of recordings made by security and private cameras, Deputy Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said. He added that another detainee who was riding in the van told police that Gray was “still moving around … kicking and making noises” until the van reached the police station.

That second detainee rode in the police van on the other side of a metal partition that divides its cargo space. When he was picked up, Gray was already in the van.

Local news WJZ-TV reports that Donta Allen, 22, was that second man — and that he came forward Thursday out of concern over how his comments were being portrayed by both the police and the media.

“When I was in the back of that van it did not stop or nothing. All it did was go straight to the station, but I heard a little banging, like he was banging his head,” Allen said. ” I didn’t even know he was in the van until we got to the station.”

Saying his words have been distorted by recent reports and that he doesn’t think Gray hurt himself intentionally, Allen also told a WJZ reporter, “The only reason I’m doing this is because they put my name in a bad state.”

Allen, who was reportedly taken into custody for a minor offense and was not charged with a crime, also spoke to WBAL TV. He told the station that when he got into the van, he didn’t know Gray was already there. He said he heard “a little banging for like four seconds.”

(VOD:  is current account of Freddie Gray’s spinal injury accurate? A witness at the scene said he saw a cop kneeling on Freddie Gray’s neck before they dragged him into the van, as shown in the video. The witness says Gray was NOT able to even walk at the time. He is heard screaming out in pain repeatedly. Which version will unpublished autopsy results bear out and how will that affect the prosecution of the officers charged?)

Protesters demand “Jail Killer Police!”

WBAL aired surveillance camera footage that shows officers looking into Gray’s side of the van during the stop that also picked up Allen.

When the van arrived at the police station, Allen said he heard the officers say that Gray didn’t have a pulse and was unresponsive — and that another officer later said, “He’s got vitals now, he must’ve come back.”

The sequence of events has led to wide-ranging questions over what happened: Was the van driven in a way that caused Gray’s injury? When did Gray become unresponsive? Were the sounds Allen heard caused by a seizure experienced by a gravely wounded man?

The Baltimore Sun reports: “Maryland’s chief medical examiner, Dr. David R. Fowler, said his office has not completed an autopsy or turned any documents over to police or prosecutors. He said homicide detectives had observed the examination, a routine practice.”

May the youth of Baltimore continue their battle, with support across the U.S., until justice for ALL is won.

When it’s complete, Fowler’s report will go straight to the state’s attorney’s office, the newspaper says.

NPR and other news organizations have asked Baltimore’s police department to release its report on the arrest and death of Freddie Gray, as well as for related documents and materials such as tapes of 9-1-1 calls made when Gray was taken into custody.

Protesters have been calling on police to reveal more information about the case.

Thursday was the third night of Baltimore’s 10 p.m.-5 a.m. curfew. Ahead of the deadline, crowds of demonstrators marched downtown amid a large police presence. Baltimore’s curfew is expected to remain in effect through this weekend.

According to The Associated Press, here’s what protesters were chanting Thursday night:

• “I love Baltimore. We want peace.”
• “No justice, no peace.”
• “Justice. Freddie Gray.”
• “Black lives matter.”

Related:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2015/04/28/baltimore-uprising-in-context-protest-detroit-cop-killing-of-terrance-kellom-19-4-pm-today-apr-28/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2015/04/27/freddie-gray-protests-turn-into-rebellion-in-baltimore-baseball-fans-trapped-in-stadium/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2015/04/20/freddie-gray-25-dies-after-baltimore-cops-sever-his-spine-in-beating/

Terrance Kellom, 19, with baby son. He also has a daughter on the way, who he will never see due to his execution by police.

Photo from Dietra Kellom’s Facebook page

“They assassinated my son”—Kevin Kellom, who witnessed the shooting

 I.C.E. agent Mitchell Quinn, the alleged sole shooter, part of  federal-city  task force under Detroit Police Chief James Craig’s control

Hundreds rally near Kellom home, march to Cody High School, call for community replacement of police, control of resources

By Diane Bukowski 

April 29, 2015 

Kevin Kellom (in white cap), father of Terrance Kellom, 19, addresses rally near their home April 28, 2015.

DETROIT – “They assassinated my son,” Kevin Kellom, father of 19-year-old Terrance Kellom, told an angry rally of hundreds, largely youth, near their home on Evergreen in Detroit April 26. “They [police] closed the [front] door, then they brought my son down the stairs, and they shot him in the chest. They executed my son in my face.”

Kellom added, “My son clenched his fists and said, ‘Daddy.’ Then he fell to his knees, and they shot him 10 times. He didn’t deserve that.” A medical examiner’s report said Kellom died of “multiple” gunshot wounds.

The “Detroit Fugitive Apprehension Task Force” (D-FAT), killed the younger Kellom at 1:38 p.m. Monday, April 25, according to his father. The team includes the U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Detroit Police.

The mainstream media has focused only on the alleged shooter, identified as Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) agent Mitchell Quinn, a former Detroit cop with a sordid history of violence on that force. Police claim that Kellom lunged at Quinn with a hammer.

However, the elder Kellom said, multiple cops restrained his son as he was shot to death. Detroit police were included among those who mobbed the home.

“He had no weapons, he had no hammer,” the elder Kellom said. “I want nothing but justice. My son was 19 with one son and a daughter on the way. He had children to stand by. He didn’t weigh any more than 100 pounds. He had officers in the front of him and officers in the back of him, how could he grab a hammer? There were anywhere from 40-50 cops around the house. Every time [police] come into contact with a young Black man, does that have to result in his death?”

Kellom said the police had no search warrant when they came to his house, but got one signed after 4 p.m., which they left on his dining room table at 7 p.m. Police have claimed he voluntarily admitted them to the home, but a cousin of the family said that police threatened to break down the door if Kellom didn’t let them in.

Janay Williams, mother of Terrance Kellom’s children, told Fox 2 News that justice for Kellom would be, “If the police who did that to him get locked up.”

Terrance Kellom with Janay WIlliams/Facebook

The children’s aunt Adrienne Williams, told Fox 2, “He was here everyday with his son. His son knows who he is. His son knows his face. His son talks about the police, his son is terrified. He didn’t deserve what he got from the police.”

Police said the younger Kellom was wanted on armed robbery charges. He never had a chance to be heard in court on that warrant because he was killed first. He had previous adult convictions of drug trafficking and attempted CCW (carrying a concealed weapon,) but was sentenced to probation in both cases.

Later during a community meeting held April 28, Detroit Police Chief James Craig praised a general police sweep by D-FAT which he alleged has resulted in the arrests of 24 people wanted for murder, 33 for assault to commit murder, and 66 for criminal sexual assault. He did not say how many of those arrests resulted in convictions.

Hundreds rally near Terrance Kellom’s home on Evergreen April 28, 2015. Photo: Kenny Snodgrass

Seventeen such raids, part of “Operation Restore Order,” have been conducted with the DPD in charge since Nov. 2013, when police raided the allegedly “high crime” Colony Arms Apartments.  Craig announced the beginning of “Operation River Walk 2,” the 17^th raid, through Detroit’s west side March 2.

Protesters near Kellom home. Photo: Kenny Snodgrass

Neighbors, relatives, friends, and a large contingent of youth participated in the April 26 rally near the Kellom home at Evergreen and W. Chicago. A number of organizations were involved, including CopWatch.com, Mothers of Murdered Children, who are planning a national rally in Washington, D.C. June 5-7, (see flier below) Good Brothers and Sisters for a New Power Coalition, the Franklin Neighborhood Association, and members the Original Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality as well as the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, Inc.

Some protesters traveled from Ann Arbor as well, carrying banners depicting Aura Rosser, killed by police there in November, 2014, and Aiyana Stanley-Jones, 7, who was shot to death with an MP-5 submachine gun by Detroit police May 16, 2010.

Protesters take over W. Chicago, marching to Cody High School. They remembered Aiyana Stanley-Jones, 7 when she was shot to death by Detroit police May 16, 2010, as well as Terrance Kellom.

“I’m here to support my neighbors, the family,” said Sandra Viena. “I have a couple of sons, and I don’t want to see them shot down.”

Bobbi Johnson of the Franklin Park Association added, “There are two day care centers on the corner here, and kids were out walking when the police came. What made it such a priority? We don’t want to see any more young Black men end up dead.”

Protesters demanded community replacement of police forces in Black and poor neighborhoods.

Dennis Black of Good Brothers and Sisters said, “We have Terrance Kellom, we had Aiyana Stanley-Jones, Renisha McBride and many others. The problem is systematic. It’s a system of violence that terrorizes the Black community. We want everyone prosecuted. We want an end to the militarization of the police and these multi-jurisdictional task forces.”

After an initial press conference and rally, hundreds took off on a march to the former Cody High School at Faust near Chicago, taking over West Chicago on both sides of the street, as drivers honked their horns and young people from the neighborhood hurried out of their backyards to join the march.

They chanted, “No Justice, No Peace, No Racist Police,” “Whose Streets, Our Streets!” and carried signs declaring “Fuck the Police,” “Bring Down the Detroit Police State and Prison Nation,” among others.

The video above, taken by long-time Detroit activist Kenneth Snodgrass, includes speeches made outside Cody to a predominantly youthful crowd who had lasted through the long march.

Some of the youth who participated in the Cody rally posed outside for VOD photo.

Speakers targeted in particular the presence of police in the Detroit school system, and the “school-to-prison pipeline,” which suspends Black youth out of proportion to whites, leaving them vulnerable to the streets and eventually to police and incarceration.

Detroit Public School teachers shut down over 18 schools April 29 and marched to Lansing to protest further devastation of the district by Governor Rick Snyder’s plan to divide it up.

Speakers at Cody also connected the struggle against police brutality to the larger struggles of Black and poor people in the U.S., including the battle for fundamental human rights like water, jobs, and homes. The City of Detroit has announced new plans for more mass water shut-offs.

Marchers on W. Chicago. Photo: Kenny Snodgrass.

Later, youth at the rally marched back to the Kellom home, and blocked the intersection at Evergreen and W. Chicago, for a short period, to the displeasure of Detroit police. Police had cleared the way for the march at first, but on the marchers’ return, they began mobilizing for arrests, taking out plastic handcuffs and bringing in the Detroit Police blue bus to threaten protesters.

Youth pray at corner of W. Chicago and Evergreen, with day care center in background. Sign says “We want justice, please don’t bust us.” Photo: Kenny Snodgrass

However, an uncle of Terrance Kellom’s intervened and forestalled any arrests. George Hunter of the Detroit News belatedly obtained a video of this section of the march, which he published today, April 30, in an attempt to demonize the protesters.

He had left the scene long before the march. Hunter also demonized the family of Aiyana Jones in much of his coverage of that case.

Barbara McQuade, head of the U.S. Attorney’s office in Detroit, reacted to the shooting in a statement.

“Police work sometimes requires use of deadly force, but officers may use only as much force as is reasonable under the circumstances,” McQuade said. “In a situation like this, it is important to protect the rights of both the deceased and the officer. Therefore, we are closely monitoring the investigation.”

Members of the Original Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality at rally for Terrance Kellom. L to r: Lamar Grable, son of A.J. Grable (to his left), Butch Carrington, Arnetta Grable, Herman Vallery and Cornell Squires. The Grables and Vallery are the family of Lamar Grable, murdered by 3-time killer cop Eugene Brown in 1996. Brown was never charged by Wayne County Prosecutors including Kym Worthy, although the family won a civil suit after proceedings in which Brown declared, “I MIGHT have shot Grable three times in the chest as he lay on the ground.” Both Michigan Appeals and the Supreme Court upheld the jury verdict. Arnetta Grable traveled to Washington, D.C. where she met with then U.S. Attorney Janet Reno, resulting in the eventual 10 year oversight of DPD. Killings by police continued without let-up despite the USDOJ intervention.

The U.S. Department of Justice refused last year to file civil rights charges in the Aug. 9 killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown, which led to repeated rebellions in Ferguson. They are also supposed to be investigating the brutal killing of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, as rebellions  there and across the U.S. have erupted week after week. Gray’s spinal cord was severed during his arrest by Baltimore police April 12, and he died of his injuries April 19.

Michael Brown, 18 when killed by Ferguson cop Darren Wilson, who now walks free.

Freddie Gray, dead of severed spinal cord April 19 after arrest by Baltimore police.

Police there have recently tried to turn the case around, claiming that Gray already had a spinal injury from a hospital operation. However, the Baltimore Sun obtained the medical records in that incident, which showed no such injury.

The Kellmon case is allegedly to be turned over to the office of Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy to decide if any charges will be brought against Mitchell.

Some of the many children who attended rally for Terrance Kellom with their parents.

In the now notorious case of Floyd Dent in Inkster, Worthy charged only “Robocop” William Melendez with “Assault with Intent to Do Great Bodily Harm Less than Murder,” although he beat Dent 16 times on the top of his head with a gloved fist likely covering brass knuckles, as he held him in a chokehold. Dent said he thought he was “taking my last breath.”

Worthy closed her investigation without charging the other cops involved in the beating, who have been recently exposed by tenacious Channel Four reporter Kevin Dietz for their vicious, humiliating treatment of Dent while he was being booked and was begging for medical care, in addition to their assistance in his near-fatal beating. See video below.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“I think America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air. Certain conditions continue to exist in our society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots. But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear?

It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice, equality, and humanity.

Protester at rally for Terrance Kellom demands: Fight fire with fire.”

And so in a real sense our nation’s summers of riots are caused by our nation’s winters of delay. And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again.

Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention.”  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

DONATE FOR FUNERAL EXPENSES FOR TERRANCE KELLOM’S FAMILY AT http://www.gofundme.com/tatz2e6, 

Dietra Slym Goody Kellom, aunt to Terrance Kellom.

Sponsored by his aunt Dietra Slym Goody Kellom. Ms. Kellom also posted a video on her own Facebook page showing the undamaged ceiling and attic of the Kelloms’ home. Police have claimed falsely that Terrance ran up into the attic, then jumped up and down on its floor until he fell through, shouting at the same time, “You’ll have to kill me.” Mainstream media toured the Kellom home April 29 so their lawyer could show that there was no damage. Channel Four briefly reported on the tour, but that video is now gone from their website. So view the tour  on Ms. Kellom’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/dietra.kellom?fref=ufi&pnref=story. 

For march application with info about signing up, click on  MOMC march. Hotel reservations must be made by May 5, 2015.