(HKR-01-05-21) This is our report back from Antioch, California and their New Year’s Day protest against police brutality.
We spent New Years Day in the City of Antioch which in recent years has been a hot bed for police terrorism. This is a city where many who have been displaced because of gentrification. In the past 10 years, so many have been displaced the city now boost more than 100k residents with the majority being Black and Brown..
The once mostly white city, now has a Black mayor (Lamar Thorpe) and Black police chief (Tammany Brooks) and a lot of racist, resentful people who hate to see that their town has become more ‘diverse’. Hence, there is a serious backlash that has manifested itself in the city’s police department, that has recorded over 10 police killings and over 120 civilian complaints in the past few years.
The Antioch Police department has received an “F’ from the Campaign Zero Police Score Card Report. The latest and one of the more egregious incidents occurred over the Christmas holidays when an out of control police officer attempted to run the son of a newly elected Black City council member Tamisha Walker off the road. The initial reports from police claim that her son was riding a 4 wheel bike on the wrong side of the road and they wanted to ticket him. The kids noted the officer used the patrol car to bump the kids off the side of the road.
speaks about the sordid reputation of Antioch police department
Then the police threatened to shoot the council woman’s 13 year old son with a taser when he objected to the treatment of his older brother. Council Woman-elect Walker took to Facebook live and in very colorful language went off on the Antioch police. She went in on the ways they mistreated her kids and other Black and Brown residents of Antioch.
In Antioch, there is a very vocal and active group of Blue Lives Matter supporters and white supremacist who are calling for the council women to be censured because of her words on FB Live. She countered and said that there are folks who are attempting to police and ultimately police and control Black rage and the understandable anger of a mother. She noted that political correctness is more important than reigning in abusive cops who have stained the reputation of this city…
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