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The scene is as common as sunlight: cops beating Black men in the streets. This time, captured on videotape from a hovering helicopter, a malevolent swarm of cops pull occupants from a car, and they proceed to beat the paste out of the men, kicking, punching, and slamming with a club. At least 15 cops are seen in the broadcast beatdown; an average of 5-to-1. Within moments of its broadcast came the predictable defense: cops in Philly are “stressed.” One need not even await such defenses anymore: just put a tape on speed-dial, and repeat. If ever there was irony, the three car occupants were charged with aggravated assault, and criminal conspiracy. How much do you wanna bet that the cops, who were caught on film in the midst of aggravated assault, and as they committed the crime in common, criminal conspiracy, are never charged with these crimes—and probably will never be arrested? How can I dare make such a claim? Well, I have plenty of practice. Most folks flash back to the infamous Rodney King case, where cops in L.A. went into a whipping fit, because King had tried to outrun them. Were they too stressed? It also reminded me of the taped beating of Delbert Africa, a MOVE member who was beaten during the August 8th, 1978 police raid on MOVE’s home. These cops, too, were easily acquitted by explicit judicial decree. If tape doesn’t matter, what does? In the case against three cops who rifle-butted, punched and kicked Delbert, the judge ignored the videotapes, and cited both Delbert’s muscularity, and the claim of a Black TV reporter, who claimed she saw him armed—this, despite the tape showing him shirtless, empty hands opened, and naked from the waist up! Prepare for the all but inevitable whitewash. Look at that tape again, and you will see something that you’ll see if you looked at a gang attack. For these are gangsters, pure and simple. Only it’s the Blue gang. Welcome to Philadelphia: the city of brotherly thugs. 8 May 2008 ©2008 Mumia Abu-Jamal Send urgently needed contributions for Mumia’s legal defense, made payable to “National Lawyers Guild Foundation” and earmarked for “Mumia,” to: Committee to Save Mumia Abu-Jamal, P.O. Box 2012, New York, NY 10159. If you wish to correspond with Mumia, you can write to: Mumia Abu-Jamal, AM8335, SCI Greene, 175 Progress Drive, Waynesburg, PA 15370.
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