Devastating Mystery Rocks LA

By Deborah Dupré

Los Angeles is reeling today with news surrounding the mystery of a major activist found guilty in a case involving LAPD murders protested by high-profile United States rights activists. In a case involving the Cornel West and Carl Dix-led demonstrations in April to end what their organization says is genocide by police, Wil B faces sentencing today, Wednesday June 8th.

City Where All People of Color are Targeted Individuals

“Wil B is one of the nicest, most sincere & respectful people I have ever known,” the Los Angeles key media coordinator among the city’s massive activist rights community, Frank Dorrel stated Tuesday night. “He is truly a good man in every way. And he is a fantastic singer and activist, who sings for truth and social justice for all people.”

The Wil B case is so extraordinary, the Foltz Criminal Building courthouse is expected to packed today. In Los Angeles, if one is Black or Latino, one is a Targeted Individual, according to rights advocates with the Stop Mass Incarceration Network. This network, led by Dr. Cornel West and Carl Dix, catapulted nationwide with #RiseUpOctober – Stop Police Murder and Terror demonstrations in 2015. The city has a long history of targeting and incarcerating innocent people of color, as first exposed during the Rampart Scandal. Los Angeles prison system holds thousands of FIPs, falsely imprisoned persons.

Read: Why Chris Dorner Died: Another Hunted Whistleblower describes LAPD/Court Drugs, Fraud, False Imprisonments

“Mass incarceration is a system of social control targeting especially Black and Latino youth that has been aptly called ‘the New Jim Crow’,” states the network’s website.

(Above Photo: Photo accompanying call to attend courthouse closing arguments in third trial of April 14, 2015 protesters on Thursday May 19 to support defendants, Keith James, of Stop Mass Incarceration, and Wil B, artist and activist. Credit: Stop Mass Incarceration)

Led by Dr. Cornel West and Carl Dix, The Stop Mass Incarceration Network website states:

The Stop Mass Incarceration Network (SMIN) exists to stop the slow genocide of mass incarceration and all its consequences; racial profiling, a legal system that disproportionately impacts Blacks and Latinos, the police murder of our children, the criminalization of a generation, discrimination, widespread torture in prisons and treating those formerly incarcerated as less than full human beings.

SMIN was initiated in 2011 by Dr. Cornel West and Carl Dix. SMIN is determined to bring forth a movement of millions of people, from all walks of life, in steadfast resistance to the New Jim Crow and we will not stop until mass incarceration and the police murder of Black, Latino and other oppressed peoples stops.

We refuse to accept the non-indictments in the murders of Michael Brown and Eric Garner and many, many others across the U.S.  These police murders and the non-indictments are declarations that police can wantonly kill Black and Brown people and that Black and Brown lives do not matter.

No More!  This Must Stop Now!

The sentencing of Wil B is slated to begin at 8:30 today at LA’s Foltz Criminal Court Building on 210 W. Temple Street – Room 52, (Los Angeles 90012).

The Political Power of Hiphop has published the following statement about the Wil B case in its “In My Own Words…” report.

“Please read an article written by art/activist Wil B [below], following his recent guilty verdict for his participation in an April 2015 protest against Mass Incarceration and Police Brutality and Murder,” the alternative media group urged early Wednesday morning.

Rise Up October to Stop Police Terror kicked off a national campaign of marches and rallies demonstrating  powerful resistance to Americas epidemic of police terror and murder. In retaliation for for participating, Los Angeles movie director Quentin Tarrantino was targeted by police “mafia style.”

(Photo Above: Eve Ensler, Carl Dix, Cornel West and Quentin Tarantino in march on October 24 with families of people murdered by police. Credit: Special to Revolution)

Read: Police Target, Attack Quentin Tarantino ‘Mafia-Style’

In The Words of Wil B

My name is William R. Bannister, II, I am a native of Burgettstown, Pennsylvania, an old mining town on the outskirts of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and a near 20 year resident of Los Angeles, California. I joined a rally organized by the Stop Mass Incarceration Network in response to Dr. Cornel West and Karl Dix’s call to action for a global day of marches and protests to raise the awareness for the issue of Police Brutality and Murder.

I assert that the LAPD’s lack of enough officers to police the event, combined with their failure to confirm communication with the Metro Transit Authority, prior to our event, as required in the LAPD procedural outline, placed our marchers in the middle of an intersection with cars and buses driving by. Fortunately for us, the Blue Line train, which travels along the same street we were permitted to have our rally, was already stopped at the traffic light, however, despite the obvious procedural, or again, perhaps planned miscues of the LAPD, we were characterized in our trial, as”stopping the train” and “entering a railroad track without permission”, as well as, “obstructing the movement of pedestrians and cars in a thoroughfare”, all then uncorroborated accusations by the LAPD that would later become actual charges, once the decision to prematurely called a dispersal order, with more than 30 minutes remaining on our city approved
permit, was made, resulting in fourteen of us being arrested on the spot. After being handcuffed for more than three hours, and transported to the Central Division jail, we were fingerprinted, photographed and booked into the system just for our participation what was confirmed to be a peaceful protest. After a night in jail, I was released to teasing, and humiliating laughter, by two LAPD jail officers who felt it necessary to taunt us about how “none of your people are out there” waiting to welcome you. They’d look out of the exit door, that would be my short walk to freedom from this incarceration, and laugh, saying, “your people left you in jail”, referring, again, to our fellow protesters and organizers.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not soft at all, and I, with great certainty, know this smidgen of humiliation pales in comparison to those who have followed the historic path of Civil Rights like Sen. John Lewis, or Rosa Parks, or Dr. King, yet, the fact that we are still marching for those very same rights for equality and a fair justice system in 2016, simply furthers the argument that we have so much more road to go.

Yet, the question still remains, how could a jury of my peers find us guilty? Right? This mystery haunts me nightly, however, the pure facts presented in this trial, paired with my own eyewitness view of the testimony by the officers involved and not involved, serve as complete evidence supporting that fact that something far more sinister on the part of the LAPD was at play here. Okay, you could say, “He’s misleading us with the way he’s explaining the events of April 14, 2015″. Well, this is precisely why I’m directing you to please read and review the actual court sworn testimony?

So, you may be asking, “What do you think went wrong here?” I truly believe we were purposefully guided and led to the destination where we were arrested. This is based on the initial fact that we were actually denied, our previously requested marching route, which would have led us to a less traveled, more secure location, in front of the county jail, where there are no intersections or trains to contend with, yet, the path set by the LAPD led us to one of Los Angeles’s busiest intersections. In addition, there are three court proven facts lead my suspicions further, and here they are:

Fact 1: The LAPD approved and issued, and then amended, the route for our permitted march which decidedly, landed us in one of Los Angeles’s busiest intersections, at rush hour, with a limited number of LAPD officers on hand to handle the traffic, and, not to forget, they violated their own LAPD policy by failing to alert the Metro Transit Authority (MTA), and confirm that the MTA had acknowledged and approved this amended route, set by the LAPD. As a result of this questionable “procedural error”, cars and buses continued to travel down Washington Boulevard, right alongside defenseless protesters marching on their approved and permitted route.

Fact 2: The LAPD officers who testified against us, Captains, Sergeants, and Officers, alike, were all from the LAPD Central Division. This division, specifically, was a major subject of this particular protest action, as the LAPD Central Division houses the officers seen on camera during the killing of Charlie “Africa” Keunang in the now infamous video of the more than six officers, with Charlie Keunang, affectionately known as “Brother Africa”, on the ground, when “out-of-the-blue” an officer’s weapon is discharged into Mr. Keunang as he is being held flat on the ground. This was further support in our trial when one of the Captains testified that he was “not happy” about this march, and mentioned several times how he “did not want his officers involved” with what “this group” represented. To add, this same LAPD Captain can be heard on video from his own car, during the march, targeting my co-defendant, identifying him as the “leader” of the group and that the camera operator should “get that guy for me”. And yet this same LAPD Central Division office are tasked with facilitating this rally without issues?

Fact 3: The law pertaining to an “Unlawful Assembly” clearly state that the dispersal order, which was issued prematurely, as we were well within the parameters of our permit, should have only been issued if two or more people together are participating in violent acts, or intending some sort of malice to conspire to commit an unlawful act. Now, of course, I’m not a lawyer, yet, I’ve learned that this is an obvious law designed to protect the interest of peaceful protesters, like us, who, as the prosecutor herself stated were “peaceful” and “non-violent”. Then why the unlawful dispersal order? On May 19, 2016, I was found guilty of an LAPD manufactured, judicial system supported, miscarriage of justice, however, I submit to you that this still remains to be about much more than a protest that took place, more than one year ago on April 14, 2015.

So why is this trial so important? The amount of taxpayer’s money used to find 12 jurors in each of the four separate trials used to prosecute us is staggering. In my trial alone, more than 119 jurors were taken through a six day process, prior to hearing one iota of information about the case itself, plus they spent another three weeks more for the trial. If those numbers are consistent with the previous trials, then your hard earned tax money paid to your city was spent to allow the City Attorney’s office to weed through nearly 500, or more, prospective jurors, at a rate of $X amount of dollars per juror. I’ll spare you the math, but urge you to do the math yourself. This city has an issue with providing adequate school supplies in our neighborhoods, as well as, new technology, not to forget, a growing homeless population. Why waste money to prosecute peaceful and permitted protesters? This simply does not calculate.

Bravely taking to the streets in protest, in solidarity with your fellow Americans, to deliver a message that questions the authority of those willing to publicly and actively violate the rights of others that they’ve been elected, hired, or appointed to protect, govern, or facilitate, is one of the most significant rights granted to Americans, not to mention, securely protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Yet, prosecuting the protesters appears to be considered the most effective method used by the justice system. The “quieting of dissidents”, the”shutting down” of a growing movement that’s impacting with the populace while providing the spark to encourage others to question the practices of those in our nation’s leadership, is designed to discourage the overall movement, as well as, any other movements who would chose to continue the effort. In a time when we are facing what will be one of the most active political seasons of our time, with people divided over nearly every issue populating the internet, the voices of dissent, those everyday people who strongly disagree with an issue, and wish to use their right to effectively let those involved know how they feel, will be deterred from speaking out and letting their voices be heard for fear of reprisals by those hired and appointed to protect us. Setting such precedent opens the door towards an abolishment of our First Amendment Right to take to task those who violate their positions of authority by speaking freely. The people, as described in the phrase “We The People…”, in the Preamble of the United Stated Constitution, just like those that first spoke out against injustice and inequality at the birth of the Civil Rights movement, rely on our right to speak freely in order to enact change and evolution.

For us as a nation to continue to evolve and truly do the business of the people, for the people, and by the people, the loss of this significant right to speak, will undermine the very reason it was ranked the first and most important amendment.

Once this right goes, which one will be next? That is why this little known, monumentally significant trial is so important. Will you pause from organizing members of your family and friends to speak out the next time a presidential candidate crosses the line and insults you or your position?

Or, perhaps you’ll reconsider joining your co-workers when your labor union plans a protest to ask for better wages, or better health benefits? Maybe your passion to support environmental causes that are dear to your heart will dissipate when you consider the possibility for your peaceful contribution to the protest could result in an arrest, regardless of your level of involvement? All scary questions that we should not have to even consider in 2016, however, that is exactly what this case, this trial, these arrests, this guilty verdict, and, yes, even the pending appeal, all represent. Again, as I’ve said before, even though I’m a defendant, found to
be guilty by a jury of my peers, this is not about me, or even the fourteen other defendants in this prosecution. This is about YOU, and whether we can stand in solidarity, and continue to have the much needed discussion about this issue, as well as, other issues that matter to “We The People…”, or, at the end of this next election, we can prepare to appoint, not elect, a new “King”, and not a President. “All rise for King Trump!” Wouldn’t that make you want to protest? Be careful.

Wil B – [email protected]

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Many different forces are doing important things to expose the injustice of mass incarceration.  But an important ingredient has been missing from this mix.  It took dramatic mass resistance to rivet the attention of society on the old Jim Crow — racial segregation and the lynch mob terror that enforced it.  And it will take the same kind of determined mass resistance to stop the New Jim Crow!

If you feel mass incarceration is an outrage:

if you think young people should not be treated  like criminals because they are Black or Latino;

if you think people shouldn’t be subjected to torture because they’re in prison;

if you think former prisoners shouldn’t be forced to wear badges of shame and dishonor — join us. We must no longer allow this injustice to be perpetrated in our names — We’re Better Than That!  (Stop Mass Incarceration Network)

A train stops right by the Foltz Criminal Court Building for those preferring to not negotiate traffic and parking.

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