More Outrages in the Murder of Kendrec McDade

April 6, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

From a reader:

Three years ago two Pasadena, California cops murdered Kendrec McDade, a 19-year old Black youth, who was unarmed and cornered on a street by the two cops in their vehicle. (See “The Police Killing of Kendrec McDade—Another ‘Freebie!’” Revolution #265, April 8, 2012.)

Kendrec’s murder prompted protests and demonstrations in Pasadena for several months. The outrageous failure to charge the cops, and then the decision to exonerate them, prompted more protests. His parents and others continued to protest and to call for the release of the sealed report on his killing, The report, written by an “independent investigator” appointed by the Pasadena police, was ordered sealed by the court, and then last October a court ruled that a redacted version of the report could be released, but up to this time the report remains sealed.

Now, almost three years to the day since he was murdered, parts of the report have been mistakenly released, and we are now outraged again to learn that those parts we can now see do not raise concerns about Kendrec being shot down through the window of the cops’ car, being shot again by the cop who got out of the car, and then being allowed to die on the street while handcuffed. The concerns raised in the report are that the cops “repeatedly made tactical decisions that were not congruent with principles of officer safety”; in other words, the pigs failed to use correct procedures and put those swines’ lives in danger. That’s right. The report does not give a shit about Kendrec’s safety or his life. It’s the cops’ lives that are of concern here. Fuck this shit, and fuck those parts of the report that have been released. Once again, it’s a whitewash of a Black or Latino person’s murder by a cop with an outrageous twist that we should not stand for.

Kendrec McDade’s parents went in front of the Pasadena City Council on Monday, March 30. His mother called for the punishment of the two cops, and she wants the full report to be released. A state court of appeal announced this week that it was “considering vacating” a previous order to keep the report sealed as a court document.

In another outrageous move by the Pasadena cops, Jasmine Richards was arrested on her way to the City Council meeting on March 30 and was charged, stemming from a March 24 demonstration on the third anniversary of Kendrec McDade’s murder, with “terrorist threats, assault, trespassing, failure to comply with orders of peace officers, disturbing the peace, not having a permit for amplified sound, and petty theft.” She was first arrested for “failure to appear,” and then the cops upped the charges that include the most serious ones of “terrorist threats” and “assault.” Her bail was set at $90,000 and later was reduced to $30,000. She was released from jail on April 2.

Jasmine Richards is an organizer for the Black Lives Matter Pasadena chapter and she has been at the forefront of the Kendrec McDade protests. She also went to Ferguson, Missouri, to join the protests against Michael Brown’s murder.

Black Lives Matter issued a press release saying that her arrest is “politically motivated,” that she has become “a highly visible target for police harassment,” and that they believe “these charges to be in response to Richards’ participation in a peaceful demonstration ... held in Pasadena just six days prior to her arrest.”

We have to stop the murder of our Black and Latino youth, and we have to demand that the charges be dropped for all our people who have been or are arrested. This requires everyone to be out in the streets on April 14 to shut things down. The facts are clear. The Call for April 14 has been made. Plans have been made. Now it is up to you to act on this in a way that will shake this country and retake the offensive in our struggle to put a stop to the murderous behavior of these pigs.

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