OUTRAGEOUS CONTRASTS

17-year-old Alvin Cole was murdered by a cop in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. On October 8, Alvin’s mother, Tracy Cole, and sister, Tristiana Cole, were arrested at a peaceful protest in Milwaukee for violating curfew. Tracy Cole, who uses a cane, was taken to a hospital with a large bump on her forehead and an injured arm from being roughly handcuffed by cops.

October 7, the Milwaukee County DA said there was “sufficient evidence” showing that Joseph Mensah, the cop who murdered Alvin Cole, believed “deadly force was necessary,” and so will not face any criminal charges.

Protesters and police line up Friday, Oct. 9, 2020, in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. On Wednesday, District Attorney John Chisholm refused to issue charges against Wauwatosa Police Officer Joseph Mensah for the Feb. 2 fatal shooting of 17-year-old Alvin Cole at Mayfair Mall. Photo: AP/Morry Gash)

Kenosha, September 1. Photo: twitter/therevcoms

In Kenosha, Wisconsin, protesters who took to the street after cops shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back have faced vicious attacks and arrests by the police. In the first 12 days of protests, 250 people were arrested. There were reports of pigs in unmarked cars running down and arresting protesters. Members of Riot Kitchen, a Seattle-based group that serves food at demonstrations, were filling up cans at a gas station when marked SUVs sped in and cops jumped out with guns drawn. One pig shattered the van’s passenger-side window with a baton, unlocked the door, and pulled a person out. Nine people were taken into custody.

August 25: 17-year-old white supremacist Kyle Rittenhouse killed two protesters, 26-year-old Anthony Huber and 36-year-old Joseph Rosenbaum, and seriously injured a third. Rittenhouse then walked down the street past cops, who did nothing. Earlier in the evening, police told Rittenhouse and other armed vigilantes that they were “appreciated” and gave them water. Rittenhouse, allowed to leave and go home, wasn’t arrested until the next day. Trump claims Rittenhouse was acting in self-defense, and Tucker Carlson at Fox “News” calls Rittenhouse a hero fighting for “law and order.” When Donald Trump Jr. was asked why the White House has not condemned Rittenhouse, he said, “We all do stupid things at 17.” Rittenhouse’s lawyer is now arguing Rittenhouse should not be extradited to Wisconsin because this would be “turning him over to the mob”—further bolstering the claim that Rittenhouse was only acting in self-defense and further slandering protesters as being a “mob” of aggressors.

August 25, 2020, Kyle Rittenhouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Photo: AP

Kenosha cops gassing a documentary filmmaker — after allegedly groping her breast.

Cops routinely use pepper spray, rubber bullets, tear gas, and batons on protesters and many arrested face very serious charges. According to the FBI, in the first 10 days of protests around the country after the May 25 murder of George Floyd, more than 13,600 protesters were arrested with 300 facing federal crimes. Colinford Mattis and Urooj Rahman face life in prison for allegedly setting a police van on fire with a Molotov cocktail at a BLM protest in Brooklyn. In Oklahoma City at least five people were charged with incitement to riot for painting murals in the city’s downtown.

Cops routinely protect and leave alone white supremacists, reactionaries who come to attack protests. June 19, 2020, in Albuquerque, Steven Ray Baca and a right-wing militia group threatened protesters planning to topple a statue of a genocidal Spanish conquistador. After a scuffle broke out, Baca fired into the crowd, hitting at least one person. Cops arrived and formed a ring around the reactionaries who were protecting Baca. The pigs detained Baca and other reactionaries and then fired tear gas and flash-bang grenades at protesters.

A class-action discrimination lawsuit filed in federal court in September says more than 100 protesters in Kenosha were arrested “for violating the County imposed curfew order, yet in spite of the presence of pro-police protesters and militias, NOT A SINGLE PRO-POLICE demonstrator has been arrested” for violating curfew.

Minneapolis – Demonstrators gathered outside the governor’s mansion where victims of police brutality told of their experiences. Photo: AP.

Trump has called on his supporters to terrorize and intimidate people standing up for justice, “to dominate the streets.” After the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, protests broke out across the U.S. and Trump tweeted, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts,” and called the protesters in Minneapolis “THUGS.”

White supremacists are called “heroes” and “very fine people.” Trump argues Kyle Rittenhouse, who murdered two protesters in Kenosha, acted in self-defense. Two white racists who pointed guns at Black Lives Matter protesters were paraded on stage as heroes at this year’s Republican National Convention.

September 26: 60 people protesting police brutality and systemic racism in Yorba Linda, California, were outnumbered 3 to 1 and surrounded by threatening Trump MAGA mobs—while deputy sheriffs either stood by or corralled protesters. Tatiana Turner was arrested and charged with attempted murder for driving her car into a crowd. She had been trying to get deputies to help her leave the area safely when her car was surrounded by reactionaries. Turner is being held in jail on $1 million bail.

There have been more than 100 cases of cars running into protesters since the murder of George Floyd. Only two, including Tatiana Turner’s case, involve Black Lives Matter protesters. The drivers in at least 43 cases reportedly acted with “clear, malicious intent,” meaning they shouted racial slurs and/or declared their hatred of protesters. And in a number of these cases, drivers received more lenient treatment and much lighter charges.