We used to call the Seattle Times, "the bland, gray lady" When I
could still see, I would pick up my paper off the porch, on my way in
from a day's labor, and before opening it I would say, "Let's see what
the corporate world wants us to believe today". In those days we
still had Hearst's PI paper, which was about three days to the right
of the Times. I got more factual reading out of the Christian Science
Monitor.
Carl Jarvis
On 9/6/17, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
http://www.socialism.com/drupal-6.8/statements/cops%E2%80%99-lawsuit-against-kshama-sawant-scare-tactic
Cops’ lawsuit against Kshama Sawant is a scare tactic
Andrea Bauer
From the White House to Charlottesville, it seems to be open season for
bullies and people bent on shutting down critics through intimidation.
And that’s how I view the lawsuit by two Seattle police officers, Scott
Miller and Michael Spaulding, against socialist Seattle Councilmember
Kshama Sawant.
In a parenthetical comment in its Aug. 25 editorial equating Sawant with
Donald Trump, the Seattle Times acknowledges the “societal problem” of
“excessive police use of force against communities of color.” That’s
certainly a restrained way to describe a torrent of police violence that
includes multiple killings of unarmed children and teenagers of color,
like 15-year-old Jordan Edwards in Texas this May. The deadly 2016
shooting of Che Taylor by Miller and Spaulding is part of this scourge.
Yes, the Seattle police-review board and an inquest jury — which does
not determine guilt or innocence — gave the two officers a pass. But
that means little or nothing. The New York Times investigated 15
high-profile recent cases in which Blacks died in custody or were killed
by police. Only two so far have resulted in convictions. The cops who
took the lives of Terence Crutcher, Philando Castile, and Freddie Gray
are walking free. But we have all seen videos of unpunished police
killings like these, and we know the truth.
Kshama Sawant has the right to her opinion in the case of Che Taylor,
and she is hardly the only one who called it murder. She is in company
with the NAACP, family members of Taylor, and many, many community
members. And Sawant wasn’t elected by Seattleites to tread lightly. She
was elected to shake up the status quo, and that includes calling out
the police violence and racism in Seattle that brought the Justice
Department onto the scene. Her stand after Taylor’s death was the
opposite of irresponsible: it was a welcome responsiveness on the part
of an elected official to that “societal problem” the Seattle Times
characterized so delicately.
The Seattle Times comparison of Sawant to Trump is absurd, but for one
thing. Trump, too, was elected because he says what he thinks, even if
that changes from day to day. Otherwise, this juxtaposition of the two
is another example of false equivalency, like Trump’s castigating of
both the fascist and anti-fascist demonstrators in Charlottesville.
If we want to judge them, let’s look at what people stand for, shall we?
The far-rightists and open Nazis stand for white supremacy and various
forms of bigotry. Those opposing them stand for human and civil rights
and against racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, and xenophobia.
Trump stands for walls, tax breaks for billionaires, and the right of
profit-makers to flourish while millions go without healthcare.
Socialists like Sawant — and like me, a member of the Freedom Socialist
Party — believe in defending the most vulnerable groups in society and
creating a world designed to meet human needs and develop the potential
of all.
When it comes to right now, I believe Seattle needs an elected civilian
review board over the police with real independence from city
officialdom and real authority, including the right to investigate cases
and impose discipline or firing on police found to have abused their
power. I don’t believe the lawsuit by Miller and Spaulding is irrational
or merely vindictive. I think it is meant to send a warning to critics
of cop violence: don’t oppose us, or we will do our best to make your
life hell.
But the thing about bullies is, you have to stand up to them, or things
only get worse. The good news is, around the country and in Seattle,
people are.
Andrea Bauer is an editor for the Freedom Socialist newspaper.
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