[Police Brutality]: BART Police in San Francisco

In San Francisco, BART police continue to make arrests while protests against them are persistent.

It all started on New Years Day, January 1, 2009 when the BART Police in San Francisco shot and killed unarmed 22-year-old, Oscar Grant. According to CNN, Officer Johannes Mehserle shot Grant fatally in the back after Grant and his friends were pulled from a train car after a report of an altercation.

In more recent news, on July 3rd of this year, BART police shot and killed yet another bystander. According to CNN:

“Police dispatchers got a call about ‘a drunk who was unsteady on his feet and in danger of falling off the platform.’

Two BART officers arrived on the scene at 9:45 p.m. And a minute later, the man — later identified as 45-year-old Charles Hill — was shot after a confrontation with police. The shooting victim was taken by paramedics to a local hospital, and pronounced dead later that night.”

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April

[Video] San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr Walks Out Of Community Forum On Police Brutality

from sfbg.com:

A community meeting July 20 at the Bayview Opera House dissolved into chaotic shouting when Police Chief Greg Suhr attempted to present the San Francisco Police Department’s version of what transpired July 16 when a 19-year-old African American man was shot nine times by police and killed just blocks from where the meeting was held.

“On Saturday afternoon, two officers at the Bayview station … contacted a fare evader whose name ended up being Kenneth Wade Harding, Jr. of Seattle, Washington,” Suhr began. “After asking him for his identification, he became a little bit anxious, and at one point in time he jumped off the platform and ran across the street, and ran through crowded Mendell Plaza. I cannot tell you how badly that I feel … as captain of this station for two years. I love the Bayview community.”

At that point, angry shouts rose up and Suhr started getting booed, but he continued. “During this foot pursuit, at some point in time, the suspect … fired at the officers, and the officers returned fire. This is the account that we have so far.”

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The Editor

Police Brutality: From San Francisco to Shreveport

Ever since there have been police officers, there have been issues of police brutality. Unlike some issues that are regional, this is a national and international issue.

On Monday, a group called “No Justice, No BART,” which was formed in 2009, protested yet another officer-involved shooting last month on the San Francisco subway system, known as BART. [CNN] Oscar Grant was shot and killed in 2009, which later led to an officer being charged with manslaughter.

Just last month, Charles Hill, 45, was killed less than one minute after officers arrived on the scene. It is the sixth time that transit officers have shot a suspect. No one has been charged in the death of Charles Hill.
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Ursula Brantley

New World Water Make The Tide Rise High

According to a study released by the Natural Resources Defense Council, if California were to implement a few widespread water saving techniques, “they could save more than enough water to meet the needs of the three major cities of San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles”.

Water conservation plays a key factor in environmental health. The Natural Resources Defense Council stated that if business were to adopt a few new tactics in terms of how they are run, individual mechanisms can reduce water use by over 50 percent.

Take a look at some of the specifics after the jump and stay tuned for a pretty interesting Youtube video:

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Posted by:

Steve Romain

When Will They See That Separate Is Not Equal?

A few moments ago, in California, the decision to overturn Prop 8 was struck down. For gay rights activists, a sense of anger was in the air outside the California State Supreme Court today, as the CA State Supreme Court upheld a controversial ban on gay marriages that was voted in on November 4th. However, the court stated that those marriages that were enacted during the six month period of legalization before Prop 8 will remain legal, in a somewhat awkward state of limbo.

This does not mean the fight is over. This only means that those who fight must keep going. … Continue Reading

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Steve Romain