Hands Up, Don't Shoot

Grayson's amendment to stop funding the over-militarization of local police forces never made it to the Senate. The House Republican leaders-- Boehner, Cantor and McCarthy-- teamed up with the House Democratic leaders-- Pelosi, Hoyer, Clyburn (along with Wasserman Schultz, Israel and Crowley)-- to urge their caucuses to vote against it. Only 62 Members of Congress had the wisdom and the guts to vote for it. Members who serve the interests of the Military-Industrial Complex Dwight Eisenhower warned the national about about over 6 decades ago, were the ones who killed the amendment. Recipients of the biggest legalistic bribes from the arms manufacturers and war contractors-- Pete Visclosky (D-IN- $1,025,000), Steny Hoyer (D-MD- $992,040) and Rodney Frelinghuysen IV (R-NJ- $948,606)-- led the charge against the amendment.

Had it gone to the Senate, we can be sure GOP militarists John McCain (R-AZ), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Susan Collins (R-ME) would have undermined it. It's another example of why we need to replace legislators who consistently disappoint and underperform. This cycle, Blue America is backing Shenna Bellows for the Maine Senate seat. Collins has already scarfed up $562,351 from weapons manufacturers and the war industries that so concerned Eisenhower. Bellows hasn't taken a cent from them. And Bellows says she would have sponsored a Senate version of the amendment Grayson tried to pass in the House.

Yesterday she sent her supporters an overall look at how she perceives the tragic developments around the shooting of Michael Brown. "My home in Manchester, Maine," she began, "is 1,345 miles from Ferguson, Missouri. This is where Michael Brown, an 18-year-old African American youth, was killed by a white police officer almost two weeks ago.

"But we are one nation, and the systemic oppression and persistent racial segregation that haunts so many communities in America are symptoms of an underlying sickness that haunts us all, no matter where we live."

In the aftermath of the shooting, reports from the ground tell us that the community and police organized-- the community organized friends and neighbors to protest while the police organized their weapons and dogs, turning Ferguson into a scene more akin to a war zone than a community expressing their grief.

In the 13 days that have passed since the shooting, communities of color and their supporters have marched in the streets, protested in the parks, written in magazines, and spoken out on social networks, demanding accountability and an end to the criminalization and murder of black youth.

Michael Brown is not the only recent victim of police violence against black men. John Crawford-- a 22-year-old in Ohio-- was recently killed at a Walmart. Eric Garner-- a 43-year-old in New York City-- was unarmed when he was recently killed in a chokehold by a white officer.

In my eight years as head of the ACLU of Maine, I saw this sickness manifest itself time and time again. The lives and liberties of communities of color have been deemed less valuable and less important by a society that has not yet decided to reconcile its traumatic history of racial oppression. And so we have tragedy and fear and anger and death.

The shooting of Michael Brown is one that touches us all. It is an issue of internet freedom, as we demand an open and free internet where such injustices can be brought to light by traditionally marginalized and silenced communities. It is an issue of community safety, as we seek to stem the flow of surplus military equipment to local law enforcement units as children play nearby. It is an issue of justice.

I support the calls for a full investigation of Michael Brown’s death. I support a new bill being introduced in the House of Representatives to demilitarize the police. I support Michael Brown’s friends and neighbors in their calls for justice, for without it, too many Americans cannot live in peace.

These are trying times, but they are ones from which we cannot shy away. This morning, the Organization for Black Struggle in St. Louis requested that those who stand with them in solidarity change their Facebook profile photos to a "Hands Up Don’t Shoot" photo.

I am privileged in that it is unlikely that I will ever have to truly assume this pose. But today, I offer my solidarity with those who call for justice in this matter. I invite you to join me in doing so as well.

Maine is the whitest state in the nation. Only 1.0% of the inhabitants are black. And many of them are recent immigrants from Somalia who aren't citizens yet. Shenna's response isn't about catering to a bloc of voters. It tells all Maine voters who she is though. I searched Collins' campaign website and her official Senate website and I couldn't find a word about "Ferguson." I did a google news search for statements she might have made about Michael Brown's death-- crickets. Susan Collins and Shenna Bellows are very different candidates with very different political agendas. Bellows has a progressive vision that includes justice and a vibrant, thriving middle class. Collins is-- and has always been-- a devoted conservative servant of the wealthy and powerful. Replacing Collins with Bellows would be politically cataclysmic-- in the best possible way. Please consider pitching in here.