Starting with the weekly State Terror Roundup, we look at state violence throughout the country in the past week.
Then, in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, and the national uprising that ensued, California’s legislature passed a bill that would create automatic oversight by the state’s department of justice when unarmed people are shot by police. A new investigation from non-profit newsroom CalMatters shows that the oversight built into that law is, at best, slow to come; and at worst, it may be seriously dysfunctional. We speak with the journalist leading that investigation, Nigel Duara, a reporter for CalMatters, who covers poverty and inequality issues. His piece is called Fatal shootings: California’s bid, to police its police is lagging.
Read the interactive article here: https://calmatters.org/justice/2022/11/california-police-shootings-unarmed-civilians/
Follow Nigel Duara on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nigelduara
Then, we’ll bring it home, where the Berkeley Police Department is embroiled in scandal from text messages released that show Sergeant Darren Kacalek instructed officers to arrest 100 homeless people each week, essentially creating an arrest quota, which is illegal in California and against Berkeley police policy. His messages also instructed officers to “Kick ass, arrest people, and have fun” in order to receive blanket overtime. Since the leak of messages, Kacalek has resigned as president of the Berkeley Police union. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg for Berkeley PD’s ongoing drama, which includes allegations by the Alameda County Public Defender’s Office that Berkeley police are not respecting laws regarding Miranda Rights for juveniles. We speak with Andrea Pritchett, longtime Bay Area activist and co-founder of Berkeley Copwatch.
Check out Berkeley Copwatch’s website: https://www.berkeleycopwatch.org/
We end with Resistance in Residence – our featured artist this week is poet, spoken word artist, visual artist, registered nurse, activist, organizer and mother Asantewaa Boykin. Her new book is called Love, Lyric and Liberation.
Check out Asantewaa Boykin’s website: https://www.asantewaaboykin.com/
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This episode featured music by Kofy Brown.
Check out her website: https://www.kofybrown.com/
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