SFPD murders another Black man; activists demand answers

Close to two hundred activists, family members and supporters confronted the San Francisco Police Commission on August 8 demanding an end to the cover-up of the brutal murder of a young Black man by the SF police department. Idriss Stelley, a 23-year old college student, was killed by cops on June 13th inside an empty movie theater at the Metreon. Two months later we still do not know how many pigs were on the scene (estimates range from 8 to 16), the names of the responsible cops, how many bullets were fired into Stelley's body (more than 20), or the names of the witnesses to his murder (there were five people interviewed by the police who have apparently now disappeared).

The cops were called to the Metreon specifically to deal with a psychiatric crisis -- Stelley had a history of mental illness -- not because he was committing a dangerous crime. The pigs entered the theater in bullet proof vests, fully armed. Stelley was alone with only a small 2 inch utility knife on him, yet it took at least 8 cops, more than 20 bullet holes in Idriss Stelley, and two cops wounded by "friendly" fire, for the pigs to control the situation. It is no wonder that one of the speakers at the open comment session of the Commission meeting asked of the police "who protects us from you?" stating that there is "no way in hell I would call the SFPD if I'm in trouble." The protester's signs reading "911 = Blood Bath" reflect not only the murder of Idriss Stelley but the history of police occupation of the Black community in the U.$.

Before the Police Commission meeting opened the floor for comments the chair of the meeting stated that the commission does not engaged in dialogue during this part of the meeting. Apparently "public comment" is just a time for the public to pretend they are being heard. He then went on to allow Assistant Police Chief Sanders a chance to comment before the public was allowed to speak. The Chief used this time to pose for the TV cameras and pretend to be reasonable, offering to sit down after the meeting with leaders of the protesters, after not returning their calls or answering their questions for two months. In response the crowd started chanting "answers" demanding the information about the investigation be made public now.

To add to the insult, the public was forced to crowd into a room far too small, with many people standing in the aisles and overflowing into the hall. At the previous meeting, a month before, over 200 people showed up and the Police Commission refused to move the meeting to a larger room, claiming that they had not had sufficient notice to prepare another room but promising to accommodate such crowds in the future.

This time the activists called the Commission three weeks prior to the public meeting to request that it be held in a larger space. Initially representatives for the Police Commission had told activists that the meeting could not be moved because it would be too expensive to rent the tape recorder for the larger auditorium. When the meeting began the Commissioner said that it was not possible to move the meeting to the auditorium because he had been told it is not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. This was clearly a last minute ruse to try to keep the public out of "public comment". Chanting "Public meeting, we want seating" activists pointed out that the police have had no problem accommodating larger crowds in other rooms and at other venues outside of the SF Hall of Justice when the crowds consisted of police officers, business people, and others considered worthy of the effort by the Commission.

In reality the so-called public meeting held by the Police Commission is nothing more than a cover for the complete lack of accountability by the police. It might be better if no public contact was allowed at all, this would more accurately reflect the reality of the power the cops enjoy.

Demonstrating the farce of "democracy" under capitalism, the Police Commission was kind enough to schedule a few items of business before the public comment section of the meeting. The most time consuming item involved a report by a police sergeant regarding a bike race in the city scheduled for September. This cop gave a detailed report on the police preparation for the event including information on who will be moving the street barricades and how often this can happen, which roads traffic will be diverted to, how many cops this will take, and speculation on whether or not people watching the race might attend on bikes.

This is a good example of the waste of micromanagement. The whole presentation was so ridiculous this reporter had to wonder if it wasn't just a stalling tactic by the commission. Several audience members were laughing as they listened to the waste of time. It was a clear example parasitism and useless jobs done for high pay under capitalism. There was no information in the cop's report that was useful to the Police Commission and the details of traffic during a bike race should be easily delegated to appropriate authorities who should be trusted to do their jobs or removed from their positions if they fail. But in imperialist countries like the u.s., useless paper pushing jobs like generating unnecessary detailed reports and listening to these reports are what keep the (mostly white) people wealthy.

Stelley's fiancé spoke at the meeting, saying "This was a cold blooded murder." At the end of her comments she turned to the Police Chief and asked if he would now give her the names of the cops who killed her fiancé. Clearly not taking the meeting seriously the Chief Pig responded that he could not do this because he had received a letter from her lawyer demanding that he refrain from contact with her (after the cops had interrogated her and Stelley's mother for hours without a lawyer present after Stelley was murdered).

In response another activist stood up and asked if the Chief Pig would give him the names of the cops, pointing out that he does not have a lawyer so surely this stupid reasoning could not apply to him. At that point the Chief Pig Sanders was forced to respond saying "no, at the appropriate time the names will be released." The appropriate time after the killing of other people by the police in the recent past has been within 24 hours or 48 hours. The longer the cops wait the clearer it becomes that they don't even have a good cover story to explain the murder. They are hoping that public outcry will die down if they wait long enough.

But it is unlikely that attention or interest in this case will lessen. Not only is Stelley's fiancé active in the organizing against the cops but his mother is traveling the world gathering support and raising international awareness. Idriss Stelley holds dual citizenship in France and the u.s. and his mother was in France during this meeting where there is tremendous outcry against the SFPD for the murder of Idriss. She spoke to the Police Commission via phone, informing them that a formal inquiry has been initiated by the French government, there have been 3940 visits to a web site set up about her son's murder, and 846 messages of support and petitions are circulating all over Europe. She made it clear that this will not stop until the people get justice for the killing of Idriss Stelley, warning the Police Commission "Prepare yourselves, you have a war on your hands."

Later in the meeting, again pretending to be reasonable, Sanders promised to release the information to the family's attorney by 9am the next morning, giving them a phone number to call. But this turned out to be just another lie from the police department. The next day there was no answer at the number Sanders gave out (and no answering service). Sander's direct line was busy all day, making it impossible for anyone, including media, to get through.

Activists are demanding a release of all information pertaining to the murder of Idriss, an independent criminal investigation by a special prosecutor, and mandatory police crisis intervention training for the SFPD. MIM agrees with the demands for release of information, and although we expect that an "independent" investigation would probably still exonerate the pigs of responsibility for murder, this investigation would help expose the crimes of the cops. Crisis Intervention Training for the pigs might be a good use of time keeping the cops off the streets and in classrooms where they can't hurt anyone, but attempts to train the fascists to be nicer fascists will not solve the problem of police brutality and murder.

The problem with the cops is not lack of training but instead it is rooted in the definition of their position. The police in the U.$ exist as an occupying army. Their job is to maintain the status quo as a part of the criminal injustice system: social control. No amount of training will change this job description. While we expose the cops for their murder and brutality we have to fight the system that puts them on the streets while leaving the biggest criminals running the country.