by Apollonia Jordan
Once a killer cop, always a killer cop! Black San Francisco is demanding that Mayor Ed Lee face the music and fire Chief Greg Suhr, as well as the five officers involved in the execution of Mario Woods, a young man with special needs who was gunned down by five gang members of the SFPD. Records reveal that many of the officers involved had used deadly force on unarmed individuals in the past.
Supporters of justice for Mario Woods, executed firing squad-style by SFPD on Dec. 2, braved unusually cold weather on Christmas Eve to rally on the steps of City Hall. They marched in and up to Room 200, the mayor’s office, to see him, but aides said he wasn’t there. – Photo: Majeid Crawford
Using overtly excessive force, these officers carry killer reputations within the community. Is the chief teaching his officers during his briefings to treat people inhumanely and to shoot first and make up lies about the incident later?
The SFPD are extremely trigga’ happy. They are having target practice, using the young men and women in the Black and Brown communities as targets!
According to the San Francisco Examiner, court records show that officer Nicholas Cuevas has a history of this type of behavior. Cuevas was accused of shooting two unarmed young Black men in 2009 while they were sitting in a car, surrendering to him, with their hands up. They had to run for their lives.
These young men were cooperating with the demands of officers; in fact, the people who say they should have followed the cop’s demands need to know that many young Black men who cooperate with the commands of officers are still murdered in cold blood. Whose fault is it then, when you follow the orders of an officer and are still executed?
Charles August, another trigger happy police officer involved in the murder of Mario Woods, is the subject of a civil rights lawsuit for allegedly beating a man in the Bay View until his ankle broke, just two years ago in 2013. Despite being a threat to the community, and despite showing aggressive behavior in the past, these terrorists were allowed to continue to police our community, harass citizens and now murder our children.
Black San Francisco is demanding that Mayor Ed Lee face the music and fire Chief Greg Suhr, as well as the five officers involved in the execution of Mario Woods.
There is a war going on in our nation between police and the Black and Brown community. It is our time to rise up and protect our children from these terrorists. We teach our children to cooperate, stop and put your hands up in hope of saving their lives, but even following the commands of officers has proven to be deadly.
Police brutality is on the rise in Bayview Hunters Point, and gentrification has everything to do with it. Is that why Mayor Ed Lee keeps ducking and dodging the Black community? They want us afraid and they want us to stay silent and stay buried, but they didn’t know that we are seeds and, like the soul of Mario Woods, we will rise … we will rise … we will rise!
On Dec. 24, the community continued to peacefully protest by rallying at City Hall and marching into Mayor Ed Lee’s office, demanding that he address the murder of Mario Woods and speak to the community. The Justice for Mario Woods Coalition and the Black Lives Matter Coalition continue to stage peaceful protests throughout the city, which are often met by violence from the SFPD, like sending the SWAT team to close down Third Street, police helicopters hanging low, and imprisoning Black Lives Matter members who shut down the freeway entrance into SFO.
Police brutality is on the rise in Bayview Hunters Point, and gentrification has everything to do with it. Is that why Mayor Ed Lee keeps ducking and dodging the Black community?
The community is demanding that Mayor Ed Lee step in and fire Chief Greg Suhr! Mayor Ed Lee can’t keep brushing this type of police brutality under the rug. “This is the beginning of a movement for the injustice done to Mario Woods,” stated Minister Christopher Muhammad of the Nation of Islam. The large crowd of community members moved through the hallways of City Hall chanting, “No justice, no peace!”
“No more business as usual for you, Mayor Ed Lee,” declared Minister Christopher. We will not be moved and we will not stay silent!
Phelicia Jones, facilitator for the Justice for Mario Woods Coalition, delivered a powerful speech, tying income inequality, which has grown more in San Francisco than anywhere else in the country, together with police terror to show how the combination is devastating Black and Brown communities. – Photo: Majeid Crawford
Phelicia Jones, facilitator for the Justice for Mario Woods Coalition, had this to say in regards to Mayor Ed Lee turning his back on the Black community: “I have experienced on numerous occasions that the mayor sends out messages to Black people that we are disposable and that we do not count. He has locked the doors on Black constituents on many occasions.
“The last time, he sent us down to Room 206 and said that he was coming down there but never showed up! So, this is to Mayor Lee: Mayor Lee, inequality is killing me! Mayor Ed Lee, inequality is killing us and we are not going to take it anymore!
“We are here and we aren’t going anywhere! We are not disposable! We are not going to beg him, but we are going to demand that he meets with us and address these issues and speak to the Black community! No more hiding for him, we are serious! No justice, no peace!”
The community has two demands for Mayor Ed Lee: One is to fire Chief Greg Suhr and the second is charge the officers who shot Mario with murder! Minister Muhammad closed the rally by calling on the mayor to do this “as an act of compassion, to show this community that he is sensitive to the historic pain that the Black community in San Francisco has suffered at the hands of SFPD.
“We are looked down upon by these officers as animals, dehumanized, brutalized and demonetarized as worthless. Tasers are not the answer. Firing Chief Suhr is the answer! Suhr, no sir!”
The community is demanding that Mayor Ed Lee step in and fire Chief Greg Suhr! Mayor Ed Lee can’t keep brushing this type of police brutality under the rug.
Bay Area journalist and longtime Bay View writer Apollonia Jordan can be reached at apollonia@sfbayview.com.