Transcript

Century of Lies / October 23, 2011

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DEAN BECKER: This is Dean Becker. You’re listening to Century of Lies on the Drug Truth Network.

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SPEAKER: I want to welcome everybody to the 16th National Protest Against Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation.

DEAN BECKER: Houston, like hundreds of cities across America and around the world chose October 22nd to recognize the futility of this Drug War and the excesses of our criminal justice system.

SPEAKER: Police brutality has got to go. We say no to the new Jim Crow. Police brutality has got to go.

DEAN BECKER: Among those speaking this day was Mr. Ray Hill, my mentor at the Mothership station of the Drug Truth.

RAY HILL: I am a Abu-Jamal. I am Troy Davis. I am every man in death row and every prison in this country. I am every woman in every prison in this country. The one thing we have in common is that we are poor and we were easily exploited by a system unfeeling.

Now I want to tell you some stories that you don’t have to repeat but I want you to listen to. In 1981 in January, Gary Wayne Stocks, a bartender at the Inside Outside, a bar on Westheimer, was on his way home after the bar closed. He drove to Main Street, made a left turn, was motioned onto a side street and his brains were blown out by officer John Fults.

My investigator and close friend Fred Bias immediately went to work investigating that police assassination. In June of that year Fred Bias was dragged into an alley off of Darling Street and his brains were blown out by office Kevin McCoy.

We tried, for a long time, to get somebody indicted in these two cases. They, finally, indicted Kevin McCoy for …the indictment read, “Kevin McCoy, a Houston police officer, did knowingly under the influence of alcohol blaze a cocked and loaded 45 pistol to the back of Fred Bias head. The result of which Fred Bias died. A Class A misdemeanor to be tried in a felony court with a jury of 12.

On closing argument day, officers ( all in full uniform ) with their guns…rubbed their guns and stared at the jury so that Kevin McCoy was acquitted. To this day, Kevin McCoy is in North Carolina running a racist organization.

Just this week, Captain Smith, known as the brutal Sgt. in Houston Narcotics has been indicted several times for abusing people, is now Captain of Special Investigation. Just this week, he and a bunch of goons went out and arrested the waitresses, not the performers, but the waitresses in gentleman’s clubs and they were beaten, brutalized, offered to get off in exchange for sex.

Captain Smith is a massaginist and his is a bully, violent, brutal officer toward women. He got his training in the narcotics division. That is this week.

1981 to this week. There is no end to it. I know the Police Chief. I visit regularly with the Police Chief. He’s a relatively nice guy but he has little control over the brutal bullies under his command because you’ve got an ex-cop District Attorney who will not indict anyone.

The only cops that get indicted are those caught stealing their own union funds. This cannot continue. This city and her surrounding area kills 24 people a year who were unarmed and killed with police weapons. It took 25 years to get a conviction for Officer Carboneau, the first one to be convicted for killing a 14-year-old special education, Ely Escabar, by putting a gun to his head and pulling the trigger.

So what…the judge gave him probation and a little jail therapy. No big deal because I had waited 25 years for a conviction in something so common in Houston it is difficult to understand.

It all begins with the attitude of the officer that pulled you aside, isolates you from other people and tries to brow-beat you into submission to his illegal demands. It all begins when they shake down some kid and find dope that either they brought or he was trying to hide and puts a record on him so he carries that for the rest of his life.

It all begins with a police officer in a homicide investigation who turns to another cop and says, “I’ve got a hunch about this case.” The truth is no longer important. The investigation is over. All effort is to prove that hunch. That’s why, today in Austin, there are 26 death row exonerees rallying at the State Capital.

Wrongful convictions do not only happen on death row, they happen in city jail overnight, in county jail for up to 180 days and in prison for up to a life and much less.

I call on you to never forget Gary Winstock. Never forget my good friend and ally Fred Bias. Never forget the blood left on the streets of Houston when police officers, who are so arrogant in their abusive power, can trust a system of grand juries full of ex-cops and prosecutors to get them off.

Power to the people!

CROWD: No Justice…No Peace! No Justice…No Peace!

All power to the People. All power to the People. Not just some power to some people. All power to the People.

KRYSTAL MUHAMMAD: The reason I asked everybody to come up here is for 41 weeks we have been outside the courthouse at 1201 Franklin picketing with a petition for a civilian review board. [inaudible]

We have to create in this city our own oversight board to continue into law the Police Chief and additional training to handle prosecuting police is like getting Al Capone to handle Frank Netty. They’re all the same gangsters.

What we must do is empower the people. We need 22,000 signatures. Right now we got 2,000 signatures. If you want to get involved in the signature drive see sister [inaudible] She’s got the petitions.

If you haven’t signed this petition, sign it. What we’re asking for, what we’re demanding, this is for a referendum. A referendum is something that gets on the ballot by the people. [inaudible]

A city council can create a review board overnight but since they won’t do it, we’re going to put it in the hands of the people and get 22,000 signatures and vote it into existence ourselves.

Now the Mayor tried to play a game on us last week by putting Police Chief McCullum on the radio and saying that she’s created an independent civilian review board. But the one that she’s talking about will not have supeona or prosecutory power.

If you have a board that doesn’t have supeona power – it’s not worth [expletive deleted]. Because if you can’t get somebody under oath to testify and then have the power to prosecute then it’s hot worth a [inaudible]. It’s just what they have already.

They have a board that’s called…a review board in which the Mayor appoints people. So she’s trying to pull the wool over our eyes because the pressure’s been getting on her, from the picket line, from the phone calls.

So this particular petition demands an independent civilian review board with supeona and prosecutory power. In Houston in the last 10 years there’s been over 2,200 cases of police brutality filed right here. Guess how many police officers got indicted? 0.

And only 14 officers got any type of punishment – that’s less than 1%. We only 5,000 [inaudible] officers. With 2,200 complaints of police brutality – that means half the force is corrupt. And guess what? Out of those 2,200 complaints, 80% of them were filed by police officers against police officers. So they don’t even listen to the police officers. We had them call/text and say when they complain against corruption the union threatens to fire them with a dishonorable discharge.

And then the D.A., like somebody just said earlier… Pat Lycos – she was a former police officer. Then she was a judge. Now she’s the District Attorney. And she won’t even file police brutality on these cases.

How many of ya’ll out here saw the [inaudible] Harley tape? That tape came out in February. 15-year-old robbery suspect was ran over by HPD and while he was laying unconscious, over 10 cops kicked him, stomped him and beat him…took a break…kicked him, stomped, beat him again and gave him brain damage. And guess what the District Attorney, Pat Lycos, charged 4 of those 10 officers with? A misdemeanor of official oppression.

If any of you out here were to run somebody over with a car and 10 of your homies came and stomped and beat him – you would get charged with attempted murder and aggravated assault.

The police should not be held to a lower standard – they should be held to a higher standard of punishment than the everyday people. And right down at their courthouse. They making so much money it’s ridiculous. And those lawyers…they’re plea-ing people out like [inaudible]. They plea out 90% of those cases.

And this is another fact about this city that we live in. By police brutality statistics Harris County has the most complaints in the whole country. New York is number 2. It’s just like they said earlier – because this is the “Jim Crow South”.

Texas was the last place to “so-called” let slaves go. But it said in their “so-called” abolishing of slavery, in the 13th amendment, that you cannot be slave unless you commit a crime. So slavery still continues.

We have over 2 million people in prison. That’s more people than ever was involved in chatle slavery. It’s big business. For every month somebody’s in prison the state makes 5 grand. For every month a kid is in school that state only pays 3 grand. So it’s more profitable for them to lock you up then to teach.

And another very evil thing. Do you know that Harris County is prosecuting children as young as age 7 as adults?! How can a 7-year-old be prosecuted as an adult? But it’s happening right here in Harris County.

So that’s why we’re here standing in solidarity. We’re standing in solidarity with anybody that’s for justice and for what’s right. And it shouldn’t be a solo. We’re out there every Tuesday at 12 o’clock picketing. And if you can’t picket, sign this petition to get more signatures.

We know the Occupy Houston movement endorsed it. We know that the Revolutionary Communist Party endorsed it. The Green Party has endorsed it. The NAACP has endorsed it. Even the Baptist Ministers have endorsed it.

So we need everybody to get involved.

All power to the People! All power to the People! No Justice - No Peace!

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DEAN BECKER: That completes our coverage of the Occupy Houston in recognition of the criminal injustice rally that was held in Houston just yesterday. I found them to be rather fragmented, kind of like drug reform itself. But the hope, I suppose, is that they’ll sweep over the nation like a tidal wave.

Terry Nelson spent 32 years serving the U.S. government as a Customs, Border and Air Interdiction office. He retired a couple years ago and as a GS-14 – the equivalent of a “bird” colonel. He now reports for the Drug Truth Network.

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TERRY NELSON: This is Terry Nelson speaking for LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition). I am often amazed by a story I read in the news and this week did not disappoint me. The federal government in it’s drug war thinks that they can keep drugs out of the hands of children and adults in this country by a strict policy of Prohibition. They waste approximately 70 billion dollars a year of taxpayer moneys trying to do this impossible task. They have stricter penalties if you sell or possess drugs within a certain distance from a school, playground etc.

To highlight how this is a completely impossible task one only has to Google drug busts and see the number of arrests and seizures each day. Research a little further and you will find that all drugs, across the board, are more available, cheaper and of higher quality than they were forty years at the beginning of this failed public policy.

This week I read the Cameron Douglas, son of Michael Douglas, the star of the 2001 movie “Traffic”, who is serving time in prison for a previous drug arrest. He pleaded guilty to a new drug charge Thursday, admitting that he managed to get drugs in prison even while he was cooperating with the government in a drug investigation. And the drugs he copped to were cocaine and heroin. This story just exemplifies the ridiculousness of our current drug war. If you can’t keep drugs out of prison, where you have absolutely no rights, are monitored twenty fours a day and anyone entering is searched before being allowed in, how in the world does the government expect to keep drugs outs of our schools or off the streets.

It is time to recognize that it is an impossible task and to change from a policy of prohibition to one of Legalized, Regulation and Control of all dangerous substances. LEAP advocates for legalization as that is the only way to regulate and control it. Currently the drug cartels and street gangs decide the price, to whom they will well and where the product will be sold.

Perhaps if Nixon had not have declared a War on drugs and instead would have said we need to fix our drug problem we would have a decidedly different situation. Once you start a war the object is to win it at all costs. Well the costs are now way too high both in human suffering and financial drain on our economy. We have spent over one trillion dollars on this failed effort and this idiocy must change.

There are many things you can do as a concerned citizen to help stop the pain and suffering the drug war is inflicting on our population. Please take a moment to call, write, or email your representatives and tell them you want this failed public policy stopped. This is Terry Nelson of LEAP, www.leap.cc, signing off. Stay safe.

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DEAN BECKER: Let’s continue our discussion about America’s devious justice system. The following segment is courtesy of NBC Los Angeles.

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ANNOUNCER: From NBC 4, this is News Conference with Conan Nolan.

The U.S. Justice Department takes an about face on medical marijuana in California. After first saying they would respect dispensaries that operate under state law, now comes a crackdown with scores of establishments in Southern California closed.

We talk with the U.S. Attorney for Los Angeles.

CONAN NOLAN: Andre Birotte, Jr. is the United States Attorney for Southern California. Thank you very much for joining us.

ANDRE BIROTTE: Well, thank you for having me, Conan.

CONAN NOLAN: Why medical marijuana crackdown? Why now?

ANDRE BIROTTE: There wasn’t a specific incident that prompted this action however we’ve been receiving feedback from law enforcement circles and communities throughout our district and, quite frankly, throughout the state of California that this issue was a growing problem. In talking with my colleagues throughout the state we decided to take some enforcement action.

CONAN NOLAN: But it’s legal in California to produce and sell marijuana.

ANDRE BIROTTE: That’s not entirely accurate. There are legal regulations within the marijuana industry – specifically within Prop 215 – but there are some guidelines that go within it and the Department of Justice has made clear, going back to 2009 to the present, that we would not exercise federal resources to those who abide by state law.

But what we’ve seen, unfortunately, is that the Compassionate Use Act has really turned into the Commercial Use Act. Where people are out selling marijuana for profit at high volumes and distributing marijuana throughout…to other states.

CONAN NOLAN: And selling it for profit is against Prop 215 in California.

ANDRE BIROTTE: Absolutely. It’s clear it’s a violation of the law.

CONAN NOLAN: But you put your finger on it, though…2 years ago the Department of Justice sent out a memo saying, “We’re going to states alone. People who abide by state laws regarding…” Was that a mistake or was that misinterpreted? Because all of the sudden medical marijuana went through the roof.

ANDRE BIROTTE: I don’t think it was a mistake. I think the Department of Justice said, “We’re going to exercise our resources where we think is best appropriate.” The voters had spoken and enacted Prop 215 and so the federal government said, “We will not exercise our resources, even though marijuana is illegal under the Controlled Substance Act, where people abide by state law.”

What has happened, unfortunately, is there has been a proliferation of these dispensaries that are not operating for the sick and ill but really to make a profit. There are websites right now where you can go on there and they will tell you how much time it will take for you to make your first million dollars in the marijuana industry. I don’t think that that was the intent of the Compassionate Use Act.

CONAN NOLAN: But you’re going after not just people who are putting together those dispensaries but their landlords, the banks that do business for them. Why?

ANDRE BIROTTE: Again, we decided to use our resources in those incidents where we believe the landlords have been put on notice, have been told that what they are doing violates state law and federal law and we’re giving them the opportunity to correct their actions.

In the incidences where we have done asset forfeiture actions those were incidences where we have had repeated efforts to shut down businesses and have been ignored so we had to take the next level which is to proceed with an asset forfeiture.

CONAN NOLAN: Now you said law enforcement came to you but cities were overwhelmed with the number of medical marijuana establishments. L.A. Weekly was the journalistic operation that said, after counting them, that there were more of those establishments then there were Starbucks in the city of L.A.

ANDRE BIROTTE: That’s right. There has been news reports to that effect. Take, case in point, the city of Lake Forest, they been in protracted litigation in trying to take steps to curb this industry or rid the industry in that city. There’s one property where we took enforcement action – a mini-mall located near a school – 8 dispensaries in one property. All operating as for profit industries and we thought we would exercise our resources to target that specific property.

CONAN NOLAN: Now you have some members of the California legislature who have asked you and the Obama administration and the DOJ to pull back on this because they believe that it is affecting those who are ill. The California Medical Association, the same week you announced your crackdown, came out and said that they would like it legalized. Not open but through a pharmacy because they believe there’s a benefit, a potential benefit, in terms of its medicinal use.

ANDRE BIROTTE: Well, look, I certainly respect the opinions of those who feel differently on this issue. But here’s the bottom line. Marijuana is a Controlled Substance. It is clear. It is a violation to a federal law.

But the government and the Department of Justice said, “We’re not just going to take a blanket effort to rid…to target anyone and everyone who’s using marijuana. We’re going to exercise our resources in a manner that we think is most effective.”

When we have clear violations of both state and federal law it’s difficult for us to just ignore that.

CONAN NOLAN: They estimate that a million people in California have a medical marijuana card. In your opinion how many of those people are actually ill?

ANDRE BIROTTE: I couldn’t even begin to estimate but I think it is fair to say, and there’s been news reports, articles…Steve Lopez did a story in the Times on how he was able to get a medical marijuana recommendation. I think there is some question as to whether all those million people are those who are righteously deserving of medical marijuana recommendation.

CONAN NOLAN: Let’s talk about one other thing. You folks were involved in an investigation into the operation of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Men’s Central Jail. There had been tremendous allegations of abuse. The Sheriff, himself, has agreed that there has been abuse by deputies. Some clergy and civil rights groups have asked for a broad civil rights investigation by your office. What can you tell us about the status of that investigation?

ANDRE BIROTTE: Normally I don‘t comment on specific investigations because we want to preserve the integrity of those investigations but, let me be clear, there is an active and ongoing investigation. We’ve hear comments from the FBI confirming that there is an investigation of the Men’s Central Jail. And, specifically, I think it’s important that the community knows that when I became United States District Attorney in March of 2010 one of the first things that I did was to recreate and bring back our public corruption and civil rights section both in the criminal side of the house and in the civil division.

And we’re hearing the words of the community because we believe that that’s what we’re supposed to do. Be out there protecting the civil rights of all citizens and all residents in the district. So we’re making an effort for hearing…

CONAN NOLAN: We had the Sheriff of L.A. County, Lee Baca, on this program. He was somewhat accusatory of the FBI and the Department of Justice. Have you seen a change with him? Is he cooperating? Are you working together on this investigation?

ANDRE BIROTTE: I have an inordinate amount of respect for the Sheriff. He has a job to do and we have a job to do and we have a good working relationship. Having said that, the FBI and the Department of Justice is a separate entity from the County Sheriff’s Department.

We have an investigation that we need to proceed and we will do so independently.

CONAN NOLAN: Andre Birotte, Jr., the U.S. Attorney for Southern California, thank you very much for stopping in.

ANDRE BIROTTE: Thank you.

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Hello drug policy aficionados! I’m Mary Jane Borden, Editor of Drug War Facts.

The question for this week asks, how similar is Ken Burns Prohibition to the Drug War?

Many aficionados have probably seen Prohibition the “3 part, 5-and-a-half-hour documentary film series directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick that tells the story of the story of the rise, rule, and fall of the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the entire era it encompassed.”

Viewers of this film can’t help but see strong similarities between this era and the 21s t century drug war. Substituting the word drug for alcohol, PBS states that “Prohibition was intended to improve, even to ennoble, the lives of all Americans, to protect individuals, families, and society at large from the devastating effects of ‘drug’ abuse.”

In bold letters PBS declares, “Prohibition turned law-abiding citizens into criminals, made a mockery of the justice system, caused illicit ‘drugs’ to seem glamorous and fun…”

The similarities between Prohibition I and Prohibition II are substantiated by more than words. Consider these statistics. Despite the fact that 25 million people are were made criminals by arrest for illegal drugs during the last 15 years, 120 million Americans (roughly half of everyone over age 12) made a mockery of drug laws by reportedly using illegal drugs in 2010.

As PBS concludes, “The film raises vital questions that are as relevant today as they were 100 years ago – about means and ends, individual rights and responsibilities, the proper role of government and finally, who is — and who is not — a real American.”

These facts and others like them can be found in the Alcohol, Crime and Drug Use chapters of Drug War Facts at www.drugwarfacts.org.

Please visit the PBS website at http://www.pbs.org to learn about the Prohibition series.

If you have a question for which you need facts, please e-mail it to me at mjborden at drugwarfacts.org. I’ll try to answer your question in an upcoming show.

So, remember when you need facts about drugs and drug policy, you can get the facts at Drug War Facts.

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[rally attendees chanting in background]
We say No to the new Jim Crow. Police brutality has got to go.

DEAN BECKER: Alright, I hope you’ve enjoyed this edition of Century of Lies and I hope you’re doing your part to end the madness of Drug War.

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This show produced at Pacifica Studios at KPFT, Houston.

Transcript provided by: Jo-D Harrison of www.DrugSense.org