Drug WarRant

I’m feeling a little dirty right now after reading a good portion of this thread at LimaOhio.com about the shooting of Tarika Wilson.
It didn’t take long for a bunch of idiots to start looking into Wilson’s past to find out if she had prior arrests, and to speculate about how she was going to afford going to college with 6 kids, etc. A lot of offensive inference that she was probably just another criminal black drug dealer.

[from multiple posters] what about her daughter endangering her kids on a daily basis by placing them in that environment? […] DRUG TEST THE KIDS, ya never know what small kids can get into when they live in a dope house. […] The Pace officer or LPD didnt kill the young girl , her lifestyle choices didnt give her or her children any kind of chance. 26, 6 children, no daddys, living off my tax money, a very sorry situation but lets put the blame on those responsible, the drug dealing deadbeats she hung out with. […] The girl was no saint as the Black community wants you to believe. She has been to prison because of selling drugs in Putnam County as had her boyfriend. […] she was just as responsible as the man she was hiding. Unfortunately the Black Community doesn’t want to take any responsibility and admit they are wrong about what happened, they want to make it a race issue where there is none […] I never understand why the “black community” picks felons and drug dealers to rally around. How about finding a real victim, someone without a rap sheet, someone that contributes to society in a positive way. […] We just need LPD to continue to conduct hundreds (or thousands) of raids and try to get the ‘druggies’ away from the innocent women and children […] It is time to place the blame where it belongs, with the mother who placed herself and her children in a dangerous and illegal situation. It is only the black community who pulls the race card every time one of their own is shot, imprisoned or in any way held responsible for their own violent and unlawful actions. […] Don’t do the crime and you won’t have to worry about doing the time. No one else placed the woman and her six children in a crack house with two pitbulls, weapons (?), and other illicit drugs—the mother did. No one else forced the woman to have six children by the age of 26 with no daddies. When are these people going to start taking responsibility for their own lives, for gods sakes? […] NOT TO BE RUDE BUT IF SHE IS ALLOWING A DRUG DEALER IN HER HOME THE KIDS ARE BETTER OFF WITH OUT HER. […] PEOPLE HAVE COMPLETELY OVER LOOKED THE FACT THAT THERE IS ONE LESS DRUG SLINGER ON OUR STREETS KUDOS TO THE DEPT. […] Momma wants justice? Where was her righteous indignation when her daughter’s choices were hurting her grandchildren? When the drugs being sold were hurting other people and their children? When the the profits made by the producers of the drugs funded terrorism? Please God, don’t let this woman or her family get custody of those poor children! […]

You get the idea.
There were a few asking why this should result in a death sentence, but nobody seemed to be asking the most important question: Why was that particular tactic necessary?
There were actually some relatively intelligent posters (only a couple, unfortunately) who felt that the shooting was wrong, but accidental, but wondered what choice the police had given the mandate to do something about the drug problem. It’s those people (not the racist morons) who need to be educated about why the tactic used by the Lima, Ohio police was so wrong.
And I don’t even need to know any more of the specific facts of the case to know that they were wrong.
Regardless of what the investigation reveals went on inside that house, the mistake was made prior to entering the house. The mistake was in determining that SWAT is an appropriate method for enforcing drug laws.
There are moments of great tension in our cities and towns. There was one today in my own town of Bloomington, Illinois. There was a police standoff with someone who had barricaded himself in his mobile home. The standoff lasted four hours. You know what the police did?

‹As long as he keeps talking, we won‰t storm the place,Š [police spokesman Dave] White said about an hour before the man came out. ‹We‰ll wait him out.Š

So they did, and he came out, and nobody got hurt. No doors were broken down. No dogs were shot. No mothers were killed. No babies maimed.
It’s a tried and true police tactic. You de-fuse the situation. Make it calm. Protect and serve.
The police in Lima, Ohio who killed Tarika Wilson didn’t de-fuse the situation. They fused it. Big time.
If they had evidence that the boyfriend was selling drugs, they could have arrested him. Not by sending in SWAT. Don’t the police in Lima, Ohio (and elsewhere around this country) have enough brains to come up with a smarter way of arresting people?

Syllogism:

1. Drugs are bad.
2. The best way to deal with bad things is by prohibiting them.
3. Tougher criminal sanctions are more effective than weaker sanctions.

Therefore:

• The best and most effective way to deal with drugs is through tougher criminal sanctions.

Demolish.

“bullet” About 200 people met with City Council members to demand answers in the death of Tarika Wilson.

“The man who shot her, he’s not a suspect? What if that was me?” shouted Quintel Wilson, the victim’s brother. “Where would I be? Locked up. No bond. Victim is the word here.”

The city and the state must do an extraordinary job of investigating the entire situation, or this could be a powderkeg.

“If we do not get this right, there is going to be a difficult day ahead,” said the Rev. B. LaMont Monford Sr. of the Philippian Missionary Baptist Church.

Update: The officer has been identified — a 30 year veteran who was involved in a police killing in 2000.

“bullet” So LEAP

… but I repeat myself…
You may have heard that Richard Brunstom, chief constable of North Wales Police, had made a statement about the relative safety of ecstasy last week. This caused a bit of a stir.
And now the Daily Mail has come back to put him in his place with this damning report:

Road Crash Coroner Slams Chief Constable’s Claim That ‘Ecstasy is Not Dangerous’
A coroner has rebutted claims that ecstasy is not dangerous at the inquest of a disqualified driver who was high on the drug when he killed himself and a friend in a road crash.

Well, not as good as, say, real statistics or anything. It’s just a single case, and it’s not, in fact, about the dangers of ecstasy use, but rather the danger of driving while impaired by ecstasy, which, I guess, is at least something. Right?
Right?

Dean Chevalier, 20, was more than twice over the legal alcohol limit when he lost control of his friend’s car, killing himself and 23-year-old Matthew Prothero.
Both were high on ecstasy and had drunk tequila and lager before the accident on a minor road, near Grantham, Lincs, on May 20 last year.

Oh, yeah, that definitely shows the dangers of ecstasy.
For my next trick, I will prove that eating celery makes you obese, by eating a lot of celery and pizzas.

Howard Wooldridge has a partial answer with this interesting list:

‹Osama Bin Laden, President George Bush, The Ochoa Brothers, John Walters (USA‰s Drug Czar), Congressman Mark Souder, Mexican Drug Cartels, DEA, FARC, National Association of Narcotics Officers, Canadian Cannabis Growers Association, Pharmaceutical Industry, Al Qaeda, Private Prison Association, Meth Makers of Mexico Association, MS-13 drug gang, California Narcotic Officers‰ Association, Crips & Bloods, Deputy Chief Thomas Gorman of California, Pablo Escobars‰ Amigos, Congressman Duncan Hunter, Columbian Coca Growers Association, Senator John McCain, et al, Fundamentalist Christian Association, the Washington Post and the New York Times.Š

“bullet” On Sunday night, Democratic Presidential Candidate Mike Gravel told a group of high school students that alcohol is more dangerous than marijuana.
“Well, duh!” you say. Of course that’s true.
Well the Chicago Tribune’s Mike Pearson makes it clear why his column is called “The Swamp” and why it’s so hard for public figures to tell the truth about drugs.

Mike Gravel to teens: Say ‘yes’ to drugs
NASHUA, N.H.ÖFormer Sen. Mike Gravel of Alaska hasn’t been heard from for quite some time in his quixotic quest for the Democratic presidential nomination and perhaps there’s a reason why.
In the days when he was invited to debates, detractors likened the 77-year-old former senator to the cranky uncle who lives in the attic.
No longer invited to debates, Gravel on Sunday night appeared at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter to speak to its high school students and showed no sign his campaign had gone up in smoke. Indeed, in a contest of booze versus pot, Gravel said light ’em up.

Fortunately, Pearson’s readers are smarter.
“bullet” You may have heard that Ron Paul’s campaign got a hit today due to the resurfacing of an old ghostwritten newsletter of his that contained racist and homophobic material. Keep in mind that these have been around for years and have been discussed before. Paul has taken moral responsibility for their existence in his newsletter, even though it appears he didn’t write them. And his public expressions have consistently been anything but racist or homophobic. Still, these things have political power.
I believe that Brian Doherty expresses it best:

It is certainly worth remembering on this tense day for those who have admired Paul as a politician and as a voice in this campaign that, as his clear to anyone paying close attention to either his presidential campaign message (or his message through most of his congressional career) or to the concerns of the bulk of his current fans, that racial or anti-gay animus has zero to do with Ron Paul’s campaign or its appeal. Any attempt to tar the “Ron Paul Revolution” with these old newsletters is wrongheaded and unfair. It is also worth remembering that every single other candidate is a fervent believer in policies that cause far more harm to far more innocent black people (the drug war) than old ghostwritten words that insult Martin Luther King, or insult rioters in racial terms, ever could. [emphasis added]

(This relates to my recent post at Daily Kos.)

Just go and read it: What My Cancer Taught Me About Marijuana by Diana Wagman

The Toledo Blade is continuing to do excellent work on covering the death of Tarika Wilson, who was shot twice by SWAT officers (see yesterday’s post).
Community leaders are calling for calm, but not demanding answers, and are indicating that they will not rest until proper investigations occur. And there’s a very strong racial factor in the case.

Lima police long have targeted African-Americans, such as holding youths face down on the ground and pointing guns at them and then claiming they had the wrong group, alleged Councilman Tommy Pitts, chairman of council‰s safety services committee.
‹This comes as no surprise to me,Š he said about the shooting.

The investigation has been turned over to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, where some tough questions will have to be answered.

Ms. Jennings said her daughter was shot upstairs while with the children, and she wants to know what in that bedroom threatened the police officer who shot Ms. Wilson and Sincere.

Here’s another little telling bit:

Questions about the raid continued to swirl around Lima, with Councilman Glenn protesting the way police treated him as both a city official and landlord.
As owner of the house Ms. Wilson rented without incident for a year, Mr. Glenn said he should have been notified that police suspected drug activity there and maybe he could‰ve helped.
Mayor David Berger said landlords are not notified about such investigations.

Well, I think Glenn has a very important point — the only one I’ve seen so far in this case that has raised the question specifically about finding alternative means rather than using SWAT teams on drug cases. Why aren’t other options considered? Why does it always have to be about the big bust?
That’s the question that really needs to be addressed. (Aside from the obvious one, to us, about eliminating the drug war that causes all this violence and death.)
Update: More from the Lima News.
Also, (via Radley), here is Lima, Ohio’s SWAT website. Watch out!

Colby Cosh has an good OpEd on the Marc Emery extradition trial that will begin on January 21 in Canada.

…where ideas of justice are expressed in such a different manner as they are on a point like this — where the people of two countries so plainly disagree about what is right — co-operation is tantamount to a surrender of values.

The article also references Karen Selick’s open letter to Canada’s Minister of Justice.
Lee apparently plans on covering the Marc Emery story in detail.