article; 15-Year-Old Shot By Oakland Police Officer

Police murder and terrorism against young Black people has been rampant in Oakland for decades, dating back before the OPD murdered 17-year-old Black Panther Bobby Hutton in cold blood in front of the community in 1968, two days after Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated, all the way up to a few years back, when some Oakland cops calling themselves “the Riders” got caught kidnapping and beating people, planting dope on people and falsifying police reports, among other things, costing the city $110 million in court-ordered victims’ retribution money.

If you’re a young Black male living in Oakland, chances are that you have been terrorized by the police on one or more occasions. There’s definitely nothing new about police beating, shooting or killing Black people, but we’re talking about it because this is a case that the people who believe that the system will help us could learn from. This is a clear example of how the police are nothing but a lawless occupying army in our community, in the same way that the U.S. army is in Iraq.

We have to critically understand that the police are enemies of the Black community. Look at the circumstances around this case. Why wasn’t anyone fired and indicted? The officer who shot Lorante was reportedly put on paid leave (or paid vacation) after the shooting. If somebody shot that cop, they would be indicted for murder while the investigation was in the process.

This is a reason why the Black community has to begin to organize to defend itself against America’s biggest gang: the police. I talked to the parents of Studesville about this case and the history of police violence in the Bay Area. His mom Cinnamon, requested that her last name not be used.

JR: Cinnamon, can you give us a recap of what happened on July 3?

Cinnamon: On July 3, the (police) officers claim that they saw my son place something into his mouth, which appeared to them to be narcotics. He then drank from the beverage that he was holding and that “gave them the reason to initiate contact” between my son and themselves.

They got out of the vehicle and, probably intimidated by the police because of a previous experience he had regarding police brutality, he probably ran out of fear. And when he ran, the officers were in pursuit. One actually chased him on foot, and as he ran through yards, the other officer drove around the corner to catch him on the opposite side.

The officer that was chasing him on foot radioed in, and he claimed he saw my son dispose of a weapon. Even though that message went clearly through the police radio, the officer that was waiting on the opposite side, on 107th Avenue, for my son to come through the yards proceeded to warn my son to stop and give up. My son continued to run from the officer that was behind him, continuously running towards the officer that was in front of him and, according to the article, when he reached approximately 40 feet from the officer on 107th Avenue, my son was shot in the neck by the police officer.

Rev. Sanders: One newspaper I read said that he (the police) took a head shot once he saw the child running down the street, looking like he was reaching for his belt. But I know that these kids be sagging out here. Most Black youth be sagging. You know the difference between someone reaching for a pistol and somebody running down the street trying to pull their pants up. I’m kind of thinkin’ that’s what went down, because I see how my son dresses, and he ain’t never got no hip-huggers on.

JR: Well, Rev. Sanders let me ask you: Being a Black man right here in the Bay Area, can you give us a little bit of the history and how they act in the Black community?

Rev. Sanders: I got a history with police and within the community understanding the way it is because my father and my uncle were Black Panthers. Richard O’Neal (uncle), who’s in jail right now, was just indicted with those eight men for allegedly killing an officer and conspiracy (the San Francisco 8 case). My family roots deal with the Civil Rights Movement.

I know that there have been clashes in the Bay with the police officers. My uncle, Richard O’Neal, was shot 7 times in the back on McAllister Street by police officers in 1977. My father was also in protest with him. So I grew up very aware that there were oftentimes problems with the police officers in Frisco and in Oakland.

That fueled my own behavior, because I just did a 10-year sentence in prison, and I did 6 out of the 10. And when I came back to the streets, I definitely wanted to reach out to my son, to try to snatch him out of that. His mom really pushed very hard in the last couple of weeks to really get us close together. We had to overcome a lot of hurdles because I know the dangers lurking, not only by the police department but the traps and vices in the ghetto community itself.

JR: How is Lorante right now? What is his condition like?

Rev. Sanders: I just left the hospital about 30 minutes ago, and he’s very uncomfortable. He can’t talk, His chest is open. They just closed his sternum yesterday. They left it open because they wanted to try to take the bullet out of the spine, if the bleeding would have stopped. I think that the neurologist said that they think it should just stay where it is. They don’t think that it is going to move into the spinal column.

source:news.ncmonline.com