May Molina, a long-time activist against police brutality and wrongful imprisonment, died in police custody this morning in the wake of a police raid on her house in which witnesses say cops planted drugs.



May was a tireless and vocal advocate for police accountability. For many years, the wheelchair bound activist had been battling for a new trial for her son in what her supporters charge was a case of wrongful conviction. The effort had recently made legal headway.



Over the course of more than 28 hours, family members, friends and Molina's attorney repeatedly visited both the police station where she was initially taken, and the police station at Belmont and Western where she was transferred, appealing that she be allowed access to her medications. They were rebuffed each time.



"They denied her her medicine," said Alexander Hauad, Molina’s nephew and one of several relatives who attempted to deliver her prescription medications while she was locked up at the Addison and Halsted police station, and later at the Belmont and Western station. "They murdered her."



May's supporters will hold a press conference on Thursday at 6:30 PM at police headquarters at 35th and Michigan to protest the police conduct that led to her death. Afterward, activists will attend the monthly police board meeting to demand an honest investigation into the case.

Scenes from the Raid on May Molina's Home

Photos from the Wednesday night vigil

Let's see, she has a history of drug possession and she was found with what, 40 packets of heroin? Sounds like she was a heroin dealer. Oh well, one less dope dealer ain't a bad thing. . . or is it?

Someone's got to have some pictures of this, right?

The Prisoner’s mangled body lay wrapped in dirty sheets and blood spattered plastic.
It had been stuffed by his killers into a laundry cart, and not discovered for hours.
The Prison’s very name conjures horrific visions of abuse and murder for the families of the imprisoned, fearful that their sons and fathers may never get out alive, if at all.
Hey, I’ve seen all of this. I’m getting bored.  Abu Ghraib again ? Gimme a break.
Sorry.
NO. This is LOS ANGELES COUNTY JAIL.
The secret videotapes reveal the widespread torture and humiliation, often sexual, of the Muslim and Arab inmates. Disease and mistreatment are everywhere.
Oh I get it, this is Gitmo in Guantanamo right ? Snore ….. NO ? Well then it’s gotta be Afghanistan right?  
It’s the damn Military Intelligence, the “civilian contractors”-it’s that stupid  General Miller again.
Nope.
This is The Metropolitan Detention Center in BROOKLYN NY.
 
The secret police burglarize his home, no warrant, no notice, no evidence.
But under the laws of his country, its all OK.
The shocked young Muslim is then ripped from the arms of his children and wife. Thrown in solitary confinement, with no charges lodged, jailed incommunicado for weeks.
But under the laws of his country, its all OK.
A dangerous traitor to his country, a terrorist, a killer, the “government spokesmen”  said.
A man who fronted for Muslim fanatics and terrorists.
Impossible, said his wife and mother, he never left home.
Liars, said the Government.  Take him away. Lock him up.  No reporters, no visitors.
Must be one of Sadr’s men right ?  One of those “Thugs” they keep talking about.
What’s that you say Mrs. Robinson  ?
An American ? Born in Kansas ?
A lawyer with three kids ?
An Army vet ?
Waittaminit goddammit.   This happened HERE ?  In the USA ?
Well, what does HE say ?
Oh, the Judge has put a strict no talk gag order on him – nobody can say anything.
But under the laws of his country, its all OK.
 
A man committed suicide the other day, in his jail cell.
Horrible, but it does happen.
Criminals get caught, arrested by the police, judged by their peers, and sent to prison.  Despondent, sometimes they kill themselves.  Sad, but true.
But wait-   there was no trial, no police, no judge, no jury.
And this jail is in MACY’s Department Store in New York.
 
 
Have we plunged down some Alician rabbit hole ?
What the hell is this ?
This is life in the America of Bush and Cheney and Ashcroft.
It is life in an America where the government makes up it’s mind first, and then runs around and finds stuff to prove that it’s right, later.
Where to Act like a Patriot means to snoop on your friends, abuse those in your care, justify unspeakable violence against the helpless.
We need not travel to Iraq to bear witness –
We need only take a subway ride, or hop on the freeway, or go shopping at Macy’s.
We need not move from our homes to be victimized.
The Patriots will Act like the Gestapo, whether we are home or not.
This is the America that Bushism has created.
 Susan Sontag has described it perfectly:
 
“…Looking at these photographs, you ask yourself, How can someone grin at the sufferings and humiliation of another human being? Set guard dogs at the genitals and legs of cowering naked prisoners? Force shackled, hooded prisoners to masturbate or simulate oral sex with one another? And you feel naive for asking, since the answer is, self-evidently, People do these things to other people. Rape and pain inflicted on the genitals are among the most common forms of torture. Not just in Nazi concentration camps and in Abu Ghraib when it was run by Saddam Hussein. Americans, too, have done and do them when they are told, or made to feel, that those over whom they have absolute power deserve to be humiliated, tormented. They do them when they are led to believe that the people they are torturing belong to an inferior race or religion. For the meaning of these pictures is not just that these acts were performed, but that their perpetrators apparently had no sense that there was anything wrong in what the pictures show.”
 
“… The torture of prisoners is not an aberration. It is a direct consequence of the with-us-or-against-us doctrines of world struggle with which the Bush administration has sought to change, change radically, the international stance of the United States and to recast many domestic institutions and prerogatives. The Bush administration has committed the country to a pseudo-religious doctrine of war, endless war -- for ''the war on terror'' is nothing less than that. Endless war is taken to justify endless incarcerations. Those held in the extralegal American penal empire are ''detainees''; ''prisoners,'' a newly obsolete word, might suggest that they have the rights accorded by international law and the laws of all civilized countries. This endless ''global war on terrorism'' -- into which both the quite justified invasion of Afghanistan and the unwinnable folly in Iraq have been folded by Pentagon decree -- inevitably leads to the demonizing and dehumanizing of anyone declared by the Bush administration to be a possible terrorist: a definition that is not up for debate and is, in fact, usually made in secret.”
 
The policies and practices followed and implemented against THEM--foreigners, aliens, supposed terrorists, which is to say-- The Others,
by Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft- in Cuba, Afghanistan, Iraq-
is nothing more than an extension of WHAT IS BEING DONE  to an enormous and growing number of Us.
Us!
Here !  HERE !
We find out now that there were detailed clandestine plans for extra-legal incarcerations and torture-based interrogations- promulgated,  endorsed, and implemented in secret by Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft.
The shock is that we are surprised.
Imprisonment has been Bushevik political and economic policy since the early eighties, as blatantly practiced in Texas by then Governor Bush and his cadre.
Executions, a mainstay of Bushevik Justice, achieved epic proportions in Bush’s Texas, and continue.
Nationally – we have seen unimaginable growth in prison construction, privatization of prison administration, abuse, torture, sexual humiliation and exploitation, even the now familiar photo taking and home movies.
None of this is new, and none of it started in Iraq.
This is home grown stuff.
Born and raised in the U S of A.
MADE IN AMERICA.

Go here to see photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Law enforcement across the country have turned on the citizen as the enemy. They have become unlawful in how they carry out their jobs. They use the measurement that if they would do this then so would the citizen. This behavior is wrong, unlawful. The constitution that we thought protected us has been thrown in the trash. I call for all enforcement agencies to put their house in order and bring themselves into lawful compliance. Otherwise they have become the mofia just as Mike Wallace said on 60 Minutes.

I am asking for your help to help get this information out to others. As a hunter and avid Sportsman & Hunter all my life I to thought that I knew the firearms law in my state of North Carolina. I have tried in every way possible to be a legally compliant person. I would get a hunting license for State and Federal Game. I am a small business owner for over 30 years. I always conducted myself in a properly to make sure that I acted in a legally compliant manner. I would seek legal advice from my attorney and the proper officials. My son who as a teenager had a past conviction in which the Superior Court Judge of NC had given him probation. The judge had made provisions for him to keep his firearms right so that he could go hunting. Under North Carolina Laws he was legally able to possess a firearm. What is so sad is that we did not know that Federal Firearms Laws is being interpreted that he is a prohibited person to possess. And we now are dealing with Federal charges brought against him for the possession of a firearm and other charges that stemmed from this. If I had ever had an idea that these Laws existed this would have never happened. Please help get this information out to others. When 1 in 37 people in the US has been in jail or prison and these numbers do not reflect those who have gotten probation there is a high percentage of individuals who do not know that they can not legally possess a firearm nor ammunition These laws are being interpreted as (could have served a sentence of 1 year for felony) and (could have 2 years for a misdemeanors). For any offense committed in your life time. Ex Post Facto Laws are being used to harm people without their knowledge of there existence. This has been a nightmare for our family. Not being aware of this has gotten my son a sentence of 32 years. He was harming no one. His only hope is the appeals process and that has a slim chance when you are dealing with Federal Courts. Please help get this information to the public to help aid in there protection. Information is important to know how to be compliant with the laws. United States Code TITLE 18 - CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE PART I - CRIMES CHAPTER 44 - FIREARMS Section 921. Definitions (a)As used in this chapter - (1) The term ''person'' and the term ''whoever'' include any individual, corporation, company, association, firm, partnership, society, or joint stock company. (2) The term ''interstate or foreign commerce'' includes commerce between any place in a State and any place outside of that State, or within any possession of the United States (not including the Canal Zone) or the District of Columbia, but such term does not include commerce between places within the same State but through any place outside of that State. The term ''State'' includes the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the possessions of the United States (not including the Canal Zone). (3) The term ''firearm'' means (A) any weapon (including a starter gun) which will or is designed to or may readly converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive; (B) the frame or receiver of any such weapon; (C) any firearm muffler or firearm silencer; or (D) any destructive device. Such term does not include an antique firearm. Section 921. Definitions (18) The term ''Secretary'' or ''Secretary of the Treasury'' mean the Secretary of the Treasury or his delegate. (19) The term ''published ordinance'' means a published law of any political subdivision of a State which the Secretary Determines to be relevant to the enforcement of this chapter and which is contained on a list compiled by the Secretary, which list shall be published in the Federal Register, revised annually, and furnished to each licensee under this chapter. (20) The term ''crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year'' does not include - (A) any Federal or State offenses pertaining to antitrust violations, unfair trade practices,restraints of trade, or other similar offenses relating to the regulation of business practices,or (B) any State offense classified by the laws of the State as a misdemeanor and punishable by a term of imprisonment of two years or less. What constitutes a conviction of such a crime shall be determined in accordance with the law of the jurisdiction in which the proceedings were held. Any conviction which has been expunged, or set aside or for which a person has been pardoned or has had civil rights restored shall not be considered a conviction for purposes of this chapter, unless such pardon, expungement, or restoration of civil rights expressly provides that the person may not ship, transport, possess, or receive firearms. United States Code TITLE 18 - CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE PART I - CRIMES CHAPTER 44 - FIREARMS Section 922. Unlawful acts (g)It shall be unlawful for any person - (1) who has been convicted in any court of, a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year; (2) who is a fugitive from justice; (3) who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802)); (4) who has been adjudicated as a mental defective or who has been committed to a mental institution; (5) who, being an alien - (A) is illegally or unlawfully in the United States; or (B) except as provided in subsection (y)(2), has been admitted to the United States under a nonimmigrant visa (as that term is defined in section 101(a)(26) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(26))); (6) who has been discharged from the Armed Forces under dishonorable conditions; who, (7) having been a citizen of the United States, has renounced his citizenship; (8) who is subject to a court order that - (A) was issued after a hearing of which such person received actual notice,and at which such person had an opportunity to participate; (B)restrains such person from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner of such person or child of such intimate partner or person, or engaging in other conduct that would place an intimate partner in reasonable fear of bodily injury to the partner or child; and (C)(i) includes a finding that such person represents a credible threat to the physical safety of such intimate partner or child; or (ii) by its terms explicitly prohibits the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against such intimate partner or child that would reasonably be expected to cause bodily injury; or (9) who has been convicted in any court of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, to ship or transport in interstate or foreign commerce, or possess in or affecting commerce, any firearm or ammunition; or to receive any firearm or ammunition which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce.

brava Chris and all those exposing this story.
june

the headline of this story is a dangerous misrepresentation, and puts the affected communities and activists at risk.

the police board was not 'surrounded', i was there.. we just stood up and walked toward them, they left before we got near them, we did NOT surround them.

i expect this kind of sensationalism from the corporate media... and considering who wrote the story, i guess i expect it here too.

'surround' sounds combative, and frightening, like the protestors are dangerous. actually, it was an act of spontaneous creativity, and it was relatively chill. even the cops were joking about it when it was all over and were relieved that there was no 'threat' from the protestors.

let's get something straight here, we are the ones trying to address the violence, so we are the ones who will create the non-violent strategies that will provide some relief to the people, under an increasingly brutal empire.

this macho posturing puts us at risk, and is not conducive to moving toward police accountability.

don't just automatically applaud everytime someone who self-designates themselves as a 'leader' of the movement talks too much, says inaccurate things, and claims they believe the affected people should be self-determinate and the forward people, but then always seems to be the one on TV.

Actually, I was there too. And we did surround them toward the end, particuarly Phil Cline and corporate counsel Sherri Mecklenberg, although Board President Carney and several other Board members fled after police filed in to form a line between the crowd and the table where the board was sitting. Check out some of the photo links posted to the newswire for confirmation. But this little detail might have been missed, - if you were sitting in the back of that meeting and left your seat only after the bulk of the crowd had moved forward and the 'risk' subsided.

The entire event was nonviolent from beginning to end.

Kudos to the writer for an accurate account of the events.

your exaggeration and lying serves no one.

how can you surround someone who is seated against a wall, and then leaves through the corner exit?

no wonder.... never mind, you're pathetic.

DYBI. Sorry, but to quote a phrase, opinions are like assholes, everybody's got one. Take a gander at some of the photos of this action before you pop off. Or some of the tape that rolled on the corporate press at the top of the hour later that evening. Indeed, when CPD superintendent Cline stood up to leave, and tried to come around the table, he was engulfed by protesters. And it was at this point that the offer to meet with the OPS leadership the following day was tendered to Aaron Patterson, and other protesters.

But you might have missed this, remaining politely in the back and all. Try and stay awake next time.

i don't need to watch tv, because i was there, i was in front and the board and cline left out the corner door... that's how i KNOW what happened. some of us read news, some of us watch news, some of us write about it, and some of us MAKE news.

you are NOT helping by exaggerating the circumstances... you are assisting the CITY who are currently TARGETING activists who, when hurt maimed or KILLED, the city will use bad depictions of events, like the article above to justify their actions to the public.

get off yourself and recognize it is IMPOSSIBLE to surROUND someone who is sitting against a WALL and leave through a corner exit.

to be surrounded, STUPID, the board would have had to have been in the middle of a room with people on ALL SIDES of them, hence the word... surROUND.

go back to sleep!!!

you are more dangerous to us while you are walking around!!!

Maybe you should lay off the libations before coming to a Police Board meeting. Apparently clouds your vision. Cline was surrounded on three sides after leaving his chair and coming around one end of the table. He only left the hall through a corner exit - escorted by police officials - after the offer to meet with OPS was tendered, and the crowd began to withdraw. I'd like to read your santizied account of what happened at this meeting, and enlighten the rest of us who were also in the front. But it doesn't surprise me if you aren't capable of managing that, considering that you're either too stupid or too lazy to look at the photos or tapes of what actually happened.

Here is a link to a photo.. on the right you see protestors, at the end of the table is Cline, on the left you see the sleepy lady (like you, ASLEEP) and some other police board members. Behind them is the WALL, and behind Cline is door by which they left moments after this shot was taken.

they were not surrounded, at ANY point.. Cline was flanked by cops as he set up the meeting before he too left out that back door.

you can try to rewrite history to make yourself look glorious, but we are in the middle of trying to come to some resolution and ease the tension. and you're exaggeration does not help at all. The spastic motor mouth who wrote this article doesn't know any better, so we kind of expect stuff like this and are used to it at this point.

it's much more effective to be realistic and recognize the actual situation, because we are trying to adjust the actual TERMS of the conflict. Injecting extra emotionally charged, and untrue language into the debate is not constructive.

We have the mainstream media who make untrue claims on one side, and now we are seeing a similar pattern in the other direction from our 'comrades'. What is needed is actual, objective Journalism, so people can form decisions and effect change, we do not have that.

again, exaggeration serves no one.. in fact, it hurts the cause you claim to be representing.

why defend that?

chicago.indymedia.org/media/all/display/10733/index.php=