Summary of October 22, 2006 Event In San Jose, CA

Greetings,

This is a brief summary of our October 22nd event in San Jose.

We had a small indoor event in San Jose. 15 people total came. Our event was from 4:00pm - 8:30pm. We began our program showing the DVD documentary, "System Failure: Fighting to Survive in California's Youth Prisons". 

We then read the Mission Statement of October 22nd Coalition and afterwards the Call for October 22nd 2006. We had printed out numerous copies of the newest addition booklet "Stolen Lives killed by Law Enforcement" 2002 - 2006. We read out loud the first 3 1/2 pages, until the year 2001 and High Point, North Carolina, Gilbert Alexander Barber. 

Two families arrived who had lost their loved ones to the cops. 

Anthony, 22, murdered by San Jose cops in 1999:

We asked Gwendolyn to speak first. Her son Anthony was killed by SJPD in 1999. The cops who killed her son Anthony, charged her other son Harlan with the murder, framed him up on bogus charges and false evidence and he is now incarcerated in Soledad prison. It was the first time that Gwendolyn told  her story publicly. She was very brave and told us how the cops refused to let her know where her son was and didn't let  her know that her son was dead. She told us that it took her a long time to get any of the records surrounding her son's death and there are still reports that she hasn't received. She still does not know what happened that night and how her son was killed. She also told us how the D.A. and the police framed up her son Harlan and that his trial was such a farce that she walked out of the courtroom out of the frustration of being powerless to defend her son against the lies being told in the courtroom against him. She is staying strong and wants to be there for others who have suffered similar incidences of excessive use of force by the police. She is also interested in finding people who go to Soledad prison so that she too can visit her son.

Eric Kleemeyer, murdered by Santa Clara cops on 4th January 2005:

Katrina and John, the cousin and uncle of Eric Kleemeyer also participated with us. They both told of the events surrounding the death of Eric Kleemeyer, who was murdered in cold blood by the Santa Clara Police Department. Eric was illegally chased by the police to his mother's house, was surrounded by police cars as he approached his mothers house and then the cops proceeded to empty their guns into Eric, who was sitting in his car unarmed. The cops prevented his mother from going to him and closed off the scene as best they could so that people couldn't see what had happened. The cops were threatening the family not to take pictures with their cell phones. Many family members have been followed by the cops since and John is continuously being harassed and threatened by the police. The Santa Clara cops have come into his house several times with their weapons drawn and the safety off, pointing their guns at him, even though he has not broken any laws and they always claim they are looking for another man named John. John has been illegally detained by the cops and has spent time in jail on bogus charges a few times already. The last time the Santa Clara cops entered his home they threatened his life. John continues to gather the real evidence of the night that his nephew Eric Kleemeyer was murdered by the Santa Clara cops. He needs our continued support to get the truth out about how Eric was murdered and also he needs us to be aware of his situation.

De Anza 8:

Brian Helme spoke about his experience of doing civil disobedience at DeAnza and getting arrested. Brian and others present went into detail about what happened on the DeAnza campus when hundreds of people from various political groups and students came to DeAnza to protest against Colin Powell speaking on the campus in November 2005. A number of people spoke about how the protesters were treated, they talked about the discriminatory policies under affect, which people were arrested and how they were treated. Of the 8 people arrested at DeAnza, all were youth and 7 were a mixture of being African descent and/or Muslim. Brian was the only European descent youth arrested. It was a peaceful protest and the cops were in full riot gear and called it a riot. All the people arrested were charged with various bogus charges, all were charged with disturbing the peace, one of the people at our meeting made the accurate comment, that they were arrested for disturbing the war. Eventually the charges were reduced for all the arrestees and it never went to trial for any of them.

East Side Six:

Both Brian, Carlos and others present told of the events regarding the East Side Six. Carlos Padilla also spoke about growing up Chicano in San Jose. On May 5th 2006, the Peninsula Anarchist Collective, the Black Berets and No Mas organized together to do copwatch at the corner of King Rd. and Story. It is a typical evening of outright racism and police abuse and this year there was a plan to document it. SJPD true to their behavior used excessive force and targeted specific youth to arrest, charging them with bogus charges. This is ongoing, 5 of the people are still before trial. They still need community support. Anyone interested in supporting the East Side 6, please email: Eastside6defence@hushmail.com 

We also talked about other cases of police abuse and excessive use of force that we know about. It is clear that the cops are out of control in San Jose and other cities. 

It was a good opportunity to create a feeling of community among us, to listen to each others experiences with the cops and how the system is corrupt to its core. It was clear to us that there is no justice in this system. It was also clear that we need to be there for each other.

in solidarity

Donna