Portside

While ‘assigned’ to the US military base at Guantánamo Bay, detective Richard Zuley led one of the most brutal interrogations ever conducted at the prison. ‘I’ve never seen anyone stoop to these levels,’ a former Marine Corps prosecutor said. But Benita Johnson, Andre Griggs, Lathierial Boyd and Lee Harris describe Zuley using familiar techniques on them at Chicago police precincts.

The boys and girls teams from Mendocino (CA) High School had worn the shirts, which bear a slogan that has become a rallying cry in nationwide protests against police killings of unarmed black men, before previous games. But the principal and athletic director at Fort Bragg High School, the tournament host, decided that the teams could not play in the tournament unless they agreed not to wear the shirts during it.

Hundreds of Public Defenders from Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, Santa Clara and Solano counties held unprecedented Black Lives Matter protests at their county courthouses December 18th. They demanded body cameras for officers; the investigation of police-involved shootings by outside agencies, not District Attorneys; and no grand juries for police-involved shootings. “We need those three things,”Alameda County Public Defender Brendon Woods said.

The Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases are examples of how prosecutors manipulate the grand jury process. Criminal grand juries, with their secrecy, lack of oversight, and disregard for the rules of evidence, serve no useful purpose and make a mockery of justice. If we abolish criminal grand juries, at least the deaths of Brown and Garner will not have been in vain.

On December 4, 1969, Chicago police raided Hampton’s apartment and shot and killed him in his bed. He was just 21 years old. Black Panther leader Mark Clark was also killed in the raid. Authorities claimed the Panthers had opened fire on the police who were there to serve a search warrant for weapons, evidence later emerged that told a very different story: the FBI, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and the Chicago police conspired to assassinate Fred Hampton.

“If we can’t get an indictment in this case, we can’t get an indictment in any case where a police officer kills a Black man. If Ferguson wasn’t a wake up call, this has to be."

With a new generation of anti-racist leaders emerging, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor looks at how the movement growing out of Ferguson can confront police violence.

An exclusive Truthout investigation - released today on a day of national protest against police brutality - reveals that the City of Chicago fails to recognize, let alone sanction, police guilty of repeated episodes of violence, including the shooting deaths of unarmed civilians.

"100% of the profits from 'Marching On Ferguson' will support defending the protestors in the Ferguson area who have faced attacks, wrongful arrest, and violence from the police," Tom Morello says. "I've witnessed countless incidents of racially motivated police brutality in my lifetime and it's time to say 'Enough!' " -- Hear the song, buy the song, here's the lyrics.

The number of police department reviews the Justice Department has initiated under Holder for possible constitutional violations is twice that of any of his predecessors. At least 34 other departments are under investigation for alleged civil rights violations.