First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Pastor Martin Niemöller

Two nights ago Rayshard Brooks was killed by a Georgia policeman Garrett Rolfe for the crime of sleeping over a hangover in his car. While black. After 40 minutes of polite banter they killed him. Witnesses claimed officers “put on plastic gloves and picked up their shell casings after they killed [Brooks] before rending aid.” And in watching video of the incident, the legal team “counted 2 minutes and 16 seconds before [officers] even checked [Brooks’s] pulse.”

They had came for us. Already. And we did not speak out. Follow my Scout Schultz thread.



And did I mention how important it is to have independent journalism? Were it not for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, all news would be controlled by the State of Georgia, be it through Georgia Tech administration or Georgia State police, and we would have never even known that a student in a moment of mental crisis was killed by police in front of his dorm, to the horror of students watching the killing through dorm windows.

Officer Tyler Beck who killed Scout Schultz won’t face charges

continued from my previous post  (March 12, 2020) 

 
ajc.com : Tech officer who shot, killed student won’t face charges.

Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard has decided not to bring criminal charges against a Georgia Tech police officer who shot and killed a student armed only with a multi-tool.

“[...] all of the available evidence indicates Schultz decided to take his own life by provoking police officers to shoot him,”

Howard said in a statement. Two use-of-force experts contracted by the DA’s office concluded the shooting was justified, Howard said. Attorney Chris Stewart, who represents Schultz’s parents, said the “suicide by cop” defense doesn’t justify the shooting.

“There’s no such thing,” Stewart said. “It’s disappointing to see the DA perpetuate this myth.” 

Anonymous: Scout Schultz was a burning flare maskmagazine.com (Sept 2017)

Continued here (June 13, 2020) 

 
 

Killing of Scout Schultz, 2 years later

(continued from my post of  Sept 20, 2017)

I found nothing new the status of killing of Scout Schultz investigation (wiki) since September. Do not know anyone at Georgia Tech other than Andrea in School of Physics who cares.  Georgia is high even for United States in the number of police homicides. Historically zero in indicting policemen who kill, though in recent years a few especially nasty killing have led to indictments.

Casey Miles interviewed Hallie Lieberman about the death of Scout Schultz and the aftermath: getlively.podbean.com (Media link;  podcastrepublic.net, 18 Oct 2018)

Hallie Lieberman: "The Trigger Effect" (magazine.atavist.com,  Aug 2018)

A tribute from a friend, written as Anonymous: Scout Schultz was a burning flare maskmagazine.com (Sept 2017)

Officer Tyler Beck who killed Schultz (see the ajc.com article of Sept 25, 2017) rejoined Georgia Tech’s police force in December 2017 in an administrative capacity after being placed on paid leave pending the outcome of the investigation.. The investigation was completed March 2020, see my post of March 12, 2020, so I presume officer Beck is again patrolling the campus.

The family has a civil suit against him and GTPD: cbs46.com (Sept 19, 2018); ajc.com (Sept 11, 2019). I do not know whether the prosecutor decision of March 2020 (see above) vacates the suit.

This Oct 11, 2017 ajc.com article appears informative.

PS
 
On Sept 17, 2019, the 2nd anniversary of the murder, Scout's friends pasted stickers around Georgia Tech's campus in their memory.

Technique: One year later memorial and vigil remember Scout (Sept 22, 2018) 

The Contemporaries Project: It’s A Sin To Kill A Mockingbird - Writings on Scout Schultz (Sept 17, 2018)

Technique: Schultz death sparks outrage, promises, change (Sept 17, 2019) The Technique filed an Open Records Act request on Aug. 27 for information on Beck’s employment status. At the time of publishing, Institute’s legal team had not complied with the request.

11alive.com: 'Scout was a literal genius' (Sept 12, 2019)

GoFundMe (March 21, 2019): Help JT sue cops who lied to falsely arrest him

A tribute from Anonymous: Scout Schultz was a burning flare maskmagazine.com (Sept 2017)

And did I mention how important it is to have independent journalism? Were it not for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, all news would be controlled by the State of Georgia, be it through Georgia Tech administration or Georgia State police, and we would have never even known that a student in a moment of mental crises was killed in front of his dorm, to the horror of students watching the killing through dorm windows.

(continued in my post of March 12, 2020)

Killing of Scout Schultz

On September 16, 2017, Scout Schultz, a 21-year-old student of the Georgia Institute of Technology, was shot once and killed by Tyler Beck, an officer of the Georgia Tech Police Department. Schultz was carrying a multitool and walked towards the police, asking them to shoot.

On Sep 20, 2017 a friend from Mexico wrote

I read about the murder at Georgia Tech and saw the video. They shot the person while SO FAR away because of holding a knife.

A knife? That's the police version.

The young man, Georgia Tech student Scout Schultz, had a suicidal episode, and called the police on 911 so they would come and kill him. In his hand he had a small multipurpose tool from Home Depot, with no blade extended. He was an all-A student, with no violent past of any kind. It took all of several minutes of warnings by four policemen surrounding him to drop that object before he was executed from a few yards distance, in front of a dormitory full of students watching the execution.A significant fraction of people killed by the militarized local police forces in US are killed for suffering from mental disorders, rather than talked to and provided medical care.

The only reason why this killing got some press coverage is that the all-A student happened to also be a president of the Georgia Tech Pride Alliance, and that is the subpopulation of students most exposed to hate, bullying, prejudice and suicide. They are essentially the only activists on US campuses. Most of the students are uninformed sheep, fearful about their own futures and student debts, with no social moral compass beyond that.

The Pride Alliance organized the vigil. 500 people came, out of some 35000 people who are either students or work on this campus. Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America were there (join them or give them money, they are amazing). I saw no colleagues or administrators. It was a moving and somber time to reflect together in the quiet of a beautiful summer night.

Afterwards, there was a debate between a very articulate and emotionally deeply moved person who blamed the murder on the systemic causes, and who demanded that the institution provide better psychiatric counseling for its students, and a group that blamed the campus police for the murder. Some 50 protesters then went to trash the campus police parking lot. Three were arrested and their mugshots published in a local newspaper - one is a physics student, the two others are not associated with Georgia Tech. Now, in the reign of @GOP, as in the Freedom Summer of 1964, the institution's president was not at the vigil, he stood by the police. Police was not at the vigil either, and has not apologized to the traumatized parents. Officer Tyler Beck, who murdered Scout, said that he "regrets the situation he was faced with" but not pulling the trigger. Were the victim not a member of Pride Alliance, or were the victim a young black man walking, there would have been no vigil at all. Presidents of state universities are appointed by state boards of regents, which in turn consist mostly of rich white men with no educational expertise, political donors appointed by state governors.

I do not blame the police. Today the police are trained to deal with "active shooters." If they are not white males, they are called "terrorists." Rural districts state legislators, elected with the NRA and gun manufacturers' money, ram down the throats of the urban and university populations "conceal carry" laws, which allow any of the 300 million citizens of United States to roam our campuses armed. Sandy Hook massacre had shown that the country is beyond repair. Thus, in theory (very few students are armed) the police runs real risks in confronting the citizenry, and shoots to kill. With impunity - of thousand of so police killings per year, virtually none are prosecuted.

It's the way a slide into fascism works. The economic issues of vast income inequalities are real, but the response is driven by the unenlightened greed of the few, who divide and disfranchise the poor by fanning racism, xenophobia and fear. The have not read their Orwell, and do not care about where this ends. They are ethical morons.

See my next post, March 10, 2019.