The Portland Alliance: January 2015 Speaking Truth to Power Since 1981

Vol. XXXV, Number 1 January 2015

http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/2015/January

Scroll Down: Healthcare, War & Peace, Earth Day-Mayday, Wal-mart, Postal, News Bytes, Immigration, etc.

Martin Luther King
was assassinated by the
United States Government according to the King Family civil trial verdict

“Coretta Scott King: “We have done what we can to reveal the truth, and we now urge you as members of the media, and we call upon elected officials, and other persons of influence to do what they can to share the revelation of this case to the widest possible audience.”

– King Family Press Conference, Dec. 9, 1999.

Dr. Martin Luther King’s family and personal friend/attorney, William F. Pepper, won a civil trial that found US government agencies guilty of assassination/wrongful death. The 1999 trial, King Family versus Jowers and Other Unknown Co-Conspirators, is the only trial ever conducted on the assassination of Dr. King:

the rest of the story: http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/MartinLutherKing

Remember Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

King sought workers’ justice and dignity
more information: http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/mlk

The rise of the #BlackLivesMatter movement
Chicagoans take the streets to declare that Black Lives Matter

The inspiring resistance in the streets of Ferguson has gone national since last August. In a document written for discussion–and finished before the shootings of two NYPD offers faced activists with a right-wing backlash–Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylorexplains the background for this upsurge and analyzes the movement that has taken new shape over the last months of the year. Here, we print excerpts from that document, edited for general publication.

Chicagoans take the streets to declare that Black Lives Matter
A MOVEMENT has erupted against police brutality and shaken U.S. society to its core.
checkout the rest of the story here:

http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/socialistworker

It’s Not Just the Cops

Public defenders know that the trouble with our justice system extends far beyond abusive policing

by Jonathan Rapping

One has to admire the way we, as a country, have paid tribute to the lives of Rafael Ramos and Wenijan Liu, the two New York police officers shot to death while sitting in their police cruiser. We have rallied to support their families across ideological lines, demanding that they be remembered with dignity and honor.

But, juxtaposed against continued protests over police mistreatment of black men, they also help to highlight the fact that other lives are not valued at all.

Michael Brown was left dead in the street for four hours after being shot by a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer. Eric Garner lay dying on a sidewalk after being choked in Staten Island, surrounded by the NYPD police officers who exhibited no sense of urgency to help him. Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy, was playing with a toy gun when he was shot dead less than two minutes after being confronted by a Cleveland police officer.

Rather than unifying in similar grief over these deaths, news outlets helped to justify the killings by dehumanizing the victims

Vol. XXXV, Number 1 January 2015

http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/2015/January