Attorney Michael Coard says police brutality against black people is worst today than it ever was.
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“The greatest threat to a civilized society is an unchecked police force,” said Philadelphia-based attorney Michael Coard. Surrounded by white male police officers Coard yelled “F the police,” referring to his grassroots effort, Film the Police.
Standing in front of the Office of the District Attorney, Coard praised the power of video for its ability to capture injustices in real time and reminded the public that’s its legal to record the police.
“Just think… what happened to Eric Garner in New York… if somebody hadn’t videotaped that… they would’ve said this big, threatening, black man attacked five cops; but we saw what happened … we gotta continue to fight, we gotta continue to protest, we gotta continue to demonstrate.”
This month marks the 50th anniversary of the famous 1964 riots against police brutality in cities like Harlem, Philadelphia and Rochester. But despite how bad things were for black men back then, Coard believes 2014 is the worst it’s ever been.
“Police brutality is worst today than it ever was. Back in the day the police could beat you, stomp you, kill you… and they had plausible deniability. They could say you pulled a gun … nobody saw it.They could say you pulled a knife … nobody saw it. But we see the cops on video. We see them shooting us down, killing us down and nobody does anything to stop it.”
When asked if he would consider a run for District Attorney, Coard said “I ain’t running for nothing but my life and the lives of my people.”
Thanks for reading. Until next time, I’m Flood the Drummer® & I’m Drumming for JUSTICE!™
One other note …. This gentleman was lucky in that they could have taken what he said as potentially inciting a riot. I’ve seen it happen.
I downloaded the app ….. I hope others do as well. Enough is enough. “Grass root” groups is what it will take to change things and if there were grass root groups started in each major city, I could see things changing. But it’s sad that there are so many good cops that will suffer because of the jerks. And I hope people will not judge all cops because of the few. I’ve had far more good encounters then bad. The bad cops NEED to be brought to justice. When I was arrested for a suspended licence, I informed the… Read more »