{"id":179435,"date":"2018-02-09T19:49:00","date_gmt":"2018-02-10T00:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2018\/02\/09\/why-am-i-not-surprised\/"},"modified":"2018-02-09T19:49:00","modified_gmt":"2018-02-10T00:49:00","slug":"why-am-i-not-surprised","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2018\/02\/09\/why-am-i-not-surprised\/","title":{"rendered":"Why am I Not Surprised?"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the things that seems to be constant in the United States is that when there is a potential conflict between Nazis and counter-protesters, the police will favor the Nazis, see the case of protests in Sacramento, California<\/a>:<\/p>\n

California<\/a> police investigating a violent white nationalist event worked with white supremacists in an effort to identify counter-protesters and sought the prosecution of activists with \u201canti-racist\u201d beliefs, court documents show. <\/p>\n

The records, which also showed officers expressing sympathy with white supremacists and trying to protect a neo-Nazi organizer\u2019s identity, were included in a court briefing from three anti-fascist activists who were charged with felonies<\/a> after protesting at a Sacramento rally<\/a>. The defendants were urging a judge to dismiss their case and accused California police and prosecutors of a \u201ccover-up and collusion with the fascists\u201d. <\/p>\n

Defense lawyers said the case at the state capital offers the latest example of US law enforcement appearing to align with neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups while targeting anti-fascist activists and Donald Trump protesters<\/a> after violent clashes. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is shocking and really angering to see the level of collusion and the amount to which the police covered up for the Nazis,\u201d said Yvette Felarca, a Berkeley teacher and anti-fascist organizer charged with assault and rioting<\/a> after participating in the June 2016 Sacramento rally, where she said she was stabbed and bludgeoned in the head. \u201cThe people who were victimized by the Nazis were then victimized by the police and the district attorneys.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n

Some California highway patrol (CHP) investigation records, however, raise questions about the police\u2019s investigative tactics and communication with the TWP.<\/p>\n

Felarca\u2019s attorneys obtained numerous examples of CHP officers working directly with the TWP, often treating the white nationalist group as victims and the anti-fascists as suspects. <\/p>\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n

In one phone call with Doug McCormack, identified by police as the TWP affiliate who acquired the permit for the Sacramento rally, CHP investigator Donovan Ayres warned him that police might have to release his name in response to a public records requests. The officer said he would try to protect McCormack.<\/p>\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n

The officer\u2019s write-up about an African American anti-fascist activist included a photo of him at the hospital after the rally and noted that he had been stabbed in the abdomen, chest and hand.<\/p>\n

Ayres, however, treated the protester like a suspect in the investigation. The police investigator recommended the man be charged with 11 offenses, including disturbing the peace, conspiracy, assault, unlawful assembly and wearing a mask to evade police.<\/p>\n

As evidence, Ayres provided Facebook photos of the man holding up his fist<\/span><\/b>. The officer wrote that the man\u2019s \u201cBlack Power salute\u201d and his \u201csupport for anti-racist activism\u201d demonstrated his \u201cintent and motivation to violate the civil rights\u201d of the neo-Nazi group<\/span><\/b>. He was ultimately not charged.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(emphasis mine<\/i>)<\/p>\n

Seriously, This is not a case of a few bad apples. The whole damn orchard is rotten.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the things that seems to be constant in the United States is that when there is a potential conflict between Nazis and counter-protesters, the police will favor the Nazis, see the case of protests in Sacramento, California: California police investigating a violent white nationalist event worked with white supremacists in an effort to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[506,368,364,526,398],"class_list":["post-179435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-bigotry","tag-corruption","tag-evil","tag-law-enforcement-misconduct","tag-racism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179435"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179435\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}