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The U.S. "justice" system is a tragic joke,
and everyone knows it.
Police abuse, and sometimes kill, innocent persons
at will. Cops plant evidence, they lie, they coerce
confessions and they commit perjury. Many are,
simply, criminals.
Prosecutors suborn perjury. They introduce "evidence"
they know is false, they fail to disclose and try to
suppress exculpatory evidence and they knowingly
prosecute innocent people.
The laws against some drugs are primarily a means
to give the cops an open-ended warrant for search
and seizure and a mechanism to keep poor people,
young people and especially poor, young *black*
people fearful, off-balance and easy to control.
Criminal court judges, for the most part, are in
collusion with the cops and prosecutors and many
wouldn't know justice if God came down from Heaven
and handed it to them on a golden platter.
The result is that almost one in four (23 percent)
black men in the age group 20-29 is either in prison,
jail, on probation, or parole on any given day (four
times that of whites). The number of young black men
under the control of the criminal justice system
is greater than the total number of black men of all
ages enrolled in college as of 1996.
That the system is a blunt weapon for the continued
oppression of black people -- and, in a larger sense,
poor people -- is so obvious it needs no further
assertion.
The prisons are overflowing with people who have
never harmed a soul, and uncounted thousands
who are innocent of the crimes they were convicted
of.
The system must be brought down. It must be
strangled, clogged and made so unworkable that it
collapses under its own corrupt weight. Once the
system grinds to a halt, the powers-that-be will
panic, the legislators will be forced to act and the
laws will change.
Accomplishing this may not be as difficult as it
sounds. What it will take is to educate young people
-- and especially young BLACK people -- to follow a
few simple rules when dealing with the authorities.
The rules should be posted in foot-high letters on
billboards in every city. They should be scrawled as
graffiti on every ghetto wall. They should be taped
to lockers in schools and carved into police-cell
walls and posted all over the Internet. They should
be set to a beat and turned into a hip-hop song.
They should be seen wherever people who are the
system's favourite targets gather.
If everyone followed the rules to the letter, the
system would stumble to a halt under its own ponderous
weight. And then, either the laws would change in
an attempt to eliminate injustice, or the system would
be forced to cast off its mask and reveal the monster
police state lurking underneath.
If that happens, there can be only one response, and
that's to take it to the streets, dismantle the
mother@$#*er and start afresh.
The rules fall into two categories: Stymie the Cops,
and Get Your Rights -- ALL Your Rights.
You've waited long enough. Here are
THE RULES OF RESISTANCE
NEVER tell the police anything the law doesn't require
you to tell.
(According to a disastrous U.S. Supreme Court
decision in June 2004, that means your name
only [unless you're driving a car].
Practice these words for all other cop
questions: "I'd rather not say.")
NEVER consent to a search of your person, your
vehicle, your possessions or your residence.
(Insist they get a warrant. If they
search without one, they generally can't
use as evidence whatever they might find.)
NEVER confess. To anything. Never admit to anything.
(If arrested, say "I want to speak to a
lawyer." Say nothing until you have. Never
believe the cops when they tell you things
will "go easier with you" if you give a
statement, turn in your partner or point them
towards evidence. This is the biggest lie
cops tell, everyone knows it and yet, dumb
mother@$#*ers fall for it every day. Don't
be a dumb mother@$#*er.)
NEVER discuss your case with cellmates or others
in or out of jail.
(Assume everyone you meet in jail is a
police informant. Many of them are.)
NEVER plea bargain.
ALWAYS demand a lawyer.
(From the moment you are arrested,
tell the cops you want to speak to a lawyer.
At the police station, tell everyone you
come into contact with that you want a
lawyer. Don't talk to the cops until you've
spoken with a lawyer.)
ALWAYS plead not guilty.
(Even if you're guilty as hell. Make them
prove it. Often, they won't be able to
if you don't help them.)
ALWAYS demand a full jury trial.
(Use the rights you have. Challenge
jurors. Drag out the process. Make it
as expensive as possible for the State.)
ALWAYS appeal, if you are convicted.
ALWAYS pass on these rules to everyone you know.
===
There they are. Ten simple rules that hold awesome
power.
Skeptical? Good. But think about it.
Can you imagine what the impact would be on the
system if every single mother's son picked
up by the cops refused to co-operate? Refused to
tell them where he threw the dope, declined to
identify the other dudes who were hanging out
on the street corner, withheld permission for a
search, demanded a lawyer, refused to confess or
make a deal and insisted on a trial, complete with a
jury of his peers? Do you think the system could
withstand that for long?
It could not. The system sustains itself only because
it is a revolving door into which the vast majority of
its victims are sucked into the vicious vortex of
arrest, bargain, confession, guilty plea, prison.
Kind of like a giant garbage disposal unit.
But there are not enough public defenders
to represent even a small percentage of charged
persons if *everyone* demanded a lawyer and pleaded
not guilty, not enough prosecutors to prosecute them,
not enough courtrooms to try them in and not enough
judges to fall asleep during their trials. Just
finding enough people to sit on the vastly increased
number of juries that would be required would throttle
the system into paralysis.
And consider the effects on the police, if they knew
that every single sonofa#@&@
they charged would
eventually face them in court, demanding to see their
evidence, with a lawyer at their side to challenge
their every lie.
The costs of running the system would rise
astronomically. It could not be sustained. Things
would change. And change is good.
So here they are again. The rules. Pass them on.
Post them. Give them to your friends.
Think about it -- revolution without firing a shot.
You have nothing to lose except the gun in your
back.
THE RULES OF RESISTANCE
NEVER tell the police anything.
NEVER consent to a search.
NEVER confess.
NEVER discuss your case with others.
NEVER plea bargain.
ALWAYS demand a lawyer.
ALWAYS plead not guilty.
ALWAYS demand a full jury trial.
ALWAYS appeal, if you are convicted.
ALWAYS pass on these rules.
--
Where you find the laws most numerous, there you will find al
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Ivan Gowch wrote:
The U.S. "justice" system is a tragic joke,
and everyone knows it.
Police abuse, and sometimes kill, innocent persons
at will. Cops plant evidence, they lie, they coerce
confessions and they commit perjury. Many are,
simply, criminals.
Police officers are people just like you and I. Yes some of them cause
harm to us, but Many more of them just go out
there and try to do the best that they can to help you and your family
Unlike you they go out there to try to make a difference. Think about
this when an officer goes to work he has to put on
a bullet resistance vest just because of the uniform he/she wears. When
was the last time your liberal ass had to put on
a vest to simply go to work.
The laws against some drugs are primarily a means
to give the cops an open-ended warrant for search
and seizure and a mechanism to keep poor people,
young people and especially poor, young *black*
people fearful, off-balance and easy to control.
Yes because the laws are different for different races! Have you ever
read the Constitution of the United States? Everyone is entitled to the
same protections under the law. Which also means that everyone is
required to adhere to the law. I invite you to attended one of the
community meetings that occur in the drug plagued areas. They say that
the police are not doing enough. They just want the people dealing the
drugs out. They see what the police are doing they say that yes the
police arrest the people out there but then someone else just appears to
take his spot. There is so much violence out there caused by drugs and
their sale.
Criminal court judges, for the most part, are in
collusion with the cops and prosecutors and many
wouldn't know justice if God came down from Heaven
and handed it to them on a golden platter.
I bet you have never spent very much time in a court room ever. Being a
community volunteer in Chicago I have visited the courts and have seen
judges do nothing but throw cases out. I spoke to the states attorney
and they say that she couldn't see any reason why the judge threw the
case out, everything was done according to the law.
The result is that almost one in four (23 percent)
black men in the age group 20-29 is either in prison,
jail, on probation, or parole on any given day (four
times that of whites). The number of young black men
under the control of the criminal justice system
is greater than the total number of black men of all
ages enrolled in college as of 1996.
That the system is a blunt weapon for the continued
oppression of black people -- and, in a larger sense,
poor people -- is so obvious it needs no further
assertion.
Yes when my cousin was raped by a black man he was innocent. It was just
the system oppressing him. Get real! I'm not saying that there are miss
carriages of justice but simply pointing to the amount of black men in
jail does not support any of your arguments. I would like to hear how
many blacks were wrongly convicted as appose to whites.
The prisons are overflowing with people who have
never harmed a soul, and uncounted thousands
who are innocent of the crimes they were convicted
of.
I invite you to visit one of the communities that are clogged with drug
dealers on the corner. I invite you to spend a night in one of the
houses in that area and I want you tell tell me over the gunfire that
they are not hurting anyone. Drugs are not a victim less crime, it ruins
families, neighborhoods, and cities.
THE RULES OF RESISTANCE
NEVER tell the police anything the law doesn't require
you to tell.
I hope you are never a victim of a crime. I think there should be a law
passed that allows the authorizes can attach a note to all your phones.
It would put a note of your opinions when you call 911 they know how
they should help you.
(According to a disastrous U.S. Supreme Court
decision in June 2004, that means your name
only [unless you're driving a car].
Practice these words for all other cop
questions: "I'd rather not say.")
NEVER consent to a search of your person, your
vehicle, your possessions or your residence.
(Insist they get a warrant. If they
search without one, they generally can't
use as evidence whatever they might find.)
NEVER confess. To anything. Never admit to anything.
(If arrested, say "I want to speak to a
lawyer." Say nothing until you have. Never
believe the cops when they tell you things
will "go easier with you" if you give a
statement, turn in your partner or point them
towards evidence. This is the biggest lie
cops tell, everyone knows it and yet, dumb
mother@$#*ers fall for it every day. Don't
be a dumb mother@$#*er.)
NEVER discuss your case with cellmates or others
in or out of jail.
(Assume everyone you meet in jail is a
police informant. Many of them are.)
NEVER plea bargain.
Good don't that way you can be a guest of the corrections department for
longer. IT will keep you away from me for longer.
ALWAYS demand a lawyer.
(From the moment you are arrested,
tell the cops you want to speak to a lawyer.
At the police station, tell everyone you
come into contact with that you want a
lawyer. Don't talk to the cops until you've
spoken with a lawyer.)
ALWAYS plead not guilty.
(Even if you're guilty as hell. Make them
prove it. Often, they won't be able to
if you don't help them.)
How about this for a fresh idea, if you did something wrong and you know
that you did something wrong why not admit when you get caught? Take
credit where credit is due.
ALWAYS demand a full jury trial.
(Use the rights you have. Challenge
jurors. Drag out the process. Make it
as expensive as possible for the State.)
ALWAYS appeal, if you are convicted.
ALWAYS pass on these rules to everyone you know.
===
There they are. Ten simple rules that hold awesome
power.
Skeptical? Good. But think about it.
Can you imagine what the impact would be on the
system if every single mother's son picked
up by the cops refused to co-operate? Refused to
tell them where he threw the dope, declined to
identify the other dudes who were hanging out
on the street corner, withheld permission for a
search, demanded a lawyer, refused to confess or
make a deal and insisted on a trial, complete with a
jury of his peers? Do you think the system could
withstand that for long?
It could not. The system sustains itself only because
it is a revolving door into which the vast majority of
its victims are sucked into the vicious vortex of
arrest, bargain, confession, guilty plea, prison.
Kind of like a giant garbage disposal unit.
But there are not enough public defenders
to represent even a small percentage of charged
persons if *everyone* demanded a lawyer and pleaded
not guilty, not enough prosecutors to prosecute them,
not enough courtrooms to try them in and
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snip
Drugs are not a victim less crime, it ruins
families, neighborhoods, and cities.
snip
Ivan only thinks that the real victims are those accused of a crime, even
though he or she is guilty.
V
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