Copblock Radio EP 129: “Cover-ups and Corruption”
This week on Copblock Radio our hosts were myself (Severin Freeman) from Lehigh Valley Copblock, and Matt Taylor of Carbon County Copblock. We kept the guests to a minimum this week due to having so many stories we wanted to cover. We apologize to everyone who tried to call in– we knew we had a lot of material to cover & didn’t have the ability to take callers.
We started off the show being joined by our first guest, Andrew of Minnesota Copblock. We discussed our usual spiel of police interactions & ideas about activism. We also mentioned what we’re dubbing “The Facebook Scare” in which a woman live-streamed herself being killed by police. The scary part was, at the request of police, Facebook removed the video & deleted her profile. Read more here.
Next up, we were joined by Amanda, also from Minnesota Copblock. We got updates on the occupation of the mayor’s mansion, the arrest of those protesters, and the general corruption in her area. Being that Amanda is a huge fan of the Battosai, we also spoke about the viral video of him pulling over a cop.
After Amanda and Andrew left, we reported on this story. Close to nothing is known on the incident including the name of the officer involved. Initial reports indicate an officer approached Jay Anderson’s car after deeming it “suspicious”. At some point, the officer fired an unknown number of shots into the car, killing him.
Following that story, we spoke about Alton Sterling’s autopsy results being sealed. The public won’t be able to see its contents thanks to two orders issued by federal agencies. The coroner’s office reported Sterling died from multiple gunshot wounds to the back and chest. However, federal authorities will not allow the release of additional information, including the toxicology analysis. No official reasons have been given for the concealment of information from the public, but it is certainly not difficult to guess what they might be.
After our long break, we returned with the story of the “Blue Crew” Campaign to support law enforcement. However, it was discovered that these aren’t your average copsuckers. They are a group of bonifide Neo-Nazis who support the cops. Read more here.
Then, we discussed the story about a Washington, D.C. metro transit authority police officer whom was charged with trying to provide material support to ISIS. This is the first time a law enforcement officer has been charged with an ISIS-related crime.
The last story of the night was a report that two police officers used a golf cart to purposely run down and kill a groundhog during a tournament hosted by an upstate New York police department’s union. It is a clear sign that policing has become a culture of violence. Not only does it invite the worst of humanity into its fold, it turns the decent folks who put on a badge into accomplices – if not creating maniacs out of them directly.
Tune in August 10, 2016 for a new episode of Copblock Radio! We air 10pm EST on LRN.fm or at copblock.org/show. Subscribe to the Youtube channel for alerts when we go live. Download the LRN.fm app to hear our radio feed. As always, remember: Cops are like a box of chocolates, they’ll kill your dog!
