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Washington, DC

The First Amendment reads as such: “The First Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble, or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances”
A federal court in Pennsylvania now wants to rule that filming our public officials, with regards to the police in the following two cases, is not protected by the constitution. I cry BS.
In two separate events, involving two completely separated and unrelated parties, two individuals were arrested. Their crime? Filming the police. Not in an act of terrorism, not even in an act of anger. The first was Richard Fields, a student at Temple University, stopped to capture a large group of police outside a house party. He decided to commemorate the incident with a photo. In the second instance, Amanda Geraci, who is a legal observer with CopWatch Berkeley, was at a large protest against fracking when she was arrested for filming another protester being arrested.

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It matters not if a person is physically speaking in praise or challenging the police, as the 1st amendment protects silent gathering of information to be used in the future for publication.
In the end, it matters not if the ruling is overturned, though it should be as the police generally tape anyone they pull over, but it should serve to remind us that our free hearts and minds are no longer so. Our cost of liberty is eternal vigilance. We need to stay strong and let our congress and senate create our path to liberation. It is at this point, more than ever before, that we stand up for those ideals which we feel are right and just. Our communities need to band together and organize active cop and politician-watching campaigns. They need to be held accountable remain transparent. As a people, we also need to remain strong and keep or morals, principles, and ethics intact. If we remain strong in these two cases, we are telling the world of judges just what should be banned as unconstitutional. We should not allow anyone or anything to take away the freedoms that we have fought so hard to get

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A campaign to raise funds for North Charleston, South Carolina police officer Michael T. Slager, who was charged with murder in the shooting death of an unarmed black man during a routine stop, has been blocked by crowd funding site GoFundMe.

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The release of a cell phone video on Tuesday shed new light on the death of Walter Scott, a 50-year-old father of four who was gunned down on Saturday. Slager was fired from the North Charleston Police Department on Wednesday, and the chief of the department said he was sickened after viewing the video of the shooting.

As protesters gathered outside the North Charleston City Hall calling for justice for Scott, others attempted to organize support for Slager in the form of an online crowd-funding initiative — even as the local police association decided not to provide funding for his legal defense.

In the video, Slager, 33, is clearly seen shooting Scott in the back eight times while he runs in the opposite direction. According to police reports, Scott was stopped because of a broken brake light.
“I have watched the video and I was sickened by what I saw. I have not watched it since,” Police Chief Eddie Driggers said Wednesday during a press briefing on Wednesday.

“It is a sad day for us all when a police officer makes what appears to be a very bad decision that resulted in an unnecessary death,” Alphin said. “The swift decision to charge the officer demonstrates that law enforcement will not tolerate the tarnishing of the badge and oath we all take so seriously,” read a statement from the group.

A Twitter account associated with the attempted fundraiser, dedicated to raising money to offset Slager’s forthcoming legal costs, noted that GoFundMe rejected the campaign and directed people to a similar fundraiser on Indiegogo. It is unclear who is behind the campaign or whether funds were ever raised.

The page carried the following message:

We’re campaigning to show our Support for Officer Michael T. Slager! We believe in all of our LEOs and want to publicly support them! Although he may have made missteps in judgment he was protecting the community. Michael is a former Coast Guardsman with two stepchildren and a wife who is expecting a child, served for more than five years with the department without being disciplined. Please help in any way you can. He has served five years with the department without being disciplined.

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The person or people behind the campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

GoFundMe confirmed that the page had been removed, due to a violation of the site’s terms and conditions after it was reviewed by the team.

A spokesperson was unable to comment on which of the site’s terms and conditions were violated or how much money had been raised on the page prior to it being shut down. Yet Slager has been formally charged with murder, a crime that may fall under the site’s ban on “campaigns in defense of formal charges of heinous crimes, including violent, hateful, or sexual acts,” which is explicitly stated on its user page

Some Twitter users called for Indiegogo to follow suit and shut down the campaign on its site.

An Indiegogo representative told that the site “allows anyone, anywhere to fund ideas that matter to them and just like other open platforms — such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter — we don’t judge the content of campaigns as long as they are in compliance with our Terms of Use.”

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The Grand Jury has been questioned by the National Bar Association and deems the evidence before them, which could reach to a supposition that Darren Wilson should not be tried and indicated for the death of Michael Brown caused by shooting. The President of the National Bar Association, Pamela J. Meanes conveys her disappointment with the Grand Jury’s final verdict. She made it clear that charges will be pressed against Officer Darren Wilson by the U.S Department of Justice. She also made it quite clear that the National Bar Association will not rest until justice is served to Michael Brown and his family.

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Another question that is being held against the jury by the National Bar Association is the presence of nine White members against three African-Americans in Ferguson, Missouri, where about sixty-seven percent of the population is composed of African-Americans.

The President of the National Bar Association is calling for all the Ferguson citizens to abide by all the laws and avoid causing unnecessary disturbance in the community as it could lead to injuries, deaths or arrests. President Meanes asked the people of Ferguson, Missouri to stay calm as the National Bar Association will do everything to support the family of Michael Brown. She further said that all the legal plans have been placed into action.

The National Bar Association hosted a number of meetings over the past few months to inform the attendees of the Fourth Amendment constitutional rights, how the behavior of the citizens should be when they get face to face with a police officer and how they must respond in such a situation. Pamela Meanes states that Michael Brown’s death was the last hurdle but a catalyst to fasten the process of such issues being addressed against racial bias and inequality in patrolling and controlling, violence against the members of the minority community and the justice system.

It has been requested by the family of Michael Brown that McCullough, the District Attorney should step aside and a special prosecutor must be assigned to the investigation of this case in order to build the confidence of the community with the assurance that a complete, through and in-depth investigation would be conducted by the grand jury to get to the bottom of the heartbreaking death of 18 year old, Michael Brown in shooting. The final decision of the grand jury consents the fear expressed by many people, months ago that impartial and unfair investigation will be conducted.

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The President Meanes said that the National Bar Association is not ready to resolute about its plea for justice. While the association is dissatisfied and thwarted with the final ruling of the jury, the National Bar Association is supporting peace in every corner all over the world. The only right way to adopt changes in the society is through organizing a systematic change, mobilize and educate. The people of Ferguson, Missouri are being plead and implored by the National Bar Association to fight against any kind of injustice in Ferguson or any part of the country, the United States of America by working side by side, abiding the law.

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