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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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Los Angeles County has agreed to pay the sum of $800,000 to the parent of kids who were taken to custody from home without a warrant by social workers and Sheriff’s deputy.

The payment is meant to settle a civil right violation lawsuit that claimed that the kids were unlawfully taken away from their parent’s residence at San Gabriel Valley about four years ago. The state kept the children for four months.

The lawsuit was filed by the parents of the two kids who believe that it was a case of a violation of their civil rights.

The parents, Mirtha Lopez and Sebastian Xoss leveled accusation against the county of unlawful, unreasonable and baseless removal of their 8 year old son and 6 year old daughter on February 10, 2011 from a hotel where they staying at the time of the event. According to the lawsuit, they went to the hotel in a bid to escape suspected violation of their daughter by an abuser who is a close relation of Lopez.

The lawsuit also states that the social workers at the Department of children and family services claimed that the parents created an endangering and detrimental home environment for the children. By falling short of their responsibility for providing immunizations and nourishing food for their children. They went on to accuse Xoss of having an untreated mental health problem that pose a threat to the children’s safety.

According to the case summary as prepared by the counsel to the country, staff from the Sheriff’s department’s social workers and Special Victims Bureau was responding to a complaint of abuse. It is, however, unclear who lodged the report.

The parents on their part denied the allegations claiming that they were fabricated. They said that they were raising their children in an academically, emotionally, loving, and financially supporting home. They also had letters from their doctors as proof that they were exempted from immunizing their children on the basis of their religious belief.

The parents made accusations in their lawsuit against the social workers and deputy that they entered their hotel room without having a search warrant to do so. The lawsuit reveals that the deputy mocked at the parents for not immunizing their children because of their religious inclination and also teaching them at home without sending them to school.

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Florida International University [FIU] / Miami, Florida

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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.

Photo Credit: Facebook

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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Recently, a federal judge ruled that the tactics used by police in order to control Ferguson protesters are unconstitutional. U.S District Judge asked the police not to use tear gas on protesters and ordered the law enforcement agencies to halt the “5 second rule.” This rule demands that protesters should keep moving instead of standing still. However, the order comes to stop enforcing such requirements because it violates constitutional rights of the protesters.

Photo Credit: US Courts

Catherine Perry, U.S District Judge issued an injunction stopping the practice of keep moving and standing still on sidewalks. No doubt, the injunction is a great win for law-abiding and peaceful protesters who believe in rule of law. According to Perry’s injunction, police violated the free speech rights as well as due process rights. Moreover, the injunction does not stop the police from controlling or protecting crowd against violence using lawful means. It no longer limits the abilities of officers in enforcing state’s laws.

Some of protesters filed the lawsuit requesting to restrict the police from using tear gas and excessive forces during demonstrations. Perry declared that the citizens have a constitutional right to gather in wake of tragic death of Michael Brown Jr. Nevertheless, they do not have any right to harm other citizens or police officers. The police should perform their duties and responsibilities efficiently as nothing in this injunction prevent them in doing so.

Police has been using varying tactics to control the crowd after the officer Darren Wilson shot and killed Michael Brown Jr. Some police officers started to instruct protesters that they cannot stand still for more than 5 seconds and should keep moving all times. Legal observers quickly refused to accept this “5 second rule” and clearly state that it tends to enhance community tension. Police tried to undermine the protester’s rights to demonstrate. However, on constitutional grounds, the law enforcement officials failed the police’s attempt in carrying out such a practice.

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