BlogWood: MT Archives

Residents demonstrate in St. Pete

In Pinellas County, the police keep shooting black men dead, and the city of St. Petersburg is pressing ahead with a vigorous defense of their 1996 killing of TyRon Lewis, despite the fact that one of their own high ranking officers says that the officer involved did not have to kill the kid.

Officer Jim Knight shot 18-year-old Lewis three times Oct. 24, 1996, after pulling him over for speeding at 18th Avenue S and 16th Street. The shooting sparked two nights of civil disturbances.

Lewis' mother, Pamela Lewis, filed the wrongful death lawsuit and is seeking undisclosed compensatory damages in excess of $15,000.

On Monday, a jury of three men and three women, one of whom is black, was picked, and openings statements were heard before Judge Horace A. Andrews in St. Petersburg.

Attorneys for Lewis' family will begin calling witnesses today. Expected to testify during the proceedings is police Maj. Cedric Gordon, who believed Knight had plenty of time to remove himself from danger.

The most recent killing happened May 2, and protesters gathered last night to mark both events:

Dozens of police officers in riot gear converged on Midtown and parts of Childs Park late Wednesday to quell a disturbance in which motorists were pelted with rocks and bottles, a car was set on fire and sporadic gunfire was reported.

Five or six people were injured, and four or five people were arrested, police said.

Police blocked the intersection of 34th Street and 15th Avenue S just after 10 p.m. One man reportedly was beaten by a crowd, but the motivation for the violence was unclear.

"The one thing that really concerns all of us is sporadic gunfire," said police spokesman Bill Doniel.

Police were first called about 9:30 p.m. to 18th Avenue S regarding a crowd of 50 to 100 people carrying signs, shouting and marching toward 34th Street.

The International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement in St. Petersburg, an activist group known for its antipolice platform, was demonstrating against the May 2 fatal shooting of Marquell McCullough by two Pinellas deputies.

They compared it with the 1996 police shooting of TyRon Lewis, which sparked two nights of civil disturbances.

A trial is under way in a lawsuit Lewis' mother filed against the city in the death of her son.

An Uhuru spokesman called the violence Wednesday and into the early hours of today a "rebellion" and blamed Mayor Rick Baker for not settling the Lewis lawsuit before trial.

"The people are angry and outraged," said Chimurenga Waller, an Uhuru leader. "The mayor incited this rebellion."

News reports are breathlessly describing a disturbance, but it sounds like residents were just blowing off a little steam. I have no doubt that a few people got ugly, especially once the police made their presence felt, but this was far from a riot, and there may well have been no disturbance at all if not for the incendiary presence of the murderous police.

Also, if not for the Uhuru movement, St. Pete’s black population would be even more marginalized than they are right now. Calling Uhuru an “antipolice” movement is like saying that peace activists “hate the troops”. Uhuru fights abuse and murder carried out by the police against black and other socially powerless groups. Note to St. Pete Times: The International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement has its own web site. The home page shouts “Self-determination is the highest form of Democracy” and the InPDUM platform calls for the following:

1. We Demand National Democratic Rights and Self-Determination for African People in the U.S. and Around the World.

2. We Demand Community Control of the Police in the African Community and the Immediate Withdrawal of the Terroristic Police and Military Forces from the African Community.

3. We Demand Community Control of the Schools and Mandatory African History in Public Schools.

4. We Demand African Community Control of Health Care.

5. We Demand Community Control of Housing.

6. We Demand the Removal of Parasitic Merchants and Slumlords from the African Community.

Perhaps “pro-community” would be a better description than “antipolice”, especially since most white people in St. Pete already quiver in fear at the mere thought of a self-empowered black community.