Ademo writes at Copblock regarding his feelings surrounding tomorrow morning’s trial:
I can’t speak for Pete, but for me, the outcome of our trial on Monday doesn’t matter – we’ve succeed at making our point. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to go to jail (who does?) but my conscious is clear. I know without a doubt that Pete and I didn’t harm anyone (though one officer claims he was ‘scratched’ when arresting us – yep, a scratch – lock us up now!) nor did we damage anyone’s property.
To me, we’ve already “won” (for lack of a better word) by making an impact. We’ve personally met 100?s of people here and brought the issues of police accountability to the streets of Greenfield without the local paper, city officials or other major forms of distributing information. Instead, we’ve – with on the ground activism and outreach – distributed thousands of fliers, DVD’s, business cards and shown people how effective (and scared) a camera is when interacting with police, especially when they’re doing (or have done) wrong.
Folks in the downtown area of Greenfield are consistently stopping Pete, Beau and myself to thank us for highlighting the our issue here. Several have gotten, or are talking about getting, cameras of their own, with plans of using them for police encounters in the future. Others have continued the Robing Hooding that we introduced them to on our last visit to the area. Even a current Greenfield Police Officer bought one of our shirts and said, “You’re doing valuable work.”
Everything I’ve done the last year inside of Greenfield has been for education. To show others how hypocritical and unjust the ‘justice’ system is. How the system is stacked against you from the moment you start, the police, district attorney and judge are all paid for by the state. Not only do they work together but they’re most likely friends (in some form) like most people who work together. They’re more likely to do favors for one another than you.
Yet, it’s a whole new game (for them) when the actions are clear as day on video. When the folks harmed (like Pete and I) start asking more questions, take steps to highlight the wrong doing and refuse nearly all of their demands and deals. It also doesn’t hurt to have a great group of supporters (those who still believe in personal freedom) who share our story/videos, send messages to those involved and even partake in call floods on our behalf. It’s those actions that cause those prosecuting us to worry, which leads me to the video below. A few days ago we posted a video about one tactic we use – making fake fliers (like we did in Mississippi) – and the very next day the chief of police ordered them taken down (he could have been pissed about the summons to court he that day as well, oops). Proving that the camera and public opinion scare the government agent to death, or atleast into acting like a total tyrant.
A big thanks to everyone who has spared a few moments to assist us with this task, we’re not alone and either are you if you’re a victim of police. Become a CopBlocker yourself, say NO to bad laws, say NO to the plea deal and encourage others to do so as well. As someone who’s gone through this all too much, enough is enough, let’s stop sending money on criminalizing and caging people for victimless crimes.
