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backscatter712

(26,355 posts)
Tue Apr 10, 2012, 09:10 AM Apr 2012

So what happens when the racist killers of a black man happen to wear badges?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/apr/05/echoes-trayvon-martin-kenneth-chamberlain-sr

Echoes of Trayvon Martin in the police killing of Kenneth Chamberlain Sr

Another African-American man was gunned down by police, and no one was charged. This time the whole event was recorded

"My name is Kenneth Chamberlain. This is my sworn testimony. White Plains police are going to come in here and kill me." And that's just what they did.

In the early hours of Saturday 19 November, 2011, US marine veteran Kenneth Chamberlain Sr accidentally hit his LifeAid medical-alert pendant, presumably while sleeping. The 68-year-old retired corrections officer had a heart condition, but wasn't in need of help that dawn. Within two hours, the White Plains, NY, police department had broken down his apartment door and shot him dead. Chamberlain Sr was African-American. As with Trayvon Martin, the black teenager recently killed in Florida, there are recordings of the events which include a racial slur directed at the victim.

The opening quote, above, was related to us by Kenneth Chamberlain Jr, when he appeared on the "Democracy Now!" news hour talking about the police killing of his father. Chamberlain Jr was holding on to the LifeAid pendant that his father wore around his neck in case of a medical emergency. Perhaps unbeknown to the White Plains police who arrived at Chamberlain Sr's door that morning, the LifeAid system includes a box in the home that, when activated, transmits audio to the LifeAid company, where it is recorded. Chamberlain Jr and his lawyers heard the recording in a meeting at the office of the Westchester county district attorney, Janet DiFiore.

Chamberlain Jr repeated what he heard his father say on the tape: "He says, 'I'm a 68-year-old man with a heart condition. Why are you doing this to me?' … You also hear him pleading with the officers again, over and over. And at one point, that's when the expletive is used by one of the police officers." One of Chamberlain Jr's lawyers, Mayo Bartlett, told me about the racial slur. Bartlett is a former Westchester county prosecutor, so he knows the ropes. He was explicit in recounting what he heard on the recording.


If there's one thing I hate more than subhuman racists, it's subhuman racists wearing badges!

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So what happens when the racist killers of a black man happen to wear badges? (Original Post) backscatter712 Apr 2012 OP
Question: Why were they wearing badges? Jackpine Radical Apr 2012 #1
Yeah, and the new uniforms with the white pointy hoods were on backorder. n/t backscatter712 Apr 2012 #2
Most of the time, NOTHING. Bake Apr 2012 #3
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