Erick Gelhaus | Hip-Hop and Politics

Not sure how far along this dance that many are doing with evil is gonna go. Over the weekend family friends along with parents of Andy Lopez, the 13-year-old child who was gunned down by a Sonoma County sheriff deputy named Erick Gelhaus last November were in Santa Rosa Plaza Mall shopping and eating lunch.

The parents and one of the relatives had on pink shirts that said RIP Andy Lopez. They had just left an event for their slain son and came to the mall. They were immediately approached by mall security who told them they would have to remove their t-shirts because the ‘owners don’t like the message…’

Folks need to sit down for a minute and reflect on that before responding on what you think you may know about the law… The parents of Andy Lopez just lost their son 3-4 months ago. The District Attorney Jill Ravitch has been stalling and basically refusing to press charges. many suspect it’s because the sheriff department supports her re-election bid and she has supported the sheriffs campaign. The town is in an uproar as Andy represented the 57th murder by Sonoma County sheriffs in 10 years..

Guards approached the family told them they would have to remove the RIP t-shirts or leave the mall.. A white man was in the mall earlier that day wearing a Justice for Andy shirt and was not approached. In fact guards showed him where the rest room was. That white man happened to be a lawyer, named Jonathan Melrod who got a phone call from the Lopez family when guards were surrounding them telling them they had to remove the shirts..

Melrod returned back to the mall and let the family know what their rights were. A Supreme Court case allows one to wear whatever shirts they please whether its public or private.. The Guards didn’t take kindly to the info and went HAM bringing a total of 10 guards to confront the family. This led to the 300-400 folks in the food court reacting and standing their ground after Melrod hopped up on a table and addressed the crowd. They were in full support of the family..

The owner was called and when all was said and done it was made clear that he had no right to tell someone what kind of shirt they can and can’t wear.. An apology was issued to the family, but that was an act of damage control as far as many are concerned..Only in America folks.. Only in America…

Wanna make sure that folks are up to speed with whats happening with the case around 13-year-old Andy Lopez who gunned down by Sonoma County sheriff deputies as he walked to a friend’s house to return a toy gun…

There have been lots of protests in the area mainly led by Andy’s classmates, which means the participants are 12-16 years old..Many of the parents of these kids have also been out protesting.. Andy’s murder at the hands of Deputy Erick Gelhaus marked the 57th killing in 10 years by sheriff and police in that area..

The protests have been mostly peaceful.. but that has not stopped local police intent on protecting Gelhaus from waging a intimidation campaign..The tactics they’ve used include mass ticketing protestors and enforcing arcane laws that most people never heard or knew about …They been spotlighting protest leaders and doing everything from making rude comments and gestures to actually physically assaulting folks.. These incidents have been painstakingly documented..

One protest leader, Ramon Cairo has been arrested when folks came to a city council meeting and demanded the gag order put on council members be lifted.. Ramon was clearly singled out and since then officers have been showing up in large numbers at all court proceedings to make it clear that they are in full support of the officers and not with the community https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/12/17/18747971.php

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CORqBIHKXnM

The arrest of Ramon was deemed a distraction designed to take focus off Lopez.. protestors didn’t fall for it and increased their efforts this time focusing attention on the DA who has yet to press charges on Gelhaus but has been seen at a couple of campaign fundraisers getting ‘pretty chummy’ with police union members..

The police in turn have adopted a new strategy as noted by long time journalist and activist Tom Tompkins

In case you don’t know, I wanted to tell you of a particularly chilling development in the city’s attempt to end the protest movement up there. Because there are some “known gang members” – once a description, now a legal status robbing individuals of important rights (assembly etc) – the cops are using that to smear and scare protestors.

In an obvious but chilling move, the cops have begun a series of midnight raids at what they say are known gang members houses to arrest people who are active in this struggle to get Gelhuas, the murderous cop, indicted. That’s bad enough, but in addition they are declaring that anyone who hangs out with these individuals is legally participating in gang activity.

The implications of this are clear and really serious. It’s a convenient way to brand people, to rob them of their rights, and to scare the hell out of anyone who fights back. It’s not different from the way Homeland Security made average people afraid of all Muslims; in Santa Rosa, they’re trying to make sure that all young Latinos are branded as gang members (and it’s also a way to really screw people who were or are in gangs; their participation in this movement is a righteous social activity).

Tompkins reminded us that similar tactics were used by sheriff down in Anaheim after police shot 7 different (mostly Latino folks) last year around Disneyland.. There were mass protests and police used the gang suppression tactics to stifle and discredit protests..

The gang label is an interesting far-reaching tool used by police.. In the late 80s early 90s LAPD under the leadership of Daryl Gates launched a program called Operation Hammer. It was in response to a gang fight spilling over into the affluent Westwood community and an innocent bystander being killed. The strategy was to make contact with as many gang members and potential gang members as possible and enter them into a data base..

If you were stopped for any reason, major or minor you were given gang affiliation based on the neighborhood you lived in.. By the time the Rodney King riots (rebellions) took place, more than half of LA’s Black adult males were in the Operation Hammer gang data base..By labeling folks gang members, a whole set of rules and laws come into play for law enforcement..from gang injunctions to conspiracy to commit crime charges..It appears that’s the strategy being used in Santa Rosa…

There will be a candlelight vigil tonight (Wednesday January 23) starting at 5:30 to mark the 3 month anniversary of Lopez being killed..

We’ll keep you abreast as more details around this emerge..

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Santa Rosa Mall Security Jam Up Family of Andy Lopez for Wearing RIP T-Shirts

Santa Rosa Sheriffs Attempt to Intimidate Andy Lopez Protestors