Hip Hop Congress

Custodio family in San Jose

What Up Everybody,

This is a summary of a city council meeting that took place in San
Jose last night. Some of you may have been following what went down
with the Custodio family in San Jose where a a mother had her head
slammed against a car three times for merely trying to protect her two
sons, both of which were being unjustly harassed, detained, and
ultimatley tased and charged with a crime. Silicon Valley De-Bug has
been part of a group called CJA (Californians for accountability and
justice.) working very closely with the family to address some of
these issues. Interestingly enough, one of the sons, Marlo Custodio
runs a Hip Hop program at Evergreen Collage in San Jose.
San Jose has had quite a history with a police accountability
issues, and over the past 4 or 5 years has evolved into quite a
multi-faceted coalition. This coalition has recently been headed
towards an apex, evidence by the recent Copwatch turnout during Cinco
De Mayo. The presence of cameras and the broad awareness and
willingness of downtown participants to use it as a means by which to
monitor police activities was a clear indication of shift in community
participation in this matter. Some cats even went so far as to
memorize license plates numbers of cops attempting to film the party
goers as the moved from club to club!
This reflection, written by Raj Jaydev, puts in perspective some
of what is taking place here, which is a subject matter that seems to
be taking place all over the country. All politics is local, but we
could learn a lot from, and find creative ways of supporting each
other in what are clearly collective struggles.
Enjoy, and don’t hesitate to hit back.

One

-Mak
–

Hey folks, still pretty juiced from last night’s meeting. I thought
everyone did a really good job in making the community presence felt
and heard. I think it was the first time that council, and that City
Hall space for that matter, was really challenged in a significant
way.

Reflections, Implications and Possibilities Drawn from June 21st Meeting
We are at a unique moment of possibility to build a broader movement
for accountability that can mean real change in San Jose.

All the Ingredients of a Movement is Here:
We met a lot of folks yesterday that we had not seen at previous
meetings or rallies. They made their own signs, brought their
families, and have been charged with determination from their personal
run-ins with SJPD. Without any real planning or previous discussions,
we all seemed to present a unified call for more accountability. This
larger group has the numbers to push for larger, community-initiated,
structural changes. What would happen if the families, activist
organizations, civil rights organizations were able to put forward a
collective vision for police accountability?

Let’s Set the Menu:
The tremendous amount of energy that coalesced at City Hall revolved
around recommendations brought on by the IPA. The public was, in a
way, attending another person’s party. What if we threw our own?
Imagine then the force and numbers that could come if we had
community-initiated demands. There is a saying by Desmond Tutu, that
we don’t just want a seat at the table, we want to set the menu.

Last Night was also a Community Brainstorming:
During the public comment period, dozens of people gave their
positions of what is needed, and what they would fight for. The fact
that people would give up their evening, and speak at a meeting where
most decisions already appeared to be made, is evidence enough. The
council may or may not have been listening, but the community was
listening to each other. The value of last night, is that it may just
have been the community’s first meeting to plan what we are going to
do. I heard one clear statement constantly repeated through the
evening that actually had no relationship to the IPA report at all –
“Ban Tasers.” The fact that it was not simply a validation of an IPA
recommendation, means that it is a genuine and independent call to
action from the public, based on their own analysis of the current
condition of San Jose. Given the Steve Salinas tragedy, the call is
not only morally imperative, but completely reasonable, and even
financially needed for the city, given the explosion of civil suits by
victims against SJPD.

Outside of Demands to Council, We Need to Create our Own
Accountability Mechanisms:
The recommendations on the table last night were minimal steps
towards needed police accountability, but even if they were all
approved would not automatically fix the problem. Last night was an
indication that we cannot rely on the city council to solve our crisis
of accountability, nor can we wait for their timelines. The
initiatives that are not about asking the council for anything, could
prove to be the most important mechanisms for the accountability we
are looking for.

We have to make sure the initiatives such as hood patrol, copwatch,
and community complaint centers not get sidelined as the conversation
around city council policies dominate the media. We have the capacity
to leverage these activities into an entire police accountability
infrastructure that could really be a model for other cities across
the country.

Peace-raj

–
Shamako Noble aka The Sword of the West
President and Executive Director-Hip Hop Congress
CEO-Rondavoux Records
hiphopcongress.com

http://www.myspace.com/rondavouxrecords

myspace.com/shamakodnoble
shamako@hiphopcongress.com
408-509-2833