Thomas K. | Red Phoenix correspondent | Ohio–

In keeping with the long standing tradition of being the chief instrument of oppression of the masses, the Columbus Police Department (CPD) makes American police proud by showing the working class that they have no intentions of seeking justice or serving the people.

On Oct. 12, CPD was responding to a report of a robbery in the University district around 3:30 AM. As the officer arrived on the scene, he identified a person supposedly matching the robbery suspect, stepped out of their vehicle with their weapon already drawn, and demanded the person to “[lie] on the ground or [he] will shoot.” In justifiable fear, the individual attempts to flee and is promptly shot in the back. Based on body cam footage released, it only took CPD one minute and thirty seconds (graphic content –Ed.) to receive the description and then proceed to murder Ta’Shawn Davis, 18, in cold blood. He was shot not just once but nine times. 

Ta’Shawn had turned 18 only a week prior to his murder. He died later that morning in Grant Medical Center. As Ta’Shawn lay bleeding from wounds on the ground the CPD still deemed it necessary to first handcuff him and search his pockets rather than immediately attempt to tend to his wounds. Ta’Shawn’s family and friends that were with him the night he was murdered deny the robbery claim entirely. Ta’Shawn did not have a criminal record. 

One minute and thirty seconds is all it took for a police officer to play judge, jury, and executioner for this young son of the working class.. In what world can we ever claim to believe their aim is to “Protect and Serve”. Through the twisting of laws to protect their soldiers the identity of the officer has yet to be released to the community. If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear, correct? Once again we see how they “protect their own”. Where are the good cops now? The stakes have been set by the police, the working class has no option but to organize and defend. They are invading our cities, ripping us out of our homes, and killing us on the street. We have to fight back!

Between 2013-2016 the Columbus Police department killed 24 people, 20 of which were Black Americans. Columbus perfectly reflects the national patterns of police violence against Black residents. Between 55-65 people have been killed in Columbus by the police since 2013, 71% of the people killed by the Columbus Police have been Black.

The history of the American police began as slave patrols, and later grew into militia groups after the Civil War, and they were empowered to deny access to equal rights to freed slaves. Their very origin was to help maintain the capital interests of slave owners, and once again we have been given another horrific example that the police have no desire of moving away from those roots! Their actions show us they wish only to remain, as Lenin put it, “a professional caste of men trained in the practice of violence upon the poor.” Control of the police must be given over to the community completely. Community control now and forever!

The police will not protect the working class. This point has been hammered home time and time again through history. The police beat protestors mercilessly, released dogs, and turned fire hoses on people during the Civil Rights Era. The Pennsylvania State Police first began as a force to control workers, its very creation is a direct reaction to the labor protests in the early 1900’s! They exist only to maintain the vicious dogma of capitalism, and when it is a choice between serving the people or serving their capital masters, they will always sit at that master’s feet!

The community of Columbus demands this Officer and the CPD as a whole be held accountable through community oversight  and not some internal review designed to protect the murderer. This demand, for the police to be controlled by the community, has been screamed from rooftops, from underneath boots, and from behind the ring of bullets since the conception of America’s history. Sadly the demand still stands. The police aren’t here to protect us, so we must protect ourselves.

As Fred Hampton said: ”We ain’t gonna fight no reactionary pigs who run up and down the street being reactionary; we’re gonna organize and dedicate ourselves to revolutionary political power and teach ourselves the specific needs of resisting the power structure, arm ourselves, and we’re gonna fight reactionary pigs with international proletarian revolution. That’s what it has to be. The people have to have the power—it belongs to the people.” 

Categories: Police Brutality, U.S. Military, U.S. News