LOVELL MIXON IN MEMORY AND SUPPORT RALLY ON EAST OAKLAND

Martyrdom for this creep is a mistake of immense proportion! Malcolm X was a leader devoting his life to the community, what interest did Mixon have other than his own when he packed the ak47 in the car? The foolishness to compare this man to Oscar Grant, an unarmed innocent guy gunned down while face down is an insult to Grant, his family and all the many other INNOCENT victims of police violence.

My favorite chant today was by a lady from the neighborhood yelling "Thomas Jefferson was the real rapist." and "Columbus was the real rapist."

can i be glad that both mixion and the cops are dead


because i am...

I ain't glad that anybody's dead, and that includes the cops - but I still stand for a complete overhaul of the police system at the least, and ideally a dismantling of the prison industrial complex as a whole, cops included. While y'all are busy taking sides, I feel nothing but sadness for all parties involved - it's a twisted system, and nothing is going to change until that is properly addressed.

THE STORIES OF RAPE AGAINST MIXON ARE ALLEGATIONS. It is wrong and irresponsible to talk about Mixon as a convicted rapist.

I just want to put these thoughts out there in response to the allegations of rape in recent corporate media coverage about Lovelle Mixon (this is a repost):

Violence against women and anti-black racism are closely linked and the Mixon case should not be construed as an either/or situation. We can stand against anti-black racism, police brutality, the impact of deindustrialization, the prison-industrial complex AND violence against women, misogyny, rape, the feminization of poverty.

If Mixon did rape someone, it does not foreclose the other myriad of issues involved in this case. I will not allow these allegations of rape that we can't even be sure are true or not, to foreclose taking a stand against racism, economic violence and police brutality that effects both women and men.

I don't think Mixon is a hero, (I don't believe in heroes--I believe in mentors), and it is possible that he has committed violence against women, but taking a stand against anti-black racism (in all its complexity, as in this case) is central to this feminist's politics and will not be co-opted.

i am a man who was raped.i was angry ,but i wouldnt try to take that persons life.im not a murderer like the police are..

I DONT THINK ANYONE WHO'S NOT BLACK CAN RELATE 2 LOVELLE..HE WAS MY COUSIN N NO WHITE PERSON HAS BEEN ANYWHERE NEAR..BEING IN THE SHOES OF A BLACK MAN..WHITES WILL GET OFF MURDER CHARGE WITH 4 2 10 YEARS..A BLACK MAN ITS LIFE JUS 4 ATTEMPTED..YEA BLACKS MITE B A LIL CRAZY BUT WHITES BROUGHT US HEAR SO DONT GET MAD AT BLACKS GET MAD AT YA GREAT GREAT GRANPA'S..WHITES ARE THE ONE WHO'S ALWAYS ARRESTED 4 RAPE 2 THERE OWN KIN..SHOOTIN THER JOBS UP WEN THER FIRED AN OTHA CRAZY ASS THINGS..SO GET IT RIGHT CUS LOVELLE ONLY DID WAS MOST BLACKS WANT 2 DO..BT WE RESPECT YAW WORLD CUS YAW FORCED US IN IT..PERIOD

for what was done to me cause of my race,certainly i would like to retaliate but i choose not to.you are lucky black people are as gentle as they are for what was done...

"...DNA has proven that Mixon DID rape a 12 year old. Why you are backing a raping, cop killing monster?... No one forced him to rape that girl or shoot those cops..."

Thus far we have only received word from corporate news stations, based on police reports, that there is DNA evidence of a rape committed by Mixon but we are in no position to verify the accuracy or truthfulness of these reports. I am disturbed that these allegations are being used as the linchpin to foreclose any discussion on the prison-industrial complex, deindustrialization and racism. Trust me, I am 100% against violence against women, misogyny and rape and stand equally strong against sexism as I do against racism. Don't try to co-opt the work of feminists that have made rape and child abuse a social and political issue, as an excuse to disavow other systemic problems such as anti-black racism.

Lala wrote "My favorite chant today was by a lady from the neighborhood yelling "Thomas Jefferson was the real rapist." and "Columbus was the real rapist."" Um, okay. So what is your point? How would you feel if Mixon had raped you?

a-feminist wrote "I ain't glad that anybody's dead, and that includes the cops - but I still stand for a complete overhaul of the police system at the least, and ideally a dismantling of the prison industrial complex as a whole, cops included. While y'all are busy taking sides, I feel nothing but sadness for all parties involved - it's a twisted system, and nothing is going to change until that is properly addressed." Suggestions? Do you feel that there shouldn't be a prison system? If someone continually commits crimes what should be done with them? Are we going to rehabilitate the Charles Mansons of the world?

And the most ignorant post was "i am a man who was raped.i was angry ,but i wouldn't try to take that persons life.im not a murderer like the police are.." Good one, except you forgot to mention that if Mixon did not shoot at the police, he would only have been arrested, not killed. Are the police not allowed to defend themselves?

"Suggestions? Do you feel that there shouldn't be a prison system? If someone continually commits crimes what should be done with them? Are we going to rehabilitate the Charles Mansons of the world?"

Yup, prison abolitionist, that's me. Why? Because:

- Most of the people in prison are there for drug offenses; as such, legalization would remove a lot of the crime problems, including much of the violent crime;

- Whatever is done by "the Charles Mansons of the world" is completely outweighed by the harm that the prison-industrial complex does;

- Job training, building stronger communities, and fostering a culture of learning and mutual support are much better tools to combat crime than prisons.

I am not saying that abolition is some panacea that will somehow magically make sociopaths disappear, btw. I just think that the system creates more so-called sociopaths than it deters, so the best way to deal with that is to change the system. Also, "sociopath" is a frequently misused term - snapping under social pressure doesn't make you a sociopath, having a sociopathic personality does.

If we want to have a better world - not a perfect world, but one with less violence, hatred and ignorance - we all need to create it together rather than relying on patriarchal meta-figures such as prisons and the state to "fix" it on our behalf.

While I agree with the legalization of some drugs, and agree that some of your ideas could help many people, I can't see how these ideas could possibly eliminate the prison system. Some people, no matter what kind of help you give them, are just bad. Rapists don't rape because they are poor or misunderstood or whatever, and no social program or job training will stop rapists from being rapists. Just because some people are in jail for ridiculous crimes like selling pot doesn't mean the solution is getting rid of prisons. The world isn't so black and white.

"Some people, no matter what kind of help you give them, are just bad."

Thanks for responding. A few things:

I respect that this is your opinion, but there's a lot of evidence out there to indicate that even the most basic forms of social aid help ex-prisoners tremendously. Much of the recidivism rate is due to lack of an adequate post-prison support system, including job training. I don't have the info in front of me, but if you dig around a bit, you'll find it - there's been lots of studies done over the years.

Also, I never said that abolition would eliminate people who do bad things; in fact, I made it pretty clear that I wasn't saying that. What I was saying is that 1) the system creates many of the problems that it is working to cure and/or prevent; and 2) that as such, abolition is a better way to address crime than the prison system.

What I hear underneath what you're saying (and please, correct me if I'm wrong here) is that if we don't have prisons, that anarchy (heh) will be the order of the day, and that lawlessness will reign, etc. What I'm asserting is that the system causes a lot of that - which is not to say that people don't have responsibility for their actions! There's a difference between causation and correlation though; and if you don't address causation, well then, you're just making assumptions.

Jefferson a rapist? Actually history has shown that Thomas Jeffersona and Sally Hemmings had a very long, consentual love affair.

how can you honestly even begin to say the relationship was consentual?

Sally Hemmings was Thomas Jefferson's SLAVE, for pete's sake

and not to disrespect her as an intelligent adult human being, but the power imbalance between slave and slavemaster is enourmous. it not unlike the imbalance in power between a small child and an adult. children cannot consent to sex with adults, and neither can slaves with their masters

I feel what the little brother did was wrong he wasn't thinking rationally. But at the same time the young brother was scared, not of the police but the circumstances that he was dealing with at the present time. To compare him to Malcom X is wrong Malcom Little yes meaning that the little brother went out like a solidier. If he would of utilize his tools of being a great in prison than these circumstances would not have happend he would have dealt with those peckerheads like a real G. He went out with a bang&that's for real. Young brothers it's not about shooting at the police it's utilizing your brain power and beat them at their own game. F**K THE WHOLICE. Power to the people

i know first-hand what brutal pigs the oakland police are.

in the summer of 1990 i was beaten by the OPD at a demonstration in downtown oakland.

when the cops had me in the back of the police car, with two other arrestees, they slapped a high five with each other and then one declared: "We ain't no pussy SFPD...if there weren't video we would have killed you!"

when I got back to the pig shack, one cop after another got into my face, which was raw and bleeding, and said "Oh the little pussy's got a boo-boo."

the only cop who showed even the slightest sympathy, self-serving as it was, was one who requested within earshot that he didn't want his name on my "ticket."

after about two or so hours in a cell by myself i was brought into a room to be "interviewed" by the same plain-clothes pigs who had beaten me a couple hours previously.

some time after that, after being put back into my cell, some big meat-head ass young cop came into my cell and told me to come with him. when i asked where i was going he said, "You'll find out." he put me in the back-seat of the pig car and drove me around east oakland making snorting, derisive comments about black people he passed on the streets. at a certain point in our little voyage he said, "I'm taking you to Highland [the county hospital in oakland]; the sheriffs there don't get many chances to play. If you act crazy i'll hand you over to them and they'll inject you with something and trash you."

once i got to highland i was seen by a doctor in the hallway while hand-cuffed to the chair i was seated in. the dumb-ass pig was sitting next to me to insure that i didn't divulge any uncomfortable information about the cause of my condition. that said, when he was distracted the young doctor, who seemed sympathetic, asked in a whisper what had happened and i responded with head nod in the direction of the shit-for-brains pig sitting next to me. she seemed to understand--i mean, truly understand--what i was saying.

after the trip to the hospital, or shortly after, i was cycled into the general prison population, becoming one of the many anonymous, already-abused "criminals" and i was safe once again.

fuck the OPD

We need to stop making excuses for the self-destructive and community-destructive behavior of our so-called brothers and sisters. While I do not entirely dismiss all of the socio-economic, historical, institutional, and on-going vestiges of that "peculiar institution, I refuse to rob our so-called brothers and sisters of their agency and place them as victims within all contexts. People make choices, however circumscribed they may be. We are not windless ships being driven by the currents of society.

I sat in graduate school classes hearing white liberals make every excuse possible to explain the pathologies in the lower-socioeconomic African-American communities. Each paternalistic excuse given robbed the us of our humanity - rendering us into less than complete humans largely incapable of functioning without paternalistic government programs. African-American like the subject of this article weren't amoral sociopaths who preyed on the innocent, but "victims" of racism, discrimination, and lack of opportunity. The language used was a step away from describing why chimps don't make good pets.

I, for one, am sick of our leaders and followers making every excuse to avoid holding individuals accountable for their actions. Let's be honest, without a police to call when needed, how many innocents would suffer under the predators loose in the community? Without the even marginal threat of arrest and incarceration hanging over the heads of the Mixons of the city, how unlivable would the city be for the law abiding working class and barely-working class. I frightens me to think of what this city would be like without law enforcement. I am more wary of the glassy-eyed, pants sagging, black hoodies, than I am of the men in blue.

To anyone who thinks that this criminal is a saint should be locked up in a insane asylum. Rapist, murderer....you want him as your cause for protest. Racism is racism....no matter what color of your skin. Where is Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson now? I thought they wanted equality for all races, guess its only a black thing.

I wonder how many of you protesters would have spoke up for the thug if it had been a poor, uneducated white parolee who capped 4 black cops. I bet that you would have spoke up about the black cops that were murdered because they were black. What if one of the cops would have been black....then would your cause be in trouble or would you still validate your hero?

Black on black crime=nothing, black on white crime=nothing, white on black crime=racist pigs. I realize not all cops are straight shooters, but for the most part when you need them....they are people you rely on. When you do not need them you say kill them all and call them pigs. Maybe that is why they take so long to save you when you need them....maybe they hear the foul things you say and think you do not need their help.

Let this inhuman beast be your poster child and I will watch your cause crumble around you. I truly hope that someone in the black community holds a rally against the protesters that think this monster is a hero. Show the black community is above this racist nonsense and you do not stand behind rapist murderers. For once (in a long time) join together for a cause that will benefit your community as well as the communities around you. Bring back the movement that Dr. King stood behind....stop bringing yourselves and your brothers down by aligning yourself with people like Lovell Mixon....he is a step backward.

The OPD can dish it out...but they can't take it? The two swat cops were hellbent on going in to riddle Mr. Mixon with bullets. They should receive a Darwin Award this year.

This is some wrong s@#t. Dude is a convict and a rapist of a child. If people are looking at him as a hero than we as black people have hit rock bottom. It seems my people have lost their morals and their minds, if this guy is a hero then David Duke is a saint. We are our own worst enemy and the black race is doomed. Putting putting this piece of dog excrement on the same level as the TRUE black hero's throws dirt on ALL the good upstanding positive black men that have died for freedom.

What a hot mess

I can not possibly see how this bastard is a hero. What's worse you put his freaking picture up next to Huey Newton! How dare you? He was a killer, and a freaking child rapist. I hope he burns in HELL!

Some said to tell the police to put down their guns, if they have to put them down so dose so called (wacka Flockas), hillbillies and gun nuts. The country we live in allows people to protect themselves with arms. One may feel bad to have one for a lil girl got hit by a high velocity round at the play ground or you dont want to get shot. Mobs are just as dangerous as a police riot squad. In some hoods police dont go caused they are out gunned or like they people in the hood that are terroiezed by some lowlife who cant operate in weapon properly or thinks its cool to flash it on someone cause his FAv rap artist/comic dose so.

People dont let anger control you that how people get shot.

He killed 4 cops, his grave should be defecated on but instead ignorant black people are celebrating him as a hero. Pathetic.