Topic: Crime and Punishment
Protesters call a rapist, and the Murderer of Four Officers, a Hero Four Oakland police officers are murdered by a criminal, multi-offender of violent crimes including rape and assault with a deadly weaponby G.D. Welch
(libertarian)
Saturday, March 28, 2009
On Saturday, March 21st, two Oakland police stopped Lovelle Mixon, who was on parole for assault with a deadly weapon, for a traffic violation. Mixon, who had a warrant out for parole violation, shot the officers and fled the scene on foot into a neighborhood; a manhunt ensued. A SWAT team had to be called when the perpetrator barricaded himself in an apartment building. Once entering the building, the criminal opened fire and killed two SWAT team members. One of the officers died on the scene, the other in ICU. A third officer was injured before returning gunfire, killing the perpetrator.
After Mixon murdered four police officers, protesters took to the streets in support of the violent criminal who murdered them, passing the sites where the officers were murdered. The protest was organized by the International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement. During the march, protesters were chanting "OPD you can't hide, we charge you with genocide!" Mixon's cousin spoke to the crowd, stating that he was not a monster and referred to him as "a true hero, a soldier." The protesters claimed he was fighting an oppressive police force and one man claimed it was karma that caused the officers' deaths. The protesters were blaming the officers for the incident.
Mixon had been convicted of multiple different crimes, was on parole for assault with a deadly weapon, and had been linked via DNA analysis to the rape of a 12 year old child who was abducted by gunpoint the day previous to the shooting. The M.O. of the rape fits five other cases, which may link Mixon.
Looking at an arrest picture of Mixon posted at New York Daily News sends a chill through your bones. He was a criminal and a murderer. There is no excuse for what this man did. He murdered two officers at point blank when pulled over in traffic; he took the lives of two more officers who had a duty of protect any bystanders that may have been in the building in which he fled as a fugitive after committing cold-blooded murder. Yet there are people who are blaming police officers for their own deaths at the hands of a multiple offender of violent crimes. Looking at pictures of some of the protesters, you see hate. It's a culture of entitlement, selfishness, and not taking responsibility for your actions.
Those who participated in the protest did so in support of a murderer instead of in support of the four men whose lives were snuffed out by a known criminal. They blame it on the officers. I blame acceptance of their behavior on politics. Legislation, lawyers, politicians, and judges have incapacitated the abilities of our police officers to protect the innocent and keep our communities safe. We have approached a point where officers are crucified for shooting an armed criminal. When they moved to tasers, the media started attacking police forces for using them. Soon enough, they will be reduced to tickle fighting to subdue dangerous criminals.
The officers were not found to be negligent. Approximately eighteen thousand people attended the memorial services on Friday, March the 27th, including the majority of Oakland police officers, as well as officers from across the country. Contributions can be made to help the families of the slain officers.
The views expressed in this
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You ignore the fact that the Oakland Police Department has one of the worst records in the country for police brutality. There is more than a little pent up frustration in the community with the OPD. To ignore that is to misrepresent the issue.
To ignore the fact that this man was a violent criminal and rapist is the tragedy here. The fact that the dredges of our society have rendered officers who are public servants impotent endangers us all. The officers were not the perpetrators; they were victims. The issue is the fact that criminal life has become acceptable to society. It is a symptom of societal disease. That is not a misrepresentation.
Story is filled with inaccuracies. Generously exaggerated to 60, the mourners of Mixon were his family and homeboys plus a few professional career agitators. From a dysfunctional family, one younger brother shot dead last year by black gangsters not police, his 24 year-old sister lost an eye in gunfire last year, this group tried to clean the shit off of Lovelle Mixon in their impromptu memorial service. "If he's a criminal, then we are all criminals" a sister said. Uh huh. In fact sister Enjoli Mixon pled guilty on a drug charge in Fremont thurday afternoon. They are all criminals, and just as the Hell's Angels can party at a funeral for one of theirs and the mafia can throw a very impressive wake, this neighborhood gangbanger family threw a party to praise their dead bro.
It was not some general community uprising of support for Mixon, it was a family (a crime family) attempt to fend off responsibility for their part in this. Mixon's estranged wife came to say a few words, but she couldn't stand to live with him while he was still alive. Half the people in the pictures are females and small children relatives, not some community uprising of defiance of authority, but just obedient tagalongs.
Strangely, the police came out with a story about a two-week-old rape after the shooting. Usually an armed rape of a 12 year-old gets press attention coast to coast. Oakland schools and church groups hollared "why weren't we notified that an armed rapist was prowling the neighborhoods?" Good question. Why wasn't anybody notified by a police department which had just fired 11 cops for lying to judges to get search warrants? With a convenient minor the police don't have to identify, nobody has followed up on this story. Who took the police report? Where's a copy of the artist's rendering? Who was the police sketch artist? There's not a speck of corroborative evidence for that story.
Strangely, the DNA test came back the afternoon before, identifying Lovelle Mixon, so they say. It was an ARMED rape, so they say, and convicted felon Lovelle Mixon is in possession of a gun against federal law, and as parolee against state law too. This is serious stuff, much more serious than just parole violation for missing a meeting with his PO. With an ARMED parolee violator you want to alert officers who might come into contact, yet nothing was done. Something stinks about that side of the story.
The bottom line is the rape story is extraneous and the family wake story is blown way out of proportion in order to justify a conclusion: "It's a culture of entitlement, selfishness, and not taking responsibility for your actions. ... I blame it on politics. Legislation, lawyers, politicians, and judges have incapacitated the abilities of our police officers to protect the innocent and keep our communities safe."
Mixon committed "suicide by cop". He didn't walk into a police station nearby like the Terminator guns blazing, but hid in his sister's closet. I blame Mixon, not society, not a culture, not his small group of family mourners. I resent anybody playing politics with this story to blame anybody else other than Lovelle Mixon and distorting facts or grasping at straws to blame anybody else.
The number of "Mixon" mourners was not reported in the article. The family history was not reported. The nature of the marchers was not reported (nor was it in the sources other than the IPDUM group). The easy way out of guilt on the criminal parties would be to blame the OPD as a whole.
The extraneous information that you have was not not intentionally left out of the article. The facts listed in the article were the ones supportable by statements by the media. The rape of a twelve year old child is no longer national news; unfortunately, it is no longer seen as an extreme, news-worthy case by the media.
Was it suicide by cop... absolutely. The fact that 18,000 showed at the officers' memorials should be a sign that times are changing. You also have not pointed out that Oakland officers have one of the highest mortality rates in the nation.
There is a societal sway of vilifying the police forces and crucifying them if discharging a weapon is needed. Now there is criticism of using non-deadly force. So what’s left? Stand-up comedy? That is the main point I would like to drive here.
I witnessed four deaths by officer shooting in the morgue while I worked there. There was a fifth, but survived shooting by an armed burglar in the home of an officer. The only media attention on facts about the decedents was local, though little, and HPD was crucified by nationwide media. The four were all criminals and every shooting was justified, but that was never reported by the media. The fact that these happened in one summer had the M.E.’s doing their best investigations. But they were all justified, yet groups just like this one were protesting the police department, screaming police brutality and corruption. The stain on HPD has yet to be lifted.
The truth is that facts do not seem to matter to the public. It has become a societal norm to point fingers at the officer. Maybe I’ll write an article on the HPD shootings at some point, even though it was seven years ago.
O'Reilly had the man who organized the event on the other day along with the former mayor San Francisco. I cannot remember his name but he represents a group of dissidents, the Oakland chapter of the Uhuru Solidarity movement. They feel the police are an occupying force bent on imprisoning blacks. There is a refusal to accept the DNA evidence of Mixon's rapes, the fact he killed four police in cold blood or any other aspect of Mixon's crimes. The crimes are seen by this group as police driven and only the fault of the war against blacks who are forced into servitude by the state at the hands of the police. The former SF mayor, a black man, thought it was quite alarming what this group represents.
It is important to know they are merely one chapter within the group. Uhuru is an internationational group; http://www.inpdum.org/
The article points to the challenges and sets an alarm that needs to be set. This is a militant group that condones killing. I appreciate the author's concern and share in her insights. We have police that are far from perfect and a government that is far too oppressive yet protests so far into extremism are critical to be aware of, IMHO.
I think I've identified where the confusion was: I do not blame Mixon's behavior on anyone but him. The fact that it seems acceptable to blame this "culture" on the PD is what I take issue with. The fact that anyone has the gall to blame his criminal actions and vile behavior on anyone but the criminal, disgusts me deeply. Having a difficult life or being poor does not equate to excusable criminal behavior.
Four officers lost their lives and our hearts should be reaching out to their families. If we keep incapacitating and persecuting officers... who will be left to protect us when we need it most.
This violence is the result of out of control drug laws. Oakland would be a more peaceful place had not the laws created black marketers and drug cartels. Escalation on both sides leads to more violence.
Message to Certain Blacks in Oakland: I’m Tired of Your Lame Excuses
By Robert Oliver
Yes, that’s right.You love your blackness more than you love common sense, sometimes even more than your own people. Must I sue for divorce from the Black community on the grounds of mental cruelty?
I’m black. I grew up in Chicago, the most segregated city in the North. I’m from “da hood” too. There was a time I experienced racism every day for 4 years there. So I know what racism is about.
But yet, you scream, yell and protest because of a CRIMINAL who murdered four cops.They did not shoot him first. He shot them first. Is that an act of Black bravery, qualifying for the El Hajj Malik Shabazz (Malcolm X) Peace Prize? Is a hero now?(Remember Malcolm had to protect his family, not from white folks, not from cops, but from his own people who eventually killed him.)
You all claim you are like Palestinians in Gaza, in an “occupied territory” as if you are shut in a “prison” with nowhere to go. You are the occupiers. Who took you from Africa and put you in Oakland? Who is keeping you in slavery there? If you don’t like the “oppression,” you should do what you can to leave if you were serious. You are in a prison with unlocked jail cells. You are free to go anywhere, even to Africa, the Motherland, if you wanted to. I don’t hear about oppression in San Francisco. I don’t even hear about oppression in Los Angeles. Even blacks in Chicago don’t scream about oppression as you are doing as bad as things are there.The whole world watches, and I’m tired of your lame excuses.Your guy Mixon shot the cops, not even in self-defense. He pulled the trigger first, killing those four cops doing their jobs, and that makes him a Black hero, right?They did not shoot him until he had to be killed because he was killing others. This is what the Los Angeles Times says:“In October 2007, Lovelle Mixon was released on parole after serving five years of a six-year sentence for assault with a firearm. Within months the 26-year-old Oakland resident was in trouble again, authorities said.
“In February, Mixon was placed on a parole hold as a possible suspect in a homicide in Alameda County, according to Scott Kernan, undersecretary of operations for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Prosecutors declined to file charges in that case, saying there was not sufficient evidence, but Mixon was detained on various parole violations and sent back to prison for nine months, Kernan said.“Here is a look at Mixon's interactions with the parole department since his Nov. 1 release from the California Correctional Center in Susanville, as reported by the department :
“Nov. 3: Mixon reports to his parole agent for an initial interview and undergoes his first mandatory drug test.
“Nov. 5: Mixon reports to Parole and Community Team, a state program that offers a broad range of services to parolees. The agency provides job placement, drug treatment and other services. During the visit, he met with his parole agent and again was tested for drugs.“Nov. 7: Mixon's parole agent makes an initial residential visit, meeting with Mixon at his mother's home in Oakland. The agent also met with relatives of Mixon to evaluate his living conditions and who he was interacting with while on parole. During the visit, Mixon is referred by the agent to America Work, an employment service.
“Dec. 17: Mixon's parole agent makes a residential visit, also meeting with one of Mixon's cousins as part of their continuing effort to assess his family situation.
“Dec. 19: Mixon reports to the parole office and takes a drug test.
“Jan. 6: Mixon reports to the parole office and takes a drug test.
“Jan. 23: Mixon's parole agent makes a residential visit and refers Mixon to another employment service, Project Choice Employment.
“Feb. 6: Mixon reports to the parole office and takes a drug test.
“Feb. 18: Mixon's parole agent makes a residential visit but cannot locate him.
“Feb. 24: Mixon's parole agent makes another residential visit but Mixon cannot be located. The agent talks with his mother.
“Feb. 26: After another residential visit, the agent still cannot locate Mixon.
“Feb. 27: The parole agent prepares a parolee-at-large report and a warrant is issued for Mixon's arrest. The state Board of Parole Hearings suspends Mixon's parole effective Feb. 19, the day after his parole officer first failed to find him. The case is referred to the corrections department's Fugitive Apprehension Team.
“March 6: The Fugitive Apprehension Team and members of the Oakland Police Department visit three Oakland addresses, including Mixon's mother's home, his address of record. The following week, they distribute a bulletin to the Oakland Police Department. The case is also referred to the U.S. Marshals Service to check on reports that Mixon might have been in the Auburn, Wash., area. They are unable to locate him.
“March 21: Mixon is pulled over by Oakland motorcycle officers for a traffic violation shortly after 1 p.m. Authorities said he began shooting at the officers, killing Sgt. Mark Dunakin, 40, and fatally wounding Officer John Hege, 41. After trying to hide in a nearby apartment building where his sister lives, Mixon kills Oakland SWAT sergeants Ervin Romans, 43, and Daniel Sakai, 35, before he is shot and killed by police.” I’m really disgusted at your lame excuses. I’m tired of your “wolf cookies.”I could understand anger if he was shot by a cop for no reason.I could understand if he was not threatening anyone. But this man was a convicted felon on parole (assault with a handgun). He shot the cops first.Get a clue, please. Why do you all want to celebrate a criminal? I remember the good old days when we would celebrate people like Booker T. Washington, Frederick Douglass, Adam Clayton Powell and Martin Luther King, Jr.But we black people have evolved. We are more enlightened now. We have to celebrate our criminal element too, especially our cop-killas. Al Sharpton and the NAACP did that last year for black thugs who tortured, sexually assaulted, and robbed a BLACK woman in Florida. They had no pity for the victim, just for the thugs who tortured her.Are you giving the whole world the impression that blacks seem to care more about criminals than law-abiding people. This is my “I’m-embarrassed-to-be-Black” moment. I understand there a "Stop Snitching" campaign in Oakland? Why?Is it a black thing and I don’t understand? When blacks do crap to other blacks, don't tell the police, right? We have to protect our beloved criminals, right.It is the law-abiding black citizens, especially senior citizens, who live in terror of the black criminals who should go to hell right? It is your own black neighbors who live in oppression because of black thugs, not because of cops.Why is it we do in each other in when we celebrate our own criminals?This is what a friend wrote:
“Hi, Robert. This makes me sick to my stomach. I seriously need to plan to move from these United States of America. Some blacks are idiots, and they make me ashamed of my race with this madness. I feel for all the families involved. But he shot the cops first so they were just protecting themselves from this dangerous criminal. What is wrong with black people? He was a criminal not an advocate of any community. Black people wake up please before it’s too late.”
The black editor of the Oakland Tribune Chauncey Bailey was shot dead by a Black Muslim in 2007 in broad daylight. How many of these blacks of you marched and protested that? Were you all demanding justice? Were you all outraged when one of your own gunned down one of your own?Those who knew Bailey were outraged. I did not see outrage from you. I understand “Stop Snitching” was going on there in Oakland about that murder. Again, it is your own black neighbors who live in oppression because of black thugs, not because of cops.Or did you decide it was not really a tragedy since a white man or a cop did not shoot Bailey?
He was down for your community. Were you down for him? Bailey was a strong advocate for the black community, even for those same people who are celebrating Mixon. Yet the outrage in the black community in Oakland was very little. Mixon was not an advocate for the black community at all, a convicted criminal and murderer, and people march and protest and this criminal gets celebrated.He is a role model for all young Black children in Oakland right?Rev. Walter Hoye, a black minister in Oakland went to jail because he was telling women, including black women, that there was an alternative to abortion.Were any of you outraged over the brother being a “victim” of the white racist justice system?How many of you were protesting with signs ‘FREE REV. HOYE!”?Is not something wrong with that picture?Keep your lame excuses because they won’t fly, even out of Oakland International Airport.Robert Oliver is a writer and photographer. He can be reached at interactionswest@gmail.com
Thank you for your response. I was very emotional when I read that protesters took to the streets to celebrate a known criminal, passing the shooting sites on the way as if to pour salt in the wound. That is why I wrote the piece (though because of how outraged I was, I struggled with objectivity). I was equally upset that no one seemed as disgusted by the lack of disgust towards the protesters.
I was poor as a child and taken in by grandparents who raised me for nine years. I had to go to a "sensitivity" training in my line of work for the economically disadvantaged. The amount of criminal behavior stereotyped with 'poor' infuriated me. It was being peddled as culturally acceptable differences. Of course I spoke up (and ticked people off); but the only reason I could do so was that I had belonged to that group. What has come of our society that you have to be in a "special interest" category to speak up for what is right?
I'm glad that someone is a outraged by the protesters as I.
I see a lot of excuses being made for a criminal that shot and killed police officers, who did nothing but pull him over for a traffice stop....who THEN found out he had a warrant for his arrest for parole violations...the man then pulls out a gun, which he's not even supposed to have on him...and murders them! Runs and hides from his warrant and from his own actions of murdering two policemen....carrying the weapon he's not supposed to have to his cousin's apartment, and murders two more SWAT team policemen...trying to avoid arrest!
Please save me from slobbering protest that the man was done wrong! He was out on parole for prior criminal acts he committed all by himself, and he couldn't seem to follow the rules for leniency in not making him serve the majority of his life in prison.
This is not a black/white racial issue...this is a criminal issue. Men of all cultures get their parole revoked every day of the year! Just like anybody else does that can't seem to conduct themselves without hurting others while being free. People deserve to be safe from criminals!
The fact that the family and the Uhru whatever group was celebrating the deaths of the officers is borderline animalistic behavior. They should be mourning their own family member, who couldn't seem to get his life right.
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