Inhaling deeply on his political hookah, Detroit mayor Jerry Cavanagh, leading contender for the August “Uptight Honkie of the Month” award, attempted to justify his approval of the controversial “stop and frisk” ordinance which moments earlier he had signed into law.
Cavanagh stated that he didn’t think that his action would hurt him politically. “The situation is far different than it was in 1960...” Jerry honked, “ ‘police brutality’ is a thing of the past: The climate has changed completely.”
The meaning of this statement is clear. Since Cavanagh realizes that opposition to police brutality is no longer politically profitable in the face of increasing honkie racist pressure to do something about “crime in the streets” (the great non-issue of 1968), he makes it legal. What could be more simple?
The new measure, which goes into effect August 8, gives local pigs the legal right to stop, question, and search anyone whom they have “probable cause” to believe has just committed or is about to commit a felony. And since the individual pig himself determines what constitutes “probable cause,” this really means no cause at all.
The new law gives Detroit’s racist pig department total immunity in their harassment of the black and freek communities. Their brutally repressive, fascist methods have been placed totally above the law.
Masquerading as a much needed police tool in the fight against “crime in the streets,” “stop and frisk” has been widely ballyhooed as a significant step towards the effective’ maintenance of law and order. This is pure honkie bullshit.
Illegal searches including verbal and physical abuse is standard pig protocol in the inner-city. This extra-legal form of “stop and frisk” has not reduced crime in the past and it’s legal counterpart will not do so now. In reality the new measure will have almost no effect on the crime rate and is probably more of a threat to law and order than anything else.
Sure, “police brutality is a thing of the past,” it’s now THE LAW!
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July 20—The Vietnam war came to Warren, Michigan resulting in an inconclusive firefight.
Rev. Dick Venus was distributing leaflets at the Universal City movie house which was showing “The Green Berets”. The leafleting was sponsored by the Clergy and Laymen for Peace in Vietnam.
So, here was Dick merrily passing out flyers in the middle of honkieville when up pulls the Warren Pig Department.
One of the pigs asks to see a leaflet. Venus obliges.
Pig: “Wish I was a communist so I could blow your head off”.
Venus: Nothing
Pig: “You probably don’t like police either”.
Venus: Nothing.
The pigs then told Venus to get in the pig car to which he responded that he wanted to know what he was charged with. The pigs decided after reading through their ordinance book that Venus had acted in a disorderly manner.
Venus told them that they had passed out leaflets in other cities with no problems from the police.
Pig: “We make our own laws in Warren”.
Venus: (softly) “Obviously.”
Pig: “Still, we want to protect your Constitutional rights.”
Venus: (loudly) “OH HELL!”
Whereupon the pigs grabbed Venus, smashed him into the hood of the car and cuffed his hands behind his back. Venus is about 5’ 9” and weighs about 145. The pigs were standard pig size.
The crime fighters announced that he was under arrest for Disorderly Conduct and specifically for swearing in front of a woman who was present.
Once at the station-the pigs continued to threaten Venus with violence until they learned he was the minister of the 14th Street Methodist Church. All of a sudden they became nice and cooperative. Venus was released on bond a few hours later.
Venus appeared in Warren Municipal Court the following Monday morning, but the pigs did not have the charges together so the trial was postponed until Aug. 2.
The Judge lectured Venus about what a good film “The Green Berets” was, asked him if he had seen Ronald Reagan on TV the night before, and judicially opined that dissent should be stifled for a few years till the nation “got some national purpose.”