Rifle-Toting Huey P. Newton Gun Club Delivers Report on Police Shootings to Feds

Categories: Guns, News

gun_club_fed_bldg.jpg
Sky Chadde
The Huey P. Newton Gun Club and the Indigenous People's Liberation Party stand across the street from the Earle Cabell Federal Building and Courthouse.
In hopes of raising awareness of police brutality, two groups walked single-file together through downtown Dallas Monday afternoon with rifles slung over their shoulders. The Huey P. Newton Gun Club, which marched down Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in August, and the Indigenous People's Liberation Party stopped in front of the Earle Cabell Federal Building and Courthouse. As about 10 members stood in a line on the sidewalk across the building's entrance, three members went inside and attempted to hand a report directly to U.S. Attorney Sarah Saldana.

They got as far as her division manager with the report, compiled from data obtained through open-records requests, which shows that the majority of victims of Dallas police shootings are from the minority community. It's the same report Dallas Communities Organizing for Change released to the media last week. To the marchers, the numbers in the report are evidence of a systemic problem of police abuse toward minorities.

Charles Goodson, one of the three who handed over the report and a Gun Club leader, believes the numbers in the report have been largely ignored by the city and police Chief David Brown.

"I think it's a great contradiction that they would allow us to get these records and then at the same time when we present them with the facts and the records that they've given to us they don't really pay close attention to that at all," Goodson said. "One of the main things we want to do here today is put that information forward to the community and get it legitimized."

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Sky Chadde
Members of the Gun Club prepare for their downtown march.
Goodson said his group has given the mayor and every City Council member a copy of the report.

"No longer can they say continuously this isn't an issue that's going on," he said.

See also: Armed Huey P. Newton Gun Activists and Black Panthers Marched Through Dallas Yesterday

Earlier Monday, 13 members of the Gun Club marched down Dixon Avenue. It's the site where James Harper, a black man, was shot and killed by a white police officer after an extended chase and fight two years ago, prompting street protests.

The Gun Club focused its efforts there because of the neighborhood's history, and not just Harper's case.

See also: After a Deadly Shooting by Dallas Police, South Dallas Shows Up and Speaks Out

"Dixon Circle is a model neighborhood to the point that you have young and old people living together," Goodson says. "You have people that have been living in the same community now for 15-20 years. Gentrification has not fully taken over that neighborhood. A lot of the people are three or four generations into that community. People have taken stake in that community. They're raising their children in that community continuously."

The street was quiet when the Gun Club marched, but the few people who were outside voiced their support.

"Somebody's got have our back," Freddie Smith said as the marchers passed by.

"They ain't hurting anybody," Vernell Wallace said after the march. "They're just walking down the street."

Wallace added that people open-carry rifles in Arlington on occasion.

When the Gun Club made its way downtown, it met up with the Indigenous People's Liberation Party. "We're made up of Latino and Native American people," said spokesman Kooper Caraway, dressed in fatigues and a camo jacket. "That's why we call ourselves indigenous."

The party didn't march down MLK earlier this year, but they contributed five people to the march downtown.

"We're here to show that police brutality affects all people of color, even working class white people," Caraway said. "In Texas there's potentially some hostility between the black and brown community, so we're here to show unity, show solidarity."

A History of Violence Update

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54 comments
rubbbrduky
rubbbrduky

How ironic these fuckers would jam and jelly together a GUN club, because it was Tyrone Robinson ( a fellow nigger ) not a white police officer, that shot and killed Newton. Newton was also found guilty on accounts of miss handling of community funds ( 15,000 ) give or take, as well as an extensive list of visits in and out of prison. And even more ironic is the fact that, that PIECE OF SHIT died exactly on my birthday of which is August 22. So I look at as a little gift every year of his passing. I saw the video recently of this Lil' Rascals lame ass troupe trying to do some organizing here in Dallas and they looked like a bunch stupid ass elementary kids learning how to space each other out with the arms length method and one in particular needs to carry some resistance bands for burning the fat rather than a gun. Good times ya'll, good times ;)

bvckvs
bvckvs topcommenter

It's interesting to note the difference here between an armed group that legitimately petitions for civil rights, and the Cop-Block kids who are just pathetic losers, desperately crying out for attention... with guns.

I think the biggest difference is the presence of adults.  The Huey Newton folks have adults in their ranks, giving guidance to the young bloods.  The Cop-Block kids don't have that advantage. 

TheCredibleHulk
TheCredibleHulk topcommenter

I never really cared for any of his music anyway.

jefftechstuff
jefftechstuff

People need to protect themselves not have some corrupt law enforcement agency do it for them.

dingo
dingo

'..the majority of victims of Dallas police shootings are from the minority community.'

And which community is responsible for a disproportionate amount of violent crime in the U.S. relative to the group’s population size?

mavdog
mavdog topcommenter

gee, more guns on the streets, people marching around showing off their weapons...what could possibly go wrong?

ThePosterFormerlyKnownasPaul
ThePosterFormerlyKnownasPaul topcommenter

Well, good for them!


Now then, where is the liberal anti gun crowd outcry over people walking down the street with open carry rifles?

TheRuddSki
TheRuddSki topcommenter

Pick on cops all you want, but you have to admit they bring traditional competitors and enemies together. Kumbaya!

orlandinskivaluta
orlandinskivaluta

Would like you to come out to the streets and say this to any folks defending their gun rights, but your bitch ass won't so you stay your little punk ass behind your computer screen where it's safe ;) your day will come and when it does I hope I'll have the privelage to hang you by your balls.

orlandinskivaluta
orlandinskivaluta

Would like you to come out to the streets and say this to any folks defending their gun rights, but your bitch ass won't so you stay your little punk ass behind your computer screen where it's safe ;) your day will come and when it does I hope I'll have the privelage to hang you by your balls.

TheRuddSki
TheRuddSki topcommenter

@bvckvs

As admirable as the Newton Gun Club and Panthers are in their efforts to confront police brutality, the suggestion that the guns are meant to shoot cops is just a bit more concerning than guys shooting cops with cellphones.

mavdog
mavdog topcommenter

@dingo 

a) the minority community doesn't commit the majority of violent crimes, and

b) the issue is not focused solely on violent criminals, the report outlines almost one quarter of the people shot were shot "while in custody".

bmarvel
bmarvel topcommenter

@mavdog There is only one possible purpose for a gun carried in public -- to intimidate. That is, send a message: I can and will shoot you if for some reason I decide you need shooting. For whom is this message intended? Since the gun carriers cannot look into people's hearts, nor can we look into theirs, the message is meant for anyone who sees it. It's meant for you and me. It's an extended middle finger in our face.


everlastingphelps
everlastingphelps topcommenter

@mavdog The only thing that could go wrong would be for the police to screw up and shoot someone who isn't doing anything wrong again.

TheRuddSki
TheRuddSki topcommenter

@mavdog

Judging by the history of such demonstrations, not much.

TheRuddSki
TheRuddSki topcommenter

@TPFKAP

This group exhibits a refreshing organized militancy which is lacking in the redneck gun-nut wanderers who sloppily terrorize dining establishments in their K-Mart cammies.

The white militia Second Amendmenteers give the impression they might shoot just about anyone (trailer-park season runs year 'round), while the Black-Indiginous people's gun club seems more sensibly and safely focused - they just want to shoot cops, which the white militiamen are already doing with their cameras.

This is why I have no community to speak of, communities tend to get on everyone's nerves one way or another whether they're organized or disorganized.

(Which reminds me, Medicare will cover dis-organization now, for all you sextgenarian Questioners out there)

holmantx
holmantx topcommenter

@TheRuddSki

It really is heartening to see all the races come together as simple common folk (sniff, sniff).

everlastingphelps
everlastingphelps topcommenter

@mavdog @dingo I understand you have a hard time with math and probability from the other thread, but there is a huge difference between "disproportionate" and majority.


Say you have 1000 people.  There's a small minority of 50 in that 1000.  The minority commits 200 violent crimes, and the majority commits 250.  


That minority didn't "commit the majority of violent crimes" but they certainly are committing a disproportionate number.

everlastingphelps
everlastingphelps topcommenter

@bmarvel @mavdog There is only one possible purpose for a gun carried in public -- to intimidate.


Sounds like we have finally come to agreement on the motivation of the police in Dallas.

RTGolden1
RTGolden1 topcommenter

@bmarvel @mavdog " Since the gun carriers cannot look into people's hearts, nor can we look into theirs "  Nor can we look into theirs.... although you are purporting to do just that, at the very least to read their minds.

TheRuddSki
TheRuddSki topcommenter

@bmarvel

These demonstrators sure have passed up a lot of chances to gun people down, so I think the raw fear of their intentions has faded a bit.

It's the equivalent of seeing a Porsche on I-30, but provably much safer.

TheRuddSki
TheRuddSki topcommenter

@everlastingphelps

I think Mav is suggesting eventually, some gun is going to shoot someone at one of these demonstrations.

Given the disproportionate level of gun crime in Panther-controlled neighborhoods, I'm thinking he's absolutely right, but the demonstration will likely be in the wee hours in some unfortunate dude's kitchen, and statistics indicate that poor dude will be black, un-armed, with a 30% chance of surviving the demonstration.

mavdog
mavdog topcommenter

@everlastingphelps 

nope, that is not "the only thing that could go wrong".

and any rational person knows it...

mavdog
mavdog topcommenter

@TheRuddSki 

"Past performance is not indicative of future results"

observist
observist topcommenter

@TheRuddSki 

"communities tend to get on everyone's nerves one way or another whether they're organized or disorganized."


Congratulations RuddSki, you're a community!

TheRuddSki
TheRuddSki topcommenter

@holmantx

This is an actual "grassroots" movement - I don't see any Obama logos.

dingo
dingo

@everlastingphelps @mavdog @dingo 

He doesn't have a problem with math, he has a problem with facts, so he changes the argument. As I have re-stated numerous times, highlighting numerous examples.

bmarvel
bmarvel topcommenter

@everlastingphelps @bmarvel @mavdog It's the job of police to intimidate, phelps.Their armed presence is supposed to intimidate the bad guys. It's what we pay them for. 

We don't pay these open-carry doofuses, and since we don't pay them we can't legally control them. 


mavdog
mavdog topcommenter

@TheRuddSki 

I think Mav is suggesting eventually, some gun is going to shoot someone at one of these demonstrations

to be more accurate, it would read "some person with a gun is going to shoot someone at one of these demonstrations"

TheRuddSki
TheRuddSki topcommenter

@mavdog

Ok, we may all die, but Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance.

TheRuddSki
TheRuddSki topcommenter

@observist

The Power of One, eh?

holmantx
holmantx topcommenter

@TheRuddSki

Huey P or Kenny G, when the President reads about this in the NY Times he'll recognize a constituency somewhere in that mob.

And he'll organize.

RTGolden1
RTGolden1 topcommenter

@mavdog @everlastingphelps You weren't 'correcting' the report, you were attacking his point.  (I actually can't believe I'm on his side here, as I can't see anything but an indirect relevance of his point to the article at hand)

In your defense, I might be misreading your point (a), but I doubt it.

everlastingphelps
everlastingphelps topcommenter

@mavdog @everlastingphelps It's funny how, even when I'm on your side you still manage to be such a shithead that you almost convince me to switch sides.


I'm with them that the police don't treat blacks fairly, and you're almost pushing me to the racists side.


Seriously.  You would help your cause more if you would just shut up (assuming that you can't stop being you.)

mavdog
mavdog topcommenter

@dingo 

why don't you "highlight" where my corrections of your post were inaccurate?

I'll be waiting...

TheRuddSki
TheRuddSki topcommenter

@mavdog

just think, after five or ten more years of gun-carry demos with no casualties or accidents, you'll still be correct.

bmarvel
bmarvel topcommenter

@mavdog An old observation by Chekhov. If you place a pistol on a table in Act I of a play, by Act 3 the gun will infallibly go off by Act III. It's human nature. 

The gun carriers secretly long for violence. It would, they think, provide proof that They Were Right All Along.

mavdog
mavdog topcommenter

@TheRuddSki 

some things are out of an individual's control RuddSki.

TheRuddSki
TheRuddSki topcommenter

@holmantx

Before he leaves, Holder might have to come down to protect his "people" if things get ugly.

TheRuddSki
TheRuddSki topcommenter

@TPFKAP

He's not white, he's related to Liz Warren.

mavdog
mavdog topcommenter

@everlastingphelps 

oh, I am being a shithead? who started their post with "I understand you have a hard time with math and probability".

physician, heal thyself...and yes, please stop "being you" and things would be a ton better.

RTGolden1
RTGolden1 topcommenter

@mavdog @dingo "...

why don't you "highlight" where my corrections of your post were inaccurate?

I'll be waiting......"  Serve a fat pitch, and i'll swing at it!



"And which community is responsible for a disproportionate amount of violent crime in the U.S. relative to the group’s population size?"  From original post.



"a) the minority community doesn't commit the majority of violent crimes, and"  from your 'correction'.


'disproportionate' is not equal to 'majority'.  Not only inaccurate, but deliberately misquoting the original to suit your argument.

bmarvel
bmarvel topcommenter

@everlastingphelps @bmarvel @mavdog But we can control the police, phelps, if we want to.If we insist on it. They are, by definition, our employees. We sign their paychecks. We can suspend them, suspend them without pay, fire them. We can vote against the politicians who fail to do so. The police are an arm of government, our government. If they abuse their power -- which they seem to be doing a lot, lately -- it's on us to correct the problem. Not some doofus standing on a street corner in Arlington.

How do we control the nut cases who want to show off their weaponry in the dairy aisle at the local supermarket, or wag their big guns around in fast-food joints? By use of the law? Who enforces he law? The Open Carry gang?

"But it hasn't happened yet," someone here always tells us. He's wrong. Any number of innocent people have been shot dead with guns that were -- up until the moment the trigger was pulled -- perfectly legal.

Let's all start with what we can agree on: Guns kill. That's their purpose. If they didn't kill, they couldn't fulfill their other purpose, which is to intimidate, threaten, protect. So who is it they might kill in a grocery store or on a street corner? A thief, a murderer? Yes. How likely is it the average citizen will encounter a thief or a murderer in, say, Tom Thumb? At Center sand Main?

Leave the job of protecting us from thieves and murderers to the people we hire for that job, then insist that they do their job well, with justice and fairness and skill. Let the amateurs strut around the target range or the deer stand where th

e only thing they ave to defend is their egos..    


TheRuddSki
TheRuddSki topcommenter

@bmarvel

I think anti-gun folks hope for and actually predict violence, it would provide proof they were right all along.

The point of the carry demos is "look, no violence", so why would they secretly hope for violence which would disprove their purpose for demonstration?

It would be like marching to end war, violence, capitalism and such while wrecking The People's Stuff.

Oh wait... You might have a point.

TheRuddSki
TheRuddSki topcommenter

@everlastingphelps

Now I qualify for a visit from the unintelligible reverend.

mavdog
mavdog topcommenter

@RTGolden1

'disproportionate' is not equal to 'majority'.

yes, that was the point. the report dealt with "the majority".

Not only inaccurate, but deliberately misquoting the original to suit your argument

it is accurate, and it is not a "misquote".

the argument Dingo attempted to make (it seems) is because the minorities committed a "disportionate amount of violent crime" they are themselves to blame for having so many killed by the police.

to be a credible argument by Dingo the numbers should correspond, there should be a "disportionate amount" of minority victims of police killings: there is way more than a "disportionate amount", minorities were the majority of those who were killed by the police.

when one looks at the number of minorities killed by the police "while in custody" it shows to be even more damning of the police.

bmarvel
bmarvel topcommenter

@mavdog To reduce this argument to something anybody can understand, let's say for the sake of argument that 20 percent of violent crime is committed by members of minorities. Then one would expect roughly that 20 percent of police shootings would claim minority victims.

We all know this is not true. 

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