The Drunkablog--"small, ineffectual, not without conflict"--as indigenous women presented a "Treaty of Transformation" to the parade organizers. As a bonus check out the special guest--someone writing as Glenn Spagnuolo (of Recreate '68 infamy)--in the comments.
Westword has a video-to-video comparison of last year's protests and arrests, from AIM's perspective, and those who were observing (using footage from yours truly).
Morris also must pay $323.53, the cost of cleaning up the theatrical blood.
The cost is so high because police called in a hazardous materials unit to do the cleaning before the parade was allowed to proceed.
At least the jurors understood the situation, and didn't buy defense attorney David Lane's moral superiority argument:
Jury Foreman Terry Smith, a retired Ford executive, said that the panel based the decision only on whether the evidence showed the defendants committed the acts with which they were charged — not the message the protesters were trying to convey.
Columbus Day Protestors' Defense Plans To Put Columbus On Trial
Looks like Ward Churchill's old buddy David Lane is trotting out the "we can do anything we want because our opinions matter more than any law" defense:
Defense lawyers argued Wednesday that Columbus Day protesters had a right to block a Denver parade because it celebrated a man whom American Indians view as a slave trader, murderer and rapist.
"Are you aware that to some [?--ed.] Native Americans, celebrating Columbus is the same as celebrating Hitler to Jews?" attorney David Lane asked prospective jurors during the first in a series of trials for more than 80 people arrested in the Oct. 6 protest.
Denver police made the arrests in an annual ritual in which opponents try to block the parade.
Lane argued that the parade is a form of "ethnic intimidation," similar to burning a cross on a black family's lawn.
City attorneys countered that the parade was legal because it had a permit. The only issue for the jury is whether the protesters violated city ordinances, such as blocking the street, they said.
"They want to use this to put Columbus on trial. That's not what this is all about," said assistant city attorney Melissa Drazen-Smith.
Surprising that Lane added the caveat "some". Giving offense, apparently, legitimizes the actions of the protestors.
Those on trial include:
The defendants are University of Colorado political science professor Glenn Morris, who has been in several of the annual Columbus Day protests; the Rev. Julie Todd, a Methodist minister who is a doctoral candidate at the Iliff School of Theology, and Koreena Montoya of Denver.
The lawyers for the defendants made various opposing arguments, saying their clients may not have known they were breaking the law, that the police may not have sufficiently warned them and that Columbus was a murderer and a slave trader.
The first argument is clearly a load of BS--what with all the green-hatted "legal observers" there (and surely Lane was consulted beforehand).
The second argument is also ridiculous on its face. One only need watch the videos from the parade posted on this blog to hear the repeated, clear warnings issued by the Denver Police. Either the defense expects the jury to be stupid, or the protestors temporarily went deaf (could be those bandannas and the repetitive drum banging as well).
As for the third reason, it is clear that the arrested protestors and their defense wish to lecture the jury with their version of a "history lesson"/academic colloquium on Columbus.
What doesn't appear to be happening is a challenge of the city's ordinances prohibiting anyone from blocking a lawful parade with legitimate permits for any reason. The protestors would simply offer that their free speech rights and alleged "moral superiority" would trump any such trifling legal restriction. Beyond that, city/state/federal laws are ALL inherently illegitimate, based as they are upon white colonial power:
"Asking an illegal colonizer for permission to be on land that doesn't belong to them doesn't work for us"--Glenn Spagnuolo
Columbus Day Protestors Allege Excessive Force By Police
Moonbat Columbus Day protestors, after resisting arrest, now allege that Denver police are guilty of using "excessive force" to remove them from the street as they blocked the parade route:
A police watchdog group released video Friday they said shows Denver police using excessive force.
CopWatch said they had six cameras at the Columbus Day Parade protests, where demonstrators who staged a mid-street sit-in were hauled off by Denver police.
Cameras from 7NEWS were there as well and showed some protesters apparently resisting arrest.
However, Stephen Nash, a CopWatch spokesman, said after the protesters were removed from the sit-in, officers used pain-compliance holds on people who were already in police custody and on some who weren’t resisting.
He said non-violent protestors did not deserve that level of force and that officers could have used other non-violent techniques or handcuffs to make the arrests.
"Police have been using pain holds more and more in demonstrations across the country to kind of expand what they're allowed to do," said Nash.
CopWatch said it plans to show the video to the ACLU and other legal groups to determine if they have a human rights case against the police department.
These allegations were probably prefabricated before the parade even took place--any arrest or attempt to engage the "peaceful" protestors would be met with just such allegations.
Check out Schaffer v Udall for all the latest in the race for Colorado's open Senate seat
A combination of marketing homework and Colorado Rockies bummed out-ness is keeping me from my appointed rounds, so here is a little from some of the other Colorado blogs not drowning in purple martinis tonight:
Best Destiny has a good piece on education expectations and reform.
On the other side of the aisle, Jared Polis grumbles about the "establishment", "insider" Democrats in Washington, D.C. ignoring his campaign:
You would never know that Democrats held strong values if you look at what comes out of the insular DC insiders. We are the party of values; let's start living them and celebrate dissent and diversity.
At least he got the first part right, though I'm not sure you could find any Democrat with "strong values" other than winning-at-all-costs, anti-American moonbattery.
David Sirota has a lucid moment and refutes (with accuracy) the Hillary Clinton campaign's claim that Bill Clinton's ability to tilt some states in the West could be recaptured by her presidential bid by noting the effect third-party candidate Ross Perot had on George H.W. Bush's reelection bid.
On September 11, 2001, I was at the kitchen table eating breakfast and my dad turned on his God damn Fox morning news only to see replay footage of a plane crashing into a building over and over again while men in suits expressed their ratings-bumping, botoxed-up sympathy for the survivors of the so-called "accident." I didn't really care at first-the world was in need of a subtle purge of New Yorkers, anyway-but when the second plane hit, I quit reading the paper and paid attention to the TV.
An attorney for protesters who were arrested after blocking the Columbus Day parade last weekend said he will defend his clients on the basis of international law.
"We will file motions before the trial saying that international law and free speech are above any . . . (city) ordinance," Denver attorney Walter Gerash, a longtime defender of protest groups, said Wednesday.
But an organizer of the parade said the protesters violated the rights of those trying to celebrate Columbus Day.
"We have a right to be on that street. We went through the legal process of getting the permit," said Anna Vann, of Denver.
Denver police arrested 81 to 83 protesters - the count varies - during an annual ritual in which opponents try to block the parade.
Most of the protesters were charged with disrupting a public assembly, a misdemeanor. Some also received additional charges, such as resisting arrest.
The maximum penalty on the disruption charge is 90 days, Gerash said.
**Update--Columbus Day 2007: dozens arrested including Glenn Morris and Russell Means; parade delayed over an hour; photos and video have been loaded on their own separate pages--Columbus Day photos part I; Columbus Day videos part I
Media--Glenn Morris and Russell Means interviewed by Caplis and Silverman, later joined by parade organizer George Vendegnia for a contentious exchange--Means: "You're worse than a German!"
9NEWS reports 83 arrested, "most, if not all, of the people arrested will be charged with interference with a parade route and interference with a lawful assembly . . . 10 of the 83 people arrested may face additional charges of resisting arrest."
Police arrested American Indian Movement leader Russell Means and 83 protesters at today's Columbus Day parade for blocking the route.
But there were no major incidents or violent behavior, police said. . . . Glenn Morris, a member of the American Indian Movement of Colorado's leadership council, urged those willing to face jail to block the parade route. Other demonstrators were told to remain on the sidewalk and out of the way of police.
"We can either watch history or we can make history and today we intend to make history," Morris said. . . . Protesters sat down in the street to face off with police after Morris poured a bucket of red liquid bearing pieces of dismembered toy dolls.
Rocky Mountain News:
George Vendegnia, one of the organizers of the parade, said the protest and delay was planned for and caused minimal disruption.
"With this protest, it's just motivating people more to be back next year and exercise their right to participate in an American holiday," Vendegnia said.
Russell Means--"This is only the beginning, the frustration has reached critical mass"
Organizer Glenn Morris arrested
Protest leader and Ward Churchill lackey Glenn Spagnuolo, also arrested
"This holiday is going to die here. The time for talk is over"--Glenn Spagnuolo
". . . an end to the Colum-Bush legacy . . ."--TCM
Slapstick Politics covered the protests in 2006, and Drunkablog was there in 2005. Slapstick's operatives will be at the parade today, check back later for photos/video after the parade. The parade begins at 10 a.m., starts at 15th Street and Court Place, and ends at 14th Avenue and Broadway.
Despite their persistence, the protestors haven't accomplished much in those seventeen years. Morris, a high-ranking member of the American Indian Movement of Colorado, points out that some of the children who attended those early actions with their parents are now adults with kids of their own.
But this protest could be different, and the September 24 meeting was buzzing with anticipation. Heads of various protest "departments" stood to report on everything from the street-medic team (first-aid training was going well) to the squad of legal observers (just look for the bright-green hats). Pamphlets were passed around detailing the legal procedures involved in being arrested, from booking to bonding to trial. It was announced that a private security crew would be provided by Colorado AIM.
One important change this year is that TCD organizers have chosen not to meet with police beforehand to work out the ground rules for peaceful "orchestrated arrests," as they did in 2004. About 240 demonstrators were arrested that year for blocking the parade route by sitting in the streets.
Additionally, because this is the 100-year anniversary of the holiday, hundreds of activists are expected to travel to Denver from San Francisco, New York and severals out-of-state Indian reservations. A few are also flying in from other countries to take part.
Some of those groups may be planning "direct action" confrontations — a clear escalation in the type of engagement TCD has employed in the past. The group's leadership acknowledges that they are undertaking a shift in strategy. Toward what, exactly, no one is willing to say.
Of course what all this means will only be revealed Saturday at the parade.
Denver Post columnist Al Knight notes Denver's mixed response to AIM's strident demands and the rights that the Italian parade organizers are in danger of losing:
It is clear that when it comes to AIM's hatred of the Columbus Day Parade, the law doesn't much matter. The parade protesters are planning to converge on downtown Denver in a show of force before the parade on Oct. 6. However, when asked if they had applied for parade permits, they grandly announced that no permits were necessary because "we are on native land."
This is not just nonsense, it amounts to the purist form of ethnic intimidation, the type that is punishable under state and federal hate-crime laws. . . . Columbus may have been less than perfect as a human being, but that is no excuse for denying Italians hundreds of years later the rights of assembly guaranteed under the U.S. and Colorado constitutions.
When and if the Columbus holiday is ended, it will be because the people of Colorado, through their elected representatives, decide to end it, not because CU-Denver professor Glenn Morris and other members of AIM think otherwise.
Italian-Americans, and anyone who supports the Columbus Day holiday — a federal holiday for more than a generation — have the right to parade, peacefully, through our city streets.
The parade must go forward, but without violence.
American Indians and their supporters have every right to protest the parade, but they should do so without interfering in the activities that so many Coloradans want to enjoy. They should not be able to block the parade from taking place without some consequence.
The City Council in 2005 passed two ordinances that make it illegal for protesters to physically or vocally disrupt lawful assemblies, while prohibiting obstruction of public passageways, such as streets.
Even the Colorado Historical Society feels the pressure, as the Colorado History Museum which it runs has pulled the decidedly inflammatory "Homeland Security" t-shirt (including a well-armed Geronimo) so popular with Ward Churchill-types until after Columbus Day because of the stir caused when patrons visiting the popular Italians of Denver exhibit noticed the shirt.
Videos from Denver's 2007 Columbus Day Parade and protest--it was really windy at times, and yes, the camera picked that up . . . (between attending the Rockies game last night, Firefox issues, and slower-than-molasses YouTube uploading, these are up later than usual). Mild NSFW (language):
Columbus Day Protest:
The parade itself, marred by chanting, profanity and more arrests:
Denver’s Columbus Day Parade will mark its 100th anniversary this weekend and like previous parades this one is expected to be contentious, with hundreds of American Indians and supporters turning out to condemn Columbus as a genocidal oppressor.
Organizers of a protest march called the All Nations/Four Directions March stepped up their rhetoric by likening last year’s use of reenactors of a 19th century U.S. Army Cavalry unit to carry the flag before the start of the parade to nooses used to intimidate black students in the central Louisiana town of Jena.
“Being led by a cavalry unit in a uniform from the Indian Wars exemplifies perfectly what this is about: It is about conquest, genocide and hatred,” said Glenn Morris, a member of the American Indian Movement leadership council and an organizer of the protest.
Parade organizer George Vendegnia of the Sons of Italy New Generation said the cavalry unit has always been a part of the parade, though they haven’t before been noted by the protest groups.
“It’s only three guys on horses,” Vendegnia said. “All this time (they’re saying) it was genocide by Columbus because he reigned through Spain and now they’re saying the cavalry did it. That’s their next attack group.
“If the U.S. cavalry committed genocide, why don’t they protest President’s Day?”
But Columbus Day is just a "celebration of hate":
“A hundred years is enough of a celebration that is nothing more than hate speech,” said Mark Cohen, a member of the alliance. “This vile and racist celebration that started here must end here.”
Mike Graham, of Oklahoma, said the holiday is a celebration of racism and genocide, and called Columbus the Americas' first terrorist.
Glenn Spagnuolo, representing PITCH - Progressive Italians Transforming the Columbus Holiday, said Italians from Italy would be flying in to join the protest. "The parade you are going to see has nothing to do with Italian culture," he said.
When asked if he and others had obtained permits for their demonstration, Spagnuolo said, "We don't need a permit, because we are on native land."
Meanwhile, last year's parade and protests were captured here (photos) and in this video:
"The leaders in last year's parade were people dressed up as members of the Third Cavalry. That was the unit who fought in the Sand Creek Massacre. It has nothing to do with Italian heritage," said Glenn Spagnuolo, one of the protest organizers who spoke at a rally this morning at Denver's City and County Building. He referred to the bloody 1864 Sand Creek raid by Colorado militiamen, in which 160 Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians — mostly women and children — were slaughtered.
"The symbolism of those marchers was very clear — racism and hate. It was the same message as the three nooses in Jena, Louisiana," he said.
Spagnuolo, who is of Italian heritage, and Glenn Morris, an organizer and an American Indian, said they have invited a large number of sympathizers to help disrupt Saturday's parade. "There will be a large action Saturday morning to confront this parade," Spagnuolo said. "This holiday is going to die here. The time for talk is over."
Morris clarified that his group Saturday "will use every nonviolent, constitutionally protected" means of opposing the marchers.
Perhaps a repeat of 2004's sit-down action that delayed the parade for an hour while protestors were arrested? Or something a little more, shall we say, attention grabbing?
This begins the ramp-up for our opposition to the Columbus Day Hate Speech Spectacle.
The Four Directions March, followed by massive rally at the Colorado StateCapitol on Saturday October 6, 2007. March begins at 7:30 am/rally at 8:30. Come prepared to make history.
Protest of Columbus Day Parade 9:30-Noon. Rally to call for justice for Native peoples everywhere, for an end to the Colum-Bush legacy, repeal the Columbus holiday, call for an end to another Columbush imperial invasion in Iraq.
Rock Out Columbus Day Concert, Thursday, October 4, 2007, OrientalTheater, 44th Ave at Tennyson. 7-midnight. Featuring Debajo del Agua and Savage Family, with other indigenous acts.
"Columbuscide - Denver, 2007 • 515 Years of Invasion, Indigenous Resistance and Renewal." Art Festival, Opening Friday, October 5th, 7pm Laughing Bean Café, 1025 N. Santa Fe Drive, Denver.
On Friday, October 5th, during the Friday night artwalk in the Santa Fe Drive District, "Columbuscide - Denver, 2007 • 515 years of invasion, indigenous resistance and renewal," sponsored by the American Indian Movement of Colorado and Transform Columbus Day Alliance. The show will expose the deception, death and destruction embodied in the celebration of Columbus Day, which was born 100 years ago this year in Colorado.
The show will also reflect the spirit of resistance of indigenous peoples to over 500 years of oppression and genocide in our homeland. It will express the spirit of resilience and dedication to freedom for future generations of indigenous peoples here in on Turtle Island. Featuring work by American Indian artists, Russell Means, Lawrence Paul and other native and non-native artists who have provided their interpretation of the effects of imperialism, genocide, and oppression which began with Columbus' arrival and that continue today. The show is being hosted by The Laughing Bean, 1025 Santa Fe Drive, Denver. This art show is part of a comprehensive series of events to oppose Columbus Day, and to express a constructive alternative to hateful Columbus legacy. For more information on other events, visit: www.transformcolumbusday.org
Colorado AIM and the Transform Columbus Day Alliance held a two-day Truth Commission in Denver on Sept. 8-9 as Colorado gears up for the 100th year since it began celebrating Columbus Day and as activists mobilized to oppose to the iconization of the slave trader and mass murderer. . . . Even the most conservative estimates of the population of Indigenous people say that the Caribbean islands were inhabited by 8 million people before 1492, this according to Shelburne Cook and Woodrow Borah’s “Essays in Population History” Vol. I, Chapter VI. By the time Columbus left the Caribbean in 1500, due to his policies, which included setting up a slave system (encomienda), and to practices such as cutting off the hands of Taíno people who did not meet a quota of gold, the population had been decimated. (Transformcolumbusday.com) . . . Glenn Morris testified about the legacy of Columbus on Indigenous people and what it means today, as U.S. imperialism aggressively targets poor workers around the world for highly exploitable labor and to steal the resources underneath their feet. Ultimately, Morris said, the Doctrine of Discovery is a thin veil for white supremacy. As European nations were competing with one another for riches, they were able to share in an ideology that exerted their superiority over darker people around the world. This doctrine was used to validate the mass murder of people for profit and the enslavement of them. It continues to do so today, said Morris, as there has never been a dialogue around the colonization of the Americas and slavery and how the U.S. was born into the world dripping with blood from head to toe.
The Truth Commission, just like the International Tribunal on Hurricanes Katrina/Rita, provided the true history of people. As the struggle to stop imperialist wars abroad and the war against the oppressed and workers in the U.S. intensifies, this truth becomes increasingly more important and provides the history that will inundate the lies of the oppressors.
Articles copyright 1995-2007 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.
There has "never been a dialogue"? What about all the multi-culti, diversity, PC-mongering for the past 30 years, along with mea culpas, legitimate academic inquiries and the recognition of past injustices on nearly a daily basis? Is Glenn literally saying that nothing has changed?
Want to contribute? Visit our store for conservative gear for 2008! "A lot of guys yearning for adventure and romance would give their left one to be referred to in print as a man "who identified himself only as 'El Presidente.'" Nobody, for example, is ever going to refer to me as a man who "identified himself only as El Presidente." You bastard."--Drunkablog
