Just after midnight on Saturday May 6th, Alan Blueford and two of his friends were waiting for some girls to pick them up on 90th Ave., in East Oakland, after the Floyd Mayweather fight. Not long after Alan had phoned his parents to check-in with them, a car slowly pulled up to them with its lights off. Alan ran. One officer gave chase. A few blocks later Alan was shot by OPD officer Miguel Masso. Masso also shot himself in the foot. Over a dozen witnesses all said that Alan had no weapon and posed no threat to the officer.
Why did the police approach Alan and his friends with their lights off? Why did they give chase when Alan had committed no crime and posed no threat to the officer? Why was Alan shot three times when he had no weapon? How did a trained officer shoot himself in the foot? From the witnesses’ statements, why was Alan not given emergency CPR by OPD? Why did the OPD change their story to the family several times in the days after the shooting? Why have they refused to release the coroner’s report, despite the fact that it has been complete for weeks?
The family has gotten nothing but lies, distortions and stalling from the OPD. The Blueford family and the Justice 4 Alan Blueford Coalition are demanding:
1. Officer Miguel Masso be fired and charged with Alan’s murder.
2. OPD Chief Howard Jordan be held accountable for lying to the Blueford family.
3. An end to stop-and-frisk and other police practices of racial profiling.
4. The repeal of the Police Officers’ Bill of Rights, that shields violent cops from prosecution and keeps them on the street.
On September 30, 2019 Malad Baldwin was assaulted by the police at his home in front of witnesses. His home is in a relatively nice neighborhood in Antioch. Interviews of family members by the Oscar Grant Committee, were used to create this brief narrative of the events. To date the police have refused to release any police records to Malad or his mother and the officers involved are not known at this time. A complaint has now been filed in an effort to obtain police records.
Apparently, Antioch Police were dispatched due to a call from Contra Costa Fire Dept concerning a man acting unusual, according to the Medical History Report by Sutter Hospital ER Thomas Sugarman MD following discussion with Police.
Malad says he had observed a Fire Truck parked down the street. He claims he did nothing abnormal other than staring although he may have had some mental confusion about what might have happened.
While he was near the street near his home, the fire truck drove passed him and then did a U-turn and parked just down the street again. Apparently, that is when the police were notified.
Earlier, Malad had told his brother Lawrence Adams, his care giver, that he was going for his usual walk. Lawrence watching from his upstairs window above the garage then saw a brief exchange between occupants in a slowly passing fire truck. The firemen seemed to be taunting and pointing at Malad and he heard Malad yell out “why are you here for me? You aren’t here for me! I didn’t call you!”
According to Malad, he remembers a police officer pulling up in a patrol car and and approaching him. Malad remembers that the officer asked, “what you are doing” and I says “nothing, I live here”. Malad said “Am I being arrested” I live right here. The officer then followed behind Malad to the house.
Malad was now on his sidewalk near his front door on his way into his house. Malad describes being pulled by the shoulder. He at first thought it was his brother. However, it was the police officer. Malad is confused about what happened, but he remembers being punched.
He doesn’t remember any commands by the officer. Malad also continues to say, “ I didn’t do anything?” Malad then slips inside house and goes up the nearby stairs to his bedroom. Malad remembers locking his bedroom door. Hearing commotion, Malad leaves his room and from the balcony was calling out to his brother “What is happening?” Now, the Officer goes up the stairs following Malad into bedroom.
Lawrence, meanwhile, had watched the police officer arrive from upstairs window .The police officer never said anything in response to Malad, but closely followed him from behind on the sidewalk and across the street up the driveway while having put on leather gloves.
When Lawrence lost visual contact with his brother, he raced downstairs and opened the front door. There he witnessed the officer, without saying a word, grab Malad’s shoulder and then punch him in his shoulder with his fist driving Malad into the side of the house.
Malad then scurried into house. The officer just watched momentarily while grabbing his taser. Then, without saying a word, he violently pushed Lawrence from the door back into the house so hard that Lawrence staggered far into the dining room.
The officer then went into a crouch position besides the stairway with his red lighted taser held out in front of him at the ready. Lawrence yelled out “You can’t do that. That’s against the law. You have no warrant!”
Officer still in crouch mode then climbed up the stairs. Suddenly, 3 firemen walked into the house. Lawrence is still back in dining room with hands up hoping not to get shot. A fireman tugs on his clothes asking him to come outside. Lawrence says “that’s not right. I am only one here with Malad.”
A fireman then says that Malad called in on himself. Lawrence responds, “That’s not right”. Lawrence then manages to escort the firemen from the house.
As Lawrence was engaged with the firemen just outside the front door, another police officer suddenly appears from behind the firemen with baton drawn pushing Lawrence violently up against the door. Instinctively, Lawrence grabs the baton to prevent any blows.
Then a fireman yells from the doorway, “he’s upstairs” and the officer releases Lawrence, turns and runs upstairs. Lawrence locks the front door to keep out the firemen.
Lawrence goes upstairs and sees an officer strike Malad with a baton in back of knee. Officer yells for Lawrence to get out of here and Lawrence says, “ I am going to my room”.
There in his bedroom, Malad is assaulted with a baton or flashlight bringing him down to his knees. One officer had a choke hold on Malad and then the other officer brought his knee across Malad’s throat while the other officer handcuffed Malad with his arms behind him.
Hearing the commotion, Malad’s Uncle Martin Parks, who is disabled, came out of his upstairs room to observe the action in Malad’s room. Shocked by what was happening, he saw Malad laying face down on his bed with handcuffs on.
One officer was still holding Malad down, while another officer had his gun drawn pointing at Malad’s head. Martin then heard the officer say at least two different times if you don’t stop struggling, “I will shoot you”.
During his interview, Martin was still quite shaken by everything that had happened. Observing Martin, one officer yelled “ Get the Fuck out! This is none of your business!” Martin went back to his room and called Malad’s mother Kathryn Wade.
Malad was then brought downstairs and outside of his home with both officer’s pulling his arms high above the rear of his head causing excruciating pain and doubling him over as he tried to walk.
Lawrence retrieves his video phone from room and returns to balcony in time to video police hauling Malad down the stairs and out the front door. Police officer slams front door in Lawrence’s face, but he still comes out to video more.
Lawrence says as his brother is at police car handcuffed, he hears officer threaten Malad “ I will shoot you if you are not still.”
After a few minutes, Malad was placed into a police car and then taken to Sutter Hospital for examination although the police refused to tell family where he was being taken. The handcuffs were never removed during about 30 minutes at hospital.
Malad was given several medicines. According to Medical report, Malad claims he was struck in the right Clavicle by a baton and the left knee by a flashlight. Malad tells Thomas Sugarman MD that he has a history of mental illness, around PTSD. Malad is unable to provide further information, but wants his Mother called. Malad repeatedly asks ‘If there a warrant’ and ‘if he is under arrest’. Full ER visit bill is about $3200.
When Malad leaves in police car, Lawrence goes back inside house, only to return shortly when his mother arrives fearing for her wellbeing. Lawrence sees 3-4 firemen acting disrespectful toward his mom such that even one police officer steps in to stop it.
Malad’s mother, Kathryn Wade, was informed of police attack on her son by Uncle Martin Parks via a phone call. She arrived at her home just after the police had left taking her son to Sutter Hospital. Kathryn was told by police that a Contra Costa Firefighter on a passing Fire truck claimed he had seen Malad throw something at a woman and initiated a call to Police.
Kathryn’s pleas for police, quite numerous now, to locate this mysterious woman were ignored as police made no effort on the scene to find such a person despite continued presence of firemen and two of their trucks. Kathryn has been unable to locate any such woman in talking to neighbors.
No one is aware of the reasons for the presence of these fire trucks either before or after incident involving Malad. There didn’t seem to be any medical emergencies or fires, outside of the attack on Malad. Lawrence observes many police officers in area, just talking to each other. Also, there are two fire trucks one of which was partially blocking Kathryn’s car as she drove into her driveway.
From Sutter Hospital, Malad was transferred to Antioch Police Department and later to Martinez Jail. He was eventually transferred to West County Detention Center. After 3 days, Malad was released apparently without any paperwork, charges or notice to appear in court.
The testimony of Malad, Kathryn, Martin and Lawrence are both honest, sincere, emotional and disturbing! See the video interview links.
Rather than treating this call as someone experiencing a medical mental episode, officers physically abused Malad and even Lawrence and entered Mahad’s home without warrant or permission. No one in family gave any permission for police and firemen to enter their home, nor was anyone asked.
Despite there being no reason to believe any crime was happening or had been committed, police used extreme physical force including repeated threats to shoot to kill with a weapon aimed at Malad while he was handcuffed and otherwise restrained.
In reality, the entire family was terrorized including several young children in a separate living room to left of front door by totally unwarranted police brutality against a wonderful family of color.
Police were aware or should have been aware that Malad suffers from some mental illness that may make him unable to rationally respond to police commands when he is confronted with a stressful situation.
In fact, Malad already suffers some mental disabilities the result of an earlier brutal police assault on April 28, 2014. Beaten to unconscious, Malad was found innocent at a trial after he was falsely accused of actually assaulting the police.
The case resulted in a monetary settlement but has left Malad mentally scarred
Terry, a 43 year old Black man was shot and killed by Pittsburg Police late Friday night, while eating dinner inside his car outside of Nations Burgers in Pittsburg, as was his habit before going to work on his night shift job as a delivery driver for Presidential Propane Company. The police claim that he was reaching for a gun that was a holstered pistol in plain sight to the non shooting officer. Body cam of both officers clearly show Amons attempting to comply with shouted contradictory orders from two cops with guns drawn and aimed at him. The videos shows Amons complying with orders to place his hands on the steering wheel and then attempting to comply with frantic commands to “get out of the car” before being sensely gunned down. The officer with the clearest view, through the open passenger side window, of the gun and Amons hands never fires but suddenly backs away to safety as his partner fires some 5 rounds into Amons back. Video shows this officer had no view of either the gun or Amons hand nearest gun. Officers claim they were responding to a drug dealing complaint that provoked the initial contact. Amons was alone and no drugs were found in his car.
Establish a victory lawns and gardens initiative through a $36 billion investment to help urban, rural, and suburban Americans transform their lawns into food-producing or reforested spaces that sequester carbon and save water. Lawns account for 40 million acres in America, and we spend tens of billions of dollars each year taking care of them each year. Let’s reinvest that money in climate smart practices that encourage everyone to be a part of the solution.
Invest $14.7 billion in cooperatively and community owned grocery stores. Local groceries and co-ops are more likely to buy local products, which will help grow markets for farmers to sell their goods. We will also use these funds to bring grocery stores to food deserts ensuring all people have access to healthy, local food.
Incentivize schools to procure locally produced foods. Institutional purchasing can be a huge boost to local producers and build local farm economies.
We will give a meal incentive for schools that acquire at least 30 percent of their food from local sources.
Invest $31 billion in local food processing, including slaughter and dairy processing. Rampant consolidation in processing has led to a lack of facilities for small-scale, local producers. Investing in local facilities will help smaller producers to compete with the Tyson Foods of the world.
Allow meat slaughtered at state inspected facilities to be sold across state lines. State inspected slaughter facilities must meet or exceed federal regulations.
Currently, imported meat must meet the same standards as meat from a federally inspected slaughterhouses and it may cross state lines. We need to level the playing field for locally produced meat.
Bolster existing programs that help farmers process their products on farm with a $263 million investment. There are already some programs that support on-farm processing and farmers markets. We need to continue to support these efforts as we expand opportunities.
Help states develop food recovery and composting programs with a $160 billion investment to help solve hunger. If food waste were its own country, it would be the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases after the U.S. and China. Meanwhile, 40 million people in this country are food insecure. We need to give states the resources they need to reduce food waste and hunger in their communities.
Enforce country of origin labeling.Unfair trade policy has let foreign countries overturn our country-of-origin-labeling laws even though 90 percent of the American people support country-of-origin labeling. We must respect the will of the people and allow them to know where their food is coming from.
Incentivize community ownership of farmland. One of the barriers to being able to choose a career in ecologically regenerative farming is the cost of acquiring farmland. We want communities to be able to join together to own farmland to help people grow our local, ecologically regeneratively produced food and help solve the climate crisis and will provide government assistance to do so. We will support a robust future for rural America that will be essential to addressing the climate crisis. This is consistent with our Revitalizing Rural America plan.
In 2017, 95 percent of all farmers accounted for were white, with black farmers reporting ownership declining at 10 times the rate it did for white farmers. That is in addition to black farmers losing 80 percent of their land between 1910 and 2007, in no small part due to systematic discrimination. Today, only about 5 percent of black farmers reporting earning over $50,000, compared to 15 percent of white farmers. Additionally, 52 percent of American women farmers said they felt gender discrimination. When we are in the White House we will eradicate discrimination in agricultural land and opportunities.
In addition to the $41 billion he will invest in socially disadvantaged and beginning farmers as president, Bernie will:
Help beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers get fair access to land and resources by providing $50 million for a Disadvantaged and Beginning Farm State Coordinator program. The coordinator will also help farmers access programs and fill out burdensome paperwork that can be a barrier to participation for small farms.
Provide oral translation assistance at all USDA, FDA, and DOJ offices for non-English speakers. Farmers across the U.S. are prevented from accessing government resources because of language and literacy barriers. We will require USDA, the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Justice to provide translation assistance need to help all farmers regardless of their primary language.
Invest $1.12 billion in Tribal land access and extension programs. We will invest in programs to help Tribes and Tribal corporations access, acquire, and consolidate land on their reservations. We will also ensure federal resources to facilitate knowledge transfer, technical assistance, and educational activities on Tribal land.
a) Invest $127 million in the Highly Fractionated Indian Land Grant Program to reunify divided and fractured ownership of tribal land. b) Invest $600 million in the Indian Tribal Land Acquisition Grant Program for Tribes and Tribal corporations to purchase land on their own reservations. c) Invest $400 million in the Federally Recognized Tribes Extension Program to provide educational outreach and research-based knowledge on Tribal lands through the USDA Extension program.
Strengthen outreach to minority and socially disadvantaged farmers. The Farmer Opportunity Training and Outreach program helps coordinate USDA training and education for beginning, veteran, and socially disadvantaged farmers. The program has been historically underfunded, so we will spend $1 billion to expand it to ensure those who have been chronically underserved by the USDA have access to the resources they need to thrive.
Create a pathway to citizenship for migrant farmworkers and end exclusions for agricultural workers in labor laws. We must ensure farmworkers have the right to overtime pay, strong safety protections, and the right to collectively bargain. Currently, farm workers are exempt from many labor laws that other workers have benefitted from for years. Farming is a dangerous and demanding profession. We need to protect these workers as we do others
Reform H-2A agricultural work visas to substantially raise prevailing wages, allow workers to move between employers, increase enforcement and hold employers who mistreat workers accountable, and include a pathway to citizenship for those who want it.
Lobbyists and the Trump administration have gutted GIPSA and blocked rules helping farmers. As the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition details, “the 2008 Farm Bill required USDA to write regulations to empower GIPSA to provide basic protections for farmers who do business with these companies. But when USDA tried to write the regulations, the meat and poultry industries launched a full-scale attack to get GOP lawmakers to pass appropriations riders to block USDA from finalizing those farmer protections.” Working together, we will restore the agency that enforces antitrust laws in the meatpacking industry – an agency that Trump eliminated.
Ensure farmers have the right to repair their own equipment. In rural America today, farmers can’t even repair their own tractors or other equipment because of the greed of companies like John Deere. As noted in Wired Magazine, “Farmers can’t change engine settings, can’t retrofit old equipment with new features, and can’t modify their tractors to meet new environmental standards on their own” without going through an authorized repair agent. When we are in the White House, we will pass a national right-to-repair law that gives every farmer in America full rights over the machinery they buy.
Reform patent laws to prevent predatory lawsuits from massive agribusinesses like Bayer/Monsanto. We cannot continue to allow Monsanto to control 80 percent of U.S. corn and more than 90 percent of U.S. soybean seed patents — a situation that has only gotten worse after the Trump administration approved Monsanto’s disastrous merger with Bayer. We are going to reform our patent laws to protect farmers from predatory patent lawsuits from companies like Monsanto.
Reform the agricultural subsidy system so more money goes to small and medium sized farms. We cannot continue to allow the top 10 percent of farms to receive 77 percent of all government subsidies — with much of this money going to absentee farm owners, who live in big cities, renting out their land. With a supply management system, we will be able to decrease the overall amount we spend on subsidies. However, when subsidies are necessary, we will distribute them more equitably.
Strengthen organic standards. Currently, massive farms are able to claim organic status without meeting all of the requirements, forcing smaller producers out of the market. We will address this by starting with implementing two rules to require dairy production to be on pasture and require poultry to have outdoor access.
Break up big agribusinesses that have a stranglehold on farmers and rural communities. According to Food & Water Watch, “consolidation in the pork packing industry has contributed to the 82 percent decline in the number of hog farms in Iowa between 1982 and 2007.” In our country, just four companies slaughter 85 percent of beef cattle. USDA reports that between 2000 and 2015 “soybean sales from the largest four sellers rose from 51 to 76 percent.” Additionally, after the Bayer-Monsanto merger, the two largest conglomerates now control 78 percent of the corn seed market. If Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, he would say, “break them up.” And, working together, that is exactly what we are going to do. This is consistent with our Revitalizing Rural America plan.
Ensure farmers are paid a fair price for their products with tools like supply management and grain reserves. Current farm programs promote over-production, which comes with harmful and unnecessary climate pollution emissions. We will enact supply management programs to prevent shortages and surpluses to ensure farmers make a living wage and ensure consumers receive a high-quality, stable, and secure supply of agricultural goods. We will discourage over production and ensure farmers receive a fair price for their products by matching the supply with demand.We will also establish a program to permanently set aside ecologically fragile farm and ranch land. This will minimize the impact on the environment by not producing more food than is needed, and ensures we have a reserve of food in case of natural disaster or emergency. We will also realign our trade policies to ensure farmers maintain access to markets.
Re-establish a national grain and feed reserve to help alleviate the need for government subsidies and ensure we have a food supply in case of extreme weather events. As we saw with the most recent flooding in the Midwest, we can lose a huge amount of agricultural land and goods in a single weather event.
Transition toward a parity system to guarantee farmers a living wage. That means setting price floors and matching supply with demand so farmers are guaranteed the cost of production and family living expenses.
Incentivize farmers to develop ecologically regenerative farming systems that sharply reduce emissions; sequester carbon; and heal our soils, forests, and prairie lands.
Help farms of all sizes transition to ecologically regenerative agricultural practices that rebuild rural communities, protect the climate, and strengthen the environment with an investment of $410 billion. This assistance will focus on both sequestering carbon and increasing resiliency in the face of extreme weather events. Funds will be used to offset the costs of enterprise-level changes and barriers to transition, including design, technical assistance, purchasing equipment, installing infrastructure, site remediation, contract termination, and repaying farm-debt. a)We will set aside $41 billion to help large concentrated animal feeding operations that have a large environmental impacts transition to ecologically regenerative practices. b) We will set aside $41 billion for socially disadvantaged and beginning farmers who have been historically underserved by USDA programs.
Pay farmers to keep carbon in the soil. We will pay farmers $160 billion for the soil health improvements they make and for the carbon they sequester, which both mitigates climate change and helps farmers adapt to it.Research and development.
We will invest $1.48 billion in research to develop new, region-appropriate farming techniques and seeds. In order to respond to climate change and heal the environment, we will need to invest in non-chemical intensive practices and seed varieties that are tailored to each region’s climate and soil.
Fund farmland conservation. We will spend $24.85 billion to bolster existing programs like the Conservation Stewardship program, the Agricultural Conservation Easement program, and the Regional Conservation Partnership program that help farmers make conservation improvements on their farm. These programs have made demonstrated gains in environmental quality.
Transition to organic farming. We will spend $500 million to help farmers that are enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) transition their land to new organic farmers. As CRP contracts end, we will help connect these farmers with new organic farmers who want to continue rigorous conservation practices on a working landscape.
Renewable energy on the farm. Farmers should be able to grow and harvest renewable energy, in addition to their crops. We will invest $1.4 billion in the Rural Energy for America Program for clean energy options to both diversify income streams, save money, and eliminate fossil fuel dependence on farms.
Enforce the Clear Air and Water Acts on large factory farms and ensure all farmers have access to the tools and resources they need to address pollution. According to the EPA Inspector General, the EPA has spent more than 10 years and $15 million failing to develop a reliable method for measuring whether factory farms are complying with the Clean Air act and other regulations of dangerous air pollution.
Industrial animal feeding operations, and the millions of pounds of untreated waste they create, are a major source of air pollution and driver of climate change. We will end this weak oversight of factory farms and ensure every farmer has the resources to address all forms of pollution.
Ensure all rural residents, including farmers, and farmworkers have the right to protect their families and properties from chemical and biological pollution, including pesticide and herbicide drift. Farm practices should not infringe on the ability of other farmers and neighbors to carry out the normal activities of farming and rural lifestyles. We will give rural residents legal recourse to sue farmers who pollute their property.
Our current food system accounts for 25 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions. Not only can we drastically reduce on-farm emissions, farmers have the potential to actually sequester 10 percent of all human-caused emissions in the soil. Agriculture, forestry, and fishing are the industries most vulnerable to climate change. We need to incentivize farming systems that help farmers both mitigate climate change and build resilience to its impacts.
Agriculture has a huge potential to sequester carbon. We need to employ farms of all sizes and production models to transition to ecologically regenerative practices to combat climate change. According to research at the Rodale Institute, agriculture could sequester 37 gigatons of carbon annually worldwide. Sadly, just 10 percent of farmers receive 75 percent of agricultural subsidies in the U.S., and those subsidies don’t prioritize carbon sequestration or soil health. We need to start by supporting all farmers not just a wealthy few and incentivizing conservation not over-production.
As president, Bernie will:
Incentivize farmers to develop ecologically regenerative farming systems that sharply reduce emissions; sequester carbon; and heal our soils, forests, and prairie lands.
Invest in family farms and rural communities — not corporate ownership.
Re-establish and strengthen the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration.
Invest in historically underserved communities to grow the number of farmers of color.
Connect consumers with local farms and healthy foods.
