“I watched as my son took his last breath. I watched as his heart stopped beating for the last time. Please, please, please stop the violence. It's not going to bring my son back, and this is the worst thing any mother could go through.”
—Genevieve Huizar, the mother of Anaheim shooting victim Manuel Diaz • Offering a pained plea for people in the city to stop the violence. Diaz’s shooting by police on Saturday has led to violent protests in the city, leading to shattered windows and numerous arrests. The violence is partly due to a changing demographic — Anaheim, once a mostly white city, is now more than 50 percent Hispanic, and the shooting has become a bit of a spark for those feeing disenfranchised. Diaz’s family has sued the city over the shooting, seeking $50 million in damages.
Anaheim PD Kills Unarmed Man, Attacks Witnesses and Protesters Assembled at Shooting Site
Residents of Anaheim’s North Anne Drive were still in shock on Saturday after witnessing the killing of 25-year-old Manuel Díaz in broad daylight when police officers attacked the group of about 100 assembled at the shooting site, including several children.
Amateur video featured on KCAL 9 (see above) shows officers firing non-lethal rounds into the crowd, pointing rifles directly at what appeared to be a father protecting his son from the shots. At another point in the video, a K-9 unit is seen attacking a mother attempted to shield her infant child from the dog before biting a man in the arm.
Reports say a water bottle was thrown at officers before the attack on witnesses and protesters took place.
As if the injustice of killing an unarmed man wasn’t enough, Anaheim PD has been busy disparaging Díaz and minimizing the horrific brutality its officers displayed in responding to protesting residents.
Calling Díaz and many of those arrested in the protest “documented gang members” seeks to dehumanize the victims of police brutality, further criminalizing those forced into the role of “bad guy” within California’s massive Prison Industrial Complex.
Anaheim is home to Disneyland, coined “The Happiest Place On Earth.” This is not the case for many of its residents, in particular, those from the city’s Mexican community.
As previously mentioned, several children were in the crowd, including two infants, when Anaheim PD attacked those assembled with rubber bullets and pepper spray.
How can the United States condemn other countries for human rights abuses when this level of policy brutality is happening right in Anaheim, California?
Before the US demands respect for human rights from other countries, it should first right its own wrongs. It’s problem with police brutality is a major one.
In many ways, it’s another example of what happens when a country founded on genocide and slavery fails to recognize these acts as crimes of state and compensate the communities affected by these historical injustices.
The wounds are never healed; the crimes of mass murder, land theft, and forced labor never punished. Thus, the status quo remains, the injustice continues.
Justice for Manuel Diaz: March to Anaheim City Hall, 8/1
facebook.comWEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1ST
5:30PM from Memorial Site on Anna Drive
We must keep marching, we must keep protesting, we must get the truth out about what happened to Manuel Diaz and the truth out about the disrespect and brutality we face every day from the Anaheim police – if we don’t, we will not win justice for Manuel.
On Saturday evening July 21st, after Manuel Diaz had already been gunned down in cold blood, the Anaheim police proceeded to attack a crowd of mostly young women and their children simply for speaking out and standing up to the police for killing Manuel. Speaking the truth about racism cannot result in being assaulted and brutalized by the police. Watch the videos – there was no “riot” against the police on Saturday evening. And does anyone really believe the police dog escaped from the police car “accidentally”?
The cops attacked that crowd with rubber bullets and dogs because they wanted to make clear to everyone that fighting back against racism in Anaheim is a crime. Like the Civil Rights Movement lead by Dr Martin Luther King, our community must stand up and organize mass militant action to stop the dogs, rubber bullets and police executions of unarmed youth from ever occurring again. We deserve dignity, equality and respect. We do not need to be treated as inferior second class citizens to have some meager economic stability and hope for our children’s future.
Only the independent, mass mobilization of Anaheim’s and Orange County’s Latina/o, black and progressive anti-racist communities can possibly win justice for Manuel Diaz. The community’s response to Manuel’s murder has already set this struggle apart from all the other police shootings that have happened in Anaheim this year. If we are to win real justice for Manuel and get these cops sent to jail then we must keep marching, protesting, chanting and fighting.
We can’t rely on the politicians or the District Attorney to do a real investigation of the shooting. We must not listen to those that tell us to “cool off”, “wait until the DAs investigation is done” or “have faith in the system to find out the truth” – only by building an independent movement for justice can we ensure that the truth comes out, that the cops are charged with murder and that our communities can be safe from further police violence against us.
— UPDATE, AND MARCH TO CITY HALL WEDNESDAY, AUG. 1ST —
The Anaheim police have been stopping and harassing many witnesses and other young people from the Anna Drive neighborhood to try to scare everyone and to try to stop the marches and the protests.
How do we back off the police and press our movement forward? We mobilize bigger, louder and stronger.
Our united strength has the power to win justice for Manuel and put an end to police terror against our communities. Join the MARCH on Wednesday!
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DEMANDS:
*Justice for Manuel Diaz! *Jail the Killer Cops! *A Badge Is Not a License to Kill!
*Stop Racist Police Brutality against Anaheim’s Latina/o Black and Immigrant Communities!
*Speaking the Plain Truth Against Racism is NOT a Crime. Self Defense is No Offense! End the New Jim Crow!
*Our Mothers, Younger Brothers and Sisters and Communities’ Demands for Justice and the Truth Must Never Again Be Answered with Rubber Bullets and Police Dogs. Get Rid of the Dogs and Rubber Bullets Now!
*Stop the Police Cover Up. We Can Not Rely on the Attorney General or Any Other Government Official to Win Justice for Manuel Diaz or to Jail the Killer Cops!
*We Must Organize an Independent Public Tribunal to Investigate Manuel’s Murder and Get the Truth Out about Racism and Police Brutality in Anaheim!
*Fire Anaheim Police Chief John Welter!
*Build the New Mass, Integrated, Independent, Youth-Led Civil Rights Movement!
*Join BAMN! The Latina/o, Black, Immigrant and Oppressed Communities of All Races Have the Power to Restore Hope and Win Dignity, Equality, Respect and Prosperity for All.
