Feidin Santana is a hero. He videotaped former North Charleston police officer Michael Slager shooting and killing Walter Scott. If it was not for Mr. Santana, Officer Slager, like so many other white police officers, would have gotten away with murdering another unarmed black man. Often, the word of a white police officer is accepted as the gospel truth. Unfortunately, the black victim is demonized, condemned and convicted. Sadly, the cop is praised and honored for killing a black man. Right wing nuts even raise funds for these killers.
Hopefully, thanks to Mr. Santana, there will be justice for Walter Scott. Heroes like Mr. Santana deserve our support and protection. We should organize fundraisers for Walter Scott and Feidin Santana. Legal civil rights organizations should offer to provide pro bono legal assistance. Black organizations like the Nation of Islam should offer to provide security for Mr. Santana. We should not allow the police or anyone else to harass, threaten, jail or harm Mr. Santana. That is exactly what happened to Ramsey Orta, another witness who videotaped another incident of police brutality.
For example, the Daily Beast reports that:
The amateur videographer [Ramsey Orta] has stated he’s being targeted by law enforcement after his July 2014 footage of a policeman putting [Eric] Garner in a deadly chokehold went viral, becoming a high-profile example of controversial police tactics. The Garner death, and a subsequent grand jury decision not to indict the officer involved, became a flashpoint for New York City and set off massive protests in December of last year. Orta claims that officers have been stalking and arresting him in retaliation for the video ever since it became public.We cannot allow this to happen. Stand up, brothers and sisters.
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