The Killing of Kajieme Powell

If you have not seen the unedited video footage showing the cold blooded murder of Kajieme Powell see it here: See it now. This is your wake up call.

What is most stunning, aside from the blatant, militarized police response in the killing of this young man, is the fact that this brutal murder is not garnering any major headlines, in the mainstream media and the alternative media as well.

Here, we actually have substantiated documentation (thanks to the person who filmed this with his cell phone, who remains nameless at this point and appears to be a friend associated with Kajieme). This is yet another clear cut case of criminal actions by police.

Not taking anything away from the myriad of questions surrounding the murder of Michael Brown, and of which there exists no actual (known) video footage pertaining to his murder (other than after the fact), in this instance, with regard to the outright murder of Kajieme Powell, the video speaks for itself. This man was clearly, without question, gunned down by two white police officers, near Ferguson Missouri. The two policeman shot first (at least nine shots into Kajieme) and did not even bother to try to talk him down, or to even question him, or make any effort to diffuse the situation. The police claim that Kajieme held a knife is difficult to ascertain from the video,regardless, he was not attacking the officers.

Further, we cannot know Kajieme’s motivation in the situation since he is no longer here to speak for himself. Was it ‘suicide by cop’? Was it political in nature due to the recent killing of Michael Brown? It is impossible to say. Kajieme was clearly distraught over something and unless someone comes forward with additional information, we may never know.

On the heels of the excessive force used against Michael Brown, the overt militarization of the Ferguson police force, the presence of the National Guard, attacks on peaceful protestors and the media, the shooting of Kajieme Powell should make every US citizen, black, white or brown, question the direction our country is heading toward.

The streets across the US should be filled with people from every walk of life, phones should be ringing off the hook from D.C. down to the state level, demanding explantations and answers.

The militarization of police departments across the country has been legislated and enabled. Those in positions of power, from the White House to the Congress and Senate must be held accountable. Money has changed hands in the form of campaign contributions to elected officials from the Military Industrial Complex.

Police departments across the US are receiving training in one of the most oppressive, discriminating countries in the world: Israel. On a regular basis, US police chiefs and officers travel to Israel for ‘instruction’ by Israel’s security forces. We must ask ourselves why?

In addition, in the midst of protests in Ferguson, the US Army elects this particular moment to release an updated manual on how the military should respond to peaceful protests and civilian unrest.

We are set on a dangerous course, when police across the country are receiving weapons normally reserved for combat and warfare. And while we should certainly question the reasons for these wars and indeed we must, we must also seriously question ‘why’ our police, domestically, seem to be preparing for war against all of us.

Donna Volatile can be reached at: djvolatile@windstream.net