March/Rally: Fire
& Charge APD Killer Cops! Justice for Families!
THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 2020 AT 6 PM – 8 PM
Gather at Albuquerque Police
Department
Downtown, on Roma between 4th/5th
Streets
CALL TO ACTION: FIRE, ARREST AND
CHARGE THE APD POLICE OFFICERS THAT MURDERED ORLANDO ABEYTA AND
VALENTE ACOSTA-BUSTILLOS!
ENDORSED BY:
- The family of Valente Acosta-Bustillos, murdered by
APD on March 30, 2020
- Valerie Abeita, mother of Orlando Abeyta, murdered
by APD on Jan. 6, 2020, on behalf of family
- Mike Gomez, father of Alan Gomez, murdered by APD
in 2011
- Stephen Torres, father of Christopher Torres,
murdered by APD in 2011
- The Saiz Family; MargaretAnn Saiz, mother of
Dominic Smith, murdered by APD in 2009
- National Union of Hospital and Health Care
Employees (NUHHCE) District 1199NM UNMH Chapter
- Renee Toya-Bouvier Renato Estacio, LGBTQIA
activist
- Sally-Alice Thompson, legendary antiwar
activist
- Fonda Osborn, retired nurse and
activist
- Kevin Parkman, retired machinist industrial worker
and activist
The movement for Black lives has given rise to a nationwide revolt
against racism and police brutality and is raising new calls for
justice for victims of police terror. Here in Albuquerque, racist
police continue to get away with murder, keep their jobs and walk our
streets! The families of those whom the police murder and brutalize
continue to be denied the most basic justice!
Earlier this year, Orlando Abeyta and Valente
Acosta-Bustillos were brutally murdered by APD. Orlando, a homeless
Native youth, was gunned down by police without warning for holding a
BB gun. Valente, a Latino senior with a known history of mental
illness, was shot and killed because he was holding a gardening shovel
during a welfare check.
Join us this Thursday, June 25 at 6:00pm for a
march/rally to demand that the officers involved in these senseless
murders are immediately fired, charged and brought to trial! We demand
justice for their families, and the families of all victims of police
brutality!
The Department of Justice reforms have not been able to bring
justice. The City Council and mayor’s reforms amount to
biting-around-the-edges, and have not been able to bring justice
either. How do we know? Because even though they rewrote the police
rule book, the police are still shooting people at the same rate and
they are still getting away with it! Up till today, no police officer
in Albuquerque’s history has ever been sent to prison for killing
someone, even though New Mexico - in which Albuquerque is the largest
city - routinely has one of the highest rates of
“officer-involved-shootings” in the country.
The first victim of APD in 2020 was Orlanda Abeyta, 28-year-old
Native American man who grew up in To’Hajiilee. On Jan. 6, two
undercover members of the gang unit gunned Orlando down in broad
daylight at a bus stop along Central and San Pedro. He was holding a
BB gun, talking with friends when officers sped up and jumped out with
assault rifles. Four seconds later, without having moved a muscle,
Orlando was shot 8 times. Orlando’s friend cried out in complete shock
and anger as the police gunman approached, “He was just playing
around!” But these APD officers were eager to use deadly force because
Orlando was Native and homeless.
Not long after that, on March 30, APD murdered 52-year-old Valente
Acosta-Bustillos during a “welfare” check. Valente was doing yard work
when two officers walked onto his property, shot and killed him, later
stating that his gardening shovel made them “fear for their lives.”
(https://www.liberationnews.org/video-released-albuquerque-police-turn-welfare-check-into-a-homicide/)
Valente had been diagnosed previously with a mental health disorder.
APD knew about it. They killed him anyway, just like they killed James
Boyd in 2014.
In both cases, none of the officers were fired, arrested or
charged! Instead, they intend for these cases, like so many others, to
“remain under investigation” by a pro-cop District Attorney’s office
for months and months without any charges ever being filed.
Compare APD’s escalation and use of deadly force against
Orlando and Valente with their calm and gentle treatment of the racist
militia and vigilantes that harassed and shot at anti-racist
protestors demanding that the statue of genocidal slave-trader Juan de
Onate be removed.
The same District Attorney’s office that has refused to charge the
officers that killed Orlando and Valante, has now also dropped the
shooting charge against the racist vigilante that opened fire on the
protesters! Nothing could better illustrate the relationship between
cops and racist mobs in the United States: they work hand-in-hand
against the movement of the people.
White supremacy is embedded in the fabric of this society and we
must fight together to change this system into one that puts dignity
and human life above all else.
Locked
