Marvin Booker death: Family to call for federal investigation after Denver jail personnel cleared

• The protest held on the six-month anniversary began with (perhaps) 200+. The protest in front of the jail was indeed poorly attended, but my description above is accurate. I do not have an inflated sense of the significance of these protests, but I do claim that the protest marches (in the streets) were newsworthy -- suppose you were one of the hundreds of motorists out Saturday night whose course was impeded by the march then, or saw some of the police shenanigans (many police vehicles with lights, some driving fast the wrong way down closed sections of major streets, motorcycles running down both sides of the street on the sidewalk, a riot squad with over a dozen rubber-bullet guns tracking the peaceful group of protesters yards away -- mightn't you wonder what the hell was going on and expect to find at least some news, somewhere (from traditional news providers such as the DP or TV stations), without having to look for a post in the online edition of the free entertainment paper?

• hundreds of people showed up? I was there...it was more like 25..... Get over this already..

• That is an online link, Michael. Has Westword (physically) published anything about the last three protests, yes or no? Readers would like to see more journalism in Westword (Denver desperately needs any it can get). Print ads for dispensaries have been a major source of revenue for Westword for years, but when did you last print an article about the counterrevolution against medical cannabis or the movement to end Prohibition? I really believe that you owe the cannabis-community and Denver itself more than a blogposts on these subjects.

• Here's our post about the most recent march: http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2011/05/marvin_booker_beating_death_decision_video_photos.php

• As an important aside, note that local media are actively engaged in suppressing news about community outrage at Booker's murder and the failure even to discipline the deputies involved -- NOT A SINGLE WORD OF COVERAGE OF SEVERAL RECENT PROTESTS HAS APPEARED IN LOCAL NEWSPAPERS OR ON TELEVISION, even though they have involved hundreds of protesters, repeatedly closed major streets in civil disobedience, covered the front of the jail with stickers bearing Marvin Booker's likeness and the legend "MARVIN BOOKER MURDERED BY COPS JULY 2010", closed down major streets (including Colfax, Santa Fe, and Speer) and intersections, and confronted tourists and Mall merchants with our discontent. Denver is a very complacent place, but part of the reason is its utterly corrupt media.

TotalComments: 5