In Miami, 12 Officers Shoot Haitian over 100 Times: Where Is International Press?

Argenpress, Argentina Watching America

By Jean-Guy Allard

In the meantime, the ”big” press agencies maintain an alarming silence around this scandalous event, demonstrating that, in the country that continuously accuses the nations it attacks of violating human rights, skin color alone justifies a death sentence.

Translated By Natasha Mann

9 June 2011

Edited by Andrew Schmidt

Argentina - Argenpress - Original Article (Spanish)

Not one word has yet been published by the international press agencies, which are so prone to broadcasting the minor incidents that happen in countries who confront the American imperial power, about the execution in Miami of a 22-year-old-Haitian man by 12 police officers who fired on him 100 times while he was unarmed in his car.

In Miami itself, the local press — characterized by its blind cooperation with calls from law enforcement — has diverted public attention with a controversy over a cellphone, whose owner was filming the savage police intervention that ended with the death of young Raymond Hérissé.

Apparently the murder of this son of a humble Haitian immigrant doesn’t interest anyone, including those holders of power in this city with their persistent traits of racial hate and segregation.

Criticized for confiscating and destroying cameras and mobile phones after killing Hérissé during the hip-hop festival, Urban Beach Week, the municipal authorities of Miami Beach questioned one witness’ testimony that said a police officer had aimed a gun at his head, handcuffed him and destroyed his mobile phone by kicking it.

The testimony confirms that the police detained a witness — an African American — not because he was filming but because he was “very similar” to the description of the suspect that was supposedly seen fleeing. This is a version of the story whose racist tones don’t escape anyone.

No report of the events in the local press mentions Hérissé’s death nearly as much as they have, with the help of the police, been encouraged to describe a criminal, with an emphasis that is more than suspicious. The court file resembles those of thousands of young African Americans in this city whose segregated neighborhoods are patrolled daily by SWAT teams with horrible reputations.

A few days after Herisse’s death, the Police announced that they “found” a gun “hidden” in his car, something very suspicious in a city where cases of ”planted guns” have been cause for scandals in the past.

Hérissé was shot after crashing his Hyundai into a police barricade. He then fled into the popular event that attracts thousands of hip-hop fans annually, most of whom are African American.

Six youths from segregated neighborhoods in Miami have become victims of fatal police shootings within the last 10 months, without even one investigation report having been filed, or one police officer accused, even of criminal negligence.

In the meantime, the ”big” press agencies maintain an alarming silence around this scandalous event, demonstrating that, in the country that continuously accuses the nations it attacks of violating human rights, skin color alone justifies a death sentence.