Kelly Thomas, a mentally ill homeless man was murdered by Fullerton, CA police in July, 2011. A security camera recorded the relentless beating and tasing. Kelly is heard pleading 31 times for his Dad to help him. “They’re killing me,” he says.  He is heard 26 times saying, “Help me…help me God;” 30 times saying “Sir, please…okay…okay…” and 15 times “I’m sorry.” On January 14, 2014, two of the cops were acquitted. A third is not going to trial.”
In a statement on a PBS special, Ron Thomas, Kelly’s father, said the police were sending a message to the rest of the homeless: “Get out of Fullerton, or you’ll be next.”
The moral outrage sparked by this blatant murder must be fortified with an understanding that we live in a dying system. Robotics and computers are replacing workers. The ruling class does not intend to provide a social contract for those they now discard like yesterday’s bad news. The homeless, working class youth, those on the edge of society are criminalized and a fascist culture is cultivated that targets the “ghetto blacks,” the “illegal immigrants,” and the white, so-called “trailer trash.” Then, the police are unleashed to keep people “in their place.”
Only by uniting around a vision of a future free from fear and want, a vision of a cooperative society where the fruits of humanity are available to all, can we move forward. We must and will have a better world.
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