JEAN CHARLES de MENEZES — The Color of His Skin, The Content of His Character

Posted by suskind | Jul 26, 2005 | 11 |

From the “I have a dream” speech of Martin Luther King, 28 August 1963:

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

In the case of Jean Charles de Menezes he was misjudged, by the color of his skin… he was described as “Asian” so … a likely target. What does this mean for “Asians” living in London today? And he was misjudged by the content of his character. This was no terrorist on his way to plant a bomb. This was a 27 year old electrician on his way to work.

His jacket was too warm for the weather, by London standards, but Jean Charles found the weather cool. And he left an apartment house that was, suspected as housing men related to the London bombings. Today’s Independent says that an Ethiopian and a Somalian are under surveillance. Will the Special Police be able to tell these nationalities… or will they target more Brazillians? Now, more than ever, “people of color” means “people under suspicion.” What kind of world are we living in?

His fate was apparently decided by a cruel combination of improbability: that, used to the heat of Brazil, he should find a cool Englishsummer’s day too cold for comfort and wore a bulky jacket; his skin colour might have made him appear Asian to his pursuers; and he shared a communal entrance to a block of flats with a suspected member of the terrorist cell that carried out last Thursday’s failed attack on London’s transport system. Independent

Was Jean Charles given warning? His cousin says he was murdered:

“his cousin, Alex Pereira, said: “He was murdered.” Mr Pereira, 27, from Norbury, south London, disputed the account of Scotland Yard that Mr de Menezes was challenged by the pursuing plain-clothes police officers as he stepped off a No. 2 bus at Stockwell Tube station, about two miles from his flat He said: “Jean had lived in Sao Paulo. It is a dangerous city and he knew the rules there ¬ if you run away when the police tell you to stop, then you are dead. He knows you don’t run away and his English was perfect. There is no explanation for him ignoring a warning because there was no warning. Independent

There is a racist agenda underlying all rhetoric of the “evil jihadists” I am not sure that the “terrorists” are Muslim at all…. certainly the people responsible for the Omagh bombing of August 15, 1998 in which 28 were killed and more than 200 injured and maimed were not Muslim. The Basque separatists, what religion are they?

I am very worried about Police Actions of a Police State… where the enemy has not been defined. Terrorists are anybody…. they are Timothy McVeigh and Richard Reid, white guys… the Una Bomber… white guy…. the subway poisoner…. Japanese guy…. they are anybody, but NOT everybody…. and intelligence is supposed to be used to find out who they are, and to locate them, to keep tabs on them, to know who they are, who they associate with, and what they are up to.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. ….. and we will not be satisfied until “justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.” (Martin Luther King, 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C)

I trust the intelligence less of leaders who train their special police force in Israel, but do not train their forces in common sense, human and civil rights and human nature. I trust less those armed and dangerouse security forces who would shoot a man in the head five to eight times, without even knowing who he was. A 27 year old Brazillian on his way to work has become the symbol of what the special police force conceive of as one of the most dangerous people in London.

My solution: take all racist and religio-facist language out of political language… starting with George Bush’s Holy War declared on the Sunday after 911. He has, more than once, declared Islam evil. After the descration of the Qu’ran was uncovered (again) by Newsweek, Bush actually sent Condi Rice on a make peace mission, holding the Qu’ran and telling the people how much she and all Americans revered and respected the Holy Book of the Muslim people…. This kind of hypocrisy makes me quite ill.

Start the “war on terrorists” (not terrorism) with a war on Racism. Racism out of our language and out of our ideologies. Britain has a lot to teach the rest of the world about living in peaceful co-existence, but first it must correct its mistakes of the use of excessive force and complete failure of judgement in the murder of Jean Charles de Menezes.

I hope all people of conscience will appeal to the British government to begin an inquiry into the wrongful death of Jean Charles de Menezes. And at the earliest opportunity to help the Menezes family, please donate to the cause of bringing their son’s body home to Sao Paolo, and to contribute to his family… as that was all that concerned him when he was living.

The Brazilian Embassy UK:

2005 Embassy of Brazil in London | 32 Green Street – London W1K 7AT info@brazil.org.uk

Please contact the English Red Cross/Red Crescent and find out if a special fund has been set up to benefit the family of Jean Charles de Menezes. (I tried all day to no avail) Tel: 0870 170 7000

About The Author

suskind

i'm not ron

11 Comments

infidelpig on July 26, 2005 at 10:52 am

Great article, and extremely valid points, there is a disease among us, and it is us.
BrendaStewart on July 26, 2005 at 11:06 am

May I ask, has the second set of pictures of torture been released yet to the public?

I think this is gonna be the icing on the cake when they are.

I have been almost out of the loop of life for going on 4 days now and had only time to brief the news of the day. I feel I have lost out on lots of what is going on.

Isn’t it a shame that out world, the whole world, is turned upside down over this administration and what they are doing is contagious to everywhere and everyone.
Londonbear on July 26, 2005 at 11:21 am

Thank you Susan, the original description of de Menezes was given by eye-witness Whitby and widely quoted in print and TV reports. In a long spat in my diary on Kos on his visa status his skin colour was discussed at length. There had been very sunny weather in the past few weeks so it it posssible deMenezes was more tanned than the picture suggest but Whitby’s racial description based on a fleeting impression is bound to have been “coloured” by the descriptions of the 7/7 bombers, Stereotyping Whitby from his appearance, I suspect that his own atitudes were a factor as well.

There is a background to this. The British National Party, a very racist right-wing party, has a long campaign against the presence of south asians. There are specific laws againt inciting racial hatred so they can now be jailed for stirring up violence against people they crudely and incorrectly call “Pakis”. They get round this by using the same hate language against “muslims” as a cover-word. Despite their conflation of the two, they clearly intend the same target. They can get round this because the law, as yet, does not include incitement to religious hatred as an offence. Since there is no racial exclusivitiy to Islam, as opposed to say Judaism, they cannot be prosecuted.

Having said that, de Menezes does not look either Pakistani or Somali, the two nationalities that the police had already identified. Pending the Independent Police Complaints Commission Report, there may just be another factor why he was followed closely. From later footage of the flats, it is now clearer that this is one of the older walk-up blocks that does, as I intially thought to the contrary, have an central staircase leading to four upper floors with open balconies with fairly high solid brick walls on the outside.

My ears picked up at another comment made by deMenezes cousin when he commented that the police were staking out another flat, not Jean Charles’. He specified the numbers and the separation raised another possibility. Did the surveillence team make a mistake and think he came out of the flat below his, the one they were observing?
Londonbear on July 26, 2005 at 11:39 am

One other thing that I forgot to add and probably is useful to have separate – the number starting 0870 is probably only available from the UK, It is a special non-geographic number that means the call charge is the same from all parts of the country.

The fund is being sponsored by the Mayor of London and administered by British Red Cross who are takng web donations via the linked page which also has the postal details.

It may also be helpful to reproduce the article written by Ken Livingstone (the Mayor) for the London paper, the Evening Standard:

Jean Charles de Menezes, shot on Stockwell tube station, was a victim of the terrorist attacks on London on 7 July and 21 July. That is how he should be remembered and treated by all Londoners. I want to write here about the terrible difficulties faced by the police in such tragic circumstances and the vital necessity for all London’s communities to work together.

Numerous Londoners have shown outstanding courage confronted with the terrorist threat that has affected every one of us. Transport workers were the first on the scene of the attacks and kept the entire city running. The emergency services have saved many lives. The police must take split second decisions on which the lives of others depend.

On the basis of the published evidence consider the choices that faced police officers at Stockwell last Friday – and be glad you did not have to take it. Two weeks ago more than 50 people in London died from suicide bombers. Those carrying out these attacks were willing to lose their lives to kill many others. From the attempt to repeat these attacks on 21 July it is clear four suicide bombers were likely to be in London.

All facts will and must be independently investigated. But the sequence of events from what has been made public appears as follows. Police followed a person who they suspected, on the basis of a building they had under surveillance, of being involved with terrorists. He entered a tube station. He refused to stop despite being challenged by police. Despite the challenges he then went onto a platform where there were many passengers. He entered a train where ignition of a bomb would have killed many people. A wound will not necessarily stop a suicide attacker setting off a bomb. The police had a split second to decide whether to shoot to prevent such a potential bomb attack.

If independent investigation shows that the facts are as they have been made public then the police officers acted correctly despite terrible and tragic consequences. They had to weigh up the potential loss of many lives against a decision to shoot to protect. They chose to protect.

There are many explanations being offered for why the terrorist attacks are taking place. I have never hidden my opposition to the government’s policy in the Middle East and I do not believe such policy is unconnected to recent terrorist attacks in London. But in Britain we have the means of the ballot box and the right to peaceful protest to attempt to change those government policies.

Disagreement with a policy does not give to anyone the right to kill Londoners. And if they do attempt to do so it is the duty of myself and all the city authorities to attempt with every means at our disposal to prevent them doing so.

As I have said many times one of the terrorists chief aims was to set London’s communities against each other. In contrast our safety rests on the best possible relations between different communities and with the police. Every one of London’s communities, including the Muslim community, are directly threatened by the bombers. The first funeral to take place was at the East London mosque. This is why the utmost respect to all London’s communities is not only an issue of morality but of the most direct importance for giving the police the information they urgently require for their inquiry. I would not hesitate to speak out against anybody who does not treat any of London’s communities with respect – as Sir Ian Blair, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police has said, those who are being sought are criminals not communities. Those who incite people against any of London’s communities, including the Muslim community, are not only wrong but directly hampering the police investigation and endangering us all.

And the same applies to the police’s relations with the community. If I believed anyone in the police or other authorities were acting against any community in London even in the present circumstances then I would not hesitate to criticise them. I do not. I have been working continuously with Sir Ian Blair and the commissioner’s office and the information coming in from all London’s communities has been vital to the police investigation. It is crucial it does not stop at all despite the tragic event which occurred last Friday.

The safety of all London’s communities rests on finding these criminals as rapidly as possible. I, nor any responsible member of London’s authorities, cannot promise no mistakes will occur. In a situation created by the terrorists, where hundreds of decisions, some with life and death consequences, are being made every hour it is impossible that no mistakes be made. What I can promise, and I know I am totally at one with Sir Ian Blair on this, is that the mutual respect which exists between London’s communities and the police is the bedrock on which our safety lies. Anyone who allows it to be undermined from any direction directly threatens us all.

Jean Charles de Menezes was as much a victim of the terrorists as those who died on 7 July. He must be mourned for what he was – a Londoner who we were proud to have in our midst and for whom we cannot even adequately express our sorrow that, together with more than 50 other Londoners, we could not protect.

The only fitting tribute that exists for all these victims, and the only protection for Londoners, is to aid the police in the most rapid possible arrest of those who have come to seek to randomly kill us without regard to our race, class or creed.
- Oui on July 26, 2005 at 12:41 pm
  
  .
  
  It may also be helpful to reproduce the article written by Ken Livingstone (the Mayor) for the London paper, the Evening Standard:
  
  “Jean Charles de Menezes, shot on Stockwell tube station, was a victim of the terrorist attacks on London on 7 July and 21 July. That is how he should be remembered and treated by all Londoners. I want to write here about the terrible difficulties faced by the police in such tragic circumstances and the vital necessity for all London’s communities to work together. “
  
  […]
  
  Jean Charles de Menezes was killed in Stockwell station by an undercover police unit. The failure lies by the Scotland Yard investigation and/or communication between police units last Friday.
  
  Deceit and Lies got the US and UK involved in an illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq Mr Blair! Clean up your act and do not appeal on society to donate money for victims of your failed adventure. Use the funds from the War Department to support the innocent victims of the terror attacks in London, it’s blowblack from the Iraq war.
  
  ~~~
  
  Sharm el-Sheik Bombs London Bombing :: Perfect Timing ◊
  ~~~
- suskind on July 26, 2005 at 2:12 pm
  
  Or why did I not write my piece well enough that you might get my point?
  
  First, it was not written by Susan. Second, my point is that Menezes was killed by police brute ignorance, and that racism was involved in his profiling.
  
  I object to the Mayor of London telling me how I am to think about this man… he is a murder victim…. and the policy of shoot first and figure out who he is later…. the idea that this COULD HAVE prevented bombs going off in the tube and that this COULD HAVE been a terrorist are obscence, absurd, and alarming. Are the people buying this line of reasoning?
  
  I object to this in the strongest terms. The mayor of London is guilty of the most vile type of propaganda… thank God the people of London are not going to buy into it… they want to know when the next decent and innocent person is going to be gunned down because the “intelligence” is just not there, although training in the use of deadly force is.
  
  First they murder him, now they try to claim his as one of their own…. a martyr to the cause of terrorism…. state-sponsored terrorism is more like it….. this is appalling.
- smintheus on July 26, 2005 at 9:46 pm
  
  out of both sides of his mouth. They chose to protect, eh? By shooting to death a man who presented no danger to anybody? Why exactly? Ah, yes…Police followed a person who they suspected, on the basis of a building they had under surveillance, of being involved with terrorists. Well that would make their actions correct, wouldn’t it? The man came out of the wrong building…lucky he wasn’t shot right away, Ken might have said if he’d had his wits about him.
  
  Menezes was one of the victims of terrorism? Only if the police have enlisted in the ranks of the terrorists. Have they Ken?
  
  As I recall, his nickname is red Ken. He’s earned it with this vile column.
Damnit Janet on July 26, 2005 at 2:56 pm

it’s the Coalition of the Killing

Shoot first, ask questions later and demand that nobody THINK about it because that would be dissent.

We are told to support the troops, suppoort the policies of “patriotism”, support the police. Support freedom…

The real terror to this country is white supremacists, religious hate groups… but they support Bush so Homeland Security doesn’t do shit about them. I too HATE Bush and this Abomination. I’m deeply ashamed that one half of Americans don’t want to “worry their pretty little head” about this “war” about the troops – about the lies, the hypocrisy.

I’m living amongst nationalists. Not patriots.

Great diary.
- Oui on July 26, 2005 at 3:14 pm
  
  .
  
  I want my country back!
  
  My latest diary cross-posted @ BooMan —
  
  Ricin – Al Zarqawi – Bly Oregon – Niger ◊ @ European Tribune
  - Damnit Janet on July 26, 2005 at 5:08 pm
    
    So true, Oui! Thanks
    
    He was selected not elected. Our votes were rejected.
Oui on July 26, 2005 at 3:08 pm

.

“I was in tube bomb carriage – and survived”

CEN News July 11, 2005 — CAMBRIDGE dancer Bruce Lait has spoken of his miraculous escape when a bomb exploded just yards away from him in a Tube train carriage.

The 32-year-old was knocked out by the blast and awoke to a terrible scene of devastation in the underground tunnel near London’s Aldgate East station.

[…]

“The policeman said ‘mind that hole, that’s where the bomb was’. The metal was pushed upwards as if the bomb was underneath the train. They seem to think the bomb was left in a bag, but I don’t remember anybody being where the bomb was, or any bag,” he said.

So lucky: Bruce recovers in hospital

~~~

Sharm el-Sheik Bombs London Bombing :: Perfect Timing ◊
~~~

JEAN CHARLES de MENEZES — The Color of His Skin, The Content of His Character

About The Author

suskind

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