The people crack the blue wall of silence

By Amina Baraka

ORANGE, N.J. - The family of the late Earl Faison and a coalition of twenty six organization, lead by The People's Organization For Progress (POP), gathered outside of the Orange police headquarters Aug. 19 in an angry protest against his slaying by police. Their demand is that police officers with knowledge of his death step forward and testify, breaking the "blue wall of silence."

The protesters marched into the lobby of the Orange police headquarters and demanded the police admit that Faison died April 21 after a police beating in the station house.

The protest and prayer vigil comes after an Orange police officer told investigators that Faison was beaten, robbed and pepper sprayed while handcuffed.

Mikki Wilkins, Faison's fiancee and mother of his children, told a rally outside the police headquarters, "When my children see police officers they ask, 'Mommy is that the officer who beat my daddy?'"

Sagirah Williams, Faison's stepmother, and Wilkins both had to be comforted as speakers demanded an investigation of the other eight officers involved in Faison's arrest. "All of the officers involved in the death of Earl Faison must come forward," said Larry Hamm, chairman, of the POP.

The Williams family, along with POP, made a call for all people of conscience to stand up for justice. People answered in churches, community organizations and civil rights groups. The fightback has drawn in community activists, politicians, seniors, youth and student organizations, doctors and lawyers groups, men and women. Black, Latin, Asian, white unity formed a powerful fist.

Faison, 27, was arrested April 11 during the investigation into the murder of Orange police officer Joyce Carnegie. After Carnegie's death on April 8, police arrested an East Orange resident, Terrance Everett, and held him for more than a week despite a solid alibi. On the same night Faison was arrested, James "Malik" Coker, who they said had been boasting about killing the policewoman, was also arrested. Later he, too, was cleared of the charges.

Five days after the slaying of Earl Faison, the police arrested Condell Woodson, another Orange resident, who they said confessed. Woodson became the chief suspect when the murder weapon found at the scene was traced to him. He was tried, convicted and is now serving a life sentence without parole for Carnegie's murder.

Faison's father, Eric Williams, said photos he viewed of his son's corpse at the regional medical examiner's office in Newark, proved to him that the police had fatally beaten his son. Williams and other family members have retained an attorney, Sandra Bograd (former assistant Essex County Prosecutor) to represent the family in a possible lawsuit. The state Attorney General's Office also is investigating how Faison died.

Another victim of police violence is Angelina Boone, a Black woman.

On her way to a Christian retreat June 13, 1998 she was forced out her car by Sergeant Anthony Vitanza of the Warren Township police who verbally abused her and pushed her to the ground. He then arrested her on charges of drug possession. She was acquitted Aug. 2 after police officers took the stand in the court room and refused to uphold Vitanza's actions - another case of breaking the "blue wall of silence."

The demand that peace officers come forward and separate themselves from racist criminals in blue has grown across the country since several New York City police officers broke ranks and testified against Justin Volpe, convicted and sentenced to life for beating and sodomizing the Haitian immigrant worker Abner Louima. In New Jersey meanwhile the issue of state police profiling of black motorist came to a boil. Another demand is to establish an independent community controlled civilian review board with subpoena powers.