'Remember Idriss Stelley' March and Rally

Thank you so much for your thoughtful coverage of our peaceful event of yesterday. We left with renewed hope in our strength, courage and solidarity. Healing on its way, and there is no going back! Again, thank you, mesha.

STELLEY WAS A GODDAMN COWARD! HE WANTED TO KILL HIMSELF BUT DIDNT HAVE THE GUTS TO DO IT SO HE MANIPULATED THE POLICE TO DO THE WORK FOR HIM. THE COPS DIDNT WANT TO SHOOT HIM BUT AFTER STELLEY CHARGED THEM WITH A KNIFE, ALL I CAN SAY IS STELLEY GOT WHAT HE WANTED. AND WHO IS GONNA PAY FOR STELLEY'S COWARDICE? ALL THE POLICE HEARINGS, LAB COSTS, DA FEES, MEDICAL EXAMINER FEES, THIS THING PROBABLY COST $20,000!! FUCKING A! AND ALL BECAUSE STELLEY WAS A GODDAMN COWARD! WHO PAYS FOR THIS WE DO! THE TAX PAYERS! FUCK THIS SHIT! AND MAN, AFTER THE COPS WERE FORCED TO SHOOT HIM, THEY TRIED TO SAVE HIM, DOING CPR OR WHATEVER THEY DO. THOSE COPS WERE DAMN NEAR CRYING CUZ THEY COULDNT SAVE STELLEY. AND NOW, THE MOTHERFUCKERS ARE ACCUSING THE COPS OF DOING WRONG. I SAY FUCK YOU!

Shouting is rude.

STELLEY did suicide by cop...gee let's point a gun at a cop or charge a cop with a knife and then wonder why we got killed....

First off, it is tragic that Stelley died. Especially when it could of been prevented very easily if police weren't so ignorant. The fact that people claim he deserved to die because he was trying to do suicide by cop is hysterical. "Gee, let's point a gun at a cop or charge a cop with a knife and then wonder why he got killed..." will go down in history as one of the dumbest quotes ever used, right next to everything George W. Bush says. The "knife" was two inches long. I fail to believe that a bunch of police officers using batons and pepper spray couldn't stop the advance of one person with a two inch knife. This would be the first time that the police failed to beat a single person silly with batons when the police outnumbered the person.
All the unsympathetic people that claim it was "suicide by cop" obviously have never dealt with a family member or close friend with mental illness. They don't get through their thick skulls that people with mental illness have no choice but to act bizarre and it has nothing to do with free will. Nobody asks a person with a broken leg to run and when they don't say "Your not trying." Unfortunately society hasn't kept up with modern science and realized Stelley's brain was broke. If the police weren't so stupid Stelley would still be alive today.

Bullshit. This stelly guy was fucking crazy. He was fucking high, no billyclubs or mace had any effect on him, yet with his homemade manrikigusari, he slashed and cut a cops belly! FUCK! Lucky it wasnt the cops eye! Can I slash your eyes with a sharp 3 inch blade? Let me swing some nunchucks at you with a blade at the end. Can i slash your eyeballs? Will it hurt? YOU dumbfuck! Stelly intended to fucksomeone up real bad!

http://www.suicidebycop.com/Definitions.html

What homemade manrikigusari?

It's funny how everyone can make pronouncements about Idriss' behavior.
None of you knew him.
None of you were there
The truth behind his death will never be known

Ok. Maybe none of that are in support of the cops actions knew Stelley and maybe we weren't there. However, neither were any of you bleeding-heart leftists. Your blind hatred of cops, of course, leads you to believe that they were in the wrong and Stelley was just an innocent victim. Wake up. Regardless of what crazy spin you put on the events, the simple fact is that Stelley attacked a cop with a deadly weapon. He was shot in self defense.

I do not support outright murder, but that was not the case here. And, given the choice, I would much rather see a scum bag criminal die than a cop.

Dear Ira,

Well, obviously you have a lot of energy. Too bad you are not able to channel it in a positive way. For your information, Idriss'brain exploded, he also had multiple bullets in his neck, chest, abdomen, arms and calves. The 30 minutes that the 9 officers claimed there were doing CPR, what were they really using that delay for, before they wheeled him out from the back alley in a body bag?

I agree that my only son's death is spending a lot of our tax dollars. We surely would be more content spending it on sensitivity and crisis intervention training for SFPD.

No thanks you for exercizing your freedom of speech in such a virulent manner. A little compassion for the grieving families may bring you some healing, mesha.

Yes indeed. Gregory Hooper, Richard Tims, Idriss Stelley, all African American, had mental health issues.

It does not take a brain surgeon to see the pattern.

Thanx Bobby for your eloquent entry.

For everyone's info, the "knife" was actually a ritual tool, given to Idriss by his girlfriend's father, to peel off bamboos to make sticks for karate training. Idriss and Summer are 2 degree black belt.

Their lives together for 6 years were peaceful, focused, they read a lot, took long walks at Candlestick park w/ their dog Nanok.

The tool has a 2 inches blade, but it is curved inward, rounded, he could'nt even have poked a hole in a seat in the theater where he was cowardly slaughtered. Rest in peace, my beautiful son, mesha.

My speculation is that one of the 9 officers probably got....agitated and shot.

Then they all started shooting to cover his butt, so that the balistic report could not define who shot first.

The 1rst article on the next day in the Chronicle stated: Officer Flaminger, (who killed a man 3 years ago, downtown Mission, for backing up into his car) did not shoot at Stelley.

Holly Pera, Homicide Investigator (I wish I would have had a tape recorder on me), stated: "When there is a shoot out, internal policy is to empty your gun"

No rocket science here...mesha, Idriss'mom.

If you took the time to document yourself a bit, you would reluctantly remember that after the security guard asked Idriss to put off his cigarette, he stood up and told the other movie viewers: "If you have families or people who care about you, leave now, so that no one gets hurt". Everybody scrams out...Summer, his partner, comes back from the bathroom and asks him what is going on. Idriss is shaking and responds: "Go to your family baby, something bad could happen" and he kisses her goodby. She leaves as well, hoping that repecting his request will calm him down. She calls me and says, "Idriss is acting strange, what should I do?" I tell her to immediately call 911 and ask for a 5150 (procedure of crisis intervention, to bring him to SFGH Psych Emergency). Idriss also called 911, I saw it on his cell phone at the Coroner's office the next morning, 9 minutes before his death, probably confused, trapped and terrified. Summer shortly after calls me back, screaming: "Mesha, they say he has a gun! "E" does not have a gun" Then, over the phone, I hear one shot, then 3 or 4 in a rapid sequence, then incountable shots. I rush to SFGH, hoping that they only shot him in the legs and he will "only" live as a paraplegic, but we will all give him love, support, and help him resume a meaningful life...an officer tells me that Idriss died at the scene, and bring me to 850 Bryant, hours of interrogation without an attorney.

Yes, my son was manic depressive. The day following his slaughter, he was going to a psychiatric appointment at Mission crisis to get on psych meds for the first time. You see, Idriss' friends, family, associates, professors at Heald College, his community did not know that Idriss had mental health issues. Idriss always tried to transcend his condition by doing community service: Volunteer on the AIDS ward at SFGH, Tutoring English at Day Labor Program, tutoring advanced math, Spanish & French at City College, the youngest actor at 7 yr old at the SF Mime Troupe, serving at Glide soup kitchen, to cite a few.

As for Idriss being "high", my son loathed drugs and its genocide against youth and his African American community. We live in Bayview Hunters Point, by Candlestick. Because my son was an imposing black man, often times gang members from Double Rock would come and challenge him to join or be ready for war. My "dangerous" son would tell them to hold on, bring a table and chair on the sidewalk and challenge them to a game of chess instead...Several weeks later, every weekend, troubled youth would knock on our door and ask for Idriss because they wanted to learn how to play chess...

Plase do your homework before you go on a rampage against my only child, mesha.

None of us where there. Which is exactly why we want accounts from everyone who was there to be released and open to the public.

When I first read in the SF papers about Idriss' death I was horrified that the police would kill someone in a public theater. I thought there must have been extenuating circumstances for them react like this and initially I gave them the beneit of the doubt. After all we are supposed to be able to depend upon the police to ensure public safety.

Time went on and there were no further details released about the case. Now its a year later and we still haven't heard the details of what happened. After a number of public demonstrations and lots of work by community activists, Idriss' mom and their lawyer the SFPD now admit the blade that Idriss threatened them with was 2 inches long. I want to know why a still unspecified number of cops were not able to jump on Idriss, throw a net or curtain over him, whatever it would have taken to disarm him and hold him down. Or maybe try to talk him out of it. How many bullets did they fire? If it wasn't 27 I want to hear from the SFPD how many shots were fired then.

If the SFPD has done no wrong why haven't they shown this. Instead they have stonewalled releasing any information to the public. The cops that murdered Idriss will not get away with this. SFPD murders more and more people every year. For them its business as usual!

Dear Indra,

Your perspective is balanced and I appreciate it !

I do not carry resentment against the 9 individuals who emptied their guns on my son (it took a lot of spiritual work...). However, I am set on bringing my humble participation to improve their policies and procedures, w/ the help of Ella Baker Center, the Board of Mental Health, Caduceus, Oct 22, and all the community organizations and press who support our pursuit for social justice. We mean straight business when it comes to accountability for the past, present and future!

Some might frown at my journey of healing antagonistic parties...We have to impact suffering, racial profiling and the obcenity of insyitutionalized crime. Harder work in times of war, when local and global authorities are glorified...But if we delay our struggle, then when would be the time? Until legitimized terrorism overpowers any intent of normalcy and humanity?

Stay safe, mesha.

Dear Anon,
There are some proportions which have to be set.
Nowadays, it seems (according to the current definition of "self-defence") that every simple item you hold can be a dangerous weapon. It looks as if every agitated black young man has a "semi-automatic wallet" or a "38 mm tiny round blade" that could decimate a dozen of full-armed and protected men, and the only way to stop him is to fire as bullets as possible... It is out of reality, there is no proportions, and they decide on the rules and laws after doing the fault. "You have the right to kill only in self-denfence", and after slaughtering the guy it is said "You was right because the guy could have clawed your face... you defended yourself." This is pure nonsense.

Cordially,

Nina.

Right on Nina!

However, you already know that they will "stick to their guns" (What a coincidental euphemism...) and claim that they protected themselves as well as the community from a highly dangerous individual.

I still do not have my son's backpack; according to his girlfriend Summer, it contained his Heald College book: he also packed his diplomas and commendations, as well as a Napoleon coin which I gave him from the estate of his granmother (they were soulmates, he often called Europe to consult w/ her about his decisions and normalize his experience). She passed away at 92 seven months before Idriss was murdered, which is my only consolation, she was spared that unspeakable pain before God called her by his side.

I would not be surprised to recuperate an empty back pack, along w/ some allegation that it contained a large amount of packaged dope, stained w/ his blood...to recuperate a butcher knife attached to a bicycle chain stained w/ the same evidence...

Rest in peace my black angel. The many people who respected, appreciated and learnt from you, manic or not, know in their heart that you saved lives (testimony of a previously suicidal Healds student at "E"'s funeral mass, healed through Idriss support) (Airbrush, healing through art at the Fillmore Center, program focusing on at risk youth), etc, etc...

Later, my beautiful sistah, stay safe, mesha.

The police wants to grip inhumane body parts that exploit our African American women and men. Holding vigil services for the lives they have taken. They put their right hand on the Bible and their left hand on their gun and swear to tell the truth (yeah, right). But as soon as they are sworn in, the first injustice is done "I thought it was a gun?" Come on people. When is the justice system going to come crumbling down?

A Sista With A Focus

THIS TYPE OF THING HAPPENS ALL THE TIME AND I FEEL THAT SOMETHING SERIOUSLY NEEDS TO BE DEALT WITH. I WILL HELP IN ANYWAY POSSIBLE.PLEASE NOTIFY ME

Wow. You are right! This type of thing happens all of the time and I am sick of it.

Sick and tired of low-life pukes breaking laws and making trouble in public. Sick an tired of the idiots that think they don't have to act civilized and obey the law while the rest of us do. Sick and tired of these scums that give the cops a hard time & then attack them. Sick and tired of Indymedia drones making excuses for these criminals who made their own choices and put themselves in the situation to start with.

Stop glorifying these scum bags and quit making them out to be victims of the cops. They are only victims of their own poor choices and uncivilized behavior.

Bobby, I appreciate the true emotion and passion with hwich you attempt to express yourself. Idriss was indeed mentally ill, and therefore, in a civilized society, should have been in a safe environment such as a home or hospital. If his Momma couldn't keep track of him, and his girlfriend couldn't control him, then THEY deserve to share the blame for his death. Loving caring responsible people don't foist difficult problems onto the general uninformed public. It isn't the police department's fault OR RESPONSIBILITY to psycho analyze each attacker before defending themselves, it is SOCIETY'S responsibility to obey the widely disseminated societal mores and standards of conduct. Poor poor Idriss. If his family loved him and respected him, they would have protected him and his special needs. SHAME ON YOU LIFE GIVER (not a mother by any means) SHAME ON YOU SELFISH FEMALE COMPANION MARTYR (not a girlfriend by any means) Accept responsibility for your inactions, and grow up.

I am an adult functioning in society.
Jimmy

Use your head.

Idriss had only a keychain with a tiny knife on it, that is not a threat to a grown man, let alone several. I took personal the comment that you made about cowardice, Idriss was not a coward, he was a man that lived and died in a world that wasn't fair toward him personally, or to a lot of us who grew up with him generally. I know him to be a brave man, and I consider(ed) all of us to be brave, we came up against all odds, things that you didn't face (that's not to say that you didn't have any problems, just not the same ones) or learn about, hence, don't understand. . Now with that said, if you think that he was a coward, and you throw that word around so easilyabout people that you never even heard speak , then let me ask you, what makes you not a coward. You are a true coward. Only a coward would make slanderous statements about a person when they are not here to defend themselves, you hide behind the internet, because you are afraid to say what you think outloud, in public to me. The only way that YOU will stop being a coward is if you are willing to fight for what you believe in. You made me really mad with what you said and I am real, so lets do it. I challenge you to whatever you want, we can use our hands all the way on up, whatever you want. You can call me on the phone (803) 546-3482 and that don't just go for you, that goes for everybobody who thinks that my friend was a coward, it's time to be brave and stand up for what you are saying. Don't hide behind anonimity, give me a call we can set it up, whatever you want, because he was not a coward, neither am I, but you are, because you won't fight for what you believe in. Who is the coward now.

Don't let the area code fool you, I'm still around the SF, I can make time for you.

So, e-mail me: youngwill1979 [at] hotmail.com
Call me: (803) 546-3482

LET'S SEE WHO IS THE COWARD.

But I know you won't set anything up because you are scared to come from behind your computer, and step into the real world and back your opinion on cowardice up.

You brought up the coward issue now prove you aren't one.

Holla at me

so you are all telling me that when the cops show up at the metreon and see a guy swinging a knife on a chain, they are supposed to assume that the person is mentally ill? wow..in a whole 5 seconds they now must determine that this person has a mental problem so even if he swings that knife at an officer and slashes his/her shirt, he/she should try to hit him with their baton. even though the only thing that kept him/her from getting their stomach sliced open was the bullet proof vest. so in your eye, because a person is mentally ill, the cops should not use deadly force, even if deadly force is being used on them? if i recall what i read in the sfpd hating chronicle, the officers tried pepper spray, but it didn't work. nobody wants anyone to die, but i also think that if the sfpd officers would have been able to subdue stelley with batons or any other force option they probably would have. and if they had "beaten" him with their batons as someone suggested, don't you think his opportunistic mother would still sue the city. let me tell you something, if someone "murdered" my son as you say, i would not settle for $500,000. is that all your son was worth to you?

excuse me mr davis-watkins...did you just challenge someone to a fight possibly with guns on this website? and then you left your phone number? as a citizen of san francisco, i feel it is my duty to report that threat to the proper authorities. i understand you are upset, but challenging someone to a fight."with hands or anything on up" is unacceptable. violence only begets violence. people have a right to free speech, but you don't have the right to be a bully. you sound like a punk and i hope you are dealt with as such.

Yes they are. They are trained how to make that determination. I'm a taxpayer. I paid for that training. I want my money's worth.

Tell that to the Jews who survived the Holocaust by killing their guards and burning Treblinka to the ground.

ok taxpayer..so in the North Hollywood bank robbery when 2 guys had fully automatic weapons and were shooting at everything...the cops should have determined that they were mentally ill and just let them shoot at people? no matter how much training you receive, when your life is being threatened the suspects mental status is not your concern, you are concerned with your own survival. so, with all the training that you pay for, the cops should have let idris stelley swing that knife around and let him slash at and try to kill officers because he was mentally ill? that's a great argument..lets put you in that situation and see what you would have done. i'm sure idriss would still be alive...but you would probably would not be. is it the cops' fault that mentally ill people act out violently? was it the cops' fault that that guy shot and killed 4 people in that hotel on turk st? by your way of thinking, when the cops arrived on that scene while the guy was shooting innocent people, they should have just let him kill everyone he wanted to and then gave him a hug and 5150'd him because he was mentally ill. being mentally ill doesn't give someone the right to commit a crime, except of course in san francisco.

taxpayer is an idiot..amd probably doesn't pay taxes anyway.

i hate the cops...but bro d-day has a point....taxpayer is a retard.

why do we all hate the cops? is it because they "murder" innocent knive wielding lunatics? is it because when we protested the war they kept us from breaking shit? no...we hate the cops because most of them make around $90,000 a year (if you factor in OT) and then when you call them pigs or assholes they say shit like, "i make $90,000 a year you can call me whatever you want. but when your going home to your rundown flat in the haight, i'll be driving my new gas guzzling cadillac escalade to my palatial pad in the burbs." cops don't care what we think and that's why we hate them.

You may be a debate coach but you lack common sense. The threat of great bodily injury or death was present in both cases, therefore his comparison was not an "invalid analogy."
If you think a man with a two inch knife is not a threat, stay in the debate room, cause you will get hurt out in the real world.
B D Day makes a fine argument. I don't care if the guy attacking me is from Mensa or rain man, It is still a threat and I will treat it the same.
"Those who can, do - Those who can't, teach........."

My heart feels deep seeing the photos, reading your grieving words, your love and truth in face of such hatred. Oh the warape mongers are everywhere and even women join the fray of weaponized words. I am sorry for the inexcusable murder of your precious son. I am sorry you have been so hideously assaulted by bullyboy/killer/cops/excusers. Blessings upon you mesha and your son Idriss always. May your pain ease.