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  • Hats off to Kropotkin!!

    Happy birthday Kropotkin!

  • Facebook Posts Lead to Federal Rioting Charges

    A Daniel Prude Protester Faces 5 years in Jail for Social Media Posts

  • Youth Sports Leagues, Personnel Files, & Copaganda

    The problem with these fluffy stories is that they are anecdotal when compared to the brutal nature of our nation's carceral state and police use of force in Black communities.

  • Behind Those Giant Messages at the Protests

    Bryan Agnello, a local audio-visual producer, has been able to avoid traffic congestion and keep everyone safe by pulling the equipment on a trailer behind his bike.

  • 'Agitators', Family Dollar, and a rip-off at half the price

    Language is important. The former is doublespeak, or an attempt to shuffle the meaning of words to shift the systemic failures of the state onto the community.

  • Justice For Daniel Prude - 12th night (Sept 13)

    Video footage from the 12th night of protests.

View All Features

Local News

Hats off to Kropotkin!!

Submitted by Christopher Snyder on Mon, 2020-12-21 21:46
In the discourse of the libertarian left, there is a general aversion to what is called the "great man" theory of history, the interpretation of history in terms of the decisive actions of great leaders. You might say that there is an exception made for Kropotkin, the great white bearded Saint (as described by Oscar Wilde).
 
Born into privelege as the son of a minor landlord in Russia, Kropotkin would eventually assume the role of class traitor, moving over the course of a lifetime from the Tzar's court to the Tzar's prison.
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Agreement between the City of Rochester and the Rochester Police Locust Club, 2016 - 2019

Submitted by T. Forsyth on Wed, 2020-11-18 19:26

Labor contract between the City of Rochester, NY and the Rochester Police Locust Club, 2016 - 2019. A new contract is currently being negotiated.

Locust Club contract PLC CBA 2016-2019.pdf

PDF icon Locust Club contract PLC CBA 2016-2019.pdf

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Facebook Posts Lead to Federal Rioting Charges for Justice for Daniel Prude Protester

Submitted by ben on Mon, 2020-09-28 16:59
Almost entirely based on Facebook posts, a protester who attended Justice for Daniel Prude events was charged with Federal rioting charges.  The charges, which carry the potential of 5 years in prison and $250,000 in fines, are part of an effort to expand the use of the federal rioting act and limit freedom of speech protections.
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Youth Sports Leagues, Personnel Files, and Journalistic Peddling of Copaganda

Submitted by Robert Meek (photo: Democrat & Chronicle) on Thu, 2020-09-24 11:05

During a summer of citizens uprising against the racist Rochester Police Department, as well as against police departments across the world, Rochester's Democrat & Chronicle is demonstrating whose side they are on. On Aug. 22, Rochester's only daily circulated newspaper published a story by James Johnson on two youth sports organizations who reached out to, rather than turned their backs on, RPD officers.

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Behind Those Giant Messages at the Protests

Submitted by AlBrundage on Sat, 2020-09-19 23:51

SM_IMG_3999S.JPG

 

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Singletary, La'Ron (2020 fired Chief of Police): personnel file; settlement

Submitted by T. Forsyth on Tue, 2020-09-15 22:01

This is fired, former chief of police La'Ron Singletary's personnel file and a civil settlement:

Police Chief La'Ron Singletary_Redacted.pdf

PDF icon Police Chief La'Ron Singletary_Redacted.pdf
[[{"fid":"14889","view_mode":"default","fields":{"format":"default","alignment":""},"link_text":"Singletary Stip of settlement.

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Mazzeo, Michael; personnel file

Submitted by T. Forsyth on Tue, 2020-09-15 21:38

This is the personnel file on Michael Mazzeo of the Rochester Police Department:

Officer Michael Mazzeo_Redacted.pdf

PDF icon Officer Michael Mazzeo_Redacted.pdf
An interesting point about this file is that it starts AFTER he was acquitted of brutality and civil rights abuses and retrained. It is NOT his whole personnel file.

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Justice For Daniel Prude - 12th night (Sept 13)

Submitted by Rochester Indymedia on Tue, 2020-09-15 19:34
  • For more info, see Free the People ROC: facebook.com/ftproc
  • This is already 2 nights old. Events are moving faster than we can cover them.
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Justice for Daniel Prude: Activists achieve major gains, push for more

Submitted by ben on Thu, 2020-09-10 16:54
There is an astonishing amount of activity surrounding Justice for Daniel Prude going on in Rochester right now.  I thought it could be nice to produce a summary of everything happening, since it can be overwhelming trying to track it all.  Please comment if this is useful, and we can do more regular summaries and updates.  Also if anyone is interested in joining in, or already doing similar work and wants to collaborate, please send me a message and let's talk.
 
Wednesday night marked the 8th straight evening of protests in response to the murder of Daniel Prude, which are part of over 15 weeks of sustained black lives matters demonstrations organized by Free the People Rochester.  The initial nights were marked with extreme aggression and violence from the police, including shooting pepper balls and tear gas into the crowd.  Starting Sunday night, the police backed off their attacks, which has allowed for peaceful demonstrations.
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Local Rally in support of US Postal Service

Submitted by Al Brundage on Mon, 2020-08-24 22:36

A crowd of about 45 people met on Saturday morning, August 22 2020 in front of the Metro Post Office on West Main Street to show their support for the US Postal Service. The event coincided with three others in Monroe County and over 800 nationwide.

Speaking was Jeremy Cooney, candidate for New York State Senate in district 56.

President Donald Trump's hand-picked Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is accused of intentionally sabotaging the Postal Service to make it more difficult to cast ballots by mail in the upcoming election.

 

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'Agitators', Family Dollar, and a rip-off at half the price

Submitted by Robert Meek (photo: D&C) on Mon, 2020-08-03 14:27

On May 30th, Rochester joined the rest of the world in protesting racist police terror and murder imposed on Black People across the United States.  In response to the protest, Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren decried the events stating that 'outsiders' had been responsible for the 'violence' that followed the 'peaceful' BLM event. Warren noted, "Outsiders – and I do mean outsiders – not from our city, not from our community, decided to set police cars on fire". She later clarified that "Outsiders. Outsiders of the Black Lives Matter movement. People that came to agitate and irritate were the ones that started the destruction, that set the police car on fire, and defaced our police station." Rochester's Democrat and Chronicle noted, "Warren personalized her remarks by talking about the destruction of the "Family Dollar that my cousin works at," and that her cousin no longer knows whether she will still have a job there."

Both the 'outsiders' who 'agitate,' and the Family Dollar remarks are problematic. The former is doublespeak, or an attempt to shuffle the meaning of words to shift the systemic failures of the state onto the community. By spouting the lie of blaming 'outsiders' for the violence, Mayor Warren attempts to invalidate the uprising by claiming that the riot was somehow an outside plot, rather than the oppressed demanding that their voices be heard against the racist and violent police. The latter reeks of ignorance of Family Dollar's role in the destruction of urban communities, given the daily hoarding and looting that Dollar Tree Stores Incorporated exhibits in its business endeavors throughout communities across the nation.

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Federal Consent Decree Ordering Racial Integration of RPD

Submitted by T. Forsyth on Tue, 2020-06-16 19:46

Screen Shot 2020-06-16 at 7.43.06 PM.png

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Shooting Case Clearance in Rochester, NY Working Paper 2018-07

Submitted by Center for Public Safety Initiatives on Fri, 2020-06-12 09:55

Introduction

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Importance of State Law in Police Reform

Submitted by Rochester Indymedia on Mon, 2020-06-08 20:45

Importance of State Law in Police Reform

Saint Louis University Law Journal, Vol. 60, No. 363, 2016

Saint Louis U. Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2016-11

29 Pages Posted: 4 Aug 2016

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The Police Advisory Board and the CRB: an analysis

Submitted by T. Forsyth on Thu, 2020-06-04 18:21

[Please note that the author wrote this piece five years ago. Much has changed. And absolutely nothing has changed. #BLM This report is in no way definitive. Also, observe how the D&C wrote about a 2% sustain rate in October 1995.]

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Keyoni Adams tells her story of police violence

Submitted by T. Forsyth on Wed, 2020-05-27 17:36

On November 17, 2017, Keyoni Adams was arrested during a domestic dispute. This is her story detailing her experience of being abused and beaten by members of the Rochester Police Department and deputies in the Monroe County Jail. Please be advised that her story is graphic and disturbing.

She was released on November 20, 2017. Ms. Adams pleaded to a conditional discharge. Since then, she has been harassed by the Rochester Police Department.

This interview was conducted on March 28, 2018.

Enough is enough!

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Judge on gun case: no body-worn camera footage, no probable cause, case dismissed

Submitted by T. Forsyth (feature photo: Democrat & Chronicle) on Sun, 2020-01-19 22:55

A frustrated and angry Supreme Court Justice dismissed a gun-involved assault case when both officers on the scene could not produce body-worn camera footage of the moments preceding the arrest.

 

On July 24, 2019, around 6:30pm, Rochester Police Department (RPD) officers Michael Mortillaro and Jeremy Lindauer, II were driving down the 200 block of Weyle Street in Rochester, NY, which is a part of their beat, and observed “a group of five to six males sitting in law chairs on the front yard and on the sidewalk area,” according to a suppression hearing transcript from November 21, 2019. Based on their knowledge of the “area,” they believed “some sort of drug sales [were] going on at that time.”

 

Screen Shot 2020-08-27 at 2.02.28 PM.png

Screen Shot 2020-08-27 at 2.01.00 PM.png

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This year's RCSD budget crisis can be traced back to the absurd process that "balanced" last year's budget

Submitted by ben on Wed, 2019-12-18 21:07

The current budget crisis in the Rochester City School District (RCSD) is somewhat a mystery. We often hear that the school district overspent its budget by tens of millions of dollars, but rarely hear how this happened. Just how does the school district go from having a budget that was balanced on paper at the end of the 2018-2019 school year to being $30 million short at the start of of the next? One answer is the completely absurd process used to balance last year's 2018-2019 budget.

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It’s not over for Benny Warr

Submitted by T. Forsyth on Fri, 2019-07-26 00:58

 

A decision was rendered regarding motions filed at the conclusion of the Benny Warr civil trial against Rochester Police Department officers who assaulted Mr. Warr. United States Magistrate Judge Marian W. Payson issued her decision on July 22 regarding the plaintiff’s motions to set aside the verdict, grant a new trial, and impose sanctions against the defense counsel, City of Rochester attorney Spencer Ash, for misconduct. The judge has not dismissed the motions meaning that they are still on the table. This is the first public communication from the judge since the end of Mr. Warr's civil trial.

 

Read the Decision and Order here:

warrpayson.pdf

PDF icon warrpayson.pdf

 

In her decision and order, Judge Payson specifies that the “application is premised on two grounds: first, that defendants’ counsel [Spencer Ash, the City of Rochester attorney representing the Rochester Police Department (RPD) and its officers] engaged in deliberate misconduct prejudicial to plaintiffs’ right to a fair trial; and, second that the jury’s verdict awarding no compensatory or punitive damages was inconsistent and against the weight of the evidence.” The seven-page document elucidates the issues raised in court papers pertaining to both points. The judge does acknowledge in her order and decision that such issues did arise during the trial, but without supporting documentation examining the entirety of the trial, she could not properly rule on the motions.

 

Therefore, she ordered the plaintiff’s attorney, Charles Burkwit, to “supplement their post-trial motion with an amended affidavit and memorandum of law supported by specific citations to the trial record and accompanied by the trial transcript.” Mr. Burkwit has until September 20 to file the appropriate supporting documentation.

 

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Critique of a Yellowish Piece of "Journalistic" - Trash

Submitted by Howard Eagle on Fri, 2019-07-05 18:43
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US and Global News

Youth Sports Leagues, Personnel Files, and Journalistic Peddling of Copaganda
Rochester Climate Strike 2019
150 March for Peace on 9-11
Angola 3 Update: Albert Woodfox's Birthday, Book Release and Tour
Want to Make America Great Again? Begin by Respecting Native Americans
Comparisons Can Be Made Between American Freedom Riders and Central American Migrants
A Justice That Heals: A Report Back from the 2018 International Restorative Justice Conference
European Finance Ministers Applaud Greece Debt Deal that Provides Aid and Continues Austerity
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Dr. King’s Plan for Peace Did Not Die on April 4, 1968
Controlled Media Meet Your Mentor
Atrocities Committed By USA 's fbi & cia & dod Against People Everywhere
Liberty is within our reach

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Account Creation Policy Change

Rochester Indymedia is now requiring editor approval for account creation.

We came to this decision after we had repeated spam posted to our website that caused difficulty with the website's functioning.  We will still have open publishing and keep our site as nonrestrictive and accessible as possible.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.  As before, we will continue to be Rochester's grassroots news and education site.  Thank you for your continued support and remember, "Don't hate the media, be the media!"

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The Rochester Independent Media Center (R-IMC) is no longer meeting regularly.
We will set up meetings by necessity and appointment. Please contact us at rochesterindymedia@rocus.org.
Our home is still the Flying Squirrel Community Space at 285 Clarissa St. Occasionally, we hold meetings at RCTV located at 21 Gorham Street.

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