Democracy Now! Covers Anaheim Police-Shooting/Brutality Controversy

With Theresa Smith (mother of Caesar Cruz, gunned down by Anaheim police in 2009) and our very own Gustavo Arellano as guests, Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now! dedicated a lengthy segment this morning on Anaheim's weekend of outrage following the officer-involved killings of two Latino men, Manuel Diaz and Joel Acevedo.

Goodman noted at the onset of her introduction that the Anaheim Police Department did not respond to numerous requests to be interviewed.

Democracy Now! is independent media's flagship show as it's broadcast on numerous Pacifica, NPR, community, and college radio stations as well as public access, PBS, satellite television channels. Its coverage today underscores how the dramatic images from Saturday's chaos in Anaheim continues to peak national interest.

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Ahead of today's city council meeting, Arellano not only recounted this weekend's events, but placed blame squarely on Anaheim's political mis-leadership class saying, “It's time for a change from the top all the way through.”

Smith, the matriarch of the movement against police brutality in the city, spoke of her son, Caesar Cruz, and the circumstances surrounding his case. Recounting the fateful day in December 2009 when he was killed in an officer-involved shooting at Anaheim Plaza, she said she rushed to the scene itself before being redirected to a hospital.

“They make me wait for three hours before they tell me that he's dead,” she adds recalling the whole process as callous, “and then they tell me that he's not even at the hospital, he's at the morgue.”

With the killing of Acevedo on Sunday, Smith spoke of how his mother called her soon after. Their families knew each other growing up and those that form the Anaheim Cruzaders continues to grow in their collective grieving, healing and demands for justice.

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