Whistleblower Summit for Civil and Human Rights organizer Michael McCray hosts Attorney Ben Crump, who represented the family of slain Florida teen Travyon Martin and is representing the family of Mike Brown, who was killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, in a lecture at UAPB on criminal justice reform and police brutality for Monroe Isadore, a 107 year-old blind Black man slain by the police in Pine Bluff, Arkansas

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"Hands Up"--"Don't Shoot!" " "Hands Up"--"Don't Shoot!" a group of young college students at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff chant in solidarity with the student protests in Ferguson, Missouri and to show their support for the grieving family of police shooting victim Michael Brown. Following interviews with Roland Martin (TV One) and Tom Joyner (Tom Joyner Morning Show) Florida attorney Benjamin Crump leads the group in solidarity; Crump is perhaps best known for representing the families of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown--but is lesser known in his representation of the Monroe Isadore family in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

Isadore, 107, was killed after a standoff with Pine Bluff police on September 7, 2013. Two of his daughters, Marilyn Howard and Paula Isadore Aguilar, hired Crump and Little Rock attorneys John Walker and Lawrence Walker to represent them in a federal lawsuit. Pine Bluff, Police Chief Jeff Hubanks and Officer Brad Vilches, a member of the SWAT team that went into a bedroom where Isadore had barricaded himself, are named in the lawsuit. Vilches fired the shots that killed Isadore.

http://youtu.be/SMoYrYmbwsk

Crump also talked about the death of Brown, saying that in Missouri, the prosecutor made it a point to protect the rights of the police officer accused of shooting Brown and had the officer escorted from the scene. "The rules are different when it's our children laying on the ground," Crump said. "Mike Brown's body was left on the ground at the scene for several hours before it was moved."

Michael McCray, a public interest advocate and organizer of the Whistleblower Summit for Civil and Human Rights on Capitol Hill organized the university forum, a "Lecture and Discussion" on Police Brutality and Criminal Justice Reform. Attorneys for the family of the late Monroe Isadore urged students at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff to go vote, get involved in the community and support the efforts to "get justice for Isadore."

"If Monroe Isadore's name had been Monroe Beebe, he would still be alive," McCray said [Mike Beebe, a White male, is the current Governor of Arkansas.] McCray extolled the value of "community policing" and went on to compare police officers who work in Pine Bluff but are not residents of Pine Bluff as an "occupying force."

The problem with the Isadore case is that the local media has created a false narrative about what happened before the video was released to the public. What the media reported was a "shoot out" between a Black man and the SWAT team; and Isadore was killed by the police in self-defense or defense of others.

But that's not what the video shows. Mr. Isadore had locked himself in his bedroom, and was sitting on his bed with a revolver. He was not threatening anyone, attacking anyone or being belligerent. With no apparent reason or impending threat to anyone. The SWAT suddenly breaks the window with tear gas / "flash bang" grenade. Mr. Isadore is startled and frightened by the explosion and starts firing towards the window. An officer kicks in the door (behind Isadore and away from his line of fire)--and then shoots 107 year old Isadore eight times, nearly decapitating him.

"He was partially blind, partially deaf, and everybody there knew he was 107 years old," Crump said. "After an hour or an hour and 15 minutes of alleged negotiation -- go look at the video, or as his children said, if they had left him alone he would have gone to sleep -- they executed Grandpa."

McCray adds "What Monroe Isadore adds to the National discussion about police brutality is this; for a Black man in America, you are never too young--and you are never too old to be executed by the police."

Crump said Isadore was shot eight times and questioned why the police rushed into the room, rather than wait as some have suggested. "They Executed Grandpa," Crump said. "Don't let this happen again."

When Police Chief Jeff Hubanks said he made the decision to order the SWAT team to go in because Isadore was armed and had fired four shots, during an interviewed by two special prosecutors assigned to the case.

"Mr. Isadore was firing rounds and our mandate is to protect the public above all else," Hubanks said in the interview. "That's what government does. That's what the police do. We protect the public and had I stood down and allowed him to, hopefully, run out of bullets or fall asleep or whatever anyone else wants to suggest, I'm not protecting the public at that point. He's still a clear and present danger."

Perhaps most disturbing to the family and the local community was the callous reply to the slaying given by the Pine Bluff Police Department. Chief Hubanks publically stated that if he had an opportunity to do it over again, "I wouldn't do one thing different--not one thing."

After their investigation, the special prosecutors determined that no criminal charges would be filed in the case.

Speaking of Isadore, Crump said he was "armed with a little six shooter. Due process works for anybody but us."

The question of why the police didn't wait also came up when Carlos Corbin, a retired assistant chief of the Little Rock Police Department, spoke at the meeting.

Corbin supervised SWAT activities and said, while he didn't know all the details surrounding the Isadore incident, but "time should not have been a factor." One of the things Corbin stressed during SWAT operations was "time is on our side. We're not going to get in a hurry."

Also speaking was attorney Eric Spencer Buchanan of Little Rock, who, after saying he was a graduate of the university, told the students "there should be legislation requiring police to carry stun guns.

"Use of deadly force should be the last option," he said. "Not the first option."

Aguilar -- one of Isadore's daughters -- spoke briefly, saying that she and other family members had not gotten all the answers they want from the city, nor has Hubanks or any other member of the department apologized.

Authors Website: http://www.WhistleBlowerSummit.com

Authors Bio:

Michael McCray is a public interest advocate who combats racism and corruption in the government and other institutions which deprive individuals of their basic civil rights, human rights and constitutional liberties. McCray is co-chair of the International Association of Whistleblowers (IAW), and a National Board Member for Federally Employed Women Legal Education Fund (FEW/LEF). McCray is the Author of ACORN 8: RACE, POWER & POLITICS--Memoirs of an ACORN Whistleblower; and he also hosts "The Fifth Estate" on Pacifica Radio, the only show made by whistleblowers--about whistleblowers.