Michaelann Bewsee smearing/Northampton Human Rights Commission

Here's a series of nasty, baseless ad hominem attacks on Michaelann Bewsee, co-founder of Arise for Social Justice (a veteran, committed, effective activist who's probably done more for Western Mass than any of her vicious detractors on this forum) provoked by her discussion of the Al Southerland controversy on her blog when the story first broke. I'm glad I don't follow the masslive forums, b/c this would've made me very upset if I'd read it at the time. Among the accusations on there is the idea that we had a protest organized just to stir up trouble ahead of time and found a convenient cause in Al Southerland's alleged beating. Um, no. We had emergency meetings and hastily organized it b/c we believed it was important. And Michaelann was "manipulated" into crediting these accusations by Keely Malone, David Beyer, me, and other ego-obsessed activist hoodlums. Actually, I worked under Michaelann as a volunteer at Arise for years, and I don't think anyone has ever manipulated her into anything.

And we are doing more than "have no real information, and have made no effort to investigate this "incident" beyond talking with people who will prop up their pre-ordained version of events..." (By the way, that was a malapropism, the way you used "pre-ordained", there.) We are interviewing eyewitnesses and gathering doctors' diagnoses through Southerland's relatives, who are suing the NPD (were they manipulated into doing that by us, too? Are they just being rabidly leftist and trying to stir up trouble? Or maybe they want justice for their son and their father? Who is still in a coma, by the way.) Is this how Western Mass, especially a progressive town like Northampton, responds to accusations of police brutality? By defensively denying it, with no investigation? I think a community of true integrity, a *real* Paradise City, would thoroughly look into *any* such claims before concluding they were without substance.

We will be helping Southerland's daughter, who has power of attorney, make a complaint with the Northampton Human Rights Commission. That is the current infrastructure in place for something like this. Unfortunately, the HRC's members are appointed by the mayor and approved by the city council, and the mayor is also the employer of the police force. One cannot even send a letter or e-mail to the HRC without going through the mayor's office. I am told that the HRC doesn't necessarily follow the party line of the city's executive branch, so we'll hope for the best. But we'd like to work with the city to develop a more independent citizen's review board.

Again, no one would be happier than we would be if we knew definitively that police officers did not assault Alfonso Southerland. But until we can know that with certainty, we can't just give the police the benefit of the doubt.