Anwar Peace, a police accountability expert, former chair of the Spokane Human Rights Commission and a current HRC commissioner joined Hedge to discuss the US Marshals arrests of several Spokanites who participated in the June 11 ICE protests.

this is Free Range, a co-production

of KYRS and Range Media.

2

This is Aaron Hedge.

3

Um, I'm flying solo today.

4

Luke and Val and Aaron Sellers

all had other places to be.

5

But I'm joined here in the studio

today by Anwar Peace, who's a former

6

chair of the Spokane Human Rights

Commission and a current commissioner.

7

And Anwar is here to chat with me

about a series of arrests that made

8

big news in Spokane on Tuesday morning.

9

we just wanted to explore

those arrests from.

10

The perspective of you know, a human

rights commissioner also, Anwar is a

11

long time police accountability activist,

uh, both in Seattle and in Spokane.

12

How long have you been

working in that, in that area?

13

Anwar, it's been decades, right?

14

It's it's been about 25 years.

15

Yeah.

16

25 years.

17

Yeah.

18

Okay.

19

Well, thanks for joining

me on the radio today.

20

I really appreciate your time.

21

So just to kind of set the table the,

the, the factual landscape of what

22

happened on Tuesday morning, um, we

got word about six 30 in the morning.

23

I got, actually got a text from

Anwar that, justice for all,

24

uh, was arrested by US Marshals.

25

Justice had previously been arrested by

local authorities for their participation

26

in the June 11th protests against the

ICE detention of two immigrants who

27

were in the United States legally.

28

Um, they wanted to process

them for deportation, even

29

though they were here legally.

30

And a bunch of local Spokane mobilized

and went and blocked the van that those

31

immigrants would've been transported

from the ICE facility to I, I assume

32

that the Tacoma Detention Facility,

and I think eventually they were

33

transported over there, but the, um,

the folks who showed up and protested

34

blocked the vans for a number of hours.

35

And that's kind of the, the

genesis of these arrests that

36

happened on Tuesday morning.

37

All of the people who were arrested

were present at that June 11th protest.

38

And they're accused of federal crimes,

including I believe it's conspiracy to

39

impede or assault, uh, federal officers.

40

And then there were two people who were

charged with actual assault of officers.

41

Those two people, I believe, are still

in detention at the Spokane County Jail.

42

The Spokane County Jail

works with the US Marshals.

43

Um, that's not technically a violation

of the, of Washington's, uh, sanctuary

44

sanctuary law that basically bars local

agencies from helping federal agencies

45

enforce immigration law because they're

technically not enforcing immigration law.

46

But there's, I think there's a

lot of folks who feel like it, it

47

violates the spirit of that law.

48

Um.

49

The rest of the seven people

were, uh, released on their

50

own recognizes on on their own

recognizance later Tuesday evening.

51

And they're all gonna stand a jury trial.

52

But yeah, I just wanted to get an

war's perspective on, on this series

53

of events and was deeply embedded

in the communities that that showed

54

up to basically go against, uh, what

ICE was doing to these immigrants.

55

And has a really like deep and

long perspective on law enforcement

56

violence against communities

that are underrepresented.

57

Um, so I'd like to start.

58

I I don't think we've talked specifically

about those protests on June 11th.

59

So I, I'd like to just kind of get

your, your perspective on that.

60

Like, what was your

personal experience of that?

61

Like, were, were you at the protests?

62

When did you find out about them and

what was y Yeah, like how did you, well,

63

first, I, I just want to thank range for

having me today as well as your range

64

is wonderful reporting on this subject.

65

So I just wanna first

give a shout out to y'all.

66

Thank you for me.

67

On the 11th I happened to be in Tacoma for

a Department of Health, uh, conference.

68

We were making our way to there when

we, when I first got the alert that.

69

There was gonna be some

kind of action that day.

70

And it was really difficult for me because

I was halfway uh, to Tacoma when I was

71

like, oh my gosh, this is very serious.

72

I want to be there.

73

And so, um, unfortunately I was not

there, but I did observant from afar.

74

And I've taken painstaking efforts to

try to look at the footage of that.

75

Since, like you said I'm a police

accountability expert and so for 25

76

years I've studied protests, what they

look like, how police respond, what kind

77

of less than lethal munitions are used.

78

And so for me, the 11th was very jaw

dropping to me because the type of police

79

authoritarian power that I saw it's

something that makes me remember WTO

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over in Seattle and that kind of over.

81

Policing of First Amendment

rights of the crowd.

82

Can, can you tell, tell

the audience what WTO was?

83

It was a WTO was, uh, in 1999, it

was the World Trade Organization

84

was beating in Seattle.

85

And and so 150,000 people flooded

the streets of downtown Seattle to

86

stop that conference, which we did.

87

That conference was going on for

a week, and because we stopped the

88

conference, um, martial law was

actually declared in downtown Seattle.

89

And we actually had federal troops

come downtown and, and secure downtown.

90

And so it was a really scary time.

91

And so watching that take place back

92

place on the 11th here reminded me a

lot of what I witnessed back in 99.

93

The aspect of police overpowering

a group of very peaceful, calm

94

protestors was something that was

very jaw dropping for me to see.

95

And the aspect that we also have

a state law, um, in the state that

96

talks about how police are supposed

to respond in crowd control situations

97

and the deployment of less than lethal

munitions in those types of situations.

98

And who is authorized on that?

99

And what I saw from afar from Tacoma,

it looked like nobody knew who

100

was in charge that day because the

sheriff's office was doing one thing.

101

SPD was doing a different thing.

102

Obviously the ice officers were

down to just best people up.

103

Either way we looked at it.

104

And that's really, we saw at the

beginning of the protests, we saw ice

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agents were shoving and in some cases

beating some of the protesters who'd

106

showed up to, to block the protests.

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And then when local law enforcement

showed up, I think there were

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like 185 Spokane officers.

109

Mm-hmm.

110

I don't know how many sheriff were there.

111

But yeah, they weren't, they

weren't, they didn't seem like

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they were all on the same page.

113

'cause SPD didn't want to use or said

they didn't want to use, uh, rubber

114

bullets less than lethal ammunition.

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The county was using that ammunition.

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Um, and there's a lot of like.

117

You know, different narratives

about exactly what happened.

118

Well, that's one of my major

concerns right now was who was

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actually in control of that scene.

120

State law says that the highest

elected official in that jurisdiction

121

is the only one that is able to

authorize less than lethal munitions

122

during crowd control situations.

123

So we have, and I've I've heard

from people inside City Hall that on

124

the 11th the mayor was not sure if.

125

She had control and

authorization to authorize that.

126

And we know that the sheriff has had a

longstanding since this law was passed.

127

The sheriff believes that they are the

highest, uh, elected official, and they

128

are the only ones that can authorize it.

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And so it is this very interesting dynamic

of the mayor's power, the sheriff's

130

power, who's authorized for that.

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And you kind of see this play out in

the charges that, that took place that

132

were dismissed because the sheriff

wanted to go forward with charging folks

133

under county code, not the city code.

134

And again, that disconnect of

who's actually in charge here.

135

And so I, I have a lot of questions

about the police actions as well as.

136

We were just talking about a minute ago

about the ICE officers and that initial

137

encounter that took place in front

of the, um, their gate where we had

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numerous community leaders stand on a

sidewalk to block the entry of the gate.

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Not on federal property, not

anywhere near federal property

140

on a, it was, it was the public

sidewalk on Washington Street there.

141

Oh, exactly.

142

And so the footage that you see is

ICE officers coming up to those folks

143

without giving police orders or commands

and assaulting those, those folks.

144

One of those folks I saw assaulted

in that way was Jack Archer.

145

Mm-hmm.

146

Which was just federally charged.

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They weren't originally

arrested on the 11th.

148

That's right.

149

But.

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Because of that interaction with

those ice officers on that public

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sidewalk, they, they are now charged

with a federal crime, even though

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they weren't on federal property.

153

And there was no police commands by

those O ICE officers to begin with,

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which again is against state law

because our state law says any time

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force is used, you have to first

deescalate, try to attempt to deescalate.

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That did not take place on the

11th with those ice officers.

157

Okay?

158

So this was a complex series of events.

159

A number of people were

arrested on June 11th.

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I, I believe 31 was the count.

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And they were all let go.

162

Their charges were, were

dropped by the, by the city.

163

Justice Foral was, was later

arrested on, on during, during

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the pride events here in Spokane.

165

And they were charged under a county

warrant on, uh, charges of unlawful

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imprisonment, which basically I, I

think the contention is that Justice

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had blocked the ICE officers from

leaving the facility, and that

168

constituted unlawful imprisonment.

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Um, justice is facing a trial

for that charge as well.

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They've pleaded not guilty.

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And then, and that, that kind of

for, for, for a number of weeks.

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A lot of these folks, uh.

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Had the, the, the authorities had

their, their communication methods,

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their cell phones, some of 'em had

their backpacks and other belongings,

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uh, held in police custody.

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A lot of 'em couldn't make ends

meet because some of them work in

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the gig economy where they need

their, their smartphone to work.

178

Um, and some of those phones

were turned over to the FBI.

179

And I, I think that's part of the,

the setting of the table that led to

180

these arrests on, on Tuesday morning.

181

And so.

182

Let, let's, let's bring it up to, to

that point, I believe there were, there

183

were five people who were arrested

by the feds who had not been arrested

184

by local authorities on the 11th.

185

The other four had been arrested.

186

And I believe that they must

have gotten some information that

187

they're basing their charges on

from, from those people's phones.

188

But yeah.

189

Can we, we do the same thing

with, with Tuesday morning.

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What was your, and you, we,

we had a conversation shortly

191

after the arrests were made.

192

But can you tell me about your

experience Tuesday morning, I believe

193

you were called by Justice's partner.

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Yeah.

195

I received a call around

six ish, uh, in the morning.

196

And, uh, from Justice's partner

to let me know that, uh, US

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Marshalls had came and arrested him.

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And, uh.

199

I, I am not a very good morning

person, so it took me a minute to

200

really process what I was hearing.

201

Sure.

202

And that's when I was like, okay,

let's, I, I told Justice's partner to

203

go ahead and continue their phone tree,

and I would continue my phone tree.

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And my phone tree included you as well.

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And alerting community members

and, and and, and folks that could

206

have an impact on helping Justice.

207

I alerted those folks

about that in the morning.

208

I, I, one of my first, people that

I did text was, uh, Ben Stucker.

209

Mm.

210

And it was very curious.

211

'cause at six in the morning I'm giving

him a text and he's not responding to me.

212

I'm thinking, okay, maybe

he's a heavy sleeper.

213

Mm-hmm.

214

But I would later find out

that he was also arrested that

215

around that same time as well.

216

And so yeah, these arrests are really

shocking because a lot of these

217

folks have already had charges placed

upon them and are awaiting trial.

218

And so there will be a

judicial process to this.

219

Um, but the fact that the, um,

federal government decided that.

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They were going to say that any

social media posts asking the

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community to rally and support is

now some kind of conspiracy charge.

222

That is absolutely mind-boggling to me.

223

And as far as Ben Ben's participation

in the event, I never saw Ben even

224

come close to assaulting an officer.

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I never saw Ben coming close to

trying to get the crowd to assault

226

an officer, but he's facing these

serious accu accusations of conspiracy,

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of wanting to harm police officers.

228

This is, this is some very bizarre stuff.

229

One of the people that were charged

was charged for quote unquote

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throwing a incendiary device.

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I've, that's right.

232

I've seen that charge only take place.

233

A few times in protests both locally and

nationally, where people will come to a

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protest with fireworks and then they will

discharge those fireworks at officers.

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That's what's called eend, right?

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What this person did was they

picked up an empty canister and

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threw it back at the police line.

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It was already exploded, and so they were

only throwing a tin can at the officers,

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but these charges make it look like that

this person came to the protest with

240

some kind of explosive device wanting to

harm officers, and that's not the case.

241

So when we look at these charges, we

really actually need to look at what

242

was actually taking place and does,

does what we see on the video match.

243

The level of seriousness of these

charges, and I don't believe they do.

244

And given that description of what

constitutes an incendiary device the,

245

the police had fired that device.

246

It was not, that was not

deployed by the protestors.

247

The, the person who threw it, Mickey

Hatfield, one of the person, one

248

of the people who's charged in the

indictment with assault and is still

249

in custody, just picked the can up and

threw it back into the police line.

250

And as you said, it was already deployed.

251

And on one of the other things that

I wanted to highlight is like, this

252

is coming from the, you know, the

highest rung of the Justice Department.

253

Not the highest rung, but it was, it

was, these arrests were ordered by

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Stephanie Benmar, the, the acting US

attorney here in Eastern Washington.

255

And, and I must note that acting.

256

Yeah, part of the title like this really

is something that it, it definitely feels

257

politically motivated and it feels like

this US attorney is trying to make a name

258

for themselves in these charges because

I'm not sure I'm not sure if they need

259

to be sin confirmed, but the fact that

they're acting and they're acting in

260

this kind of way, shape, and form in our

community does not make me think that

261

they're gonna last long in our community,

representing our community in a legal way.

262

And so this to me feels like, some

kind of political theater that's taken

263

place and this acting us attorney

thinks they know what justice is,

264

thinks they know what our community is.

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They don't, our community stand up

on the 11th to demand that our human

266

rights are being violated by ICE

officers at that detention facility.

267

And this US attorney should be spending

more time on what's taken place inside

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that detention facility to find out

whether or not there's any abuse

269

taking place in that detention facility

and not spending their energy on

270

charging prominent community leaders.

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This is a waste of the federal

government's time, energy, talent.

272

Um, lawyers are talented folks, and

so the fact that the US attorney is

273

devoting a, a significant portion

of lawyers to deal with, uh, these

274

charges is absolutely ridiculous.

275

So I look forward to maybe being able

to spend some time with this acting

276

US attorney and maybe picking their

brain to find out what is actually

277

going on and find out whether or not

they actually represent our community.

278

That's a really good segue

in some of my next question.

279

Um, I think, it, it seems to me, and this

is, probably partly from my like life

280

experiences, like a pretty privileged

white, straight dude, um, not really

281

part of any marginalized communities.

282

It seems like given, the agencies

that were involved in, in these

283

arrests, there was the US Marshals.

284

We know that the FBI was

involved in securing scenes.

285

We have reports from, from some

of the folks who were arrested

286

that the DA was also mm-hmm.

287

Also involved.

288

We know the sheriff was

involved and we see this.

289

I see this kind of strengthening of

the ecosystem web of law enforcement.

290

But I'm, given who I am, I'm like,

I'm not totally sure if that's just

291

my, like, what, what the right would

call Trump derangement syndrome.

292

Are things intensifying?

293

Are they, are they getting worse?

294

You're, you're embedded

in these communities.

295

Yeah, I am.

296

I definitely do love and

appreciate our, our law enforcement

297

brothers and sisters out there.

298

Mm-hmm.

299

I, uh, they have a hard job out there.

300

And you know, when, when I'm

in trouble, I call 9 1 1.

301

And, and and totally respect

and honor the profession.

302

With that being said for some reason

law enforcement attracts a very

303

conservative type of person with,

with potential Trump tendencies.

304

We've seen this play out recently

here locally where an officer with

305

SPD, um, was fired for lying about

putting on a bumper sticker onto his

306

squad car, and the bumper sticker was

a let's go Brandon squad or a sticker.

307

And the officer tried to pretend,

oh, he didn't know what the political

308

meaning behind it was, even though he

had made statements saying that he did

309

know what those statements were about.

310

And so the aspect of Trump

being in office now and.

311

The possibility of federal law

enforcement backing up our local law

312

enforcement, I'm sure is very tantalizing

for some of, um, our conservative

313

law enforcement folks out there.

314

The problem is it violates the

constitution and violates state law by the

315

actions that have been taking place here.

316

At least two state laws have

been violated with this protest.

317

Can you outline those please?

318

That is the, um, the law that states that,

uh, before officers use force, they have

319

to first de try to attempt deescalate.

320

And two the other law deals with how,

uh, less than lethal munitions are

321

utilized and who authorizes those.

322

So those are two state laws.

323

Those state laws came about in

324

the state legislature put forth.

325

And those were the few laws that

didn't get rolled back from those all.

326

I think we passed like seven bills in

that session dealing with police reform.

327

And um, I think four of them

got rolled back the next year.

328

Mm-hmm.

329

But these state laws are there to

protect you, me, and also the officers.

330

And, and so that's what one of my concerns

is, especially with the deescalation law.

331

Those ice officers did

not do that at that gate.

332

And by them not doing that, they weren't

actually acting in police authority.

333

Right.

334

And so for me, looking at it,

I see some masked individuals

335

pushing, shoving, harming folks.

336

And if that was me masked up doing that

thing, I would be charged with assault.

337

So I'm calling for those ice officers

to have assault charges placed

338

on them because they did not use

police powers when they were pushing

339

and shoving and choke, slamming

people down to the onto the ground.

340

I also have concerns about those

ICE officers mentality as well

341

when I read the charging documents

that commissioner Ferral is accused

342

of in those charging documents.

343

The ICE officers actually talk about

the fact that they broke into their

344

armory during the protest and got guns.

345

And live ammunition and body armor out.

346

And then they took, um, they took

measures inside the facility to take

347

defensive positions with that armament

because their perception of that peaceful

348

protest, somehow those peaceful protestors

were gonna storm the ICE facility

349

and they prepared for such a siege.

350

And so the mentality of these ICE

officers from JUMP was, let's break

351

out the long guns, let's break out the

ammunition, not go have a conversation

352

with their fellow community members.

353

These ICE officers might have

been masked, but in court

354

documents, we've got their names.

355

That's right.

356

And they live in our community.

357

And so these community members are

ICE officers and we're one of the

358

few jurisdictions that actually

has the identities of ICE officers.

359

And so I'm calling on these ice

officers to be charged with assault

360

as well as if there's any smart

lawyers out there, maybe potentially

361

sue these ICE officers as well.

362

We've gotta take a proactive stance

on what's taken place here, and

363

if the federal government is gonna

leap in here like this, we've gotta

364

respond in a way that is respectful

and using the law to address this.

365

And so a class action lawsuit should also

be filed on what took place on the 11th.

366

Legal remedies need to be addressed and

taken up to deal with this situation.

367

It's great to go protesting on the

streets, but we need to also take actions.

368

Sounds like maybe

369

you feel like maybe the, the

community that is trying to stand

370

against this is maybe a little bit.

371

Honest back foot because a lot, a lot

of what these folks have is, is their

372

ability to protest, but it needs to be

ratcheted up to a more official level.

373

Yeah.

374

Yeah.

375

And I think, um, the, there's also been

some conversation around, uh, what it

376

means to be a human rights commissioner

with, with legal charges on you.

377

And well, can, first, can you talk

about, you said something really

378

interesting on the phone the other day.

379

Just to, to tee up what you're gonna say.

380

You, you talked about, and, and

at the time that we talked, we

381

only, I think we only knew that

Justice and Ben had been arrested.

382

Mm-hmm.

383

Um, but you mentioned to me that

Justice was doing their job as

384

a human rights commissioner.

385

Mm-hmm.

386

Showing up and trying to.

387

Trying to stop what was

happening from happening.

388

Can you, can you just kind of

like reprise that a little bit?

389

Yeah.

390

You know, I'm, I've made public statements

before about, you know, what it means

391

to be a human rights commissioner.

392

And in this time and in this space,

it, it means differently than maybe

393

it did, you know, 15 years ago to

be a human rights commissioner as a

394

commission, we have to actively stand

up for human rights violations and

395

acts of uh, civil rights issues, right?

396

And the element of what was taking

place on the 11th was people were

397

getting kidnapped without due process.

398

That's a human rights

violation right there.

399

So the fact that a human rights,

you're, you're talking about the, the

400

immigrants who were here illegally

who had been arrested and were

401

being processed for deportation.

402

Absolutely.

403

Due process is what our coun

country is founded upon.

404

The only other time I can think of in

this country where we were okay with

405

people being kidnapped was during

slavery days and having slave catchers

406

go, go snatch people off the streets.

407

I will note that back then it was against

the law to assault a slave catcher.

408

And I don't know, I'm a black man.

409

If I was transported back in time and

saw a slave catcher, I don't know what I

410

would do, but I definitely might give them

some stern words and, um, might, might

411

take action because I would see something

that is being unjust in front of me.

412

On the 11th, those ice officers,

what they did, not only kidnapping,

413

but then harming our, the rest of

our community and their actions.

414

The aspect of

415

what it means to be a human

rights commissioner means to

416

stand up for these things.

417

And sometimes we, as

commissioners stand up.

418

We say things that might uh,

the politicians might not like.

419

Um, I can remember a time when I proposed

a homeless Bill of Rights and our

420

mayor did not specifically like that.

421

I'm cool with that.

422

We as human rights commissioners

have to push the envelope.

423

We have to be the conscience of the city.

424

And what Commissioner For All did on the

11th was exactly what our commission is

425

designed to do, and that is to stand up

and call out human rights violations.

426

So I know that there's talk at City

Hall about the potential removal of

427

commissioner Ferral from the commission.

428

And I would first say before any talk of

that takes place, city council members

429

should have a conversation with the

Human Rights Commission first to find out

430

if we want that removal to take place.

431

And then second, any City Council

member that's thinking about removing

432

Commissioner for All should first

take a tour of that ICE detention

433

facility because it is in the city

purview to be inspected because

434

it's in a commercial building.

435

So code code enforcement can go in there.

436

Nobody's gone in there to check

whether or not they have detainees

437

in there for over 24 hours.

438

If they do, again, that

would be against state law.

439

So it's up to our electeds

to find out what is going on.

440

And this, our Human Rights

Commission stands with justice.

441

And, and, and what they did, because

they called out an issue that.

442

Screams a human rights violation and the

fact that due process isn't taking, taking

443

place and, and just yesterday's arrest

somebody's partner was arrested and taken

444

by ice and is, is now being deported.

445

So even as we speak, these deportations

are taking place in Spokane.

446

And so it's for us as a human

rights commission to stand

447

with Commissioner Feral.

448

And I can't say enough about how proud I

am of of having commissioner feral on the

449

commission and being a part of the city.

450

Thank you for saying that.

451

You were gonna talk, you were

gonna say something about what it

452

means to be a commissioner with

these charges levied against 'em.

453

Yeah.

454

It's a scary place.

455

Um, there are a lot of there are a lot

of stipulations that commissioner Feral

456

is gonna, is gonna have to deal with

in different jurisdictional courts.

457

He's got different conditions in

each one of these court settings.

458

And so, yeah, it's gonna be, it's

gonna be difficult, um, for them.

459

I've, I've faced something similar

during my time as a human rights

460

commissioner where I caught,

oh no, a jaywalking charge.

461

And those same powers that be

in city Hall wanted to remove

462

me for a jaywalking charge.

463

Mm-hmm.

464

So it is quite comical on what level

of seriousness can get you kicked off.

465

I don't know if it's the seriousness

or if it's the skin color.

466

But we'll leave it at that Justice

for All is, is a person of color.

467

Yes.

468

And so, it's gonna be difficult

for Commissioner for all because

469

they've got, there's conditions that

they can't talk to co-defendants

470

and what does that actually mean?

471

Um, because they, you know, commissioner

Feral also has a day job with Scar and

472

so the Spokane community against Racism.

473

Thank you.

474

I keep forgetting not to do acronyms.

475

Oh, it's okay.

476

That's what, that's what I'm here for.

477

Um, but yeah they've got that position at

Scar and they send out newsletters mm-hmm.

478

Reg quite regularly.

479

Well, if any of these defendants

are on that email list server, that

480

could be technically violating the

conditions and terms because it

481

would be direct communications.

482

Co-defendants, so trying to figure

out this landscape on, on top of that,

483

Jack Archer is technically Justice's

boss and they have to work together.

484

Yeah, that's a good point.

485

Yes.

486

And, and, and that, that creates a, and

the judge created an exemption for that,

487

but that was, that was what they were

trying to do was, you know, keep people

488

who are in a tight community from Yeah.

489

Being able to talk to each

other and, sorry, go ahead.

490

And, and, and that also limits Justice's

ability, ability to interact with

491

community going, going to community

events, you know, what happens if, you

492

know, some of these co-defendants are

there and, and, and all that element

493

as well as the constant reminder that.

494

Federal probation could

take 'em at any time.

495

That's right.

496

They're, they're not, they're, they're

very restricted in, in what they can do.

497

Yeah.

498

And even, things that are legal here in

Washington the federal government doesn't

499

think some of those things are legal.

500

And so those are prohibitions as well,

which is also is also a way that they

501

can get caught up and have the federal

parole officers come get them as well.

502

And so there are so many conditions that,

that have been placed on these defendants.

503

And so, my heart goes out to 'em

because I've, I've faced similar

504

issues in my time over in Seattle,

uh, where I had to deal with similar

505

kind of court issues like this.

506

And it does.

507

Affect your ability to be a

community leader when you're

508

facing these kind of charges.

509

You're finding your, your time is now

devoted on defending yourself instead

510

of actually doing the good work of

positive change in our community.

511

And so it diverts the energy of activists

and so it is political theater what the

512

federal government is doing, but it's

also a, um, a very interesting strategy

513

of being able to drain the energy of

our activist community by having them

514

to have to defend themselves instead

of trying to fight this administration.

515

It's like flicking a switch and

altering a, like a, a circuit.

516

Mm-hmm.

517

Where okay.

518

Um,

519

you're, you, you know a lot

of people, you're deeply

520

embedded in these communities.

521

You, you work as an activist, you

work on the Human Rights Commission.

522

Um, you worked in behavioral health.

523

From your perspective, and I don't know

to what level you can speak for the

524

community, but like from your perspective,

like how are people doing right now?

525

It's, is it,

526

it's, um, people are really scared.

527

I've never seen this level of,

of fear in a community before.

528

Never.

529

Never even from Seattle.

530

Even from Seattle.

531

The aspect that people are

having to make safety plans on,

532

Hey, if you don't hear from me.

533

Every five hours, please check the jail

roster or please, check in on my kids

534

or, or whatnot because the, the potential

of these charges and the potential of,

535

okay, well now, now we know that people

that weren't arrested on the 11th are now

536

getting charged with, with, with stuff.

537

Nobody knows who's next.

538

And so everybody is trying

to check on each other.

539

You know, people are telling people

where, where their passwords are for

540

their computers, and here's funds, you

know, soc drawer over here, and, you

541

know, the, the extra key to my house is

here, please water my plants if I go away.

542

People are creating these safety plans

because they don't know when the federal

543

government's gonna kick in their door.

544

Hmm.

545

They don't know if when they're out

trying to get some groceries, whether

546

or not they're going to encounter

a felony stop by federal agents.

547

And, and doing, doing a traffic stop.

548

I mean, nobody knows right

now what's gonna take place.

549

And so it is very scary.

550

Um, and not only that you know, I,

I'm speaking about community leaders

551

and whatnot, but I also have to talk

about the fear that our, our immigrant

552

community is dealing with as well.

553

Right.

554

And that's, that's what's

underneath all of this.

555

Yeah, yeah.

556

Yeah.

557

We're, you know, we're just

trying to be the tip of the spear

558

for our immigrant community.

559

So, so they don't have to do this.

560

I'm sure our immigrant community

would've loved to have flooded the ICE

561

facility to protest on the 11th, but.

562

That would've been problematic, right?

563

Yeah.

564

Put a lot of them in danger.

565

Yeah.

566

Yeah.

567

And so we would see after the 11th the

Mexican consulate saw that there was

568

such an issue here, and they actually

came to Spokane from Seattle to set

569

up shops so people could get paperwork

their, their documents that they needed.

570

And I didn't know this.

571

Yeah.

572

And so during that timeframe at that

location, ICE continued to circle

573

and surveil that neighborhood.

574

And so another call at action went

out to the community, which could be

575

another conspiracy charge by the way.

576

But that community was asked to come and

be volunteers and walk with our immigrant

577

community from their cars to the Mexican

consulate, um, uh, at Latinos in Spokane.

578

And make sure that everybody had escorts

to and from their cars to make sure that

579

ICE wouldn't be able to pick them up.

580

And so we saw throughout that week, ICE

doing surveillance right there and like

581

full daylight driving by in intimidating.

582

Uh, now I've, I haven't gotten any

reports that any stops took place, but

583

the community was alerted, the community

came out, the community escorted our

584

immigrant folks because of the aspect

of what ICE is doing in our community.

585

So we all talk about what happened

on the 11th, but ICE is actively

586

taking weird steps in our community.

587

To actually become a police

agency in our community.

588

It's one thing to ask immigrants

to come into the ice office and

589

check in with them and then them

potentially getting arrested, but

590

it's a completely different thing.

591

If ICE is driving around our streets,

doing traffic stops and pulling

592

people over without a warrant and

making arrests, that is different.

593

And again, that would be violating state

law because of our Washington Safe Act.

594

So all of this is very problematic

and the level of fear is

595

just tremendous out there.

596

Nobody knows what's gonna happen next.

597

And my understanding of the 11th,

one of the reasons why the, the city

598

administration did clear the streets

was because the attorney General of the

599

state advised them to do so, otherwise.

600

There was fear that n National

Guard troops would be here.

601

And so May Mayor, mayor Lisa

Brown confirmed this, the, at the

602

press conference, that one of the

motivations behind her decision was,

603

you know, we need to put this down

before the feds come in and do it.

604

Yeah.

605

And so we made that social

contract back on the 11th.

606

We will clear the streets

so the Feds don't come.

607

Well, guess what?

608

The feds came yesterday.

609

They're here now.

610

They're actively taking steps to scare the

hell out of our community for something

611

that was a very peaceful protest.

612

I, like I said, 25 years, I've

watched protests from around

613

the country and the globe.

614

The 11th was one of the most peaceful

protests that I could ever have

615

ever watched, but yet it's being

turned into some kind of riot.

616

And we've seen this before in

Spokane, and we have, we have county

617

commissioners calling it a riot.

618

Yeah.

619

Yeah.

620

And so back in George Floyd,

they called it a riot as well.

621

Again, a riot is not, A riot is not about

having less than lethal munitions release.

622

A riot is violence.

623

Bloodshed people dying and being maimed.

624

That's what a riot is.

625

Nobody got hurt on the 11th.

626

Nobody got hurt during George Floyd.

627

The only people that got hurt

during George Floyd was people

628

that were there was one gentleman

that, uh, had a broken jaw.

629

Because a one of those Inc.

630

Ary rounds was fired directly at his face.

631

And several other people had broken

ribs from similar devices as well.

632

And so, no, what you're saying is like

it was any violence that was inflicted

633

was inflicted on the protestors by

police rather than the other way around.

634

Exactly.

635

And on the 11th, you see

the same thing play out.

636

Those peaceful protestors

did not harm those officers.

637

They did not need to

release those weapons.

638

And again, we've got an SPD dialogue

unit that specifically trained to try to

639

talk protestors and to talk with folks.

640

Those officers weren't even

offered to this protest.

641

They went off, instead of bringing

the the dialogue team, they brought

642

the munitions team to the scene.

643

Right.

644

That is a disconnect.

645

Again, Washington State law says anytime

for force is used, you have to do

646

everything to deescalate a situation

screaming orders at, at people.

647

Please leave the scene.

648

That's not deescalation.

649

That's giving police commands.

650

Deescalation is having a a, a series

of conversations, seeing what the

651

motive behind the other person is and

seeing where there's, there could be

652

a compromise to to, to the scenario.

653

That didn't play out on the 11th.

654

It was, and you can clearly

also see the difference between

655

SPD and the sheriff's office.

656

We're gonna see that the most of

the munitions that were utilized

657

were from the sheriff's office.

658

That's correct.

659

So again, who has the

authority to release those?

660

Is it the mayor or is it the sheriff?

661

I still haven't got an answer as well

as I still haven't got an answer on what

662

Chief Hall was doing, where he was at.

663

Was he actually in

command of his officers?

664

I'm waiting for that, uh, after action

report from the police ombudsman.

665

I'm really looking forward to that.

666

A a lot of information that we're

still, that we still have questions

667

about are, are gonna come out in, in

documents and those will have to be

668

interrogated and I'm sure, I'm sure

there will be a lot of debate over,

669

what the, what those documents say,

um, including from the ombudsman and,

670

subsequent police reports, which take a

very long time to, to reach the public.

671

I want to switch gears a little bit.

672

I, and obviously like, you

know, you say people are scared

673

things are really, really bad.

674

You moved here from Seattle.

675

Remind me how long ago it was?

676

2014.

677

2014.

678

And I believe you moved here to work

at a car wash, be at peace From,

679

from, from this police activism.

680

I think you wanted to do some riot.

681

Yeah.

682

The good old days.

683

Talk about, and you know, SPD and, and

I don't have a lot of perspective on

684

this 'cause I've only been reporting

on law enforcement for about six

685

months and but, but I'd like to,

we've talked about this at your home.

686

Tell me about what made you get back

into police activism and what made

687

you realize you needed to, to be a

voice in this, in this ecosystem?

688

Yeah, so I, I, like you were saying, I

moved over, um, here from, uh, Seattle

689

2014 and I was really hoping to, um.

690

Kind of relax, kind of, semi-retire

from activism because you've

691

been through a lot in Seattle.

692

Yeah.

693

Like I had the police chief

put a restraining order on me,

694

and I had to take that to the

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

695

And it was, it was really, uh,

cr crazy and stressful times.

696

Having a, a police department

697

your, their boss hates you.

698

And every time one of these officers

drove, drove by me, I would have some

699

kind of interaction that they would

want to show me their displeasure,

700

let's say, um, by detaining me.

701

And so moving here was a

way of not having that.

702

Constant fear of officer interaction.

703

And I really had planned on, like laying

back, you know, I, I, I came here, I,

704

I watched the news like everybody else.

705

And so I did find it odd when I saw a

news story, uh, when I first moved here

706

of a, uh, veteran, um, detective and his

wife, who was also a detective for SPD.

707

The DEA actually intercepted packages

of steroids, illegal steroids that

708

were being shipped to their house.

709

And so the DA then alerted SPD and

thinking that there was gonna be

710

some kind of criminal charges that

took place, but instead, SPD then.

711

Just asked these two nice

detectives that had been working

712

for 18 years to just retire and no

criminal charges would take place.

713

So I thought that was kind of odd.

714

I thought it was also kind of odd

when the police chief got mired

715

in the sex scandal and people at

City Hall started getting fired.

716

Oh, I thought that that was kind of odd.

717

Not enough to get me

to be back in activism.

718

What happened was I was working at

a car wash here on division and an

719

officer d showed his displeasure with

me not informing him what my name is.

720

And because of that interaction a

different officer came to my, um, uh,

721

work and talked to my supervisor and, uh,

tried to have me fired from the car wash.

722

And when that didn't work, um, the

officer then alerted my headquarters down

723

in California about this interaction.

724

And so, um, there was a wonderful

story in the spokesman review about,

725

um, this interaction that I had.

726

I actually eventually had a

mediation meeting with this officer.

727

But that's when I realized that

I needed to come back out was my

728

interaction with Officer Chris Johnson.

729

At the time that we had the mediation

we had like a two hour meeting and

730

as we were walking out, the police

ombudsman asked officer Johnson, now

731

that you know everything about Mr.

732

Peace, would you do the same

thing you did that night?

733

And Officer Johnson said, you know

what, I'll probably get in trouble

734

for saying this, but yeah, I would do

exactly the same thing because what Mr.

735

Peace did was mess with junior officers.

736

And as a senior officer,

I have to defend them.

737

And so both me and the ombudsman kind of

looked at each other and we're like, wow.

738

That was a very honest, bold statement.

739

Mm-hmm.

740

The officer left and I told the

ombudsman and the mediator the

741

way that this officer lets his

emotions run, how he does his work.

742

Um.

743

Very shortly, this officer's gonna be

involved in officer involved shooting

744

and sure enough, six months later he was,

officer Johnson since then has killed

745

four people in our community and has been

involved with two shootings, which both

746

of those shootings, the city is settling

with those families for both $4 million.

747

So this Officer Johnson, who remember,

tried to get me fired, went on to kill

748

people, which the city has had to pay

out $8 million in claims for so far,

749

and there's still more claims coming.

750

Mm-hmm.

751

That's the reason why I came

back out as an activist.

752

Seeing the behavior of what Chris

Johnson is made me realize that there

753

was a real sickness in this force

and something needed to be done and

754

somebody needed to stand up for it.

755

And so, like I was saying.

756

Earlier about, watching a

police chief get mired in a sex

757

scandal where he had to resign.

758

It's very interesting the fact that

in most organizations, when the CEO

759

is caught up in a sex scandal, the

thing that happens with the next CEO

760

is everybody in the company then goes

through sexual harassment training.

761

SPD has not done any of that since

our, that that chief got, uh,

762

fired, uh, for that sex scandal.

763

And not having that sexual

harassment training has shown we

764

have had three officers either be

convicted or charged with rape.

765

Two of those, those situations happen

with officers raping other officers.

766

There is a sickness in this police force.

767

And even though I wanted to semi-retire

and write a book about my experience

768

over in Seattle, I found myself having

to stand back up and be an activist here

769

because there is so much, so much of

a crisis here with us being the fourth

770

deadliest police force in the nation.

771

Well, on that note I'd

like, my final question is,

772

we're, we're glad that you're,

you're doing this work.

773

I don't think we could do our jobs if

you all weren't doing similar things.

774

Activism, digging up

records knowing people.

775

What is it that, is there,

is there anything that, that

776

brings you hope in this moment?

777

Yeah, uh, this community.

778

This community is a shiny beacon of hope.

779

We, we might not all agree with

everybody's stance or whatnot,

780

but the amount of love that I see

in our community is overwhelming.

781

And that's one of the reasons why

782

stay here because there are so many

good loving community organizations

783

that are doing powerful work.

784

We've got a, uh, wonderfully talented,

um, immigrant community, uh, that, you

785

know, we've got a Marshallese population

here that is the third largest population

786

in the state in the United States.

787

It, it is remarkable to be here

and be in space with so many

788

wonderful community members.

789

And so the hope that I have is

every day walking out on the streets

790

of Spokane, seeing, smiling happy

faces, enjoying our community.

791

That's what brings me happiness

and, and hope and our peace.

792

Thanks for being here with me.

793

Free Range is a weekly news and

public affairs program presented by

794

Range Media and produced by Range

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