copblock.org
Earlier this week, New Hampshire’s government, which famously wasted a bunch of money and effort trying to jail a man for covering the state’s motto “Live Free or Die” on his license plate, once again displayed their preference toward the second option within that phrase. Ademo Freeman, a local activist and founder of the main Cop Block site, was charged, convicted, and is currently sitting in jail in what can only be described as an attempt to intimidate and censor someone who has made it one of his life’s purposes to highlight and oppose abuses and corruption by police and other governmental officials.
Although the official charge was wiretapping, the real intent isn’t hard to discern. This case revolves around an incident in which a 17 year old high school student in Manchester, NH was arrested for what amounts to a silly prank and, in the process of being arrested, was violently assaulted unnecessarily by a member of the school’s police unit. This was brought to the attention of Ademo and other members of Cop Block by another student, who filmed the incident and subsequently forwarded that footage to CopBlock.org.
The extent of Ademo’s “crimes” consist of him recording and later posting online calls he made to three members of the school requesting official statements about the incident and inquiring about what might be done to hold the officer, who was caught on tape doing to a child what would result in an arrest for child abuse if his own parents did the same thing to him, accountable for his actions. There should be little doubt that this was not the intended purpose of rules against wiretapping, nor should there be much of a mystery to the real reason that is was used in this
manor against Ademo.This is nothing more nor less than an obvious and blatant attempt to discourage people from opposing the official power structures within the government and prevent exposure of misconduct by its employees. Furthermore, it’s an attempt to push back against personal attempts by Ademo and others within the Cop Block network to publicize law enforcement and governmental abuses. In essence, Manchester wants to ensure that the old axiom “you can’t fight city hall” holds true, even if they have to fight dirty in order to do so.
As incidents of police abuse become more and more commonplace and public opinion of law enforcement erodes, the importance of holding bad police accountable should be obvious even to their supporters and the police themselves. Covering up those abuses does nothing but reinforce the appearance that the entire police force is corrupt and only makes it that much harder for those genuine good cops, that we are constantly told comprise the majority of cops, to do their job. Going so far as to imprison som
eone for exposing official abuses, is an affront and not so subtle threat to everyone.Regardless of how you feel about the police, Cop Block, or even Ademo personally, everyone should be able to grasp the larger issues involved in all of this. If governments and their officials are allowed to twist and bend the intentions of laws in order to attack and censor individuals they dislike and/or are inconvenienced by, then all of us are a little less safe should that target ever be placed on our chest. As Martin Luther King once stated, “an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Even more dangerous is the notion that governmental officials should be able to hold themselves above the laws that everyone else is expected to follow by doing so, especially when the underlying issue involves violence against defenseless people, including school children.
Parents deserve better from the officials that have been entrusted to safeguard their children and a peaceful society based on true freedom demands better to ensure its continued existence.
If you value liberty and freedom support Ademo however you can. (see below)
If you’d like to help, here are some suggestions:
-Become active at CopBlock.org
-Move to the Shire
-Donate to Ademo/CopBlock.org
-Write Ademo in jail
Adam Mueller445 Willow Street 03103Manchester, NH-Send liberty-orientated stories to Ademo’s roommates
In addition you can contact the public officials that were involved in the case and tell them what you think of their attempts to use the judicial system as a tool for censorship:
Michael G. Valentine – (603) 627-5605
(DA arguing that Ademo deserves to be caged for 21-years)
Hillsborough County Attorney’s Offices, 300 Chestnut Street, Manchester, NH 03101
Michael Delaney – (603) 271-3658
(attorney general who failed to bring charges against Duchesne, Jajuga, Buckley, and Goodno)
NH Department of Justice, 33 Capitol Street, Concord, NH 03301
Jonathan Duchesne, Matt Jajuga, Michael Buckley, David Mara – (603) 668-8711
(first three involved in beating of Chris Micklovich, fourth is “chief”)
Manchester Police Department, 351 Chestnut Street, Manchester, NH 03101-2294
MaryEllen McGorry – (603) 624-6384
(principal, from whom one of Ademo’s wiretapping threats stems)
West High School
9 Notre Dame Ave
Manchester, NH 03102
Ted Gatsas, Thomas R. Clark – (603) 624.6500
(mayor and city solicitor who failed to bring charges against Duchesne, Jajuga, Buckley, and Goodno)
Manchester City Hall, 1045 Elm Street, Manchester, NH 03101
