8/14/2019 Defend Arnaz Colvin Flyer

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The attack on Arnaz is an attack On ALL CODY STUDENTS

DEFEND CODY D.I.T. JUNIOR ARNAZ COLVIN!

On Oct. 23rd at 4pm, Arnaz Colvin, Junior at Cody D.I.T.

High School was beaten and arrestedat the bus stop on W. Chicago

& Faust st. after trying to get his younger brother, Chris, who has

epilepsy, to safety during a ght among students.

-Dropthe charges against Arnaz!

-Fire andjailracist cop Jason Tonti!

-No morepolice harassment of Arnaz (or any student) at bus stops or walking to and

from school! Stop the policy of treating all large groups of youth as gangs!

-End the police intimidation, threats, searches, arrests and beatings of Cody students

and all Detroit youth! We are students, not criminals!

-DPS Policeout of Codynow!

-Buildthe new, youth-led, civil rights/immigrant rights movement to win Cody High School

the funding and programs students need and deserve to have an equal, integrated, quality

educationwith same dignity, respect and opportunitiesof white suburban schools!

Arnaz Colvin,

Junior,

Cody D.I.T.

High School

On Nov. 27th Cody students launched our defense of Arnaz in earnest with a strong turnout on the morning

of Arnazs rst court date. Students boarded a bus and traveled to Frank Murphy Hall of Justice, held a brief protest

outside, then entered the court of Judge Wagner. Nearly everything was thrown at students to try to prevent us from

attending our classmates case; threats of unexcused absences, security guards ripping up students iers, teachers

telling us we didnt know what we were ghting for, even a fox news report aimed at scaring our parents into barring

us from attending.But we would not be stopped.

Judge Wagner tried and failedto intimidate us into leaving, saying we were not allowed to miss a day of schoolto attend a friends case, that he would call truancy ofcers on us, that anyone who was witness to the events of the

case could not be present, but despite that, we refused to leave, and the judge was unable to carry out any of his threats.

In fact, we turned his own tactic against him. When Judge Wagner asked

witnesses to Tontis attack on Arnaz to stand, 12 proud students stood up,

and although those 12 people were made to wait in the hall, their brave

stand communicated that there were many students in Cody who saw what

really happened and were prepared to come forward, even surrounded by

bailiffs, police and a hostile Judge.

The rest of us remained throughout the hearing, lling the seats wall

to wall. Because of our actions on Nov. 27th we got Arnazs bond lowered

have set a strong foundation on which to ght to get Arnazs chargesdropped. If we continue to pack the court during Arnazs case, we will win.

Then it will be time to launch our offensive, to sue Jason Tonti and

the police, to make sure this never happens to another student, and to

ght to win the real educational opportunity Cody needs and deserves.

UPDATE as of 11/27/2013:

GET ON THE BUS for Arnazs Hearing!Buses depart Cody Dec.18th @ 8:00am to Frank Murphy Hall of Justice

8/14/2019 Defend Arnaz Colvin Flyer

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Arnaz, who was trying to break up the fghtwhen 5 squad carsarrived (from DPD, DPS,

Gang-Squad and Wayne County), was singled-out of the group of around 20 of us at the bus stop.

Rather than attempt to break up the ght,Police started beating students with night sticksand

Arnazwas thrown to the groundby a white DPD cop named Jason Tonti, hisknee slamming into

Arnazs back as he was handcuffed and beaten, even though Arnaz wasnt struggling.

Tonti, who has a history of violence, was calling Arnaz theN-wordas he threw Arnaz in his

squad car and drove him to Rouge Park, where he was met by another man, also white, in plain

cloths who provided Tonti with a gun. Tonti put the gun to Arnazs head and threatened to shoot

him and throw him in Rouge River.Tonti then took Arnaz to jail and held him for 3 dayswith no access to a lawyer or medical treatment.

They refused to tell Arnazs mom and sister where he was and police continued to threaten Arnaz until he was

nally released and was taken to Henry Ford Urgent Care where he was treated for Lumbar contusion, chest

wall pain, contusion to the chest and back, right ankle and left wrist. Suffering from chronic pain 3 weeks

after Arnaz was attacked, he went to Childrens Hospital of Michigan ER and X-ray showed he had sustained a

fracture to his vertebrawhere Tontis knee slammed into his back. Arnaz has also suffered insomnia, ash-backs

and anxiety, making leaving the house and going to school a daily battle.

Arnaz is seen as a leader at Cody and was targeted as an attempt to intimidate our optimistic and fghting

spiritby making an example of him. Yet despite this Arnaz was notintimidated, and when he was released he

joined the growing group of us who are apart of The Coalition to Defend Afrmative Action, Integration andImmigrant Rights and Fight for EqualityBy Any Means Necessary (BAMN),and told everyone what happened to

him, as a victory story, because, despite his bangs and bruises, he had stood up to the cops and won.

But on Nov. 6th at 3:56pm, Arnaz and a group of about 11 of us were waiting at the same bus stop after

school again. 11 squad cars (from DPD, DPS and Gang-Squad), pulled up, 21 cops surrounding us, while 3

students (including Arnaz) were searched, even though there was no ght,we were just waiting to catch the bus

home. This was caught on video despite the cops trying to delete itfrom our phones.

We were then told to disperse (even though this is impossible because we need to wait at the bus stopto get

home). Arnaz and a group of 4 other students began walking home, the other 6 students further down the street,

when 4 of the squad cars, including ofcer Tonti, began to follow Arnaz, cursing and cracking jokes at him,

calling him the N-word.

They expected Arnaz to cower and act afraid, but when he just kept calmly walking, they arrested himagain, making up the warrant afterwards, held him for 2 1/2 days and charged him with resisting, obstructing

an assaulting an ofcerand forced his family to pay an outrageous $7500 bond.

Arnazs hearing is scheduled for this Wednesday, Nov. 27th at 9:00am. We will need to protest outside

beforehand, starting at 8:30am, and then pack the courtroom.

When we ght for Arnaz, we are building the movement we started when we went to Washington D.C. By

now everybody has heard about the march on Oct. 15th when BAMNs case to restore afrmative action, minority

political rights and win immigrant rights was heard before the U.S. Supreme Court in D.C. Over 80 Cody students

went, and those that didnt go wish they did! In D.C. we led by example, marching in greater numbers than any

other school from the Detroit area. All we need to do now is continue what we started, and just ignore all the bad

advice were going to hear from adults telling us to stop.

On Nov. 19th, as many have already heard, we marched in Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan to

continue the ghtwe started in D.C. to restore afrmative action, minority political rights and win immigrant

rights. When we were there, we passed resolutions with the support of studetns from Northwestern, Cass and

Experiencia to ght together to defend Anraz, win integrated, equal education in our schools, to continue our ght

for afrmative action, minority political rights and immigrant rights, and to have each others backsin the city of

Detroit in the ght to build a united movement (to be all for one, and one for all). Now we will also protest

at the courtand ll the courtroom at Arnazs on Nov. 27th. Whether in Ann Arbor or in court we will be all be

ghting for the justice, dignity and equality that we need and deserve. Join us!

Coalition to Defend Afrmative Action, Integration, and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary www.bamn.comInstragram:joinbamn facebook:bamn Twitter:@followbamn email@bamn.com Liana: (313) 806-1485 Maria: (313) 980-7075

Jason Tonti,

racist cop who

brutalized Arnaz