People's Tribunal on Police Brutality video part 8

People's Tribunal on Police Brutality video part 8

Alice Ragland introduces Cory Kouns, who gives testimony (gangs, prison, religion, race, police intimidation), Alice Ragland calls on panel. Ed Little begins response (economics).

Puncture the Silence

2015-04-11

CLE.001.012

.mp4

English

Cleveland, Ohio, USA

9 minutes, 57 seconds

Puncture the Silence

Speaking here: Alice Ragland, Cory Kouns

Alice Ragland—“Cory Kouns.”

Cory Kouns—“Good afternoon, everybody. My name's Cory Kouns, and, um, members of the panel, Carol, thank you for having me. All our guests and Puncture the Silence. Well, I mean my story's a little different. I, ya know, I've battled hard with a lot of different things. I was raised a little differently than most people in here. I can tell already. But, uh, ya know, I was the type of person that was told by police at 16 years old that, ‘Man, Cory, we can't wait till you turn 18, ‘cause when you turn 18, we're going, ya know, we wanna get you in the adult system.’ ‘Cause I was the type of person that was just a very, very dangerous, like, social agitator and antagonizer. Even when I was a little kid. The Crips, the Bloods, I mean the Hells Angels, because I come from a background of Jewish descent, German and African American descent, so when, you know, when you are dealing with a lot a different groups like this, it becomes a little bit, you know, tricky and challenging to get new leadership.

But, um, I'm from the generation X. So, the generation Xers were the ‘why me?’ generation, the nowhere generation, the generation that tried to fix what the 1960's had broken. Our motto was we would never join a certain brand. Well, I took after my ancestors. I did not have a father to raise me. I was raised with my single parent and four of my other brothers. So, um, I forgot what I was gonna say. So, I basically tell people that I've come from a divine madness, and the divine madness is of the spiritual world, but of the supernatural communication. Because I believe today that, we, as multiracial Americans, fail to make connection that acting-out-of-control behavior, substance abuse, rejection, the lack of acceptance, pride, ego bitterness, resentment, self-hatred are all a result of a troubled world desperately trying to assert itself to be known and seen in the wrong way. And, um, (Just what I was gonna say, thank you, God) um, just like my ancestors, I chose to rebel. I chose to take after my ancestors, which were rule breakers, sort o’ like these ladies and gentleman here and all you guys. In the process of doing that, I usually don't share this like I'm about to now, but I feel that God is already going to be using me in the future, so, I'm comfortable with it, somewhat. I've been arrested over 65 times. I have 12 years of prison. I have 5 prison numbers. In 1996 I was evaluated by Dr. Phillip Resnick, who studies why women kill their babies, and the use and misuse of the insanity plea. I was the type of person that would be in prison. When I was in prison, even at a young age, the first time I went to prison I was falsely accused for three counts of aggravated assault on correction officers. Because the community hated me and just spited my mom back in where I lived at the time, it was predominantly white. I was the only biracial. There was one other biracial in the community. There wasn't many African Americans in the community. So, we came from East Cleveland. We were, ya know, from East Cleveland, so that rose another issue for me. Back when I was only ten or eleven years old I got caught from stealing some shoes at a department store. Well, when I got to the city jail the Captain came in there. I was with another gentleman about your complexion. He told me he says, uh, he comes in there; it's going on second shift. There's cops all over the place. He comes in there and he says, he goes, he hems me up like this, he grabs me by my collar and he says, ‘Why don't you get out a here, you niggers, and go somewhere else?!’ That was the first time I experienced racism at its full potential and full degree. I'm a little kid; I'm only twelve years old. It’s the first time I've ever heard that. So, it was like after that I began… I was just a person who wanted to become more aligned, more comfortable with my culture, history, mentality and intellect, just like anybody else. So, um, today, ya know, I'm a mental health advocate; I do a lot of things in the community. I'll be successfully completing my international school of ministry degree, preparing leaders biblically, strategically, creatively and globally. But, yeah, like, I was a person who would go to prison and I write CO's up if I had a problem with them, or they shook me down or sump'n like that. I had learned the system, so I had learned the system well. But before I got into the adult prison system, just before that, like 18 years old, when I told you they would arrest me on the street? I would only be looking at 120 days sometimes. The 120 days would turn into like 180 days because the CO's would come in my cell, like four deep. The cell's only so big, and hit me on my shoulder, and say, ‘Man, did you assault me, Mr. Kouns?’ And I'm like, ‘Man, you know I didn't hit you.’ But would falsely accuse me and I would have to see the judge. Again! So, that would get me more time. So, this stuff, I just want to remind everybody that it's getting… we're in the spiritual warfare right now. And, you know, we need to wake up and smell the concrete, for real! Now, I was the type; you know, I grew up on hip-hop and all that, um, I used to, like, Cypress Hill. There was a couple lyrics in there that I loved because it said, ‘I see the soldiers, coming from out the shadows. Ain't tryin' to hit a blibblabble, ready for battle.’ And that's basically what we're doing right now. And I'm preparing myself at fully-loaded. And I'm gonna be representing the multi-racial American community. And, the Lord Jesus Christ. So, with that, hey, thanks for having me, it's been a great time.” (Applause)

Alice Ragland—“Ok, so, now we’re going to go to our panel. We’ve heard a lot of different stories; a lot of them speak to race and class in particular. These things would not happen in middle class white communities. So, I just want whoever feels compelled to do so to address the role of poverty and economics in the struggle for justice, and the role of poverty and economics in the problems that we've been talking about today, regarding the criminal justice system.”

Ed Little—“The role of poverty and economics is central to the entire system in this country. When we look at the capitalistic roots of slavery and oppression, you cannot separate the two. And the reason why we incarcerate more people than any other country in the world is directly tied to poverty and economic injustice. People who have the resources, who have the wealth, who have the connections, who have the ability to pay a lawyer, can get so-called justice. But if you do not have money, if you are black and brown in this country, you do not get justice. When we look at how poor communities are policed, when we look at how black and brown ...