Justice For Nate Buckley @ Burning Books, Buffalo, NY (2012-01-04): Part 5
Channel: Anzevuil
Date: 2012-09-15

Co-owner of Burning Books, Nate Buckley, addresses his current legal battle, and wider issues of social, economic, and environmental injustice that influenced both his and many other Buffalo peace activists to march downtown on April 8, 2011.

Burning Books/Facebook Event Page Description (https://www.facebook.com/events/345406755484902/ ):
"Back in April Nate [Buckley] was brutalized and maced by NFTA police during a peaceful downtown protest at M&T Bank. Buckley's case was drawing grassroots attention to bank bailouts and unequal distribution of wealth six months before the Occupy Wall St movement. Buckley's trial is set to be argued before a jury starting on January 9th. Come see Buckley give a public presentation on his case with supportive arguments given by local Activists (and former international political prisoners), Santiago Masferrer (exiled from Chile) and Zaw Win (exiled from Burma)."

Personal disclosure:  I helped to make a couple of signs for the rally 2 days before, but did not attend (for reasons I am still not sure of).  In retrospect, I should have been there, filming.  Fortunately, one individual did so, and caught evidence of misconduct on behalf of the NFTA cops.

UNEDITED FOOTAGE OF THE BEATING/ARREST (18 and over only, according to YouTube Guidelines):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1AST5YSxPc&feature=player_embedded&has_verified=1

Short documentary interview with Nate regarding the circumstances of the incident (with footage):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhN9RlrENJs

For more information regarding Nate's case, refer to the following articles

"Peace Marcher Beaten And Maced By NFTA Police" -- ARTVOICE (2011-04-13)
http://artvoice.com/issues/v10n15/week_in_review/peace_marcher_beaten

Excerpt from the article:
"...Buckley was one of 70 or so peace activists who assembled in Lafayette Square Friday afternoon to march, sing, and make speeches protesting the country's wars at home and abroad. They marched to City Hall, to the FBI office on Niagara, to the federal building on Elmwood, then down Chippewa to Main Street, finishing outside the M&T Bank building. The protesters chose the bank as their endpoint because, as organizers explained in a statement several days later, 'the huge financial conglomerate has made substantial investments in "defense," providing material support for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and Libya.'
"Buckley says that the number of marches had dwindled to 30 or 40 by the time they reached the bank's plaza, where there were more speakers and more singing and chanting of anti-war slogans. A bank employee asked the marchers to step off bank property, and Buckley says they complied—but not quickly enough for the employee, apparently, because she called the police. Several NFTA police officers soon arrived.
"One, named Russo, was immediately confrontational, according to Buckley. Another, named Capozzi, was more reasonable and tried to defuse what became a tense situation.
"When one of the more confrontational officers took out his Taser, Buckley says he and other protesters began to walk away on the sidewalk, but an officer tackled Buckley and dragged him back on to bank property. There, Buckley says, he was struck with a nightstick...."
"Transit cop who used spray had July dispute over force" -- The Buffalo News (2011-04-20)
http://www.buffalonews.com/city/communities/buffalo/article396968.ece.
Donn Esmonde's editorials in the Buffalo News 

2011-04-20: http://www.buffalonews.com/city/columns/donn-esmonde/article397322.ece
2011-04-22: http://www.buffalonews.com/city/columns/donn-esmonde/article399581.ece
"Please Support Nate Buckley" -- Care2 Petition Site
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/29/please-support-nate-buckley/
Support Nate Buckley (Facebook Group):
https://www.facebook.com/groups/natebuckley/

Support Nate Buckley At His Trial (Buffalo IndyMedia page):
http://buffalo.indymedia.org/content/support-nate-buckley-his-trial-against-police-brutality

"An Open Letter to Kimberly Minkel, Director of the NFTA" -- Maura P., submitted to Buffalo IndyMedia:
http://buffalo.indymedia.org/content/open-letter-kimberly-minkel-director-nfta

Follow-Up Letter written by Leslie James Pickering (co-owner of Burning Books) to an article by Michael I.Niman in ARTVOICE regarding pepper spray violence used by the police against the Occupy movement and other social protest actions (  http://artvoice.com/issues/v10n50/getting_a_grip ):
http://artvoice.com/issues/v10n51/letters_to_artvoice/pepper_sprayed_protester
Links for Burning Books (located at 420 Connecticut Street, Buffalo, NY ):

http://burningbooksbuffalo.com/
http://artvoice.com/issues/v10n36/burning_books
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Burning-Books/263128823706195
http://www.thegoodneighborhood.com/2012/01/03/where-the-heart-is-burning-books-brings-activism-to-west-side-store/