Edison High Riot on MySpace - numerous videos

EdisonRiot.com
with forum 

PowerU.org
-- has helped support the students

Edison High, Miami -- in the News

Edison High School in Miami is attended mostly by Haitians and African Americans. On February 28, 2008, Cuban American Assistant Principal Javier Perez assaulted a student with a choke hold - Perez had assaulted students before. When the student body mounted a peaceful protest the next morning, they were attacked by Miami police with tasers and batons, causing more than 30 casualties, with male police beating young women - one hit a pregnant teen in the belly with his baton, sending her to the hospital. Perez told some of the students he is white and they are black, so he would win. 

Police Release Edison HS Brawl Surveillance  4/15/2008 NBC: "Some of the images are dramatic, showing police pushing students back. Officers are eventually seen bursting into the school lobby and rescue crews removing someone on a gurney. There are plenty of photos of arrests being made. Charges have been dropped against 21 of the 26 people arrested that day. Officerswere unable to substantiate specific claims against specific defendants. Students have been protesting since that day when, they say, police created a crisis. Only one case, against a 15-year-old girl accused of striking a school police officer on the lip, has made it into court. Prosecutors are still reviewing four others. After hours of studying the images made by security cameras, authorities said they'll be no help at all in sorting out the chaos at Edison High School."

Teachers, Students Speak Out At Miami-Dade School Board Meeting  3/12/2008 NBC: "Students and teachers attended the first school board meeting since the nationally televised brawl at Edison High School. Dozens of Edison students showed up to voice their plan for change. "With school board members sleeping on the job and our superintendent missing in action, the demand for restorative justice is being ignored," one student said. Students asked for training across the board in anger management, conflict resolution and what they describe as "unfair zero-tolerance policies."

What started it all? I am afraid it is a long, complicated story…  3/9/2008 EdisonRiot.com 

EDISON HIGH SCHOOL - Brawl cases will be tough  3/9/2008 Miami Herald: "Vague language in the arrest forms of most of the Edison High students jailed after a melee could derail any criminal cases against them."

Miami-Dade Schools Police Chief Faces Scrutiny  3/9/2008 NBC: "On Saturday, 47 Miami-Dade school police union members voted in favor of holding a meeting to cast a vote of “no confidence” against Chief Gerald Darling. The vote came after dozens of students were arrested last Friday in a scene which some parents and students argued police used excessive force."

‘Jail the cops who beat us’ demand Miami students  3/9/2008 The Militant 

Police arrests Miami students for peaceful protest  3/7/2008 Party for Socialism and Liberation: "Miami Edison High School is 90 percent Black—a high percentage of students are Haitian and Haitian-American—and 9 percent Latino. Sixty percent of the students are eligible for free or reduced lunch, attesting to the student body’s primarily working class background."

Edison students defend protest  3/7/2008 South Florida Times: "Nearly 600 students, parents and school officials convened on campus for the two-hour town hall meeting about the melee. At issue is whether the incident was a riot, as categorized by law enforcement, or a peaceful protest that was broken up with force, as many students claimed. In a note published in The Miami Herald’s letters to the editor page, student leader Chrisford Green said, “We simply wanted to tell the truth about what was going on in the schools. Police say that we were fighting, but for us to fight them, they had to start it. We would not risk getting shot. We students feel hurt.” "

Activist group might be trying to help itself  3/6/2008 Miami Herald: "When it came time for a bit of street theater, it was Power U organizer Travae Brown who led a handful of protesters to the entrance of the Miami-Dade school police headquarters. With TV crews and newspaper photographers crowded behind him in the doorway, Brown demanded the school cops turn over that elusive restorative justice feasibility study. The school cops, of course, had no restorative justice feasibility study handy. I don't think Brown was surprised by the news. Brown, 19, is not a student at Miami Edison High School. Not even a grad. But Power U has been the organizing force behind the student protests since last week's arrests. Power U had been best known, previously, as an activist group mostly concerned with affordable housing and gentrification issues. Their demonstrators came to Wednesday's rally in green T-shirts emblazoned with ``Our land. Our people. Our community.''"

Edison High students will protest in front of police station Wednesday  3/5/2008 Carlos Miller 

Justice for Miami Edison Students  3/5/2008 Petition Online: "We are completely dismayed by the actions of the Miami Police and the School administrators on Friday February 29th at Miami Edison High School that resulted in the arrests of 27 youth and countless cases of youth being beaten and injured. We support the demands of the students as outlined below and further demand that they are met in their entirety NOW! "

Miami students protest police invasion of their school  3/5/2008 SF Bay View: "Monday morning 300 students boycotted attending Miami's Edison Senior High, the first school day after police brutally beat and arrested masses of students on Friday. The mostly Black and largely Haitian-American youth are organizing to demand the arrest of Assistant Principal Perez for assault on a student, the dropping of all charges against the students arrested Friday, no retaliation against students and the institution of restorative justice as a problem solving model, instead of arresting more young people in the future. This level of organizing is unprecedented and deserves community support."

18 Edison students freed as peers rally  3/4/2008 Miami Herald: "Laniece Sands said she and her classmates would continue to meet outside school every morning until the charges against the students are dropped -- and Perez is arrested and fired."

Edison High Riot  3/4/2008 MySpace: extensive materials

Edison Students Blame "Brutality" For Melee - 28 Students Were Arrested - Students, Police Hurt in Widespread Fight - Parents Angry At Police After Edison High Fight  2/29/2008 CBS: "Classes have ended for the day at Miami Edison High School following a massive fight between police and students. Students claim they were attacked by police as they tried to stage a peaceful protest, but police say the students became unruly and attacked police officers, prompting a massive response. Officers from three departments including the city of Miami and Miami-Dade police were called to the school, which is located at 6161 NW 5th Court in Miami, after a school police officer hit an emergency button and called for backup, saying students were 'rioting' at the school."

Fight at Miami high school draws dozens of police  2/29/2008 Miami Herald 

Students Protest and Police Riot- Edison Sr. High School  2/29/2008 Take Back the Land: "The mostly black and largely Haitian-American Miami Edison students organized a protest this morning at the school courtyard. According to all accounts, the protest was peaceful, possibly including civil disobedience (Miami Herald: "The incident apparently began as a peaceful protest, according to a teacher inside the school, but got out of hand." CBS4: "The student said police were called to the school to respond to the protest, and when students objected a scuffle broke out, escalating quickly into an all out fight between students and officers."). Police were called in to break up the protest and when the students refused- exercising their right to protest- school and city of Miami police attacked them and the students defended themselves against attacks by police."

EDISON HIGH SCHOOL (MIAMI)  2/29/2008 YouTube: [shot from a student's cell phone in the cafeteria.]

EDISON HIGH SCHOOL fake police  2/29/2008 YouTube: [shows police giving his card to a student after the beatings]

WTVJ NBC 6: Miami Edison High Riot  2/29/2008 YouTube: "Why don't you spend a couple days at Edison High....better yet that part of Miami and then tell me it's not a racist matter. I agree that the kid shouldn't have fought back but the racism between the cops and the people at that school DOES exist. So please don't say anything without knowing the facts."