Preparation and Protest

Political Repression in Philadelphia

Philadelphia has a long history of political repression. In 1894, Philadelphia police worked undercover to monitor a local contingent of "Coxey's Army" (a historic labor and employment rights march, named after Jacob Coxey of Ohio), which passed through Philadelphia on its way to Washington, DC. Seven years later, they prevented anarchist lecturer Emma Goldman from speaking in the city. More recent examples of intolerance include the 1978 and 1985 city-led attacks on the west Philadelphia home of the MOVE organization, as well as the 1981 shooting of former Black Panther and journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was convicted and sentenced to death for supposedly having killed officer Daniel Faulkner.

By 1981, it was common knowledge that the federal government had been spying on and disrupting movements like the Black Panther Party (BPP). In Abu-Jamal's murder trial, it was revealed that the FBI had been surveilling him since he was fourteen years old. For their part, and with a counterintelligence repertoire similar to that of the FBI, Philadelphia's Civil Affairs Unit (CAU) has long been known as the city's "political police." Under the authority of the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD), the CAU started in the early 1960s as the Civil Disobedience Unit (CDU), and partook in the surveillance, covert operations, and disruption of the COINTELPRO era. During the 1960s and 1970s, the CDU worked with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies to spy on, infiltrate, and suppress Black liberation movements like the BPP and MOVE. In the 1980s, the CDU became the CAU and appeared to temper its aggressive tactics. Nevertheless, the organization was still actively gathering political intelligence right up until and during the RNC 2000 protests.

In 1987, Philadelphia activists gained a modest advantage against counterintelligence efforts when they sued the city, as well as local and federal law enforcement, for spying on them and obstructing their efforts to demonstrate at an event celebrating the bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution. The lawsuit resulted in an injunction that prohibited Philadelphia police from infiltration except with the approval of the mayor, the managing director, and the police commissioner. Then, in 1991, protests against the AIDS policies of then-president George H.W. Bush resulted in another lawsuit when activists were violently attacked by police. The combined effect of a monetary settlement from the lawsuit and the earlier injunction-inspired mayoral directive against infiltration helped mitigate aggressive police behavior toward activists for nearly ten years — until the RNC 2000.

The history of political repression in Philadelphia cannot be properly evaluated without recognizing the much broader and longstanding problem of police brutality. For people of color, police violence is a daily reality. Less than three weeks before the RNC 2000, about a dozen police officers were filmed beating Thomas Jones, an unarmed African American man. Jones was seriously injured after being shot five times by police prior to the beating. Further evidence of the city's racist legal system can be found in the disproportionate incarceration rate for Black Philadelphians — an astonishing 70 percent of people jailed in the city — and a death-row population with the highest percentage of African Americans in the country. For their part, the Philadelphia district attorney's office has proven to be reluctant to prosecute police accused of brutality and murder. At the time of the RNC 2000, District Attorney Lynne Abraham had come under fire for her lackluster effort to prosecute officer Christopher DiPasquale for the 1998 shooting death of Donta Dawson, a nineteen-year-old unarmed Black man. Abraham also refused to prosecute officer John Salkowski for the January 2000 murder of twenty-six-year-old African American activist and student Erin Forbes. But it was in her role as a Philadelphia Common Pleas Court judge (a post she held from 1980 to 1991) that brought Abraham notoriety for signing the 1985 warrant that enabled the police bombing of the MOVE house. After becoming district attorney in 1991, Abraham quickly became known for her "tough on crime" attitude and her extensive use of the death penalty. It was enough to compel the New York Times Magazine to call her the "Deadliest D.A." These links between police brutality, the city's racist legal system, and its history of political repression were not lost on activists planning to protest the RNC 2000.

Citywide Effort to Chill Dissent

In addition to law enforcement, Philadelphia's history of political repression was made possible through the full cooperation of municipal agencies and, commonly, the tacit approval of mainstream media. All of these factors came into play during the RNC 2000, and it was within this context that Philadelphia embraced the role of host city.

Before becoming mayor just months prior to the convention, John Street had been a City Council member in North Philadelphia and Center City for nearly twenty years and was previously well regarded as a community organizer working on housing issues. Despite these dubious activist roots, however, Mayor Street was under pressure to pull off a seamless convention in order to attract tourist dollars. Displaying his contempt for RNC protesters, Street publicly characterized them as "idiots" and threatened "a very ugly response" for those aiming to "disrupt" or "make a spectacle" of the city. In a similar fashion, Philadelphia police commissioner John Timoney told Reuters that, while he didn't mind "taking the first punch," he would surely "retaliate." As far as Timoney was concerned, "nobody is going to disrupt the convention." Moreover, he was prepared to use "fisticuffs" if necessary.

Sworn in as Philadelphia's police commissioner in 1998 after working for the New York Police Department (NYPD) for nearly thirty years, Timoney had already policed three political party conventions, including the Democratic National Convention in 1992. Nevertheless, Timoney's defining moment with the NYPD came during the Tompkins Square Park riot, which he led in August 1988. During the riot, police attacked homeless people, housing activists, and their supporters. Timoney left the NYPD as deputy commissioner, but his legacy gave dissidents cause for concern as he took over a beleaguered PPD. Initially hired to address criticism that the PPD was ineffective and corrupt, the Police Advisory Commission received more reports of misconduct by Timoney's police force...