Dregs One’s ‘Wake Up Report on Police Brutality’ features Fly Benzo

Dregs One delivers in-depth commentary on police brutality and how it is affecting communities of color

by Crystal Carter

San Francisco – Oscar Grant. Kenneth Harding. Trayvon Martin. These are just a few names of young Black men who have yet to receive justice in the criminal justice system. Dregs One addresses the issue of police brutality and the abuses of power that have been committed by police and the justice system in the Bay Area and beyond.

“We need to analyze the system and find ways to deal with crime and attack the issues that cause crime instead of attacking the people that live in areas where these crimes happen,” says Dregs One.

The community gathered around DeBray “Fly Benzo” Carpenter at an April 18 pre-sentencing press conference and rally in Mendell Plaza, where Fly was brutalized and arrested Oct. 18, 2011, for recording the police and where Kenneth Harding had been murdered by SFPD on July 16, 2011. He is set to be sentenced on April 20 on three misdemeanors; the jury acquitted him on the felonies he’d been charged with. From left in the back row are Archbishop Franzo King of St. John Coltrane Church, Lisa “Tiny” Gray-Garcia of POOR Magazine, Kenneth Harding’s mother Denika Chatman, Mesha Irizarry of the Idriss Stelley Foundation, Larry Felson of Revolution, DeBray "Fly Benzo" Carpenter, Fly’s attorney Severa Keith, journalist Alex Schmaus, videographer Kilo G Perry, Kenneth Harding’s uncle Marco Scott, Sharena Thomas, Fly’s cousin Kelley, writer TaLea Monet and her baby daughter; in front are activists Rebbeca R. and Kitty Lui. – Photo: Malaika Kambon

Acts of police brutality are not isolated events. They are part of a larger epidemic dealing with race issues and misinformation on the part of the aggressors.

About Dregs One

Not only is he a hip hop lyricist and producer, Dregs One is a youth advocate working with inner city youth in San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area. He has recently released a mixtape titled “The Inspiration” and a debut album titled “The Wake Up Call.” You can listen to his music here.

About ‘The Wake Up Report’

Dregs One is very active in his community and has been a youth advocate for over three years. He decided to start posting a video blog addressing issues that he saw were not getting enough coverage in his hometown of San Francisco. So far, he has produced four webisodes on issues of gentrification, food justice, the cost of higher education and now police brutality.

Keep up with him at dregsone.tumblr.com, twitter.com/dregs_one, facebook.com/dregsone415 and youtube.com/dregsonegmc.

Bay Area-based journalist Crystal Carter can be reached at ccarter6@gmail.com.