Chronology of Human Rights Violations of the United States in 2015

FEBRUARY

Feb. 1

The website of Al Jazeera America reported that about 3,800 oil refinery workers at nine oil refineries in California, Texas, Kentucky and Washington states went on strikes, protesting onerous overtime, unsafe staffing levels and dangerous working conditions that the industry kept ignoring. The strike leaders said the possible occurrence of fires, emissions, leaks and explosions every day had threatened local communities, while the industry did nothing about it.

Feb. 2

The Washington Post website reported that a police officer in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania, shocked David Kassick, an unarmed 59-year-old man, with a Taser and then shot him twice in the back as he lay on the ground.

On the same day, the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism released a study which said at least 2,464 people had been killed by U.S. drone strikes outside the country's declared war zones since 2009. The research also showed there had been nearly nine times more strikes in the current U.S. administration in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia than there were under his predecessor.

Feb. 4

The Washington Post website reported that Jeremy Lett, an unarmed 28-year-old black man, was shot five times by a police officer in Tallahassee, Florida.

Feb. 8

The Washington Post website reported that the incumbent U.S. president said in a video aired during the Grammy Awards 2015 that nearly one in five women in the United States had experienced rape or attempted rape.

Feb. 10

The Washington Post website reported that Antonio Zambrano-Montes, an unarmed 35-year-old mentally-ill Hispanic man, was shot by three police officers after he threw rocks at vehicles on a street in Pasco, Washington.

On the same day, the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) released a report on lynchings in the United States, which documented 3,959 racial terror lynchings of African Americans between 1877 and 1950. It said racial terror lynchings of African Americans strengthened racial segregation. The geographic, political, economic and social consequences of decades of terror lynchings can still be seen in many communities today, according to the report.

Feb. 12

The Chicago Tribune reported that more than 100 cases of miscarriage of justice were done by the court in Cook County, Illinois, over the past 25 years. In 1985, a man in the state was arrested for allegedly raping and murdering a woman.

Without sufficient evidence, he was forced to admit to the charges after 40 hours of interrogation and was sentenced to life. In February 2015, the DNA test found the man was innocent.

Feb. 13

The CNN reported on its website that press freedom deteriorated since 2009 in the United States. Journalists and news supervision authorities had continually slammed the current U.S. administration, which stubbornly hampered the disclosure of government information, as one of the least transparent. At least 15 journalists were arrested in Ferguson protests.

On the same day, The Washington Post website reported that Richard Carlin, an unarmed 35-year-old Hispanic man, was shot by police in a house in Pennsylvania.

Feb. 15

The Washington Post website reported that Lavall Hall, an unarmed 25-year-old mentally-ill black man, was shot by police on a street in Miami Gardens, Florida, after he refused to drop a broomstick handle.

Feb. 18

According to a report on the CNN website, whites had 12 times the wealth of blacks and nearly 10 times more than Hispanics. Some 42 percent of blacks aged 25 to 55 had college loans, compared to 28 percent of whites. "The American Dream remains out of reach for many African-American and Hispanic families."

Feb. 20

The Washington Post website reported that Ruben Villalpando, an unarmed 31-year-old Hispanic man, was shot by police on a street in Euless, Texas, as he walked toward an officer's patrol car with his hands up.

Feb. 27

The Washington Post website reported that Ernesto Javiar Canepa Diaz, an unarmed 27-year-old Hispanic man, was shot by police in a vehicle in Santa Ana, California.

Feb. 28

The Washington Post website reported that Deven Guilford, an unarmed 17-year-old male, was shot seven times by police on a street in Roxand Township, Michigan, during an altercation with a police officer.

On the same day, the website reported that Thomas Allen, an unarmed 34-year-old black man, was shot by police in St Louis, Missouri, during an altercation with a police officer.