Please be careful of what kind of information you are spreading
lookatthewords reblogged
cartnsncreal
Wonder how fast we could crowdfund it.
Didn’t they arrest him?
lagonegirl
oh man. he dead…
sardonic-salt-mine
His name is Edward Crawford.
darafeth
For real tho. He was hands down murdered by the police. A lot of notable figures from Ferguson were found dead in the same manner and police labeled them all suicides which ,as we all know, is complete and utter bullshit.
If we could get statues of anyone it really is Edward Crawford. If I can get in contact with a sculptor or some shit with permission from Crawford’s family I will set up the Fund Page in a heart beat.
The same thing is happening again btw
dude in the background with no mask died the same way
lookatthewords reblogged
American Gods (2017 - ) Season 01 Episode 02 “The Secret of Spoons” Directed by David Slade
PSA - How you can help (Justice for Floyd 2020)
!! PSA !!
Not everyone is made for the frontline, so don’t guilt trip yourself because you think you MUST be on the frontlines to support!
This goes out especially to the
disabledchronically ill & their caretakersnurses/doctorsgrocery store workersfarmersall other essential persons
SUPPORT IN OTHER WAYS
Donate to a BAIL FUND in your area or around the country
Donate MEDICAL SUPPLIES to people working as medics at the protests
FEED PEOPLE - buy food and water, or make food, and donate it to those who are part of or affected by the protests
VOLUNTEER at non-hot zone areas to supply food and water
Continue to EDUCATE the people around you - this is also emotional labor
PICK UP people from the hot-zone if they need it
Offer to WATCH KIDS if their parents are organizers and need to be on the frontline
CONFRONT RACISM wherever you see it, online and with family/friends
SHARE LINKS to every resource for protestors you can find - bail funds, information for those arrested, safety precautions, updates for those in your area, etc
DONATE directly to frontline people and organizations
WRITE articles and blog posts in support of the ongoing protest
ORGANIZE on your jobs and in your communities for fair and equitable practices
REST is revolutionary and inherently anti-capitalist too, so do your best to rest when you can, and take care of yourself and those around you as much as possible.
Organizations to Donate to:
Feel free to add on an organization for your city
Minneapolis, MN https://www.welovelakestreet.com/
lookatthewords reblogged
Justice for George Floyd, help Minneapolis, Minnesota
Hi everyone,
Mod Colette here of WritingwithColor. I live in the heart of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Just when you thought coronavirus was enough…
SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM ON HOW TO DONATE & HELP
On May 25, 2020, George Floyd was murdered by police in my city.
He was a 46-year old Black man, handcuffed, unarmed and complying. White police officer, Derek Chauvin, murdered Mr. Floyd.
EX officer Chauvin was arrested on May 29, 2020. He’s been charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. There’s no charges yet against his accomplices, the 3 other officers that held Floyd down while Chauvin kept his knee on his neck for 9 minutes. They ignored his pleas, and the pleas from onlookers begging Chauvin to stop.
“I can’t breathe.”
“They’re gonna kill me.”
“Mama!”
“Please—”
The Protests
There are several protests every day. Those who oppose us have run over protesters, including a semi truck. A Black Latino CNN reporter was arrested, even though he identified himself; his white co-worker not too far away was not arrested after he identified himself. This is a small sample; the incidents are endless.
Police reacted to peaceful marching with tear-gas and rubber bullets. This is in strong contrast to their reaction the other week, when heavily armed white people came to protest the covid-19 lockdown.
Opportunists have taken advantage of the crowds to loot, destroy, and cause chaos.
This behavior is a consequence of robbing Black people of their lives. Society has been enslaving, assaulting, robbing, oppressing, and killing Black people for hundreds upon hundreds of years. Property is not as important as people. People cannot be replaced.
On the other hand, this has moved far beyond looting and tagging stores.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said “We are now confronting white supremacists, members of organized crime, out of state instigators, and possibly even foreign actors to destroy and destabilize our city and our region.”
It is true and is confirmed. Groups of majority white people are strategically burning down PoC-owned businesses, libraries, groceries in food deserts, pharmacies. They’re attempting to burn apartment complexes and homes.
These people are not a part of the movement.
I am not sleeping. I am watching. Watching my fellow Minnesotans protest, get tear-gassed, and keep getting back up to scream out George’s name.
I’m watching my community get together every day to rebuild, clean, and feed those in need. And then every night, guarding our streets from people who, again, don’t live here and do not care about George Floyd or justice.
As a Black woman in America, i’m scared. And I am not sleeping.
Please stay awake with me, with us, and help.
-Mod Colette, WWC
How to Help
Help from your home. Donate.
Those in other areas affected, please share your experiences and links to help and donate! And if anyone needs to talk, I am here. See my personal blog. (LastAutumnMaiden)
We Love Lake Street https://www.welovelakestreet.com/ focus of much of the protest and damage is here. A highly diverse community of many Black, Latin and Native people and businesses.
Local Library Equity Fund https://www.supporthclib.org/justice-for-all?fbclid=IwAR2nl-LytFRpe0BdeVGrDVnoSjFzdRUK3RkiGAK-hhv_Fx46Q-TX2V7HirI (libraries have been burned and continuous burning attempts)
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hiqey-a-deactivated20200630
YALL THE AMISH CAME OUT ❤️❤️❤️
jefferymoreau
I was corrected on Twitter by someone from the community — they’re actually Old Order Mennonites! Although they follow that ‘plain living’ doctrine that the Amish do, they also carefully allow technology into their communities. Televisions are one of the few pieces of modern tech that’s allowed in certain Mennonite sects. The Mennonites and Quakers are no nonsense when it comes to oppression of any kind. Google more about them and you’ll quickly find out that it’s no surprise they showed up. They always show up.
after hurricane sandy, mennonites came through Far Rockaway, NY and rebuilt houses and Black churches that were devastated for free, the ones i’ve met have always been down to do real work for the cause
I’m in the heart of Minneapolis, Ya’ll. White supremacists, far-right and anarchy groups have infiltrated the movement. They’re legit targeting homes, PoCs’ businesses and groceries in food deserts. Military out here ready to use lethal force on ANYONE tonight after the 8PM curfew. Anyone at home and out protesting, MN or otherwise, be safe!!!
lookatthewords reblogged
What Happened, Miss Simone? (2015)
lookatthewords reblogged
any white at a protest who tries to go against police and deliberately provoke a response from them is not to be trusted and does not have the safety of black and brown people in mind.
there is a good chance that they are police too. if anyone, especially a white dude, ever randomly gets your attention and conspiratorially tries to convince you to jump a police officer, then dude is a cop. They have been using this technique and script for at least 30 years.
Check their fucking shoes. They’re always too afraid that their little toesies will be hurt so they’ll usually still be rocking the exact same boots as the guys on the other side. This was what gave the cops away when they provoked riots in Toronto a while back.
katherinebarlow
@talesofalamia, remember when I pointed out the shoes of the two well-dressed informants near us?
Similar note: IME, unmarked cruisers have five distinguishing traits: 1. They’re one of the department-issue models. 2. They’re always white, black, or dark blue. 3. They always look like they just rolled out of a car wash. 4. Usually rocking restricted plates. 5. Most reliable if present but hardest to spot: Their mirrors are bulkier, to fit the light rigs in.
In Austin the under cover officer that tried to convince me to set a cop car on fire had a convincing fake beard.
Be careful out there and read up on common tactics used against protestors before going.
tropicaljohn
You can usually see the stealth lights if you look into the grill.
Besides the old obvious as fuck Crown Victoria, be suspicious of 2013+ Ford Taurus and Explorer, 2006+ Dodge Charger and Dakota, 06-13 Chevy Impala, 11+ Chevy Caprice and both the Tahoe and Suburban.
Look for oversize mirrors, plugs on the roof and/or A pillar, lights inside the grill, extraneous lights inside the headlight assembly, lights tucked up behind the rear view mirror, steel wheels with or without wheel covers, and plugs or short antennas on the trunk lid.
Reblogging this for two reasons: 1. So people who have reason to be afraid of the police (which is pretty much anyone with significant melanin) see it. 2. Uh, good writer reference for describing undercover cop cars…
lookatthewords reblogged
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr leads a kneeling protest in Selma, Alabama, 1965
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bellygangstaboo
Corporate feminism vs real feminism
And look at how non threatening the Kendall/Pepsi cops are. In uniform, attractive, standing peacefully at the sidelines. Versus what we see at many peaceful protests with full on riot gear, instances with people getting sprayed, arrested, ect….its making it seem like protest cops are always peaceful and the real life protestsers must be doing something wrong. Way to go Pepsi
lookatthewords reblogged
I noticed something very different today, as someone who’s regularly attended rallies and marches since the age 13.
White femininity’s perceived peacefulness is intrinsically linked to how the State views and treats nonwhite femininities and masculinities. It’s very interesting how a predominately white women march today received the least intervention and suspicion from state apparatuses like the police.
Identical political marches with identical demands for autonomy, dignity, mobility and reproductive justice (a political term coined by black women scholars) have been led by black women but the State response to such assemblages is starkly different. Much harsher. The level of scrutiny and penalty goes above and beyond that which predominantly white assemblages face.
So while, yes, there is strength in numbers and other pleasant axioms, there is also strength in rigorously questioning why you are not viewed as a threat, why your default status is not seen as a deviance from the norm, why you receive such kindness and others don’t.
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lagonegirl
MLK's hate mail.
1. What about black on black crime.
2. You’re responsible for the riots.
3. An “ally” quitting.
“There us no such things as non-violent demonstrations. Because they excite violence.” ~ White person of the 1960s
“Why don’t you carry out non-violent demonstrations like Martin Luther King did in the 1960s” ~ White person from 2017
“But times have changed. When are you gonna stop living in the past?” While they steady recycling anti-Black rhetoric from the 20th century.
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handsometruth
lookatthewords reblogged
After activists protesting the death of Philando Castile left the governor’s mansion in St. Paul, Minn., on Saturday night, they marched through the city down Lexington Parkway and then onto the highway, across all eight lanes of traffic. There, some of them sat down, a provocative gesture of civil disobedience in the face of rushing commerce.
They were occupying a highway that, a half-century ago, was constructed at the expense of St. Paul’s historically black community. Interstate 94, like urban highways throughout the country, was built by erasing what had been black homes, dispersing their residents, severing their neighborhoods and separating them from whites who would pass through at high speed.
That history lends highways a dual significance as activists in many cities rally against unequal treatment of blacks: As scenes of protest, they are part of the oppression — if also the most disruptive places to call attention to it.
“If you can find a way to jam up a highway — literally have the city have a heart attack, blocking an artery — it causes people to stand up and pay attention,” said Nathan Connolly, a historian at Johns Hopkins University. “Highways still perform their historic role from a half-century ago. They help people move very easily across these elaborately segregated landscapes.”
Block a highway, and you upend the economic life of a city, as well as the spatial logic that has long allowed people to pass through them without encountering their poverty or problems. Block a highway, and you command a lot more attention than a rally outside a church or city hall — from traffic helicopters, immobile commuters, alarmed officials.
“We’re the home of Dr. Martin Luther King,“ anxious Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said on Saturday, acknowledging the city’s legacy of protest but drawing a line at the interstate on-ramp. “The only thing I ask is that they not take the freeways. Dr. King would never take a freeway.”
That is not strictly accurate: King led the 1965 march that iconically occupied the full width of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala. But as protests in Atlanta approached the high-speed artery that courses through the city’s downtown, Reed understood that the stakes were much higher, both for the safety of the protesters and the functioning of the region.
That, however, is precisely the point.
"When people disrupt highways and streets, yes, it is about disrupting business as usual,” said Charlene Carruthers, an activist in Chicago and the national director of Black Youth Project 100. “It’s also about giving a visual that folks are willing to put their bodies on the line to create the kind of world we want to live in.”
A news helicopter in Oakland last Thursday night captured one such remarkable image on Interstate 880: a line of red taillights in one direction, white headlights in the other, as a narrow line of bodies blocked all lanes of the highway in between.
Later over the weekend in San Francisco, protesters tied up on-ramps onto the Bay Bridge, the city’s lone direct connection to the East Bay. The protests in St. Paul blocked Interstate 94 for several hours, prompting riot charges against dozens of people. In Atlanta, protesters blocked the I-75/85 Downtown Connector.
[How railroads, highways and other man-made lines racially divide America’s cities]
The latest blockades, after a week in which graphic videos documented the police-involved deaths of Castile in Falcon Heights, Minn., and Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, follow dozens of others over the past two years. Protesters in Chicago have blocked Lake Shore Drive. In New York, they’ve gnarled traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge. In Washington, they’ve targeted the 14th Street Bridge.
Researchers at the Rudin Center for Transportation at New York University, in a forthcoming study, counted more than 1,400 protests in nearly 300 U.S. and international cities related to the Black Lives Matter movement from November 2014 through May 2015. Half or more of the protests in that time in Saint Louis, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Oakland, Calif., wound up shutting down transportation infrastructure.
“We systematically show that the political protest today is now almost totally focused on transportation systems, whether it’s a road, a bridge, in some cases a tunnel — rather than buildings,” said Mitchell Moss, the director of the center and one of the authors of the study.
He draws a contrast with the occupations of schools, restaurants and administrative offices that commonly occurred during protests in the 1960s and 1970s, as an earlier generation rallied against segregated lunch counters or the Vietnam War.
Transportation, however, has long been central to the black civil rights movement, with the Selma march, the Freedom Rides, and Rosa Parks’s appeal to equal rights on public buses. Fifty years ago this summer, the March Against Fear inspired by James Meredith walked 220 miles of Southern roads from Memphis to Jackson, Miss.
If anything is new, what’s different today may be the occupation of urban interstates for the purpose of bringing them to a standstill. Protesters in Selma, Moss argues, wanted to use the Edmund Pettus Bridge — on their way to Montgomery — not block it.
Reed, who angered many activists with his comments in Atlanta, later defended them on Facebook by saying that King prepared for weeks and worked with Selma officials to ensure public safety, rather than flooding the bridge in a spontaneous and “dangerous” way.
To the extent that activists today are committed to a more urgent kind of disruption, planning ahead with police would defeat some of the purpose of bringing daily life to an abrupt halt, calling attention to the fundamental structures of inequality. And it’s hard to imagine officials assenting ahead of time to closing an entire highway.
Highways also carry a particular resonance for the grievances today of black civil rights activists, given that many deadly encounters with police, such as Castile’s, began with traffic stops (this pattern has also prompted a new cry from transportation planners: “not in our name!”).
Historically, the same thing that happened in St. Paul — where the black Rondo neighborhood was destroyed — happened in Minneapolis, and Baltimore, and Oakland, and Atlanta, and in Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx’s childhood home of Charlotte.
[A crusade to defeat the legacy of highways rammed through poor neighborhoods]
Planner Robert Moses used highways to clear slums through poor and minority neighborhoods in New York. Mayor Richard J. Daley used the new Dan Ryan Expressway in Chicago to wall off the old Irish white neighborhoods on the city’s South Side from the black neighborhoods to the east where the city built blocks and blocks of high-rise public housing.
Black neighborhoods in the 1950s and 1960s had little political power to block these engineering behemoths. And cities that wanted to redevelop poor neighborhoods — another government goal of the same era — got more federal money by building highways through them than by appealing for “urban renewal” funds.
“If your goal was to clear slums,” Connolly, the historian, said, “the best way to get bang for your buck was to use the highway as a slum clearance instrument.”
The resulting highways were then meant to speed whites who’d moved to the suburbs back and forth to jobs and attractions downtown, leapfrogging minority communities along the way. As Connolly suggested, they still serve this function today. And often, highways that passed through black communities weren’t planned with on- and off-ramps to them.
“They’re not designed for, nor do they serve, low-income communities who are actually already close to downtown,” said Brown University historian Robert Self. “If you live in West Oakland, you don’t need a freeway to get to downtown Oakland.”
This infrastructure that destroyed black communities then helped build white ones, in the form of far-flung bedroom communities that boomed once these roads made longer-distance commuting feasible. “Fremont exists before the freeway is built,” Self said of the town 25 miles south of Oakland. “But once you build it, then Fremont becomes this massive possibility. Or San Mateo, or Redwood City.”
Protesters in Washington who recognized this dynamic at the time objected to urban highways as “white men’s roads through black men’s homes.”
Even without knowing this history, the consequences of it in cities are evident today, feeding the frustration of communities that have been segregated and separated from schools or parks or prompt ambulance access. The Dan Ryan Expressway in Chicago still divides neighborhoods and resources from one another, Carruthers laments. In Baltimore, black communities are still fighting for the resources their communities rely on — investments in public transit — as the state continues to prioritize highways that predominantly serve white communities.
In Charlotte and Miami, all that concrete still looms over minority neighborhoods.
“They’re massive, massive occupiers of space,” Self said of highways. “When you’re flying through them in a car, you don’t think ‘this is actually an entire block or two or three of housing that had to go for this to be there.’ But there was a historical moment when that was housing.”
People occupied these spaces long before they felt they had to occupy the roads we built on top of them.
Summary: Disruption of traffic on S. Florissant in Ferguson by the PD (mostly local impact) is a whole different level than doing such on I-70 near Blanchette Bridge (local/regional/national impact).
Source: Washington Post
lookatthewords reblogged
oh. ok. 😒 #hueyfreeman #boondocks #truestory
lookatthewords reblogged
revolutions are romanticized and glorified except for when black people are the catalysts for those revolutions