The Death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri

the author there is one of the smartest and most thoroughly grounded guys i know--and he's from missouri.

i think, mattress, that in saying "the key...is to transition outrage into constructive political organization" and "honestly observe and discuss their political needs" he's agreeing with your point about local political culture. a figure like chokwe lumumba seemed to get this keenly.

ok cool i will actually read the whole thing

get a little kneejerky about jacobin lately tbh

...and rightly so, the writing in that piece is so terrible and about-me and the author doesn't want to see it, frankly his armchair revolution tone, it may be born from good intentions but it strikes me as irresponsible. i think the npr interview linked above with the councilwoman who represents there is a far more grounded take on a few real obstacles that with a bit more engagement could be loosened improving conditions for disenfranchised people there and in other places like it, if only because of the simple act of engagement not grandstanding, and yes, ignorance of certain people on both sides is always going to be a part of the equation...

like here, i am going to advocate for a connecting bus route between two "sides" of the community (latino and white) as i can in my neighborhood, it seems the ratio of potential connection to alienation is greater than one if it goes through, or even if it doesn't and people have to keep trying in different ways to make the common ground become apparent to others, sometimes their whole life. a lot gets subsumed when you compromise and work within an understanding of the system that surrounds you but isn't that part of the transformational point?

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BvB1CBaIEAAszeW.jpg:large

<3

heart or angel wings?

or weirder, zip ties??

signed,
not a warrior

zip ties = handcuffs

I was unaware of that one; was thinking of "Violence is as American as cherry pie." My apologies.

Thanks. I apologize for transferring my anxiety about this whole situation onto you.

every time a cop fires a rubber bullet an angel gets his wings

ziptie wings are a crazy metaphor of perspective there

theyre also...................................................
,...............................................................
...................
white

A lot of angels got their wings last night

Ghostrider checking in:

http://mobile.twitter.com/pareene/status/499922849776541696

Man discovers One Weird Trick for processing information that conflicts with one's worldview twitter.com/NolteNC/status…
7:17am - 14 Aug 14

Which leads to noted Breitbart columnist:

https://mobile.twitter.com/NolteNC/status/499907224689733632

John Nolte

@NolteNC

#Ferguson is too politically convenient for me to believe anything the media's reporting.
6:15am - 14 Aug 14

reality is too politically convenient not to be denied

i mean i know it's all in the tweet but it's not funny anymore

related:

Peter Enns looks at the latest depressing study showing that facts are not persuasive when people’s religious or ideological preconceptions are at stake. Those contradictory facts are often known, just not accepted. They’re not rebutted, simply rejected outright as incompatible with the person’s preferred anti-factual – i.e., false — worldview.

(I dislike that word “worldview,” but it’s appropriate here since the very people who talk most about “worldviews” are precisely the same people who tend to reject facts in favor of them.)

#Ferguson is too politically convenient for me to believe anything the media's reporting.
6:15am - 14 Aug 14

^^who the fuck is this supposed to be politically "convenient for??

"Them"

A Captain Johnson of the Missouri Highway Patrol is now the commanding officer on the scene in Ferguson

https://twitter.com/WesleyLowery

tbh I'm almost weeping here at work at the contrast between what the police ought to be to us, in a civil society, and what far too many officers and departments actually are

wow trying to not be too optimistic but this johnson guy seems like he rules

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BvCFnjCCUAAIybi.jpg

Are Highway Patrol cops as heavily militarized as other PDs? A tank would not seem especially useful in their line of work.

Had no idea about this Moment of Silence. This wasn't organized just in the past day, was it?

The day after Brown was murdered, I think.

This almost lets me forgive the MHP for that bullshit ticket I got outside of Rolla in 1993.

Almost.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2014/08/13/340076968/what-policing-looks-like-to-a-former-investigator-of-misconduct

http://www.blackgirldangerous.org/2014/08/things-stop-distracted-black-person-gets-murdered-police/

But let’s get something straight: a community pushing back against a murderous police force that is terrorizing them is not a “riot”. It’s an uprising. It’s a rebellion. It’s a community saying We can’t take this anymore. We won’t take it. It’s people who have been dehumanized to the point of rightful rage. And it happens all over the world. Uprisings and rebellions are necessary and inevitable, locally and globally. This is not to say that actual riots don’t happen. White folks riot at sporting events, for example. Riots happen. But people rising up in righteous anger and rage in the face of oppression should not be dismissed as simply a “riot”.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BvCci4DIMAEXAIz.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BvCnzKfIUAAudPU.jpg

I’ve seen the following sentiment expressed on Twitter in response to Black folks murdered by police: “Stop giving them a reason to shoot you!” I’ve seen some version of that tweeted by people of all races, but the ones that concern me most come from Black folks themselves.

Y’all.

This country has spent the last several centuries systematically killing Black people. Black death is built into the system. Black death, alongside Native American genocide, built the system. Yet, whenever yet another unarmed Black person is killed by police, it’s somehow our fault? We must’ve been threatening/drunk/holding a BB gun/maybe possibly shoplifted some candy? Because after 400 years of never needing a reason, they suddenly need a reason? No. No. They have never needed a reason.

(that was meant to be a blockquote from mattresslessness' link)

she is good on looting too

Looting is often part of the “rioting” narrative. Peaceful protests that turn violent are often accompanied by looting. During the first night of the Ferguson protests there was looting reported at various locations nearby. Looting—stealing merchandise from vandalized businesses during a protest—happens separate from the actual protest taking place and its actual organizers and participants in every case I’ve ever heard about, anywhere, ever. Looting is often an opportunists’ game.

Looting, too, is about power. When people have nothing and something happens to remind them, in a big way, that what little they do have can be taken away in an instant, including their lives and the lives of their children, they may reach for any semblance of power or control they can get. That might mean breaking a window or even starting a fire. It may mean taking something. Something you’ve been told you can’t have because you’re not human enough to live, let alone prosper.

yes, great post.

i remember some of my first "conversations" about all this w/ my parents after katrina, venturing out and offering my newborn viewpoints on race in this completely white fictional matrix-like reality, i was having a hard time arguing with them because the personal property > people assumption is so ingrained. it's more an equation though, people are their personal property, people are personal property.

xp that post makes me want to reverse some of the things i was saying upthread about rioting and re-visit the jacobin piece tbh.

Looting, too, is about power. When people have nothing and something happens to remind them, in a big way, that what little they do have can be taken away in an instant, including their lives and the lives of their children, they may reach for any semblance of power or control they can get. That might mean breaking a window or even starting a fire. It may mean taking something. Something you’ve been told you can’t have because you’re not human enough to live, let alone prosper.

Maudlin, oversentimentalized and deeply insulting conflation of looting with any of the issues here. Looting is about getting wasted and going for nice shoes. It's not about power, race, or anything else. Fuck you.

I am reading this on Zing Touch so maybe you are quoting somebody but I can't tell.

imo the jacobin piece wasn't wrong as such but there was something seriously awry about its tone, i think that piece does a much better job of making the same points (and in far fewer words)

I'm befuddled by the comments about the Jacobin tone--the guy's a buddy, so maybe it's sailing past me for that reason alone.

And ~fields of salmon~, I am glad you've got things so cleanly figured out for all of us.

Maudlin, oversentimentalized and deeply insulting conflation of looting with any of the issues here. Looting is about getting wasted and going for nice shoes. It's not about power, race, or anything else. Fuck you.

man that is a deeply hostile response to a booming post imo

the quote is from the black girl dangerous post listed above, if you're interested in the rest of it:

http://www.blackgirldangerous.org/2014/08/things-stop-distracted-black-person-gets-murdered-police/

aero otm

The tweets from the last 15 minutes...

https://twitter.com/trymainelee

That was a lovely post, HOOS -- I've sent it around -- and while the explanation for the psychology of looting was 100 percent otm I wish the writer had at least written one sentence acknowledging that a person or family's livelihood was at the very least set back by the destruction of property.

for folks who come through later:

New witness on @TheLastWord says officer grabbed Mike Brown, fired through window.

Said Michael tried to pull away as officer tried to pull him in.

Was standing 20 feet away. Says first shot fired as Browns hands on outside of SUV trying to push away.

Police say struggle for weapon inside of police car. Witness, Tiffany said Brown never in car when officer fired.

Says officer followed after Brown as he ran, firing as he chased. More than 5 or 6 shots.

New witness says Browns back turned as officer was firing.

Witness says Michael turned around after body jerked from shot, turned with hands up. Officer kept firing.

After last shots officer paced back and forth as Michael's body lay on ground.

New witness echoes what earlier witness said of Brown shooting. No fight for gun. First shot fired from inside car. Others as back turned.

(these are the tweets Andy K was referring to)