The Death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri

speaking of the battle in Seattle

(Disclaimer: yeah really no reason to care what that dude says about this but hey)

xps to contendo

I was in Seattle then as well, and involved in those protests on a media level, and the looting that was on TV was purely opportunistic late night stuff, no masks. the kind of thing that fits the original post in question (which I obvs totally agree with). the folks you refer to were breaking windows during the day, but that's a whole different thing. if there was anything like what you describe, I don't remember it, and I was paying attention.

curious about how many majority-white districts in america have a majority-nonwhite police force

rally on boston common was great tonight. lots of urgent fire and love from everyone who grabbed the mic. hope this keeps rolling into some serious work. city needs it.

xp sleeve, i'm talking abt the nighttime attacks on like niketown & starbucks downtown, not so much the liquor store hits (etc?) up on cap hill, as i didn't see any of that. most of the vandals i saw just seemed like kids out having fun, though yeah, not the much-discussed "black mask" crowd. so far as i saw.

^ i mean, i've read reporting saying black masks were involved in the assaults against those stores, but didn't see it happen myself, so i can't say for sure.

i tweeted antonio french's photo of the pastor with the rubber-bullet wound and it's getting a lot of RTs. happy to be "twitter famous" for spreading a real message rather than a dumb joke.

riot vs. peaceful demonstration becomes a false choice when police are this eager to unconstitutionally suppress lawful free assembly

― ODB's missing grammy (bernard snowy), Thursday, August 14, 2014 8:57 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^^^ tbomb

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.

I think this was the part of that post where I started a combination of screaming and howling with laughter. There's a difference between being "not human enough to live" and being part of a discriminated and unfairly treated group in present day America. I'm thinking of some recent and not-so-recent historical events to put things in perspective—Gaza, the Balkans, Sudan, the Holocaust. The majority of Americans, even the poor black ones, can still go home, flip on the TV, and put some popcorn in the microwave oven. Most Americans still have the ability to express their sexualities and reproductive choices (although less so in the Republican areas, as far as I can tell as an outsider) and those that have kids can be reasonably certain they won't die in infancy or be taken away. Boys and girls are both free to attend school, and girls are not forcibly married at twelve or fourteen. It's also unlikely anyone will fire a rocket at your children's school.

I'll say it again, looting is not about power. It's about the opportunity to attain free consumer goods. I'm a middle class white person and I'd probably loot given the right circumstances. I don't begrudge people for ALSO looting in a time of turmoil or rage, but I've seen people looting after their sports team won or lost. It's all just... Stuff. Consumer goods. Please, don't conflate any of the issues surrounding a person being murdered by a police officer and all of the implications that holds for everyday life with people taking shoes from Foot Locker. These are two. different. things.

To be fair I didn't realize mattresslessness was quoting from a post by somebody else—who was talking about things people get distracted by when there is an event like this. In context, the paragraph about looting actually makes sense.

Hoo boy

depressed

There's a difference between being "not human enough to live" and being part of a discriminated and unfairly treated group in present day America.

i am sure the african american community, whose young men are imprisoned at rates to rival any cohort of oppressed people globally, who are victims of gun violence every 28 hours, who are prosecuted to stiffer penalties than their white counterparts for every possible crime, and who continue to endure all this punishment due to centuries of ignorance and injustice, despite the fact that they live in 'the greatest country in the world' will appreciate this difference and enjoy their fucking popcorn.

Also, the whole issue at hand, as the linked post indicated repeatedly, is that a black teenager is fair game for murder at any moment. So yeah, ''not human enough to live'' maybe seems closer to the mark.

Whenever a cop shoots a black youth and it makes the papers, what's the most common reaction? "He had a criminal past, he was no angel" or "He was committing a crime at the time, if he hadn't have done that, perhaps things would have gone differently".

Would some of these folks criticizing Brown share the same opinion if he was a white victim? I am doubting it. Folks come into these stories with their confirmation bias and assumptions, and as a result, they legitimize the actions of the police force.

I can't at all blame someone for feeling like they're "not human enough to live". Or, quite honestly, being scared out of their mind right now. It's fucking heartbreaking.

fields of salmon with a classic i'm white btw post

two important points:

• This is a City of St. Louis vehicle, not a St. Louis County vehicle.
• This picture is two years old.

That was at Skinker and Delmar. Here's "why" the truck was there http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/04/200-youths-riot-at-popular-st-louis-restaurant-district-gunshots-caught-on-video/

btw Delmar = http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-17361995

Darren Wilson named as the officer who shot Michael Brown

Jeez didn't Anonymous tweet a different guy? That's really shitty

"Robbery suspect," huh? That's a new one.

Yeah, apparently they didn't leet hack their way into the Ferguson PDs personnel files after all.

"Robbery suspect," huh? That's a new one.

― Andy K, Friday, 15 August 2014 10:01 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

a bit convenient, at that

OH, wait -- I forgot about the chatter about a candy bar.

Can't remember where that chatter came from, though.

probably Y0ungC0ns3rv4tiv3s.c0m, who are touting new pics that paint a 'diff pic' of Michael Brown cos he's pictured flipping the bird in one pic. they were the first hit I got when searching for the name and "candy bar".

don't go there btw. in fact, can a mod googleproof that so those assholes don't come here, either

Waiting for the appearance of an additional "witness" who was hanging behind a bush and overheard the murderer say, "Get the fuck on the sidewalk...you strong-arm robbery suspect who is about to reach for my weapon."

getting fatigued of watching people go 'we should withhold judgements until alllll the facts come out, we don't know what happened' as if a magical Evidence Wizard is going to show up with unedited video of the whole encounter which clears everything up.

I mean yes, by all means, familiarize yourself with all available details as they arise and map your opinion accordingly, but the disingenuous "oh this story is just media-slanted, wait until the facts come out" is such nonsense. In the end, it's going to be the witnesses' words against the police, with some other circumstantial evidence tossed in.

Police in Ferguson, Missouri, once charged a man with destruction of property for bleeding on their uniforms while four of them allegedly beat him.

Was listening to Steve Harvey this morning, and in as much as a teachable moment can be made of this tragedy, he really emphasized the importance of registering to vote, which not only gives citizens a say in the composition and diversity of their local government, but also betters the chance of a more diverse jury pool. Because what are the odds that the jury this trial eventually gets will be just as unrepresentative as the police force?

Jeez didn't Anonymous tweet a different guy? That's really shitty

Anonymous never gets anything right fwiw. Me OTM

Josh plz see upthread re: the impossibility of full time workers being able to take the time to vote

Missouri has also been trying to implement voter ID laws since 2006

Oh, I know all the reasons people don't vote, or can't vote, or are prevented from voting. But voting is part of the solution to several broader problems. This is something well-meaning observers who *do* vote, down in MO and elsewhere, can push for and/or through. Better laws, fewer bad laws, voter registration, helping people vote, etc.

Also, just registering to vote is enough to get placement on jury lists.

Which is something else folks with full-time jobs struggle with. That five bucks a day or whatever doesn't make up for the work they miss.

I mean, I get your point Josh and agree with you, but we need better laws to protect EVERYONE's ability to vote and serve without negatively impacting their livelihood.

I think voting is important but I also think it's a smokescreen for the issue that, no matter who is in charge, cops should not be murdering unarmed black kids. Like it is not acceptable for anyone to run on the "let's shoot em" ticket.

they're saying he allegedly stole a 48.99 box of cigars now. wtf

Like it is not acceptable for anyone to run on the "let's shoot em" ticket.

But all tickets are that ticket, unless/until they take explicitly take the position AGAINST being that ticket as a signature issue. That's what it means for white supremacy to be the default setting. That's why the term "anti-racism" is purposefully different from "not racist," because it has to be intentional or else things fall back to status quo, which is that black lives matter less.

I mean you're right, and I think you meant to say basically the same thing I did, I just wanted to be really clear about that point.

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In orbit science BOOM.

just want to repost this bit from the black girl dangerous post, it's been haunting me, feel like it does a good job of really explaining how and why it is NOT true that "There's a difference between being "not human enough to live" and being part of a discriminated and unfairly treated group in present day America.". They are the same, dehumanizing a group of people is discrimination, is unfair treatment, discrimination and unfair treatment ARE EXACTLY dehumanization, a "little bit" or "a lot" is where the excuses of convenience bear their wearying weight, your euphemisms are lies that allow this deep wound to fester.

I understand how hard it is to accept that as a Black person your life means so little in this country that you can be killed by police for nothing. That walking down the street while Black can be the only reason your life, or the life of your son or daughter or father or partner or friend, ends. You want there to be another reason, any other reason.

Yesterday on Twitter, @prisonculture wrote, in response to a tweet suggesting Black people can dress better to avoid being murdered by the authorities:

…”looking the part” doesn’t help you brother…I’m so sorry. I feel so much compassion for you. How do you absorb & internalize that you are killable, always killable? You create your own fictions. To survive, to live. I understand.
I, too, understand that it’s hard. Almost too hard to bear. Who wants to have to carry these things? Especially when you’re young and dreaming of a life without barriers based on your skin color. But pretending we can “respectable” ourselves out of racism is dangerous. And it will not save you.

Please don’t let respectability politics distract you from the issue. The issue, again: yet another unarmed Black teenager murdered by police. His name was Mike Brown.

yourour euphemisms

https://twitter.com/AntonioFrench/status/500316380063748096

local PD strikes back, if u ask me

not sure i understand the issue here, didn't everybody want the name released?

they released the name of the officer, with zero details about the shooting

except for their side of events leading up to the shooting: there was a robbery of a convenience store, and brown "fit the description"

please correct me if that's not what just happened.