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May. 31st, 2020 02:46 pmFor those who want to help in a pro-active manner in regards to what happened in Minnesota this past week..
Justice for George Floyd - What to Read and What You Can Do
“When the looting starts, the shooting starts,” President Donald Trump tweeted on Friday. Then Miami police chief Walter Headley coined the threat in 1967, when he held a press conference and claimed his department “doesn’t mind being accused of police brutality.” Trump didn’t repeat the last part, but his meaning was clear: When it comes to the current wave of protests and riots in Minneapolis, Trump’s allegiance is with the police.
The video of Derek Chauvin kneeling on the neck of George Floyd for more than seven minutes, as he and three of his fellow police officers ignored Floyd’s pleas that he couldn’t breathe, has been spreading since Monday. So has the outrage. In Minneapolis, where Floyd was murdered, protests, civil disobedience, and looting have shook the city. And across the country, more and more people are proving a pandemic won’t stop them from taking to the streets.
To join them, you don’t necessarily have to stop social distancing. You can still demand justice from home, starting with educating yourself about what’s happening—and been happening for decades. (Hence why so many of the stories you’ll find in the suggested guide below are sadly evergreen.)
Study Up
• The Minnesota protests are part of the same cycle as those of Baltimore and Ferguson. Read more in “The Shooting of Black Americans Started Long Before the Looting” and “Why Minneapolis and Ferguson Are More Similar Than You Think.”
• "For far too many Americans, it is easier to mourn the destruction of a series of chain stores, owned and operated by millionaires, than the death of a Black American. A stolen lamp is worthy of a kind of empathy that a black person could only dream of." Read more in "This Is What You Get."
Related Videos
• Yes, it makes sense for protesters to target Target. Read more in the essential “In Defense of Looting.”
• Cops are killing people at the same rate as pre-pandemic years. Read more in “The Pandemic Is the Right Time to Defund the Police.”
• In the time that Kara Brown took to write about Alton Sterling in 2016, Philando Castile was also murdered. Read more in “Am I Going to Write About Murdered Black People Forever?.”
• “We perceive a weird and ancient adrenaline in many of the cop callers, who have internalized that the police are their personal valets, ready to treat any perceived inconvenience as violence,” Doreen St. Felix writes of the “American genre” of videos documenting social aggressions. Read more in “The Summer of Coupon Carl, Permit Patty, and the Videos That Turn White Privilege Into Mockable Memes.”
• Black people are dying from COVID-19 at three times the rate of other Americans. Read more in “The Coronavirus Was an Emergency Until Trump Found Out Who Was Dying.”
• “Self-defense, like the Second Amendment, like stand-your-ground laws, has been colonized by white men,” Ibram X. Kendi writes. Read more in “Who Gets to Be Afraid in America?.”
• Amy Cooper was just the latest in a long list of white women. Read more in “The Tricky Exceptionalism of ‘Fellow White Women’” and “How White Women Use Themselves as Instruments of Terror.”
• If applicable: “75 Things White People Can Do For Racial Justice” and a lengthy list of anti-racism resources for parents and white people.
Donate:
The GoFundMe for George Floyd’s memorial has already exceeded its goal by $500,000. Here are some other funds to consider:
• Minnesota Freedom Fund, which is providing support to arrested protesters.
• Reclaim the Block, which advocates for defunding Minnesota state police.
• Black Visions Collective, a Minnesota Black Lives Matter affiliate.
• Campaign Zero, which compiles research-based policy solutions to end police brutality.
• Unicorn Riot, an ad-free independent media source and nonprofit.
[The links are provided in the article].
I donated to Minnesota Freedom Fund and Black Visions Collective this morning.
Justice for George Floyd - What to Read and What You Can Do
“When the looting starts, the shooting starts,” President Donald Trump tweeted on Friday. Then Miami police chief Walter Headley coined the threat in 1967, when he held a press conference and claimed his department “doesn’t mind being accused of police brutality.” Trump didn’t repeat the last part, but his meaning was clear: When it comes to the current wave of protests and riots in Minneapolis, Trump’s allegiance is with the police.
The video of Derek Chauvin kneeling on the neck of George Floyd for more than seven minutes, as he and three of his fellow police officers ignored Floyd’s pleas that he couldn’t breathe, has been spreading since Monday. So has the outrage. In Minneapolis, where Floyd was murdered, protests, civil disobedience, and looting have shook the city. And across the country, more and more people are proving a pandemic won’t stop them from taking to the streets.
To join them, you don’t necessarily have to stop social distancing. You can still demand justice from home, starting with educating yourself about what’s happening—and been happening for decades. (Hence why so many of the stories you’ll find in the suggested guide below are sadly evergreen.)
Study Up
• The Minnesota protests are part of the same cycle as those of Baltimore and Ferguson. Read more in “The Shooting of Black Americans Started Long Before the Looting” and “Why Minneapolis and Ferguson Are More Similar Than You Think.”
• "For far too many Americans, it is easier to mourn the destruction of a series of chain stores, owned and operated by millionaires, than the death of a Black American. A stolen lamp is worthy of a kind of empathy that a black person could only dream of." Read more in "This Is What You Get."
Related Videos
• Yes, it makes sense for protesters to target Target. Read more in the essential “In Defense of Looting.”
• Cops are killing people at the same rate as pre-pandemic years. Read more in “The Pandemic Is the Right Time to Defund the Police.”
• In the time that Kara Brown took to write about Alton Sterling in 2016, Philando Castile was also murdered. Read more in “Am I Going to Write About Murdered Black People Forever?.”
• “We perceive a weird and ancient adrenaline in many of the cop callers, who have internalized that the police are their personal valets, ready to treat any perceived inconvenience as violence,” Doreen St. Felix writes of the “American genre” of videos documenting social aggressions. Read more in “The Summer of Coupon Carl, Permit Patty, and the Videos That Turn White Privilege Into Mockable Memes.”
• Black people are dying from COVID-19 at three times the rate of other Americans. Read more in “The Coronavirus Was an Emergency Until Trump Found Out Who Was Dying.”
• “Self-defense, like the Second Amendment, like stand-your-ground laws, has been colonized by white men,” Ibram X. Kendi writes. Read more in “Who Gets to Be Afraid in America?.”
• Amy Cooper was just the latest in a long list of white women. Read more in “The Tricky Exceptionalism of ‘Fellow White Women’” and “How White Women Use Themselves as Instruments of Terror.”
• If applicable: “75 Things White People Can Do For Racial Justice” and a lengthy list of anti-racism resources for parents and white people.
Donate:
The GoFundMe for George Floyd’s memorial has already exceeded its goal by $500,000. Here are some other funds to consider:
• Minnesota Freedom Fund, which is providing support to arrested protesters.
• Reclaim the Block, which advocates for defunding Minnesota state police.
• Black Visions Collective, a Minnesota Black Lives Matter affiliate.
• Campaign Zero, which compiles research-based policy solutions to end police brutality.
• Unicorn Riot, an ad-free independent media source and nonprofit.
[The links are provided in the article].
I donated to Minnesota Freedom Fund and Black Visions Collective this morning.
