abolish the police: but a lot of [white] leftist activism needs to be less about bricking cops and more about protecting, uplifting, and supporting people of colour.
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hi, im zay im from queens and i
have way too many interests.
ABOUT
hi, im zay im from queens and i
have way too many interests.
5 posts queued a day under
#queue have your mother's eyes.
i track #tuserzay, tag me in whatever you want!
trying to get back into the groove of edits after a super long hiatus (p.s. i'm open to requests)
with everything going on in regards to the group of trans women who were recently attacked, it's not enough to post "black trans lives matter" and leave it at that. if you truly believe that, you need to be ensuring their survival by donating to and supporting black trans women directly.
black trans women please feel free to add your links below as well!
Please sign the petition!!!
if you can, not only sign but also donate to his GoFundMe, run by his mother and cousin. Lakeith has been denied visitation from any family members for the two years he’s been at the correctional facility. he has a daughter who was born after he was arrested that he has been never allowed to see. lets get him out of there.
Don’t donate to change . Org donate to the go fund me
A few months ago I reblogged a post sharing Jazzy’s gofundme, a girl who was poisoned by her roommate, noting that she only had about half her goal despite the fund being up for several years. I saw a lot of people reblog that version; Just a month or so later when I checked her fund again it had been reached!! And tons of people still reblog it.
I think when people are just scrolling and they come across these posts they don’t check immediately and forget about it, seeing all the notes and assuming the fund is doing well- I think more people need this visualized to realize this person REALLY needs help.
We can’t let Lakeith continue to be punished in this repulsive system. Please make sure him and his fund get the attention Jazzy does and let’s do everything we can to get him to the goal!! We have to reunite him with his family by any means possible.
As of today ( Saturday, August 8th, 2020 ) Lakeith is $12,061 from his goal!!
Just want to raise awareness for the Chicago Torture Justice Center, the first and only organization in the US providing trauma recovery services for survivors of police violence. You can donate here.
y’all saying BLM for one situation just don’t sit right with me, it goes beyond police brutality!!! it’s Black women dying at a higher rate during childbirth. it’s Black people being exposed to COVID-19 at a higher rate. it’s Black people being forced into low income communities. it's Black people being denied job opportunities due to the name on their applications. it's Black people being denied into higher institutions despite having the same qualifications as their non-Black counterparts. it's Black people having their creations and ideas stolen without being given credit simply because a good percentage of society still believes in 2020 that Black people are not creative enough or smart enough or skilled enough. this isn't just about police brutality. this is deeper than that.
Has anyone noticed that Megan thee Stallion is one of the biggest musicians out and there was very little news or social media coverage on her being shot and shot at multiple times...not even a single lil “thoughts and prayers” from any of the tiktokers that use her music daily or the brands still preaching of a Hot Girl Summer..across cultures, everyone let Megan’s identity and likeness impact them and across cultures, no one gave a single fuck about that woman. It’s so saddening. like I hope you all understand that at best, black women’s fame = them being a commodity, not genuine care. Like god imagine if someone like Ariana was shot by an ex/friend/anyone?? We’d hear about it for weeks and yet Megan barely got a drip of attention. And the attention she did get? Jokes. Thousands and thousands of jokes. It’s easier to find tweets joking about the situation or being a doctor checking out her ass as opposed to tweets of any concern, and there’s many tweets dismissing that little roach that shot her. It’s extremely disturbing and exactly what we mean when we say black women are seen as bottom of the barrel on this planet, not given a single fuck about (but taken from until they have nothing left ofc)
pres. trump sent federal troops into portland to squash the protests and they shot someone in the head with an impact round last night and shattered his skull. his blood is still on the sidewalk outside the federal courthouse. they are not like local cops and they are NOT fucking around. they carry ARs with live ammo and they are merciless. i am very sincerely scared that federal forces are going to instigate a kent state type situation by killing protesters as an example sometime between now & november and i am very scared it’s going to be here
Video of the protester who was shot being carried away by medics while bleeding everywhere (obvious TW). He is alive but was in critical condition when he arrived at the hospital & needed extensive facial + skull reconstruction surgery. At the time they shot him he was standing on the sidewalk with both hands holding a boombox above his head
Video of a federal officer kneeling on someone while he has a seizure; they did not allow medics to help him. There is word that this person may have died but afaik that is still unconfirmed
Video of federal officers chasing & assaulting medics tending to an unresponsive protester
Video of 15 feds forcibly arresting a disabled trans person and taking away their service dog for the crime of writing on the federally owned sidewalk in washable sidewalk chalk
Full live tweet thread of the night (7/11/20) with a lot more video footage, especially of the absolutely ludicrous amounts of tear gas they used
sorry for the long post—i am not sure how much national coverage this is getting and i really want people to know what’s going on here. they are behaving like an occupying army & treating citizens like enemy combatants
ACAB
No person should be able to abuse their power like this and get away with it.
In America we believe in innocent until proven guilty correct?
And we believe the death penalty should only be used in result of the worst imaginable crimes that have been gone over time and time again.
So then why do cops get to kill someone they suspect of criminal activity? No trial or anything?
This is my city, I don’t live in Portland but this is my city. I volunteer at the art museum, I join what protests I can here, I have lived here in the past and I likely will in the future.
My city is under attack, but less than 30 min away in my small town NOTHING is happening. No news, no outcry, no protests, nothing calling attention to the FEDERAL CRIMES being committed in our closest large city! NOTHING!
This is bullshit!
Here’s an independent local news source
https://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2020/07/14/28632294/hall-monitor-crossing-the-line
Reblogging for the local news source
Homeschool to prison pipeline
Hey guess what?
We have a homeschool-to-prison pipeline now.
Grace is a 15-year-old with ADHD and a long history of behavioral difficulties who ended up on probation after a fight with her mom led to the confiscation of her phone and her briefly stealing a classmate’s phone.
Grace is now in a juvenile facility where her life is at risk from covid because one of her probation conditions was to do her homework, and when her school in Oakland County Michigan went online only, she struggled to complete her distance education homework.
As a result, Judge Mary Ellen Brennan ignored the Michigan governor’s orders to minimize the incarceration of children and ordered Grace imprisoned…for not doing her homework.
The Propublica story on Grace and her single mother Charisse - written by Jodi S Cohen - is a heartbreaker and a half. It paints a picture of a kid whose need for extra educational attention was met by a stern and uncaring system, from caseworker to judge.
Judge Brennan does not come off well in this story. She ordered Grace to appear in person in court - the only case of the day with that requirement - and then refused a continuance when Grace’s lawyer said he would NOT come to court and risk his life to argue her case.
Brennan’s sentence was handed down after Grace’s caseworker Michelle Giroux admitted that she did not know the details of Grace’s learning disabilities and had not familiarized herself with the legally mandated supports for them that Grace had not recieved.
Brennan called Grace a “threat to the community” for missing her homework, denied Grace’s pleas for more time to adjust to homeschooling, and had her taken out of the courtroom in handcuffs.
It goes without saying that, like the majority of Michigan teens sentenced to youth detention in defiance of the governor’s orders, Grace is Black. Black children in Michigan are four times likelier to be imprisoned than their white peers.
Grace has not been permitted to see her mother, except by videoconference. Her mother’s attempts to bring her clothes and toys have been rebuffed by the facility, because of petty rules like those stipulating that underwear must be briefs, or that jeans can’t be “too tight.”
When Grace is brought out for videoconference status meetings with the court, the child is handcuffed and put in ankle shackles. She makes heartbreaking pleas to be returned to her mother. The judge has ordered her held until at least Sept 8.
For missing her homework.
Action: call Judge Mary Ellen Brennan at 248-701-3183 or 248-858-0355 and ask her to reverse her sentence and send Grace back home
this would never never never happen to a white person
I encourage everyone to read the whole article but just want to draw attention to two particularly outrageous parts:
‘She had told her special education teacher that she needed one-on-one help and began receiving daily tutoring the day after the probation violation was filed.
Giroux filed the violation of probation before confirming whether Grace was meeting her academic requirements. She emailed Grace’s teacher three days later, asking, “Is there a certain percentage of a class she is supposed to be completing a day/week?”
Grace’s teacher, Katherine Tarpeh, responded in an email to Giroux that the teenager was “not out of alignment with most of my other students.”
“Let me be clear that this is no one’s fault because we did not see this unprecedented global pandemic coming,” she wrote. Grace, she wrote, “has a strong desire to do well.” She “is trying to get to the other side of a steep learning curve mountain and we have a plan for her to get there.”’
and when she was placed in detention:
‘The local school district provided packets of material but no classes. She said that she has not yet worked with a teacher in person or online, and that she meets less regularly with a therapist at Children’s Village than she did at home.’
There’s a change.org petition here: https://www.change.org/p/oakland-county-family-court-division-and-judge-mary-ellen-brennan-stop-the-school-to-prison-pipeline-grace-should-not-be-incarcerated
The petition also lists these emails to contact the judge and the school district if you’re unable to phone or get through:
Email Judge Mary Ellen Brennan’s clerks:
slatonk@oakgov.com chismjacobsr@oakgov.com
Email the Communication Director for Birmingham Public Schools, Anne Cron:
acron@birmingham.k12.mi.us
If you want to bring this to the attention of the BPS Board of Education:
kwhitman@birmingham.k12.mi.us
LAjlouny@birmingham.k12.mi.us
bjennings@birmingham.k12.mi.us
ayoung@birmingham.k12.mi.us
ahochkammer@birmingham.k12.mi.us
nmckinney@birmingham.k12.mi.us
jrass@birmingham.k12.mi.us
please sign the petition and send an email to those above, this is so fucked up
Please spread!!!!
https://www.newsbreak.com/minnesota/minneapolis/news/0PG9weRu/judge-grants-release-for-3-officers-charged-with-aiding-and-abetting-in-george-floyds-death
It's been about a month since the protests have started but it seems like people already started to forget it. It's not over yet. It's not a trend, it's not a moment, it's a movement. People are still fighting.
- Breonna Taylor's murderers still aren't arrested.
- Black people are being LYNCHED.
- Elijah McClain's murderers still aren't arrested.
- animals that you call "police officers" pepper sprayed A CHILD.
- Sara Grossman was killed by police after exposure to tear gas during protest. Police officers gassed her to death (thanks to @01000101-01110111 for pointing that out!)
- Indigenous women are still missing and no one is looking for them
Police haven't changed their ways and that's just an extremely small portion of what actually has happened these days (I will be more than happy to post entire list of sh1t cops have done in protests). People are still fighting, don't be silent, go sign petitions, donate, watch videos that all profit directly goes to BLM organisations. I don't have a large audience but I'll try my best to support blm and so should you.
(www.ally.wiki has entire list)
Most of the “keep up the work after the protests have ended!”-type posts I’ve seen are mostly focused on like, reading Black authors and listening to Black voices and unlearning racism, and obviously all of that is absolutely vital - but no amount of individual self-reflection will be able to dismantle institutional systems of oppression. So I wanted to put together some resources for continuing to build a culture of noncompliance and resistance to the police and prison system even after things have calmed down
But first, be aware that the protests aren’t over. It’s June 29th and there are still events and actions being planned regularly across the nation, and they still need your participation and support. If you’re able, please keep your focus there; this list is for what can be done long-term outside of the protests
Know your rights. Giving the police any more information than you absolutely have to will never and can never benefit you or anyone else - positive evidence given to the police is regularly thrown out in court, whereas negative evidence will be used against you. Know what to say and what you have the right to refuse. You don’t have to answer any questions without a lawyer present, you don’t have to give the police access to your house or car unless they have a current warrant signed by a judge. They will try to intimidate you - learn your rights and don’t let up, don’t ever cooperate with the police
Don’t snitch. If you see someone breaking the law in a way that doesn’t hurt anybody, keep your mouth shut. If cops knock on your door asking you questions about your neighbors or anyone you know, don’t answer
Don’t call the cops. If you can solve the problem in a different way, do it. Cops have on multiple occasions murdered the people they were called to help (or bystanders) without provocation. Don’t be complicit in that. Learn how to handle situations as a community or with the help of qualified experts
When you see an interaction with the police happening, stop and observe. If necessary, film the interaction. Organize and work with groups such as Copwatch to observe the police and hold them accountable
Use proper opsec, especially if you’re involved with anything that might make you a target for the cops. Downloading Signal is a great simple place to start
Learn about jury nullification, and spread the word. When serving in a jury, you have the right to vote not guilty on a defendant that you believe did commit the crime but doesn’t deserve punishment for it. Don’t be complicit in unjust punishment
Refuse to do work for the police or prison system. Workers keep the world running and the state relies on our compliance to keep our neighbors under their thumb. We can shut it down
Continue to support bail funds, even for non-protesters. Cash bail is unjust, and people shouldn’t be in jail just because they can’t pay
Continue to support legal defense funds as well, such as that of the National Lawyers Guild
Write to prisoners, either by yourself or with groups such as the Anarchist Black Cross or Black And Pink, and organize/support books to prisons programs, commissary funds, reentry programs, and other forms of prisoner support
Organize and support community-run crisis response organizations like the CAHOOTS program in Eugene, Oregon or the Birmingham Peacemakers in my hometown
Here are some other organizations to join that are doing good work in this area:
Black Lives Matter is obviously a huge voice in racial justice right now. The list of “official” chapters on their website is very incomplete, though, so you may have better luck doing a web search for “[your area] black lives matter” (beware of fakes though)
Showing Up for Racial Justice is another very active and widespread racial justice network
Critical Resistance is a grassroots prison abolitionist organization founded by Angela Davis
The Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement is another active prison abolitionist organization
The IWW’s Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee works with prisoners to organize strikes, phone zaps, and other actions combating injustice in prisons
Again, the Anarchist Black Cross does great work supporting political prisoners through letter-writing and more. The link I’ve been including is to an unofficial federation of ABC groups, though - there may be a group in your area that’s not part of that federation, so a web search for “[your area] black cross” may be better
- Black And Pink is a prison abolitionist organization focused on queer people and people living with HIV/AIDS
Antifascism is of course an important aspect of racial justice and community safety. See @antifainternational‘s guide to getting connected to your local antifascists - though, again, beware of fakes (the “antifa checker” accounts on fedbook and twitter can help)
The police state and prison industrial complex rely on the complicity and cooperation of all of us to function and be effective. By building a culture of noncompliance and active resistance, we can drastically reduce the state’s ability to oppress communities of color. Don’t let the struggle be forgotten with the changing of the news cycle - keep up the struggle until all are free!
