[CONTENT NOTE: murder of Black transwoman Queasha Hardy; murders of transgender people generally and related statistics; misgendering; deadnaming. Post below the fold, because despite what we atheists like to tell you, HELL IS REAL. It is right here, right now, for far too many of the wrong people, and far too often Made In Amerikkka® by members of our own species.]
This is Derrick Ingram.
Derrick Ingram
Black Lives Matter Protester and Organizer
Co-Founder,Warriors in the Garden
(photo via Amnesty International USA)
On August 7, dozens of NYPD officers in riot gear swarmed his apartment’s hallways, his fire escape and surrounding locations. They had no warrant. They did have a helicopter hovering overhead, though. They also brought police dogs right to his door and threatened to break it down. They lied to him about his rights and tried to interrogate him without legal counsel.
This siege lasted FIVE HOURS. It ended only after Derrick started livestreaming the incident: in response, a large group of protesters showed up, along with some media types who started asking questions. That is when the NYPD Stormtrooper Squadron™ finally took their toys U.S. military surplus equipment and went home.
Uh-oh! Must be a day that ends in Y! The New York Times is pissing me right off.*
Today’s email briefing starts with a splashy paean to the U.S. women’s suffrage movement. The 19th Amendment, which granted (some) women voting rights, was enacted on this date one hundred years ago.
The email piece naturally links to recent Times articles on women’s suffrage and related topics. As usual, their failure to connect the blazing red dots of our history – history they themselves reported – does a criminal disservice to readers. And as usual, what they don’t deliver is at least as damaging as the disinformation they do.
Are you familiar with Color of Change? If not, check out their web site or just watch this brief recap of 2019 activism.
If you are already familiar with their work, omg how much do you freaking love them?
One of my favorite CoC campaigns is the yearly drive in early May to raise bail money for incarcerated Black mothers so they can be reunited with their children in time for Mothers Day. These are women who would otherwise languish behind bars (and as of this year in COVID hot houses) because they are too poor to post bail. And yes, also because they are oversurveilled, overpoliced and oversentenced relative to whites in the first place; those are other columns supporting our criminal injustice system that must be toppled in addition to abolishing cash bail. I love this campaign because it’s something we can do collectively to help these women, along with their families and communities, in a meaningful and tangible way.
Another reason to love Color of Change? Their spot-on messaging.
I am a devotee of the STFU-&-Listen School of Allyship™; it serves the privileged ear very well to be informed directly by the very people one wishes to serve. (In case this needs to be said, we must NOT do this by demanding the less-privileged do the work to educate and inform the more-privileged. The least one can do is one’s own research on such matters. It’s not like any of this information is hidden. Quite the opposite: the oppressed have been trying desperately to get their message through our thick white skulls since forever.) This approach helps guard against our instinctual inclination to support “solutions” that may have great appeal through a privilege-warped lens, but are not in fact the solutions marginalized people and communities need. Just as you know what you need better than I do, they know what they need better than we do.
And that, my friends, is why I read and absorb every word of Color of Change’s content: I learn. SO. MUCH. Which brings us to one of their newest campaigns: the call for defunding police foundations. Here is what I learned – and it’s goooood.
Here’s what I woke up to today:
BLM Won – Just wait til they win some MORE!
Go read the whole thing – it’s truly fantastic, and well worth celebrating!
Now because I am a cynical bitch realist, I cannot help but reflect on the sheer enormity of human effort and sacrifice it took for Black Lives to Matter in one small U.S. city – and on how much more effort and sacrifice will be required to maintain this progress once the news crews are gone.
But pay no mind to Negative Nellie over here! This is a good and necessary victory, and it deserves aaaaallll the kudos!
Here are a few more previous posts to bring our collection up to date:
Being Uncomfortable (referenced and linked in my earlier post about that lying piece of shit AG Barr)
Brain ipsa loquitur (LOL)
Past the expiration date (saving the fresher batches of tear gas for Chicago and New York?)
Still a step away from Pinkerton’s, but it’s bad. (referencing Marcus Ranum’s excellent How to Riot post at stderr.)
Interview with a YOUNG HOT GAY (❤️🧡💛💚💙💜❗️)
There will be more Crip Dyke posts forthcoming. Although I hoped there would be a much-needed break for rest, rejuvenation, self-care and especially time to process recent intense and traumatic events, Crip Dyke is returning to the protests tonight. Because of course she is. 💜
…some shit is really pissing me off. And there’s something YOU can do about it.
[CONTENT NOTE: racist police, prosecutor, judicial and parole office malfeasance toward an innocent, mentally ill child, denial of care, unjust sentencing and imprisonment of a child, racist bullying, racist harassment and public violence against black people by other community members with no police action taken, sexual harassment, physical and sexual assault, self-harming…fuuuuuuuuck.]
The following is an email I received this morning from change.org.
Iris — 14-year-old Saraya Rees battles with mental illness. After being abruptly taken off her antidepressants by a local pediatrician, she suffered a mental health crisis. She poured gasoline on the living room carpet and her parents contacted Coos Health & Wellness for help. But the clinic called the police. Saraya was arrested and sentenced to 11 years in juvenile prison. Kelsey and more than 250,000 signers say this is inhumane. Add your name to demand that Saraya’s case be reopened and the charges reassessed.
268,349 have signed kelsey darragh’s petition. Let’s get to 300,000!
Well that all sounded pretty fucked-up to me, but this was just a summary. Even before my morning coffee, it occurred to my sleepy, chemo-addled brain that there were pieces missing in this story, some of which could be enormously consequential and thus color the true picture, in one way or another. So rather than sign-now-with-a-click and move on in the direction of my coffee pot, I read the rest of the email. And readers? When those gaps were filled in, the picture became so much uglier and far more disturbing than anything I could have imagined.
[CONTENT NOTE: police violence, white supremacist tropes and victim-blaming (“black-on-black crime”), lethal levels of sarcasm and snark.]
OMG YOU GUYS! The Attorney General of the United States stated in sworn testimony before the House Judiciary Committee that my friend and FtB colleague Crip Dyke is a “violent rioter and anarchist” hijacking the Portland Black Lives Matter protests! I HAD NO IDEA.
I mean it’s not like anyone connected to the Trump administration would ever lie to Congress or government officials, so obviously AG Barr is telling us the truth! Q.E.D.
Clearly Barr and his merry band of like-minded stable geniuses know how to decrypt and decode the sooper seekrit violent anarchist messages in Crip Dyke’s posts propaganda, including the most recent entry (as of this writing). Therein, Crip Dyke merely pretends to be an incredibly thoughtful, compassionate (white) ally who has gone to Portland to stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter protesters, to use her platform and privilege to amplify their voices, and to help counter false and misleading media narratives (and U.S. Attorney General statements) about the protests – and at considerable personal risk. FFS Crip Dyke is disabled and on crutches.
ATTORNEY GENERAL BARR IS ON TO YOU CRIP DYKE!
Now let’s see what other Truth Bombs™ AG Barr dropped on us!
Further to my last post, here are links to subsequent posts from Crip Dyke in Portland.
Comfy, Cozy BFFs [Oooh. I like the way you think drink.]
Crashing the Fence: Portland Videos, July 22nd
I am a wimp: Portland, July 22 [Whatever the opposite of “wimp” is, that is what you are, CD. JFC!]
Humorous Interlude: I am not saying …
Reality Check: We can do better
What do you need to know about the Portland protests?
Desperate for some Tear Gas Video? I have you covered!
Sunday Night Protests: A wee spot of bother and a chaotic video
What’s up with the tear gas, Feds?
Sometimes I cannot even believe how freaking amazing my friends and FtB colleagues are.
I have been viewing reports of the federal response to protests in Portland, Oregon with mounting horror, terror, disgust and rage. My sources have been mainly mainstream media reports, as well as emails/social media posts from Democratic congresscritters and Democratic-allied NPOs. Of course all my sources – actually, all sources – have built-in biases and agendas; some I tend to agree with at least on certain issues, and some I do not.
If only I had a connection to someone reporting from ground zero in Portland, someone I trust implicitly, and who I know for a fact shares my social justice perspective and leftist values! Wouldn’t that be fucking amazing?! Well it’s Christmas in July here, people! My brilliant and righteous FreethoughtBlogs colleague (and longtime friend) Crip Dyke is there now, posting updates and pictures to her blog Pervert Justice.
Not only am I eagerly reading them, I am sharing them here so you can easily read them too. Here is what we’ve got so far, and I will make every effort to keep updating.
I am in Portland. I am acting.
I have questions, Marriott and Enterprise.
99% of Portland Moms “Not angry, just disappointed”
The Story of July 21: Three offensives
Please spread these posts as far and wide as you are willing and able.
RELATED:
One of my aforementioned sources whose messaging on this issue (and others) I find particularly spot-on is VoteVets. On Monday they released this ad, and it ran for the first time nationally on Morning Joe today.
NYC mayor Bill de Blasio is taking a page from Washington DC mayor Muriel Bowser:
(via New York Daily News.)
The city is planning to paint the words “Black Lives Matter” in bold letters right in front of Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan.
“The president is a disgrace to the values we cherish in New York City,” Julia Arredondo, a spokeswoman for Mayor de Blasio, said in a statement. “He can’t run or deny the reality we are facing, and any time he wants to set foot in the place he claims is his hometown, he should be reminded Black Lives Matter.”
The famous rallying cry will be painted on Fifth Ave. between 56th and 57th streets, right in front of the president’s flagship high-rise, as well as Centre St. and Adam Clayton Powell Blvd.
Earlier this month, Hizzoner said the city would paint the phrase throughout the city in the wake of heated protests sparked by the May 25 death of Minnesota man George Floyd at the hands of police.
A giant “BLACK LIVES MATTER” sign is painted on Fulton St. on Monday, June 15, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (John Minchillo/AP)
If I may be so bold to make a helpful suggestion?
Dear Mayor de Blasio:
