Black Lives Matter (BLM)

Movement For Black Lives: Feds Targeted BLM Protesters

August 19, 2021 Kat Stafford, Associated Press. Educate! Black Lives Matter (BLM), Criminal Justice and Prisons, Legal System, Surveillance

The federal government deliberately targeted Black Lives Matter protesters via heavy-handed criminal prosecutions in an attempt to disrupt and discourage the global movement that swept the nation last summer in the wake of the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd, according to a new report released Wednesday by The Movement for Black Lives. Movement leaders and experts said the prosecution of protesters over the past year continues a century-long practice by the federal government, rooted in structural racism, to suppress Black social movements via the use of surveillance tactics and other mechanisms. “The empirical data and findings in this report largely corroborate what Black organizers have long known intellectually, intuitively, and from lived experience about the federal government’s disparate policing and prosecution of racial justice protests and related activity,” the report stated.

Black Lives Matter DC Responds To Brutal Beating Of Black Man By Officer

August 14, 2021 Black Lives Matter DC, Popular Resistance. Resist! Black Lives Matter (BLM), Police abuse, Racism, Washington DC

On Sunday August 1, 2021 we were alerted to a video of a Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officer brutally punching Kimon Johnson in the head in Southeast D.C. This kind of brutality is not new for MPD, in the District of Columbia, and certainly not near Good Hope Rd. and 16th St. Southeast, but it is always unacceptable. It mirrors the experience of Derrick “Quan” Johnson at almost the same location on December 26, 2019. Quan was also not charged for the original stop or the second retaliatory one. Like Quan, we are so very glad he is still alive. As we predicted, his response to this brutal incident Chief Contee did little more than give a measured response at the August 9, 2021 press conference. As we explained when he was confirmed and have since learned about his complicity in the misconduct by the Gun Recovery Unit (Jumpouts) against almost only Black people, we could hardly expect more from him.

Standing With The Cuban People

July 24, 2021 Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report. Educate! Black Lives Matter (BLM), Cuba, International Solidarity, US Imperialism

The Movement for Black Lives has an interesting and sometimes contradictory political history. Popularly known as Black Lives Matter (BLM), they gave birth to a now international rallying cry against anti-Black racism. They are identified with the issue of police violence so much that any protest involving Black people is dubbed Black Lives Matter whether there is any connection with that group or not.

Over 100 Anti-Protest Bills Have Been Introduced Since George Floyd Rebellion

June 22, 2021 Ella Fassler, Truthout. Educate! Black Lives Matter (BLM), First Amendment, Law, State legislature

This June, a dangerously low-flying helicopter operated by the Department of Homeland Security descended on the largest civil disobedience action yet against the Line 3 pipeline in Minnesota. In an attempt to disperse the crowd, hundreds of demonstrators were pummeled with debris — and misdemeanor trespassing charges. If Minnesota Republican House Members Shane Mekeland and Eric Lucero had their way, demonstrators and anyone involved in the organizing process would have been hit with serious felony charges, a $5,000 fine, and liability for any damages incurred by the multibillion-dollar company Enbridge. Mekeland and Lucero, who introduced these measures in a bill in late February, aren’t alone in their repressive ambitions.

‘Rural People Against Racism’ March In Washington

May 31, 2021 Andrew Freeman, Liberation News. Resist! Black Lives Matter (BLM), Racism, Rural, Washington State

On May 29, local activists in Sedro-Woolley, Washington, (population 11,739) and the greater Skagit County area held a march against racism marking the one year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd. Marchers gathered at Hammer Heritage Square in downtown Sedro-Woolley for sign-waving followed by a march of about 75 people through the business district starting at noon.

Michigan Marches Unite Palestine Solidarity And BLM

May 25, 2021 Tristan Taylor, Left Voice. Strategize! Black Lives Matter (BLM), Israel, Michigan, Palestine

On Tuesday, May 18, roughly 200 people gathered to march in front of the Ford Motor Company plant in Dearborn, Michigan where Joe Biden was speaking. Dearborn is home to the largest Arab American and Palestinian populations in the United States. Speaker Jae Bass, a Black Detroiter and a leader of Detroit Will Breathe (DWB) --- a militant, politically independent organization created last year in the midst of the uprising against police brutality --- connected the experiences of the daily fight against police brutality here with the brutality of the Israeli military in Palestine. Noting that both struggles are linked, he asked those present to continue fighting to free Palestine and make sure Black and Brown lives matter in Detroit.

Afro-Pessimism And The (Un)Logic Of Anti-Blackness

May 24, 2021 Annie Olaloku-Teriba, Black Agenda Report. Strategize! AfroPessimism, Antiracism, Black Lives Matter (BLM), Hierarchy

In the late afternoon of 10 February 2015, local police in Chapel Hill responded to a report of fired shots. They entered a Finley Forest condominium to find the lifeless bodies of three young Arabs. The first, Deah Barakat, lay dead in the front doorway. The others, his wife Yusor and her sister Razan Abu-Salha, had been slain in the kitchen. All three had been killed with gunshots to the head in an execution-style murder. Over the coming hours and days, as details emerged on social media, it became clear that these young Muslims had been murdered in a hate crime. Seeing this in the context of state-sponsored islamophobia, which had fueled a growing climate of harassment and hate-crimes against Muslims in the US, as well as the mass slaughter of civilians in drone attacks across the Middle East, activists online started using #MuslimLivesMatter, which was tweeted over one hundred-thousand times, to challenge the lack of coverage.

Activists Push For Charges To Be Dropped Against Demonstrators For Black Lives

May 18, 2021 Ella Fassler, Truthout. Organize! Black Lives Matter (BLM), Law

At a press conference last month, members of the coalition stood in front of Travis County District Court in Austin with banners highlighting her case and calling for the dropping of charges against defendants criminalized during the uprisings across the country. The coalition formally presented a petition with over 2,000 signatures demanding that Travis County District Attorney José Garza drop the charges against people who protested for Black lives in Austin last year.

Scheer Intelligence: ‘When We Fight, We Win’

April 23, 2021 Robert Scheer, ScheerPost.com. Educate! Black Lives Matter (BLM), George Floyd, Legal System, Podcast, Police violence

As the world awaited the fate of Derek Chauvin–the Minneapolis police officer who was convicted of killing George Floyd–Black Lives Matter co-founder Melina Abdullah joined Robert Scheer on “Scheer Intelligence” to discuss what he calls the most successful social justice movement the country has perhaps ever seen. In the timely episode, Abdullah, a lifelong activist and California State University, Los Angeles professor, traces the roots of the BLM movement back to 2013 and notes that Floyd’s killing was the moment the “world was cracked wide open” for everyone to see the deep-seated systemic racism at the core of every American institution. She adds, however, that regardless of a guilty verdict there is still a lot of work to be done in order to truly achieve racial justice.

Will We Stand Up For Black Trans Lives Too?

March 31, 2021 Eddie Conway, The Real News. Resistance Report Baltimore, Black Lives Matter (BLM), Transgender Rights

Last summer, during what some have called the largest social justice uprising in United States history, the lives of Black trans people were ignored. While many rightly raged against the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, few know the names of Black trans people like Kim Wirtz, who have also been murdered by a racist policing and prison system. In Baltimore, trans activists from the LGBTQ organization Baltimore Safe Haven protested, demanding an end to police violence and an end to the erasure of the Black trans community. The Real News’ Eddie Conway talks to activists on the ground in Baltimore about their fight.

Why Anti-Racism Must Be Anti-Capitalist

January 25, 2021 Zarah Sultana, Tribune Magazine. Strategize! Anti-capitalism, Black Lives Matter (BLM), Capitalism, Racism

Last summer we saw one of the largest anti-racist mobilisations in decades. In over sixty countries, protesters took to the streets in their thousands to demand transformative, lasting change. The Black Lives Matter movement calls for a fundamental shift in how our societies are organised: defunding police forces, ending the prison-industrial complex, opposing imperialist projects abroad, and destroying neo-colonial power relations between the Global North and the Global South. Racism and its brutal history are being discussed in a way that is unparalleled in my lifetime. As happens with every radical movement, the political establishment responded with both condemnation and co-option.

Tennessee Capital: Group Demands Racial Equality And Medicare For All

January 14, 2021 Kathleen Serie, FOX17. Resist! Black Lives Matter (BLM), Medicare for all, State Capital, Tennessee

Nashville, TN - A social justice group out of Knoxville, Tennessee made the trek to the State Capitol building on Tuesday, demanding that lawmakers take immediate action on issues like Medicare for all, and the fight for racial equality. This comes on the first day of the legislative session. Earlier Tuesday afternoon when the demonstration was still happening, the rally organizers said their groups wasn't as big as they had hoped it would be, partly because of what happened at the U.S. Capitol last week. But despite their small numbers, they say their message carried big importance. "What's that spell? Black Lives Matter! What's that spell? Black Lives Matter! What's that spell? Black Lives Matter!" demonstrators chanted.

Black Lives Matter DC Demands City Stop Attacks By Violent Trump Supporters

January 4, 2021 Black Lives Matter DC, Popular Resistance. Organize! Black Lives Matter (BLM), Right wing extremism, Violence, Washington DC

Washington — Today, Black Lives Matter DC leaders issued demands to Mayor Bowser, Deputy Chief Contee, City Council members and business owners and leaders in the District, telling them to send a clear message to racist Trump supporters planning to attack the city on January 6, 2020. “Mayor Bowser, Deputy Chief Contee and local businesses, tell the racists that they’re not welcome in our city,” said Née Née Taylor, a core organizer with Black Lives Matter DC (BLM-DC). “Earlier this month, the mayor, the police and local businesses aided and abetted white supremacists by allowing them to run rogue across our city, desecrating Black churches, violating Black Lives Matter Plaza, all while refusing to wear masks and socially distance.”

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