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#BlackLivesMatter

Newsletter: Their Greed Is Our Ally

August 2, 2015 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, www.PopularResistance.org , , , , , , , , ,
By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flower for Popular Resistance. The radical transformation that is needed is not on the agenda of anyone running for president in either the Democratic or Republican primary. The reality is that nothing offered by mainstream politics will achieve the transformational change that is needed. A normally mainstream Democrat, Robert Kuttner writes: “This is one of those moments when there is broad popular frustration, a moment when liberal goals require measures that seem radical by today’s standards. . . . Muddle-through and token gestures won’t fool anybody.” Consciousness is rising and with that so will the demands and actions of an organized populace. Sometimes it will take the shape of protests, other times a rebellion, sometimes cities will be shut down and there will be riots. The system is not responding to the reasonable demands for social, economic, racial and environmental justice.

We Gon’ Be Alright: Black Love, Black Resistance & Black Liberation

August 1, 2015 Alicia Garza, www.truth-out.org , , , ,
By Alicia Garza in Truth Out - Coming together across different ideologies, generations, geographies and experiences, participants in the Movement for Black Lives have the potential, the brilliance and the power to get free and to stay free. More than 1,500 Black people came together in Cleveland, Ohio, last week for the Movement for Black Lives convening. It was a gathering designed to bring Black people together across different fault lines in order to continue to solidify our vision, our purpose and our relationships with one another. The convening, which began on July 24, was an opportunity to ask ourselves the question of what a world would look like in which Black lives actually mattered - and not just some Black lives, but all Black lives.

Petition: Sandra Bland Deserves Justice

August 1, 2015 Ultra Violet, www.act.weareultraviolet.org , , ,
By Ultra Violet - Last Friday, 28 year-old Sandra Bland was driving to her new job in Waller County, TX when she was pulled over for switching lanes without a signal--a routine violation that usually ends with a ticket. But instead, officers slammed her head into the ground and arrested her. Three days later, she died in police custody. This is one of the most outrageous cases of police abuse we've seen yet. There is video showing the officer slamming Sandra to the ground as she pleads for them to stop. And the local sheriff, who claimed Sandra killed herself, was fired in a different city for multiple counts of racist and violent conduct. That's why we can't leave an investigation into Sandra's suspicious death in the hands of local officials.

Sandra Bland, Rebel

August 1, 2015 Richard Ward, www.counterpunch.org , , ,
By Richard Ward in Counter Punch - Sandra Bland was a rebel in the classic sense, as Albert Camus defined it: “What is a rebel? A woman who says no, but whose refusal does not imply a renunciation. She is also a woman who says yes, from the moment she makes her first gesture of rebellion. A slave who has taken orders all her life suddenly decides that she cannot obey some new command. What does she mean by saying “no”? “She means, for example, that ‘this has been going on for too long,’ or ‘up to this point yes, beyond it no,’ ‘you are going too far,’ or, again, ‘there is a limit beyond which you shall not go.’ In other words, her no affirms the existence of a borderline.” Sandra Bland had reached her borderline before her life was snuffed in Waller County by racist, vicious agents of the state.

The Cost Of Failing To Comply With Structural Racism

July 31, 2015 Zachary Norris, www.truth-out.org , , , , ,
By Zachary Norris in Truth Out - As a member of Black Lives Matter Bay Area, I attended last weekend's Movement for Black Lives convening in Cleveland, Ohio, and witnessed a whole new generation of us following. We are refusing compliance. While I was in Ohio, the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, the organization of which I am the executive director, hosted a vigil and speak out for Sandra Bland back in Oakland. Black women claimed the space and expressed their rage over what happened to Sandra, the many injustices they have experienced at the hands of the state, and the need for revolutionary change. We are not asking for entrance or acceptance into this order of things. We see a Black president presiding over the country, and the killings haven't stopped. We know the president has his own "kill list." In a country such as this one, the simple demand that Black lives matter has always been a demand for a whole new order of things.

Say Her Name: Protesters In Chicago Demand Justice For Sandra Bland

July 31, 2015 Kelly Hayes, www.ruth-out.org , , , ,
By Kelly Hayes in Truthout - This week, from Dallas to San Diego to the Midwest, activists and community members around the United States are answering a national call to demand justice for Sandra Bland, a Black woman and activist who died in police custody on July 13. In Chicago, protesters lifted up Sandra Bland's name on Michigan Avenue on July 28, as hundreds of protesters lined a bridge over the Chicago River, urging those who believe Black lives matter to "say her name." While a great deal of public discourse has focused on whether or not Sandra Bland committed suicide, or died as a result of police brutality, participants in Tuesday night's event carried a broader message - that the system was responsible for Sandra Bland's death regardless of the specifics of her death. In the words of organizer Mariame Kaba, "I don't care about the CSI version of how she died. The system killed her. The rest is superfluous."

Ohio Cop Indicted On Murder Charge In Traffic-Stop Shooting

July 30, 2015 Dan Sewell, Kantele Franko and Mitch Stacy, www.AP.org , , , ,
A University of Cincinnati police officer who shot a motorist during a traffic stop over a missing front license plate was indicted Wednesday on a murder charge, with a prosecutor saying the officer "purposely killed him" and "should never have been a police officer." DuBose's family had pressed for release of Tensing's body camera video, and news organizations including The Associated Press had sued Deters to get it released under Ohio open records law, but Deters released it before any ruling was made. Deters called the shooting "senseless" and "asinine." "He purposely killed him," Deters said. "He should never have been a police officer." The prosecutor also said he thought it was time to reconsider the UC police department's role. "I don't think a university should be in the policing business," Deters said.

Ferguson Action Council: Mike Brown Anniversary #UnitedWeFight

July 30, 2015 Ferguson Action Council, www.PopularResistance.org , , ,
By Ferguson Action Council - It has been almost one year since the murder of Michael Brown, Jr. and the uprising that followed. Our movement has grown immensely and here in Ferguson and St. Louis, we continue to fight for all those who have been lost. From August 7-10th, we will stand together, united in purpose, as we uphold our commitment to this movement for Black Lives. We invite you to join us in St. Louis for the Anniversary Weekend. If you can’t join us, we ask that you plan solidarity actions in your own communities. We ask that groups honor Michael Brown Jr by participating in a four and a half minute National Moment of Silence on Sunday, August 9th at 11:55AM CST.

Experiencing Police Brutality Made Me An Activist

July 29, 2015 Monica Raye Simpson, www.huffingtonpost.com , , , , , ,
By Monica Raye Simpson in The Huffington Post - This past weekend, I joined over 1500 other activists from across the country in Cleveland, Ohio for the Movement For Black Lives Convening. We were all together -- black cis-gendered women and men, black queer women and men, trans women and trans men, black elders, black young people, black babies -- from across all movements learning, strategizing, resisting, creating and healing together. For me, it was a truly spiritual experience. I was sad that I had to return to Atlanta early, especially when I realized that this powerful and historic weekend took an unfortunate turn when Cleveland law enforcement arrested a 14-year-old boy and used pepper spray on protestors who fought to protect him. As I watched this ordeal unfold on social media, I wanted so desperately to be on the front lines with my sisters and brothers. I thought to myself, How could this weekend -- one full of so much love and brilliance -- end like this?

#SandySpeaks: ‘I’m Here To Change History’

July 28, 2015 Kirsten West Savali, www.theroot.com , , , ,
By Kirsten West Savali in The Root - As I watched 28-year-old Sandra Bland assert her humanity by refusing to roll over and play slave for white Officer Brian Encinia, who had grown increasingly agitated by that refusal, the words of Zora Neale Hurston rang in my head through the numbness: “If you are silent about your pain, they’ll kill you and say you enjoyed it.” On July 10, Bland was ready. If she was to die, if she was to feel the blows of brutality on her brown skin, no one would be able to say that she enjoyed it. Some may say that Bland foreshadowed her own death in Texas. Her Facebook cover photo—highlighting the hypocrisy of state-sanctioned anti-black terrorism—shows a caricature of Dylann Roof eating the Burger King burger his arresting officers bought him after he was captured for murdering nine people at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C.

Police Pepper Spray At #BlackLivesMatter Meeting

July 27, 2015 NewsOne Staff, www.facebook.com , , , ,
By NewsOne Staff - With screams of “Take them off!” Black Lives Matter activists refused to disperse until police released a 14-year-old boy who was arrested with no apparent cause. The boy was allegedly thrown to the ground and pepper spray was used all because he was suspected of breaking open container laws. According to witnesses, he was carrying a Snapple. Hundreds of Black freedom fighters from around the country will come together for the inaugural Movement for Black Lives Convening in Cleveland, OH, from Friday July 24 to Sunday July 26th, 2015. This historic event comes at a pivotal time for the growing movement for Black lives in the United States. Black people are facing unabated police violence, increasing criminalization, a failed economic system, a broken education system and the loss of our communities to gentrification and development.

Feds Monitored #BlackLivesMatter Since Ferguson

July 26, 2015 George Joseph, www.firstlook.org , ,
By George Joseph for the Intercept - The Department of Homeland Security has been monitoring the Black Lives Matter movement since anti-police protests erupted in Ferguson, Missouri last summer, according to hundreds of documents obtained by The Interceptthrough a Freedom of Information Act request. The documents, released by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Operations Coordination, indicate that the department frequently collects information, including location data, on Black Lives Matter activities from public social media accounts, including on Facebook, Twitter, and Vine, even for events expected to be peaceful. The reports confirm social media surveillance of the protest movement and ostensibly related events in the cities of Ferguson, Baltimore, Washington, DC, and New York.

Newsletter: Prejudice, Racism, Privilege In The US

July 25, 2015 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, www.popularresistance.org , , , , , , ,
By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers. Black Americans, Indigenous peoples and immigrants who are standing up to highlight the injustices they suffer on a daily basis are creating a long overdue teachable moment for whites in the United States. Whites who believe in equality, an end to prejudice and equal justice for all are standing with them; together we can make transformational change on racism and prejudice. Got White PrivilegeA term like “white privilege” is becoming understood by more whites, not as a slur but as a description of reality, and is being more easily used in conversation by people of color. Whites who get the reality of racism are standing up when other Euro-Americans behave in racist ways and speaking out.

‘This Is A Movement, Not A Moment’

July 24, 2015 Sonali Kolhatkar, www.truthdig.com , , ,
By Sonali Kolhatkar in Truthdig - On July 24, The Movement for Black Lives National Convening will bring bringing together activists from all over the United States, organizing under the banner of Black Lives Matter. The organization will meet in Cleveland. Among those activists will be such prominent leaders as Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi, the original founders of Black Lives Matter. Also present will be hundreds of members and local chapter leaders like 28-year-old Jasmine Richards, a powerful activist in Pasadena, Calif., where I live. Pasadena is typical of most midsized cities in the United States. It boasts a major university, a handful of art museums, cosmopolitan restaurants, hipster coffee shops and a popular sports arena. But bisecting the city is a major freeway with a rough but stark demographic divide. On one side live relatively wealthy and middle-class whites, while on the other side, poor black and brown folks struggle to get by.

Police Arrest 12 At Sandra Bland Police Violence Protest In NYC

July 24, 2015 Scott Heins, www.gothamist.com , , , , ,
By Scott Heins in Gothamist - For the second time in less than a week, protests against police brutality and racial injustice led to a flurry of arrests in the middle of 34th Street. According to an NYPD spokesman, 12 demonstrators were arrested over the course of the evening, all of them charged with disorderly conduct. While last Friday's protests and arrests came during a march to commemorate the death of Eric Garner, "Justice for Sandra Bland!" was the rallying cry at last night's protest. Bland, a 28-year-old black woman active in social justice movements, died last week in a Texas jail after being arrested during a traffic stop. Authorities claim Bland committed suicide while in her jail cell, but many are disputing this official account and an investigation is currently underway.
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