I am compiling as much information in this OP for quick reference as I can. Please let me know if there's anything I could add.
POLICE BRUTALITY VIDEO DOCUMENTATIONS (not nearly comprehensive)
https://2020policebrutality.netlify.app/https://www.reddit.com/r/2020PoliceBrutality/comments/gvllqc/megathread_current_incident_reports_list/
here's a supercut, spoiled for violence
CHARITIES
state-by-state bail funds:
https://bailfunds.github.io/
some good advice here:
https://money.com/how-to-help-black-lives-matter-protests/
a wide selection of regional and national funds:
https://www.theverge.com/21277358/protests-donate-police-bail-demonstrations-minneapolis-nyccelebration of black artists in nerdspace
Fantasy subreddit put together a list of black fantasy authors:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/gtf34j/what_are_some_underrated_sff_books_by_black/
Link to the racial issues tag on Tor's website, for essays and short fiction centered on people of color:
https://www.tor.com/tag/racial-issues/
Magazine of black speculative fiction's 2018 science fiction and fantasy writer survey report:
https://www.fiyahlitmag.com/blackspecfic/bsfreport-2018/ (and of course, the rest of the site is great for non-sff)
Seek out not just stories of oppression, but those of black joy, promise, hope - celebrate our common humanity. I can personally recommend ross gay's book of poetry catalogue of unabashed gratitude (one poem here:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/58762/catalog-of-unabashed-gratitude )
A stream of various protests going on nationwide: https://www.twitch .tv/woke
(not directly linked just in case you don't want autoplay)
Two direct links to Facebook profiles where they've been streaming the front line of the protests in Seattle
https://www.facebook.com/brandon.frost.4https://www.facebook.com/jessica.bundy.79
Also, similar, coverage of the smaller towns doing protests (not nearly comprehensive):
https://twitter.com/annehelen <- seriously if you want some tiny moments of hope, check out her feed
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/annehelenpetersen/black-lives-matter-protests-near-me-small-towns
Tangentially, there is now a self-declared autonomous zone in Seattle. The CAPITOL HILL AUTONOMOUS ZONE (CHAZ)
If you'd like to know more, I follow
@anarchomastia on Twitter but it's really hard to get more knowledge unless you're in the Seattle scene
There is a lot of disinformation on social media so always name the source and do a cursory vet of its authenticity/validity. Just check the twitter bio, read a couple tweets on their feed. There will be a lot of primary sources, so go with your gut on those and just warn that it's a rando
Debunked claims:
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/antifa-rumors-spread-local-social-media-no-evidence-n1222486https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/01/technology/george-floyd-misinformation-online.htmlhttps://www.marketwatch.com/story/misinformation-in-action-false-claims-of-antifa-protesters-plague-small-cities-2020-06-02https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/no-the-thurston-county-democrats-did-not-offer-to-pay-anarchists-misinformation-flows-in-wake-of-george-floyd-protests/https://www.factcheck.org/2020/06/viral-tweet-alert-wasnt-from-antifa/DEMANDS OF PROTESTERS
PLEASE note that every local protest has its own specific, immediate action items for their respective mayors/councils. BLM's main website is currently down due to what I imagine is insane traffic and possibly DDoS, but here are is a general summary:
https://populardemocracy.org/news-and-publications/black-lives-matter-releases-policy-demands-includes-reparations-and-abolishing
Ending the War on Black People: This includes abolishing the death penalty, mass surveillance in communities of color, the privatization of police, violence against all Blacks (including Black trans, queer and gender nonconforming people) and using a past criminal history as a means to seek a job, housing, license and voting rights.
Reparations: To address the past and current harms that slavery, Jim Crow, and mass incarceration have done to the Black community, BLM is seeking reparations for the wealth extracted from our communities, guaranteed livable income and free access and open admissions to public community colleges, universities, and technical schools, to name a few.
Invest-Divest: Instead of federal, state, and local monies being invested into prisons, police, surveillance, and exploitative corporations, BLM would rather see that invested into long-term safety strategies such as education, local restorative justice services, employment programs, and universal health care.
Economic Justice: This is calling for Black communities to have real collective ownership of wealth in the U.S. This could be achieved with restructuring tax codes, creating federal and state job programs that specifically target the most economically marginalized Black people, breaking up large banks and ensuring better protection for workers.
Community Control: This would include the end of the privatization of education and making sure communities have the power to hire and fire officers, determine disciplinary action, control budgets and policies, and subpoena relevant agency information when needed.
Political Power: To ensure that real democracy can be achieved for all Black people, BLM wants for all political prisoners to be released, eliminating Super Pacs that fund candidates, ensuring election protection, early registration at the age of 16, full access to technology and the internet, and increased funding to HBCU’s.
Other common platforms are:
https://www.versobooks.com/books/2426-the-end-of-policing (free book, insightful on data-driven alternatives to police departments as we know them)
On the justification of looting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sb9_qGOa9Go&feature=emb_titleWhat can you do to help and/or get involved?
Apart from physically joining the protests, call your
local officials! City councils, mayors, especially in smaller towns are more than willing to take constituent calls. Find your mayors and councils and state legislatures here:
https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials
Also this gives you your mayor's contact info and a list of easy-to-implement reforms that have been shown to reduce police violence!
https://8cantwait.org/
Donate to local organizations who are setting up basics like medical supplies, food, etc (contact whatever local BLM or Antifa or whatever chapter you can find; mutual aid groups are proliferating across the country especially with Coronavirus) - otherwise, simply donate to one of the funds listed above. A little goes a long way.
Adding more stuff continuously
Posts
*pours one out for Eddy*
Those letters and videos shared last thread from the military brass and former officials are quite the thing.
Even without the dream of some movie moment where the military protects the protesters from the police or some shit, it strikes me that a whole lot of them seem to be done with staying silent on this shit.
Which is heartening.
And also scary, because I'm wondering just what they're being told/ordered/having to push back on behind the scenes.
I mean in the last two days we have had the Joint Chief, the Chief of Naval Operations, the highest ranking enlisted member of the Air Force, and the head of the Air Guard come out with some pretty crazy stuff. And its kind of mind blowing.
the umbrellas are truly incredibly surreal.
like, Mary Poppins vs Facism.
Democrats Abroad! || Vote From Abroad
Steve King lost his primary
Here is Chicago PD's
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-findings-investigation-chicago-police-department
No need to find all the proof of rampant racism and criminality when someone already spent years investigating and made a several hundred page summary for you.
I know this is a serious time, and a very serious topic, but this was brilliant and sparked some joy in an otherwise depressing week.
Dual purpose - Primary objective is to deflect most of the bear mace sprayed at the front lines. Secondary objective, makes it difficult for agent provocateurs to launch rocks/water bottles that will provoke the police into a riot.
(I used to sometimes tweet about fashion before fascism)
and the gengars who are guiding me" -- W.S. Merwin
Every night since everyone's bringing umbrellas as a fuck you
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
How does policing authority/ jurisdiction work? Like, how do prison guards have the authority to arrest or control crowds outside of a prison?
I died, I am dead
They likely don't, hence why they are covering their identifying markings and instead trying to be faceless.
They're SORT teams, they're sent in to deal with prison riots. Basically federal prison SWAT. So since they're already federal law enforcement, they can be sent anywhere by the government really.
Nowhere else Id rather live.
and
Jessica Frost
Have been streaming for 3 days, their apartment is above the police line in Seattle at Capitol Hill. It's an angled view of the barricade and a second camera showing the size of the crowd. It's basically the best angle I've seen during all of the protests because of their very fortunate position on that intersection. They're active in chat and answering questions about things off camera. They're not professional reporters and are working with what they've got, but are doing a damn fine job - given how crap Facebook is for streaming.
Edit: I'm linking profile pages because it's a new thread. They're public and the stream goes down every few hours and gets a new URL so a direct link would be useless. Hurray Facebook?
Law and Order ≠ Justice
Just... make that metaphor even more on the nose!
(Also reform prisons and close for-profit prisons)
Yeah, seems like cracking skulls is an occupation rather than just a hobby for these guys :bigfrown:
Ah yes, that's the thing about uniforms: You don't wear them when you're assisting in a joint-operation.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
"Good enough for rubber bullets, good enough for rain."
They would just claim that umbrellas are deadly weapons and can kill.
By Miami do they mean Mar-A-Lago?
It’s in the metro even though it’s kind of up there- they trying to kinda-sorta hide that?
Spoilered for size:
I've tried looking online just now but haven't really seen anything directly rebutting the article. Maybe it's still too new? I'm seeing it was only published a day ago in the Wall Street Journal and two hours ago by The Australian.
someone got shot in Vallejo last night and the cops are explaining that they thought the hammer he allegedly had on him was a gun, which totally explains why they shot five times through their own windscreen at him as he tried to get in a car.
I'm sure an umbrella is worth at least 4 shots.
un-badged officers in DC
i.e.,
William Barr just activated 2020 USA Gestapo.
They put out a rebuttal yearly.
It's the skewed ratio of black people the police kill vs every other race in the country.
I found an article about them being deputized for security after Hurricane Harvey. Seems reasonable. I couldn't find much else.
It deflects to black-on-Black crime, “look at scary Chicago,” is basically built on the assumption that black people are more violent and that’s why they get shot more (it literally makes the case that since 60% of arrests are of black folks, why are we getting mad that only 23% of people fatally shot by cops are black...without the self-awareness to hear a record scratch at the “60% of arrests are of black folks”)
It’s gutter trash and anybody buying into it was looking for an excuse to ignore the protests anyway
Edit: It's me from 4 pages later. No. Tonight is not quieter.