Police brutality & deaths in police custody

[Mama Bear]

My year 10s are doing a unit on how poetic texts can communicate social meaning. I always use (you need an account to see links) as an example for it, and will be in tomorrow's lesson. It seems particularly fitting at the moment. Might not be lynchings anymore, but the underlying issues remain the same. I'll be so surprised if any of my students will have heard about what's going on in the States at the moment though. They're not exactly socially aware, nor the sorts of kids to watch the news. Education is such a key part of trying to make anything better though, so I'll be trying to do my small part.

[aaronsd]

My year 10s are doing a unit on how poetic texts can communicate social meaning. I always use (you need an account to see links) as an example for it, and will be in tomorrow's lesson. It seems particularly fitting at the moment. Might not be lynchings anymore, but the underlying issues remain the same. I'll be so surprised if any of my students will have heard about what's going on in the States at the moment though. They're not exactly socially aware, nor the sorts of kids to watch the news. Education is such a key part of trying to make anything better though, so I'll be trying to do my small part.

Haven't heard this before, very powerful - very fitting for the moment.. You are absolutely correct, lynchings and public mobs aren't the norm no more, but the underlying tones are definitely still there... There were a number of posts being posted all over the place about how someone isn't born a racist (search "racism" on reddit/r/pics). This really is the simple truth. I am definitely glad I had positive influences in my growing up that steered me the right way (teachers, friend group, family), we all need to accept each others cultures and backgrounds. We can't keep going forward as a human race when we are still divided by race!

You're doing a great service for our future generations we need more people like you in our education system.

[Daffodil]

Trump is currently hiding in the bunker of the whitehouse. Hiding being a coward. But he's still willing to post antagonistic things on Twitter to fuel the fire. Meanwhile, Anonymous are busy exposing Donald Trump like putting out convictions of

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for the internet to see. Kind of beautiful really. Trump is angry, calling it fake news even though it's 100% truth. Hope you're all registered to vote this psychopath out in November.

[Black Dog]

Trump is currently hiding in the bunker of the whitehouse. Hiding being a coward. But he's still willing to post antagonistic things on Twitter to fuel the fire. Meanwhile, Anonymous are busy exposing Donald Trump like putting out convictions of

Please log in to view spoilers.

for the internet to see. Kind of beautiful really. Trump is angry, calling it fake news even though it's 100% truth. Hope you're all registered to vote this psychopath out in November.

RETWEET

I'm so glad this anonymous stuff is real. They've been quiet for years, and I think there were people saying that the FBI had arrested all of them in some documentary? Apparently that's not the case!

They hacked Chicago PD radios and played Fuck The Police - NWA so they couldn't communicate about the protests which I found kinda hilarious.

[♥ PrettySarcastic ♥]

Even the New York Times, which Trump would count among the "Fake News Media" and call the "radical left" I believe, chooses their words very carefully and rarely frames the police as being the source of the violence - even when they are.

[Evangelion]

i just saw a post on facebook saying Anonymous leaked e-mails and passwords from police department employees, is this real?

[bank_man]

Even the New York Times, which Trump would count among the "Fake News Media" and call the "radical left" I believe, chooses their words very carefully and rarely frames the police as being the source of the violence - even when they are.

Sort of off topic, but I would disagree with this assessment. Their editorial board, op-ed section, and even general reporting sections (to a slightly less degree) all lean toward the progressive left (the editorial board endorsed Warren + Klobuchar, and most of the op-ed writers were Warren stans). Their reporting pretty consistently lays blame with the police. Their Twitter presence is trash, though, and they're constantly careening from one Twitter fuck up to the next.

If you look at their front page right now, they hold the police accountable for the escalation of the protests:
(you need an account to see links)

[aaronsd]

Even the New York Times, which Trump would count among the "Fake News Media" and call the "radical left" I believe, chooses their words very carefully and rarely frames the police as being the source of the violence - even when they are.

JFC cannot believe NYC being passive voice about something like this.

Sometimes when I read up on the news and all the things that happen, I really feel like we are better off wiping ourselves off sooner than later at the rate we are going. There's just so many things messed up out there and so many things that are just fundamentally wrong...

It's amazing thinking that the world has changed so much in the last 100 years, heck, even the last 10 years.. But we are still a mess as human species. All this squabbling between each other, eeesh. Really makes you lose faith in everything.

[Misha]

Ok so I'm going to try to keep this somewhat brief; as I am completely emotionally, mentally, and physically exhausted after everything I have witnessed and taken part of these past 5 days.

On Tuesday, I was just scrolling through Facebook and happened upon the video of George's death, captioned by "Minneapolis man killed by police". I currently live in a suburb near Minneapolis, but spent many years of my life in the community in South Minneapolis. So, safe to say, I was pretty outraged and pissed off after I saw Derek Chauvin kill George Floyd in broad daylight, with his hands in his pocket nonchalantly, on video in front of a handful of concerned citizens.

I screamed at my phone and almost threw it through the damn wall.

Now, I used to be the person of the belief that cops were out to protect us. My opinion on that changed a few years ago after seeing the deaths of Mike Brown, Eric Garner, Jamar Clark, Philando Castille, Justine Damond, Daniel Shaver, and George Floyd. I grew up between Bloomington and NE Minneapolis (Mom and Dad were divorced) and saw a lot of sketchy interactions go down between my black friends and the police. Not to the point where I asked questions about it, just things that make you say, "Hmm...".

Anyway, fast forward to Wednesday morning. I was contacted by my friend Josue, and asked if I wanted to go down to South Minneapolis and check out the protests. I of course replied with a HELL YES. I wanted to see how people were dealing with the tragic loss, and how police would respond to those people. I used to be the person that said, "Protest all you want just get the hell out of the road".

We got to the 3rd Precinct on Lake and Hiawatha, and everything was beautifully peaceful. People were chanting and singing, a band was playing music, people were hugging and sharing tears and laughs. It seemed like a day at the State Fair. Other than the riot police on the roof with full riot gear and rubber projectile firearms. That was a little unsettling but for the most part it felt safe.

I started taking some snapchat videos just to show people how many citizens showed up (it had to be 20,000). A man rode up on a horse down Hiawatha and the entire crowd began cheering at him. It was awesome to see.

Then about 5 minutes later, I saw a young black woman standing on the retaining wall right outside of the front of the precinct; chanting in her microphone. "Justice for George! I can't breathe!"

I then looked up at the riot police on the roof and watched one of them open fire with a rubber projectile upon the young black woman, striking her in the back. Then the peace turned in to anger from some of the people in the crowd. A handful of people started throwing rocks and bottles at the officers on the roof, never striking any of them, but enough to get them to duck a little for cover. The officers then started aimlessly firing in to the crowd, as well as tossing concussion grenades all around us to get the sheer numbers to disperse. I was 15 feet from the front door of the 3rd precinct. It was scary to see it so close and be a part of it, even as an innocent bystander.

As soon as the officers on the roof went out of view from the crowd, all hell broke loose from about 150 people who bumrushed the precinct and began spray painting, throwing things through the windows, and one man threw a metal barricade right through the front door. The riot police were soon on each back corner of the building, in formation to advance upon us. The officers proceeded down both sides of the precinct and started macing anyone who was standing near them as they came towards us, no matter if they were a 12 year old kid, an 80 year old woman, or anything in between, just standing there with their hands up. Soon after that tear gas hit the middle of the intersection and within 60 seconds, the entire block was clouded with the irritant.

I tried to stand my ground as much as I could, and tried to take video, but my phone wasn't getting service all of a sudden. So we started backing up a little bit as they advanced and then I was hit with a rubber projectile in the rib cage. Thankfully the backpack I had on took a bit of the force from the strap as I was struck. That was my cue to get out for the night. I knew it was going to get crazy, just didn't know how crazy.

So anyway, I was in the "ground zero" of it all and watched it go from completely peaceful, to chaos within 2 hours of arriving. People in the crowd were pleading with the agitators to stop throwing things back because that's what the cops wanted us to do, and gave them reason to forcefully remove us.

Over the past few days I have seen countless amounts of people on social media, only seeing the aftermath of the events turn in to looting and arson, because that's what the media decided to put out. There was no news coverage AT ALL on the event until it was "looters and criminals". It turned what was a beautiful showing, in to a complete disgrace to George and his family.

That night, everything was on fire. I mean, every single commercial building within a 6 block radius of the 3rd precinct was cleaned out and burnt to ashes. The following night, the 3rd was burned to the ground; and now we have the full force of the national guard enforcing a curfew on Minneapolis and Saint Paul. I have seen videos of the riot police marching down side streets firing at anyone who is outside of their homes, with marker rounds and pepper paintballs.

It has turned in to a giant conspiracy, as well as the largest civil uprising in world history, in the matter of a few days. And I got to witness it firsthand from the source. So many people don't believe that there are peaceful people and protests happening anywhere, they are only seeing the media coverage of the criminal activity and the government response.

If anyone wants to ask me questions about the events that have happened, or want to see videos that I, or my friends, have taken; feel free to PM me.


All I know is that I will be on the right side of this movement. I am happy to have experienced what I did, and able to see the injustice in our country unfold. Change is coming.

[Mama Bear]

To update anyone interested in how my 10s responded to the lesson today - it was the best one we've had all year. Kids who are usually apathetic were so engaged with the lesson and discussions that were raised. Based on (you need an account to see links), I had them throw out some reactions, and we structured these into the following poem:

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From there, we looked at how we could incorporate rhyme and rhythm even more. This was the class' attempt at writing a rap showing support for the protesters. I hope no one takes it the wrong way; my students were genuinely moved by what I showed them today, and put a lot of heart into this, even if it's not the best rap ever.

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