CORONAVIRUS! Part 41 – #BlackoutTuesday
Tuesday, June 2, 2020
BLACKOUT TUESDAY TODAY!
WARNING: I’m going to talk politics, civil rights, racism, police brutality, abuse of power, abuse of power under color of authority, murder, First Amendment, and personal freedom in this post. If you don’t like it. Don’t read it.
Police brutality and/or Police Violence is a civil rights violation where officers exercise undue or excessive force against a civilian. Including, but not limited to, physical and/or verbal harassment, physical and/or mental injury, property damage, and DEATH.
All men (and women) are created equal.
The Constitution, the First Amendment and Personal Freedom are under attack!
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” – the Preamble of the Constitution
February 26, 2012: Trayvon Martin was an unarmed 17-year-old African-American man from Miami Gardens, Florida. He was fatally shot and murdered by George Zimmerman.
WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA?
The First Amendment of the Constitution prohibits any law abridging freedom of speech, infringing on freedom of the press, interfering with right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting petitioning for a redress of grievances. (and there’s also something about religion too)
“Article I – Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” (The First Amendment)
“I Can’t Breathe” – George Floyd / “I Can’t Breathe” – Eric Garner
GEORGE FLOYD AND ERIC GARNER WERE MURDERED BY POLICE OFFICERS!
CLICK THE PIC-DOCUMENT BELOW TO ENLARGE
FTP! FUDT! FINGERS UP FOR TRUMP! FU TRUMP! FUCK TRUMP!
THE LIAR AND THIEF IS A RACIST AND WHITE SUPREMACIST!
STOP POLICE BRUTALITY! STOP SYSTEMIC RACISM!
STOP KILLING UNARMED BLACK AND BROWN PEOPLE!
STOP RIOTING AND LOOTING! STOP BURNING THINGS!
“I just want to say – you know – can we all get along?
Can we, can we get along?”
– Rodney King RIP on May 1, 1992
August 9, 2014: Michael Brown Jr., an 18-year-old unarmed African American man, was fatally shot six times (Wilson fired a total of twelve bullets) and murdered in broad daylight by 28-year-old white Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson.
WARNING! GRAPHIC IMAGE!
African-American Teenager Michael Brown Killed by Caucasian Police Officer in Ferguson, Missouri. (Do you think this image should be censored on CNN?)
#BLACKOUTUESDAY
READ OUR PREVIOUS BLOG “CORONAVIRUS! Part 38 – I Can’t Breathe”>
https://joshwilltravel.wordpress.com/2020/05/31/coronavirus-part-38-i-cant-breathe-hands-up-dont-shoot-continued/
READ OUR PREVIOUS BLOG “Hands Up! Don’t Shoot!”> https://joshwilltravel.wordpress.com/2014/08/14/hands-up-dont-shoot/
“May the Four Winds blow them safely home.”
I have privilege as a white person because
I can do most of these things without thinking twice:
I can go birding (ChristianCooper)
I can go jogging (AmaudArbery)
I can relax in the comfort of my own home (BothemSean and AtatianaJefferson)
I can ask for help after being in a car crash (JonathanFerrell and RenishaMcBride)
I can have a cellphone (StephonClark)
I can leave a party to get to safety (JordanEdwards)
I can play loud music (JordanDavis)
I can sell CDs (AltonSterling)
I can sleep (AiyanaJones)
I can walk from the corner store (MikeBrown)
I can play cops and robbers (TamirRice)
I can go to church (Charleston9)
I can walk home with Skittles (TrayvonMartin)
I can hold a hair brush while leaving my own bachelor party (SeanBell)
I can party on New Years (OscarGrant)
I can get a normal traffic ticket (SandraBland)
I can lawfully carry a weapon (PhilandoCastile)
I can break down on a public road with car problems (CoreyJones)
I can shop at Walmart (JohnCrawford)
I can have a disabled vehicle (TerrenceCrutcher)
I can read a book in my own car (KeithScott)
I can be a 10yr old walking with our grandfather (CliffordGlover)
I can decorate for a party (ClaudeReese)
I can ask a cop a question (RandyEvans)
I can cash a check in peace (YvonneSmallwood)
I can take out my wallet (AmadouDiallo)
I can run (WalterScott)
I can breathe (EricGarner)
I can live (FreddieGray)
I CAN BE ARRESTED WITHOUT THE FEAR OF BEING MURDERED* (GeorgeFloyd)
White privilege is real.
Take a minute to consider a Black person’s experience today.
UPDATED: Did you hear what happened in Boston?
In Boston, during a verbal dispute, an unarmed teenage boy was forcefully hit in the head with the butt of a weapon by local law enforcement.
Word of the incident spread quickly, and a large number of locals gathered in the street where the incident had happened to protest almost immediately.
As the crowd grew, angry protesters shouted slogans; some business owners, fearing property damage, shut their doors. The local authorities called for uniformed backup; backup came, well-armed.
The assembly was deemed “unlawful,” and the crowd was ordered to disperse. The protesters began to throw dirt clods in response.
In response, multiple uniformed law enforcers fired on the crowd. The first protester to die was a black man and the authorities justified the shooting by claiming that they “feared for their lives.”
Scroll down to read the most intense part…
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The above events happened in the year 1770, the authorities were British soldiers, the protest would later be called the Boston Massacre, and the first protester killed in that conflict was Crispus Attucks, a black man considered by many to be a heroic American patriot and the first casualty of the American Revolution.
If, while reading this story, you found yourself siding with the authorities and thinking that the protesters should have dispersed when ordered, and/or that the protesters armed with dirt and sticks deserved to be met with deadly force by armed law enforcement, be aware that you chose the side of the tyrant King George III, not the American patriots.
Ponder that.
This is what we’re up against. This is who they are:
POLICE BRUTALITY AND POLICE VIOLENCE IS AN EVERYDAY REALITY!
Everyone has a camera! Everyone is watching now!
Austin police have killed a young man by shooting him in the head with bird shot rounds wrapped in cloth, and continued to shoot the medics carrying his body. They shot a known pregnant woman in the stomach, then stormed and abducted her from a medic tent. They maced young children during a peaceful daytime protest.
Detroit police have brutally beaten, tear gassed and arrested my friends peacefully protesting. A curfew is set from 8pm to 5am city wide.
Rockford police dragged people from their cars and beat them last night.
Minneapolis police shot at people filming them on their own balconies.
Los Angeles Sheriffs also shot at people filming them from their homes.
An NYPD officer called a woman a “fucking bitch” and threw her on the ground. She went into a seizure and had to go to the emergency room. Then more New York cops rammed into crowds of protesters with their cars.
An Atlanta couple last night had their tires slashed, windows broken, and were dragged out of their car and tazed.
Chicago police announced a curfew and then raised the bridges out of downtown. Demonstrators were trapped and at the utter mercy of CPD roundups. A police supervisor ordered on the radio, “Gas ’em all.” Over 1,000 people have been arrested.
Everywhere, journalists are being indiscriminately targeted and arrested. A Minneapolis photojournalist is blinded permanently in one eye after being hit by a less lethal round.
They’ve maced children. They’ve torn off a woman’s hijab. They’re turning off their body cameras and hiding their badge numbers.
This is just what’s been documented. Imagine what hasn’t been.
The true nature of American policing has been revealed for the world to see. I have never seen brutality on such a massive scale. They don’t care if you’re peaceful. They don’t care if they’re on camera.
Black and brown youth are the leaders on the ground. They are the leaders of our future. Black and brown youth are the people who are bleeding, getting beaten, and being thrown into jail. This is trauma that will last their whole lives.
To the bail funds. To the phone lines to demand release. We have to protect our people.
If you’re going out there again please, and I beg you, be safe.
NOTE: The camera angle makes it look like he’s pointing at the little girl, he’s actually threatening innocent protesters. We wouldn’t want you to think the Long Beach Police would shoot a small child.
Your black friend is trying to be ok.
Your Black friend in the past 30 days has watched a Black man get shot dead while jogging (Ahmaud Arbery), a Black woman get shot dead while sleeping (Breona Taylor), and the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. Your Black friend has also listened to the President of the United States use segregationist words as a veiled threat.
Your Black friend is trying to be ok.
Please don’t ask us about the looting.
Please don’t chastise us about the rioting.
Please don’t tell us that all lives matter.
Please don’t minimize our fear.
Please don’t bring up Black on Black crime.
Please don’t ask “What about Chicago?”
Please don’t say “if you’d just act like (A Wildly Successful Black Person… Usually Oprah, Obama, Colin Powell, Denzel or Will Smith)”. Please don’t judge us
Your Black friend is trying to be ok.
Listen to your Black friend.
Empathize with your Black friend.
Support your Black friend.
Pray for your Black friend.
Just let your Black friend know you really care.
Your Black friend will remember who truly had their back during this difficult time. They will remember who was more concerned about a looted Target. They will remember you posting a thinly veiled and racially offensive meme. They will remember you calling looters “Savages”. They will remember your silence about their Black life and the Black Lives of others.
It’s real easy.
Do whatever you can to help your Black friend out because your Black friend is trying to be ok…..
DO YOU HAVE A BLACK FRIEND? DO YOU HAVE MORE THAN ONE BLACK FRIEND?
Updated June 4, 2020:
One of the men accused of murdering unarmed black man Ahmaud Arbery in the US state of Georgia used a racial slur after shooting him, a court has heard. A Georgia state investigator said Travis McMichael used the slur and an expletive as Mr Arbery lay on the ground. Mr Arbery was jogging when he was chased down by Mr McMichael and his father in Brunswick in February. The case caused widespread outrage after footage was leaked online. Travis and Gregory McMichael are facing murder charges. Another man, William Bryan, faces charges of murder and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.
VOTE BLUE! VOTE BIDEN 2020! VOTE!
And VOTE WITH YOUR WALLET TOO!
And here’s a new warning, and it’s not just for protesters:
UPDATED Friday, June 19, 2020
It’s no accident that:
You learned about Helen Keller instead of W.E.B. DuBois
You learned about the Watts and L.A. Riots, but not Tulsa or Wilmington.
You learned that George Washington’s dentures were made from wood, rather than the teeth from slaves.
You learned about black ghettos, but not about Black Wall Street.
You learned about the New Deal, but not “red lining.”
You learned about Tommie Smith’s fist in the air at the 1968 Olympics, but not that he was sent home the next day and stripped of his medals.
You learned about “black crime,” but white criminals were never lumped together and discussed in terms of their race.
You learned about “states rights” as the cause of the Civil War, but not that slavery was mentioned 80 times in the articles of secession.
Privilege is having history rewritten so that you don’t have to acknowledge uncomfortable facts.
Racism is perpetuated by people who refuse to learn or acknowledge this reality.
You have a choice.
Happy Juneteenth!
JoshWillTravel 
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