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Like most of us, over the last few days I’ve felt horror at the #GeorgeFloyd murder & the resulting unrest.
And I've just not known what to do.
Here's a THREAD of resources & suggestions (many from other people more qualified than I) for anyone also thinking WHAT CAN I DO?!
And I've just not known what to do.
Here's a THREAD of resources & suggestions (many from other people more qualified than I) for anyone also thinking WHAT CAN I DO?!
DEMANDS:
The immediate justice for George Floyd's family is paramount.
Sign the petitions for justice and support the organisations:
NAACP:
https://www.naacp.org/campaigns/we-are-done-dying/
Color Of Change:
https://act.colorofchange.org/sign/justiceforfloyd_george_floyd_minneapolis/
BUT, we MUST also demand nationwide systemic change to policing!...
The immediate justice for George Floyd's family is paramount.
Sign the petitions for justice and support the organisations:
NAACP:
https://www.naacp.org/campaigns/we-are-done-dying/
Color Of Change:
https://act.colorofchange.org/sign/justiceforfloyd_george_floyd_minneapolis/
BUT, we MUST also demand nationwide systemic change to policing!...
Demand evidence-based community policing
Demand officers wear body cameras at all times
Demand evidence-based de-escalation training for police
Write to your city / government representative
Write to your police chief
Promote these demands on social media
Mobilize & pressurize
Demand officers wear body cameras at all times
Demand evidence-based de-escalation training for police
Write to your city / government representative
Write to your police chief
Promote these demands on social media
Mobilize & pressurize
EDUCATION:
I believe the police violence we see in the U.S. is due to systemic faults resulting from a long history of racism and bad law & order philosophy. Evidence suggests that the following forms of policing DO NOT work well:
I believe the police violence we see in the U.S. is due to systemic faults resulting from a long history of racism and bad law & order philosophy. Evidence suggests that the following forms of policing DO NOT work well:
- The ‘broken windows’ approach - the idea that if you arrest people for small misdemeanours you maintain better order.
- The ‘quota system’ - pressurizing officers to rack up as many citations as possible. (perhaps why we see so many fabricated violations / plants etc.)
- The ‘quota system’ - pressurizing officers to rack up as many citations as possible. (perhaps why we see so many fabricated violations / plants etc.)
Both of the above have been central to U.S. policing.
More here: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/the-problem-with-broken-windows-policing/
NOW, here's some GOOD policing ideas.
First, Community policing:
More here: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/the-problem-with-broken-windows-policing/
NOW, here's some GOOD policing ideas.
First, Community policing:
We need officers who consider their job to be strengthening their community!
Newark mayor Ras Baraka said the goal is to have officers “who know people’s grandmothers, who look at people as humans. If you don’t look at people as human, then you begin to treat them inhumanely.”
Newark mayor Ras Baraka said the goal is to have officers “who know people’s grandmothers, who look at people as humans. If you don’t look at people as human, then you begin to treat them inhumanely.”
NOW, a second GOOD policing idea:
and here's a shock…
Actually properly fucking training and assessing your officers !!
In the U.S., average police training lasts 19 weeks.
Compare that to most European countries where it’s +2 years.
and here's a shock…
Actually properly fucking training and assessing your officers !!
In the U.S., average police training lasts 19 weeks.
Compare that to most European countries where it’s +2 years.
COMMUNICATION:
Try to be patient with the aLl LiVes mAtTer people. No one was ever persuaded of anything by being insulted, only further ostricised or radicalised.
Try to remember the goal has to always be to persuade. Not possible? Then ignore. Don't waste your energy.
Try to be patient with the aLl LiVes mAtTer people. No one was ever persuaded of anything by being insulted, only further ostricised or radicalised.
Try to remember the goal has to always be to persuade. Not possible? Then ignore. Don't waste your energy.
A lot of violence is incited by police yes, but to anyone who thinks violence is a worthy tactic of protest:
Research shows that peaceful protest movements are twice as effective as violent ones. (Erica Chenoweth most recently)
Justice is reached quicker through peaceful means
Research shows that peaceful protest movements are twice as effective as violent ones. (Erica Chenoweth most recently)
Justice is reached quicker through peaceful means
Also, if you use violent means, the State knows EXACTLY how to deal with violence.
(as we’re seeing from all the horrific videos surfacing from the streets at the moment)
And the far right media knows EXACTLY how to frame it, in order to profit from it politically.
(as we’re seeing from all the horrific videos surfacing from the streets at the moment)
And the far right media knows EXACTLY how to frame it, in order to profit from it politically.
Violence often tips swing voters or undecided people against your cause. Omar Wasow studied the effects of protests in the wake of MLK’s assassination, he found that violent protests caused a shift towards Nixon (which helped tip the election - heed this as the election looms!)
Please know that I do not attempt to erase your fury and anguish. I do not seek to ignore your pain and exasperation. All emotions are wholly justified and I feel them.
I long for us to succeed, so I am just presenting evidence for us to consider.
I long for us to succeed, so I am just presenting evidence for us to consider.
EDUCATION:
Let's consume more books & films on the history of race in America. Last night I watched 12 Years A Slave. Other suggestions have been made to me: Selma, Imperium, Roots and Spike Lee’s films (Do The Right Thing, 4 Little Girls, Malcolm X, Bamboozled) Give these a go!
Let's consume more books & films on the history of race in America. Last night I watched 12 Years A Slave. Other suggestions have been made to me: Selma, Imperium, Roots and Spike Lee’s films (Do The Right Thing, 4 Little Girls, Malcolm X, Bamboozled) Give these a go!
Maybe watch this documentary on a Black musician who gets KKK members to disavow by befriending them https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/black-man-daryl-davis-befriends-kkk-documentary-accidental-courtesy_n_585c250de4b0de3a08f495fc?ri18n=true&guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9jb25zZW50LnlhaG9vLmNvbS9jb2xsZWN0Q29uc2VudD9zZXNzaW9uSWQ9M19jYy1zZXNzaW9uXzBlOTIxMTcwLWIwNDgtNDEzYi1iNWU1LTY3ODAyYzYwMDkzYSZsYW5nPWVuLXVzJmlubGluZT1mYWxzZQ&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAFFR5NDYe69EPt_JTizgGHujRuYxSzJ-c_sJQI1HAM7qPm4OI_if0HZiz3WsgHXDyySmZZSYuBMR9gCao5CFpnCHBUweEZSSl-YbyIzIuKWULRnYSu2tWOTwIkw_KzmG2DYx_ENPir-ljsvMSgJYDFjRc6LpCFjz6Xt_KlcnS8Ri
Maybe read this on the racist roots of American policing:
https://theconversation.com/the-racist-roots-of-american-policing-from-slave-patrols-to-traffic-stops-112816
Maybe read this on the insidious kind of racism that can be found at the heart of respectable society: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/30/why-im-no-longer-talking-to-white-people-about-race
https://theconversation.com/the-racist-roots-of-american-policing-from-slave-patrols-to-traffic-stops-112816
Maybe read this on the insidious kind of racism that can be found at the heart of respectable society: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/30/why-im-no-longer-talking-to-white-people-about-race
Digest the following:
"black people are 2.7 times as likely to be killed by police than white people"
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/do-police-kill-more-whites-than-black-people/
"unarmed black Americans are roughly five times as likely as unarmed white Americans to be shot and killed by a police officer" https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/07/11/arent-more-white-people-than-black-people-killed-by-police-yes-but-no/
"black people are 2.7 times as likely to be killed by police than white people"
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/do-police-kill-more-whites-than-black-people/
"unarmed black Americans are roughly five times as likely as unarmed white Americans to be shot and killed by a police officer" https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/07/11/arent-more-white-people-than-black-people-killed-by-police-yes-but-no/
"the black imprisonment rate for drug offenses is about 5.8 times higher than it is for whites"
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2016/jul/13/van-jones/van-jones-claim-drug-use-imprisonment-rates-blacks/
& https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/06/04/the-blackwhite-marijuana-arrest-gap-in-nine-charts/
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2016/jul/13/van-jones/van-jones-claim-drug-use-imprisonment-rates-blacks/
& https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/06/04/the-blackwhite-marijuana-arrest-gap-in-nine-charts/
Consider that 86% of U.S. prisoners have been locked up for non-violent, drug related, victimless crimes.
So, maybe write to the US Sentencing Commission ([email protected]) and ask them to reduce mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent crimes.
So, maybe write to the US Sentencing Commission ([email protected]) and ask them to reduce mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent crimes.
Or consider boycotting (or writing complaints to) companies that use prison labour - a sort of weird modern day slavery - mandatory, essentially unpaid, hard labor.
(it’s the usual suspects of course - McDonalds, Wal-Mart, Shell, exxon etc) https://returntonow.net/2016/06/13/prison-labor-is-the-new-american-slavery/
(it’s the usual suspects of course - McDonalds, Wal-Mart, Shell, exxon etc) https://returntonow.net/2016/06/13/prison-labor-is-the-new-american-slavery/
Consider also demanding that Amazon / Whole Foods stop advertising (and therefor funding) Breitbart.
Far right Propaganda sites like that fuel white supremacist views. https://actions.sumofus.org/a/amazon-stop-investing-in-hate
Far right Propaganda sites like that fuel white supremacist views. https://actions.sumofus.org/a/amazon-stop-investing-in-hate
FURTHER SUPPORT:
The Southern Poverty Law Center
https://www.splcenter.org/
Black Lives Matter
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/ms_blm_homepage_2019
#BLACK_LIVES_MATTER
Or here in the UK - @libertyhq
https://liberty.netdonor.net/page/57463/donate/1
Support BAATN therapy / counseling
https://www.baatn.org.uk/free-services/
The Southern Poverty Law Center
https://www.splcenter.org/
Black Lives Matter
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/ms_blm_homepage_2019
#BLACK_LIVES_MATTER
Or here in the UK - @libertyhq
https://liberty.netdonor.net/page/57463/donate/1
Support BAATN therapy / counseling
https://www.baatn.org.uk/free-services/
Support @YStopUK
An app that helps you protect yourself during police interactions. It helps you with your rights, records police, sends a complaint, & contacts lawyers: https://y-stop.org/complaints
An app that helps you protect yourself during police interactions. It helps you with your rights, records police, sends a complaint, & contacts lawyers: https://y-stop.org/complaints
One more open letter that's going viral, so add your name:
https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/george_floyd_loc/?wUCkfdb
If we all step up... listen, learn and mobilize, we can create a supportive underswell to help the tide of real change. Thank you for reading.
In solidarity. x
https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/george_floyd_loc/?wUCkfdb
If we all step up... listen, learn and mobilize, we can create a supportive underswell to help the tide of real change. Thank you for reading.
In solidarity. x
