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hi, y'all listening? I have some thoughts on the two protests I attended this weekend and the Rodney King riots. #LAProtests
people have been comparing these #LAProtests to the Rodney King riots. A lot. I was a very young lawyer living in the San Fernando Valley at the time (fun postscript to this thread) and I see lots of differences.
and of course I've been trying to separate my own lens/ self from the protests. I wasn't terribly "woke" back then. I am trying to be better now. #LAProtests
But even after trying to separate my own lens out, there are some real differences. And we need to listen to those. #LAProtests
1. Rodney King was proof of what African Americans were saying -- racist cops, finally caught on video. But he was a one-off in that there weren't a lot of similar incidents, or the ones that did happen in the years shortly thereafter didn't get national attention.
1a. Now, we have so many that it's hard to keep track of them all. Michael Brown. Tamir Rice. Trayvon Martin. George Floyd. Eric Garner. Etc. (At yesterday's big protest, we chanted their names. And it took a while to get thru all of them.) #LAProtests
2. Why so many? is it just the advent of video? Lots of folk are saying -- the murder of Black people under color of law has been going on so long, but only now is it being filmed. But... (next tweet) #LAProtests
2a. I genuinely think there's more violence toward Black people under color of law (aka by cops) and it's for a specific reason. Call it post-Obama, call it a culture that Trump inoculated... but the angry white folk are more, and louder, than say in 2008. #LAProtests
2b. remember the historical research showing that monuments to the Confederacy were erected during/ shortly after eras in which Black people stood up? the monuments were intended to put them back down. #LAProtests
2c. And IMO the same thing -- angry white folk acting to put black people down and in their place -- is happening. So these horrific acts of violence are more frequent than they were in the 2000s, 1990s, 1980s. #LAProtests
3. let's talk about who participates in #LAProtests, Rodney King and now.
Rodney King was basically a riot by Black people in Black neighborhoods. These are far more diverse, and they're in white suburbia.
Rodney King was basically a riot by Black people in Black neighborhoods. These are far more diverse, and they're in white suburbia.
3a. and the L.A./ West Hollywood protests yesterday were very deliberately planned to be in white neighborhoods, per leading Black Lives Matter-LA leading activist Melina Abdullah https://bit.ly/3clasLC
3b. But it's more than simply bringing the pain to white neighborhoods. It's a question of welcoming white folk into a movement. (L.A. is a horribly segregated town. White folk don't go to South Central.) #LAProtests
3c. And protesting in white neighborhoods also means that the protests attract people who are anti-capitalist as much as they are anti-racist. #EatTheRich, they chanted yesterday. #LAProtests
3d. The movement optimist in me says -- that's a good thing. We know that we can't dismantle systemic racism without dismantling parts of the capitalist system. So welcome white allies! #LAProtests
4. The Overton WIndow on the demands has shifted. A lot. Post-Rodney King, and even post-Ferguson, the demands were for better policing: body cameras, training, Now... #AbolishICE and #DefundThePolice.
4a. It turns out that body cameras just enable us all to see people getting murdered without cause. Training doesn't make enough of a difference. We elected a charlatan to L.A. Sheriff who called himself a progressive, and believed that a black woman D.A. would change things.
4b. So the demand to abolish the police force, entirely, is new to mainstream circles. And it's leading @thenation now! https://bit.ly/36MuqO8
5. Now let's talk about #ThePoliceAreRioting and #ThePoliceAreTargetingJournalists.
Way too many Black journos have been arrested, shot at, shaken down, hurt. Was it targeted, or a lot of accidents? IDK. But fear a woke press.
Way too many Black journos have been arrested, shot at, shaken down, hurt. Was it targeted, or a lot of accidents? IDK. But fear a woke press.
5a. Journalists who are p!ssed act out by digging deeper. I'm sorta optimistic that this attack by the police will lead to even more and better investigative stories, and finally some accountability. #LAProtests
6. There's probably more to say, but i am exhausted. After yesterday #LAProtests i tried to unplug today. Went for a 7 mile run with SHADOW. Bought new-to-me furniture. Before blowing up in Thousand Oaks.
