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If people keep letting law enforcement dictate who they are then we will continue to lose. The entire system including rhetoric has been develop and maintained by police, that's why the trope of good protester and bad protester must end. Everyone should just a protester.
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Ex. What often happens in police shootings is a delay in the disclosure of the name of a person so that a narrative by police can be developed. They find each and every bad act a person may have done. /2
That way when the information is released, people think oh he had priors he deserved it. /3
Meanwhile the officer who actually killed/harmed someone - their name is elusive to find. /4
Thus, the media unless trained to view the situation critically will report on the facts law enforcement gives them without scrutiny. /5
Take for instance the Corey Jones (black man) case in Florida. Corey had stopped on the side of the road because his vehicle broke down. When an officer drove down there in an UNMARKED vehicle and refused to identify himself Corey got scared and ran away. /5
The officer then shot and killed him. The immediate narratives that came out was Corey was a black man and had a gun on him so he deserved to die.
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From Wash Post: "In a statement issued Monday afternoon, the Palm Beach Gardens Police Department said that officer Nouman Raja was in plainclothes in an unmarked car when he stopped to investigate what he believed to be an abandoned vehicle on an Interstate 95 exit ramp." /7
“As the officer exited his vehicle, he was suddenly confronted by an armed subject,” the police department said in a statement. “As a result of the confrontation, the officer discharged his firearm, resulting in the death of the subject.” /8
For DAYS, the cops used the black man with a gun narrative and having been a police accountability advocate I was like screw this shit at the start of it. I asked for the officer's police misconduct history which the PD unkindly took days to respond to. /9
As soon as I got it I shared it with @WesleyLowery who wrote in his Wash Post story: "His disciplinary records from that department, obtained by the open-records group Transparency and Accountability Project, /10
show that he received a written warning for failing to properly file some investigative paperwork but do not include any complaints or investigation related to use of force." Here's the article: /11
The Jones family also told the story of their son. This image will always stay with me. His family defined their son as church drummer. /12
Corey's friend said this: “They’re saying he was armed, but I don’t know if I believe it,” said Huntsberger, who described Jones as a really mellow, church-going guy. “Of course they’re going to say that." /13
“He was a good kid, just coming home from a gig,” said Jones’s cousin Frank Hearst, 36, of Nashville, Tenn. “He was just an all-around good guy who never got into any trouble, never had any record. It’s just an unfortunate situation.” /14
"Hearst said family members are upset at how little information has been provided about the shooting. They want to know how many shots were fired, and what weapon he allegedly was carrying when he was killed. They say Jones never carried a firearm." /15
This drip of information is because law enforcement covers for one another. The department was covered for the cop here, Nouman Raja. /16
Because the police can monopolize the facts they can choose to define them how they want. Then the way people perceive things is based upon their analysis. Once people get one bit of information it's hard to shift them from that view. /17
They have vilified black men across this country through this process over and over again. /18
What was helpful in this case was that the FBI (outside third party investigator) came in and investigated the case. What they found was that the police's version of events could not be further from the truth. Here's the FBI's animation events: /19
Watch the whole clip. It's an open and shut case. Nouman Raja murdered Corey Jones. Look at the way Raja pulls up on Jones. Remember - UNMARKED van. PLAINCLOTHES officer. Jones has no idea who this guy is because he doesn't identify himself. /20
Look at how quickly Raja made up a story while he's calling his colleagues about Jones' gun because he knows he messed up. /21
A jury didn't believe him. He was found guilty of manslaughter and attempted murder. 25 years on both counts. https://abcnews.go.com/US/florida-officer-nouman-raja-sentenced-25-years-killing/story?id=62626285 /22
This is why you never let police define your reality. They will makeup an entire fictional universe to vilify people. They will gaslight you. They're good at it because they've always done it. /23
They have been doing this to black people and other marginalized communities for years. Don't get sucked into it. /24
Choose how you are going to define this movement, because if you are not very purposeful in your rhetoric, the cops will do it for you and it won't end well for anyone. They will marginalize and marginalize and the only ones left will be a small group that they pick apart. /25
EVERYONE should just be a protester. /26
This piece by @BlairStenvick also makes very compelling and important points on this topic. https://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2020/06/03/28503214/what-is-a-peaceful-protest /27
