Thank you to Keith over at Pharyngula for highlighting this.
(Warning: the following link contains another graphic video of Alton Sterling’s murder. So I’m putting the link below the fold. The video is not embedded in this post, however.)
I’m just going to quote Keith’s comment (though I’ll be making a couple edits… sorry, Keith… I’m obsessive about spelling, grammar, etc… it’s not you, it’s me):
So I’ve started supporting Campaign Zero. On the left-hand side of my blog, about 5 widgets down (underneath “recent posts”), you’ll see a box that will let you figure out where your representative stands on police violence, and give you links to contact them.
Here is a link to Campaign Zero. Please, support this campaign.
Thank you.
Another name, another life, another hashtag.
Cops claimed that he was pointing a gun at them. The video we do have shows him with his hands up. Yet again, the cops are lying, because they murdered another innocent black man.
Alva Braziel and his partner(?) posing happily for the camera.
Stop Killing Black People
I don’t know what to say anymore. All I can do is say their names. (All links go to their Twitter hashtags. Watch out for videos.)
Also, the women who risked her life to record the murder of Philando Castile, Diamond Reynolds, is, while in police custody, missing. She and their child are in danger. Please work to get her out.
ETA: see the title. I’m adding two more names.
I did not watch the BET Awards. But I wish I had.
Why?
Because Jesse Williams gave a fiery, impassioned speech demanding justice for black people. It was incredible. And that’s why I’m sharing it here.
This is for all of us white people:
Shut up.
Listen.
Learn.
Transcript below the fold:
July 12, 2016 – I’m making some edits on this that have been bothering me for a while, to make it, I hope, flow a little better.
You’re going to see a decent number of updates on my blog today. I’m starting with this. I first posted it on my old blog on July 3, 2015, then brought it to Daily Kos on July 21, 2015. I feel as if it’s an important post to bring here, and so I am, on March 14, 2016. I hope you find it interesting. Also… I always end up doing some editing when going back over old posts, so if you do decide to compare this to its original on my old blog or at Daily Kos, and note some differences, that’s why.
So back in early May [2015], while the Baltimore protests were going on, Rabbi Benjamin Blech wrote an article about violence in the riots. I’m linking you to Aish.com, but I first saw it in the May 8th – 14th edition of the Long Island Jewish World. I wrote a response and looked for a few friends to edit it. I actually got around to finishing it a few weeks ago. First I sent it to Aish, who decided not to publish it but did forward it to the Rabbi. I also sent it to Alternet, but never heard back.
I’m sick and tired of white people crying about black people “violently” rioting against violent White Supremacy while those same white people condone the very violent White Supremacy that is instigating and causing this backlash in the first place. And I wanted to say something about it. Please note: I use the narrative of the Exodus because the Rabbi does; I don’t actually think that happened. I also did not use the Holocaust as an analogy. In hindsight, this probably would have been better, but I also feel as if my decision to present the alternate universe was a more direct (if ham-fisted) way of conveying what I was trying to say.