#ferguson

“ ‘Land of the free…’

but not me”

- Digable Planets

For more black magic,

Follow IG: @TheMightyDexter

theists:

US Department of Justice found “Constitutional rights violations”, a history of “racial violence”, and “excessive force” in Ferguson, MO by the Ferguson police department. Either a settlement will be reached or the PD will be sued for the constitutional violations. 

I’m just here sipping my tea for everyone who said the cops aren’t racist and everything that happened in Ferguson is completely justified

If you read the hit pieces on Michael Brown (referred to as Mr. Brown by the NYTeven though he was just 18 years old), you realize that this system is one which creates falsity and lies in order to defend the ability of white supremacist pigs to murder unarmed children on the street.

Do they even know which side they are on?

I had the most fun skating tonight than I have had in a while (maybe because the pressure of passing those two tests is gone)!

Ferguson’s radical knitters: “If someone asks me what I’m doing, I say, ‘I’m knitting for black liberation” by Sarah Kendzior
One year after Ferguson protests sparked renewed focus on policing in the US, the women of The Yarn Mission continue dialogue about race and social justice

In a coffeehouse on the south side of St Louis, a group of women discuss how to knit, purl and dismantle white supremacy.

“As a black woman, you’re invisible,” says Taylor Payne, a member of the group. “But knitting makes people stop and have a conversation with you. If someone asks me what I’m doing, I say, ‘I’m knitting for black liberation.’ Sometimes they respond and sometimes I just get ‘Oh, my grandma knits,’ like the person didn’t hear me. But at least it opens the door to talking about my experiences.”

“People consistently underestimate the power of knitting,” says Sewell. “They don’t recognize its radical properties. They’re always surprised when they talk to us about what why we’re knitting, like, ‘Is she talking about racism right now? Did she really just say ‘police brutality?’”

Ilove this.

The Talk by Rachel Giese
A new sex ed for boys

[…] he unfolds himself from his chair and sketches a picture on a whiteboard at the front of the room: a figure shaped like a gingerbread man, with a smiley face, a heart, and a starburst at the crotch.

Abbott points to the head and explains that gender identity lies there (whether you define yourself as a man, a woman, or somewhere in between); the heart represents orientation (whom you’re attracted to); the starburst connotes sex (your physical characteristics); and the outline, the external shape, stands for gender expression (how you dress, talk, walk, and so on). These various aspects don’t line up the same way for everyone, he says.

Giving young men the opportunity to talk about what they enjoy and what they don’t also opens the door to considering the desires of others, and it’s a short leap from talking about pleasure to talking about consent. Boys are repeatedly told in sex ed classes that “no means no,” Chai says, but they are seldom asked if they ever want to say no themselves. The hope is that if they get in touch with their wants and needs, they will show more respect for their partners’ wishes, too. (On the flip side, a movement has emerged to encourage young women to feel good about enjoying sex, a kind of unashamed, yes-means-hell-yes concept called “enthusiastic consent.”)

The fundamental lesson at work here is how to establish and respect boundaries and personal choice. […] Teaching young men to trust, communicate, negotiate, and empathize does not undermine or threaten their manliness. It expands their humanity. It reclaims men’s possibilities.

I love this, too. I wish that this is the typical sex education that everyone gets to have. I barely remember the sex ed class I took in high school, but we certainly didn’t go over the differences between gender identity, sexual orientation, sex, and gender expression. We mostly went over STDs and how awful they are. The sex ed I remember clearly was abstinence-only, taught during a church retreat. It taught me that sex is a gross, awful thing that magically becomes amazing and loving in the context of heterosexual marriage (…what?). Anyways, there’s a great Last Week Tonight with John Oliver segment on the problems with sex ed in America that I highly recommend.

Luminosity by Alicorn
The history and character of the Twilight world are intact in Luminosity up to the point where the story begins, with one exception: Bella’s a rational self-awareness-junkie with a penchant for writing down everything that crosses her mind in a notebook.

My father, Charlie, met my second plane in Port Angeles, hugged me with one arm, and helped me get my suitcases into his police cruiser. Once I’d buckled my seatbelt, in accordance with the law it would have been too ironic not to obey in a cop car, Charlie began the drive to his house - my house, too, I supposed. He told me he’d found a good car for me, a cheap one.

Ihad wanted a car. Not just to have a car - I didn’t care about cars very much as objects - but to have autonomous mobility around town, and to avoid dependence on Charlie for rides, as he a) had other things to do with his time and b) drove a conspicuous vehicle. That he’d found me one for myself was a sign of attentiveness, trust, and spontaneous generosity: he knew what I wanted, thought I’d be responsible enough to have it, and offered it to me without any social obligation to do so whatever. I felt a rush of gratitude, and immediately thanked him warmly. He looked a little embarrassed; I relieved the awkwardness by asking after the details of the car and providing a concrete topic.

I’ve never read Twilight before, but a friend suggested Luminosity when discussing rationalist fiction and Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. I don’t plan on reading the actual series or watching the movies because I’ve heard too many things about how Bella is a vapid character unable to think for herself; this fanfiction certainly makes up for any vacuousness. It’s interesting how both Bella in Luminosity and Harry in HPMOR are staunchly opposed to death; either this is something common in rationalist circles or a product of HPMOR as inspiration (or a coincidence). Anyways, this was an awesome read.

“This latest yet unidentified St. Louis police executioner claimed that he followed Myers and his friends because he felt that the teens were acting suspiciously.” Ten minutes earlier he had taken the turkey sandwich Berhe Beyet made him and cradled it away from his friend’s playful snatching. Then stood breaking off a piece that he shared with another friend. By now, his mother has seen this tape of him standing in silhouette, and watched his peaceful chewing. On his way out the door he gives yet another friend a bite of what he did not know was his last supper, walking off into a night every parent in America cannot begin to imagine. A night every black person in America knows is coming and that the next one coming could be them—might as well be them—every time they imagine the high caliber bullet shattering his cheek bone, eye socket, aorta the medical examiner identified as the cause of death. http://goo.gl/XxJR1p

Race has always been a painful and complicated issue in America. It is tragic and embarrassing that things need to come to such a point of crisis to create the potential to open such a critical conversation.


The Story:

Overview
http://mashable.com/2014/11/24/darren-wilson-charges-michael-brown-ferguson/?utm_cid=mash-com-fb-main-link

Missouri teen shot dead by police had assaulted officer: police
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/10/us-usa-missouri-shooting-idUSKBN0GA0Q420140810%20

Police Fire Tear Gas Quell Protests Over Michael Browns Death
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/michael-brown-shooting/police-fire-tear-gas-quell-protests-over-michael-browns-death-n178606

Obama Calls Michael Brown Death ‘Heartbreaking’
http://time.com/3105013/obama-death-of-michael-brown-heartbreaking/

Obama responds to Ferguson decision:
http://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000003254144/obama-responds-to-ferguson-decision.html



More Links:

NBC Live Video Coverage:
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/michael-brown-shooting/watch-live-continuing-coverage-ferguson-grand-jury-decision-n255161

New York Times Live Coverage:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/25/us/ferguson-darren-wilson-shooting-michael-brown-grand-jury.html

Ferguson National Response Network (unaccredited at time of posting tumblr):
http://fergusonresponse.tumblr.com/

Transcript of State of Missouri v. Darren Wilson (unaccredited at time of posting):
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1370494-grand-jury-volume-5.html

Twitter Hashtags:
#ferguson, #blacklivesmatter, #noindictment, 

majiinboo:

• Do not forget Michael Brown
• Do not forget how the media dehumanized him and tried to justify his murder
• Do not forget how peaceful protests were painted as savage riots
• Do not forget police armed with military grade weapons terrorized and arrested black civilians
• Do not forget Darren Wilson being awarded over $400,000 in fundraiser donations for murdering an unarmed black child
• Do not forget that this system was not built to defend us, but to control us
• Do not forget Ferguson