As we celebrate this day of American Independence, let’s take a moment to remember the very first man who died for what-would-become-the-United-States.
His name was Crispus Attucks.
His father was a Black slave and his mother was from the Natick tribe. Crispus ran away from his childhood plantation. He became a respected sailor in New England. Whilst in Boston in 1770, a dispute with redcoats led to them opening fire on Crispus and then several others. This incident became known as “The Boston Massacre”, which, you’ll recall, jump-started the American Revolution.
As Black people are shot in the streets(andchurches) on a daily basis, as Native tribes are further displaced, and as White people desperately cling to a symbol of bigotry, let’s take a moment to remember when the death of a Black man and Native American inspired this country to change for the better.
So why don’t Black Americans sue the CIA for flooding us with crack in the ‘80s?
Latinx-Americans can join, too - we’ll make it a class action suit. It’ll be the first step (of many) toward ending this bullshit “war” on drugs that has done more harm than good.
via @vox: “I was a prominent Neo-Nazi; ignoring White Extremists is a MISTAKE”
Here’s the full transcript of Picciolini’s words in the above video (bold emphasis mine):
“In prior administrations, the [US] government has supported the fight against White extremism. They’ve recognized the threat within our own borders, but some of those policies might change.
Maybe we hear things about White extremism being removed from the Countering Violent Extremism focus, and I think that that’s a mistake.
From dozens of Jewish community centers receiving bomb threatstocemeteries and synagogues being desecrated to police officers in Las Vegas being targeted - specifically because they are law enforcement - by militiamen; we have a domestic terrorism issue that we hardly talk about because we’re so focused on the threat coming from overseas.
When Dylann Roof writes a manifesto proclaiming his hate for people and saying that he wants to murder people to progress his agenda - that, to me, is terrorism. That’s no different than an ISIS propaganda video.
The imagery of White Supremacy has changed over the last three decades. It’s gone from what-you-would-consider-your-normal-racist to something that’s more mainstream: suits and ties; fashionable haircuts; and clothes that would never identify them as Neo-Nazis until they open their mouths. And that was a concerted effort because we knew that we were turning more people away that we could eventually have on our side, if we just softened the message.
These days, with our political climate, we see a lot of coded language or dog whistles: the use of the Star of David when talking about politicians. We used to say that ‘The Jews control the media,’ and now they’ve just massaged the phrase to call it ‘Liberal Media’.
And ‘Make America Great Again’? Well, to them, that means ‘Make America WHITE Again’.
White nationalists, just like any other extremist group, promise paradise. They promise that the problems of crime and the problems of ‘White genocide’ are gonna go away. And that ‘You come from a very White, noble cause’. And that ‘your culture is worth protecting’. The problem is that nobody is trying to take that away from you.
The only problems that they have are the ones that they inflate with propaganda - with fake news - where they teach you that ‘Blacks commit more crimes against White people’ or that ‘the Jews control the media and finance system’. These are all conspiracy theories; there’s no basis in truth.
And I know this because I helped create those lies from the very beginning, and I helped spread them, and ultimately I believed them myself. And I infected that lie into other people that were innocent.
And even 20 years later, after I left the movement, I’m still pulling up the weeds from all those seeds of hate that I planted. Which is why I’ve dedicated the last 20 years of my life to help eradicate racism.”
–Christian Picciolini, former White Supremacist-turned-founder of the anti-discrimination group Life After Hate
Bystander footage showing a Sacramento, California, police officer slamming Nandi Cain Jr. — a black man — to the ground and punching him repeatedly in the face during a jaywalking stop on Monday has prompted an internal investigation, the Sacramento Police Department said in a statement.
“The actions of the involved Sacramento police officer are disturbing and [do] not appear to be reasonable based upon the circumstances,” the statement read. “The Sacramento Police Department holds itself to the highest professional standard and the actions that were observed are not indicative of the dedicated women and men who work for the department.”
Naomi Montaie, the local woman who recorded the incident with her cellphone camera and posted it on Facebook, told reporters that she had never seen anything quite like it. Read more.(4/12/2017 1:03 PM)
BLACK PEOPLE: “Why do cops kill us?”
WHITE PEOPLE: “Why are Black people so angry?”
BLACK PEOPLE: “Because we get attacked for WALKING. What’s your excuse for killing us?”
