Activism

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High School Bans ‘I Can’t Breathe’ T-Shirts

 

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A high school basketball tournament on the Northern California coast has become the latest flashpoint in the ongoing protests over police killings of unarmed black men after a school was disinvited because of concerns its players would wear T-shirts printed with the words “I Can’t Breathe” during warmups.

The athletic director at Fort Bragg High School informed his counterpart at Mendocino High School this week that neither the boys nor girls team would be allowed to participate in the three-day tournament hosted by Fort Bragg High starting Monday, Mendocino Unified School District Superintendent Jason Morse said.

The boys were reinstated after all but one player agreed not to wear the shirts inspired by the last words of Eric Garner, the New York man who died after an officer put him in a chokehold, while on the Fort Bragg campus during the Vern Piver Holiday Classic tournament, Morse said. Too few girl players accepted the condition for the team to field a tournament squad, he said.

 

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Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

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Andrew Hawkins

 

Andrew Hawkins (1986- ), an American football player, is a wide receiver for the Cleveland Browns. Like other Black sports figures in the US in the past few weeks, he protested against police brutality. On Sunday December 14th 2014 he walked out onto the field wearing a shirt that said:
“Justice for Tamir Rice and John Crawford III”
Tamir Rice, age 12, was shot dead by police in November; John Crawford, age 28, in August. In both cases:

  1. White police officers rush up on a Black male with an airgun and shoot him down.
  2. The police investigate themselves.
  3. A grand jury makes a decision whether to put the police officers on trial.

In the Crawford case the grand jury has already said there will be no trial.

 

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Source: abagond.wordpress.com

 

And remember, these air guns were NEVER pointed at the police.

 

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Samuel L. Jackson Just Challenged Celebrities to Call Out the “Violence of the Racist Police”

 

In a bold move, heavyweight actor Samuel L. Jackson has issued a call to action, similar to that of the ice bucket challenge, but for police.
Saturday, on his facebook page, Jackson offers to “all [the] celebrities that poured ice water on [their] head, a chance to do something else.”

Jackson challenges celebrities to sing the “We ain’t gonna stop, till people are free” song.
The song starts off with a reference to Eric Garner’s last words.

I can hear my neighbor cryin’ ‘I can’t breathe’

Now I’m in the struggle and I can’t leave.

Callin’ out the violence of the racist police.

We ain’t gonna stop, till people are free.

We ain’t gonna stop, till people are free.

Jackson then ends the 47 second challenge asking celebrities to “come on, sing it out.”
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Source: thefreethoughtproject.com

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This is about STRUCTURAL Racism

 

“This is not about one man. This is about structural racism in a country built on Black slavery.”

 

Source: moniquecharles.wordpress.com

 

This is about STRUCTURAL Racism in a country built on the enslavement of Black people & the oppression of people of color.

 

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Flabbergasted!!!

 

During the last several days, the release of a Senate report on torture at the hands of the American government was not too much of a surprise. However, I will say, I was dumbfounded by the response from the talking heads on television and much of white America for the most part.
One of my followers, who is a white woman, commented on a piece I wrote with the comment “I can’t believe my country did such things. I am ashamed to be an American.” To her comment and other likeminded folk – I will use a word white folk’s use, I am “flabbergasted”.
When you consider this country’s shameful history with regard to human rights abuses, its brutal past, and racism – really! How could anyone be shocked? I know, they tell us this is the great country on earth, God-fearing and Christian – yada – yada. But, if you ask a person of of any other cultural group that is non-white I guarantee you will get a different answer! They might use another word white folk’s use – ludicrous! It is only His-Story and the Bible that makes them believe such a notion to warrant such reactions.
First of all, America is a land stolen from its native people, who were massacred, infected with disease, and put on reservations to accomplish this theft from the country from which they came. The Chinese were used and abused in many ways like today’s Latin people but the most wretchedly brutalized people were those taken from Africa and enslaved. To be clear, each group was used as a beast of burden to build a nation and wealth for non-whites; all the while claiming “all men are created equal”.

 

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Source: thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com

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Mothers Against Police Brutality Rally for Accountability

A delegation of mothers of sons who were victims of police brutality are
demanding Congress pass federal legislation that would hold police
accountable nationwide

Source: therealnews.com

 

#BLACKLIVESMATTER

#HANDSUPDONTSHOOT

#ICANTBREATHE

#SHUTITDOWN

 

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Delegation Of Grieving Mothers Tells Congress What It’s Like To Lose A Son due to Police Brutality & Excessive Force

On Wednesday, a group of nine African American women, called the Delegation of Grieving Mothers, went before the House Judiciary committee to discuss what it meant to lose their sons to violence at the hands of police.

Tressa Sherrod, mother of John Crawford; Wanda Johnson, mother of Oscar Grant; Valerie Bell, mother of Sean Bell and a number of other mothers who have experienced the impact of police brutality and the use excessive force were also in attendance.

Source: thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com

 

#BLACKLIVESMATTER

#HANDSUPDONTSHOOT

#ICANTBREATHE

 

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#WhiteCoats4BlackLives: Medical Students Stage Nationwide Protests Against Police Brutality

 

Medical students from more than 70 schools on Wednesday protested racial profiling and police brutality through the social media initiative #WhiteCoats4BlackLives.
Hundreds of medical students wore white coats at “die-ins” and other protests on campuses to spotlight racial bias as a public health issue.
The medical students joined others who have demonstrated since grand juries in Ferguson, Missouri, and in New York City declined to indict white police officers in the killings of unarmed black men. Some of the protests have involved students, including those in high schools, colleges and Ivy league schools.

 

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Source: goodblacknews.org