activism

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Ferguson’s Mayor Faces The Heat As Forum Dissects City’s Divisions [AUDIO]

 

 

An audience member shows Ferguson Mayor James Knowles III a rubber bullet wound that he says he received during unrest in the north St. Louis County city. A forum sponsored by St. Louis Public Radio became heated, with the biggest ire being directed at Knowles. NPR’s Michel Martin is at center.
Credit Jason Rosenbaum, St. Louis Public Radio

 

 

A forum Thursday evening peering into Ferguson’s longstanding tensions as well as the St. Louis region’s racial divisions became angry and heated, with most of a crowd’s ire directed at the town’s mayor.

Audience members expressed searing criticism of Ferguson’s governance and leadership, both of which have come under fire since one of the Ferguson’s police officers shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown.

 

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Source: news.stlpublicradio.org

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Why All Communities Must Demand an End to Police Brutality

 

The images out of Ferguson, Missouri, these past two weeks have been shocking: tear gas blanketing suburban streets, law enforcement creating a war zone and defiant protesters braving it all. But it is important to remember that what started Ferguson’s fight is far too common: the police killing of an unarmed black teen.

African-Americans are the primary targets of law-enforcement profiling and violence, as the killings of Oscar Grant, Sean Bell, Jonathan Ferrell and Eric Garner all attest. But during this past week, Latino, Asian-American, Arab-American and Muslim organizations have all released statements of solidarity informed by similar experiences with discriminatory law enforcement practices, as well as an urgency to collectively identify and implement solutions.

 

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Source: www.thenation.com

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My life as a colony: a self-portrait in four parts -by Claire Marie O’Brien

 

“It’s funny how much people hate

to see me standing at the Gates,

presuming  I can give expression

to real,  system-wide oppression.

To them I say,” Well you tell me

why nothing here applies to me.

Why every  fundamental right

applies to everyone  in sight

except for those you single out

as people who just do not count.”

 

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Source: electricinthedesert.wordpress.com

 

Check the whole post to get the full impact.

 

It’s haunting and powerful.

 

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EDITORIAL: Ferguson, Michael Brown and the Renewed Mission of Good Black News

 

“As the editor of a website dedicated solely to providing and promoting Good Black News, it has been admittedly hard in the past week to bring myself to post what were starting to seem like frivolous accomplishments and events in the wake of a soul-stirring grass roots movement against tyranny and injustice.  This unrest in particular feels like it has the makings of a sea change from the status quo into a new era of human rights, where systemic and commonplace brutality is voted down and rooted out of any and all policing bodies that are meant to Protect and Serve, not Terrify and Dehumanize.”

 

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Source: goodblacknews.org

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Why Ferguson Matters to Asian Americans

 

“For weeks I have been in awe of the organizers and writers – Rev. Osagyefo Sekou, Jamala Rogers, Malkia Cyril, Ta-Nehesi Coates, john a. powell, Falguni A. Sheth, and so many others – who have placed the situation in Ferguson into critical historical and political context. This despite persistent attempts by police, elected officials, and mainstream media to erase that context with vilifications of black political protest and black life. I write this post to express my solidarity and rage, and to offer a response to the disturbing question that I’ve heard asked, and that demands an answer: Does Ferguson matter to Asian Americans?”

 

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Source: www.racefiles.com

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Kroger Under Fire From Gun-Control Moms

  The fight over whether shoppers should be allowed to tote guns openly in American businesses is about to spill into the aisles of Kroger, the nation’s largest supermarket chain. Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a national gun control organization backed by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, will kick off a campaign on Monday that seeks to pressure the grocery giant to ban the open carry of firearms in all of its nearly 2,500 stores. The moms’ group decided to take action in response to recent demonstrations by open carry activists in Kroger stores in Ohio and Texas, and after conducting research that identified more than a dozen shootings on Kroger property since 2012, said Erika Soto Lamb, a spokeswoman. “Kroger employees shouldn’t have to determine whether the person holding a gun in the frozen aisle is someone dangerous or someone making a political statement,” Lamb said.   Source: www.huffingtonpost.com   Remember when 13 year old Andy Lopez was shot DEAD for carrying the same looking TOY.   Remember when John Crawford was shot DEAD for carrying the same looking TOY in Walmart?

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Palestine’s Letter of Solidarity With Ferguson, Missouri

People of the Third World know very well what it is like to have their voices forcibly suppressed by neo-colonial governments funded and armed by the U.S. and its Western allies.

Source: ushypocrisy.com

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Lessons From Ferguson, Missouri: The People Deserve an Army

 

The little town just 20 miles north of St. Louis made national headlines a few days ago when protests turned to riots over the death of unarmed 18 year-old Black resident Michael Brown. Riots since then have only intensified and clashes with the police becoming more common. A no-fly zone has been established and something of a ‘media blackout’ has occurred as two reporters have been arrested and pictures show police firing tear gas at what seems to be other journalists trying to report on the situation.

Ferguson, Missouri is effectively under Martial Law. Images of heavily armed men aiming upon angry crowds light up social media as politicians (now including President Obama) craft their state-sponsored “opinions”.

 

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Source: anti-imperialism.com