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.
“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.”
“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?”
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?
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.
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”.
In response to repressive anti-Immigration legislation SB1070 and HB56, Jasiri X, Rhymefest, and Paradise Gray traveled to Arizona and Alabama courtesy of the Sound Strike to see first hand how these unjust laws break up families, fracture communities and destroy lives.
“Who’s Illegal?” asks the question, can a nation on stolen land, built by stolen people define another group of human beings as illegal? “Who’s Illegal?” was produced by GM3 and directed by Paradise Gray.
Directed by Emmai Alaquiva, “Don’t Forget About The Hood” illustrates how the issues of the poor and urban communities have been all but forgotten in this current election season, and wonders what happened to all of the energy and organizing that took place in the wake of the tragic murder of Trayvon Martin.
“Don’t Forget About the Hood” was produced in collaboration withhttp://hoodievote.org with Da Ricanstrukta providing the powerful soundtrack
LYRICS
See cause we broke they forget about the hood
So when you vote don’t forget about the hood
I ain’t telling folks don’t get up out the hood
just when you living good don’t forget about the hood
Let’s say we did it for the hood
Put on your fitted and you hood
I’m talking to the those you know that’s living in the hood
that ain’t getting what they should
we won’t forget the hood
We the lost and forgotten called rotten so we tossed to the bottom
Let em tell it we the source of the problem
They call us gangbangers and illegals
Cane slangers of da evil
Like we the main danger to the people
So our issues don’t get the same anger or treated equal
if you not one of them change raisers they don’t see you
So the hood every week is ignored
Before these politicians speak to the poor they reach for the door
now voter ID is the norm
Police brutality’s not reformed poverty’s even more
Tens of thousands of human beings they still deport
And they made it a felony if you come back and get caught
We need to stop cheering for sides like its a sport
Vote for your self and your own hood time is short
Cause doing nothing ain’t a option
Do something get it poppin
Real action over talking
The whole world is watching
So when you vote don’t forget about the hood
Get out and vote but don’t forget about the hood
I ain’t telling folks don’t get up out the hood
just when you living good don’t forget about the hood
Let’s say we did it for the hood
Put on your fitted and you hood
I’m talking to the those you know that’s living in the hood
that ain’t getting what they should
we won’t forget the hood
Do we remember Trayvon or is the pain gone
Do we remain strong or did we move way on
Remember when we all had pictures in our hoods
Did we forget about the hood
Zimmerman’s still free I don’t know about you but it kills me
This murderer could be found not guilty
Remember how we organized fortified for the ride
Polarized but mobilized I thought it was so divine
What happened to that energy we need it now more than ever
Many people kept working I will not ignore their effort
Give voice to the voiceless that’s why I record this message If you really for the hood for who or for what you reppin
That the million dollar question
Millionaires is who we follow but they hollow in they lessons
What’s the point of a weapon pointed in the wrong the direction
If your hood is what you reppin how strong is your connection
credits
