At Washington Square Park.
Thanks for this pic Erik R. McGregor. I'm super proud of all the work we are doing to change hearts and minds and policies. Here is the blog about our trip to dc last fall for a civil disobedience in front of the supreme court during oral arguments over sex and civil rights in the workplace.
https://benjaminheimshepard.blogspot.com/…/notes-on-civil-d…
Eric Sawyer and company in DC. Photo by Ken Schles
Its now been weeks in the streets.
These days, I get up early and write,
and check out the JusticeforGeorge page.
It lists protests in each borough,
every day.
Each day, different thoughts cycling through,
But it feels hopeful.
Is there a way to get to the
bottom of this so my kids don’t have to grow up in a world with this much
inequality, this much distrust, this many lost lives?
I hope we can
cope with some of the economic inequality soon.
Increasingly, it
feels like we’re are making steps in the right direction.
I love seeing my friends, meeting new friends in the streets.
Reading poetry on bikes, wheels in motion.
I love seeing my friends, meeting new friends in the streets.
Reading poetry on bikes, wheels in motion.
We are
making a difference! From NYT...Nine members of the Minneapolis City Council —
a veto-proof majority — pledged on Sunday to dismantle the Police Department,
promising to create a new system of public safety in a city where law
enforcement has long been accused of racism.
Lots of
debate about the looting.
The police
let it happen, say those who were there.
And
certainly, no one would be writing about the protests without the looting.
The riches
in all the churches in Spain came from looting.
Who is
looting and who’s looted?
The rich
tax policies are also looting.
When
someone talks about looting, it is worth asking, whose looting?
There has to be another
kind of policing, that addresses problems and supports communities instead of doing
what they are doing now, guns and lost lives.
In social work
school, we learned crisis intervention.
You don’t rush
people, you give them space.
Yet, the police
seem to rush first amplifying problems instead of de escalating.
There are good
news days and bad.
Friday and Saturday,
skate to liberate,
Cyclists joining
the bike bloc careening through Brooklyn, up and down Broadway.
Riding through the
city, the boarded-up windows are full of graffiti, repurposed as art galleries,
full of messages for the world.
Homeless people an
art installations on every block.
It’s a Manhattan
in constant flux.
On Monday, we hear
about Atlanta, another man killed by the cops,
and the cycle of
emotions starts again.
"We are
gonna keep marching and lobbying and posting...we gonna keep on showing
up..." #blacklivesmatter
Each day, rallies
from Cadmen plaza to Washington square park, a speak out against the dreaded
88th precinct, and a bike bloc after dinner.
Cyclists
everywhere. The streets are alive.
The glorious
sight of the summer...
New Yorkers from
all walks of life out in the streets together, fighting for a better day, once
and for all.
Out
to Grand
Army Plaza for the
Solidarity Bike
Ride.
Of course, how we
get there counts.
For me, that means
on a bike.
The holy bike
block.
It feels like all
of Brooklyn is zooming to Grand Army Plaza.
I love the spontaneity
of the rides, the vibe on the street, the feeling that it’s a movement for something
better.
Solidarity
expanding along with conversations.
The very act of
reclaiming public space feels joyous.
The act of people
talking to each other and sharing space feels essential.
In a democracy,
we all have a right to public space, to assemble, to live, without fear of repercussions
or the threat of violence.
A lot of us are
getting there on bike.
As an article in
the New Yorker by Jody Rosen on June 10, 2020
highlights a few
of the powerful dynamics of this effort to claim public space:
“The
National Association of City Transport Officials has reported an “explosion in
cycling” since the outbreak of the virus; huge increases in sales
have left bike shops with a shortage of
stock. Bicycle politics, the causes championed by cycling advocates
and activists, are often dismissed by critics as esoteric or élitist. But
transportation issues are social-justice issues. The toll of bad transit
policies and worse infrastructure—trains and buses that don’t run well and
badly serve low-income neighborhoods, vehicular traffic that pollutes the
environment and endangers the lives of cyclists and pedestrians—is borne
disproportionately by black and brown communities. In fact, you could say that
Black Lives Matter is a moral crusade about freedom of movement and who is at
liberty to go where. For generations, police departments have patrolled
African-American neighborhoods like occupying armies, surveilling and
circumscribing the movements of residents, who are treated as interlopers even
on their home turf. The mobility of black people is additionally restricted by
a system that construes their mere presence in many public spaces as
trespassing, a de-facto crime, punishable by imprisonment or even death.
Tensions
over freedom of movement are ratcheted up during times of civil unrest. In the
past two weeks, the streets of American cities have become ferociously contested
terrain. Protesters chant “Whose
streets? Our streets!”; police impose their authority with weapons
and barricades.”
Meeting in the
streets, we’ve outlined a demand for a different kind of city.
We’ve petitioned
the government and seen these demands find an audience:
“What’s
striking about Democratic proposals for police reform, aside from the awful
optics provided by Pelosi and Schumer (best forgotten), is that proposals that
would have seemed to most people pretty bold and forward looking a few weeks
are already being met by charges that they don’t go far enough (they don’t).
But the “obviousness” of this awareness shouldn’t be taken for granted.Instead
we should recognize a real win for all the folks involved in the protests – a
shift in mass consciousness so that now the real conversation isn’t about
whether chokeholds should be legal (duh, no), but what “defining the police
means,” what that would like in action, what new resources and types of “first
responders would take the place of police,” etc.
There’s
a new spirit of possibility in the air, new worlds being not just imagined, but
discussed, and to this we owe the protestors – the kids on the ground – a world
of gratitude.”
“SO WHAT HAS PROTESTING
ACCOMPLISHED?”
asks a friend at Judson Church,
replying:
“Within 10 days of sustained
protests:
Minneapolis bans use of choke
holds.
👉🏾Charges are upgraded against
Officer Chauvin, and his accomplices are arrested and charged.
👉🏾Dallas adopts a "duty to
intervene" rule that requires officers to stop other cops who are engaging
in inappropriate use of force.
👉🏾New Jersey’s attorney general said
the state will update its use-of-force guidelines for the first time in two
decades.
👉🏾In Maryland, a bipartisan work
group of state lawmakers announced a police reform work group.
👉🏾Los Angeles City Council
introduces motion to reduce LAPD’s $1.8 billion operating budget.
👉🏾MBTA in Boston agrees to stop
using public buses to transport police officers to protests.
👉🏾Police brutality captured on
cameras leads to near-immediate suspensions and firings of officers in several
cities (i.e., Buffalo, Ft. Lauderdale).
👉🏾Monuments celebrating confederates
are removed in cities in Virginia, Alabama, and other states.
👉🏾Street in front of the White House
is renamed "Black Lives Matter Plaza.”
Military forces begin to withdraw
from D.C.
Then, there's all the other stuff
that's hard to measure:
💓The really difficult public and private conversations
that are happening about race and privilege.
💓The realizations some white people are coming to
about racism and the role of policing in this country.
💓The self-reflection.
💓The internal battles exploding within organizations
over issues that have been simmering or ignored for a long time. Some
organizations will end as a result, others will be forever changed or replaced
with something stronger and fairer.
Globally:
🌎 Protests against racial inequality sparked by the
police killing of George Floyd are taking place all over the world.
🌎 Rallies and memorials have been held in cities
across Europe, as well as in Mexico, Canada, Brazil, Australia, and New
Zealand.
🌎 As the US contends with its second week of protests,
issues of racism, police brutality, and oppression have been brought to light
across the globe.
🌎 People all over the world understand that their own
fights for human rights, for equality and fairness, will become so much more
difficult to win if we are going to lose America as the place where 'I have a
dream' is a real and universal political program," Wolfgang Ischinger, a
former German ambassador to the US, told the New Yorker.
🌎 In France, protesters marched holding signs that
said "I can't breathe" to signify both the words of Floyd, and the
last words of Adama Traoré, a 24-year-old black man who was subdued by police
officers and gasped the sentence before he died outside Paris in 2016.
🌎 Cities across Europe have come together after the
death of George Floyd:
✊🏽 In Amsterdam, an estimated 10,000 people filled the
Dam square on Monday, holding signs and shouting popular chants like
"Black lives matter," and "No justice, no peace."
✊🏽 In Germany, people gathered in multiple locations
throughout Berlin to demand justice for Floyd and fight against police
brutality.
✊🏾 A mural dedicated to Floyd was also spray-painted on
a stretch of wall in Berlin that once divided the German capital during the
Cold War.
✊🏿 In Ireland, protesters held a peaceful demonstration
outside of Belfast City Hall, and others gathered outside of the US embassy in
Dublin.
✊🏿In Italy, protesters gathered and marched with signs
that said "Stop killing black people," "Say his name," and
"We will not be silent."
✊🏾 In Spain, people gathered to march and hold up signs
throughout Barcelona and Madrid.
✊🏾 In Athens, Greece, protesters took to the streets to
collectively hold up a sign that read "I can't breathe."
✊🏾 In Brussels, protesters were seen sitting in a
peaceful demonstration in front of an opera house in the center of the city.
✊🏾In Denmark, protesters were heard chanting "No
justice, no peace!" throughout the streets of Copenhagen, while others
gathered outside the US embassy.
✊🏾 In Canada, protesters were also grieving for Regis
Korchinski-Paquet, a 29-year-old black woman who died on Wednesday after
falling from her balcony during a police investigation at her building.
✊🏾 And in New Zealand, roughly 2,000 people marched to
the US embassy in Auckland, chanting and carrying signs demanding justice.
💐 Memorials have been built for Floyd around the
world, too. In Mexico City, portraits of him were hung outside the US embassy
with roses, candles, and signs.
💐 In Poland, candles and flowers were laid out next to
photos of Floyd outside the US consulate.
💐 And in Syria, two artists created a mural depicting
Floyd in the northwestern town of Binnish, "on a wall destroyed by
military planes."
…Don't wake up tomorrow on the
wrong side of this issue. Its not too late to SAY,
"Maybe I need to look at this
from a different perspective.”
There is still so much work to be
done. It's been a really dark, raw week. This could still end badly. But all we
can do is keep doing the work.
Keep protesting.
WE ARE NOT TRYING TO START A RACE
WAR; WE ARE PROTESTING TO END IT...
PEACEFULLY.
How beautiful is that?
ALL LIVES CANNOT MATTER UNTIL YOU
INCLUDE BLACK LIVES.
YOU CANNOT SAY 'ALL LIVES MATTER'
WHEN YOU DO NOTHING TO STOP SYSTEMIC RACISM & POLICE BRUTALITY.
YOU CANNOT SAY 'ALL LIVES MATTER'
WHEN BLACK PEOPLE ARE DYING AND ALL YOU COMPLAIN ABOUT IS THE LOOTING.
YOU CANNOT SAY 'ALL LIVES MATTER'
WHEN YOU ALLOW CHILDREN TO BE CAGED, VETERANS TO GO HOMELESS, AND POOR FAMILIES
TO GO HUNGRY & LOSE THEIR HEALTH INSURANCE.
DO ALL LIVES MATTER? YES. BUT
RIGHT NOW, ONLY BLACK LIVES ARE BEING TARGETED, JAILED, AND KILLED EN MASSE- SO
THAT'S WHO WE'RE FOCUSING ON.
🖤🖤🖤BLACK LIVES MATTER🖤🖤
#blacklivesmatter #blm #nojusticenopeace
#knowjusticeknowpeace”
Nick
Encalada-Malinowski, VOCAL-NY writes:
VICTORY: After Years of Struggle
50a is Repealed.
Take Action Today to Defund Police
Take Action Today to Defund Police
Yesterday
the New York State legislature passed a bill to Repeal 50a, which Governor
Cuomo has said he will sign by the end of the week. This ushers in a new era of
transparency for police and corrections departments throughout the state.
Make
no mistake, this would not have happened without years of actions & calls
by YOU -- VOCAL-NY members and allies -- fearless leadership from Communities
United for Police Reform and the hundreds of thousands of protesters who have
taken to the streets across New York and the Country to demand justice.
But
as VOCAL-NY leader Roger put it so well, the work is not over.
"We are in a
tragic situation, but we must connect and make clear that repealing 50-a is
good, but it's not the only thing we need to make sure no cop in New York State
abuses or assassinates another human being unjustified. We also need to make
sure that no one goes to jail based on police lies and that anyone already in
jail on police lies should have that conviction reversed. We need more criminal
justice legislation as well."
The State
Legislature and Governor still have a lot of work to do, both on policing and
to end the torture happening in prisons and jails throughout the state. Passing
the HALT Solitary Confinement bill, Elder Parole, Fair and Timely Parole &
Less is More NY are actions they must take up, immediately.
Our urgent focus
remains on the demand to Defund the Police. If you live outside New York
50-a
(police secrecy) will be repealed. Chokehold ban passed. Some part of bloated
NYPD budget (enough?) will be cut & moved to social services. And that’s
all just in NYS.
Protest
works.
There's
a lot of hand-wringing about calls to "DEFUND THE POLICE" as if such
rhetoric will hand the election to Trump. All the "smart" political
strategists have gotten almost NO ACTION on their
calls for police "reform." Activists are marching by the millions
worldwide, tearing down statues, and demanding that policing be rebuilt from
the ground up--not tweaked. The activists ARE getting ACTION. Politicians who
have stood by police unions for decades are now having to go along with banning
chokeholds, slashing police budgets, requiring transparency on police
discipline, ending no-knock invasions, and much more. It's the same with health
care. Mainstream Democrats said MEDICARE FOR ALL will scare people. The
pandemic taught us that it is more desperately needed than ever. Don't fault
activists for demanding what is needed. If we end up with less than everything
it will be better than compromising before we got started.
To
folks organizing in this moment for Black Lives and Communities, for those who
have been organizing in The Resistance for the last three and a half years, and all of the issues-based and community-based groups that
have made up its constituent parts, please remember that:
1) Times of tumult are stressful in ways seen and unseen. That stress can affect relationships within groups and among groups working in tandem or separately on the same issues.
2) Recognize that that emotions are part of the human condition and that negative, unproductive emotions flare up in stressful circumstances. Recognize that in yourself and within others. Do not let momentary outbursts born of stress poison your relationships.
3) The greatest enemy of our progressive, activist movements is not THE MAN or the organized enemies of progress. It is the Ego. It is that part in us that let's our emotions take over and place ourselves in the center of our reckoning rather than the movement(s) itself/themselves. Remember to keep your objectivity. Remember that we are all working toward the same goals even if we have different approaches and philosophies. Apologizing is not a weakness. Accepting an apology and moving forward is not rolling over. Don't let Ego undermine the important work we are doing. We have 5 months to create a sea-change in our horrifically damaged country.
1) Times of tumult are stressful in ways seen and unseen. That stress can affect relationships within groups and among groups working in tandem or separately on the same issues.
2) Recognize that that emotions are part of the human condition and that negative, unproductive emotions flare up in stressful circumstances. Recognize that in yourself and within others. Do not let momentary outbursts born of stress poison your relationships.
3) The greatest enemy of our progressive, activist movements is not THE MAN or the organized enemies of progress. It is the Ego. It is that part in us that let's our emotions take over and place ourselves in the center of our reckoning rather than the movement(s) itself/themselves. Remember to keep your objectivity. Remember that we are all working toward the same goals even if we have different approaches and philosophies. Apologizing is not a weakness. Accepting an apology and moving forward is not rolling over. Don't let Ego undermine the important work we are doing. We have 5 months to create a sea-change in our horrifically damaged country.
Hold
the line.
Throughout, we’re
all in the “continual and slow process of coming apart.”
Poems fly into my in box reminding me to take
a broader view.
“the earth is a living thing
The Book of Light
Lucille Clifton
is a black shambling bear
ruffling its wild
back and tossing
mountains into the sea
mountains into the sea
…
is a black and living thing
is a favorite child
of the universe
feel her rolling her hand
in its kinky hair
is a favorite child
of the universe
feel her rolling her hand
in its kinky hair
feel her brushing it clean”
You feel that sentiment
out there, inside, you feel it.
The world
is changing.
#The oldest card in the deck is divide
and conquer. Stay united. Walk with confidence. This is community. Lemme see
that energy, says a speaker at Washington Square Park. #blacklivesmatter
In
between it, we’ve started a new roof garden and compost heap in the back.
The pandemic
has had its casualties, the people, the programs.
One
of them was city composting, long a Brooklyn preoccupation.
In “This
Compost”
Walt Whitman wonders:
“O how can it be that the ground itself does not sicken?
How can you be alive you growths of spring?
How can you furnish health you blood of herbs, roots, orchards, grain?
Are they not continually putting distemper'd corpses within you?
Is not every continent work'd over and over with sour dead?
Where have you disposed of their carcasses?
Those drunkards and gluttons of so many generations?
Where have you drawn off all the foul liquid and meat?
…
Behold this compost! behold it well!
Perhaps every mite has once form'd part of a sick person—yet behold!
The grass of spring covers the prairies,
The bean bursts noiselessly through the mould in the garden,
The delicate spear of the onion pierces upward,
The apple-buds cluster together on the apple-branches,
The resurrection of the wheat appears with pale visage out of its graves,
The tinge awakes over the willow-tree and the mulberry-tree…”
“O how can it be that the ground itself does not sicken?
How can you be alive you growths of spring?
How can you furnish health you blood of herbs, roots, orchards, grain?
Are they not continually putting distemper'd corpses within you?
Is not every continent work'd over and over with sour dead?
Where have you disposed of their carcasses?
Those drunkards and gluttons of so many generations?
Where have you drawn off all the foul liquid and meat?
…
Behold this compost! behold it well!
Perhaps every mite has once form'd part of a sick person—yet behold!
The grass of spring covers the prairies,
The bean bursts noiselessly through the mould in the garden,
The delicate spear of the onion pierces upward,
The apple-buds cluster together on the apple-branches,
The resurrection of the wheat appears with pale visage out of its graves,
The tinge awakes over the willow-tree and the mulberry-tree…”
Old ideas are cycling through new
ones,
Anna Olivier
writes:
“I can’t say it better than my friend Sarah Lowery just did: Trump is resuming rallies at the site of the Tulsa race massacre (aka the Tulsa race riot, the Greenwood Massacre, or the Black Wall Street Massacre) on Juneteenth**. This is not an accident. This is a dog whistle for white supremacists. He’s inciting racists. He’s a racist. People who support him are racists. Full stop.”
“I can’t say it better than my friend Sarah Lowery just did: Trump is resuming rallies at the site of the Tulsa race massacre (aka the Tulsa race riot, the Greenwood Massacre, or the Black Wall Street Massacre) on Juneteenth**. This is not an accident. This is a dog whistle for white supremacists. He’s inciting racists. He’s a racist. People who support him are racists. Full stop.”
And then he moved
the date, in a rare bow to public pressure.
Progress? Can we celebrate? Its
hard to when I think about what these moms endured.
Still, it feels like something.
Gov. Cuomo signed the historic
bills into law in a press conference Friday
They make disciplinary records
public, ban chokeholds, ban false race-based 911 calls and make the AG the
independent prosecutor in killings by cops
Cuomo also issued an executive order mandating reforms to local police departments and said state funds will be cut to forces that don't comply
'That should be done in every police agency in this country,' Cuomo said
The unveiling of the bills was attended by the mothers of Eric Garner and Sean Bell, unarmed black Americans who died at the hands of New York cops
The move has come in response to the widespread protests calling for an end to police brutality and racism following the death of black man George Floyd
Rev. Al Sharpton praised Cuomo saying 'he has raised the bar'
Cuomo also issued an executive order mandating reforms to local police departments and said state funds will be cut to forces that don't comply
'That should be done in every police agency in this country,' Cuomo said
The unveiling of the bills was attended by the mothers of Eric Garner and Sean Bell, unarmed black Americans who died at the hands of New York cops
The move has come in response to the widespread protests calling for an end to police brutality and racism following the death of black man George Floyd
Rev. Al Sharpton praised Cuomo saying 'he has raised the bar'
Sunday, I can’t get near the Brooklyn Museum.
It’s a sea of people in white for
BROOKLYN LIBERATION:
BROOKLYN LIBERATION:
An Action for Black Trans Lives
RALLY + SILENT MARCH,
SUNDAY, JUNE 14, 2020, 1:00 PM from
OUTSIDE BROOKLYN MUSEUM
RALLY + SILENT MARCH,
SUNDAY, JUNE 14, 2020, 1:00 PM from
OUTSIDE BROOKLYN MUSEUM
Be mindful of your presence if you are non-Black + cis. If you are
white + cis, place yourself on the perimeter, and use your voice to amplify,
not to lead.MIND THE SPACEPlease respect personal space and maintain a distance
with masks on.DO NOT TALK TO POLICEWe will have lawyers and police liaisons on
the ground should the need arise.LOOK OUT FOR EACH OTHERCome with a buddy,
check in on anyone who may need help.ACCESSBrooklyn Museum plaza is wheelchair
accessible. Those that need seating should arrive early. We will be marching
approximately 2 miles to another wheelchair accessible location. An ASL
interpreter will be present….In the spirit of the movement, this event is in no
part in collaboration with police, nor will we seek a permit.”
With thousands of people, it’s the largest trans rally I have ever
seen.
By Monday, we hear that the Supreme Court has ruled in support of
workplace protections for queer people.
I flash back to the October civil disobedience in Washington DC
when 133 of us got arrested out side the court during oral arguments for the
case.
I'm super proud of all the work we are doing to
change hearts and minds and policies.
“Great news. And who knows, maybe the hundreds of us who got
arrested in dc over this helped drive home the point?”
Andy Humm writes:
“Brothers
and sisters and non-binary friends, with the declaration by the US Supreme that
LGBT rights are now protected in federal law, this is a day for YOU--every one of you, LGBTQ and allied--who contributed to this
cause to take a victory lap. We changed this society in profound ways--not just
in the fifty-one years since the Stonewall Rebellion but in the 1950s and '60s
through the brave work of pioneers in the Mattachine Society and the Daughters
of Bilitis. As people of color know all too painfully, protection under the law
doesn't end racism and this won't end all homophobia and transphobia. But equal
protection under the law is essential to moving forward and YOU made it happen.
A great day for us all. A great day for the United States of America.”
In important to recall that this victory was based on
the work of generations of advocates for civil rights, including the Civil Rights
movement.
Gregg
Gonsalves writes:
“If there
was no Civil Rights Act of 1964, the victory today extending that legislation's
provision to include LGBTQ people would not have happened. We owe our own
freedom to those who came before us. Our struggles are connected and we need to
stand together now.”
Throughout the day, we hear more and more about the
bad news in Atlanta.
Activists in Washington Square ask everyone to
take a knee in honor of Rayshard Brooks, another black man killed by the
police.
And then all the others Amadou, Eric, Sean, Emmet,
Medgar.
“Why must we beg for no one murder?” asks one
sign.
“Actions over apologies,” notes another.
“Decriminalize poverty.”
I talk with a young black woman.
She feels like we are making progress.
So do I.
But I hope we don’t have to see more deaths, more
unnecessary losses.
They continue and continue, one after another,
year after year.
8:46 was number of seconds on George Floyd’s neck,
8:46 was number of seconds on George Floyd’s neck,
He thanks the kids out in the streets.
8:46 is the time of Chappelle’s birth, when his
mother died, and his father grieved for her.
The losses go on and on.
That’s a long time, enough time to remind us.
A lifetime.
At our activist informed reading group of Sunday,
we discuss Passing by Nella Larson, a story about Harlem in
the mid 1920’s only sixty years after abolition.
Yet the problems linger.
A young man lynched:
“Dad, why is it that they only lynch colored people?” Ted asked.
“Because they hate em son.”
“why do they hate ‘em?”
“Because they are afraid of them.”
The son’s mother intervenes, stopping the conversation.
“It seems, son, this is a subject we can’t go into at the moment…”
The problem is the time to talk about it doesn’t ever really come.
At Washington Square Park, Barbara hands me a sign that says
“Reparations Now!”
Its well beyond the time.
Our whole system is based on the legacy of this cruelty.
As Karl Marx explains in the Poverty of Philosophy:
“Direct slavery is as much the
pivot upon which our present-day industrialism turns, as are machinery, credit,
etc. Without slavery there would be no cotton, without cotton there would be no
modern industry. It is slavery that has given value to the colonies, it is the
colonies that have created world trade, and world trade is the necessary
condition for large-scale machine industry. Slavery is therefore an economic
category of paramount importance.”
Message
from Southern Poverty Law Project:
Today
we are grieving the life of yet another Black man killed by police — Rayshard
Brooks, who was shot in the back by Atlanta police on Friday night.
His
killing, alongside the recent murders of George Floyd, Breonna
Taylor, Tony McDade, Sean Reed, Yassin Mohamed, Ahmaud Arbery and too many
others, all by police or vigilantes, has further exposed white supremacy’s
grip on our nation, including our systems of policing and prosecutorial
enforcement.
We
at the Southern Poverty Law Center stand with the millions of people around the
world who are outraged by centuries of injustice and violence against Black
people in this country. I share their anger, grief and great frustration at the
never-ending litany of injustice.
This
moment demands that we, as a nation, radically reimagine the interconnected
systems of education, voting, labor and justice to eradicate deeply rooted
oppression and anti-Black racism. We are eager to learn, share and join in the
conversation on reimagining what our policing and prosecutorial structures
could be if we started with a commitment to equity and justice for all.
Policing
is an immediate and critical example of how systemic white supremacy continues
to be a lethal threat to Black lives. The SPLC has exposed — and will continue to call
out — the danger of white supremacy, hatred and acts of violent
extremism for nearly 50 years, including acts of violence against Black people
perpetrated by the police.
Today’s
crimes by police against Black people are rooted in our nation’s shameful
history. Our systems of policing were born from slavery and designed to control
Black people and other people of color. The criminal justice and policing
systems are tools of white supremacy in design and practice — a weaponization
of law enforcement to maintain control over certain communities while
protecting others’ advantages.
Immense
injustice has brought forward immense pain — it has also catalysed action and a
long overdue nationwide reckoning. Protesters and activists across the country
have seized this moment to push transformative reforms with a newly awakened
public. Massive marches and demonstrations have amplified the voices of Black
activists who have been pushing for justice for years, and made clear the vast
potential for change.
Now
it is up to each of us to commit to righting the wrongs against the Black
community. This time requires deep personal reflection on how each of us will
take direct action to address anti-Black racism.
The SPLC
stands united with movement leaders and our partners, especially in the Deep
South, as we reaffirm our commitment to exposing and fighting white supremacy
and work to build new systems of justice and a more equitable future for
all. While this work will continue over the next several months and years,
we have already taken some important steps:
- We have initiated discussions with local elected
officials and police chiefs in our five states of the South (Alabama,
Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi) to begin discussing ways we
can work to change policing.
- The SPLC Action Fund, our 501(c)(4) sister
organization, is looking at district attorney races to engage in this fall
where prosecutors have allowed police violence to go unchecked.
- We continue advocating for the removal of more than 1,700 Confederate monuments
and symbols across the country and providing information
about their history to thought leaders, lawmakers and journalists.
- We sent letters calling on the
Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Army, the secretary of the Air
Force, the commandant of the Coast Guard and the chief of the National
Guard Bureau to ban Confederate flags from their bases and installations
around the world amid bans by the Marines and Navy.
- We are hosting a Juneteenth vigil on June 19 at 3
p.m. CDT at the Civil Rights Memorial Center in
Montgomery, Alabama, to honor the 300 Black people killed and 10,000
people left homeless by the Black Wall Street massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma,
in 1921.
- We are organizing a Twitter storm to educate people
about Black Wall Street and Juneteenth during President Trump’s planned
speech in Tulsa the day after Juneteenth on June 20.
- Our Teaching Tolerance program is sharing resources to help teachers,
children and families better understand structural racism and its impact
in the U.S.
- We have committed to anti-racism training across the
organization, starting with our leadership team, and we are engaging with
organizers, activists, scholars and community members in ongoing learning
in order to build a culture that supports Black leadership and other
people of color.
- We are continuing to fight voter suppression and
racial gerrymandering that intentionally targets Black voters.
Never
has our work been more urgently needed, as the entire country (and world)
is focused on structural racism and its impact in the United States. Our
energies will continue to be directed at dismantling structural oppression, and
working to silence the extremists, hate groups and racists who are desperately
trying to hold onto power.
Each
of us has an opportunity to show up differently in this moment of national
reckoning. The SPLC stands united with you and all of our supporters as we
recommit ourselves to fighting all forms of racism and envisioning new systems
of justice and a more equitable future for all.
With
gratitude,
Margaret
Margaret
Just wanna say a big thank you Neme Amber for introducing me to Dr Emmanuel the great HERBALIST that helped me prepare home remedies that cured my herpes (HSV 2).
ReplyDeleteI was infected with HSV 2 for the past two years and i was unable to get a better job cos all the company i was to get employed checked our blood test and found out that i was positive to GENITAL HERPES and i loosed employmAent.
So i was desperate to get a cure so that i can live normal and get my job training.
i earlier made some research and i contacted some doctors online but they keep on asking for money for courier after that they'll tell you that tax and so more so i became broke and frustrated.
One day i was less busy so i decided to make latest research on herpes cure and i found a site were everyone was talking about DR Emmanuel and herbs ability to cure herpes.
So i discussed with Neme Amber and she explained to me that its very easy working with Dr Emmanuel so i contacted DR Emmanuel via email ( nativehealthclinic@gmail.com ) and he helped me just as he has helped others now im cured and different medical centers has tested me and approved me cured.
so i decided to thank Neme Amber cos she made it possible for me.
and i can also assure you that he can also help you. so if you need the service of DR emmanuel, ill put his details here so that you can easily get in touch wif him.
his email: nativehealthclinic@gmail.com or WhatsApp him at +2348140073965.
my Name is Grace from US,once again thanks to Neme Amber. im fucking hapy.. u
HERPES CURE....THIS IS REAL ! TAKE TIME TO READ
DeleteTESTIMONY OF HOW I GOT CURED FROM GENITAL HERPES SIMPLEX VIRUS WITHIN 14DAYS[with Herbal Traditional medicine]
Hello Everyone out there, I'm Toshia Cook, from Texas USA. I am here to give my testimony about a Herbalist called Dr SAYO, who helped me in my life. I was infected with HERPES SIMPLEX VIRUS 2 in 2010, i went to many hospitals for cure but there was no solution, so I was thinking how can I get a solution out so that my body can be okay. One day I was at the river side thinking where I could get solution. so a lady walked to me asking me why I was so sad and i opened up all to her telling her my problem, she told me that she could help me out, she introduced me to a doctor who uses herbal medication to cure HERPES SIMPLEX VIRUS 2 and gave me his email, so i mailed him. He told me all the things I needed to do and also gave me instructions, which I followed properly. Before I knew what is happening after two weeks the HERPES SIMPLEX VIRUS that was in my body got vanished . so if you are also heart broken and also need a help, you can also email him via: (sayoherbalhealer@gmail .com) OR Contact Sayo by check FB Page https://www.facebook.com/Sayo-Herbal-Healer-100145798345000/ check blog: https://sayoherbalhealer.blogspot.com/
He also have a herbal cure for HIV,
CANCER,
ASTHMA,
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I want to thank Dr Emu a very powerful spell caster who help me to bring my husband back to me, few month ago i have a serious problem with my husband, to the extend that he left the house, and he started dating another woman and he stayed with the woman, i tried all i can to bring him back, but all my effort was useless until the day my friend came to my house and i told her every thing that had happened between me and my husband, then she told me of a powerful spell caster who help her when she was in the same problem I then contact Dr Emu and told him every thing and he told me not to worry my self again that my husband will come back to me after he has cast a spell on him, i thought it was a joke, after he had finish casting the spell, he told me that he had just finish casting the spell, to my greatest surprise within 48 hours, my husband really came back begging me to forgive him, if you need his help you can contact him with via email: Emutemple@gmail.com or add him up on his whatsapp +2347012841542 is willing to help any body that need his help.
DeleteHERPES CURE....THIS IS REAL ! TAKE TIME TO READ
ReplyDeleteTESTIMONY OF HOW I GOT CURED FROM GENITAL HERPES SIMPLEX VIRUS WITHIN 14DAYS[with Herbal Traditional medicine]
Hello Everyone out there, I'm Toshia Cook, from Texas USA. I am here to give my testimony about a Herbalist called Dr SAYO, who helped me in my life. I was infected with HERPES SIMPLEX VIRUS 2 in 2010, i went to many hospitals for cure but there was no solution, so I was thinking how can I get a solution out so that my body can be okay. One day I was at the river side thinking where I could get solution. so a lady walked to me asking me why I was so sad and i opened up all to her telling her my problem, she told me that she could help me out, she introduced me to a doctor who uses herbal medication to cure HERPES SIMPLEX VIRUS 2 and gave me his email, so i mailed him. He told me all the things I needed to do and also gave me instructions, which I followed properly. Before I knew what is happening after two weeks the HERPES SIMPLEX VIRUS that was in my body got vanished . so if you are also heart broken and also need a help, you can also email him via: (sayoherbalhealer@gmail .com) OR Contact Sayo by check FB Page https://www.facebook.com/Sayo-Herbal-Healer-100145798345000/ check blog: https://sayoherbalhealer.blogspot.com/
He also have a herbal cure for HIV,
CANCER,
ASTHMA,
IMPOTENCE,
BARENESS/INFERTILITY ...
CURE YOUR SELF FROM THAT ILLNESS TODAY,DON'T SPREAD YOUR INFECTION OR DISEASES TO OTHER PEOPLE.
Contact him today and you will have a testimony...Good luck
Am Laura Mildred by name, i was diagnosed with Herpes 4 years ago i lived in pain with the knowledge that i wasn't going to ever be well again i contacted so many herbal doctors on this issue and wasted a large sum of money but my condition never got better i was determined to get my life back so one day i saw Mr. Morrison Hansen post on how Dr. Emu saved him from Herpes with herbal medicine i contacted Dr. Emu on his Email: Emutemple@gmail.com we spoke on the issue i told him all that i went through and he told me not to worry that everything will be fine again so he prepared the medicine and send it to me and told me how to use it, after 14 days of usage I went to see the doctor for test,then the result was negative, am the happiest woman on earth now thanks to Dr. Emu God bless you. Email him at: Emutemple@gmail.com Call or Whats-app him: +2347012841542
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