#chi2ferguson

[blkproverbs]

A group of friends and I are going to Ferguson in the morning. So if yall wanna support blkproverbs.com real quick to help finance this trip that’ll be dope. blkproverbs.com

[sexual-bolshevik]

So I need some opinions. Specifically from black and brown folks, but white people are welcome to comment as well

I was at an action yesterday, and I witnessed some pretty awful police brutality. The police targeted one man in the crowd, then assaulted and arrested him. Everyone was clearly really pissed off, screaming at cops, etc. And then this rabbi comes out of nowhere (I hadn't heard him say anything else prior to this) trying to calm people down. What pissed me off the most was that he said "don't give them a reason to hurt you" when no one was doing anything outside the law, just yelling at the cops. So I yelled "If you were really on our side you'd be telling the cops to exercise restraint, not us!" He got pissed and came over to me, talking about how he regularly comes to protest to 'protect people' like its his job to calm people down who have a right to be angry. And then the person with the microphone said something like "this is why we need to vote", like voting is gonna stop racism and white supremacy, which got me even more pissed, but thats irrelevant.

Later, I felt bad for speaking over the rabbi (him being black, me being white) and apologized. But I obviously wasn't the only one that felt that way, as I know for a fact that black and brown folks around me were agreeing with me. And I'm really sick of clergy coming out to protests in order to 'ease tension' between protesters and police or some bullshit like that. Especially since we weren't even being violent, or even advocating for violence. 

Do yall think I was justified in saying what I said or was I in the wrong?

[subtextread]

"You're STUPID. You're ALL STUPID! THIS IS STUPID!"

"*knocks over peaceful protestor* I'm a citizen just like you and you're disrupting ME."

"[To aloof cop] We're on your side. God bless. *shakes hand*"

"The officers have wives and children too!"

Just some gems from people who completely miss points and are upset that we blocked one entrance to a fucking Nordstrom.

Today was the hardest protest for me, believe it or not. I have been at colder, scarier, longer ones... but it's so disheartening to see people who genuinely do not give a fuck. I don't know how I managed to delude myself that the public couldn't be THAT unsympathetic. I guess I've been lucky that the actions I have gone to, there are people who are either supportive from the sidelines or apathetic. Not openly antagonistic and awful.

[kurlyknots]

black power. #MillionsMarchChi #ShutItDown #Chi2Ferguson #EricGarner #MikeBrown #TamirRice

[image-politique]

. Chicago, 28 novembre.

source

[queenraethewicked]

At 26, Rachel Tuszynski is hardly new to protest. She marched against the Iraq war in 2007 and, more recently, demonstrated in favor of legalizing medical marijuana. Then, last Thursday, Tuszynski and her girlfriend drove into downtown Chicago on an errand and, motivated by spontaneous curiosity, went looking for a march against police brutality that they'd heard about on the radio. "We drove down Michigan Avenue until we couldn't," said Tuszynski. "I was in slippers ... and I heard helicopters and police and I just hopped out of the car," joining protesters shouting "Hands Up. Don't Shoot." When someone handed her a sign with the message, "Ferguson is Everywhere," she grabbed it. "It's like I have an internal fire and I am deeply, deeply upset by injustice. To me, this is injustice," she said. Tuszynski, who works as a cook in a restaurant and who shares Puerto Rican, Italian and Polish ancestry, acknowledges that it's not injustice that victimizes her directly. And yet, with short-cropped hair that draws attention to her identity as a lesbian, she said she is often stared at by passersby and sometimes hassled. She has heard from black, male friends about being pulled over by police and ordered out of their cars for little if any apparent reason. While their experiences are different, it is easy to relate, she said. So much so that in the days since Tuszynski has grown hoarse from shouting at protests and taken time off from work to participate. "I want someone to hear us, that's all I want. I want people to know that Chicago stands with Ferguson, and stands with every black person in America who feels afraid.

From the Associated Press article "Police Protests Draw Old, Young, White and Black" by Adam Geller

[queenraethewicked]

"…Protesters said after recent events, they now fear the police.

“They took an oath to protect and to serve us. All of us. Black, white, brown, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if you're visiting here, it doesn’t matter if you’re a citizen of this country, we should not be afraid of you,” protester Rachel Tuszynski said.”

More protests are scheduled to take place Sunday."

[seven-m00ns]

If anyone knows anything about more Ferguson/Mike Brown/Eric Garner protests in Chicago for the next week, please let me know when and where!