Congressional staffers stage walk out to protest police killings
More than 150 congressional staffers, as well as a few elected officials, walked off the job Thursday afternoon, gathering on the steps of the Capitol to join protests in support of the families of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, two unarmed black men killed by police officers last summer.
Happened about 10 minutes ago…
http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/11/politics/walkout-planned-for-congress/index.html
THIS IS HUGE
This is getting bigger by the second
First Deandre Joshua and now Shawn Gray, who’s looking after the witnesses in Ferguson ?!
From his family:
“We reached out to the officers in Ladue, Kirkwood and the [St. Louis] city police and I feel like we didn’t get the help that we needed,” said Gray’s cousin Nayesha Courteney.
Gray was last seen leaving work at Cardwell’s restaurant and bar in Clayton at 11:30 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Relatives say it was unlike him to disappear so they filed a missing persons report in St. Louis two days later. But it was family members that were able to track down his car to the parking lot of a Maggie Moo’s in Ladue.
“We played detective from day one of his disappearance up until yesterday of them finding his body,” Courteney.
The family called Ladue police, who went to the scene, looked in the trunk and inside the car and determined there was no sign of foul play. News 4 asked police if they could have done more like check for surveillance video, but they wouldn’t comment on an ongoing investigation.
The police were not just uncooperative and unwilling to search for Shawn Gray- they were complicit in the minimization of his disappearance, and his subsequent death. This was not an accident.
VIDEO in the link: On Saturday, November 29, 2014, days after the Grand Jury Decision, Knox College Women’s Basketball Player Ariyana Smith bravely held a one woman demonstration at the Knox College v. Fontbonne University game held in Clayton, MO.
During the singing of the national anthem, Ariyana walked with her hands up towards the American flag and fell to the ground for a full 4.5 minutes to bring awareness to the inhumane killing of Micheal Brown in which his body was left to lay on a neighborhood street for 4.5 hours.
While Ariyana lay on the ground in honor of fallen black lives, she was told to move so they could start the game. Refusing to compromise the integrity of the movement, Ariyana stood after the full 4.5 minutes with her fist proudly in their air.
She has been suspended from the team indefinitely. After the suspension, her coach unjustly had her escorted out of the building by security.
We are all Ferguson.
Black lives matter.
Thank you, Ariyana.
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Fucking reblog this right now, or just don’t follow me. She is going to be remembered in the history books and let’s help spread her name. The school’s Twitter account is HERE. Blast them because this AFTER the fact statement was made only because they knew hell was coming. Fuck Knox College.
- Grand jury decides NOT to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo for illegal chokehold death of Eric Garner (x)
- Black police association in STL takes bold stand to support Rams football players
- Man arrested for threatening to kill Darren Wilson (x)
- Mayor Knowles says he considered resigning, is now working to unite community
- Mike Brown’s stepfather apologizes for “burn” outburst in Ferguson
- Gov. Nixon stumps for Jeff Roorda, the ex-cop speaking out against police body cameras
I mentioned this before, but I truly believe that maintaining credibility is important. I think spreading misinformation, exaggerations, and falsehoods does not help any cause. Sometimes it is very tempting to just hit that reblog button and share that terrible thing people are outraged about. And sometimes it feels nice to have stuff that reaffirms our position. But we need to be more careful and we need to stick to the truth.
I just want to say that I am not defending anyone here. I am just saying this stuff is not true or cannot be proven at this time.
The picture of the KKK marching in Ferguson was from Maryland in 2013. There is no evidence that they have marched in hoods during the protests. There is evidence that some members may have passed out leaflets and there is evidence that they helped raise money for Wilson.
While the police have done plenty of disgraceful things that we can prove during all of this, SWAT did not set a car on fire. The video doesn’t even show them setting anything on fire. They were shining a flashlight into the back of an El Camino. There is currently no reliable proof I can find that police have set fires.
There is only one source saying that Darren Wilson got paid for his television interview. “Got News” is a very sensationalist website and they do not seem trustworthy at all. Their story was the equivalent of gossip. “An unnamed source from NBC” said there was a bidding war. However, ABC news told multiple sources on record that they “do not pay for interviews. Period.” Darren Wilson did have several online fundraisers that raised a lot of money for him, but he most likely was not paid for the interview.
The only evidence that Darren Wilson had ties to the KKK was generated by Anonymous. They claim they cannot release any details because their source would be in great danger. I’m not saying it isn’t possible, but that is so far from reliable that I wouldn’t feel comfortable stating it as fact.
Wal-mart never donated to Darren Wilson. Marissa Mayer did not donate. She is not affiliated with any known Darren Wilson supporters. Neither is Tumblr.
Tumblr staff never cleared the Ferguson tag. They have removed posts with personal information because it is against their terms of service. I agree it is troubling that they removed personal info of the KKK very quickly and seem to be super slow on removing other problematic content, but I don’t think they intended to censor anything. You cannot post people’s credit card info and expect it to stay up. You can read more about what they have done in this Daily Dot article.
Also, please be extra careful about doxxing posts. There have been several people who have created fake tweets and hacked accounts to make someone look like they are a giant racist. This was done as a revenge tactic by ex-boyfriends and whatnot. Revealing personal information can literally put people in danger. Please be very very very sure that you have the right person and that they did what you are accusing them of.
BREAKING: President Obama Is Doing the One Thing That Will Prevent More Fergusons
And it’s about time.The crisis born of Officer Darren Wilson’s non-indictment in Ferguson, Missouri, last week has compelled the White House to push for national police reform.
President Barack Obama called for Monday $75 million to equip 50,000 police officers across the nation with body cameras intended to track their interactions with civilians.
The budget for the body cameras, announced during a day of meetings with civil rights leaders and members of law enforcement, is part of a three-year, $263 million initiative on police reform that would also expand training for law enforcement, according to the Associated Press. Obama plans on working with Congress next year to include the program in the 2015 budget.
The program: The package would provide a 50% federal match for local police departments to acquire body cameras, Talking Points Memo reports. There are no confirmed numbers on how many police agencies use body cameras, but a 2013 report cited by Talking Points Memo suggests that currently most do not.
The White House also is working on an executive order to change the review process under which military-grade equipment is given to local police departments and require new standards for their supervision. Talking Points Memo says that a senior administration official declined to comment on whether Obama would support a ban on the transfer of militarized equipment itself to the police.
The grand jury’s decision not to indict Wilson triggered an explosion of protests, riots and a fierce national debate over the relationship between police agencies and the black community. The fervor of the response seems to have already surpassed the outcry last year over George Zimmerman’s acquittal after he killed unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin in 2012.
A necessary step: Body cameras have been brought up as one way to help reform behavior of police agencies, some of whom have proven to be systematic practitioners of racial discrimination. A black person is four times more likely to be arrested for having marijuana than a white person, despite using the drug at similar rates. Young black males are 21 times more likely to be shot dead by police than their white peers. The United States incarcerates its minorities at a greater rate than any other country in the world, including South Africa under apartheid.
Substantial evidence based on case studies show body cameras can work as a tool of accountability and quickly decrease the rate of the use of force in confrontations between police and civilians.
Body cameras won’t solve the deeper structural incentives that police officers have for surveilling, harassing and arresting black and brown communities around the country, but they could be a useful tool for curbing the epidemic of police brutality that seems to have hit a breaking point nationally.
Source: Zeeshan Aleem for Mic
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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