Skip to main content

Tidbits - July 28, 2016 - Reader Comments: Sanders and the Democrats; #BlackLivesMatter; Trump - Whiff of Fascism; Black Athletes Speak Out; Women's Boat to Gaza; and more...

Portside
Reader Comments: Sanders and the Democrats - Inside and Outside; #BlackLivesMatter - Baltimore, Freddie Gray, Police Incitement; Trump - the Myth of Working Class Support, Whiff of Fascism; Turkey and Nuclear Weapons; Black Athletes Speak Out; Zika; Israel; Announcing - Women's Boat to Gaza is Now a Reality; and more...

Florida Cop Shot Black Man with His Hands Up

Francisco Alvarado, Michael E. Miller and Mark Berman Washington Post
Police in South Florida shot an unarmed black caretaker Monday as he tried to help his autistic patient. I was thinking as long as I have my hands up . they're not going to shoot me, he told local television station WSVN from his hospital bed. Wow, was I wrong. Police then handcuffed him and left him bleeding on the pavement for about 20 minutes.

New Wave of Police Brutality and Racial Terror - Alton Sterling Murdered in Deep South; Philando Castile Slain in North

Shaun King; Terrance Heath; Color of Change
It happened again this week, as it has happened more than 100 times so far this year. Police in Louisiana and Minnesota shot and killed two more black men. Stop asking us to be calm. Stop asking us to wear the mask. Stop asking us to take whips, nooses and now police bullets without emotion. In the words of Fannie Lou Hamer, "We are sick and tired of being sick and tired." Two years after Ferguson, police induced murders are continuing...#BlackLivesMatter

tv

How Jesse Williams Stole BET Awards With Speech on Racism

Katie Rogers New York Times
The BET Awards Sunday featured tributes to Prince and Muhammad Ali, and a performance by Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar. But this year, the actor Jesse Williams commanded the spotlight with an impassioned speech calling for an end to police killings, racial inequality and cultural appropriation.

Remembering Michael Ratner - The Loss of a Hero

Vince Warren; Sam Roberts; Bob Guild
We lost one of the great social justice warriors of our time, Michael Ratner. While a law student at Columbia University in 1968 this empathy and compassion helped him find his political focus during student protests against the Vietnam War. "[E]vents like this created the activists of the generation and I never looked back; I declared that I was going to spend my life on the side of justice and non-violence."

Chicago Police Corrupt, "Beset by Racism"

Police Accountability Task Force Police Accountability Task Force
If you are not severely and wholeheartedly dealing with racism, you are not going to get to the bottom of this issue . . . CPD's own data gives validity to the widely held belief the police have no regard for the sanctity of life when it comes to people of color . . . at every step of the way, the police oversight system is riddled with legal and practical barriers to accountability.

Dirty Harry Lives

Patrick McGilligan Jacobin
Clint Eastwood’s iconic character spawned generations of vigilante cop fantasies.

The Police Beating That Opened America's Eyes to Jim Crow's Brutality

Chris Lamb The Conversation
Over the years, Woodward’s beating receded behind more publicized stories like the lynching of Emmett Till. But with police brutality remaining a problem in many African-American communities today, it’s appropriate to highlight an important – and unappreciated – story of the civil rights movement.
Subscribe to police brutality