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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 Convergence
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.

"Broken Window Policies" are Discriminatory and Should be Opposed in U.S., Israel

M. Dove Kent, Donna Nevel, Rebecca Vilkomerson Tikkun
As Jewish New Yorkers, we firmly believe that no community can ever be safe through the oppression of another. Your advocacy of broken windows policing while in Israel reinforces the Israeli government's ongoing policies of discrimination against Palestinians. The military occupation of Palestinian communities, political and economic exclusion ...and discriminatory and violent policing by the military and police do not increase the safety of the Jewish people.

Elizabeth Warren Just Gave the Speech that Black Lives Matter Activists Have Been Waiting For

Wesley Lowery; Senator Elizabeth Warren The Washington Post
Senator Warren's speech clearly and powerfully calls into question America's commitment to black lives by highlighting the role that structural racism played and continues to play with regard to housing discrimination and voting rights, said DeRay Mckesson, a prominent #BLM activist. Warren understands the protests as a matter of life or death - the American dream has been sustained by an intentional violence...the uprisings have been the result of years of lived trauma

Tidbits - September 24, 2015 - Refugee Crisis, Solidarity; Jeremy Corbyn, Bernie Sanders, Woman Held in Mental Health Facility; Rhiannon Giddens; and more...

Portside
Reader Comments: Refugee Crisis, Solidarity and Worker Rights; Radical Roots of Great Grape Strike and the United Farmworkers; Jeremy Corbyn, Bernie Sanders; Woman Held in Mental Health Facility Because Police Didn't Believe Her; Rhiannon Giddens and Old-Time Music's Black Roots; Announcements - New York and Los Angeles - Greece,Spain, Puerto Rico, South Africa, Cuba

Batman Confronts Police Racism in Latest Comic Book

Spencer Ackerman The Guardian
Comics critics say they are hard pressed to remember Batman ever addressing institutional racism and its socio-economic dimensions as bluntly as this in the character’s 75-year history.

Woman Held in Mental Health Facility Because Police Didn't Believe BMW Was Hers

Samuel Osborne The Independent
African American Kamilah Brock, a banker, was driving her BMW in Harlem. Police did not believe that African American woman could own a BMW or be a banker. She was taken into custody, transported to a psychiatric ward, stripped and forcibly, and repeatedly, injected with sedatives - for eight days. She is now suing New York City. Only in America...in 2015.
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