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Sixteen Shots and a Conviction

Micah Uetricht and Rachel Johnson Jacobin
Jason Van Dyke, the Chicago police officer who shot Laquan McDonald sixteen times, has been found guilty of murder. It's a major victory for Chicago activists and the broader movement against police brutality.

What Gives Me Hope About This 'Enough Is Enough' Movement

Harry Targ Diary of a Heartland Radical
I have had bursts of enthusiasm before when women marched for their rights, masses mobilized against war, and many stepped up to say no to police violence and mass incarceration, I was touched emotionally even more this time around, by several features of this new movement.

books

Police are the Problem, Not the Solution

Michael Hirsch The Indypendent
The author argues convincingly and in graphic detail that the problem with police in civil society is not just the lack of adequate training, police diversity, increased militarization or even police methods such as the routine brutalization of many people of color, but the dramatic and unprecedented expansion in the last four decades of the too-accepted social role of police. The problem, the sociologist-author insists, is policing itself.

Kap, Cops and Confederate Statues: A Better World Without Double Standards

Frank Serpico CounterPunch
Frank Serpico, who testified against NYPD police corruption in 1972, joined more than 100 African American uniformed officers who demonstrated at a rally supporting NFL player Colin Kaepernick's objections to police abuse and inequality. "Kaepernick was not disrespecting the flag or our vets. I believe that Kaepernick was protesting a corrupt system of justice that allows some police to use excessive force, even the taking of innocent life, without consequences"

Eight-Year-Old Football Players Kneel During National Anthem Amid St. Louis Protests

Des Bieler Washington Post
Amid protesting in St. Louis over the acquittal of a white police officer accused of murdering a black man after a car chase, a youth football team decided to take a knee during a pregame rendition of the national anthem. The team's coach said that the decision was made by the eight-year-olds following "a good teaching moment" about what was happening in the nearby city, and why.
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