We Need Truth and Reconciliation

When the then 28-year-old Bryan Stevenson was threatened with a gun by a police officer, he knew better than to run away. But, he argues, young black men are still presumed guilty and dangerous by many Americans. Now executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative and part of President Barack Obama’s policing task force, he says only transitional justice can begin to heal America’s racial wounds.

WeTheProtestors Launches Campaign Zero (Police Violence)

wetheprotestors.org
WeTheProtestors.org, a group that has played a prominent role in organizing the protests against police violence and especially the disproportionate use of force against African Americans in the year since the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, has put forward a set of ten specific policy proposals aimed at ending police violence, including limiting police interventions, improving community interactions, and ensuring accountability

Friday Nite Videos -- July 24, 2015

Portside
Slavery to Mass Incarceration. Mess Within Texas - Sandra Bland's Arrest. Traffic Stop. Are We Really 99% Chimp? The First Openly Asshole President.

Traffic Stop

Alex Landau, an African American, was raised by adoptive white parents to believe that skin color didn’t matter. But when Alex was pulled over by Denver police officers one night, he lost his belief in a color-blind world. Alex tells what happened that night.

Tidbits - July 23, 2015 - #BlackLivesMatter and Bernie Sanders; Police Violence & Racism; Serena Williams; Rosa Luxemburg Conference; more...

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Reader Comments: #BlackLivesMatter and Bernie Sanders; The Value of Protest; US Cited for Police Violence, Racism; Private Prisons; Euro Agreement and Greece; Urban Renewal and Public Space; Announcement: Rosa Luxemburg Conference - New Takes on a Longtime Classic - New York - August 21 - 22 (Moderator's Note - There will be no Tidbits for the next three weeks)

The Death of Sandra Bland and My Fear of Driving While Black

Danielle C. Belton The Root
For years I’ve battled a driving anxiety. I want to get over it, but the mysterious death of Sandra Bland after a routine traffic stop in Texas reminds me that in black women’s lives, safety is an illusion.

FBI Joins Investigation Into 'Unfathomable' Death of Sandra Bland

Nadia Prupis Common Dreams
Sandra Bland died in police custody in a Texas jail after a traffic stop. In a video shot by a passer-by, Bland protests that her head is being slammed to the ground during her arrest. Local authorities are calling her death a suicide, but friends and family do not believe that explanation. Twitter users have launched the hashtag #IfIDieInPoliceCustody to counter the narratives that often follow the deaths of unarmed black men and women in police custody.

A Fourth of People Killed by Police in 2015 were Mentally Ill

Meteor Blades Daily Kos
According to the Washington Post, which, in the absence of reliable government statistics, is one of the news organizations tallying the number of police killings in the U.S., cops killed some 461 people in the first six months of 2015. And, more than a fourth of those slain, the reporters say, were "in the throes of mental or emotional crisis." The Washington Post estimates that in 2015, on average, police killed one mentally disturbed person every 36 hours.

Friday Nite Videos -- June 12, 2015

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Sixto Rodriguez - Establishment Blues. Pros and Cons: Donald Trump Running for President. Documentary: The Look of Silence. When We Stand Up for 15. Judge: Probable Cause for Murder Charges in Tamir Rice Case.
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