Nothing is a magic bullet and that might be the wrong metaphor for the moment anyway, but I am glad to see the city in which I live declaring systemic racism a public health and safety emergency and launching police reforms. I particularly like the parts about civilian oversight, independent investigation of misconduct, donation of forfeitures to community support, and the demilitarization of the SPD. "The only war to be fought here is against racism, and we don't need military-grade gear and weapons to do that." Now to see what happens if the Boston police call for help putting down protesters again.
1. Talia Levin on the history of antifa: "there is no acceptable amount of nazis in our discourse just as there is no acceptable amount of zyklon-b in your bedroom."
2. The radical kindness of Rahul Dubey and his neighbors in the face of all-night violence on the part of the D.C. police now appears to be formally called the Swann Street Siege. That has a ring to it, not to mention accuracy. My brain seems to have coupled it automatically with the Battle of Cable Street.
3. I did not like that my first thought on seeing the denunciation of the man in the White House by former Secretary of Defense James Mattis was that I hope his word still carries enough weight with individual soldiers to check them when they are commanded to carry out even more illegal orders, but then again he seems to have been thinking the same thing: "When I joined the military, some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens—much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside."
4. Naomi Kritzer on the realities rather than the reportage of "Minneapolis & Outside Agitators," of which I hope it is not a spoiler to say that the same people did not burn a hated police station and then commit arson on Black-owned businesses and homes.
5.![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rosefox on curfews: "New York cannot and must not be a sundown town. This has to stop. You can use this contact form to tell the mayor how you feel about it. Email Corey Johnson, the speaker of the City Council, while you're there."
6. The Criterion Channel has de-paywalled a number of films in their collection affirming that Black Lives Matter—Oscar Micheaux, Julie Dash, Maya Angelou, Leilah Weinraub, and more. I wish there were more links in the statement, but they list names and the index of all their currently streaming films is here. Check them out. The part about donations is good, too.
7. The public statement by Ben & Jerry's has been linked everywhere with good reason: "We Must Dismantle White Supremacy."
Personally I am working on feeling that I am allowed to do anything other than (my job from home, around which I must somehow find the time to) process and transmit the news, which must be a sign of the crisis, since I haven't felt this way since November 2016. Even the part of my brain that normally generates film writing seems to have shut off. In the evenings I have been staring at the Granada Sherlock Holmes (1984–94). Fortunately I have enough practice in distinguishing fiction from reality not to feel awkward about noticing this time around that Colin Jeavons as Inspector Lestrade is adorable.
1. Talia Levin on the history of antifa: "there is no acceptable amount of nazis in our discourse just as there is no acceptable amount of zyklon-b in your bedroom."
2. The radical kindness of Rahul Dubey and his neighbors in the face of all-night violence on the part of the D.C. police now appears to be formally called the Swann Street Siege. That has a ring to it, not to mention accuracy. My brain seems to have coupled it automatically with the Battle of Cable Street.
3. I did not like that my first thought on seeing the denunciation of the man in the White House by former Secretary of Defense James Mattis was that I hope his word still carries enough weight with individual soldiers to check them when they are commanded to carry out even more illegal orders, but then again he seems to have been thinking the same thing: "When I joined the military, some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens—much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside."
4. Naomi Kritzer on the realities rather than the reportage of "Minneapolis & Outside Agitators," of which I hope it is not a spoiler to say that the same people did not burn a hated police station and then commit arson on Black-owned businesses and homes.
5.
rosefox on curfews: "New York cannot and must not be a sundown town. This has to stop. You can use this contact form to tell the mayor how you feel about it. Email Corey Johnson, the speaker of the City Council, while you're there."6. The Criterion Channel has de-paywalled a number of films in their collection affirming that Black Lives Matter—Oscar Micheaux, Julie Dash, Maya Angelou, Leilah Weinraub, and more. I wish there were more links in the statement, but they list names and the index of all their currently streaming films is here. Check them out. The part about donations is good, too.
7. The public statement by Ben & Jerry's has been linked everywhere with good reason: "We Must Dismantle White Supremacy."
Personally I am working on feeling that I am allowed to do anything other than (my job from home, around which I must somehow find the time to) process and transmit the news, which must be a sign of the crisis, since I haven't felt this way since November 2016. Even the part of my brain that normally generates film writing seems to have shut off. In the evenings I have been staring at the Granada Sherlock Holmes (1984–94). Fortunately I have enough practice in distinguishing fiction from reality not to feel awkward about noticing this time around that Colin Jeavons as Inspector Lestrade is adorable.
