Thread by @radfagg

As the #LoriLightfoot transition begins, namely with "flooding the zone" where a recent murder was committed by CPD with hundreds more cops, I want us to be vigilant against our own anti-Blackness as we call out the bullshit. #StopLightfoot

Folks like Lightfoot and Eddie Johnson are hellbent on privatizing, displacing, and militarizing our communities, and their harmful actions need to be vocally rejected at every turn--by every community and organization possible. #StopLightfoot

That being said, it's easy for the memes, taunts, and hashtags to slip into old racist and homophobic tropes, especially when being put forward by non-Black and non-queer ppl. #StopLightfoot

I would argue this is part of the tactic of placing more Black/queer/trans/immigrant/etc. folks in positions of power. It's easy for the oldest jokes in the book--namely anti-Black and homophobic ones--to cloud our thinking, and rob us of our creativity... #StopLightfoot

...which is actually beneficial to our opponents. Think of how much anti-Blackness Obama faced, and how racist attacks on him actually detracted critical attention from his own deeply racist, imperialist policies... #StopLightfoot

...and strengthened the notion that protecting Obama was about fighting anti-Blackness--even as he oversaw the drone striking, deporting, and extorting of Black folks around the globe. #StopLightfoot

We can do multiple things at once, and we must. Just as putting Black people in positions of power doesn't solve racism, the need to call out Black folks in positions of power isn't an open invitation for casual racism. #StopLightfoot

Let's be clever, creative, and funny in how we fight back. Let's not fall for their cheap tricks by using our own bigotry to combat theirs. #StopLightfoot

Let's fight for housing, education, mental healthcare, living wages, and all the other things we deserve, without alienating the other oppressed people we're fighting alongside. #StopLightfoot #NoCopAcademies #AbolitionNow