THREAD: If you're not an active participant in our movement but have told me you're supportive of, or impressed by, or proud of my work at any time, this is for you: This is not a scold, but there's some things that I need from you that you definitely can do. 1/25
More on this later, but understand that what's happening is about so much more than George Floyd. People have been acutely reminded that many peoples' lives are less important to our system than some peoples' comfort, and people are tearing up that social contract. 2/25
I'm going to do a real short glossary about how to talk about these events and why, dispel a couple media myths that are already being created, and then do a little political education—3/25
–and I'm doing this b/c some of you have asked for it and I don't have the capacity to do it over and over. I appreciate you and your wanting to understand and support, and your being confused, and that you apparently think my opinions matter, so hopefully this helps. 4/25
Glossary: These are not "riots," they are "rebellions." Or uprisings, or revolutionary actions. If the word "riot" comes up with your friends and family, please correct them. People are literally ripping up the social contract, b/c it does not work for them. 5/25
They've tried sending a letter. They've tried sending their lawyer to negotiate. They've tried all the "right" ways of doing it, and these a**holes are still over here saying we're bound by this contract, so ppl are ripping it to shreds. 6/25
Glossary: People are not "looting" they are "liberating." People are getting reparations. Looting is what the tax structure does, when poor peoples' labor generates unprecedented stock gains. Looting is what oil companies do to our planet...7/25
Looting is what developers do to our communities, and police unions and politicians do to public budgets and social services. If you think Target was "looted" and Baghdad was "liberated," you have things literally backward. 8/25
This takes us to Media Myth #1: Politicians and the media all of a sudden care about jobs and economic development and minority business ownership, and that's their concern. FALSE. In LA, most of the liberation has been happening in high-end, corporate retail. 9/25
In LA the protests were planned in gentrified and high-end areas, like DTLA, Beverly Hills, and Santa Monica, specifically because those areas are where minority-owned businesses have been locked out and wealth has been hoarded away from workers and communities of color. 10/25
It's a distraction from the righteous demands for economic justice and reparations that are fueling the anger. Onto Myth #2..."Outside agitators." Remember that every community has a reason to be angry, every community has its own George Floyd story (many!)...11/25
That's why this is happening everywhere! Myth #2 is about distracting from the escalations in the streets that are caused, more often than not, by the police. The idea that "outsiders" are going from everywhere to everywhere else is, on its face, absurd. 12/25
Myth #3 is the broader myth about what is safety and what is order. There are so many examples of the police being the agitators (you can look this up easily). These protests are following a pretty predictable pattern. People are coming out in numbers, angry, but peaceful. 13/25
Then the cops show up, skirmish lines form, and the gas, beanbags, and batons come out. Rubber bullets fly. AFTER THAT, typically, is when windows break and fires start. It's the cops who are escalating, and even planting infiltrators to escalate, too. 14/25
This is a micro example of the larger point that people are making when we demand that cities #DefundPolice. Our own community leaders can deescalate, resolve conflict, keep the peace. The cops make everything worse, not better. 15/25
Political education: This is most definitely Trump's fault. He has very clearly picked sides, and made no secret of it. Last month he publicly supported armed white nationalists who wanted to "get back to work." This month he's asking for citizens to be shot. 16/25
This is ALSO the Democrats' fault. Deep blue cities and states are cutting public services while continuing to give the cops raises. In LA, 54% of the proposed budget goes to LAPD, while all other services are being cut about 10%. 17/25
Then Dem mayors have the audacity to insinuate that the raises and bonuses are the only incentives stopping the police from killing even more people. So parks, libraries, sanitation and housing have to suffer because otherwise they'll kill us, is genuinely the message. 18/25
The Right is actively organizing to perpetrate extrajudicial violence on black and brown people, institutions, and communities. The GOP is egging them on. Their "opposition" is rewarding the perpetrators and withdrawing support from our most vulnerable. 19/25
All of this comes after a few months that acutely reminded us that the GOP is demanding that we die so rich people can buy stuff, and the Dems are...giggling about ice cream. Don't expect anything to calm down until we #CancelRent, #DefundPolice...20/25
Protect workers and immigrants, provide healthcare and PPE...there's so much that needs to be done. People need to feel that somebody, somewhere supports them, and the fact is very, very few people in power do. So here's what you need to do: 21/25
Don't worry about who's using what tactics in the streets. You might be uncomfortable, but the real enemy doesn't make a distinction between pacifist groups and more aggressive ones. They're ready to come for groups of people, and you need to decide whose side you're on 22/25
Your #Resistance mayor, or governor, or whomever, isn't prepared to make any extra effort to protect our most vulnerable people. They'll continue to help cops and developers loot poor communities the moment things calm down. 23/25
YOU need to use proper language, and get your kith and kin to do the same. It's not about justifying stuff that makes you uncomfortable, it's about priorities. Prioritize the real looting. Prioritize the death cult that is American capitalism. Prioritize that racism kills. 24/25
You also have to say, and publicly share, that you think that #BlackLivesMatter, and that you are Anti-Fascist. It's not enough to think it internally or say it in the privacy of your home. There's safety in numbers, and we need you to find some way to not sit this out. ### 25/25
