(thread)
I'm a two-time DNC delegate, and in my second term as an elected committeeperson for the Philadelphia Democratic Party.
Yesterday-- THE DAY BEFORE THE ELECTION-- police working for my Democratic mayor tear gassed, shot at, & arrested me for peaceful protest.
I'm a two-time DNC delegate, and in my second term as an elected committeeperson for the Philadelphia Democratic Party.
Yesterday-- THE DAY BEFORE THE ELECTION-- police working for my Democratic mayor tear gassed, shot at, & arrested me for peaceful protest.
Yesterday, I joined a diverse, peaceful protest.
It was the most optimistic, hopeful protest I've joined since the murder of George Floyd.
It was also the youngest; most people seemed to be in their late teens and early twenties.
It was the most optimistic, hopeful protest I've joined since the murder of George Floyd.
It was also the youngest; most people seemed to be in their late teens and early twenties.
Police had blocked off 676, but folks really wanted to make a big statement and take the highway.
So the protest descended this very steep, weedy embankment and started down one of the lanes.
So the protest descended this very steep, weedy embankment and started down one of the lanes.
Again, it wasn't even an angry mood that police could pretend scared them.
We were moving out of the opposing traffic lane, and no one was damaging cars or harassing anyone.
It was just young people feeling hopeful and excited and idealistic.
We were moving out of the opposing traffic lane, and no one was damaging cars or harassing anyone.
It was just young people feeling hopeful and excited and idealistic.
Except for a chopper in the air, I didn't even *see* police when we were marching down there, much less hear them announce anything.
All I heard was young people chanting.
Then, suddenly, explosions and terrified screams.
All I heard was young people chanting.
Then, suddenly, explosions and terrified screams.
I'm an elected official, and I'm also a seasoned labor organizer.
I've been arrested nine or ten times, I've been in nonviolent stand-offs with cops more times than I can count, I've spent my entire adult life doing direct action work & working with emergent protest movement.
I've been arrested nine or ten times, I've been in nonviolent stand-offs with cops more times than I can count, I've spent my entire adult life doing direct action work & working with emergent protest movement.
This was like nothing I'd ever seen.
No warning (at least, not that anyone heard).
Nothing that they could even pretend to think of as provocation beyond just principled civil disobedience, not even so much as a mood of anger.
And then, just a rain of police terror.
No warning (at least, not that anyone heard).
Nothing that they could even pretend to think of as provocation beyond just principled civil disobedience, not even so much as a mood of anger.
And then, just a rain of police terror.
The explosions and the screams were followed by clouds of tear gas and smoke, more explosions, and mass panic.
Remember, we'd moved out of the opposing traffic lane to avoid causing accidents/scaring motorists, so we had a big cement barrier between us and escape that came up to my chest.
Many of us (myself included) were also under an overpass, so escape was cut off on both sides.
We were densely packed, and for shorter and less able-bodied people it was nearly impossible to move in any direction quickly, even when the crowd started moving.
We were densely packed, and for shorter and less able-bodied people it was nearly impossible to move in any direction quickly, even when the crowd started moving.
At first, the crowd wasn't really even moving, because no one really knew what was happening, except that people from the front of the march had started shrieking and running back towards the steep embankment we'd come down.
Later I heard a person from the front of the march talk about how the police had "turned on a dime," how one minute they were just standing around and the next they were coming for the lead marchers, deliberately aiming pepper spray directly into their eyes.
When the clouds of tear gas and smoke started descending on us, there stopped being any confusion about what was happening.
I have never seen so many people so absolutely shocked, fearstruck, and abjectedly terrified.
I have never seen so many people so absolutely shocked, fearstruck, and abjectedly terrified.
There was no escape except back up the embankment, which was steep, muddy and slippery from people climbing down earlier, and topped by a fence with one small gap in it. 
The smoke by itself made it almost impossible to see, and the tear gas made the situation far worse.
After getting gassed on Sunday, I'd brought goggles, so I could see a little.
Anyone without them (which was most people) was almost completely blinded by the gas.
After getting gassed on Sunday, I'd brought goggles, so I could see a little.
Anyone without them (which was most people) was almost completely blinded by the gas.
Even with the goggles, I was choking on the gas, and it took what felt like forever to make it up the embankment and towards the fence opening.
I kept slipping down the hill in the mud, grabbing at weeds, trying to help up the people behind me and then slipping backwards.
I kept slipping down the hill in the mud, grabbing at weeds, trying to help up the people behind me and then slipping backwards.
That's what everyone was doing, including the people without protective eyewear or half-decent masks.
Climbing, slipping, reaching back to help, slipping again as more tear gas rained down and police began to approach with rifles.
Climbing, slipping, reaching back to help, slipping again as more tear gas rained down and police began to approach with rifles.
I cannot overstate what a miracle it was that no one died.
They fired tear gas and rubber bullets into a huge, densely packed crowd with limited and difficult escape options without warning.
They were trying to cause a stampede.
They fired tear gas and rubber bullets into a huge, densely packed crowd with limited and difficult escape options without warning.
They were trying to cause a stampede.
The only thing that prevented loss of life was the fact that enough people kept calm enough to keep shouting reminders to each other to manage panic and help each other.
People kept picking strangers up and helping them climb and risking more tear gas to aid each other.
People kept picking strangers up and helping them climb and risking more tear gas to aid each other.
As devastated and heartbroken as I am at the incredible violence @phillymayor Kenney and @ppdcommish Outlaw chose to do to their own peacefully assembled constituents, that is the one bright spot.
Protesters were in pain and terror and still showed just incredible humanity.
Protesters were in pain and terror and still showed just incredible humanity.
When I finally made it to the top, I was with one of my closest friends, who'd had no eye protection.
I grabbed water and started heading back to help rinse out the eyes of folks (the pain of tear gas just gets worse and worse, it becomes absolute agony til you rinse)
I grabbed water and started heading back to help rinse out the eyes of folks (the pain of tear gas just gets worse and worse, it becomes absolute agony til you rinse)
We made our way back to the top of the embankment where the gate opened and started hauling people up the last stretch and giving them first aid for the tear gas.
At that point we thought it was just gas.
At that point we thought it was just gas.
We were literally just pulling blinded, crying, terrified people up away from the highway to safety and giving them first aid.
That was obvious to the SWAT-armored riot police on the asphalt below.
That was obvious to the SWAT-armored riot police on the asphalt below.
We were just helping people get away and get first aid, but that didn't matter.
They raised their rifles at us and started shooting.
They raised their rifles at us and started shooting.
One of them looked right at me, aimed, fired, and missed.
At the same time, another started shooting at my friend.
He got him in the leg; this is what it looks like now.
Then, when my friend turned to get away, he shot him again in the back.
At the same time, another started shooting at my friend.
He got him in the leg; this is what it looks like now.
Then, when my friend turned to get away, he shot him again in the back.
"Rubber bullets" sound like no big deal, but they're incredibly painful and dangerous.
Not only have the blinded people (including journalists) in the past few days, including journalists, they can rupture internal organs, cause spinal injury, and even kill.
Not only have the blinded people (including journalists) in the past few days, including journalists, they can rupture internal organs, cause spinal injury, and even kill.
The second shot barely missed my friend's kidneys and was just six inches from his spine.
Here's another thing about rubber bullets: the initial pain is so shocking that you don't know what you've been hit with at first.
There had been rumors going around all day about live ammo authorization, and when they aimed and shot at us we didn't know what they were shooting.
There had been rumors going around all day about live ammo authorization, and when they aimed and shot at us we didn't know what they were shooting.
An armored sighted a rifle on me & shot at me.
By the time I spotted him it was too late to run, I didn't know if it was a rubber bullet or live ammunition coming my way.
Honestly I didn't even have time to wonder until after he fired the shot.
I can't stop flashing back to it
By the time I spotted him it was too late to run, I didn't know if it was a rubber bullet or live ammunition coming my way.
Honestly I didn't even have time to wonder until after he fired the shot.
I can't stop flashing back to it
And every time I flash back to it, I think, the @phillymayor I stood on stage with at his first election victory party, the mayor that ran promising to end police brutality, the mayor I sat with at an AFL-CIO breakfast to talk about tax policy?
He ordered police to shoot at me.
He ordered police to shoot at me.
I'm not naive enough to be in shock about it, but just like getting shot at, there's a surreality to it.
There's just sort of visceral emotional dissonance being like, "I'm sure I'll be at tables in the future with this guy who just had someone I love shot"
There's just sort of visceral emotional dissonance being like, "I'm sure I'll be at tables in the future with this guy who just had someone I love shot"
He was shot at maybe 5:15 pm, and it wasn't until 5:43 pm that all our phones started to go off with an emergency alert that curfew was being declared for 6:00 pm, so we'd be arrested if we stayed out.
Let me remind you, this is the night before the election.
Committee people's work is to go make sure people know to vote, know how to vote, know where to vote.
Every election eve around 6 or 7, that's when I go out and do that work, the work I was elected to do.
Committee people's work is to go make sure people know to vote, know how to vote, know where to vote.
Every election eve around 6 or 7, that's when I go out and do that work, the work I was elected to do.
Realistically, that probably wouldn't have happened any way, because of the whole teargassing and shooting my loved ones thing.
I was still icing my friend's back with frozen peas I'd brought along, because that is what I pack to go outside now, thanks to police.
I was still icing my friend's back with frozen peas I'd brought along, because that is what I pack to go outside now, thanks to police.
My point is, though, elected officials from the party that I have canvassed for for nearly every local, state, and national primary and general election since something like 2013 violently attacked nonviolent protesters, then used that chaos to lock people inside on election eve.
You know who they did let roam the streets, with the police's support and active approval?
Roaming gangs of vigilante white supremacists with baseball bats.
Roaming gangs of vigilante white supremacists with baseball bats.
This wasn't just, the police drove by and didn't bother to enforce curfew.
They organized this with the cops. They posed for photos with them.
They organized this with the cops. They posed for photos with them.
These armed white supremacist vigilante gangs weren't there to protect anything.
They were there to start fights and assault suspected protesters passing through.
They assaulted a woman carrying a BLM sign and tore down people passing through on bikes.
They were there to start fights and assault suspected protesters passing through.
They assaulted a woman carrying a BLM sign and tore down people passing through on bikes.
When a racist vigilante gang spotted a reporter from WHYY filming them for a story, they jumped him, beating him so badly that his eye swelled shut.
When the still very peaceful protest left the Parkway area out of fear of further gassing, we marched-- nonviolently, without property damage, and mostly quietly because our throats were still stinging with tear gas-- to police headquarters and took a knee.
There-- once they were sure there were cameras-- the police did this incredibly insincere photo op for the press.
It was all staged bullshit.
They'd just gassed & shot us.
They were RIGHT THEN encouraging the white supremacist gangs attacking people.
It was all staged bullshit.
They'd just gassed & shot us.
They were RIGHT THEN encouraging the white supremacist gangs attacking people.
We began to hear that a group of largely Black protesters who had remained on the Parkway taking a knee were getting gassed, shot at, and beaten by police, and a relatively small group of us went back in that direction hoping to our presence might de-escalate things.
(If you're wondering why we thought that, well, our group was much whiter. Increased numbers but especially increased numbers with white bodies can often de-escalate racist police brutality)
Right before police attacked us, two white women suddenly went to the front of the group, guiding its direction, & started saying things like "leave if you can't handle it" and other goading stuff.
Just before police came at us, those two "protesters" veered off.
Just before police came at us, those two "protesters" veered off.
A huge squad of police ran up from behind us, running, terrifying everyone. People started to run, & police started to attack and tackle them.
(Not those two "protesters" who'd veered off, of course. Police arrested the Mexican woman right next to them, but let those two walk).
(Not those two "protesters" who'd veered off, of course. Police arrested the Mexican woman right next to them, but let those two walk).
They told me and my friend to kneel, then started tearing through our backpack and trying to goad us into telling them that the things we had were weapons and that we were some kind of instigators.
They asked why it was so heavy, and when I said it was with water, they tried to get us to admit that we were carrying it so we could throw it at them.
We were wearing reflective tape bracelets so friends could spot us easily (we were carrying first aid supplies), and they interrogated us about what the bracelets were, what they meant, what our roles were and why folks would want to find us.
They cuffed us tightly with zipties, and I tried to explain to the officer that I had a slipped disc and that behind-back ziptie cuffs become extremely painful and injurious on me if they're on too long.
The injury manifests as a shooting pain that starts in my shoulder goes down through my arm and hand, so i called it a shoulder problem.
Surgeon General Officer Sullivan started quizzing me, then called me a liar because it's technically a spine thing & I couldn't name the disc.
Surgeon General Officer Sullivan started quizzing me, then called me a liar because it's technically a spine thing & I couldn't name the disc.
After half an hour I was in near-agony, and I was one of the lucky ones, because I could still feel my hands.
If you are a curvy woman, it doesn't matter if you have a pre-existing condition.
Zip tie cuffs are torture devices after 30 minutes or so.
If you are a curvy woman, it doesn't matter if you have a pre-existing condition.
Zip tie cuffs are torture devices after 30 minutes or so.
This is what zip ties look like on someone with longer limbs and a medium to slender build-- in other words, what they look like on most cis men.
The prisoner can move their hands up and hold their shoulders in a relatively normal posture.
The prisoner can move their hands up and hold their shoulders in a relatively normal posture.
This is what zip ties do to a person with even a relatively curvy build and shorter limbs-- in other words, a person built like most cis women and especially most cis Black women.
The curvier/shorter you are, the more it forces your shoulder blades together, compressing your spine and putting you in a constant state of choosing between a painful leaning-forward position and an equally, differently painful leaning-back and (from seated) lifting up.
Because your arms are shorter, you can't bend them to lift above your bottom without agonizing spinal compression, so the curvier you are, the more your bound hands get pushed out backwards behind you.
It literally mimics a torture position used in "enhanced" interrogation.
It literally mimics a torture position used in "enhanced" interrogation.
Zip ties force your hands even closer together in an even less flexible way than traditional cuffs.
Used behind the back for more than a few minutes, they are absolute fucking torture for shorter, curvier women.
Used behind the back for more than a few minutes, they are absolute fucking torture for shorter, curvier women.
We were in zipties for HOURS.
They had ten women detained and held in a schoolbus, and they held it on-site planning to wait until it was full to transport and process us.
Within half an hour, there was a woman in absolute agony, screaming and weeping in pain.
They had ten women detained and held in a schoolbus, and they held it on-site planning to wait until it was full to transport and process us.
Within half an hour, there was a woman in absolute agony, screaming and weeping in pain.
I'm not being overdramatic.
All of us were yelling for the officers up in the front of the prisoner transport bus in an absolute panic. We were BEGGING, wheedling, kicking the door, screaming, terrified for this woman.
All of us were yelling for the officers up in the front of the prisoner transport bus in an absolute panic. We were BEGGING, wheedling, kicking the door, screaming, terrified for this woman.
The officer in front was clear on how bad the situation and was one of the few cops I'd seen act like an actual human that night, and he was in a panic with us.
He kept saying, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I don't have anything to cut it with, I can't get anything, it isn't allowed
He kept saying, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I don't have anything to cut it with, I can't get anything, it isn't allowed
Some of us were doing breathing exercises with her trying to help distract her, others were begging the the officer to do something, anything, and many of us were both panicked for her and in deep pain of our own.
The officer was able to pull some fabric out of the cuffs at her wrist to give her a little more room, she was still in agony but at least able to feel her hands again.
It took another hour for us to get to the station, & now two women were crying, weeping, screaming in pain.
It took another hour for us to get to the station, & now two women were crying, weeping, screaming in pain.
I have a fairly high pain tolerance and I really really don't like admitting any kind of weakness to cops, but I was just cold sweating with pain, contorting myself trying to lessen it.
It was getting to a point where folks were beginning to worry about and check in on me, too.
It was getting to a point where folks were beginning to worry about and check in on me, too.
It was just this lockbox of women in agony.
It speaks to the cruelty of the system that even the cop seemed as horrified and upset as some of my co-passengers, he just kept begging us to understand that he couldn't do anything, he wasn't allowed.
It speaks to the cruelty of the system that even the cop seemed as horrified and upset as some of my co-passengers, he just kept begging us to understand that he couldn't do anything, he wasn't allowed.
Finally even he couldn't take it anymore and went to find someone to get a utility knife off of, he kept saying I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I have to put ties back on, I might still lose my job for doing this, they saw me, I don't know how I'll get another job
When he cut mine off it was one of the most painful things I've ever experienced.
It was a dull knife, so he had to saw and apply pressure, pulling the ties back even further, making the position worse.
It kept slipping on the plastic and cutting me.
It was a dull knife, so he had to saw and apply pressure, pulling the ties back even further, making the position worse.
It kept slipping on the plastic and cutting me.
I was facing the rest of the bus as he did it and it took everything in me not to scream.
Other folks were just going pale watching my face and started to tell him he was hurting me, and I had to talk them down because I was afraid he'd stop cutting and I'd be left that way.
Other folks were just going pale watching my face and started to tell him he was hurting me, and I had to talk them down because I was afraid he'd stop cutting and I'd be left that way.
My wrists are so cut up and bruised and painful to the touch that I screamed and pulled back from my husband when he tried to hold my hand today. I've been hunching forward then arching back all morning and afternoon, trying to undo the strain to my back and neck and shoulders.
After tear gas, rubber bullets, interrogation, separation from the people I knew, and arrest, that was the still the scariest, most awful hour of yesterday for me.
Writhing in pain watching other women scream and writhe and sob in pain around me, with no end in sight.
Writhing in pain watching other women scream and writhe and sob in pain around me, with no end in sight.
When, after hours, they brought us into the station, they refused us water even though it was midnight, there were no stores open, we had no way home, and we had been locked in a bus in pain for hours at that point.
They mocked us and threatened jail time on the way out.
They mocked us and threatened jail time on the way out.
By the time we were out, most women's phones had died.
It was past midnight, pitch black, and they'd taken us into North Philadelphia.
Public transport had been shut down.
We knew that violent white supremacists were roaming the streets with bats assaulting people like us.
It was past midnight, pitch black, and they'd taken us into North Philadelphia.
Public transport had been shut down.
We knew that violent white supremacists were roaming the streets with bats assaulting people like us.
We were dehydrated, they'd taken people's cigarettes, we were far from home and people's cars alone in the streets in the dark.
They'd driven jail support away from the station and threatened to arrest them for curfew violation.
It was fucking desolate.
They'd driven jail support away from the station and threatened to arrest them for curfew violation.
It was fucking desolate.
I ended up with two other women in the car of a big dude I'd never met, he was going to drop them off first and the women were too traumatized to try and take me home.
I was still trying to figure out where my husband was, and I hadn't even caught his name.
I was still trying to figure out where my husband was, and I hadn't even caught his name.
I am a survivor of sexual assault.
I have been sexually assaulted at night by a taxi driver who was supposed to be taking me home.
The idea of being alone with some strange guy who could easily overpower me was absolutely terrifying.
I have been sexually assaulted at night by a taxi driver who was supposed to be taking me home.
The idea of being alone with some strange guy who could easily overpower me was absolutely terrifying.
I made this very conscious choice of just, it is more terrifying to try and walk home alone and risk something even worse happening.
I made a conscious choice to risk assault and re-traumatization because I just couldn't stomach two hours of walking home afraid at night.
I made a conscious choice to risk assault and re-traumatization because I just couldn't stomach two hours of walking home afraid at night.
Extremely thankfully, I hadn't been with it enough to read context clues and as it turned out our driver was an extremely delightful drag queen performer named Matt who was doing jail support, very kind, and even promised to pick up my friend from jail when he got out.
This is what police are doing to us.
This is what police are doing to peaceful protesters, even peaceful protesters who are like me, white women of relative privilege with contacts and friends within government and party leadership.
This is what police are doing to peaceful protesters, even peaceful protesters who are like me, white women of relative privilege with contacts and friends within government and party leadership.
They are trapping us, they gassing us, they are macing us without provocation, they are targeting people providing first aid with potentially deadly rubber bullets.
They are arresting & torturing women for curfew violation while letting violent, racist gangs roam free.
They are arresting & torturing women for curfew violation while letting violent, racist gangs roam free.
This is your city, @phillymayor.
This is what you are doing to peaceful protesters who just want to stand up for civil rights and be able to tell our children that we didn't stay home and silent when they started shooting and gassing our neighbors.
This is what you are doing to peaceful protesters who just want to stand up for civil rights and be able to tell our children that we didn't stay home and silent when they started shooting and gassing our neighbors.
And Philadelphia, this is what happens when we let our mayor get away with hiring a police commissioner famous for brutal tactics and for running a police force that conspired with and enabled white supremacists.
That is who @PPDCommish Danielle Outlaw is.
That is who @PPDCommish Danielle Outlaw is.
WE WARNED YOU.
And now, under @PPDCommish Outlaw's command and @PhillyMayor's authority, police are attacking and torturing nonviolent protesters on the eve of the election, letting white supremacist vigilantes roam the streets.
And now, under @PPDCommish Outlaw's command and @PhillyMayor's authority, police are attacking and torturing nonviolent protesters on the eve of the election, letting white supremacist vigilantes roam the streets.
I am so disgusted.
I am in pain, I am traumatized, I am sad.
It's painful leaving the couch, I have no energy to do turnout or work the polls.
Most folks are so scared of the protester-deterrent explosions and of curfew arrest that idk that they'd come out to vote anyway.
I am in pain, I am traumatized, I am sad.
It's painful leaving the couch, I have no energy to do turnout or work the polls.
Most folks are so scared of the protester-deterrent explosions and of curfew arrest that idk that they'd come out to vote anyway.
This is what fascism looks like, and it is beyond disgusting that electeds like @phillymayor-- elected Democrats who are part of a party that claims to represent the alternative to Trumpian fascism-- are ordering it carried out in their name.
What cowardice and hypocracy.
What cowardice and hypocracy.
This is what they're doing to folks like me who are committed enough to do the grunt work and knock the doors and man the polls even in the most boring of elections.
I'm sure they'll expect that I'll happily do all that for them in November, too.
I'm sure they'll expect that I'll happily do all that for them in November, too.
Fuck all of the callow party hacks.
They demand our loyalty, they scold us for sadness when a status quo-loving hack like Biden gets the nomination EVEN when we say we'll still vote and do the work, and then then fucking send people to gas us and shoot at us.
FUCK.
THEM.
ALL.
They demand our loyalty, they scold us for sadness when a status quo-loving hack like Biden gets the nomination EVEN when we say we'll still vote and do the work, and then then fucking send people to gas us and shoot at us.
FUCK.
THEM.
ALL.
Step up or get out.
Be in the street with us or be on our list to get voted out.
Some of the best and most successful campaign managers and electoral organizers I know got gassed in the street with me today.
WE SEE YOUR ABSENCE AND YOUR SILENCE.
Be in the street with us or be on our list to get voted out.
Some of the best and most successful campaign managers and electoral organizers I know got gassed in the street with me today.
WE SEE YOUR ABSENCE AND YOUR SILENCE.
If you think it was just vote-disinterested kids and anti-electoral anarchists you had gassed and shot and arrested and tortured and mocked and abandoned in dangerous streets in the middle of the night, think again.
@PhillyMayor Kenney, @PHLCouncil, wake the fuck up.
@PhillyMayor Kenney, @PHLCouncil, wake the fuck up.
We are done with this.
Stay silent & we will come for your seats a& your reputations and make sure that just as Wilson Goode Sr. will forever be the mayor who firebombed his own city, you will forever be remembered as cowards who had police wage racist war against Philadelphia.
Stay silent & we will come for your seats a& your reputations and make sure that just as Wilson Goode Sr. will forever be the mayor who firebombed his own city, you will forever be remembered as cowards who had police wage racist war against Philadelphia.
Time is up.
Make your choice.
Pick your side.
The end.
Make your choice.
Pick your side.
The end.
(PS, if you would like to share your thoughts on this with Mayor Kenney, his office number is (215) 686-2181)
