Thread by @AriMelber

In the peak of the BLM protests, activists pleaded with America *back then* about what would happen *now* --

"Support us when it's not trending"...

@TheBeatWithAri

"Trending” captures our current era, where virtually all topics — even state-sanctioned murder — are reduced to their “viral” elements.

An issue or stance becomes “hot,” then fades like it’s some sort of fashion...

The sign's from last summer; @kendricklamar tackles the same theme in his new song:

"I thought you'd known better
I been ducking the pandemic [and] social gimmicks
I been ducking the overnight activists
I'm not a trending topic / I'm a prophet!"

arimelber.substack.com/p/open-this-em…

If there was an urge to “support” BLM and equality last summer, what does it mean to continue that today?

Police are killing Americans at the same rate this year as last year.

arimelber.substack.com/p/open-this-em…

The evidence shows which reforms actually *impact* policing:

The key variable is reforms that mandate *independent authority" over police...

rather than police policing themselves

Take body cameras - a feature of how we think we understand (some) policing incidents.

The majority of incidents caught on body cameras are *never* released by police, according to a recent study.

A "reform" to "add more cameras" without mandating *who* controls them may not deter much excessive force

It is still subject to the original dilemma in American policing — that police largely get to police themselves.

You don't need a study to see why *citizen* videos of police conduct have a larger immediate impact than police body cameras.

The police do not have control of citizen videos in the first place.

The video of Floyd's murder spread so fast, some officers were still falsely claiming Floyd died in a medical incident — a cover story that was shredded by the public video.

People forced facts into the system that otherwise would never have come to life.
arimelber.substack.com/p/open-this-em…