1. Police killed another unarmed Black man last night. Barely in his 20s.

He was killed in the car his momma bought him. While his momma was on the phone with him.

His crime was apparently violating a traffic law. #DaunteWright should be alive today. 2. For everyone who will say “he needed to comply,” please understand that the end of that sentiment that is always present yet always unstated is, “and because he didn’t, he deserved to die.”

Make sure you say the second part if you say the first.

1. Been thinking a lot about the famous doomsday cult experiments in social psychology. No particular reason, but come along for the ride. A short thread. 2. So, in the mid 1950's (as a march toward legal integration was just tipping the scales, coincidentally), a woman named Dorothy Martin became part of a group of true believers in a cult.

1. Six year ago today, 12-year-old Tamir Rice was playing by himself in the park. A deadly mix of neighborhood fear of gun violence, police fear of Blackness, and the adultification of Black children resulted in Cleveland police shooting him to death within seconds of arriving. 2. When the officer called in the report of shots fired, they described Tamir as a Black male, and guessed his age to be around 20. They robbed him of his life in part because, before that, they robbed him of his childhood.

1. So, while we’re in the midst of a public safety data crisis, we might lose data from 25% of law enforcement agencies. Here’s how and why that matters. A thread.

FBI crime data could go away for one in four police agencies. newsy.com/stories/fbi-cr… 2. Data from police departments on reported crime are terrible. Just awful. The quality is bad. Standardization is trash. I often argue they are the worst governmental data in the world. The system for reporting them to the FBI is known as the Uniform Crime Report: UCR.

1. The administration is trying to expand its policing powers. If we do not stop it, it will be deployed during elections and it will be a disaster.

https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1284337917981274115

2. As the above @joshtpm thread outlines, the mechanism appears to be the Federal Protective Service. They protect federal buildings and their occupants. But it’s a tiny agency. 1,400 employees. Not big enough to be a real problem nationally, right? Well...

1. Seven years ago today, a jury in Florida found George Zimmerman not guilty of murdering Trayvon Martin. A wannabe cop who stalked a 17-year-old minor—despite 911 dispatch telling him not to—because "they always get away with it." I will never forget hearing the verdict. 2. Minutes afterwards, I went to pick up an order at a nearby deli/sushi spot to distract myself. As I was leaving to go back to my car, several senior citizens in Los Angeles, were shouting with glee, "He got off! Not guilty!"

1. Literally everyone who has been talking about “science says there’s no racism in policing” please endeavor to have a permanent seat. After dithering and dissembling, the paper will be retracted. And I am exhausted.

https://twitter.com/retractionwatch/status/1280172369341034496

2. Also, it’s dishonest to say the authors were concerned about its “misuse.” It was being used exactly how they wrote and promoted it. They couldn’t answer basic scientific questions about what they concluded and why, and FINALLY chose retraction after months.

1. All day long, all I’ve been thinking about is one word: Compliance. A thread. 2. When there is a tragedy with Black folks and police, my inbox is invariably flooded with people saying, “well, if they’d just complied, that wouldn’t have happened.” They say: “Teach your people the meaning of the word, ‘compliance.’”

1. 29 years ago today, grainy footage from a home video camera captured four Los Angeles Police Department officers violently beating Rodney King during a traffic stop. This became a sentinel event in race and policing. One that repeats every 21-23 years. A thread: 2. The footage was startling for how long and severely the officers beat King. Though “driving while Black” was already circulating in the culture, it was the King video that shocked the conscience of those who might have doubted the magnitude of racial disparities in policing.

1. The use of tactical units to intimidate people in cities that do not support the POTUS is a dangerous politicization of public safety. It is also a dangerous break from democratic (small “d”) norms. nytimes.com/2020/02/14/us/… 2. This is particularly worrisome in a context when our federal government (and some local police leaders) have been further politicizing public safety.

Put simply: public safety that appears to work for one party and against another makes everyone less safe.

1. Funny thing, discrimination is ALSO often based on love more than hate. A thread.

https://twitter.com/TheAtlantic/status/1191372829595512832

2. One of the first things you learn in social psychology is that in-group preference is robustly stronger than out-group derogation. “I like us more than I hate y’all.”

1. On a Monday, like today, May 13, 1985, a major U.S. city dropped a bomb on its own residents. My first political memory was this, the MOVE bombing in Philadelphia, 34 years ago today. 2. The context was that members of MOVE, a political resistance organization that lived together, had annoyed neighbors for four years. Uncollected trash, loud political messages, and the neighborhoods general disdain for MOVE’s lifestyle had produce numerous complaints.

1. A couple thoughts on the Mueller report freakouts on my timeline.

There are two types of folks in my TL presently:
I. Folks freaking out because they'd hoped Mueller was the end of this presidency.
II. Folks freaking out because they believe this presidency is illegitimate. 2. The first group will be sad. They will hold out hope (like the Jill Stein recount). And will then move on. But the second group...there has always been something that bugged me about some portions of this group and today it's revealing itself.

1. Hard to believe, but today marks the 28th anniversary of LAPD officers beating Rodney King. On March 3, 1991, officers used tasers and batons to subdue King after ordering him out of his car. KTLA soon release video shot by civilian George Holliday, sparking national outrage. 2. The beating appeared so severe—and went on so long—that many believed the officers involved would be convicted of brutality. But, on April 29, 1992, four officers were acquitted leading to the Los Angeles uprising that killed 63 and injured thousands.

1. Today is the anniversary of one of the bravest civil rights protests in U.S. history. It is also one of the most forgotten. On this date in 1955, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin sat down in the Colored Section of a bus in Montgomery, AL--sparking the Montgomery bus boycott. 2. That's right. Nine months before Rosa Parks was arrested, a 15-year-old high school student refused to give up her seat to a White woman and her case began the organizing that would turbo-charge the civil rights movement. So, why don't we all know her name?

1. Thread on the government shut down, research grants, and higher ed.

So, I got a call this morning letting me know that "the shutdown has hit you."

Say what now?

Turns out that money from the National Science Foundation is paid out quarterly. Here's what that means: 2. For many academic staff in the bench and social sciences, they are paid off of grants. Federal grants are often viewed as the most prestigious, which means some of the most important science pays vital staff off of federal grants. NIH, NSF, Labor, Education. All of it.

1. Thread on the noxious BS of “y’all after R. Kelly because racism.” I’ve seen folks #onhere saying that #SurvivingRKelly is somehow racist because it is not a documentary about White men who also abuse.

For y’all feelin that way, keep the ancestors out your mouth forever.

https://twitter.com/talbertswan/status/1081216096697573377

2. What these snarky threads really reveal is that, for some men, even rape is about the MEN more than about the WOMEN (and men and girls and boys) they rape.

Here’s how I know:

1. This is absolutely irrelevant to the homicide. But a quick thread on why it is particularly evil.

https://twitter.com/fox4/status/1040361795519541249

2. Our system of justice, and any legitimate one, should mete out consequences according to the crime one commits. Our systems are supposed to be set up like that. All too often, though, they are not.

1. Tonight I had a night that restored my faith in humanity a bit and reminded me not WHY I work all the time for the things I believe in—but what it is I’m fighting for. Follow along for a little feel good if you like. 2. This evening I went to a good friend’s engagement party. I’ve known him for better than a decade and he is among the most loving, loyal, and deep-hearted humans I’ve ever met. That he is at peace and in love with his fiancé fills my heart.

1. A good deal of ink will be spilled about how the suspended officer won awards and graduated at the top of his academy class. Many will say the training was at fault. Here’s why that’s not super helpful. A thread:

https://twitter.com/RectorSun/status/1028390442205896704

2. Folks who think police training is the answer or the problem often imagine that training can change attitudes. But training is not a proxy for attitudes. Training can’t make you kind or racist, wise or rash.

1. Just in case y'all thought that police relations with communities had magically gotten better while we weren't doing anything about it, I offer this video from El Paso.

facebook.com/3minutosinform… 2. Couple of obvious things first: drawing down on a group of pre-teen kids is not de-escalation. Thank God no one was hurt. Second: detaining anyone for filming is illegal and undermines the transparency needed for public legitimacy.