I am shocked that the NYTimes ran this powerful piece, but glad. This is a conversation we need to have. The author expresses what so many have been feeling - namely that peaceful protests have proven useless in recent years and so perhaps it makes sense to tell Baltimore officials to stop protecting the police or watch the city burn. I absolutely understand this sentiment and I've heard it expressed in various ways many times. There are a number of reasons why I disagree with violence as strategy, but in the short space here I'll just say one thing: As I see it, the reason nonviolent protests haven't yet achieved what many have hoped is NOT because the protests have been nonviolent, but rather because the problems and demands are often defined quite narrowly, and the tactics are typically reactive. There is a big difference between protesting when tragedies happen - marching in the streets with pastors asking for a few officers to be indicted - and building a nonviolent revolution against an unjust system. At its best, the Civil Rights Movement used nonviolence as a means of deliberately and strategically withdrawing all cooperation with a fundamentally unjust system. Think of the Montgomery Bus Boycott which nearly destroyed the bus system and rocked the city as a whole. Think of the Freedom Riders who refused to cooperate with or abide by segregation laws, throwing much of the South into an apoplectic state. And think of Dr. King, who at the end of his life said that the time had come to recognize the critical difference between a reform movement and a revolutionary movement, and urged advocates to work for a "radical restructuring of our society." At the time King was murdered, he was developing plans to bring a nonviolent army of poor people to Washington, DC and shut the nation's capitol down until Congress agreed to honor the basic human rights of all people to work for a living wage, live in decent housing, and obtain quality education. He wanted to paralyze the entire system of government and force a reckoning. In recent years much of that revolutionary spirit seems to have been lost or forgotten, particularly on MLK day when school children are taught the importance of nonviolence but not the importance of organized, nonviolent rebellion against injustice. Fortunately I see awakening today in so many young people - from Ferguson to Sanford to NYC to New Orleans to Chicago to Oakland to Baltimore and beyond - a fire and yearning for radical change that will not be satisfied by politics as usual or mere tinkering with the machine. We would not even be having this conversation today if it wasn't for the bold and courageous young people in Ferguson who inspired uprisings nationwide. Nonviolent protest forced a national conversation that politicians have tried to avoid for decades. We have more power than we realize, but we must use it strategically and proactively - not just sporadically and reactively. To this author I say: Don't burn Baltimore down. Shut it down. Let's use nonviolence as a strategic tool for revolutionary change, not as a polite response to predictable tragedy. -- Michelle Alexander on Facebook referring to the Baltimore Uprising and D. Watkins "In Baltimore, We Are All Freddie Gray": April 29, 2015)
Ferguson Speaks: A Communique From Ferguson from FitzGibbon Media on Vimeo.
Abu-Jamal, Mumia. "Mumia Abu Jamal Responds To Grand Jury Not Indicting Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson." Law and Disorder Radio (December 1, 2014)
"ACLU Asks Col Replogle to Remove Inappropriate Officer." ACLU (August 20, 2014)
Alexander, Michelle. "Telling My Son Abour Ferguson." The New York Times (November 26, 2014)
Allen, Holly. "Scenes From Ferguson—and Beyond: Demonstrators react to a grand jury's decision not to indict Darren Wilson for killing Michael Brown." Slate (November 25, 2014)
"AMERICA'S FRONT PAGES OF FERGUSON AFTERMATH (PHOTOS)." The Daily Beast (November 25, 2014)
Aronoff, Kate. "Understanding the Ferguson Riots as a Symptom of Violence." Truthout (August 20, 2014)
Arrowood, Emily. "Here Are The Conservative Pundits Branding Black Lives Matter A 'Hate Group'." Media Matters (September 2, 2015)
Attiah, Karen. "How Western media would cover Baltimore if it happened elsewhere." Washington Post (April 30, 2015)
Barnes, Mandela. "Ferguson, NYC, Milwaukee: Protests Erupt as Officer Cleared in Killing of Unarmed Dontre Hamilton." Democracy Now (December 24, 2014)
Barry, Dante and Alicia Garza. "'Not One More Darren Wilson, Not One More Mike Brown': National Protests Continue Ferguson Struggle." Democracy Now (December 1, 2014)
Bastone, William. "Was Key Grand Jury Witness in Michael Brown Case a Racist, Mentally Ill, Lying Ex-Felon?" Democracy Now (December 17, 2014)
Bell, Lawrence and Jesse Jackson. "National Guard Deployed as Baltimore Erupts After Years of Police Violence, Economic Neglect." Democracy Now (April 28, 2015)
Bell, Lawrence, Eddie Conway and Dominique Stevenson. "'Running While Black': Protests Swell over Death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore Police Custody." Democracy Now (April 23, 2015)
Belluz, Julia. "At Least 13 Journalists Have Been Arrested in Ferguson Since Protests Began." Vox (August 19, 2014)
Berman, Taylor. "Obama: "There’s No Excuse for the Kind of Violence We Saw Yesterday" Gawker (April 28, 2015) [MB: His comments start at the one hour point and you should listen to point 6 were he discusses "structural racism" in America]
"Black Lives Matter: Ferguson Erupts After Grand Jury Clears Officer in Michael Brown Killing." Democracy Now (November 25, 2014)
"Black Youth-Organized Millions March NYC Draws Tens of Thousands in Movement’s Biggest Protest Yet." Democracy Now (December 15, 2014)
Boguhn, Alexandrea and Coleman Lowndes. "Geraldo Rivera And The Victim-Blaming Of Black Teenagers." Media Matters (August 20, 2014)
Boehlert, Eric. "Obama, Race, And The Right-Wing Media's Heckler's Veto ." Media Matters (August 20, 2014)
Briquelet, Kate. "Bloods and Crips Team Up to Protest Baltimore’s Cops." The Daily Beast (April 27, 2015)
Butler, Anthea. "Police in Ferguson Keep Praying and Preying." Religion Dispatches (August 20, 2014)
Buttar, Shahid, Carl Dix and Michael McPhearson. "From Ferguson to Staten Island: Building Resistance to Police Terror." Building Bridges (August 27, 2014)
Bynes, Patricia. "Armed w/ Military-Grade Weapons, Missouri Police Crack Down on Protests over Michael Brown Shooting." Democracy Now (August 14, 2014)
---. "Ferguson Unrest Continues as Police Accused of Incitement & Michael Brown’s Killer Remains Free." Democracy Now (September 29, 2014)
Bynes, Patricia and Renita Lamkin. "Facing National Outcry, Ferguson Police Drop Military-Grade Gear as Protests Continue Over Shooting." Democracy Now (August 15, 2014)
Carrie, Shawn. "What everyone gets wrong about violence in Ferguson." The Daily Dot (November 18, 2014)
Casselman, Ben. "It’s Incredibly Rare For A Grand Jury To Do What Ferguson’s Just Did." Data Lab (November 24, 2014)
Chappelle-Nadel, Maria. ""They Are All Michael Brown": State Senator Defends Protesters Seeking Justice in Police Shooting." Democracy Now (August 20, 2014)
Christie, Gloria. "Ferguson Police Threaten, Restrain and Arrest Journalists, Is This A New Police State?" Addicting Info (August 19, 2014)
Coates, Ta-Nehisi. "Barack Obama, Ferguson, and the Evidence of Things Unsaid: Violence works. Nonviolence does too." The Atlantic (November 26, 2014)
---. "Bodily Safety: On Police Shootings." Making Contact (July 1, 2015) ["When journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates set out to write about police killings he went to visit Mable Jones. Back in 2000, Jones son, a friend of Coates from their time at Howard University, was shot and killed by police in Virginia. He was twenty five years old."]
---. "The United States of Ferguson." Moyers and Company (December 5, 2014)
Cobb, Jelani and Osagyefo Sekou. "Riot as the Language of the Unheard: Ferguson Protests Set to Continue In Fight For Racial Justice." Democracy Now (November 25, 2014)
Conason, Joe. "Missouri Burning: Why Ferguson's Inferno Is No Surprise." Truthdig (August 19, 2014)
"Continued injustice, continued response (#BaltimoreUprising)." Best of the Left #920 (May 8, 2015)
Cooke-Rivers, Jacqueline, Glenn Loury and Brandon M. Terry. "Ferguson is Everywhere." Radio Open Source (December 4, 2014)
Cooper, Brittney. "A racial state of emergency: How we prepare for devastation in Ferguson." Salon (November 19, 2014)
Crabapple, Molly, et al. These Facts About Killer Cops Will Blow Your Mind: Why Michael Brown is Just the Tip of the Iceberg." True Activist (November 25, 2014)
Crimethinc. "What They Mean When They Say Peace." Libcom (August 23, 2014)
Crump, Benjamin and Al Sharpton. " Legacy of Civil Rights Movement Shows Need for Feds to Bring Justice if State Fails." Democracy Now (November 26, 2014)
Cullors, Patrice and Darnell L. Moore. "Ferguson protests to #FergusonNext: 5 paths to progress, after non-indictment." The Guardian (November 24, 2014)
Dansky, Kara. "The real reason Ferguson has military weapons." CNN (August 19, 2014)
D, Davey. "Ferguson: Police Draw Guns on Rosa Clemente, Talib & Others." Hip Hop and Politics (August 20, 2014)
---. "Report Backs from the Front lines of Ferguson & LA Over Police Shootings." Hip Hop and Politics (August 19, 2014)
Davidson, Helen. "Ferguson protests continue after second police shooting." The Guardian (August 20, 2014)
Davis, Natalie Zemon. "World-Renowned Historian Natalie Zemon Davis Pleads Case of Steven Salaita with U-Illinois." Informed Comment *August 29, 2014)
"Denver for Ferguson." DAM Collective (November 2014)
Devereaux, Ryan. "A Night in Ferguson: Rubber Bullets, Tear Gas, and a Jail Cell." The Intercept (August 19, 2014)
---. "Rubber Bullets, Tear Gas and Jail: Ferguson Police Crack Down on Journalists Covering Protests." Democracy Now (August 20, 2014)
Downes, Nathaniel. "Anonymous To ID Michael Brown’s Killer – Already Has Paralyzed Ferguson." Addicting Info (August 14, 2014)
"Entertainer Sings 'Bad, Bad Michael Brown' At Ex-Police Charity Dinner (video)." Crooks and Liars (December 23, 2014)
Epstein, Hedy. "Stop the Violence from Ferguson to Gaza: 90-Year-Old Holocaust Survivor Arrested in St. Louis." Democracy Now (August 20, 2014)
Feige, David. "The Independent Grand Jury That Wasn’t: The Ferguson prosecutor’s bizarre, self-justifying press conference revealed his own influence." Slate (November 25, 2014)
"Ferguson: Brown jury decides not to charge officer." BBC World News (November 25, 2014)
"Ferguson October: Thousands March in St. Louis for Police Reform & Arrest of Officer Darren Wilson." Democracy Now (October 13, 2014)
"Ferguson reacts to grand jury decision LIVE UPDATES." RT (November 25, 2014)
"Ferguson Syllabus." Sociologists for Justice (2014)
Flores, Reena and Matt Berman. "What a Getty Photographer Captured Before He Was Arrested in Ferguson: Scott Olson, who was arrested Monday, has taken some of the most iconic pictures from the protests in Missouri." NationalJournal (August 18, 2014)
Ford, Glen and Tim Wise. "The State, Racism & Matters of Black Life." Building Bridges (January 6, 2015)
Friedersdorf, Connor. "The Brutality of Police Culture in Baltimore." The Atlantic (April 22, 2015) ["Years of abuses are every bit as egregious as what the Department of Justice documented in Ferguson, Missouri, and as deserving of a national response."]
Gartrell, Nate and Katie Nelson. "More than 40 arrested in Oakland as protesters block freeway, set fires after Ferguson cop not indicted." San Jose Mercury News (November 24, 2014)
Gillam, Carey. "Police in Ferguson committed human rights abuses: Amnesty report." Reuters (October 24, 2014)
Goodman, Amy. "The Ghost of Dred Scott Haunts the Streets of Ferguson." Truthdig (August 20, 2014)
Gott, Molly. "End-of-Year Round-up for Ferguson Protests: More than 600 Arrests, At Least 18 Still in Jail with Serious Charges." More (December 31, 2014)
Graeber, David. "Ferguson and the Criminalization of American Life." Gawker (March 19, 2015)
Graham, David A. "The Absence of Legitimate Authority in Baltimore." The Atlantic (April 28, 2015)
Greenwald, Glenn. "The Militarization of U.S. Police: Finally Dragged Into the Light by the Horrors of Ferguson." The Intercept (August 14, 2014)
Hedges, Chris. "Rise of the New Black Radicals." Truthdig (April 26, 2015)
"How black women are leading the #BlackLivesMatter movement (part one)" and Part Two America Tonight (December 18, 2014)
"Huffington Post Reporter Arrested in Ferguson." Huffington Post (August 13, 2014)
Hussain, Sophia. "Ferguson and the normalization of black murder." Verso (August 25, 2014)
I Am Mike Brown Live From Ferguson, MO." (KARG Argus Radio: Ongoing, on the scene, livestream coverage of events)
Janis, Stephen. "Baltimore: Problems And Conditions Precipitating Police Brutality In The Community!" Building Bridges Radio (May 4, 2015)
Laden, Greg. "#Ferguson Police Are At Your Door." Science Blogs (August 14, 2014)
Lavender, George and Jasmin Lopez. "Oakland Reacts to #Ferguson in photos and audio." Making Contact (November 25, 2014)
Lemieux, Jamilah. "Baltimore Been Burning." Ebony (April 28, 2015) ["AS THE STREETS OF BALTIMORE EXPLODE WITH RAGE FOLLOWING THE POLICE KILLING OF FREDDIE GRAY, JAMILAH LEMIEUX SAYS NO ONE SHOULD BE SURPRISED."]
Leonnig, Carol D., Kimberly Kindy and Joel Achenbach. "Darren Wilson’s first job was on a troubled police force disbanded by authorities." The Washington Post (August 23, 2014)
Love, David A. "Baltimore Police spin news of gangs uniting to protest into ‘credible threat’." Grio (April 28, 2015)
Ludwig, Mike. "As Police Continue Ferguson Crackdown, Protesters Vow to Keep Taking the Streets." Truthout (August 19, 2014)
Mackey, Robert. "Russia, Iran and Egypt Heckle U.S. About Tactics in Ferguson." The New York Times (August 20, 2014)
Marty, Robin. "Four Things You Probably Don't Know About the Ferguson Protests." Truthout (August 24, 2014)
Mathias, Christopher and Carly Schwartz. "Protesters Shut Down Three New York City Bridges In Reaction To Ferguson Decision." Huffington Post (November 25, 2014)
Maté, Aaron. "'You Can Replace Property, You Can’t Replace a Life': Voices of the Unheard in the Baltimore Streets." Democracy Now (April 29, 2015)
McBride, Michael. ""Not Acceptable in a Civilized Society": Pastor on Ferguson Police Targeting Traumatized Youth." Democracy Now (August 20, 2014)
Medina, Daniel A. "In Pakistan and Ferguson, the real risks of bringing children to protests became clear this week." Quartz (August 20, 2014)
"Michael Brown." Democracy Now (Ongiong Archive)
"Michael Brown Shooting." The Guardian (Ongoing Archive)
Mimms, Sarah and Stephanie Stamm. "Who Is in Charge in Ferguson?More than a week after Michael Brown was shot, the answer is still unclear." NationalJournal (August 20, 2014)
Mirzoeff, Nicholas. "No Justice in Ferguson: A Checklist of Physical Evidence Mistakes." After Occupy (January 19, 2015)
Morris, Wesley. "Let’s Be Real: Let’s Be Cops, cop movies, and the shooting in Ferguson." Grantland (August 15, 2014)
O'Donnell, Lawrence. "Rewrite: Bad police reporting by the NYTimes." The Last Word (August 20, 2014)
Patrick, Robert. "Five Ferguson protesters sue police for $41.5 million over arrests." St. Louis Post Dispatch (August 28, 2014)
Pierce, Charles P. "The CIA & NYPD: Perilous Insubordination in Our Democracy." The Politics Blog (December 22, 2014)
Potter, Gary. "The Ferguson Grand Jury and the Coercive State." Uprooting Criminology (November 28, 2014)
"Rage for Michael Brown." Reuters (November 25, 2014)
Reilly, Ryan J. and Amanda Terkel. "Ferguson Fights For Justice Beyond Mike Brown's Death." The Huffington Post (August 24, 2014)
Rios, Edwin. "Orioles Executive on Baltimore Unrest: It's Inequality, Stupid." Mother Jones (April 28, 2015)
Roos, Jerome. "What happens in Ferguson does not stay in Ferguson." ROAR (August 24, 2014)
Root, Carl. "The Day After: Confronting Political Policing in Ferguson." Uprooting Criminology (November 25, 2014)
Rothert, Tony. "Fighting Gag Order, Ferguson Grand Juror Accuses Prosecutor of Mishandling Case & Misleading Public." Democracy Now (January 7, 2015)
Russell, Tory. ""This Country Values Property Over People": Ferguson Activist Speaks Out as Protests Spread." Democracy Now (November 26, 2014)
Sakuma, Amanda. "Women hold the front-lines of Ferguson." MSNBC (October 12, 2014)
Sargent, Antwaun. "The Art of the Black Lives Matter Movement." i-d (September 11, 2015)
Schatz, Michael. "KU Journalism Major Shreds 'Case' Against Mike Brown." Kansas Exposed (November 29, 2014)
Scheiber, Noam. "The St. Louis County Prosecutor Implicitly Conceded the Need for a Trial." The New Republic (November 24, 2014)
Scola, Nancy. "Ferguson prosecutor slams 'non-stop' social media while calling for increased attention to race." The Washington Post (November 25, 2014)
Sicinski, Michael. "The Deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner: Documents of Barbarism." Notebook (December 9, 2014)
Simon, David. "Baltimore." The Audacity of Despair (April 27, 2015)
Sledge, Matt. "Darren Wilson Supporters Rally To Bash Media, Ferguson Protesters." The Huffington Post (August 23, 2014)
Soderberg, Brandon. "How drunk sports fans helped spark Saturday night's post-protest violence." City Paper (April 28, 2015)
"Statement on Ferguson." Sociologists for Justice (2014)
Taibbi, Matt. "The Police in America Are Becoming Illegitimate." Rolling Stone (Posted on Reader Supported News: December 7, 2014)
Taub, Amanda. "Seattle's former police chief speaks out on Ferguson and police militarization." Vox (August 14, 2014)
Thrasher, Steven W. "The Real Looting of Ferguson: Its Black Citizens Never Had a Chance to Get By." Comment is Free (August 19, 2014)
Thrasher, Steven and Graham Weatherspoon. "Calls for Calm After NYPD Union Says Mayor, Protesters Have Blood on Their Hands for Cops’ Murder." Democracy Now (December 22, 2014)
Tolson, Mike, Leah Binkovitz and St. John Barned-Smith. "Bland's image goes far beyond dash-cam video." Houston Chronicle (July 25, 2015) ["Personal videos, friends paint portrait of drive for racial unity"]
Toobin, Jeffrey. "How Not to Use a Grand Jury." The New Yorker (November 25, 2014)
Vysotsky, Stanislaw. "Baltimore Beyond the Riot." Uprooting Criminology (April 29, 2015)
Walsh, Joan. "Ferguson nightmare widens: Rudy Giuliani, the NFL, and cops doubling down on their 'right' to kill." Salon (December 1, 2014)
Warren, Vincent. "'It is Officially Open Season on Black Folks': Legal Expert Decries Handling of Wilson Grand Jury." Democracy Now (November 25, 2014)
Watkins, D. "In Baltimore, We’re All Freddie Gray." The New York Times (April 29, 2015)
We the Protesters ["We, the protesters of Ferguson and beyond, in order to fulfill the democratic promise of our union, establish true and lasting justice, accord dignity and standing to everyone, center the humanity of oppressed people, promote the brightest future for our children, and secure the blessings of freedom for all black lives, do ordain and dedicate ourselves to this movement of radical liberation."]
"What Happened in Ferguson?" The New York Times (November 25, 2014)
"Why Are Our Sons Gunned Down?: Parents of Black Victims of Police Killings Lead D.C. March" Democracy Now (December 15, 2014)
Woods, Barnard. "A hundred protesters released without charges, but claims of mistreatment." City Paper (April 29, 2015)
Wood, Janee. "12 things white people can do now because Ferguson." Quartz (August 17, 2014)
Yates, Ashley. "The Root is Racism in America: Ferguson Activist Speaks Out on Police Abuses After Meeting Obama." Democracy Now (December 2, 2014)
Yglesias, Matthew. "Rudy Giuliani says Obama and black leaders incite 'anti-police hatred,'" Vox (December 21, 2014)
Zirin, Dave. "St. Louis Rams Players Tell the World That #BlackLivesMatter." Edge of Sports (December 1, 2014)
No comments:
Post a Comment