okay so there's some tension going on in
the United States and most media outlets
and politicians are so out of their
depth that they're trying to deal with
it by repeating the same old we need to
be united violence is not the answer
which is all very well and good but
being United is an ideal not a plan and
without a plan all it translates to is
be united by joining me in doing nothing
don't speak out a protest because that's
divisive from my non plan meanwhile
leaders within the black lives matter
movement have concrete plans plans for
increasing police training for
de-escalation plans for ways bad-apple
police officers could be held
accountable so we don't keep seeing non
indictments plans for changing the
incentives and structures around fine
collection so that targeting the most
vulnerable people is no longer the most
profitable thing for police to do
there's so many good changes that should
be made and it's frustrating to see them
here spin it into what is the exact
problem to point at is it that police
are racist or is it that there aren't
enough body cameras or maybe the problem
is purely socio-economic and the media
spins it as exclusive or is as a complex
problems don't come from complex
combinations of causes and feedback
loops and complex systems I know a whole
lot of you are still catching up on
events and black organizers of social
change don't have time to give 101
courses to every internet person who is
of the opinion that if you just do what
the police say you'll be fine and all
lives matter
listening to black people is important
and white people have got to talk to
other white people to try and get up to
speed and learn how to listen
hence this video here we go black lives
matter was founded in July 2013 by three
black woman patrisse cullors Alicia
Garza and opal tometi in response to
George Zimmerman being acquitted after
killing seventeen-year-old
Trayvon Martin if Zimmerman had faced
consequences for his actions maybe it
could have been spun as a tragic event
involving a lone overzealous racial
profiling neighborhood Watchmen but the
system supported Zimmerman he was
acquitted thus people feeling the need
for a movement specifically focused on
the problems that make our justice
system treat black lives as mattering
less than white ones and there's many
such problems but we're gonna skip to
July
2014 when Eric garner was killed by
police and it was captured on video in
the world said I can't breathe
his death alone was cause for protests
but the media reaction and statements
made by politicians made it clear that
black lives were being treated as
mattering less like the absurd focus on
how he was selling loose cigarettes or
how he had asthma which made him easier
to kill anyway it was really messed up
his death was ruled a homicide but there
were no indictments August 5th 2014 John
Crawford shot in a Walmart while
carrying a toy gun that Walmart is
selling in Ohio which may I remind you
is an open carry state someone called
9-1-1 reporting that John Crawford was
pointing a gun at children and there's a
chilling video in which he's standing
there chatting on the phone with the toy
gun pointed down no one else in sight
certainly no children when suddenly the
police rush in and start shooting
immediately once again no indictments
August 9 2014 Michael Brown was shot by
Ferguson police that he was shot again
itself was cause for protests but the
media reaction and police response an
outpouring of support for Darren Wilson
the police officer who shot Michael
Brown was all really worrying to a lot
of people and when Wilson was not
indicted that once again sent the
message that this was not just a mistake
made by bad police but something allowed
by our justice system and supported by a
lot of American citizens November 2014
Tamir rice a 12 year old kid killed by
police again there's a messed up video
where he's playing by himself in the
park with a toy gun also in Ohio and a
cop car speeds up to him and an officer
shoots him within two seconds of
stopping once again no indictment and
somehow some media outlets saw fit to
start reporting on the criminal records
of this 12 year old victim's parents
April 2015 Freddie gray disappears into
a police vehicle and comes out with
injuries so severe he goes into a coma
and dies a week later again there are
protests Freddie Gray's death was ruled
a homicide and it turns out there was no
cause to arrest him in the first place
there's some ongoing trials but the only
completed trial had the result everyone
was dreading Edward Nero was found not
guilty on all charges
two
i 2015 Sandra bland a vocal supporter of
black lives matter gets pulled over for
failing to signal a lane change and
there's a video where the officer
absurdly escalates it into an arrest the
officer involved ended up getting
indicted for perjury but no indictments
have been made in connection with how
Sandra bland was found dead in her cell
three days later it appeared to be
suicide but an investigation reveals
some weird inconsistencies and the
results have not come out yet it's
ongoing so many other people I could
name but I'm gonna skip to this past
week July 5th 2016 alton sterling having
just been tased is held down face down
lying on the ground by two officers and
is shot multiple times and it's all on
video from multiple angles because he
was shot to death in front of his
friends it's so clear so unspeakably
sickening and yet the media starts to
talk about well he shouldn't have been
selling CDs anyway and let's hear both
sides of the story maybe it's okay to
shoot someone who you think has a gun in
their pocket maybe it's okay even if
you're already holding them down after
tasing them isn't that such nice
balanced news coverage the very next day
July 6th falando Castile gets pulled
over for a broken taillight
his girlfriend diamond Rannells is next
to him kid in the back they comply with
everything the officer asks and they
inform the officer that he has a
concealed carry permit and is carrying a
legal firearm and the cop shoots him
multiple times he starts streaming video
and the contrast between her trying her
best to calmly comply even as the cop is
screaming and pointing a gun at her and
her dying boyfriend into the car where
her kid is in the backseat realize how
absurdly inappropriate it is that some
media outlets followed this up with an
accounting of how many tickets he has
gotten because that's the worst dirt
they could find to excuse his death do
not let anyone make excuses for this
man's death do not let them excuse it
with tickets all those events and more
led to protests around the world and
some people exploited some of those
protests as a chance to loot and cause
damage on July 7th 2016 someone
exploited a protest to set up an
ambush against police a lot of media
outlets and politicians are trying to
spin a dangerously irresponsible
narrative where it's a war between black
lives matter and cops rather than this
sniper was a messed up loner with a
grudge who was himself military who said
he had no connection with black lives
matter who simply took advantage of
knowing there'd be heavy police presence
at a protest pretending otherwise is
just an excuse to discredit black lives
matter and ignore their very reasonable
requests the officers who were killed
are being treated with dignity and
respect as they should be no one
reported about those officers as past
infractions or how many complaints had
been made against them or their family
members criminal records no politicians
spoke out in support of the killer the
nra didn't put out a statement
supporting his second Amendment rights
and televised news didn't replay the
footage of their deaths over and over
and over speculating that maybe they
would have lived if they'd just taken
cover here or had worn different
equipment no one speculated whether a
medical condition may have contributed
to any of the officers deaths
there's no campaign raising hundreds of
thousands of dollars in support of the
man who shot those officers he's not on
national news telling his side of the
story in some twisted mockery of fair
and balanced reporting the man who
committed these killings
was blown up with a robot let's not
forget the thing that makes a black
person expressing anger about white
people on the street or in a tweet a
very different thing from a mainstream
politician backed by voters demeaning
black people on national TV let's not
forget the imbalance of power that makes
racism racism rather than just prejudice
and the imbalance of power that makes
racial profiling from police doubly
harmful police are backed by
institutional power and many do use this
power wisely to protect the safety of
American citizens but when someone
backed with that kind of power does
wrong again and again we see them not
facing consequences we can't force a
jury to indict someone but we can
protest so we protest I hear people talk
about how
people and people of color besides black
people also get unfairly killed by
police or that there's other crime too
and the system is unfair to other people
too and that's all the more reason that
we're all in this together some people
have more at stake but this is all our
problem I've put it all very mildly my
heart goes out to those who don't put it
mildly
to those who are angry and afraid who
raised their voices and don't have
energy left over at the end of the day
to be extra nice to those who still
don't get it I know there's a lot of
white people out there who are afraid or
unsure of whether or how to engage with
any of this because they're afraid of
doing it wrong or being called racist
when they're just trying to help and I
sympathize but you'll live so go listen
and learn and good luck everybody