June 12, 2020

GREAT AWAKENINGS ALWAYS SCARE THE GODLESS:

'It is patriotism': Seattle's mayor rebukes Trump for saying 'autonomous zone' protesters are terrorists (Bill Bostock, 6/12/20, Business Insider)

"It's clear @realDonaldTrump doesn't understand what's happening on five square blocks of our City," Durkan said in a series of tweets published late Thursday.

"Lawfully gathering and expressing first amendment rights, demanding we do better as a society and provide true equity for communities of color is not terrorism -- it is patriotism."

"CHAZ is not a lawless wasteland of anarchist insurrection -- it is a peaceful expression of our community's collective grief and their desire to build a better world," she added.

Durkan continued her attack on the president, tweeting "one of the things the President will never understand, is that listening to community is not a weakness, it is a strength."

"Seattle is passionate, we demand justice, and I believe we will be at the forefront of true, meaningful change. Nothing will distract our city from the work that needs to be done."


"Black Lives Matter" has become a global rallying cry against racism and police brutality: The police killing of George Floyd has sparked a worldwide reckoning. (Jen Kirby, Jun 12, 2020, vox)

It wasn't just Brussels. Protests have erupted on nearly every continent, many defying coronavirus restrictions. People took to the streets in London, in Seoul, in Sydney, in Monrovia, in Rio de Janeiro. A mural honoring Floyd was painted amid the rubble in opposition-held Idlib, Syria.

The video of Floyd's assault, shared widely on social media, made "people think about how it was relevant where we were," Stephanie Collingwoode-Williams, a spokesperson for Belgian Network for Black Lives, a collective formed this week to bring activist organizations together in Belgium.

When Americans went out on the streets to protest, and kept going out day after day after day, it sparked a movement around the world.

And, as in the United States, there are glimmers that, this time, it might be different.

Statues of figures from countries' colonial pasts are falling. Governments are reexamining policies when it comes to policing. Protesters worldwide are saying the name of George Floyd, but also Collins Khosa and Adama Traoré and Belly Mujinga, black men and women in other countries who died in police custody or whose deaths have not been fully investigated.

What comes next is uncertain -- whether protests will continue, whether there will be real change. At this moment, though, "Black Lives Matter" is a global rallying cry and a gut-punch reminder that this message still needs to be repeated everywhere.

Posted by at June 12, 2020 7:45 AM

  

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