Why #BlackLivesMatter Actions Arent Stopping The movement challenging the criminal justice systems treatment of black people continues to build this week. On Monday morning, Bay Area organizers blockaded entrances to Oakland Police Department headquarters and brought traffic to a standstill on nearby Interstate 880. In Los Angeles, attorneys staged a die-in at a downtown courthouse on Tuesday. More than 100 protesters lay in the rain holding signs that read “Lawyers 4 black lives” and “No one is above the law.” Actions such as these in California follow a weekend of nationwide protests that brought tens of thousands to marches and rallies in New York, D.C., Boston and elsewhere. For three weeks, since a Staten Island grand jury decided there was no need for the officer who killed Eric Garner to stand trial, people have been in the streets. And the policy experts and activists Ive spoken to this week say the movement is only growing. Matt Nelson, organizing director at the national racial justice organization ColorOfChange, has participated in actions in Ferguson, Oakland and Berkeley. He said the use of force by police, such as the plainclothes officer who pulled a gun on a crowd in Oakland and excessive use of teargas is building the movement by further politicizing protesters. “There are so many people out protesting police violence who are then met with police violence,” Nelson said. “If they didn’t understand how a Mike Brown or an Eric Garner could happen, they understand after a night of protest how a police interaction can become very violent and even deadly.” FULL ARTICLE LINK: thenation/blog/193153/why-blacklivesmatter-actions-arent-stopping
Posted on: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 06:45:01 +0000
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