#and I know Lethal was yesterday but shit happened (check my last post)

[are-we-really-doing-this]

I love how Fred’s just carrying on telling tales outta school from the Guerrilla Tour and then there’s Lethal just geeking out the window like a little kid who just saw a McDonalds sign.

[greekedtext]

if you live in America and are not on Twitter, you probably have a distorted view of what’s going on here right now

The situation is chaotic, so it’s hard to get an accurate picture. I’ve been sifting through... A LOT of different sources, checking who’s saying what, reviewing footage to see if it shows what I’m being told it shows.

Most protesters are peaceful. Most protesters are peaceful.

They turned out last week to protest racist violence and the fact that police engage in violence with impunity. The police are not out there for crowd control, public safety, or even protecting storefronts. They are counterprotesters demonstrating their perceived right to engage in violence with impunity.

Over the past days, I have watched so many videos from across the country showing over and over that the police are using unnecessary, indiscriminate violence to turn peaceful situations tense and tense situations violent. Their actions range from mild (shoving people with riot control shields) to concerning (spraying tear gas, an agent that causes coughing, in the midst of a pandemic that affects the respiratory system) to wanton (accelerating their SUVs into crowds) to gratuitously cruel (yanking down a teen’s face mask in order to pepper spray him right in the eyes even though he was simply standing there with his hands up).

Police have maced and tear gassed children at protests, like the nine year-old girl in Seattle. They’ve done the same to uninvolved bystanders who were just trying to walk home. In Salt Lake City, an old man at a bus stop couldn’t hobble away fast enough, so they knocked him down. In Minneapolis after curfew, troops fired rubber bullets / teargas at people who were on their own porches and balconies, because curfew. In another city, they stopped a civilian car, tased the people of color inside, and dragged them out for arrest on live news camera. Oh, also on live camera in Minneapolis they arrested a CNN correspondent and his crew, and many other journalists have been targeted with rubber bullets.

Rubber bullets sound kind of cute and cartoony, don’t they?

There’s no such thing as a non-lethal weapon, just less-lethal weapons. Rubber bullets are big hunks of metal jacketed in rubber. They’re supposed to be fired at the ground so that most of a bullet’s momentum can be harmlessly absorbed before it ricochets up and hits you in the legs. Used this way, they still bruise. They’re meant to hurt you enough to get you moving in the direction police want you to go. And you’d think that police are only supposed to use them when a crowd is already out of control or refusing to move, but that’s not what’s happening here.

Remember that CNN correspondent? His name is Omar Jimenez, and you can Google this: The police surrounded him and his crew. He very politely and deferentially asked them where they would like his crew to go. They didn’t respond despite Jimenez asking several times. Then they arrested them and led them away; all the while, Jimenez and the crew cooperated and calmly asked why they were being arrested, to which they initially received no answer. The police informed CNN that the arrest was made because Jimenez and his crew “refused to move.”

Surround. Give no directions, or make it impossible to follow directions. Arrest for failure to follow directions.

This is the same tactic that they’re using against crowds. They raise bridges or bring in barriers (”kettling”) to ensure protesters can’t leave. Then they arrest people for refusing to leave. Sometimes they fire teargas and/or rubber bullets at a crowd to drive them into a kettling situation. Sometimes they do it after the crowd is already kettled. The curfews? An excuse to arrest everybody on the street. Pay attention to when they’re announcing a curfew with little or no lead time. My city keeps claiming that essential workers are allowed to go to and from work even when a curfew is on, but would you bet cash money that no workers are getting swept up and arrested?

Journalists then report this as “protests turned violent” or “protesters clash with police.” Local authorities claim that the protesters are all or almost all outside agitators, from out of state, and journalists repeat this without (it seems) even asking themselves if that sounds plausible.

This is why Americans don’t know what’s going on.

(We should be skeptical of claims about outside agitators because it has a racist history. It is used to deny African-Americans of their agency in their own efforts to liberate themselves from white supremacy. On the other hand, to some unknown degree the protests are actually getting infiltrated by a) plainclothes LEOs possibly acting as agents provocateurs, b) white "allies” who mainly want to vandalize shit or start fights and don’t listen to the Black protesters who try to stop that crap, c) looters*, and d) white supremacists and other political opportunists**.)

All of the above is only a spoon-sized sample of what’s going on. You want more instances of police violence, you can find it. And all of these things have been happening for years, decades, generations. It’s not just Trump, though he certainly does bring out the worst in people, and his administration does like to loosen standards to enable the worst in people.

Yesterday morning (June 1, 2020), Trump called Putin. Then he called the governors of the states and basically told them to go to war against the American people. In the afternoon, he made a tough guy speech, calling himself the “law and order president,” promising he could fix it, promising to send the U.S. military into the states to establish order if the governors didn’t do it. While he was talking, you could hear people being teargassed and fired at with rubber bullets in the background. These were peaceful protesters in and near Lafayette Square. There was a water and medical station set up on the porch of St. John’s Episcopal church. The protesters and medics were driven away (again: with teargas, which causes coughing, in the middle of a pandemic) so that Trump could be seen posing in front of the church, holding up a Bible.

That church had no idea Trump was going to do that. Some of their clergy were at the medical station and got teargassed.

Please, please go read historian Heather Cox Richardson’s summary of yesterday, because there was more fuckery than I can summarize here: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/june-1-2020

Law and order. “One law, one beautiful law.” I alone can fix it. We’ll use the military if the governors refuse to take action, “to protect the rights of law abiding Americans, including your second amendment rights.” Bible-waving. He fucking teargassed people for a photo-op.

In the middle of the night, the police herded hundreds of Washington, D.C. protesters into a residential neighborhood. The residents opened their doors for the protesters to take shelter. The police camped outside for hours, arresting anyone who came out. You may see accusations that protesters invaded people’s homes, but they didn’t -- they were invited. Some people are claiming police invaded people’s homes to get the protesters out, but I’m still looking for more information to substantiate that.

There are reliable reports that in addition to the National Guard and the regular military, ICE and CBP are being mobilized to “help.”

What they’ve done to D.C., they’re going to try to do in every city that has protests. What they’ve done to suspected undocumented immigrants, they’re going to try to do to all “rioters, looters, and antifa” -- which means anyone who opposes them.

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WHAT CAN WE DO?

1. Support #BlackLivesMatter. The bail funds have actually received a lot of money lately, which is great; if you can give, and if you know of a bail fund close to you that needs money for protesters, go ahead and give, but the next thing we need is money for mutual aid organizations, because in the next 5-21 days, a lot of people are going to get sick.

2. Look to experienced organizers for guidance. Follow African-American anti-racist activists, and if you’re white make sure you stay humble, don’t talk over them, listen to their ideas and directions, and do what they fucking say. If you’re white and you go out to protest, your job is to stay calm and be a human shield. Your whiteness can actually reduce police violence [note: it’s a risk -- you might be beaten or otherwise hurt and you could be arrested too]. If you start violence or vandalism, African-Americans are more likely to suffer for it.

3. There’s a lot to do if you can’t go out. Again, there’s a lot of organizing going on. For example, the Indivisibles are still organizing people to contact their elected representatives, and this is good and important work even though it may feel less direct than hitting the streets.

4. Make common cause with organizations that have beliefs different from yours. 

This takes a bit of discernment. Maybe you���re ready to swear you’ll never call the police again; maybe you want to end incarceration (we do have the largest imprisoned population in the world and the highest per-capita incarceration rate.) Or maybe you’re concerned about police brutality and racism in our justice system but you can’t imagine a world without policing and prisons. If you’re in the latter group, make sure that the policing reforms you support are in alignment with the general goal of reducing budgets for police departments and shrinking our prison system.

We need a big movement. That means you can’t refuse to work with other organizations just because they aren’t in complete lockstep with you.

3. Reblog posts like these with your own ideas / information / good sources of trustworthy information.

When you’re deciding which suggestions to follow and which posts to reblog, make sure the information is coming from someone who knows what they’re talking about. I’m not a veteran of many protests, so I can’t give you good advice about how to stay safe out there. I could probably (in an abundance of confidence) fake up something that sounds plausible based on what I’ve read. That kind of thing is dangerous. Don’t write shit that doesn’t either come from your experience or that you can’t back up with links to folks who really know.

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* "Looters.” Yeah, remember when Congress promised to help with the economic crisis and then decided all we need is a one-time $1200 check and mmmmaybe some extra unemployment insurance? And remember when the House passed some more bills to help, but Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said they weren’t going to be doing any more of that and the important thing for the Senate to do right now was confirm more of Trump’s nominees for federal judicial appointments? You say “looters,” I say, “desperate angry people.”

** We all need to learn how to recognize Boogaloos, Neo-Nazis, and other far-right extremists on sight, because journalists are not always aware of who they’re talking to.

Boogaloos: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/far-right-hawaiian-print-shirts-why-protesters-boogaloo-racist-a9539776.html

Anti-Defamation League’s Hate Symbols Database: https://www.adl.org/hate-symbols

[derpywritestuff]

Hello! I don't know if you've already got this request but can you write a scenario where jumin have an argument with mc about him being overworked and not getting any real rest and he went back to his company with bitterness. Feeling worried for him, mc decides to go to Jumin to make ammend but something terrible happens when someone tries to kill Jumin but at the last minute mc turn the table around and take the blow instead. Can you make this angsty please and ends it with a fluff.

A/n: Wow, it’s been awhile since I posted a story on here, sorry about that! Thank you so much for this wonderful request, and as you can tell by the length, I had a lot of fun with this one!It was late when Mc looked up at the clock on the wall, the seconds passing by as the hour hand landed on three in the morning. They sat alone in the living room, yawning as they tried to keep themselves up. They were waiting for Jumin to come back like they had been doing for the past few nights. It all started when Jumin said he would be closing a big contract and might be a bit busier in the process. That, however, did not prepare Mc for the straight month of Jumin coming home at 3 a.m. every night, just to leave before they could even eat breakfast together like they always used to do. As some form of protest, Mc started to not go to bed until their husband went to bed as well…though after a week, that protest was becoming harder and harder to keep up. They knew it was making jumin frustrated too, but how else were they going to show Jumin how his actions were affecting them?Finally, after what felt like ages, the door opened to a clearly stressed Jumin Han as he walked into the penthouse. As Mc walked over to him, they heard him give and aggravated sigh before speaking. “You should be sleeping.” He spoke, his voice tired and flat from another late night. “So should you.” Mc replied, their voice just as tired. Jumin looked at the other, his tired stare getting colder as the weeks of constant work wore him down. “You’re being childish Mc. You know how important this deal is to C&R, if you wait a few more weeks we-” He was about to continue before Mc’s voice interrupted him. “A few more weeks?! Jumin it’s been a month already! How long does it take to close a deal!? How long do you plan on forgetting me for?!” Jumin took a deep sigh before continuing. “Forgetting you? Is that what you really think I’m doing? Is that why I try to at least come back to spend at least a few seconds with you when I could still be working? I understand this is hard on you….it is on me too. Seeing you like this though…you putting yourself through the same thing I’m going through just to make this harder for me than they already are, that I can’t handle… So if you are going to keep this up, I’m not going to watch. I’m going back to C&R. I will come back once this deal is done, and if you want to see me sooner… calm down, get some rest and after that we can talk.” His voice was firm as he spoke, but the underlying hurt in it was apparent. Without another word he left their shared penthouse and MC alone with their thoughts.It was now a few hours later as light shown through the curtains of the penthouse bedroom. There MC rolled around and gave a frustrated grunt. After last night’s talk…and a few hours of sleep, things seemed clearer now…and Mc realized how stupid they had been. Sure Jumin should be taking care of himself more…but just adding onto his stress and making him worry about them on top of his work was not the right way to go about things. Knowing that they had to apologize, Mc got out of bed and quickly threw on some clothes. If they left now, they still might have a chance to have breakfast with Jumin…and talk things over like adults. Soon Mc got outside and saw the ever loyal Driver. Kim waiting for them. Getting in the car, Mc thanked the other and told him their destination. As the car drove on, Mc laid their head on the window as the early morning city passed them by, thinking of the right words to say to Jumin once they saw him.Once the car had stopped in front of C&R, Mc got out and walked towards the C&R building. Once inside, Mc took the long elevator ride up to Jumin’s floor and stepped out. As Mc walked towards Jumin’s office, they heard the sounds of employees getting ready for a meeting and papers getting ordered and organized for final approval. Finally, once Mc got to Jumin’s office, she was met with a very tired Jaehee…they would need to find a way to get her some time off after this mess. Jaehee greeted Mc as best she could in her tired state and said it was fine to go in. Jumin was in a meeting already, but he would have a few minutes after it was over before his next one started to come check on Mc. Thanking Jaehee, Mc walked into the office and sat down in a chair waiting for their husband to come in.After a few minutes of waiting, Mc heard loud footsteps coming closer; the sound muffled by the large office door. As the steps seemed to stand right in front of the door, Mc heard Jaehee shout “Sir, you can’t go in there!” Before the office door was shoved open a second after. As Mc rose to get to see what was going on and get to a safer part of the office, they heard a gunshot and a aggravated “shit” coming from a male where the door had opened. Before Mc could grasp anymore of what happened, however, they felt a stabbing pain in their side and the world fading to black.Mc woke up with a grunt; their eyes fluttering open to bright lights and the steady beeping of a heart monitor. They wanted to speak, but their throat was dry and hoarse, only letting out another grunt. Almost as if their mind was being read, a small glass of water was held out in front of them. Looking over to see who was holding the cup, they were met with the very tired but relieved eyes of Jumin Han. “Here, my love, you probably need a drink.” His voice the softest Mc had heard in weeks. “Jumin…what happened?” Mc asked after taking a small sip of water, their voice somewhat useable again. Jumin sighed, shifting slightly in his chair before grabbing Mc’s hand and rubbing it gently. “You were shot, my love.” Jumin started, a sense of guilt in his voice. “I was leaving a meeting when I saw it happen…there was an employee I recently fired, his performance was not meeting C&R’s standards. It seems he…didn’t take things well and wanted to get back at me…by killing me. He didn’t assume I would be at a meeting, so he stormed into C&R and somehow got through the ex-security at the front…He was able to get to my office and shoot you before getting apprehended. Thankfully he was a bad shot; that mixed with you getting up meant the shot was non lethal…you have been asleep since yesterday.” He finished, his grip on Mc’s hand getting tighter with each word he spoke. “I almost lost you…and the last interaction we had was a stupid fight over sleep…I don’t know what I would have done if I lost you…” Jumin continued, shaking ever so slightly.“You didn’t lose me though, Jumin. I am here, in front of you, safe.” Mc responded, squeezing his hand with the little strength they had as reassurance. “What about your deal…the one you needed to close?” Mc asked nest, remembering how the fight even started. Sure, Mc wanted Jumin home…but they did not want them getting shot to be the reason he missed out on a deal. “They rescheduled, my love. I told them if they did not wait for me for to set up another date to discuss the deal, it would be cancelled all together. What kind of person would I be if I worked with a company that didn’t allow a man to check on his injured spouse?” Jumin said, slightly calmer now, his voice full of love. “I’m sorry for fighting with you over something so stupid, Jumin.” Mc said, a sentence that was long over do. “And I’m sorry for making you worry so much about me, my love.” Jumin responded. “Now that we are together though…and are both in need some rest after yesterday’s events, do you want to get some sleep together now, Jumin?” Mc asked, the tiredness in their voice becoming clearer as they spoke. “Yes love, that seems like a perfect idea.” Jumin said, laying down gently beside Mc. With a soft yawn, he gently placed a kiss to Mc’s forehead and both fell into a gentle sleep in each other’s arms.