In the seven days since our last diary, 31 more Americans have been killed by police. Yes, you read that right. Thirty-one killings in one week, which brings the total since the start of the year to 164.
Among those killed last week was 31-year-old Kisha Michael and her companion 32-year-old Marquintan Sandlin. The couple was shot dead by Inglewood police.
Michael and a man had stopped their car near an intersection and were blocking traffic, authorities said. Police shot both after realizing Michael was armed and when the two refused to leave the car, according to investigators.
But here’s the thing, according to reports, Kisha and Marquintan were both sleeping when the police came on the scene. Inglewood’s Mayor claims that the cops spent 45 minutes trying to rouse them so as to “de-escalate the situation.” This would be laughable were it not deadly, horribly, frighteningly serious.
After admitting that the couple was asleep, Butts quickly defended the officers, noting, “Obviously at some point they were conscious because somebody felt threatened.”
However, that notion has yet to be proven and is particularly unlikely due to the fact that not a single officer received so much as a scratch, nor did the couple have any reason to be violent.
So there we have it. Two people out on a date, fell asleep in their car, police came upon them, and the next thing we know they are both dead. That, as the saying goes, is the real in today’s world.
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SO WAIT!!! Inglewood Police shot two people to death, WHO WERE ASLEEP IN THE CAR?????? https://t.co/6blAeBNwkb
Police brutality not only affects the families of those who are killed and wounded. In a position paper published in 2000, The Student National Medical Association (SNMA) found that whole communities are traumatized when police kill.
Damage caused by police brutality goes beyond the physical. Psychological trauma faced by victim(s) manifests itself in many ways, such as stress, anxiety, fear, paranoia, distrust, insomnia, anorexia, and depression. Such psychological symptoms can further be manifested as Acute Stress Disorder (ASD) and Post–Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Psychological stress often consumes many facets of victims’ lives, adversely affecting job performance, ability to sustain employment, and everyday interactions with family and associates. Moreover the families of fatally injured victims often suffer many of the same psychological tolls. Police brutality must be recognized, investigated, and acted upon as a serious health concern because of its obvious deleterious effects on individuals, their families and communities.
Seeds are being sown that will have devastating consequences for the future.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere
So what do we do? Are we content with the current state of affairs? How do we change the culture of policing in this country? Do you have any ideas?
We have long said that reporting bad news is not a plan of action. Yes, we must know of the atrocities taking place in our name, but that cannot be all we do. We must act, and act with a sense of urgency. Lives are at stake.
We went into and left the meeting, clear that we can not let up on the work to elevate the voices of Black folks and our allies through campaigns and advocacy that force those in power to respond, listen and act - to translate our presence in the world into the power that changes it.
Stand with the people of Flint, Michigan, this Sunday
Powerful movers and shakers in the entertainment industry join forces to fight for Flint:
#JusticeforFlint, a live benefit to raise funds for residents of the lead-stricken city.
"We will give a voice to the members of the community who were the victims of the choices of people in power who are paid to protect them, as well as provide them with a night of entertainment, unity, and emotional healing," Coogler said in a statement to BuzzFeed. "Through the live stream we will also give a chance for people around the world to participate, and to donate funds to programs for Flint's youth." #JusiceforFlint will be live-streamed exclusively on revolt.tv
"'Black lives matter' doesn't mean other lives don't. It's simply asking that the black community also achieves the justice they deserve.
"We've never had rules around what people can write on our walls — we expect everybody to treat each other with respect. Regardless of the content or location, crossing out something means silencing speech, or that one person's speech is more important than another's."
(Wordcloud composed of Support the Dream Defenders, Michael Brown Over-Policed Rights Act, Expand Medicaid, Freedom of Information Act Project, Combat Racism, Demand Equality.)
Members of the Daily Kos group Support the Dream Defenders launched four ongoing projects:
1. We came together to support the Dream Defenders in Florida and their mission, our first project and the origin of our name. The Dream Defendersdefend the Dream of Martin Luther King Jr. by "develop[ing] the next generation of radical leaders to realize and exercise our independent collective power; building alternative systems and organizing to disrupt the structures that oppress our communities." Please donate here.
2. Our Michael Brown Over-Policed Rights Act, crowd-sourced at Daily Kos in the fall of 2014 after the death of Michael Brown. Our bill quickly earned endorsements from the NAACP and the ACLU. The NAACP forwarded our bill to members of Congress, and we distributed it to members of the Congressional Black Caucus and other progressive members of Congress. President Obama signed into a law a small piece of our bill in December 2014. The Department of Justice included parts of our law in their reports on Ferguson, Missouri, in 2015. Our state version of the MBOPRA is currently in committee in the Kansas legislature.
3. Our Freedom of Information Act project. Nineteen Republican governors chose to kill poor people by not expanding Medicaid. Ebola has killed about 9000 people in total; Republican governors kill 23,000 people PER YEAR by refusing federal support for Medicaid, a story ignored by traditional media. Our project forces those governors to out themselves, clapping them in a Catch 22. With the support of readers, we publicize our results through letters to the editor, press releases, and petitions.
You can receive all future diaries of Support the Dream Defenders in your Daily Kos Stream by clicking here. Then click "Follow," which will make all STDD diaries appear in "My Stream" of your Daily Kos page.
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