over policing
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Can Brooklyn, NY’s J’Ouvert Retain Its Traditional Spirit Under a New Security Crackdown?
In 1881, British colonial authorities in Trinidad attempted to suppress the Canboulay, a predawn ritual with drumming, horns, dancing and torchlit parades commemorating the end of the sugarcane harvest. When police showed up to stop the procession, revelers fought back and won the right to parade. The so-called Canboulay riots are now commemorated annually during…
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Black People Should Never, Ever, Ever, Ever Call the Police … Unless 1 of These 10 Things Just Happened
The mere threat of murder isn’t really enough because inviting a murder squad to your house just because you heard a bump or a chainsaw in the night is hustling backward. Chasing possible murder with probable murder is like chasing Fireball with Honey Jack. No, the ax needs to be embedded in your spleen before…
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#SafetyIs: Night Out for Safety and Liberation Happening Tonight
For working-class and poor black and brown communities in the United States of America, the concept of safety—particularly when it is dependent on hypermilitarized police forces—is a flimsy, dangerous illusion. One move, one word—or no moves and no words—standing, running, driving or breathing have all been charges leveled against black and brown people and deemed…
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Philly Cops’ Habit of Fondling Black Men Sparks Greatest Protest of All Time
In what may be the greatest protest ever, two Philadelphia police precincts received pairs of underwear from a local activist group Tuesday morning. However, the gifts were not meant to inspire thoughts of romance or affection. Instead, the packages were an ingenious protest designed to highlight a disturbing, but little-known, fact about law-enforcement officers in…
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7 Reasons Black America Should Fight Marijuana Prohibition
Take a deep breath. Can you smell the weed smoke billowing in from Colorado and California? Have you read about the citizens of Maine and Massachusetts who turned into zombies from puffing blunts all day? Have you seen the news reports about the scores of people in Oregon and Nevada who overdosed on marijuana? No.…
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‘You Wanna Ride the Lightning?’ NYC Cops Heard in Video Threatening Students With Taser
Recently surfaced video shows two New York City police officers apparently taunting students from a Brooklyn high school, threatening them with a Taser as they walk down the street. The video, recorded in mid-March, appears to show one officer with his baton out in his hand as he and his partner walk down the street,…
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Conn. Bill Would Allow Weaponized Drones for Police; What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
If a new bill authorizing the use of weaponized drones passes, Connecticut police officers would have the ability to use the flying machines to kill. What could possibly go wrong? The bill authorizing police use of “deadly” drones passed 34-7 in the state Legislature’s joint Judiciary Committee Wednesday. It is now pending action by the…
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Jeff Sessions Is the New Jim Crow
Perhaps the worst thing about America’s mistreatment of black people in this country has nothing to do with the violence inflicted against us or the centuries of historic subjugation we’ve endured. It is the constant disregard for our voices that frustrates us most. Black America is the neighbor in the horror movie who warns the…
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Colored People’s Justice: Jacqueline Craig’s Attorney Speaks Out
I first met Jacqueline Craig in an investigation room of the Fort Worth (Texas) City Jail the night she was arrested. By the time I arrived at the jail, the video of her encounter with Police Officer William Martin had just begun to go viral and spark outrage all over the country. She wouldn’t have…
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Chicago Cop With Long Complaint History Is Heading 1 of the Busiest West Side Districts
A little over a month after the U.S. Department of Justice released findings from a yearlong study that showed the Chicago Police Department has a problem with excessive violence, racial bias and shooting people who did not pose immediate threats, a new analysis of police records shows that a busy West Side district is under…