Archive for the ‘Black Lives Matter’ Category

Trump’s insurrection stole the strategies of Black Lives Matter – Salon

Donald Trump never gave a direct order to hang Mike Pence. In fact, Trump didn't even come up with the specific idea of hanging, but when the insurrectionist mob he sent to the Capitol developed this idea on their own, he was only to happy to roll with it. As Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said during the first night of hearings, Trump responded to the chants of "hang Mike Pence" by saying the rioters "had the right idea" and that Pence "deserves it."

The "hang Mike Pence" moment became the centerpiece of Thursday's hearing of the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot. The third televised probe focused on the pressure campaign Trump waged against his own vice president to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The committee revealed that, once Trump realized how close the mob he had sent to the Capitol was to Pence, he sent out a tweet to egg them on. As video footage from the riot shows, the message was received, as insurrectionists read the tweet out loud and redoubled their efforts to find and execute the man they were falsely told could steal the election for them but wouldn't.

RELATED:Trump defends supporters' threats to "hang Mike Pence" in new audio: "People were very angry"

The timeline is important for the committee's work of establishing Trump's mindset and how he very much was using the mob's violence as a weapon to pressure Pence and other power players in D.C. to give him what he wanted: illegal control over the White House. But it also underscores one of the most frustrating aspects of this entire investigation.

Social media technologies are remaking what we think of as "organizing" an event.

Trump was remarkably skilled at using public communications speeches, and crucially tweets to convey his wishes to his followers without coming right and giving direct orders to commit crimes. It's a strategy that works to shield Trump from legal consequences, as he can always pretend that he was "merely" criticizing Pence or "merely" promising that Jan. 6 would be "wild," and that how people reacted was all on them and not what he intended at all.It's a strategy that wouldn't work, however, without the feedback loop made possible by the internet. Trump was able to receive feedback on how his followers were receiving his communications and react in real-time by feeding more communications to them through social media.

Trumpism is very much a top-down movement, with Trump as the leader. But the way it is organized and the strategies it uses borrow heavily from leaderless movements on the left like Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter, both of which have long used social media to organize on the fly, without relying on the traditional top-down decision-making models.

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Social media helps facilitate decision-making by ecosystems. It can be chaotic, but it also means that activists can react swiftly to changing circumstances, instead of getting dragged down by bureaucratic decision-making. A lot of the Black Lives Matter protests were hastily assembled after George Floyd's murder by people throwing out ideas for places and times to assemble. The result sometimes was three or four protests in any given city at once. That chaos ended up being a strength. Here in Philadelphia, the protests spilled out in every direction, with marchers converging and diverging all over town, making it significantly harder for authorities to blunt the impact of the march by shepherding it to a part of town where it could be easily ignored.

An elaborate and secretive conspiracy for the insurrection itself was not necessary because Trump and his allies could communicate publicly through social media.

As Heather "Digby" Parton noted Friday at Salon, it appears that the original idea behind the Capitol riot was very different. It seems that Trump and his allies were thinking more that a violent riot especially if it was met with resistance from the left would give Trump a pretense to invoke the Insurrection Act and seize power with military force. But when it became clear that wasn't going to work, Trump and the mob were able to shift strategies on the fly, focusing on shutting down the electoral vote count by force. That kind of flexibility in goals and tactics is a real asset, one that leaderless movements have been using for years. Now Trump has adopted it for his fascist agenda.

RELATED:Trump wanted a different insurrection: Jan. 6 hearing reveals violent intent behind Pence plot

While the committee has hintedthat there may be evidence of direct coordination between Trump and the Proud Boys to make the Capitol insurrection happen, what is an even scarier realization is that the plan could have gone off without any such direct communication. Instead, what happened evolved the way protests and other actions have developed among Black Lives Matter, Occupy Wall Street, and other leaderless lefty movements: via online chatter.

The idea of stopping the electoral count evolved in large part through people sharing conspiracy theories and spreading documents online. Trump was just as much an audience for these conspiracy theories as he was a leader.An elaborate and secretive conspiracy for the insurrection itself was not necessary because Trump and his allies could communicate publicly through social media. The goal, the place, and the time were established through these public channels. Trump could trust that groups like the Proud Boys and Oathkeepers knew what he wanted from them, without having to say so directly. Trump was well aware that there were rising groups of right-wing thugs who wanted to commit violence. His role was more of a traffic director than traditional general giving orders. He was, in many ways, reacting as much to what his followers were signaling they wanted to do as he was telling them what to do.

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Of course, when people organize a Black Lives Matter protest or an underground rave, they aren't engaging in a criminal conspiracy to overthrow the government. But it all goes to show that social media technologies are remaking what we think of as "organizing" an event. Increasingly, it's not about leaders setting an agenda, but about collective groups formulating a plan together by talking online. In most cases, that's a good thing (such as with Black Lives Matter protests) or largely harmless (underground raves). But there can be no doubt that the far-right, with Trump right in the middle, has figured out how to co-opt these same strategies.

Just last weekend, authorities arrested 31 members of Patriot Front for what appears to be a plot to attack a Pride event in Idaho. As with Jan. 6, it seems the plot evolved and formed from the swamp of online chatter. We can expect to see more violence like this, especially as January 6 really demonstrated to the larger American right the power of plugging into these online channels. Law enforcement needs to adapt quickly and find ways to prosecute people for these new-fangled methods of criminal conspiracy, or this situation will just get worse. The place to start is with Trump. Merrick Garland must charge him based on all the evidence of criminal intent developed by the January 6 committee.

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Trump's insurrection stole the strategies of Black Lives Matter - Salon

Judge dismisses case in which Home Depot is accused of banning BLM from uniforms – NPR

A Home Depot logo sign hands on its facade, Friday, May 14, 2021, in North Miami, Fla. Wilfredo Lee/AP hide caption

A Home Depot logo sign hands on its facade, Friday, May 14, 2021, in North Miami, Fla.

A National Labor Relations Board judge has ruled to dismiss a case filed by a Home Depot employee who alleged the company wrongly banned workers from wearing the Black Lives Matter slogan on their aprons.

An employee at a Minnesota store first filed a complaint against the home improvement company in March 2021, after allegedly being suspended, and later resigning, for having the phrase on their uniform.

NLRB lawyers became involved in August 2021, arguing that Black Lives Matter should not fall under The Home Depot's uniform policy, which bans political or religious messages "unrelated to workplace matters" from employees' aprons, or elsewhere on their clothing.

The employee was "required to choose between engaging in protected concerted activity, including displaying the 'BLM' slogan, and quitting employment," the complaint said.

The NLRB defines concerted activity as any action taken with coworkers in an effort to improve working conditions, including talking with coworkers about earnings, petitioning for more hours and speaking with media or government agencies about workplace issues.

Lawyers representing the former Home Depot employee did not argue whether BLM was political messaging, but rather that not allowing employees to display the slogan on their aprons interfered with their right to concerted activity.

NLRB Judge Paul Bogas wrote in his opinion that the plaintiffs had not sufficiently reasoned their argument. In order to meet the standard of concerted activity, the prohibited messaging has to be a group effort and a means of improving working conditions, he said.

"Rather, the record shows that the message was primarily used, and generally understood, to address the unjustified killings of Black individuals by law enforcement and vigilantes," Bogas wrote. "A message about unjustified killings of Black men, while a matter of profound societal importance, is not directly relevant to the terms, conditions, or lot of Home Depot's employees as employees."

However, the company does encourage employees to personalize their aprons with names, doodles and other additions.

"The record shows that the additions employees make to the aprons are sometimes extensive," Bogas said.

The employee, who worked at the store from August 2020 to February 2021, wore the slogan on their apron for the duration of their employment, Bogas said.

The store is located in New Brighton, Minnesota, nearly 12 miles from Minneapolis, where George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, was killed by police in May 2020, sparking nationwide protests.

The employee said that Floyd's death, as well as racist behavior from a coworker such as making stereotypical remarks and being unhelpful to Black and Hispanic customers sparked the donning of Black Lives Matter on the apron.

"It's a symbol of alliance," the employee testified. "I have never seen it as something political myself. It's something that I put on so that people know to approach me. I am a person of color myself, so it's a form of solidarity. It's a way...for people to feel safe around me."

Lawyers for both The Home Depot and the NLRB submitted documents and news articles with different interpretations of what the Black Lives Matter saying and movement means.

Home Depot, Inc. said the BLM movement has caused infighting within the company and "occasioned civil unrest in the vicinity of the New Brighton store and elsewhere," according to Bogas' opinion.

Bogas wrote, though, that none of the documents submitted "are representative of the public discourse on the meaning of Black Lives Matter/BLM or were authoritative regarding either what that phrase encompasses or everything the Black Lives Matter organization or movement does, or does not, support."

The employee said they were told by a district manager that if she allowed them to keep BLM on the apron, she'd also have to allow employees to wear a swastika in fairness.

Two other employees at the store were asked to remove BLM messaging, and one employee was asked to remove "Thin Blue Line" messaging. They all complied and returned to work.

The employee in the complaint refused to remove the messaging, and the district manager offered up alternative wording, such as "diversity," "equality" or "inclusion."

That employee, "... agreed that there were 'plenty of other ways' to express support for racial justice, but that insisting on continuing to wear the BLM message was 'the best way,'" Bogas wrote.

The employee said he was willing to be fired and later resigned.

Home Depot has said it interprets its policy of not allowing political messaging on its uniforms to include Black Lives Matter, but that the rule was not communicated to management at the Minnesota store, according to Bogas.

Bogas did say the employee engaged in protected activity by discussing and emailing with team members about racist allegations about a coworker.

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Judge dismisses case in which Home Depot is accused of banning BLM from uniforms - NPR

I Can’t Be Black With Y’all:Juneteenth, Father’s Day and Black Lives Matter – BlogTalkRadio

The 1865 black elephant is in the room and questions remains, are american blacks free in this 2022? Has pledging allegiance given american blacks justice? Has the families of unarmed victims have any of this "justice for all?'Everyone loves a good bar- b- que, but did you know american blacks used to 'be' the BBQ? June 19th is Juneteenth, so Pastor BlaqKarma along with Deaconess Ghetto Gospel are bringing a special message for black americans. Tap in and listen to the sermon on the mic. "The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages.Another message for "the congregation of black america' will be on 'Black Lives Matter'And also on this episode , mad shout out to all the good fathers out there, peace and love to those missing their fathers today.And for the dead beat fathers, 'I Can't Be Black With Y'all' got an extra special message for you.

So get in tune on this special 'ICBBWY'

Contact @Blaqkharma @Hotwordzhottopics

Hotwordz- 562-613-6063

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I Can't Be Black With Y'all:Juneteenth, Father's Day and Black Lives Matter - BlogTalkRadio

Amy Klobuchar shuts down Ted Cruz’s attempt to use Buffalo hearing to rant about Black Lives Matter – Salon

During a Senate Judiciary hearing on white supremacy and domestic terrorism, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said that the "machinery of the federal government should not be used as a tool to target and persecute your political opponents."

Cruz went on to say that Democrats repeatedly attempt to "politicize acts of violence," adding that they're trying to erase the history of the KKK, which was formed "by elected Democrats" and whose leadership "was almost entirely elected Democrats" as well as the "authors of Jim Crow laws."

Cruz said that Democrats use the "white supremacy" label to attack their political opponents while at the same time "diminishing anti-Jewish violence, anti-Asian violence, violence directed at white people, violence directed at police -- my view is simple: violence is always wrong whatever your ideology, left-wing, right-wing, no wings."

Cruz then listed examples of violent attacks carried out by Black nationalists, mentioning "the violence of the antifa riots and the Black Lives Matter riots that wracked this country" in the summer of 2020. "Stores were looted, police cars were fire-bombed, people were assaulted, people were murdered," Cruz said. "My colleagues on the Democratic side of the aisle sought to excuse, sought to apologize, four even went to so far toraise moneyto bail out of jail the violent rioters committing these acts of violence."

When Cruz finished his remarks, Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar said that Cruz's comments failed to mention "that the FBI reported that of the racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists ... 87 percent were white supremacists."

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Amy Klobuchar shuts down Ted Cruz's attempt to use Buffalo hearing to rant about Black Lives Matter - Salon

Review: At Oakland Theater Project, a play written in 1987 has a new way to say Black lives matter – SF Chronicle Datebook

Stanley Hunt (left) as Blood and Dane Troy as Acts in Oakland Theater Projects The Mojo and the Sayso. Photo: David Flores II / Oakland Theater Project

Its been three years to the day since Linus, a Black child, was killed by plainclothes police officers. But none of his family has been set free yet not from any physical barrier, nor from their blinding grief or righteous yet futile rage.

In Aishah Rahmans 1987 play The Mojo and the Sayso, if justice was ever a hope, it was a slim one, now long buried. The freedom the Benjamin family seeks is to love one another again.

Each character in the play, now in an Oakland Theater Project production that opened Sunday, June 5, channels his or her unrequited feeling into a false idol and tries and fails to convert the others to worship.

For Awilda (Paige Mayes), its a church led by a snake oil salesman of a pastor (Reginald Wilkins). For her husband, Acts (Dane Troy), its the car hes been building in their living room out of junkyard scraps, the car whose metal tube outline ingeniously dominates Karla Hargraves set. As Acts tinkers on the vehicle throughout the show, he might hang gears and other parts by string to the contour, almost as if hes trimming a Christmas tree or as if hes literally pinning his hopes on a castle in the air.

For the couples surviving son, Blood (Stanley Hunt), the false idol is weapons. Every shadow and rustle is a threat to him now, and brandishing a handgun or a knife isnt just his way of protecting home; its his way of being seen in it.

The poetic, probing play, directed by Ayodele Nzinga, is sharp about the ways family members can live right on top of each other without ever intersecting or seeing or hearing one another, and how sorrow and guilt and fury only further entrench that isolation. Even when the Benjamin family members finally cry out for connection with all the fire in their bellies, even as all sides want it, none can say so in a language the others understand.

But even at a mere 80 minutes, the show frequently languishes. A fight scene is so clumsily realized that its not clear if anyone onstage believes the weapon is real. Its as if the only direction the performers got was to improvise and hope for the best when that scene rolls around. And Hunts Blood aimlessly drifts about and circles the stage to the point of distraction, like a blinking light that wont turn off.

Turn your gaze instead to Mayes, whose performance here suggests shes ready for the meatiest roles on the Bay Areas most august stages. She moves with the crisp focus and expansive communicative power of a dancer. Her voice, which the script affords frequent, glorious opportunity to burst into song, can rip a hole in the air one Troys Acts can almost walk through, but not quite.

Mayes shapes each moment shes onstage with athletic prowess, intellectual precision and emotional clarity. Wherever she trains her blazing eyes, you know its the most important thing or person in the scene.

The Mojo and the Sayso needs Mayes remarkable talent and skill when, after one of the best reveals of true colors in Bay Area theater design history (the specifics must be kept vague for your full enjoyment), she must instantly give up on her beliefs in order to take her husbands hand. Together, they all leap into a dreamland that, in the magic of the show, has burst through the walls of their home.

In our own era of police violence, the plays finale reads as a special gift. One way we must insist that Black lives matter is to let families like the Benjamins dream impossible dreams and then pave their way to reality, if at first onstage, then everywhere else.

LThe Mojo and the Sayso: Written by Aishah Rahman. Directed by Ayodele Nzinga. Through June 26. One hour, 40 minutes. $10-$52. Flax Art & Design, 1501 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland. 510-646-1126. https://oaklandtheaterproject.org

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Review: At Oakland Theater Project, a play written in 1987 has a new way to say Black lives matter - SF Chronicle Datebook