#fergson

(Photo: Scott Olson, Getty Images)

Trump’s decision on military-style weapons will harm communities

On Monday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Trump administration would roll back yet another Obama administration accomplishment -- cut backs to the Pentagon’s 1033 program, which sent old military weapons to local police departments.  

Police confrontations in Ferguson, like the one shown with this post, along with SWAT raids gone horribly wrong, prove that, not only are military weapons unnecessary for police departments but dangerous.    

Filed Under: U.S.

The Oath Keepers drew significant media attention last week when several heavily armed members arrived in Ferguson amid violent protests. On the anniversary of Michael Brown's death, 18-year-old Tyrone Harris was shot by police after allegedly firing at them. The Oath Keepers said they were there to protect local businesses and escort some journalists.

Andrews, an engineer who has worked as a Department of Defense contractor, says the Oath Keepers have learned that many African-American protesters and residents are fearful of bearing arms. He says many African-Americans in Ferguson told him they feel that if they carried the same weapons as Oath Keepers, police would kill them.

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“I kept telling them, ‘No, they won’t,’ and they kept saying, ‘Yes, they will shoot us,’” Andrews says. “Then I realized we had a problem. It wasn’t three people—it was everyone that felt that way.” Andrews says he usually carries a .308 semiautomatic rifle and a sidearm.

“St. Louis County police have so violated the people’s rights that the people in the black communities here believe if they even thought about publicly exercising their God-given right for protection, for carrying a firearm, that they would be shot dead by the police—that’s a real issue,” he says.

In Andrews’s opinion, this fear has contributed to destructive protests.

“They don't know how to react to the abuse, so they throw rocks and bottles and do other silly stuff, but we are flying black Oath Keepers in from around the country to educate the black leaders and the people of Ferguson that not only can you open carry, you should open carry,” he says. “The peaceful protesters, the lawful people which make up the vast majority of protesters, should be quietly standing there with rifles, saying: ‘We’re not going to take this abuse anymore.’"

“It’s one thing to say, “I hate you, and I throw a rock at you,’” he continues.  “It’s another thing to stand there and say, ‘Don’t screw with me anymore,’ and be able to back it up.”

Did he think that bringing more weapons into Ferguson would further inflame tensions?

“Well, I would say, if you want to continue to believe those lies, go right ahead—then problems like Ferguson will never be solved,” he says. “But if you can educate people to stand up for their rights and secure their own communities, then you don't need this militarized police force in your neighborhood every night.”

While the Oath Keepers support protesters’ right to bear arms, Andrews denies reports that the group planned on giving guns to them directly.

“The people of  Ferguson are going to arm themselves. They’re all going to have in their pockets permits to carry,” he says. Still, “if I met a guy that I liked, and...he’s been vetted and he’s a good guy and he needs a gun, I might give him one—not as an Oath Keeper, but as a human being.”

The group is working with other activists to organize community meetings focused on gun permit education.

Samuel Sinyangwe, a San Francisco–based activist and data scientist who has worked extensively on the ground in Ferguson, tells Newsweek that he doesn’t know of anyone who has been armed by an Oath Keeper.

“I’m skeptical because I haven't seen anything to really suggest that the Oath Keepers have good intentions—that they are being conscious of the conflict that black folks armed in Ferguson will face by the police, that they are taking the necessary precautions to actually protect them, and that actually they have our best interest at heart,” says Sinyangwe, who is on the planning team of the activist group We the Protesters. “Being armed and protesting, it’s something that, to be honest, the police will likely respond [to] with lethal force. And I think that expectation is totally reasonable given what we've seen.”

Asked about the Oath Keepers’ idea that guns will allow African-Americans to defend themselves from police abuse, he says: “I think the police will be violent towards us anyway…. I don’t think a weapon will save us.”

A spokesperson for Ferguson, Missouri, declined to comment. The spokesperson also did not respond to allegations that black gun owners would face mortal dangers that white gun owners would not face.

“St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar has always been on record respecting the constitutionally protected gun rights for all citizens,” a spokesperson for the St. Louis County Police Department says. In response to the question whether Oath Keepers and others are allowed to openly carry firearms in Ferguson and the county, the spokesperson directed Newsweek to contact the St. Louis County Counselor’s Office for questions on regulations. A spokesman for this office has not responded to Newsweek’s requests for comment at press time.

Area Oath Keepers also plan a demonstration with African-American protesters, Andrews says.

Ferguson Sniper Shoots Cops; Do Holder, Obama Have Blood On Their Hands?

By Jim Kouri

On Thursday morning, police from across the nation voiced their outrage over the shooting of two police who were brought in from nearby law enforcement agencies to provide protection during yet another anti-police protestthat was all but sanctioned by Attorney General Eric Holder and his boss President Barack Obama. One officer told the Examiner that both Holder and Obama have the…

I'm following a few Israelis and a few diaspora Palestinians, and the level of disconnect is staggering. Like, I can barely comprehend how the world of hebrew studies and hotels can exist at the same time and place as the voices crying out we are bleeding we are dying they are killing us, never noticing or defensively brushing the issue aside.

And then I remember I'm a white American, and the same thing is happening here. Ferguson and New York, black people of all ages dying. It's a constant reminder how easy it is to become complacent, wrapped-up in my comfort and justifications, imagining that I look any less ridiculous, any less appalling unconcerned. Any less monstrous.

Um dos privilégios que mais admiro no Tumblr é o fato de podermos expressar nossas opiniões livremente sem nos preocupar com o julgamento de parentes e amigos. Acho ótimo que, graças à liberdade de expressão, todos possamos postar nossa perspectiva.

  Com toda essa repercussão que as rebeliões em Fergson tem tido, é claro que muitos unicórnios resolveram deixar sua opinião por aqui. Respeito todas, acho que cada um tem seu ponto de vista e deve ser respeitado, mas acho errado uma pessoa que se diz "contra o racismo" postar coisas do tipo: "os brancos não prestam". Isso é uma contradição/hipocrisia do caramba!

  Como um indivíduo pode ser anti-racismo e alegar que todos, TODOS os brancos são "racistas nojentos que não se importam com os negros e agem como se não se importassem com a vida deles"?

  Parem com isso. Parem com a generalização.

  Querem ir contra o racismo aplicando mais racismo. Por que a cor importa tanto? Por que julgar pela aparência? Por que JULGAR? Ninguém é superior a ninguém. Nada nos torna melhor do que os demais, muito menos uma coisa insignificante como a cor.

When we read books as children, they were fantasies. We’re the Potterheads and the Shadow Hunters. We read Eragon and Tolkien. As children, we believed in a world filled with magic. As adults, we read dystopian novels, novels that reflect what we now believe and see. We no longer believe in magic; instead, we think we’ll all be ruled by a totalitarian government. We’re frightened by what we see day in and day out.

As children, we listened to our elders. We believed what the teachers and parents told us. We pledged allegiance to an inanimate object and believed that the government would always protect us. And as we got older, we started to learn and to understand. Now, we argue and disagree with our elders. We believe their ideas are outdated and often times wrong. They want to put us in a box, a box that we don’t fit in because there are so many molds. We’re terrified by our government and media as we watch Ferguson, Mexico, Hong Kong, Thailand, Brazil, etc. continue. We’re terrified that they won’t tell us the entire story.

When we were kids, we believed a prince would rescue us or we’d rescued the princess. We watched movies and TV shows that showed that that was life—a man and a woman with kids. We read books with strong male leads and the stereotypical damsel in distress and loved it. As young adults, we understand sexuality is on a spectrum. We wait patiently for movies and TV shows with equal representation where their sexuality doesn’t define them. We read books that finally have a female lead we can feel inspired by.

As a kid, we thought we were invincible. We knew girls became moms or secretaries or teachers. Just as we knew boys became doctors or engineers or the president. We knew that boys were far better at sports and pretty much everything. As adults, we know we aren’t invincible. We understand that girls and boys can be whatever they want to be. We know that it’s all relative and who are we to force gender roles.

This is for my generation—a generation that is seeking change. We aren’t afraid to come out as homosexual, bisexual, transsexual, or asexual. We aren’t afraid to be a girl engineer or a boy nurse. We are calling for change. We aren’t afraid to protect the injustices we face. All it takes is a spark: forty-three missing, a young kid shot six times, the countless terrifying injustices the government has done.

This is for my generation that is tired of the bullshit. We are tired of the homophobia. We are tired of the sexism. We are tired of the racism. We are bone weary. We are tired of being called lazy. We are tired of our ideas getting shut down. We are tired of not being heard. We are bone weary.

This is for my generation—a generation that is unloved, unwanted, and unknown. We continue to fight for a change. You may hear people are disgusted and upset by the protests. Imagine knowing nothing’s changed since the Jim Crow laws. Hell yes, we want change. Is that not what we were promised? We protest and assemble for change and still little change occurs.

This is for my generation that will not stop until we have equality. This is for my generation that knows feminism is synonymous with equality. This is generation who is unafraid to say their sexuality. This is for my generation that will stop prejudice, discrimination, and racism. This is for my generation who is more terrified of a white (usually old) man than they are of anything else.

This is for generation so terrified by their governments that all around the world, protests continue. If you are unafraid, you have yet to see the light. If you are not aware of Hong Kong, or Mexico, or Ferguson, you are so lost. Fire is catching, and we’re all going to be burned. Catch the fire. Be my generation—not generation me, not generation technology, not generation lazy. We are Generation Change.

This is for my generation that is terrified, horrified, and disgusted by our world. This is for my generation that showcases its psyche by the stories we tell about our future. We no longer read or write about flying cars or robot dogs. Instead, we read and write about faceless government surveillance, worldwide pandemic, militarized police brutality, and the last dregs of humanity trying—struggling, dying—to survive. This is for my generation that is still called lazy and self-centered. This is for my generation that is young, here, and deeply afraid.

We are a generation that wants to make a change. We are trying to stop that terrifying unknown future. This is for my generation that wants to stop the brutality and inequality and terror. But we know—we KNOW—that no matter how hard we try and no matter what we do to take a step forward, someone will always be there to force us two steps back. No matter how far forward we leap, there will be no utopia. This is for my generation that knows when we’re in charge, our kids and grandkids will wonder why equality was being fought about. We know they’ll wonder why we didn’t stop it sooner just as we wondered the same about slavery or segregation. And we know that inequality will continue.