Man, I really miss him.
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[ETA] Some real thoughtful stuff (obvs cause TNC, but specifically) about art and politics starting at around the 35 minute mark… why does power need stories?
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And let’s not forget the invisible fourth panel, “And I would vote for it again!” I feel like I’ve been harping on this a lot lately on all threads, so forgive me if I’m beating a dead horse here, but I feel it’s important for everyone to remember that they have not learned anything. They haven’t ceased to be stupid racists, gullible morons or bad people all around. They will repeat the same mistakes over and over because they’re not actually mistakes at all- as you said, this is what they asked for. All their wailing and fist-shaking over the consequences of their shortsighted choices are, in the end, crocodile tears, because no matter how genuinely mad or scared they are right now, it makes no difference unless it alters their behavior in the future- and they’ve shown, time and time and time again, that they’re in this cult for life.
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Indeed.
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The city of Chicago shut down public transit from the Southside, put bridges up, and blocked folks from the Southside from being able to access downtown after the first weekend of protests. They did this multiple times when they got wind of a protest happening.
I saw this same energy be put into subsequent events.
Yesterday, my partner took one of my kids to one of her extracurricular activities downtown. They were able to get up there with no problem. He said that a few streets were blocked off (which would be expected). But looking at images and video from yesterday, it was NOTHING like 2020.
Yes, CPD learned some lessons from the Floyd protests. But there is a stark contrast in how them folks was treated yesterday and the response to the protests I’ve attended since 2020. And other folks are saying the same.
Five years ago, I watched the police antagonize protestors with my own eyes. I also watched white protestors show their behinds and vandalize stuff which is a whole different story.
Now I’m hearing that people were getting police escorts and that folks felt safe the entire time during the protests? Girl what? Feeling safe at a protest is not a flex.
Every single time I go out to a protest, I know that there’s a chance that I might not come back from it. Or that I could go to jail. Or that stuff might pop off that’s stressful and traumatic.
But y’all are partying? Not cultivating joy in struggle, but feeling festive? I am not able.
I am trying really, really hard not to crap on what people did yesterday. I even have a little write-up for Patreon about it that adds a bit of nuance because I see the work that folks are trying to do in some of these small predominantly white cities on red states. I get the realities there and I don’t want to crap on the people in those contexts who are making stands that can be personally costly for them.
But at the same time, a lot of these white liberals in Blue cities (and some in Blue states) went downtown for a couple of hours with a poster that cost them less than a dollar to make and yelled for a little bit and are calling it “Good Trouble.” And I need for folks to be very for real about that.
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That’s a really valid point. Nobody who called the April 5 protests “Good Trouble” should be taken seriously. Let me know when you stand in front of a tank or cause a power outage at the Republican Convention.
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I am seeing the glass as half full here: this time, the police are, if not ON our side, at least not formally set against it.
But yes, historically, I can confirm that everything Ally says about how Chicago manhandled the George Floyd protests is 100% accurate. Shut down the bridges….all but one, that was heavily guarded with Checkpoint Charlie gate procedures. Take a look at Chicago’s downtown sometime: it’s bifurcated by the Chicago River.
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Perhaps because the common clay of the right is getting upset with the current misadministration’s financial fuckery?
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Pension plans (Chicago police have an exceptionally lucrative one) could well be one of the reasons.
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Indeed; a lot of TPTB don’t give a damn, until TFG’s chicanery fucks with their money.
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Why can’t that train ever be on time.
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