Black Lives Matter protesters, mostly dressed in black bloc, held a vigil at Cowen Park in Seattle on Friday for Kevin Peterson Junior. Peterson Jr. was shot and killed by three Clark County sheriffs deputies in Hazel Dell, Washington, on Thursday, October 29. Hazel Dell is located about 12 miles north of Portland, Oregon.
Protesters gather in response to the Kevin Peteson, Jr. police shooting in Hazel Dell, Washington.
On Thursday night, Clark County Sheriff deputies pursued Kevin Peterson, Jr. as part of an alleged drug investigation. Initially, Clark County Sheriff’s office stated that Peterson Jr. had a gun, had fired at deputies. Later on Friday, officials walked back the statement.
“Soon after the foot chase began, the man produced a handgun, and the officers backed off. A short time later, the subject encountered three Clark County deputies who all discharged their pistols. During the crime scene investigation, a Glock model 23, 40 caliber pistol was found near the deceased by independent crime scene investigators.”
Battle Ground Police Chief Mike Fort
Olivia Selto, Peterson Jr’s. girlfriend, reported she was on a video call at the time of the pursuit and witnessed Peterson Jr. get shot. She said that deputies did not check his condition as the call remained connected, and then terminated the call on the phone.
Initially, the Camas Police Department took on the investigation, but I-940 does not allow for neighboring police departments to investigate police shootings. The Battleground, Washington Police Department is acting as the public liaison for the investigation.
Back in Seattle, a group of approximately 50 people marched through the streets of the University District calling on bystanders to “get into the streets.” The march received a positive response from observers and gained several participants along Greek Row near the University of Washington. The Seattle Police Department reported that windows were broken at a Starbucks, and several arrests were made.
The CHOP Gallery on Seattle’s Capitol Hill may not be open to the public but its new installation is already raising the ire of its neighbor — the Seattle Police Department’s East Precinct.
The installation includes up to five projectors streaming protest-related content onto the north-facing windows on E. Pine St. and onto the precinct itself.
A projector from the John Mithcell Art Gallery shines a mural of George Floyd onto the barricades around the East Precinct. Renee Racketty, copyright 2020, all rights reserved
The curator, John Mitchell, gave Malcontent News a tour on Monday. The projectors have not been mounted yet to their permanent positions as he continues to perfect their placement. Some of the projectors, which he acquired used, had once fetched $25,000 each.
“These are professional grade projectors once used by Nike — not sponsored,” he says.
A projector from the John Mithcell Art Gallery shines an image of Breonna Taylor on a wall close to the East Precinct. Renee Racketty, copyright 2020, all rights reserved
Before Mitchell could finish his thought, a marked SPD police cruiser pulled up. “Mr. Mitchell…” the officer began to say from his rolled-down driver side window. The officer went on to explain that one of the projectors made it difficult for him to see oncoming traffic.
Mitchell, himself an accomplished photographer, says he just wants to spark dialogue in the community and encourage other artists to act.
The video includes strong language, discussion on violence, and police activity.
An estimated crowd of 1500 assembled on Capitol Hill to march in recognition of 150 days of continuous Black Lives Matter protests in Seattle. Assembling at Cal Anderson Park, once the heart of CHOP, at 6 PM, the crowd continued to swell as a host of speakers and organizers addressed the enthusiastic crowd. Three black-owned businesses did a brisk business before protesters assembled for their march.
The march route went through downtown and stopped briefly at the West Precinct. The Seattle police reported graffiti was painted on the ecology blocks that surround the building, and some bottles were thrown. We witnessed fresh graffiti but did not see, nor hear any bottles. The march then went to Westlake, where there were more speeches by organizers and black leaders, a candlelight vigil, and live music by the Marshall Law Band. During this time a group of an estimated 100 protesters broke off and moved traffic barricades into the street according to Seattle Police Department reports.
For the return to Capitol Hill a smaller group, who had attended for over four hours, marched back to Broadway and Pine. As the evening march concluded, a large group from ENDD in black bloc, marched east on Pine before turning north on 11th. A resident of Capitol Hill reported that eggs had been thrown at the East Precinct and there was fresh graffiti.
Seattle police then appeared in force heading west on Pine and drove at a high rate of speed north on 12th. When our team moved to investigate, a large group of protesters rounded the corner at 12th and Pine, heading west, with Seattle Police chasing them with dye enhanced pepper spray and batons. No pepper spray was deployed, and upon our arrival with cameras, SPD released two they were just taking into custody and told the third person, “take a walk.” One was held by SPD while one community member yelled from a window and another protester heckled officers. Ultimately the individual was released.
Responsible, journalistic streaming is not an idiot holding a smartphone.
Responsible streaming is not streaming while protesting at the same time, within the body of protesters.
On Saturday morning, Hiram Gilberto, a highly respected streamer out of Austin, Texas, was savagely beaten on camera by a group of protesters. His equipment was destroyed and he was hospitalized. He is now home recovering from a concussion and his injuries include a black eye, bruises, cuts, and scrapes.
There are some dedicated journalists and independents. Locally peeps like Concrete Reporting and Joey can tell you it is hard, it is dangerous, and it comes with almost no reward.
The cops don’t want you filming.
The protesters increasingly don’t want you filming.
The alt-right wants you dead, literally.
The left complains you show too much.
The right complains you don’t show enough.
Journalistic streamers run into the line of fire, not away from it.
Journalistic streamers are vigilant to report the story, not become the story.
In Seattle, respectful streamers spend most of their time in a no man’s land on the police line’s edge. No one has your back. You’re typically the last person through an intersection. If you’re hanging back as you should, somebody could waffle stomp you, or the police could arrest you, and no one would know. Increasingly when protesters chant, “who got our backs, we got our backs, “streamers cringe on the inside.
Journalistic streamers can spend 3, 4, even 6 hours walking without a break, without a bathroom, without a sip of water. They are holding equipment steady, answering questions, providing real-time narration. They are continually asking questions to themselves. Do I have enough battery charge? Is the lens still clean? Who is behind me, who is beside me, what is that car doing, is that person following me a threat?
The fallacy that someone can shoot four hours of raw video and then edit it for release misses a critical point. If you take four hours of video, you have to watch four hours of video before you even start to edit it. Mass editing of content at that scale requires computing horsepower, technical knowledge that isn’t common, and an enormous amount of time. Most streamers don’t even do highlight clips post stream because it is a tremendous amount of time.
Video stored locally has no concurrent backup (MP4 doesn’t support that). It is far easier for law enforcement to copy off of a device. On a phone or camera with a memory card, that card could just…disappear. Who will believe someone arrested when they say the memory card is gone and the police say it was never there.
Then there are three other 800-pound elephants in the room. First, organizations exist today that create highlight reels of protests and the Black Lives Matter movement; they’re called the mainstream media. They show the essential bits, mostly involving police officers. What they offer is violence, what we like to call protest porn. No one from the MSM has contacted me saying, “Hey, we saw your 3 hours of peaceful protest live stream from Saturday, and we’d like to use it for this news story we’re working on.”
Second, the streamer only has one insurance policy for their personal safety, the stream. If they are arrested, a stream shows a before-during-after and is stored in the cloud. The device can’t be smashed, and the memory card can’t disappear. If they are violently attacked, the stream is the only witness to the assault. An immediate example of this is Brad Fox in CHOP in the late hours of June 28 and his unrelated bullshit arrest about a month later. His stream was the witness to both of these incidents.
No one is going to watch a 2-1/2 hour previously recorded peaceful protest. However, the 2-1/2 hour peaceful protest is needed to fight the “all protesters are violent thugs” narrative. An edited video is quickly dismissed with the declaration, “you edit your videos, so you just took out the bad parts.”
An example of this was a right-wing streamer in Bellevue on October 24, claimed a Starbucks was destroyed. The “proof” was shaky at best, but the story picked up momentum on the eastside. The narrative? “Here is a video of the police rushing to this Starbucks! It got destroyed!” That was good enough for people who want to believe the BLM movement is violent.
When a journalist, and Hiram is absolutely a journalist, is assaulted, we are all assaulted. Not only is Hiram a journalist, but he is also an individual of great ethics.
Should Hiram have taken a walk? Probably. Should he have been hospitalized? Absolutely not; it is disgusting. When you beat reporters in the name of “security,” you become the system you’re fighting.
You cannot watch videos of the violence against the press and condemn it if you support what happened to Hiram. Examples include the Australian news crew beaten by Washington DC police, the US head from the British news organization The Independent falsely arrested in Seattle, or the reporters from The Daily Caller arrested in Louisville. To point to these examples of police brutality, declare “All Cops Are Bastards” and then spin around and beat a reporter senseless is hypocrisy.
Pot meet kettle.
Kettle meet pot.
Worst of all, Austin defunded their police department by over 30% with almost no drama. Texas has shown at least some willingness to address the systemic racism within the police of their state. In comparison, Washington and Oregon appear like racist backwaters.
The actions of these protesters feed the rioters and thugs narrative. It ironically goes against their claims of being endangered by the camera. Beating someone senseless on camera, when your claim being on camera could get you arrested, is ironic. And using the word ironic is charitable. We stand with Hiram and his defense of the First Amendment, which includes a free press.
If you want to support Hiram Gilberto
You can support Hiram Gilberto in his recovery and to secure new equipment on CashApp and Venmo:
A flyer distributed online over the past week had stated the purpose of the march: “Bellevue is home to the richest people in the world — it’s time to wake them up…”
The group gathered at Downtown Park in Bellevue, WA, before marching through the downtown streets of the city. They chanted familiar slogans to those watching nearby, such as “Off your phones and into the streets.”
Several observers cheered as the marchers passed and some, dressed in their gowns, even left nearby bars and restaurants to join in. A baby could be seen marching as well as one woman who described herself as a “grandma.”
Not everyone was as enthusiastic. About 15 individuals also followed the march with their cell phones or cameras while live-streaming the demonstration. Neoconservative media personality Katie Daviscourt was among them.
Local initiative celebrity and former gubernatorial hopeful Tim Eyman was also walking alongside the police on the sidewalk. Supporters of Donald Trump, Loren Culp, and the police were out in force near the intersection of NE 8th Street and Bellevue Way NE. One young man on his bike yelled “race traitors” at some of the white marchers.
A heavy police presence tracked the protesters’ every move. The Seattle Police Department and Port of Seattle Police were also there providing support to local law enforcement under a mutual aid agreement. Uniformed Washington State Patrol officers provided added security to the Bellevue Square Mall.
As the march continued downtown, a “civil emergency” was declared by the City of Bellevue. Cell phones on all sides suddenly lit up and the emergency alert tones filled the air. The notice read:
“The City of Bellevue has declared a civil emergency and enacted a weapons ban in the downtown area due to an imminent threat of injury to persons and property during protests tonight (Saturday). Please avoid the area.”
The march resulted in no significant property damage and bike officers only intervened twice to separate the marchers from their critics.
The biggest impact of the demonstration may be on the Bellevue economy and lost tax revenue. Many businesses closed early and hired private security at their own expense. A few businesses appeared to have also boarded up their windows. Furthermore, the overtime for the responding law enforcement agencies is likely to be significant.
The Say Their Names Memorial highlights the memory of over 240 Black individuals who have died due to police violence and institutional racism. The memorial will be in Kirkland through November 30, 2020, and can be viewed at six area churches in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland.
I want to start this with the direct statement that Black lives matter.
The thoughts and observations here are my own. As an individual who is a BIPOC ally and motivated to take bold action after witnessing SPDs repeated treatment of peaceful protesters, I have spent long hours in CHOP.
I’ve had rubber bullets shot at me, teargas and pepper spray in my eyes and lungs, and dodge flash-bang grenades. I have carried the wounded from advancing SPD treating peaceful protesters as a free-fire zone. I have watched SPD repeatedly lie despite undeniable video evidence from every imaginable angle. I have been threatened online and in-person for documenting history.
I have received only a small taste of what the BIPOC community goes through daily and find it mentally exhausting. How can anyone live like this? The nation’s maltreatment of BIPOC peoples has gone on for four centuries, that is four centuries too long. We have to admit our past, to acknowledge our ugly history, and demand an end to institutional racism.
Black lives matter.
Since May 31, 2020, CHOP’s (CHAZ) message is becoming lost due to the deteriorating security situation and the actions of some who are overtaking the space. Change is never a straight line, and change can be frightening and painful. There are people deeply invested in the current system, from all sides, who don’t want to see change. Others are looking at change as if it were a transaction, and preying on the opportunity to profit from it. Others want to see violent change, to serve as proof that the status quo must be maintained.
CHOP is a mustard seed trying to grow in a harsh desert. The fractures we see in our nation, and the support for Black lives matter around the world, are screaming in a loud voice, we need to change.
As I write this, I am well aware that Mayor Durkan has a press conference planned at 4 PM. We may well be seeing the end of CHOP. At the minimum, we will likely see the beginning of the political will to end CHOP. I appeal to the organizers that they should not let this happen, and have the message of Black lives matter fade with it. But clearly, there is a need for change within CHOP.
End support for a homeless encampment within CHOP
The Seattle Police Department has been actively rounding up some of the most troubled souls afflicted by drug addiction, alcoholism, and chronic homelessness and dropping them off at CHOP. As someone who was highly engaged in Occupy and an individual who visited multiple cities to help with their efforts, I saw this same tactic employed across the United States. Embracing the chronically homeless with addiction and or mental health issues is altruistic. It appeals to the aspiration of equality, hope, and is symbolic of the best of humanity. A tent encampment is not a valid replacement for the proper support services of the homeless.
The Puget Sound Business Journal estimates King County spends $100K a year per homeless person in the county. This isn’t a failure of CHOP; this is a failure of Seattle and King County. Bluntly put, an outdoor park is no substitute for mental health beds, drug addiction treatment, social workers, and transitional housing. I appeal to the organizers to dissolve the homeless encampment within CHOP, and not allow SPD to make society’s failure, CHOP’s failure. Continued access to CHOP for shelter also perpetuates homelessness, by detaching those in need from available services.
Organizers should meet with the city of Seattle and King County to create a transitional plan for the homeless there for shelter in cooperation. We did this in Everett, Washington, during Occupy and were able to negotiate and secure housing for every homeless person there.
Create a council of leaders with no appointed head, and a visible acknowledgment of who those people are
History has taught us that leaders within a movement become targets for those who don’t want change. From Malcolm X to Robert Finicum, representing both ends of the political spectrum, our history cannot be denied. But CHOPs very loose organization creates confusion and different messages to the world. Having a “we are all leaders” policy is no longer benefiting the movement or the core message of Black lives matter.
I appeal that CHOP creates a more formal leadership structure akin to a council, with no appointed leader, making it harder to discredit and eliminate. I am aware of the Occupy-style daily councils, but history has shown this can’t scale. Further, at Occupy Seattle, those with political agendas would bring their supporters to the council to vote in a block counter-productive measures. These actions pushed out many supporters, and the message became lost. Please learn from this history.
Improve security during nighttime hours
The organizers of CHOP want to prove to the world against impossible odds that they can create change without militarized police interaction. The Seattle Police Department and Seattle Fire Department hide behind, “policy,” and, “protocol,” which only escalate situations. Not only is this happening in CHOP, but documented at Judkins Park on Juneteenth. The security situation at CHOP changes dramatically from 11 PM to 6 AM.
The security situation needs to be addressed to assure safety not just for CHOP, but the residents who live within the boundaries. Remember, these people did not choose, and most represent peoples sympathetic to the cause (most, not all). The history of revolution and change carries the same message if you want to achieve your goals, “hearts and minds.” You have to win hearts and minds, and that starts with the residents and businesses within CHOP.
Create quiet hours so everyone can get some proper sleep
CHOP organizers should create quiet hours in alignment with the state of Seattle, King County, and Washington. Everyone, from those protecting CHOP, the medic teams, those maintaining the occupation, and the residents within not only deserve good sleep but also require it. Sleep-deprived individuals are more prone to anger, lower cognitive ability, and irritability. It is a volatile mix contributing to the issues. I repeat the words, “hearts and minds,” and I’ll echo the words I have heard repeated, “this isn’t Coachella.”
At Occupy in Seattle, Seattle Police used sleep deprivation techniques of loud music, sirens, and running through the encampment to dissolve the will of those staying there. Please stop making SPD’s job easier.
Just like medical teams, armed security should be recognizable
I appeal to the security team to adopt something that makes them recognizable as security. Some security volunteers wear shirts that say security; other’s don’t. For the community, it makes it impossible to determine when someone is open carrying if they are part of security, making a show of force, or have bad intentions. Designated security should be more recognizable, especially armed security.
Move some barricades to improve safety, even if it is against the will of the city of Seattle
The events of the last 72 hours have shown that moving the barricades back by 10th and East Pine created a serious security risk. I appeal to CHOP organizers to move the barriers whether the city supports this or not, and eliminate drive-through access from 10th to East Pine.
Stop censorship within CHOP
There has been growing hostility toward the live stream, photography, blogger, and mainstream media community. When an organization tries to control the narrative, that organization’s reputation is tarnished. Citizens have every right to say I don’t want to be on video or photographed. Threatening and assaulting individuals, many who are there with the singular purpose of communicating the message Black Lives Matter goes against everything Black lives matter stands for.
If you don’t allow the documentation of the real story, you become no better than the system you are fighting. You can’t say you have a right to protest and assembly, and then ignore the other parts of the First Amendment. The confiscation of camera equipment and the assault of those peacefully recording history should not be acceptable in any society and should have no place in CHOP.
Focus energy on Black lives matter
Finally, I ask that when a council is created, they focus on the real matters at hand—Black lives matter. Activities, actions, and people that aren’t committed to this movement should not be part of the movement. You can achieve this by having more structure and planning while not working to control every second. If an activity that doesn’t focus on equality, Black lives matter, justice, or police reform is planned, we should be asking, “why are we doing this?” There should be time for celebration, reflection, and to enjoy each other in brotherhood, but distractions from the core message need to be reduced. Please end the hijacking of CHOP and Black lives matter. As an example, no one should be profiting off of the misery of the Black community by selling $30 Black Lives Matter t-shirts within CHOP.
When George Floyd was a child, he wanted to be a supreme court justice. In Houston, he was known as a man of God, a man who learned from his past and trying to show others a better way. I am not a religious man and have my sincere doubts about Heaven and Hell. If there is a place after this, it is incumbent upon all BIPOC allies to not let this catalyst of change disappear in a cloud. We can continue on the path Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. started over 50 years ago. A journey rekindled in the American spirit through George’s Floyd’s dying words. Black lives matter. No one should ever again declare, “I can’t breathe,” as their essence is squeezed out by the very people who are supposed to protect and serve.
I believe that CHOP can survive the events of the last 72 hours, but all of us who are allies must take swift action. It is incumbent upon those who support equality, an end to institutional racism, and an end to police brutality to make the required adjustments to keep this movement going.
I am writing to you today to thank you for the last three-years-and-one-hundred-and-forty-seven-days of your presidency. When you were elected, you promised you would unite the American people together uttering the words, “When America is united, America is totally [sic] unstoppable.” So here we are, Mr. President, three years and 147 days later. I’m so proud as an American to see you have fulfilled your promise to unite us.
Through your divisive words and actions, good Americans from sea to shining sea are uniting. Your great words about Charlottesville, where you declared there were “very fine people, on both sides,” and you were pleading to not rush to judgment. In contrast, how quickly you condemned protesters in Minneapolis without wanting to learn more. Yes, Mr. President, you are uniting the country.
As you tightened the rules of legal immigration in the name of defending America, you placed asylum seekers and those seeking the light of freedom into the textbook definition of concentration camps. They shivered in the cold, unwashed, lacking medical treatment, a place to sleep, and even basic shelter in some cases. They died of preventable diseases, documented beatings and rapes by guards, and murdered at border crossings.
Peoples of the world, trying to escape the specter of violence, government abuses, and crushing poverty, had their children taken from them and placed in inhumane conditions. The same children were misplaced in government bureaucracy and malfeasance while their parents were deported. Yes, Mr. President, thank you for uniting us. The same children remain packed in unfit conditions, exposed to abuse, negligence, and COVID-19.
Your attacks on the free press in words and deeds have made the United States one of the most dangerous places on the planet for reporters and photographers. When faced with overwhelming evidence that the government of Saudi Arabia murdered a reporter from an American newspaper, you only gave it passing mention. Today as I write this, the news agencies that once supported you have grown weary, and cracks are forming. When confronted with their concerns, with their realization that no amount of spin can put you in a favorable light, you attack what was once your allies. Yes, Mr. President, you are uniting us with your actions.
You promised to bring dignity back to the White House and to be the hardest working President in history. For three years and 147 days, we’ve watched you use Twitter for diplomacy, spend your days watching TV, playing golf at taxpayer’s expense, and when faced with a crisis from your beloved people right outside your door, cower in fear in your basement bunker. Yes, Mr. President, you are uniting us.
You promised to control the deficit, balance the budget, and drain the swamp. Yet during a period of economic prosperity that you inherited, your tax cuts didn’t benefit 90% of Americans, enriched the top 10%, and grew our nation’s deficit by 5.2 trillion dollars in just three years 147 days. A debt that our children and our children’s children will inherit with inflation and lost prosperity. Our economy entered recession before the first COVID-19 death was reported on our shores, and you could count the active cases on one hand. Yes, Mr. President, you have united us.
Your authoritative and awe-inspiring words found within each of your Twitter broadsides vilified our friends and allies. You insulted our closest neighbors and most significant trading partners in Canada and Mexico. You have brought us to the brink of a cold war with China, left the dictatorial government of North Korea laughing at us, encouraged the Russian state, and left the globe wondering what has happened to American greatness. Yes, Mr. President, you have united us.
You claimed that the government has no place in regulating business. So you gutted environmental and wildlife protection, while placing tariffs, also know as price controls, on goods and services. The prices of those goods and services hurt businesses and ordinary Americans alike, removing any benefit from your tax cuts, and not coming close to filling the deficit hole as you promised. The farmers, coal miners, and factory workers you promised to help have been abandoned while foreign nations scammed you for tax breaks.
Your incredible response to the COVID-19 epidemic has exposed to the world that the disease ravaging our nation is not just a virus, but the impotent reaction from your leadership. Emergency rooms became overwhelmed, front-line medical workers died due to a lack of personal protection equipment, your agencies scammed by predatory companies and junk science, and our leaders in science and medicine silenced. One-hundred-and-fifteen-thousand dead Americans from what you declared was a hoax, was just the flu, would magically go away once warmer weather came. As I type this, the southern and southwestern states are being devastated by your hoax. Your playbook of distraction and Twitter diplomacy didn’t work against a virus. The world has learned that we are nothing but a paper tiger, with fragile infrastructure and resources.
Despite all of these missteps toward greatness, your support hasn’t wavered. Your staunchest allies and enablers have stood by you while trying to steer your course. Yet you continue to ignore the Constitution, jurists, leaders, scientists, doctors, and diplomats that have been attempting to save you from yourself. Yes, Mr. President, you have united us.
As our nation watched in horror at the street execution of George Floyd on a Minneapolis street, his life squeezed from him as he cried out for his mother, the people became united. You went to your same playbook to divide, vilify, and tweet. As the people you profess to love unprecedently protested outside your door, you built a wall, you hid in a bunker and watched the TV you deny you watch. You threatened to send federal troops against your People, to the disgust and disdain of retired and active-duty generals and admirals. You had peaceful protesters pepper-sprayed and beaten for a photo op at a church. As you spoke of law and order from the White House, a house built by slaves, the nation could hear your state-sanctioned violence against the First Amendment in the background. Yes, Mr. President, you have united us.
I want to thank you, President Trump, for the last three years and 147 days. Because of you, your words, and your deeds, I was able to see the hatred and racism that existed right under my nose. I could see what I thought were friends, for what they are. By encouraging the forces that want to destroy this nation, you exposed the great lie that there is equality in the eyes of the law, that the police forces of this nation have just a few bad apples, and make rare, but very public mistakes. I always suspected these were narratives were false, but you provided the proof.
You have united the American people, Mr. President, in a way that I never thought would be possible three years and 147 days ago. We are joined in historic protest from coast to coast and border to border—six-hundred-and-fifty cities and towns across America, from the biggest to the smallest. From marches measured in the hundreds of thousands to lone vigils of one. All these people, united against the hatred, the fear, and the anger you’ve fomented tweet after hateful tweet. Yes, Mr. President, you have united us.
We are united to no longer accept the idea that racism has been resolved in this country, or is just a passing problem. Because of you, the good people of this county who didn’t think these were real issues are now learning that it is deeply rooted in the very things you defend, and rotten to the core.
We see you for what you are, a dotard, barely able to stand on their own, obsessed with what people think of you. A narcissist, staring at their magic mirror, listening only to those who say yes. Outside your bunker, a giant has awoken and been filled with a great resolve to bring about change to our nation. Yes, Mr. President, you have united us.
I have watched first hand since May 30 as Black, white, Latino/Latina, Asian, Hispanic, indigenous, native-born, and immigrant have marched in peaceful protest. I have seen first hand the excessive force applied by our militarized police departments using CS and OC gas on peaceful citizens, firing rubber bullets, striking with batons, shocking with Tasers, and preventing peaceful assembly. My eyes have stung, my lungs have burned, and I have personally carried the wounded as I documented the actions you sanctioned.
The violence was so great that our allies in the United Kingdom have voted to stop selling rubber bullets and teargas to the United States. Violence on the people so troubling that even in South Africa, they are marching for the Black lives in our raging and grieving nation. Yes, Mr. President, South Africa looks more enlightened in the eyes of the world than our country because of your words and deeds.
We are once again the United States of America, Mr. President. We are united against you and those who think like you. We are joined together to bring out meaningful change, for full equality, to demand that this nation treat everyone as equals. Equality does not mean that some will get less, nor is that what We the People want. We want the level playing field the American dream promises for all people. We want our minority brothers and sisters in this great race of life to run that race unshackled, unencumbered, and without the oppression of institutional racism. Mr. President, those of us that want this change outnumber those of you who don’t.
You and your supporters are focused on agitators and those who are trying to discredit this movement. I applaud that, Mr. President, because distraction is useful when you are bringing about change. While you shudder in anger watching your TV and spitting out sentence fragments on Twitter, we are using the most potent weapons we have in the American arsenal. We are leveraging our rights. We are using our right to peaceful assembly. We are using our right to freedom of speech. We are using our right to videotape and photograph, and audio record the transgressions of those who are so comfortable with racism and inaction, that they feel they can freely operate in this connected world with impunity. And, Mr. President, we are sharing those videos, pictures, and audio clips, on Twitter for the world to see. We are using your actions to demand change at a local, county, and state level and, on November 3, at the federal level too.
Had you told me, Mr. President, that you would unite our nation in a singular fierce voice demanding change in just three years and 147 days, I would have said it was impossible. I had expected incompetence and hatred, but I never realized how dark your heart is, how you lack a soul, and how deep corruption runs to your core. You made these things mainstream and revealed the ugliness of America hiding in plain sight behind gossamer curtains. Those curtains, Mr. President, have been torn down.
On November 3, 2020, the American people will decide on whether they want to renew The Donald Trump Show for four more seasons. Forty-million unemployed, the numbers without health insurance exploding, institutional racism and violence defended by you, the Constitution defiled, 115,000 dead from COVID-19 and counting, and protests in 650 cities from coast-to-coast.
Thank you, Mr. President, for uniting us and putting America, for the first time in more than a generation, on a path to greatness. We, the people, are screaming in a singular voice, “no more.”
Three-years, and 147 days.
Journalists, activists, and researchers defending the First Amendment
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