Black Lives Matter: from Minneapolis to the World

 First Minneapolis had cell phone footage that was livestreamed of Philando Castile being shot in his car - point blank. Now we have the "kneel" that murdered an African-American male - at 38th and Chicago. I shopped at  Cup Foods - I know that neighborhood. Now it's become a global protest that is escalating into a military martial law crackdown. 21 states have curfews now - video

People - mainly whites - are complaining about how innocent businesses should not have been burned down. The problem is that normal protests were not getting "Listened to" - and so the corporate-state has called now for "lawful protests" - well I was arrested eight times in Minneapolis and the Midwest - for "unlawful protest" - that does not mean it's violent. It's civil disobedience. But the problem with civil disobedience, as I discovered in Chicago, is that the cops decide what the law is and so the cops will just decide NOT to arrest you even though you are trespassing outside of the "Free Speech Zone." haha.
Amy Goodman arrested AGAIN despite her lawsuit against Twin Cities MN police - she is a journalist and so is targeted by the cops

So the second issue  is that cops are historically formed from the slave patrols to protect the "private property" of business owners. And so the main role of cops is not to "protect and serve" the public but rather to "protect and serve" private business! So if you OWN land - that was the primary requirement to be a citizen i TO - we Surprised the Empire - but it was not to be repeated. In our 1996 protest of the corporate-state DNC - a cop said to me, "we'll crack your skulls like we did in '68" - and that is when I first saw a military formation of the cops. The cops have been militarized for a long time.

The federal reforms addressed in the letter include:

• Require a federal standard that use of force be reserved for only when necessary as a last resort after exhausting reasonable options, and incentivize states to implement this standard; require the use of de-escalation techniques, and the duty to intervene; ban the use of force as a punitive measure or means of retaliation against individuals who only verbally confront officers, or against individuals who pose a danger only to themselves; and require all officers to accurately report all uses of force;
• Prohibit all maneuvers that restrict the flow of blood or oxygen to the brain, including neck holds, chokeholds, and similar excessive force, deeming the use of such force a federal civil rights violation;
• Prohibit racial profiling with robust data collection on police-community encounters and law enforcement activities. Data should capture all demographic categories and be disaggregated;
• Eliminate federal programs that provide military equipment to law enforcement;
• Prohibit the use of no-knock warrants, especially for drug searches;
• Change the 18 U.S.C. Sec. 242 mens rea requirement from willfulness to recklessness, permitting prosecutors to successfully hold law enforcement accountable for the deprivation of civil rights and civil liberties;
• Develop a national public database that would cover all police agencies in the United States and its territories; and,
• End the qualified immunity doctrine that prevents police from being held legally accountable when they break the law.