i am quoting this a thousand times today.

RIP mike brown.

The New Jim Crow

1. Ferguson, Missouri has a population of approximately 21,000 people — roughly 75% of those residents are Black

2. The Ferguson police department has around 530 cops —less than 5 of them are Black

3. Ferguson had *zero* homicides for all of 2014 —until Michael Brown was murdered by Darrin Wilson

4. Things you should know: Five Myths About Black-on-Black Crime

5. Michael Brown was 18yrs old and was about to begin college. Brown had no criminal record, and despite the Ferguson PD’s smear campaign, Mike Brown PAID FOR the cigars —those facts are all important and should be known, but even if Brown was a high school dropout with prior arrests who stole the cigars, 1) it wouldn’t have made his life any less valuable, 2) we have a court system and those are not capital offenses and 3) it doesn’t change the fact that the cop who killed him, Darren Wilson, had no idea about Brown’s personal history when he executed Brown. Wilson saw only a Black teen deemed either “too uppity” or “suspicious” because of his skin color

6. Five examples: The Militarization of the police

7. It’s deeply Institutional: Police view Black Children As Less Innocent

8. This is Not the first time Ferguson’s police have been heavy handed with it’s Black residents  - Innocent Black man beaten by cops, then charged with bleeding on police officer’s uniforms 

9. So please - don’t get it twisted

Tear gas is banned in international warfare — and in use in Ferguson, MO

http://www.vox.com/2014/8/14/6001995/ferguson-missouri-tear-gas-painful

In case anyone didn’t know, the use of tear gas was banned in international warfare at the Geneva Convention. These are human rights violations, people. Ferguson PD needs to be put in front of a UN board as war criminals. They are also arresting and detaining journalists.

Stay woke.

The hands-up gesture, which has become a powerful symbol in the Ferguson, Missouri, protests, is spreading beyond the Midwest. Students at Howard University in Washington, DC, are using it to show solidarity with protesters in Ferguson:

For many, the scenes of conflict from Ferguson, Missouri this week were a reminder of an era of racial conflict many Americans had hoped was far behind them — particularly in the era of the first black president.

A peaceful night of demonstrations on Thursday was preceded by four nights of unrest in which the people of Ferguson attempted to protest the slaying of an unarmed 18-year-old black teenager, Michael Brown, and were met by battle-clad local police armed with military equipment.

The police had sniper rifles pointed at peaceful protesters, used tear gas and rubber bullets, detained journalists and dismantled a filming crew’s camera equipment. The St. Louis suburb had become a war zone.

What Michael Brown’s Death Says About America