Update from The House of Plague, Day 75

[elisi]

Yeah, no memes, sorry. I have spent days just following the news from America, and I still don't know how to respond. I could fill a post many times over with tweets, but instead I'll just share Trevor Noah. Watch the whole thing.

Watch on YouTube

ETA: Oh, bless Twitter (yes, I know what I said):

“SO YOU DON’T LIKE RACISM, BUT YOU’RE IN THE UK AND FEEL POWERLESS TO DO ANYTHING?”

I have had several conversations with friends who have recently felt powerless as to what they can/should be doing in response to some of the atrocities in the US.

Here are some ideas. 1/?

— Ougoala (@ObiomaUgoala) May 29, 2020

Thread unrolled here: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1266330305985732609.html



ETA2: Probably the most accurate headline you will read:

Slate: Police Erupt in Violence Nationwide
The ongoing protests following the killing of George Floyd were caught up in violence again on Saturday, as police all over the country teargassed protestors, drove vehicles through crowds, opened fire with non-lethal rounds on journalists or people on their own property, and in at least one instance, pushed over an elderly man who was walking away with a cane. Here are some of the ways law enforcement officers escalated the national unrest.

Comments

[sea_thoughts]

Trevor nails it. Amazing.

[elisi]

Have you read his book?

I saw he'd done a video and I nearly fell over myself to press play. I knew he'd be insightful and brilliant.

[sea_thoughts]

No, it's on my to read list.

[elisi]

Bump it up to the top!!

*looks at own to-read pile*

*cries*

[sea_thoughts]

I will do, my to-read pile has been slowly decreasing during lockdown.

[elisi]

Mine is... well, every time I finish one thing, another one gets added.

Although the main problem is that I'm writing fic, which doesn't leave much time for reading.

[sea_thoughts]

Writing is good. *stares at my neglected WIPs*

[elisi]

Ah my fic is eating my head. And growing exponentially. Which is nice and certainly a good distraction.

[itsnotmymind.livejournal.com]

I am a white woman who grew up a few blocks from the worst of the destruction in Minneapolis. My sister and I walked past the burnout frames of buildings we've seen our whole lives and took pictures.

For years and years and years and years - longer than I have been alive - people have protested police brutality against African Americans. Calmly, angrily, artistically, straightfowardly, loudly, softly, protests, museum exhibits, books, shouting on the street, films posted on Facebook, articles in magazines and newspapers, any way you can imagine.

And it just. keeps. happening.

[elisi]

And it just. keeps. happening.
This. I can't comprehend it?

I grew up in a place that... I hesitate to say it didn't have racism, but it was so small, and so sheltered, that any POC was a novelty. (Or, like, an adopted child, and thus just 'Anna down the road', who might be adopted from Korea but that had no impact on how they were treated.)

Having lived in the UK for 20+ years, I am sadly a lot more aware of the inequalities that are embedded into society. :(