I spent a large chunk of summer/fall watching footage from BLACK ZEBRA, community videographers working as press agents of The Sacramento Bee.
I’ve seen BLACK ZEBRA questioned, gassed and beaten – while covering BLM protests in Sacramento, Portland, Colorado, Mississippi, France – even the burbs a few blocks from where I live – where local vigilant cops were using ‘important police resources’ to have parked cars of protesters towed cause strip mall parking lots are private property.
“Abuse of power comes as no surprise.”
—Jenny Holzer
As summer and the marches continued, the real surprise to me was when MULTIPLE CAMERAS were finally trained on the police – via not just ZEBRA but the mainstream media – THEY JUST KEPT GOING.
Fucking police doing violence was on my feed NIGHTLY – and it was NOT letting up.
Learned rubber bullets are GIANT and are supposed to be aimed at the ground, not people’s FACES. Military grade gas is OKAY to use on civilians – and the cops have a shitload of military equipment.
An awesome author/journalist I used to chat with on Twitter lost an eye.
Night after night – a few blocks in downtown Portland ending up looking like the whole city was a fucking war zone.
Just about an hour ago, police officers shove man in Niagara Square to the ground (WARNING: Graphic). Video from: @MikeDesmondWBFO pic.twitter.com/JBKQLvzfET
— WBFO (@WBFO) June 5, 2020
The older man in Buffalo hit me hard. He looks like my grandfather.
Mentioned this to my right wing cousin, who said he totally deserved it, and listed off the FOX News talking points why.
Turns out he was just another socialist not following the rule of law, of course. Trump’s description of the man was a helluva lot colder.
Then,
this past Wednesday was Time to Watch History Day.
I bounced from network to network, including FOX just to see their spin – which wasn’t quite happening before Hannity show’d up for work. And even CNN was farther left than MSNBC – Anderson Cooper was just letting it fly.
And then the important 6 p.m. D.C. curfew hit – and I was expecting the police procedures I saw over and over via constant BLACK ZEBRA footage – which includes trapping protestors so they could NOT actually disperse (kettling), violent take downs, zip ties, lots of screaming, batons, blood and paddy wagons.
AND WTF?
“c’mon, guys. go home. try not to trip on the stairs, be careful not to drop your rifle … i’ll help you carry your flag, jesus loves you …”
–cops#CapitolBuilding #BREAKING— 𝙁𝙇𝙊𝙈𝙈❗ (@flommus) January 6, 2021
It really shouldn’t have been a surprise, tho.
This is how an angry WHITE mob is treated when they take over things in the United States.
Two Americas. Nothing to see here, move along.
Looted government offices, shit smeared in the hallways, and a slew of Hey, why wasn’t anyone keeping an eye on the Capitol pundit pieces – and the routine blaming of ANTIFA.
Tho I’ve checked.
There were no ducks in the capitol during the occupation ’cept for a few stuffed trophies gifted from Theodore Roosevelt to Mitch McConnell.
“The attack on the US Capitol by a rag tag army of president Donald Trump’s supporters has been called an attack on the American democracy and a failed coup attempt. On the other hand, it is being seen as the last gasp of a clown presidency … [but] consider, by way of parallel, what happened in Munich in November, 1923 in what went down in history as the Beer Hall Putsch … [Adolf] Hitler had no coherent plan. His supporters were too few and his talk about support from the army and police was pure fabrication. His hope that the army and police units would be taken in by his nationalist rhetoric and come out in his support, were dashed … But we all know the sequel. Ten years later, in 1933, Hitler became the Fuhrer of Germany. And, in 1939, seventeen years after the Beer Hall Putsch, he started the Second World War.”
—Manas Chakravarty
It turns out major coups and civil wars kinda start like this.
The first day of the US Civil War ended up as sort of a meh moment too – until others carried things into something “fought in 10 thousand places.”
“We’ll be back and we’ll be armed. For the Inauguration, count on it!”
Right in the middle of the day-long news binge, a threat amongst the happily leaving, triumphant Trumpsters.
Their mess left for others who deserve mor than overtime.
“There will still be
Black and brown men
and women cleaning up
the messes left behind
by the violence of white
supremacy. It’s the
American way.”
—Cate Young, The Cut
—steve mehallo
Flommist Steve Mehallo is a graphic designer, illustrator, font designer, educator, foodie and gadfly. He is the creator and founder of FLOMM!
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