Clayton Plake reports on the angry response to a video, released online, of San Francisco police assaulting an African American college student.
SAN FRANCISCO police have sparked anger and outrage after officers were caught on videotape carrying out a vicious, unprovoked assault on Kevin Clark, a young African American man, in the city’s Mission district.
Footage of the attack on Clark was captured by what appears to be an anonymous bystander, using their cell phone camera. The video was posted to the Internet by activists from the Idriss Stelley Foundation—a leading organization in the struggle against police brutality in the Bay Area.
Over four minutes in duration, the video opens with an unidentified motorcycle cop riding his bike up onto the sidewalk near the 24th Street BART station and approaching a pedestrian now identified as 18-year-old Kevin Clark, a student at City College of San Francisco. The first cop was followed closely by another officer, also on a motorcycle. Neither cop appears to deliver a command for Clark—who was peacefully walking on the sidewalk—to stop walking or otherwise obey directions.
In the video, one cop uses his motorcycle—the front wheel pointed squarely at Clark’s body—and alternately accelerated and decelerates, seemingly to terrorize Clark. The terrified Clark yells, “Are you going to run me over?” Then the other officer, having stepped off his bike, grabs Clark from behind and throws him to the asphalt with staggering force, pushing him face first into a gutter.
Both cops then throw themselves on top of Clark. Each grabs one of Clark’s arms and pulls them up and back, and one cop digs his knee into Clark’s back. Clark’s screams of pain become interspersed with frantic pleas to be left alone. One cop, still keeping Clark’s arm in a locked position, starts to push the man’s face into a sewer grate.
In short order, a squad car arrives, as do a host of other police officers—no less than 10 officers were deployed to the scene, despite the fact that the victim appeared unarmed and was not resisting arrest. Comments from off-camera eyewitnesses reveal that this is the second African American man the police had stopped in the area in less than 10 minutes.
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What you can doA rally and march against police brutality has been planned for February 7 at 5 p.m. at 24th and Mission Streets. Visit the Facebook event page for information.
It makes me sad/angry/frustrated that radical feminists are seen as a joke even by other women within the feminist movement. Nothin’ like sisterhood, I guess.
Some radical feminist beliefs are a joke. I am sorry but WOC and queer women have been calling radfems out on their oppressive bullshit since the 1970s. The fact radfems do not see transwomen as real women shows the inherent transmisogyny/cissexism within the movement. Having a vagina doesn’t make someone a woman. Biologically it makes them female, biology does exist, but that doesn’t mean they are a woman. Also, in the 1970s and 80s radfem did compare their experiences to the experiences of POC. Completely disregarding the fact WOC experience sexism differently than white women. And then you have political lesbianism, which people have been calling out since the 1970s.
Racial Disparities in NYPD Stop & Frisk
And also “don’t be Brown” in NYC, apparently.Did you mean: “Don’t be anything other than white in NYC” ?
Melissa Harris-Perry Sister Citizen; Shame, Stereotypes and Black Women in America (via brashblacknonbeliever)
doctors and other officials are not infallible, but are subject subconscious biases
(via feministdisney)
One of the things we covered in my “issues in cross-cultural counseling” course was that folks from different cultures will present with different symptoms. Some of the differences between the diagnoses of white women and the diagnoses of black women could be due to poor training in how mental health and illness manifest in that population. Poor training plus racism equals terrible diagnoses and terrible treatment.
(via notyrqueer)
![indiancountry:
[TW: RAPE, RACISM] Rape, Kidnapping Being Investigated as Hate Crime in Thunder Bay - ICTMN.com
The abduction, brutal rape and strangulation of a First Nations woman by two white men on December 27 in Thunder Bay, Ontario has stirred fear, anger and urgent calls to catch the perpetrators, who, the victim says, told her they had done this kind of thing before, and would do it again.
The news of the assault on the 36-year-old mother spread quickly after the victim’s family sent word to a local Idle No More event on December 30 to warn the community about the threat the men made against Native women.
“It’s a hate crime against our community,” said Chief Peter Collins of the Fort William First Nation, which is adjacent to Thunder Bay. “This young woman has been through a very trying situation that compels us to do more to stop the violence against our women… We see that racism towards our people is still alive, and we remind our people to be vigilant. We also advise our people not to react violently to these acts… ”
In a telephone interview, Christi Belcourt, representing the victim’s family, elaborated on the police report and a statement issued by the family. She said the attack began at around 9 p.m. on December 27, when the victim was walking to a store in the north end of the city. Two Caucasian men in their mid-30s pulled up alongside her in a green two-door sedan and began yelling at her, allegedly calling her a “dirty squaw” and other racially tinged profanities.
When she ignored them and walked faster, they reportedly began throwing things at her, including trash. She says the passenger then jumped out of the car and grabbed her by her hair—pulling her so violently she lost clumps of hair—and shoved her into back seat, where he sat on her and began beating her.
She tried to fight back, but was unable to escape as she was driven to a nearby wooded area, where she says she was brutally sexually assaulted, strangled and beaten.
During the attack the men allegedly told the victim it wasn’t the first time they had committed this type of crime and “it wouldn’t be the last.” She told police they also told her, “You Indians deserve to lose your treaty rights,” making a reference to the recent Idle No More events in Thunder Bay.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/d35bd8eab06ecd28314bac7232e95bb4/tumblr_mg9vwlhIMt1rqt2y4o1_500.jpg)
[TW: RAPE, RACISM] Rape, Kidnapping Being Investigated as Hate Crime in Thunder Bay - ICTMN.com
The abduction, brutal rape and strangulation of a First Nations woman by two white men on December 27 in Thunder Bay, Ontario has stirred fear, anger and urgent calls to catch the perpetrators, who, the victim says, told her they had done this kind of thing before, and would do it again.
The news of the assault on the 36-year-old mother spread quickly after the victim’s family sent word to a local Idle No More event on December 30 to warn the community about the threat the men made against Native women.
“It’s a hate crime against our community,” said Chief Peter Collins of the Fort William First Nation, which is adjacent to Thunder Bay. “This young woman has been through a very trying situation that compels us to do more to stop the violence against our women… We see that racism towards our people is still alive, and we remind our people to be vigilant. We also advise our people not to react violently to these acts… ”
In a telephone interview, Christi Belcourt, representing the victim’s family, elaborated on the police report and a statement issued by the family. She said the attack began at around 9 p.m. on December 27, when the victim was walking to a store in the north end of the city. Two Caucasian men in their mid-30s pulled up alongside her in a green two-door sedan and began yelling at her, allegedly calling her a “dirty squaw” and other racially tinged profanities.
When she ignored them and walked faster, they reportedly began throwing things at her, including trash. She says the passenger then jumped out of the car and grabbed her by her hair—pulling her so violently she lost clumps of hair—and shoved her into back seat, where he sat on her and began beating her.
She tried to fight back, but was unable to escape as she was driven to a nearby wooded area, where she says she was brutally sexually assaulted, strangled and beaten.
During the attack the men allegedly told the victim it wasn’t the first time they had committed this type of crime and “it wouldn’t be the last.” She told police they also told her, “You Indians deserve to lose your treaty rights,” making a reference to the recent Idle No More events in Thunder Bay.
Rape Culture USA: Exhibit A
===
Anonymous just leaked a 12-minute video of drunk Steubenville high school athletes having a blast making fun of the passed-out 16-year-old girl who was raped by beloved football players Trent Mays and Ma’lik Richmond last August.
Be warned: the video is incredibly disturbing. You probably don’t want to watch it. The speaker — identified by misternunya, an independent journalist who posted the video, as former Steubenville High School baseball player Michael Nodianos, who also tweeted lovely comments such as “some people deserve to be peed on” the night of the rape — cracks himself up as he calls the girl “deader than” JFK, OJ’s wife, Caylee Anthony, and Trayvon Martin, amongst others.
’2 Broke Girls’ Kat Dennings Topless Photos Leaked
Kat Dennings plays an ugly obnoxious Jew waitress with big breasts on the hit CBS show “2 Broke Girls”.
In real life Kat Dennings is an ugly obnoxious Jew actress with big breasts who has had topless photos leaked online as you can see below.
Of course these photos actually leaked about 2 years ago, but at the time no one knew who Kat Dennings was. However, now that Kat is actually famous it is our duty as Celeb Jihadists to bite the bullet and expose these frightful topless pictures of this bird nosed fat tittied Zionist whore.I CAN’T EVEN BEGIN TO TELL YOU HOW FUCKED UP THIS COMMENTARY IS
I CAN’T
JUST
WHAT
HOW IS THIS OKAY EVEN
HOLY SHIT SHE HAS BOOBS WHAT A SECRET (they’re lovely)
I H8 U
As an ugly, obnoxious Jew girl with decently-sized mammaries myself, there may be some bias to my opinion, but this blog is really fucking crude, tasteless, and offensive in basically every way it it possible to be so. I checked out the site just to see what kind of material it generally posts, and the commentary on these photos of Kat Dennings (if they are in fact of her, seeing as a huge chunk of these photos are either very bad photoshops or taken out of context, such as pics of Lady Gaga from one of her music videos) might actually be some of the tamer stuff. The entire blog is full of “clever parody”, aka sexist, racist, anti-Semitic, slut-shaming, violent commentary all on a background of rampant, extreme Islamophobia.
Somebody told a real life woman that her skin was too brown to play an imaginary creature. That basically in the whole fictional world of Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, where you have dragons and trolls and talking trees, where you draw the line, where imagination is capped out, no more room, is for a brown hobbit.
Like firery eyeball thing, no problem but don’t even try to imagine a Samoan elf. That shit will blow your mind.
" -Wyatt Cenac [x] (via modernmonkeys)
Wherein Wyatt Cenac remains perfect, and completely articulates our Mission Statement.
(via geekquality)
![zuky:harrietsdaughter:downlo:micropolisnyc:
Why aren’t there more minority models in the pages of fashion magazines?
The answers are often disturbing, and speak to a form of racial bigotry found in the fashion centers of New York and London — as well as a deep-rooted aesthetic that equates prestige and elitism with stereotypical whiteness (and thin-ness).
Here are a few highly-revealing quotes from fashion industry employees, from an analysis of the industry by Ashley Mears, a sociologist and former model. Her article is called “Size zero high-end ethnic: Cultural production and the reproduction of culture in fashion modeling,” and was published in 2009. Mears kept the identities of her sources private.
“A lot of black girls have got very wide noses… The rest of her face is flat, therefore, in a flat image, your nose, it broadens in a photograph. It’s already wide, it looks humongous in the photograph. I think that’s, there’s an element of that, a lot of very beautiful black girls are moved out by their noses, some of them.” —H, London Agency Director
“But it’s also really hard to scout a good black girl. Because they have to have the right nose and the right bottom. Most black girls have wide noses and big bottoms so if you can find that right body and that right face, but it’s hard.” —A, NYC Agency Scout
“Okay let’s say Prada. You don’t have a huge amount of black people buying Prada. They can’t afford it. Okay so that’s economics there. So why put a black face? They put a white face, because those are the ones that buy the clothes.” —L, NYC Stylist
“We don’t like using the same model too often, but it’s harder to find ethnic girls. And…well, I don’t want to sound racist, but— well for Asians, it’s hard to find tall girls that will fit the clothes because most of them are very petit. For black girls, I guess—black girls have a harder edge kind of look, like if I’m shooting something really edgy, I’ll use a black girl, it always just depends on the clothes.” —A, NYC Magazine Editor
“Me personally, in my opinion, there really is no good, good, black girl around. The really good, good black girl around are still the same, and are still the one that everybody wants… It’s very difficult to find one. The agency don’t deliver enough choice to make happy the client [sic].” —O, NYC Casting Director
[TW for the article]
White logic is circular logic:
The absence of non-white models is also deeply rooted in a Western relationship with race that aligns ethnic women with a heightened sexuality and accessibility. The editorial fashion world wants to downplay sexuality to the maximum, thus they choose child-bodied, excessively thin women with unique facial structures within the parameters of the white aesthetic; no one in the editorial fashion world wants to consider their choices racist but their desire to only utilise a certain appearance and also dismiss ethnic women for a lack of conformity to that standard reveals the latent racism that is perpetuated without question but with a recognisable degree of disappointment and no sense of responsibility.
“We would use more black girls if they looked more like white girls…the black girls just look too black. Otherwise we really would use them.”
“It’s not that we’re racist or anything like that, it’s very technical and scientific, it has to do with photography and economics and molecular structures and it’s hard to find Black girls who are white girls.”](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_meklm8oCAx1rbynwco1_500.jpg)
zuky:harrietsdaughter:downlo:micropolisnyc:
Why aren’t there more minority models in the pages of fashion magazines?
The answers are often disturbing, and speak to a form of racial bigotry found in the fashion centers of New York and London — as well as a deep-rooted aesthetic that equates prestige and elitism with stereotypical whiteness (and thin-ness).
Here are a few highly-revealing quotes from fashion industry employees, from an analysis of the industry by Ashley Mears, a sociologist and former model. Her article is called “Size zero high-end ethnic: Cultural production and the reproduction of culture in fashion modeling,” and was published in 2009. Mears kept the identities of her sources private.
“A lot of black girls have got very wide noses… The rest of her face is flat, therefore, in a flat image, your nose, it broadens in a photograph. It’s already wide, it looks humongous in the photograph. I think that’s, there’s an element of that, a lot of very beautiful black girls are moved out by their noses, some of them.” —H, London Agency Director
“But it’s also really hard to scout a good black girl. Because they have to have the right nose and the right bottom. Most black girls have wide noses and big bottoms so if you can find that right body and that right face, but it’s hard.” —A, NYC Agency Scout
“Okay let’s say Prada. You don’t have a huge amount of black people buying Prada. They can’t afford it. Okay so that’s economics there. So why put a black face? They put a white face, because those are the ones that buy the clothes.” —L, NYC Stylist
“We don’t like using the same model too often, but it’s harder to find ethnic girls. And…well, I don’t want to sound racist, but— well for Asians, it’s hard to find tall girls that will fit the clothes because most of them are very petit. For black girls, I guess—black girls have a harder edge kind of look, like if I’m shooting something really edgy, I’ll use a black girl, it always just depends on the clothes.” —A, NYC Magazine Editor
“Me personally, in my opinion, there really is no good, good, black girl around. The really good, good black girl around are still the same, and are still the one that everybody wants… It’s very difficult to find one. The agency don’t deliver enough choice to make happy the client [sic].” —O, NYC Casting Director
[TW for the article]
White logic is circular logic:
The absence of non-white models is also deeply rooted in a Western relationship with race that aligns ethnic women with a heightened sexuality and accessibility. The editorial fashion world wants to downplay sexuality to the maximum, thus they choose child-bodied, excessively thin women with unique facial structures within the parameters of the white aesthetic; no one in the editorial fashion world wants to consider their choices racist but their desire to only utilise a certain appearance and also dismiss ethnic women for a lack of conformity to that standard reveals the latent racism that is perpetuated without question but with a recognisable degree of disappointment and no sense of responsibility.
“We would use more black girls if they looked more like white girls…the black girls just look too black. Otherwise we really would use them.”
“It’s not that we’re racist or anything like that, it’s very technical and scientific, it has to do with photography and economics and molecular structures and it’s hard to find Black girls who are white girls.”
From the link:
“If you subscribe to a color-blind racial ideology, you don’t think that race or racism exists, or that it should exist,” Tynes said. “You are more likely to think that people who talk about race and racism are the ones who perpetuate it. You think that racial problems are just isolated incidents and that people need to get over it and move on. You’re also not very likely to support affirmative action, and probably have a lower multi-cultural competence.”
Let it be known: Color blind racial ideology makes you less likely to recognize racism and thus more likely to accept racism.
The CoBRAS was positively related to other indexes of racial attitudes as well as 2 measures of belief in a just world, indicating that greater endorsement of color-blind racial attitudes was related to greater levels of racial prejudice and a belief that society is just and fair.
COLOR BLIND RACIAL IDEOLOGY MAKES YOU LESS LIKELY TO RECOGNIZE RACISM AND THUS MORE LIKELY TO ACCEPT RACISM.
White people, your own fucking science is AGAINST YOU. Sit the fuck down and shut the fuck up. When you say you are color blind, you are telling POC that YOU ARE RACIST.
These signs were posted outside the ballroom where the Non-Sexist Dance was being held on my campus; they’re posted in the line and at the entrance of this dance every quarter. This dance is put on by the LGBT Center, and actually is the most popular event of the school year outside of Sun God. Clearly these signs are a good reminder, as I’ve only been approached disrespectfully once in the past three years, and I have never seen any open discomfort, disrespect, or violence, even in the temporarily gender-neutral restrooms.
In addition, this quarter’s was a Halloween-themed dance, and it was made very clear that anyone who chose to wear a racist costume would not be let in to the dance; accordingly, I did not see any costumes in the range of questionably kosher to blatantly racist. Normally I am a cynical person and have very little in the way of positive things to say about our student body, but the Non-Sexist Dance makes me a pretty happy and hopeful queermosexual.
In the predominately White town of Wynne, Ark., an incident last week involving a 14-year-old African-American boy, who was reportedly hazed by fellow White junior varsity football players by placing a noose around his neck, has reached a fever pitch. With racial tensions high in the northeastern Arkansas town, the school board was dogged by questions from both the parents of the involved and outside media—resulting in the expulsion of two students from Wynne High School for the rest of the semester.
Local ABC news affiliate KATV-7 reported on the school board meeting last night (October 3) where over 150 people gathered outside. Much of the hearing was closed to the public, and when the board members emerged, Superintendent Carl Easley did not offer many details regarding the case although a decision was made. Just this morning, it was reported by several outlets that two students will be suspended for the rest of the semester—a much lesser sentence than Easley originally sought.
The victim’s aunt was displeased with the outcome. “It would have satisfied the family if the two young men were expelled for the year. That would have been the right thing,” said Tresha Light. Although students and parents alike say the kids were most likely horsing around with a towel, it appears that there are several sides to the story after police interviewed over 30 students regarding the incident. The victim’s aunt relayed the story on behalf of her nephew that the students built a dummy that was hung in effigy prior to placing a noose around his neck.
With Wynne on the media map, Blacks and Whites are clearly divided on the issue with some thinking the school district may have overreacted. Still, there’s a cautious tension in the air as evidenced by a local CBS affiliate KTHV-11.
The victim’s mother, fearing racial retaliation, has asked news outlets to not identify her son in the case.
Someone please explain to me, like I’m fucking two, how in the hell this is an “overreaction?” If anything, this is a major case of an under-reaction. In my opinion these kids should have at the very least been expelled for the whole damn year or at the most went to court behind this shit.
Oh, and when you’re offering your explanations for this shit white people, don’t you dare give me that “but they’re just teenagers” excuse. If that black boy was old enough to have something this horrifically racist done to him (which will haunt him every day for the rest of his life), these white kids are old enough to face the full repercussions of their actions.
WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON, Y’ALL? How could anyone think this was remotely acceptable? Did y’all forget another prime example of racism this year, the Chavis Carter case? Our state should be doing a better damn job. This is completely unacceptable.
