Again, There Is No Reforming This

If you are still claiming police needed to kill a child I don't have anything to say to you. Because you're clearly okay with the state murdering kids & that's so far down the road to hell there's no turning back. We can't agree to disagree, we can't discuss it. You have to go.

— Mikki Kendall (@Karnythia) April 21, 2021

This is my foster sister Ma’Khia I want her to be remembered as the sweet full of life young girl she was, not as what people are painting her out to be. I refuse for her to be painted as anything but the amazing girl she was #MakiahBryant pic.twitter.com/ayJsMcTwz0

— Asia (@itsasiiiaaa_) April 21, 2021

Casually suggesting a taser as a de-escalation tool – especially on a child – is depraved.

— blackness everdeen 🐺 (@traceyecorder) April 21, 2021

this is makhia bryant, the teenager that was just shot and killed by cops in columbus. my heart hurts so bad. https://t.co/LeuSM0NEhg

— no (@afroelven) April 21, 2021

Police killed at least 5 people today. This morning they killed someone in Lakewood, CO. Police killed two people in San Antonio this afternoon. Then they killed someone in Detroit and killed #makhiabryant in Columbus. https://t.co/GfRHZzTZvP

— Samuel Sinyangwe (@samswey) April 21, 2021

This happened at Ohio State University in Columbus, OH. The kids who did it were overwhelmingly white. No police showed up, no tear gas or "less-than-lethal munitions deployed. Police in that same city just murdered 16 year old Black girl #makhiabryant. https://t.co/Dcyo0wgj3h

— No (@MattStofflet) April 21, 2021

A Black girl is dead because the cops brought a gun to a damn knife fight. If you don’t know how to de-escalate teen girls who are fighting, you should not be a police officer. I said what I said. #MakhiaBryant

— Brittney Cooper (@ProfessorCrunk) April 21, 2021

https://twitter.com/ProfessorCrunk/status/1384849582157352964

We’ve literally seen cops apprehend, ARMED white teens, MOMENTS after the teens/young adults murdered people. Let’s not play this game. Short, short memories. Some even get taken to Burger King. Humanity is something not afforded to Black youth. Even when calling 4 help.

— Reagan Gomez (@ReaganGomez) April 21, 2021

Hatred And Violence

Even as we’ve battled the pandemic, we’ve continued to neglect the longer-lasting epidemic of gun violence in America. Although the shooter’s motive is not yet clear, the identity of the victims underscores an alarming rise in anti-Asian violence that must end.

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) March 17, 2021

Yesterday's shootings are another tragic reminder that we have far more work to do to put in place commonsense gun safety laws and root out the pervasive patterns of hatred and violence in our society.

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) March 17, 2021

Michelle and I pray for the victims, their families, everyone grieving these needless and devastating killings—and we urge meaningful action that will save lives.

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) March 17, 2021

As if these things aren't related and based on centuries of sexualized and submissive stereotypes of Asian women. White supremacy is rooted in misogyny and racism. https://t.co/C42KyqTGIP

— Millie Tran (@millie) March 17, 2021

When men frame a murderer's actions in terms of him "having a bad day" I can't help but hear them telling the world that they themselves are one bad day away from murdering women, & demanding empathy & recognition for that fact.

— Amal El-Mohtar (@tithenai) March 17, 2021

He had a really bad day. Women die because men have bad days. https://t.co/E8Wn2qocva

— Tressie McMillan Cottom (@tressiemcphd) March 17, 2021

White supremacist classist patriarchy is dangerous because it insists on dominance. It leads white men to think we all have to pay for their “bad day.”

Because apparently the racist, misogynistic fetishization and abuse of Asian women is just a white dude having a “bad day.”

— brittany packnett cunningham is on extended break. (@MsPackyetti) March 17, 2021

It’s not economic anxiety, diabetes, or sex addiction. It’s racial hatred. Stop playing on my phone.

— Openly Black Studs Twerkel. (@thewayoftheid) March 17, 2021

Racism Is All Across America

It’s cute how y’all want to believe the guys who stormed the capitol live in their mom’s basement snorting Cheeto dust pissing in Mountain Dew bottles because you don’t want to believe it’s your retired colonel neighbor and your realtor and lawyer and your sister’s cop husband

— Lauren Hough (@laurenthehough) January 14, 2021

https://twitter.com/laurenthehough/status/1349673417453301760

That's a word. But it's part of the narrative that poor Southerners are to blame for everything so we can pretend that's the only place racists live and not really evaluate the larger national problem.

— Sally Kilpatrick (@SuperWriterMom) January 14, 2021

One turned up in a $1,300 Burberry jacket and others travelled there in a private jet. The white privilege excuses are going to be EPIC!

— Fiona B (@Feebeekiwi) January 14, 2021

When Black and PoC told White folx to talk to their racist relatives during the holidays past four years, they were all like "we don't wanna ruin the mood" over their dry ass unseasoned turkey. And now it's all "let's reach out to them in love." Bye.

— Rebecca Theodore-Vachon (@FilmFatale_NYC) January 14, 2021

...I don't care how progressive you are as a White adult, or that you voted for Obama twice - if you stayed silent around friends and family racist rantings and beliefs YOU ARE COMPLICIT. PERIOD.

— Rebecca Theodore-Vachon 🇭🇹 🇩🇴 🇺🇸 (@FilmFatale_NYC) January 14, 2021

We Been Knew (x100)

Every black person in America: https://t.co/fjPMDsLIOW pic.twitter.com/WEybTX5yMM

— The Last 🔝 (@JuSLIKEMIKE911) January 12, 2021

Interconnectedness

With so much going on, Dr. King’s leadership is as steadying a force as it’s ever been. I’ve been reflecting a lot on his example, and how it might help us move forward after these last four years. #MLKDay pic.twitter.com/oGCF2wbT18

— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) January 18, 2021

Ain’t Got Nothing To Do With Us

black people every single day: “we?!”

— nadirah (@hinadirah) January 11, 2021

Uncle Jr entered the chat 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/UeGb0R66Wv

— TheRealDuchessOfTailwind (@oswhytecodes) January 12, 2021

13TH

Beautiful. 👊🏾 https://t.co/C2262PjsVj

— Ava DuVernay (@ava) June 16, 2020

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In the last 3 weeks, millions of members (a 4,665% increase vs. 3 wks prior) have sought out 13TH, Ava DuVernay’s essential doc about the intersection of race, justice, and mass incarceration in the US.

The film is also available for free on YouTube as an educational resource. pic.twitter.com/EYOVgHaV82

— Netflix (@netflix) June 16, 2020

“Racism Is Not A Product Of Ignorance”

Racism is not a product of "ignorance." https://t.co/Ih5KLOXdUk

— G. Willow Wilson (@GWillowWilson) May 26, 2020

This is a troubling blind spot of white liberalism: the idea that smart/educated people can't be racist+ that the solution to racism is individual absolution (*I* am not like that. *I* have never said the n-word in my life. *I* voted for Barack Obama) rather than systemic change.

— G. Willow Wilson (@GWillowWilson) May 26, 2020

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I think it's tempting for us to believe we can just sort of delete the Confederacy app off our phone and be done. The idea that it's the whole operating system--that no part of our culture, even the good bits, is untouched by it--is too big to think about.

— G. Willow Wilson (@GWillowWilson) May 26, 2020

I would encourage any liberals popping in here with some variation of a No True Scotsman argument to maybe take a minute and reconsider. 🙂

— G. Willow Wilson (@GWillowWilson) May 26, 2020

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"Who do you become when you panic?" is a pretty good measure of who you really are. That instinct she had--that she could rely on the cops *even when it was she who broke the rules*--isn't something you get over in 1 afternoon of sensitivity training. That is firmware.

— G. Willow Wilson (@GWillowWilson) May 26, 2020

Anyway, this is all to say that, even if you've got a master's degree and you've read Marx in the original German and you always recycle, if you are white, you are probably running some of that firmware. You, me, all of us. It's in the background. It doesn't care how you vote.

— G. Willow Wilson (@GWillowWilson) May 26, 2020

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(As a PS, I realize none of this is new or noteworthy to people who aren't white--but the 'racism is ignorance/ignorant people are racist' was such a constant drumbeat in my childhood that it almost began to seem like you could defeat racism by maintaining a GPA of 3.6 or higher)

— G. Willow Wilson (@GWillowWilson) May 26, 2020

Your Actions Speak Louder

White folks: instead of lather, rinse & repeat your tweets for #GeorgeFloyd or about #AmyCooper, here are things you can *actually do* to interrupt that stems from which you benefit.

Compiled by white people who made the effort: https://t.co/z8rydxjNlkhttps://t.co/PJkFBM7dNm

— brittany packnett cunningham. (@MsPackyetti) May 26, 2020

https://twitter.com/melodyMcooper/status/1264965252866641920

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Ok I am nonbinary. But socially I am read as a woman. A white woman. And from that standpoint I wanna address white women/people socially read as white women because this is important:

we are weapons of white supremacy; in fact, we are THE weapon of white supremacy

— Elle Has Cats (and ADHD) (@ellle_em) May 26, 2020

Our supposed "purity" is the justification behind acts of racial violence and murder. Lynchings were so often committed because a black man was accused of assaulting/touching/looking at! a white woman. The specter of black men coming after white women was major racist propaganda

— Elle Has Cats (and ADHD) (@ellle_em) May 26, 2020

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And we were not innocent in this of course. This is pretty basic history. Think of "To Kill A Mockingbird," an entire book based on a white woman using the fear of black men's desire to hide her own shame and her father's guilt.

That isn't made up. That happened.

— Elle Has Cats (and ADHD) (@ellle_em) May 26, 2020

Emmett Till was murdered because of a white woman who lied. A white woman who has lived her life free from the consequences of her actions, a white woman who caused a child's violent lynching and got away with it.

White women we know of what we are capable

— Elle Has Cats (and ADHD) (@ellle_em) May 26, 2020

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And white women, when we call the police on a black person we are knowingly committing a modern-day lynching.#amycooper could very have killed that man, just as Carolyn Bryant Donham killed Emmett Till

— Elle Has Cats (and ADHD) (@ellle_em) May 26, 2020

This is a difficult truth to face, I know. White women, sometimes we (and those of us socially read as women) feel like we aren't as bad as white men because we're, you know, women.

But when it comes to racism in general and anti-blackness in particular, the dynamic shifts

— Elle Has Cats (and ADHD) (@ellle_em) May 26, 2020

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and white women we have social power--enough social power to get people killed.

So we cannot be passive here. We cannot assume we are doing enough. We have to be very clear that we will not tolerate racism done in our name

— Elle Has Cats (and ADHD) (@ellle_em) May 26, 2020

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More here

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This Is What Two Americas Looks Like

The America for Black people

This was #EricGarner and his life mattered. This was #EricGarner and his death matters. pic.twitter.com/xy4qzefBAo

— Dwayne David Paul (@DwayneDavidPaul) December 3, 2014

It's easy to read #EricGarner's final words and feel like he's speaking for thousands pic.twitter.com/L6EeCCVbs1

— Brooke Jarvis (@brookejarvis) December 4, 2014

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What Is It Going to Take to Indict When Police Kill an Unarmed Black Man? http://t.co/7h66uEUPB2 #ICantBreathe pic.twitter.com/BAjkMTGl4F

— The Root (@TheRoot) December 3, 2014

https://twitter.com/GrooveSDC/status/540292394566946817

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When a cop murders a black man on video and isn't even asked to defend himself in a court of law the racists have won #ICantBreathe

— Voting is EVERYTHING! (@ArrghPaine) December 4, 2014

https://twitter.com/benjaminokeefe/status/540241224943558658

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https://twitter.com/ngvhi/status/540233518169595906

Unarmed individual.
Chokehold banned.
Video Evidence.
Ruled homicide.

Doesnt matter #Ericgarner #icantbreathe pic.twitter.com/ih4fmGvXkv

— Afzal Syed (@afzalusyed) December 4, 2014

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Black Americans
13% of US population
31% of victims killed by police during arrest pic.twitter.com/mJp2IHGyop

— Conrad Hackett (@conradhackett) December 4, 2014

At least 70 police departments arrest blacks at 10 times the rate of non-blackshttp://t.co/kmeqPcpcJY @EdAsante77 pic.twitter.com/eBjuFDqejI

— Conrad Hackett (@conradhackett) December 4, 2014

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NYPD 1964
NYPD 2014
Nothing changed! pic.twitter.com/EB9lJ5ZON7

— Janice G Washington (@JaniceGW) December 4, 2014

Whattttt? Come again? #EricGarner #CrimingWhileWhite #NYPD #BlackLivesMatter #ICantBreathe pic.twitter.com/g8f3SG0XGx

— Kristie Lowe (@kristieLowe_) December 4, 2014

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The guy who FILMED Eric Garner being choked to death was indicted by the grand jury http://t.co/Ll4yRueehD

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) December 3, 2014

#ICantBreathe

— kerry washington (@kerrywashington) December 4, 2014

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