Hasta La Gadget!

“If they are killing us every 28 hours, what do I have to lose?”

Ashley Yates, also known to the Twitterverse as @brownblaze, was citing a Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM) report, “Operation Ghetto Storm,” on the extrajudicial killings of Black people at the hands of law enforcement and vigilante violence. (The report was first issued in 2012, and the most current data adjusted the previous finding of 36 hours to 28 hours.) More than a nod to a deterministic nihilism, this was an accentuated skepticism in a system of domination that routinely devalues Black lives, one that operates on the logic of “state-sanctioned or extralegal production and exploitation of group-differentiated vulnerability to premature death” (as CUNY Graduate Center geographer Ruthie Gilmore defines racism) to Black bodies. In doing so, Yates located vitality in righteous resistance to police brutality and state-sanctioned violence, because, as Assata Shakur (often quoted by Yates) said, “We have nothing to lose but our chains.”

Crowded in the basement of St. Louis’ Saint John’s United Church of Christ (“Beloved Disciples Building Beloved Community”) at the end of the Labor Day weekend, Yates continued by recounting almost a month’s worth of harrowing encounters with a militarized police force to a room of Black Lives Matter freedom riders. She woefully explained that as the days bled into one another, she began “marking days by police tactics.”

After that weekend, I was fortunate enough to continue communicating with Yates via tweets and texts, at rallies in Ferguson/St. Louis (Ferguson October: Weekend of Resistance), and over soul food meals. It was only natural to profile her for the Faces From Ferguson series, as our conversations seemed to organically engage the theoretics and practices of justice:

We often are spared details concerning the unglamorous work they engage in outside of the shine of mass media lighting, and rarely are we privy to their dreams. What propels them to continue in the face dominating oppressive power structures?

I have always been interested in the social, political, economic and artistic forces that form a social justice activist, those who dedicate their lives to uplifting the dream of a dignified human existence.

I wanted to share the stories of these extraordinary youth with the larger public by profiling their organizing work, personal narratives that shaped their activism, reflections on the national discourse on Ferguson and opportunities for readers to remain connected.

“Don’t wear a hoodie.”
Trayvon Martin.
“Don’t walk in the street.”
Mike Brown.
“Don’t run from the police.”
Darrien Hunt.

— BrownBlaze (@brownblaze) December 4, 2014

1) What was your organizing/activism background history before Aug. 9, 2014?

Any organizing background I can claim would be from my work as a college organizer. I served as the political chair of the Legion of Black Collegians at the University of Missouri Columbia and learned many of the skills I employ doing social justice work now during my tenure there.

2) Who were some of your s/heros growing up?

Assata Shakur. Sonia Sanchez. James Baldwin. Ella Baker. My grandmother, Alma Shelton. I always found inspiration and drew personal strength from people who have displayed a fearless tenacity in dismantling the status quo and toppling notions of white supremacy.

“It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win.” @brownblaze #shaw #blacklivesmatter @ajplus pic.twitter.com/PwwD8pmk5Z

— Shadi Rahimi (@shadirahimi) November 24, 2014

It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to WIN. We must love and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains.

— BrownBlaze (@brownblaze) November 24, 2014

3) Why did his shooting activate you to protest and ultimately become substantially involved in the organizing process?

The killing of Mike Brown and the subsequent reaction by the police department — from the initial brutalization of community members in Canfield to the mass terror enacted upon those of us on West Florissant and at the Police Department — left me no choice but to fight with every fiber of my being to do my part to enact change. None of these events should have ever occurred in 21st-century America, much less been allowed to continue with impunity.

I have a military grade gas mask that I need to learn how to put together and use. I was born in America. It is 2014.

— BrownBlaze (@brownblaze) November 22, 2014

4) Set the scene for our readers: What was it like to confront and engage police, media, outsiders and community members day in and day out? Take us through the unanticipated challenges and the surprising successes. What motivated you to continue?

From Aug. 9 through today, police in St. Louis have been exemplary in their behavior, displaying the terror police enact on Black communities daily. War has been waged (and declared vocally, in the case of New York) on Black citizens, especially those of us standing up firmly for preservation of Black lives. I did not engage with media for several months; I was too focused on ensuring I did my part to resist the oppression we faced. On West Florissant we were forced to form units for our survival; these were the folks you held yourself accountable for checking in with, ensuring they made it home safely and that they were sustained throughout the duration of protest. We fed folks, passed out water and survival supplies and made sure that we did our part to keep our community intact in every way. The family and friendships that arose from this time period can only be attributed to the deep love Black folks displayed in the face of absolute terror and evil. That is a definite success. The most challenging aspect was attempting to stay alive and free as the police escalated and switched tactics each day. We aren’t trained for battle; we were just citizens exercising what we have been told is our American right.

5) You remarked at a Black Lives Matter community meeting, “I was marking days by police tactics.” Can you elaborate on this statement? Can you lay out for the readers how police tactics changed over the three weeks?

The first month and a half of the resistance, I was still working my job that I’d had for the past three years. Between working and going out to Ferguson, an 18-hour day was almost the norm. So days started to blur together from sleep deprivation, but also because it was a constant cycle of police terror we endured. Tear gas stings the exact same each time, no matter if you expect it or not. With no differential between brutality, since each day was equally brutal, days started making sense less and less by time and more by what we encountered. So Monday might be the day that they started teargassing at 11 p.m. Tuesday: the day police made “V” formations and snatched folks out of crowds. Wednesday: curfew day. Thursday would be the day the police raided our safe space in a local church, or the police drove down the street at almost 80 m.p.h., shooting tear gas canisters indiscriminately into a neighborhood. There were days when the streets lights were turned off in a coordinated effort and the police used night-vision goggles to see where to shoot, days when they all sat in a certain parking lot until they got orders to disperse us. Lots of different physiological and physical tactics were used by the police to try to suppress our efforts to stand for justice. But each and every day we learned from their actions and their lies on TV, and we grew more resilient and more determined. And each day we went back out to show them that fear no longer works as a weapon against us. Each day we showed that justice and Black life are worth standing our ground.

They just tear gassed us HEAVY. We were standing on the sidewalk between the street and a business plaza and they shot gas all at us.

— BrownBlaze (@brownblaze) August 13, 2014

Excessive. Unnecessary. Wrong. Unlawful.. pic.twitter.com/cXf8OU0Lni

— BrownBlaze (@brownblaze) August 18, 2014

6) What is your reaction to the national dialogue about Mike Brown, his shooting and Ferguson? Deconstruct for us the mainstream media and the social media community misconceptions about Ferguson and St. Louis.

Ferguson is St Louis. The municipality system that exists in St. Louis County made it easy for them and the media to paint the city as an isolated foreign place when in actuality it’s Everydaytown, U.S.A. The national dialogue around Mike Brown has been disgusting. Once again we saw media perpetuate the police demonization of a civilian that was killed extrajudicially. If not for social media and community members that saw a need to counter this narrative and the lies, I’m sure Mike Brown would have been just another dead Black boy that went by unnoticed. Instead, I think we can point to the tragic execution of Mike Brown as the catalyst for this movement today. No parents should have to watch their child be hoisted as a martyr for basic human rights, but sadly, that is the case.

The memorials to #MikeBrown as they stand today, September 6th. Almost a month later and Darren Wilson is STILL FREE. pic.twitter.com/natazLiBuG

— BrownBlaze (@brownblaze) September 7, 2014

7) What does the history of racism in Ferguson and St. Louis look like?

St. Louis is deeply and starkly segregated. The gentrification and white flight phenomena have been astounding in the last 10 years alone. There was a history of suffering silently for Black St. Louisans, but Mike Brown’s murder changed that for so many people.

8) What are the community demands?

Community demands in detail can be found on fergusonaction.com. Most acutely we are calling for some real and radical police reform that ensures that they be held accountable to the people they serve. Broader scope demands call for wide systematic overhaul and examination of corrupt policies and practices.

9) Next steps: Where do we go from here?

The protests continue. Our protests continue to grow more strategic as the network and connections expand. We must keep up the pressure on the system that is in place while simultaneously building power in our own communities. We must fight back on all fronts and continue to make the state of emergency Black America has been forced into an issue of national concern.

10) How can national and international readers support your organizing efforts?

I can be reached via twitter @brownblaze and at brownblaze.com.

Also, take a gander of one of Brown Blaze’s video recordings documenting the Ferguson Police Department’s use of tear gas on protestors (with over quarter of a million views) during the early days of the Ferguson resistance movement:

WASHINGTON — For weeks, conservatives have been pushing their Republican colleagues to use any means necessary to leverage Department of Homeland Security funding to kill President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration.

They’ve called for the Senate to change its rules to pass a bill that Democrats oppose, and have said lawmakers should be willing to allow a DHS shutdown to make Obama change his policies. They railed against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for making a deal with Democrats on Wednesday to fund DHS without measures stopping Obama’s immigration policies.

But when one of their own threw in the towel on Wednesday afternoon, they barely whimpered. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) indicated he wouldn’t take steps to block McConnell’s deal — even though he does not support it — removing a potentially critical obstacle for passage.

“Nothing is to be gained by a delay of 12 hours or 24 hours or 36 hours,” Cruz, a potential 2016 presidential candidate, told reporters after McConnell’s plan was announced. “I think the concern is not a procedural concern over timing — the concern is substantive.”

It was a remarkable turnaround for a senator who has excoriated fellow Republicans in the past for failing to stand firm during the high tide of shutdown politics. And it irritated those in the party who have faced the wrath of the very people Cruz has whipped into a frenzy.

“It seems like Sen. Cruz, having steered his colleagues into a box canyon, has now chosen to hide behind a saguaro cactus during the ensuing gunfight,” a House GOP aide said.

Yet, for the most part, conservatives seemed willing to give Cruz a pass. Some of the senator’s allies on immigration in the House fumed over McConnell’s deal with Democrats, but were hesitant to criticize Cruz for backing off his insistence that every procedural option needed to be exhausted to derail the president’s executive actions.

Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) told HuffPost that funding Obama’s executive actions as part of a DHS bill would be a violation of members’ oath of office, and would be breaking promises Republicans made when they were elected. But he steered clear of discussing whether Cruz should do more to block a clean DHS funding bill.

“The Senate has a byzantine set of rules and I’m not going to speculate on what the timing should be to do your utmost to protect the American people from the president’s unconstitutional conduct,” Brooks said. “I’m not in the Senate.”

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said he believes Cruz is committed to fighting Obama’s immigration actions and credits him, in part, with bringing Obamacare to the forefront during the 2013 government shutdown. King said if it were him in the Senate, he probably would have voted with Sens. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and James Inhofe (R-Okla.) against moving forward with the DHS bill. But he said repeatedly that he didn’t want to second-guess Cruz.

“I took a pledge that I’m going to fight this thing to the end and I’m going to fight on every hill. That’s been my stand,” King told HuffPost. “The Senate strategy is different and I don’t want to second-guess what they do over there.”

Cruz’s office did not respond to a request for comment. The senator could have joined fellow immigration hawks Sessions and Inhofe in voting against proceeding to the House immigration bill as part of a larger agreement to take out the immigration-related measures. But he chose, instead, to vote with the majority of his colleagues in moving the bill forward. The Senate will hold a final vote on funding DHS in the coming days, and then will vote on a separate measure to defund the president’s 2014 executive action.

Cruz this week told Newsmax that Republicans “need to honor the commitments we made to stop the president’s illegal and unconstitutional amnesty.” He said in December, during a previous funding battle, that Republicans should “fund the operation of the federal government, but … not allocate taxpayer dollars for lawless and illegal amnesty.”

The fact that he isn’t mounting a filibuster — at least not for now — on DHS funding doesn’t mean he’s given up on fighting the executive actions. Cruz also has pushed Republicans to oppose Obama’s immigration policies by blocking the nomination of Loretta Lynch for attorney general.

Believe it or not, LG already has an upgraded version of its luxurious Watch Urbane: meet the Watch Urbane LTE, a souped-up version that focuses on speedy mobile data. The timepiece (which isn’t using Android Wear) isn’t as substantial a phone replac…

Cries for help come in many forms, and in our digital age, many of them take place online. Facebook, being one of the biggest social networks out there, is peppered with depressed, suicidal, and otherwise troubling statuses making one’s personal anguish known to a larger audience. The social network has previously had a tool that aimed to help those who … Continue reading

Holy crap, it’s real! Behold the first glimpse of Microsoft’s co-founder Paul Allen’s crazy space venture: The largest airplane in history, a 385-foot (117-meter) wingspan beast designed to carry and launch a giant rocket to space, with a combined weigh of 1,200,000 pounds (540,000 kg)! Check out the mind-blowing photos.

Read more…