Opinion: Blackout Tuesday backfired spectacularly. Five ways to support [Sink...] Black Lives [Lies...] Matter

[Leroy N. Soetoro]

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-06-02/black-square-on-your-
instagram-is-a-nice-thought-but-black-lives-matter-needs-you-to-do-better

If you’ve been on Instagram on Tuesday morning, you may have seen a bunch
of black squares in your main feed. The #BlackoutTuesday campaign was
intended to push the music industry, which profits so much from black
artists and gives them so little, to take a beat, get educated and
reevaluate its positions. But the campaign quickly spread to non-music
industry Joes and Janes, who woke up, saw some black boxes posted by their
faves and friends, and reposted. Its purpose has also been widely
misunderstood; as author Rodney V. Smith noted on Twitter, the idea of
Blackout Tuesday is not “to simply post a black picture and leave social
media for the day. It means to stop promoting your own stuff for 24 hours,
and instead amplify the voices & projects of Black creators, writers,
directors, activists and more.”

As a stand-alone action, participation in this campaign represents form
without content. When Sudanese diaspora members and other advocates turned
their social media blue last year, it drew attention to the fact that the
Sudanese military government had cut off internet access for pro-democracy
activists. Their speech was stifled. Our internet still works in this
country, for now — though it remains heavily and legally surveilled — so
taking a broad silence at this pivotal moment is unlikely to achieve
similar effect. Not only that, but many black organizers have also noted
that #BlackoutTuesday participants have overrun the #BlackLivesMatter
hashtag, which contains critical organizing information. (Tuesday morning,
Instagram shared that if you remove the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag from
black box posts, they should stop showing up on that page.)

You’re not a bad Angeleno if you woke up Tuesday morning and blacked out
your social media. It was confusing. Ostensibly, you want to advocate for
black lives in our city. So here are five places nonblack allies can start
to affect concrete change in Los Angeles. Many black Angelenos are already
taking these steps; I’m explicitly addressing nonblack allies because I am
working to be one, so that seems the right place to speak from and to.

First of all, we can peacefully protest. Yes, the beyond-insane curfews,
haphazard enforcement of said curfews, and threatened penalties for
breaking said curfews are explicitly intended to have a chilling effect.
As others have noted, a midafternoon curfew — as is now in place in parts
of Los Angeles County — isn’t a curfew at all; it’s a lockdown. We should
strongly register our complaints about these lockdowns to our city and
county representatives, while protesting as allowed while we work to lift
them.

But maybe you are unable to protest. In that case, you might make a
donation to an L.A. bail fund, like those organized by Black Lives Matter
Los Angeles and White People 4 Black Lives and the Peoples City Council
Freedom Fund. Protestors have been picked up by police and jailed in large
numbers. Getting them free quickly cannot be more important, particularly
in the time of COVID-19. Your money will help frontline organizers make
that happen. If you have extra cash on hand, consider giving money to
individuals. For instance, you might offer to cover an organizer’s rent
costs for next month so that organizer can focus on this crucial work
instead of stressing about how to pull it together.

Maybe you don’t have money to donate; these are especially tough times.
Then you can take a few minutes to educate yourself on the People’s Budget
L.A. and contact your representatives. The People’s Budget website is a
painstakingly organized and comprehensive resource that outlines a better
vision for the city. Mayor Eric Garcetti’s proposed budget for 2020-21
allocates more than 53% of all city funding to the Los Angeles Police
Department. This process is in motion, so quick action is required.

BLM-L.A., the Youth Justice Coalition, the L.A. Tenants Union, Ground Game
L.A., and Court Watch L.A. are just a few of the many L.A.-based
organizations organizing and amplifying crucial grassroots work. Follow
these local organizations on social media and, if they have them, sign up
for their newsletters. See which of their campaigns you might add value
to. Reach out and get involved.

Last but absolutely not least, have the hard conversations with those in
your family and community. Share resources. Listen. Explain. Historian and
advocate Howard Zinn put it simply: “You can’t be neutral on a moving
train.” Power will ask us to see this moment as complicated. We need to
resist that narrative and stay connected to how simple it is. Black lives
matter. People > property.

There are windows where change is possible. Without thoughtful and
concerted action, those windows close. For many of us, slacktivism is
comfortable. We can speak without speaking. We can nod toward the moment
without putting skin in the game. But real change requires real action.

If there is a gap between how we thought we would act in this moment and
how we have acted in this moment, it’s not too late. We might take a
minute to acknowledge that gap. Then we can begin or continue the harder
work.

Accept what is fact.

Negroes are a social thorn in every decent society. Painting them with
stripes and polka dots does not and will never make them rational human
beings.


--
No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.

Donald J. Trump, 304 electoral votes to 227, defeated compulsive liar in
denial Hillary Rodham Clinton on December 19th, 2016. The clown car
parade of the democrat party ran out of gas and got run over by a Trump
truck.

Congratulations President Trump. Thank you for cleaning up the disaster
of the Obama presidency.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.

President Trump has boosted the economy, reduced illegal immigration,
appointed dozens of judges and created jobs.

Senile loser and NAMBLA supporter Nancy Pelosi got "Trumped" on February
5, 2020. "President Trump, Not Guilty."

[BeamMeUpScotty]

On 6/2/20 9:15 PM, Leroy N. Soetoro wrote:
> https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-06-02/black-square-on-your-
> instagram-is-a-nice-thought-but-black-lives-matter-needs-you-to-do-better
>
> If you’ve been on Instagram on Tuesday morning, you may have seen a bunch
> of black squares in your main feed. The #BlackoutTuesday campaign was
> intended to push the music industry, which profits so much from black
> artists and gives them so little, to take a beat, get educated and
> reevaluate its positions. But the campaign quickly spread to non-music
> industry Joes and Janes, who woke up, saw some black boxes posted by their
> faves and friends, and reposted. Its purpose has also been widely
> misunderstood; as author Rodney V. Smith noted on Twitter, the idea of
> Blackout Tuesday is not “to simply post a black picture and leave social
> media for the day. It means to stop promoting your own stuff for 24 hours,
> and instead amplify the voices & projects of Black creators, writers,
> directors, activists and more.”

Another Marxist Chinese attack on the American economy?

--
*That's Karma*

You can't have Social Justice and Equal Justice at the same time,
they're 'mutually exclusive'.