Hi there, coming at you live from downtown Portland where, despite the pouring rain, an enormous crowd has gathered to protest the absolute fucking travesty of a grand jury decision in Louisville today
Only one hashtag tonight, folks:
#JUSTICEFORBREONNATAYLOR
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"If you have social media, pull your phone out and tell everyone to get out here!!" Chapman Square y'all
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An activist is yelling at the crowd for having fun. "Make something happen, use your voice! You're all just standing there like fucking morons" I don't think anyone is having fun tonight This is what grief and despair sounds like It feels so hopeless tonight
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"Aren't you supposed to be wiser? Aren't you supposed to know how to fix this? I'm seventeen! I dropped out of a private school to be here!!"
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This activist is screaming at the crowd for not doing enough. For taking pictures of white people. For annoying black people by taking pictures of them. For not showing up For not fixing this That last thing is the real message. That last thing is the thing that matters
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"All these people know this!" a black activist shouts back He's right. But it's the pain of the young. I don't say this to be disparaging: there is no worse pain than realizing that every generation before you has fucked up and that there's no easy way to fix it
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Another activist steps to the mic. She is 27. She is an EMT. Breonna Taylor was an EMT and she was 26 when she was murdered "We aren't crying today, because we don't have any tears left"
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An activist named Alisha steps forward. "I'm here so that my son knows how to stand up. Knows how to fight back. So he doesn't have to fight this fight!" She denounces people who come out to cause trouble" "November 3rd, we protest at the polls!" Scattered cheers
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Now she's leading the crowd in a chant of "if we don't get it (justice), shut it down!" This is different from the usual "burn it down," and seems to be indicative of the direction of tonight's protest
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It's difficult for me, personally, to see how voting fixes this
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A different activist steps forward and talks about the difficulty of processing pain like this About using this pain to fuel the fire of the movement
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The activists discusses tcombaring the strain of the pandemic on families. The need to stand against forced evictions. The need for the community to pull together
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"the fact that there aren't as many people here now as there were in may is sickening! Black people get killed in the rain! Black people get killed in snow!" This is another young activist, a senior in high school
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An activist urges everyone here to advocate for black lives to their white families
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Damn I broke the thread early as fuck tonight :'(https://twitter.com/1misanthrophile/status/1308992956205010946?s=19 …
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End of conversation
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