@sh4keer Right now, we subsidize the rich with our poverty wages to pay for police to brutalize us. Politicians work for the rich.
What if… when this political system betrays us, we can withhold the money? 💥
e.g. When Philip Brailsford walked free and collect a pension, we disown him:
@sh4keer “Un-honor” his money.
This is a money that each of us “create”, hourly, perpetually.
We honor each other’s money when we trust them.
When someone breaks the social contract, we un-trust them. Even if he had accumulated a fortune, it all means nothing if no one honors his money
@sh4keer Meanwhile, working class across America donated $75,000 to keep the strikers fed.
Word was put out through worker-friendly newspapers: “Take the Children”.
The response: “Send us Your Children.”
Police tried to stop starving kids from leaving on trains. When the mothers refuse
@sh4keer both mothers and children were beaten with clubs and arrested.
This was 1912, and labor movement had already gone on for 100 years!
“Shift Happens” should be made into mandatory reading - https://harperstacks.com/blogs/blog/shift-happens
Here’s the part where we can change the system to work for us:
@sh4keer If you buy into the “a few bad apples” narrative, you’ve fallen for their system of control.
Here’s the story of “Bread and roses” strike at The American Woolen Company in Lawrence, MA. The richest and most powerful textile corporation at the time, it was owned by J. P. Morgan.
@sh4keer They hung signs all over southern Europe with fake pictures of textile workers in the US holding bags of gold, standing next to pretty houses. The ads worked. 32,000 immigrants came.
They worked from 7 to 7, 7 days week
On Jan 11, 1912, they worked out shouting “Bread and roses
@sh4keer “Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes;”
23,000 people went on strike. Police camped in Lawrence. Reporters ran the regular stories of violent strikers.
Police were told to clubs women strikers on the hips & arms to keep bloody women faces out of the press
@sh4keer You can see the cop saw the camera pan his way and he decided to shoot a woman on live tv. He got his wish, video has been viewed more than 18 million times on X.
Shooter has not be identified so far.
Women and POC are disproportionately targeted by police violence.
@sh4keer It is estimated that 40% of police families experience domestic violence, or 15x the national average.
If 40% of kindergarten teachers physically assaulted their families, they’d be fired and the media would call them monsters on the news 24/7.
Two things you gotta understand:
@sh4keer 1. We have to do a better job believing women: “What would happen if we didn’t just believe women, but acted as though they matter?”
Time for story from the past
Sgt. Charles Langley retired 4 months later and fled to the Philippines.
Both had been investigated for excessive force in 2015.
If they’d been disciplined or fired back then, Daniel’s daughters might still have their father today.
Here’s a video from LA
This is Rick J Linton.
This psycho had shot people in the groin at close range, so @sh4keer “ran up to get his name (which was ripped off of his helmet), since otherwise we wouldn’t know who this loser is.”
Watch him tell @sh4keer he’s going to shoot him just for asking:
@sh4keer Linton shot @sh4keer in the groin twice with 40mm munitions. Guess what prior he had? Shot an unarmed man with shotgun 4 times in 2011.
http://WATCHTHEWATCHERS.NET now has 72,408 pages of LAPD disciplinary records.
But what about the one who shot Australian reporter Lauren Tomasi?
Before we dive in, you need to know about the case of Daniel Shaver—one of the most horrifying examples of police killing and walking free.
It shows how cops kill with impunity, and how the system protects them—while media runs cover.
Here’s his last moment captured on bodycam.
Warning: Video ends in shooting by Mesa, AZ cop Brailsford.
“You’re Fucked” etched on his AR-15.
The victim was sobbing, crawling, begging for his life, while Brailsford and Sergeant Charles Langley screamed conflicting instructions.
What happens next will give you nightmares.
Brailsford found his chance when the victim tried to pull up his pants.
“That’s it” he said, and fired.
Daniel left behind a wife and two little girls.
Brailsford was tried in court. Acquitted. Then rehired—for one day—so he could claim a pension and retire. 🤯
LAPD shot protestors + journalists last week. Outrage followed, but was anyone surprised?
No.
Police brutality, like mass shootings, is just part of “normal” life in America now.
Why does it keep happening? How did we get here? Read till the end for a radical idea to fix it!
@paulboes @koeppelmann @dappcon_berlin @aboutcircles Great talks! I’ll need to rewatch them a second time to really understand (and ask u questions.)
Meanwhile, I wrote another thread in BlueSky to test the waters: https://bsky.app/profile/nicwn.bsky.social/post/3ls4ou7pmgo2m
Got some great responses. Wonder if we’re technically wrong tho 😅
@AOC @harper I wonder how do you feel about taking away the value of their money when situations like this happen.
An example: https://bsky.app/profile/nicwn.bsky.social/post/3ls4ou7pmgo2m
@AdonisOnX What’s the name of the tool?