Black Lives Matter

THE COPS PRIVATE ENFORCERS

posted on Dec 3, 2020
by JJ MAZZUCOTELLI & CHRIS TORRES

EDITOR'S NOTE : Chris and JJ both use They/Them pronouns. They both write for the IWW News Zine The Reno Worker, where this story first ran. JJ is a freelance photojournalist and a research intern at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Chris is a freelance journalist and a professional wrestler. Chris Torres' Cashapp is $headbutted and JJ’s is $JJMazzucotelli.

On August 10th Mass Liberation published a press release which claimed that Douglas County Sheriff was working with Local far-right militias to respond to a planned local Black Lives Matter (BLM) rally. In an article published the same day reporters working for the RW noted that “militia members were spotted throughout the grounds providing unofficial security aid to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office. Some of those who were present could be identified by patches. Militias that were present included the 3% Militia, the Northern Nevada Militia, as well some members of the Boogaloo Movement.”

SAN DIEGO: OFFICERS ASSAULT PROTESTER HAVING A SEIZURE

posted on Aug 29, 2020
by ROSE HENNA

EDITOR'S NOTE : Rose Henna is San Diego-based journalist focused on protest coverage. You can follow her work on Twitter here.

On Monday, August 24, 2020 at approximately 1:00 PM a flyer began circulating on popular social media sites calling for a protest at 1401 Broadway in San Diego, California (San Diego Police Department Headquarters at 5:00 PM to show solidarity with protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Outrage over the August 23, 2020 police shooting of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man from Wisconsin, sparked protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

OAKLAND RAGES OVER SHOOTING OF JACOB BLAKE

posted on Aug 28, 2020
by Jungho Kim

EDITOR'S NOTE : Jungho Kim is a Bay Area-based photojournalist who contributed this piece to LCRW. As you know, dear readers, this outlet is completely funded by donations. Covering these kind of protests takes skill and means taking risks. If you are able, please consider contributing to his work at https://cash.app/$mrkim. We’d like to raise $300 for him. You can find his excellent photography portfolio here and follow him on Twitter and Instagram.

Tensions were high as hundreds of people marched through Oakland on Wednesday evening to protest against the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin on August 23. Speakers led the crowd in chanting the names of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Oakland’s own Oscar Grant who was killed by BART police in 2008.

PORTLAND, AUGUST 9TH–PROTESTERS COMPLY WITH DISPERSAL ORDER, POLICE ASSAULT THEM ANYWAY

posted on Aug 11, 2020
by JAMES O'RYAN

EDITOR'S NOTE : James O’Ryan is a Portland-based journalist who’s going to be writing for LCRW on ongoing local issues such as far-right violence and police brutality. You can contribute to his work at @PunchableFace on Venmo. We’re trying to raise $300 for his work on this article.

Kenton Park is a rolling, twelve acre, green-space in this tightly-packed city. People from the neighborhood had begun quietly assembling on Sunday, August 9 2020, in socially-distanced and masked groups at the north end of the park since around 6 PM. Unlike the visually packed spaces in the city center so famous from national and international headlines, this scene is more reminiscent of pastoral, little “a” anarchists on holiday during the plague times. Another stark contrast to what national news shows and talking heads discuss, this crowd is noticeably diverse. Portland is a majority white city in the whitest state in the country. The larger number of BIPOC activists present here is indicative of both the neighborhood and the continuing dedication of activists of color to not only control the narrative but to create it.

MINDEN, NEVADA: MILITIAS PLAN ARMED INTIMIDATION AT BLACK LIVES MATTER RALLY

posted on Aug 8, 2020
by ABNER HÄUGE

It started with the Douglas County Public Library’s relatively benign proposed statement against bigotry.

“The Douglas County Public Library denounces all acts of racism, violence and disregard for human rights. We support #BlackLivesMatter,” the statement reads in part.

“Due to your support of Black Lives Matter and the obvious lack of support or trust with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, please do not feel the need to call 911 for help. I wish you good luck with disturbances and lewd behavior,” Sheriff Daniel J. Coverley said in a letter to the library’s board of trustees.

"IT CONSUMES YOUR LIFE". INTERVIEW WITH A PORTLAND PROTESTER

posted on Jul 25, 2020
by ABNER HÄUGE

‘TRANS RIGHTS’ is, in my opinion, a brilliant alias. That’s what my interviewee chose to call herself for this article.

Before I even asked a question, there were a few things TRANS RIGHTS wanted to make clear: She’s white. She’s trans. She lives in Portland. Portland is stolen Chinook land. Oregon was founded as a literal ethnostate. While it was founded as a ‘free state’–meaning no slavery–black people couldn’t live there by law. The 14th Amendment wasn’t ratified until 1973.

ALBUQUERQUE: OPENLY RACIST ANTI-QUARANTINE PROTESTS ATTRACT MILITIA, CONFLICT WITH BLM

posted on Jul 22, 2020
by BELLA DAVIS

EDITOR'S NOTE : Bella Davis is one of the best journalists reporting in New Mexico right now. We’d like to raise $500 for her work on this article. You can contribute to her work on Cash App at $bladvs or Venmo at @bladvs.

ALBUQUERQUE–Anti-quarantine protesters gathered twice last week at Civic Plaza—first on Thursday, July 16 and again on Sunday, July 19. They objected to closures aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19 and a state public health order that mandates masks be worn at all times in public.

Both protests raised questions about enforcement of the mask mandate and the city’s recent firearms ban.

RACIST MOB ATTACKS BLM PROTESTERS AT NORCO MARCH

posted on Jul 3, 2020
by ABNER HÄUGE

“I’ve never in my life seen the cops get so scared that they turned away from protesters and were facing Nazis with their batons out,” Jen said. “Never seen that shit. That never happens. At least not down here.”

On Monday, protesters at a Black Lives Matter rally in Norco, a city in Riverside County, California was overwhelmed by violent racists. Some of the fascist mob beat BLM protesters and brandished weapons at them.

LCRW spoke to “Sam” and “Jen,” two attendees of the rally. Both gave their accounts of the ordeal using aliases out of fear of being targeted by local neo-Nazis and other far-right extremists.

“CALLING ME A NAZI IS RACIAL PROFILING”–INSIDE BOOGALOO PUBLIC RELATIONS

posted on Jun 12, 2020
by ABNER HÄUGE

By now a lot of us are aware of the “Boogaloo Boys”––a seemingly loose-knit group of militiamen and gun enthusiasts who fetishize having a “Civil War II: Electric Boogaloo.” These types first got on the mainstream media’s radar because they showed up to the Virginia Citizens Defense League’s massive gun rally in Richmond way back in January. Reporters were puzzled by attendees wearing Hawaiian shirts under their plate carriers and carrying signs and flags with a cartoon of an igloo on it. “Big Luau,” “Big Igloo” and most recently “Bungalow” are their oronyms of choice to get around social media censoring the word “Boogaloo.”