Samuel Sinyangwe Profile picture
May 30, 2018 6 tweets 2 min read Read on X
I moved to a new apartment last month and I’ve already been asked to show ID three times to prove I live here. A thread. #EverydayRacism
First time, I was carrying groceries from Trader Joe’s. I come up to the building, doorman opens door, looks at me and says “service entrance is in the back.”

“Bruh, I live here.”

Then he demands ID and makes me sit there while he looks me up to get into my own damn apartment.
Second time, I’m walking into the building and I get stopped again.

“Can I help you?”

“I live here Apartment number []”

“Hold on, hold on let me have your name and ID.”

“I just moved, trying to get home.”

“Yea, yea but we gotta get to know each other, right?”
Third time, another guy stops me. “Can I help you?”

I’ve been through this twice and not having it. I breeze past him, “I live in apt [], look it up.”

“Hold on, I need your ID.” Now his voice is raised and he’s walking to me. I de-escalate & stay pissed off the rest of the day.
Fourth time, it’s a black doorman (the other three were asian, white, and white/Hispanic). I walk in and keep walking.
“Can I help you”
“Yea, I live here.”

He looks at me. Processes for a sec. Then says “Aight, I hear you” and lets me go.

And that made all the difference.
The next day I talked to my girlfriend about getting stopped at the door. Turns out she’s never been stopped coming into the building.

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More from @samswey

Aug 1, 2018
Ignorant and mad. They’re consistently ignorant and mad.
And it makes sense. Their president is ignorant and mad. Their political party is run by people who are ignorant and mad. Their right-wing influencers are ignorant and mad. The whole thing is sad and embarrassing.
By definition you have to be ridiculously ignorant to *still* believe the words of a president who’s lied or said otherwise fake and ignorant things more than *four thousand* times in his term. washingtonpost.com/graphics/polit…
Read 4 tweets
Jul 24, 2018
Census data shows 64% of black citizens in Florida were registered to vote in 2014 compared to 62% of whites. By 2016, black registration dropped to 55% while white registration increased to 69%. That’s over 200,000 fewer black registered voters. Were they purged from the rolls?
Sources:
Census data 2016, showing 1.15 million black registered voters in FL: www2.census.gov/programs-surve…

Census data 2014, showing 1.35 million black registered voters in FL: www2.census.gov/programs-surve…
Among black citizens in Florida:
50% (1.1 million people) voted in 2016
23% (~450k) were disenfranchised
27% (~550k) were eligible but didn’t vote, and as many as 200,000 had been purged from the voter rolls.
Read 5 tweets
Jul 21, 2018
Offset could face *life in prison* for non-violent marijuana and gun possession. He‘s being targeted by a racist criminal justice system. Lemme break it down for a second... (1/x)
Yesterday, Offset was stopped by Clayton County GA police for an “improper lane change.” Data shows police are more likely to stop (and then search) black drivers. Would he have been stopped if he were white? Less likely. It gets worse from there... (2/x) openpolicing.stanford.edu/findings/
After police stopped Offset, they used his felony conviction as “probable cause” to search his vehicle. What did he get convicted of before this? Marijuana possession and gun possession (again). But it gets worse still...
Read 8 tweets
Jun 29, 2018
The more I learn about the US political system the more it’s clear how money buys legislation and legislators. It‘s generally discussed in the abstract, but when you take a deep dive into it it’s even more alarming and has real consequences for organizing/advocacy. A thread.
Let’s start with ballot initiatives. 24 states let you put something on the ballot if you get enough signatures. There are signature gathering firms that get paid per signature to do this. And the amount they get paid is public - average $1 million per state ballot initiative.
A bunch of things (good & bad) can be put on the ballot that will probably pass. Good things (raise min wage) pass because voters agree with them. Bad things (making it harder to hold police accountable) pass if they word initiatives in a way that deceives voters. For example...
Read 16 tweets
Jun 29, 2018
FYI it’s possible to put measures on the ballot in 24 states banning private prisons, including 3 of the 5 states with the largest private prison populations. Avg cost per state to put it on the ballot would be $1 million.
Here are the states that allow ballot initiatives. The blue, green, and orange states can ban private prisons via ballot initiative. ballotpedia.org/States_with_in…
And we also know how much it costs, on average, to fund a signature gathering effort that successfully puts a measure on the ballot. In 2016 it was $1 million. ballotpedia.org/Ballot_measure…
Read 7 tweets
May 24, 2018
Today we release a new analysis revealing how police unions and associations prevent California lawmakers from addressing police violence. A thread. (1/x) checkthepolice.org/california
More people are killed by police in California than any other state. And yet, since 2011 a network of police associations has poured $5.5 million into the campaigns of California’s state legislators - especially Democratic officpas who don’t support police reform.
The scale of influence police associations have in California cannot be understated. They funnel *200 times* as much money into candidates’ campaigns as the NRA and have helped to fund the campaigns of 118 of the 120 current members of the California legislature + the Governor.
Read 10 tweets

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