Ignorant and mad. They’re consistently ignorant and mad.

https://twitter.com/zacjanderson/status/1024401923812876288

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.

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…

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)

https://twitter.com/XXL/status/1020684870752919559

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/

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.

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.

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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…

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.

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 fact is there are black people today who are still being refused access to public accommodations, lynched in broad daylight or forced to work without pay. Examples of most damning historical injustices can be cited in the present, these issues have never been fully resolved. In Louisiana there are black people today who are imprisoned because of an 1898 Jim Crow Law who are forced to work 12 hours per day on the fields of the same plantations where their ancestors may have been enslaved. Fact. thefader.com/2017/05/20/act…

STUDENTS: the US Dept of Education just released data on racial disparities in every school and school district in America (from preK-12). Here’s how you use the data to show if/how your school discriminates against black students and other marginalized groups. A thread. First, lookup the most recent year of data available for your school and/or school district. Right now that’s data on the 2015-16 school year. Here’s where you go: ocrdata.ed.gov/DistrictSchool…

Yesterday I shared about AB931, a new bill to address police violence in California. Today, the police unions came out against the bill. So let’s methodically debunk their arguments with the facts. A thread.

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Exhibit A is Craig Lally, president of the LA Police Protective League. He says more restrictive use of force standards would 1) cause police to be harmed and 2) cause crime to rise. Exhibit B is from the Police Officers *Research* Association. Same basic argument.

This bill to change the California police deadly force standard is the most important legislation to address police violence in America right now. cnn.com/2018/04/03/us/… The first part of the bill limits deadly force to cases “where necessary” after all reasonable alternatives are exhausted. There are currently 4 states with similar (but not as strong) laws in place: DE, IA, TN and RI. They have 20% fewer killings by police than other states.

Let’s take a moment to examine how insanely biased the Louisiana Attorney General’s full report on the #AltonSterling case is. A thread. scribd.com/document/37496… There’s a whole section on Sterling’s “History with Law Enforcement” which they say “reflects his failure to submit to lawful arrest while he was armed with a dangerous weapon.” They didn’t include anything about the officers who killed him. So let’s do some digging...

Your state representatives have the power to significantly reduce police violence in your state. Here are some actions they need to be taking TODAY. A thread. 1. They need to change the law defining how and when police can use deadly force. Most state laws are WEAKER than the minimum requirements set by the Supreme Court. State laws can and should be MORE restrictive than that minimum “objective reasonableness” standard. For example...

25 fatal school shootings since Columbine. How did each shooting come to an end? A thread. (1/x) aol.com/article/news/2… 1. Columbine: Shooters committed suicide. School police there, failed to stop them.
2. Deming Middle: shooter arrested (not by school police)
3. Buell Elementary: unarmed teacher finds shooter
4. Lake Worth Middle: shooter flags down police after shooting, turns himself in
(2/x)

After Columbine over 10,000 school police officers were hired just in case a school shooting happened. Two decades later, they haven't stopped a *single* school shooting. Instead they've arrested over 1 million kids, mostly students of color, for routine behavior violations.

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70,000 students were arrested at school during the 2013-14 school year alone. Two-thirds were students of color. Not one case where a school police officer intervened and stopped a school shooting. edweek.org/ew/projects/20…

Here’s a ridiculous, mind-blowing thread about the influence the Koch brothers have on the American political system. (1/x) Kochs announced they’ll spend $400 MILLION on the 2018 Midterms. For context, it costs an average of $1.5 mil to win a US House race and $11 mil for Senate. So they could fully fund candidates for 61% of the House or all 34 Senate races in 2018. (2/x) time.com/5121930/koch-b…

With your support, we’ve mailed over 100,000 petitions to Florida voters. The initiative is VERY close to having enough signatures to put restoring voting rights to 1.6 million people on the ballot. Here’s what’s needed now: (1/x)
florida.ourstates.org FLORIDA RESIDENTS: print out, sign, and mail this petition to the address on the bottom right corner of the petition. You need to do this ASAP to make sure it gets in in time. Get your family and friends to sign petitions, too. florida.ourstates.org/pdf/petition.p…

Vice reviewed 4,099 police shootings in the 50 largest cities. Black people were *55%* of those shot and more likely unarmed. Here’s the police shootings rate by race. (1/x) They find police shootings decreased over the past few years. Police departments that adopted DOJ reforms saw massive reductions: 32% fewer shootings in the *first year.* news.vice.com/story/shot-by-…

Every 10 additional community organizations in a city led to a 9% drop in murder and 6% drop in violent crime. Here’s why that’s important. (1/x)

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It adds to a growing body of evidence that investing in community delivers better results re: safety than the current dominant approach: policing and incarceration. (2/x)

Why hasn’t there been more discussion of the impact Trump’s Presidency may be having on depression, substance abuse, and suicide? (1/x) Studies already identify an unprecedented increase in stress, much of it directly attributed to Trump being elected. apa.org/news/press/rel…

Las Vegas shooting isn't deadliest mass shooting in US history. The deadliest mass shootings were acts of white supremacist terrorism. (1/x) 1919: Elaine "race riot" in Arkansas where a mob of white men shot and killed 100-800 black people "on sight." en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaine_ra…