The Official Michael Brown Autopsy Report Doesn't Say What the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Says It Does

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Thursday October 23, 2014 · 8:13 PM PDT

2014/10/23 · 20:13

Yesterday as our little group was preparing to stand in solidarity with Ferguson for the national October 22 Day Against Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation, the media was buzzing about the story headlined above. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch article about the controversial leaked autopsy report quotes California forensics expert Dr. Judy Melinek extensively, but it turns out that she didn't say what the story says she did. If you think the official autopsy report exonerates Darren Wilson, blame it on a couple of reporters who blithely misquoted a forensics expert to -- apparently -- support the headline they wanted to write. Read More

The Fruits of Accidental Activism - Tips for Taking Facebook Activism Into Real Spaces

Chameo

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Sunday September 14, 2014 · 7:02 PM PDT

2014/09/14 · 19:02

The headline in the local paper reads, "100 Rally in Worcester Against Police Brutality." The first paragraph of the story reads, "...more than 100 people met on the Common Saturday night..." In reality, the count was closer to 200 than 100, and they came from all walks of life, in all ages and from all backgrounds. They came out in a city that's famous for its apathy. They came out in the pouring rain and they marched nearly 4 miles in under an hour - then stood around, soaked to the skin, for another hour afterwards to talk about their hopes and their experiences. It was a manifestation of that "something" I've been feeling in the air - that fed-up-with-the-bullshit hunger for change. That energy is there, and if I could harness it, so can you. Follow me below the orange squiggle for tips and lessons I've learned about making things happen since I accidentally organized my first rally. Read More

Four Thursdays - Nurturing the Seeds of Activism

Chameo

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Friday September 12, 2014 · 8:51 AM PDT

2014/09/12 · 08:51

Four Thursdays ago - and what seems now like a lifetime - I became an accidental activist. If you read my first diary here, you know what happened. I made a post on Facebook inviting friends to join me for a moment of solidarity, mourning and commitment at the Worcester Common, put on a red ribbon and arrived to find that nearly 100 people - most of them strangers to me - had accepted my invitation. I would have been happy with that, but what has happened since then has left me humbled at the smallness of my vision. I'm sharing the story of the last four Thursdays because I want people to understand the absolute power of taking a public stand on an issue - any issue that you care about.

Chameo

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Saturday August 23, 2014 · 9:13 AM PDT

2014/08/23 · 09:13

Imagine waking up at 2 a.m. to find seven strangers in your bedroom just down the hall from where your four kids are sleeping. Imagine that when you scream, they run away laughing. Now, imagine that the police tell you that it was "a silly prank" and they can't make an arrest. It happened a couple of weeks ago in Florida to the family of Miami Heat's Ray Allen. Welcome to the world of moneyed privilege. Read what this has to do with Michael Brown and how the media reports on crime below the pretty orange squiggle. Read More

I Didn't Mean to Organize a Rally

Chameo

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday August 22, 2014 · 10:42 AM PDT

2014/08/22 · 10:42

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. - Martin Luther King, The Trumpet of Conscience 1967

Last week when the call went out for people to attend #NMOS2014 rallies, I looked for one near me. I felt the need to do something, to be with others who felt as I did, that Michael Brown deserved better than to be shot and left in the street, surrounded by yellow crime scene tape. I was angry. I was hurt. And frankly, I felt defeated and despairing because it seems, no matter how many times we see this story played out, it always plays out the same.

There was nothing planned in my small city. So I told myself that at 7:20 p.m. Thursday evening, I would observe that respectful moment of mourning and silence in my living room, by myself. I would, I told myself, be there in spirit. But that's not what happened.

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The Official Michael Brown Autopsy Report Doesn't Say What the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Says It Does

The Fruits of Accidental Activism - Tips for Taking Facebook Activism Into Real Spaces

Four Thursdays - Nurturing the Seeds of Activism

When Is a Home Invasion a Little Prank?

I Didn't Mean to Organize a Rally