#george floyd square

[chaddavisphotography]

A vigil for Ricky Cobb II at George Floyd Square. Cobb was killed by a Minnesota State Patrol trooper during a traffic stop on July 31, 2023.

#George Floyd Square #Minneapolis #Protest #Ricky Cobb

[sigridstumb]

Reposting from the fediverse:

From Ian Coldwater:

Hello world! It's my birthday and I'm fundraising for the port-a-potties at George Floyd Square! Because everyone needs a place to go 💛🤎

CA: $ iancoldwater

V: @ Ian-Coldwater

PP dot me /coldwater

Please help support if you can and reboost for reach! Thank you! 🤗

#mutual aid #george floyd #Minneapolis #george floyd square

[robeight]

Minneapolis Changes Intersection Name To Honor George Floyd

The intersection where George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer is being renamed in his honor. On Wednesday, the two-year anniversary of his killing, the intersection of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis was renamed “George Perry Floyd Square.”

The intersection has been informally known as “George Floyd Square” since just after his death and a large sculpture of a clenched fist was erected there. A ceremony marking the renaming was attended by Floyd’s family and was followed by a candlelight vigil.

Elizer Darris, an activist who was a fixture at the intersection in the days following Floyd’s killing, spoke at the ceremony. "Two years ago, we said that we were gonna get justice for George Floyd. We put boots on the ground, thousands of people," he said. "Hundreds of thousands of people literally flooded the entire world at a time in which we had a pandemic that had everyone shuttered in. But what we saw dictated that we had to get out and that we had to demand justice."

Source: CBS News

#good news #goodnews #George Floyd #BlackLivesMatter #George Floyd Square #Minneapolis

[sheltiechicago]

George Floyd (Photo: Pinar Noorata / My Modern Met)

Public Art Installation Honors George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and John Lewis in NYC’s Union Square

On October 1, three new statues went up in New York City’s Union Square. The three busts, each crafted from 200 layers of thinly-sliced African Mahogany wood and coated in shimmering bronze, bear the likenesses of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and John Lewis. Part of a public art installation called SEEINJUSTICE, the 10-foot-tall statues were crafted by artist Chris Carnabuci in collaboration with Confront Art and its charity partner We Are Floyd Inc

John Lewis (Photo: Pinar Noorata / My Modern Met)

Breonna Taylor (Photo: Pinar Noorata / My Modern Met)

#pinar noorata #photographer #my modern met #public art installation #statue #sculpture #george floyd #breonna taylor #john lewis #new york city #union square #art #chris carnabuci #sculptor #african mahogany #bronze #seeinjustice

[don-lichterman]

Council blocks statue replacing Columbus in Newark

Council blocks statue replacing Columbus in Newark

Council blocks statue replacing Columbus in Newark

View On WordPress

#Christopher Columbus #Department of Environmental Protection #George Floyd #Harriet Tubman #italian american #James Street Historic District #Juneteenth #New Jersey Historic Sites Council #Newark #Tubman Square #washington park

[feminist-space]

"Yes, you read that right: Chicago is spending $33 million to build fake housing and commercial buildings in an overpoliced community that could really use their actual, real-life equivalents. No Cop Academy organizer Destiny Ball laid it out plainly to Block Club Chicago: “To find out that they’re building a scenario village when there are thousands of people, homeless, with nowhere to go … it’s sickening.”

Architecture sometimes lays bare the contradictions in urban life, but rarely does it do so this explicitly, if not mockingly. A first phase of the training campus is nearly done, and the “tactical village” will begin construction this summer. The campus, which rises on the site of a former rail yard, will replace seven facilities currently in use. The second phase will be built by a joint venture of Berglund and Brown & Momen. The City’s website lists the design architect as DLR Group. The company recently published a blog post in which Andrew Cupples defended its work on juvenile justice systems, claiming that DLR remains “undeterred in the belief that design excellence contributes to better outcomes for youth who enter the justice system.”

“Justice system,” to this critic, reads as a remarkable euphemism for a place to detain children. Incredibly, the City lists the project as part of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s INVEST South/West platform which seeks to direct about $1.4 billion in funding to previously underdeveloped neighborhoods.

The City neglects its citizens—especially its Black and Brown ones—before policing them with militarized tactics. This is, after all, the police force that was found to be using “black site” tactics—essentially kidnapping and torturing civilians at Homan Square, a property it owned on the West Side—until an exposé in The Guardian in 2015 spelled its demise. This is the police force whose officers shot 13-year-old Adam Toledo to death in 2021 and paralyzed another unidentified 13-year-old boy just a few weeks ago. These are the law enforcement officers who have made arrests in only 6 percent of rape cases. Per Alex Vitale’s book The End of Policing, this is the police department that arrested 8,000 Black schoolchildren, more than half of whom were under 15, in 2013–14 alone.

Chicago suppresses funding for housing, schools, environmental remediation, public health, and transit, but it generously funds cops. This is not only ineffective, given the statistics and reality of police brutality, but immoral.

Any architect who participates in realizing the carceral program of police surveillance and terror is complicit. Architects often characterize their work as impartial, but the reality is that the form of the built environment is regularly weaponized by those in power. Architects are moral actors who have the agency—individually, but especially collectively—to see a project like this and decline to participate.

At times, activism comes in the form of saying yes to certain advances, but in this case it more powerfully comes in saying no. This denial of service can come in the form of whistleblowing to journalists, organizing political resistance among your peers, or finding a new job. After George Floyd’s murder in 2020, when Michael Ford (the hip-hop architect) learned that his then employer SmithGroup was to work on civic buildings with holding facilities, he left. In the fall of 2020, AIA New York attempted to discourage members from working on spaces of incarceration. The work of Colloqate explicitly demands the end of architects working on behalf of police and provides alternative solutions for reallocating police funds toward endeavors rooted in community building and racial justice.

Architecture exists at the all-important nexus where political ambition is given form. Resistance to terrible carceral projects from architectural firms matters—if no one draws the plans, the efforts stall. Sure, someone else can do it, but the broad systemic woes of capitalism don’t excuse us—mere individuals—from living ethical lives. It is unethical to work on a project that will be used to oppress and terrify Chicagoans, just as it is a project of criticism to be explicit about architecture’s role in surveillance, police expansion, and, by extension, urban policies that govern by force, not by support. So, to the leaders of architecture offices who are currently overseeing construction documents for a fake strip club in western Chicago, I see you. The architecture world sees you. You can and should do better than this."

-Kate Wagner is an architecture critic and a journalist.

[odinsblog]

These mask off moments aren’t anything new.

It’s official: White “feminists” like Julianna Margulies, Amy Schumer and Patricia Arquette have no clue that Black women, Black LGBTQ people, and Black Jewish people are actual categories of people who exist.

Worse still, they completely ignore that it is often white women who have been responsible for some of the worst harms inflicted on Black people and NBPoC.

White “feminists” constantly acting like they’ve done the most - when they’ve only helped themselves and then pulled up the ladder afterwards - then demanding the labor of marginalized Black people in return for their so-called “help” is disgusting. Their transactional, conditional allyship, and their focus on one singular identity at the expense of all others, is the polar opposite of intersectional feminism.

Black people have had some real allies from every race, color and creed, but let’s get this straight: Black people fought our own fights and when we lose, we most definitely do our own dying. Nobody “gave” us anything because Julianna Margulies put a fucking black square on her Instagram pfp when George Floyd was murdered. And Black people don’t owe any of these racists a damn thing for their extremely limited, performative, paternalistic, and self-serving “allyship”.

#politics #white feminism #julianna margulies #palestine #israel #gaza #performative allyship #patricia arquette #amy schumer #islamophobia #homophobia #lgbt #lgbtq #the morning show

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Toronto city council voted Thursday to rename Yonge-Dundas Square to Sankofa Square and recommended a host of other landmarks be stripped of the Dundas name over connections to the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The move comes more than three years after council first received a petition raising concerns about the name at the height of the Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the police killing of George Floyd in the United States. In a late council session Thursday night, councillors voted 19-2 to rename Yonge-Dundas Square. Coun. Jaye Robinson, who represents Ward 15, and Coun. Stephen Holyday, who represents Ward 2, voted against the move. 

Continue Reading

Tagging @politicsofcanada

#cdnpoli #canada #canadian politics #canadian news #toronto #ontario #black lives matter #landmark renaming

[mordredisacoolname]

HEADCANONS: SU!SIDE SQUARE/BIRDS OF PREY CHARACTERS

Are they top or bottom/sub or dom

MALE READER

CHARACTERS: HARLEY QUINN, DEADSHOT (FLOYD LAWTON), RICK FLAG, CAPTAIN BOOMERANG (GEORGE "DIGGER" HARKNESS), EL DIABLO (CHATO SANTANA), POLKA DOT MAN (ABNER KRILL), THE HUNTRESS (HELENA BERTINELLI), BLACK CANARY (DINAH LANCE), VICTOR ZSASZ

Warnings: N/SFW, amab reader implied, ADULT CONTENT READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harley Quinn

-I can see her being both a dom and a sub

-really depends on her mood at that moment

-she can be all submissive and a pillow princess one moment, and the next thing you know she's on top of you pinning your hands down

Deadshot/floyd Lawton

-he's a top one hundred percent

-I like to think he tried bottoming for a man one time (whether it was you or not) and didn't like it

-now for the other question, is he a dom or a sub?

-he can be both, but either way he'll be in charge

-you're on top of him controlling the pace? Nah ah, he's secretly the one in charge

-you don't know how it's possible but it's all going according to what he wants

Rick flag

-I see him being a switch

-depend on his mood

-when he's angry he wants to fuck you to defuse the tantion, but when he's in a good mood he likes getting fucked by you

-but he's totally a sub

-he likes letting go of control and trusting his partner to do what's right

Captain boomerang/George "digger" harkness

-he'll never admit this to anyone besides you but he really likes being fucked

-he's a sub, no questions

-at the beginning he only tops, too embarrassed to ask you to top

-however when you do, his world flips upside down

-he won't admit he likes it right away, saying it was "ok", but he just keeps thinking about it and eventually submits to his desires

-oh how he loves being so roughed up he cant feel his legs for the next two days

El Diablo/chato Santana

-he's definitely a sub top

-he likes when you ride him

-gripping his shoulders and setting the pace however you like

-he also really enjoys being teased and tied up

Polka dot man/Abner krill

-I feel like he enjoys fucking someone rather than being fucked, even tho he doesn't really mind either way

-he's very shy at the beginning, so you think he's a sub

-and even tho he really likes being told what to do, he also enjoys being in charge very much

-but when he doms he's a soft dom, doesn't like hurting you

The huntress/Helena bertinelli

-I see her as a switch

-enjoys both subbing and domming, but prefers subbing

-likes letting go of control and just feeling good without doing much

Black Canary/Dinah Lance

-oh she's definitely a Dom

-will literally destroy you

-she has so much energy, when you have sex get ready for at least two rounds

-she's also a teaser, likes seeing you desperate and begging for her

Victor zsasz

-he likes displaying himself as a big tough guy, how dare you suggest him being on the bottom

-but he is

-he can be a sub and a dom just fuck him hard

-will literally let you do anything to him, scratch him, choke him, slap him, he's all yours

-but if you say something about it to others you better run

-also he's totally a brat

#male reader #male reader insert #x male reader #suicide squad #harley quinn: birds of prey #birds of prey #harley quinn x reader #deadshot x reader #rick flag x reader #captain boomerang x reader #el diablo x reader #polka dot man x reader #abner krill x reader #the huntress x reader #helena bertinelli x reader #black canary x reader #dinah lance x reader #victor zsasz x reader #headcanons #dcu

[yonpote]

Honestly so relieved with the charity they picked. As an adult I spent a lot of time trying to not seek out validation for my political/social opinions from celebrities but I am so glad they're doing this. I don't mind him being apolitical online but it's nice to see he's doing this because it's important

yeah i think phil has always been good about this even tho sure hes not as vocal about his politics as dan can be. i was talking to some friends and i misremembered phil posting a black square on ig during the BLM protests for george floyd (which if u dont remember was just the absolute laziest form of performative activism) but they quickly corrected me that he actually posted a graphic that said Black lives matter and had a handful of resources in support of the movement and didnt tag it was blacksquare or anything like that and imo very clearly wasnt doing that for clout

i'll be real i was growing a little frustrated hearing about people who were really begging them to speak up about this, and i can understand feeling disappointed when your favs dont speak up about something important but ultimately sometimes thats a thing you just have to let go. and like this point is moot now because they are speaking up and supporting the pcrf and everything! i remember when people hounded dan for tweeting about a ceasefire? as in pro-palestine ppl getting angry with the way he worded his tweet? and like. idk i get it sometimes dan doesnt perfectly phrase things but like WE KNOW he has his heart in the right place so like what's the point in getting upset about the particulars of his choice of words.in general internet culture is so much about semantics and wording things rather than about actions and intent and impact on the world.

and its also very much a parasocial thing to where like, i think for ME bc ive figured out a healthier way to interact with my favs. i know how to separate them from me as a person so like, dnp's actions and statements don't say anything about me as a person or any of their fans. and i mean that's been proven with like, on twitter theres like all these fanartists doing incentives for ppl to donate for fanart and thats like so cool and like didnt need to be sanctioned by dnp or anything it was just something a bunch of people decided together ykwim?

#myrambles #anyway point is i agree im very happy they are doing this!

[chaddavisphotography]

The People's Way at George Floyd Square in August 2023. The abandoned gas station has been a protest zone since the May 2020 murder of George Floyd. The city of Minneapolis has since purchased the property.

#Denoise #Enhanced #Floyd #George #George Floyd #George Floyd Square #Minneapolis #People's Way #Protest

[beardedmrbean]

A New York Times columnist criticized "antiracist" guru Ibram Kendi’s philosophy as "reductionistic" and "strident" while slamming the academic institutions, businesses and donors that bought into the notion in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder.

Times columnist Pamela Paul wrote on Thursday that institutions pushing Kendi’s school of thought were going "against the enlightened principles on which many of those institutions were founded — free inquiry, freedom of speech, a diversity of perspectives."

Paul’s column is the latest hit on Kendi, whose reputation has been damaged in recent weeks following news that his antiracism center at Boston University had undergone major layoffs.

In the fallout from these layoffs, workers came forward with bombshell allegations that the center "exploited" staff and "blew through" millions of dollars in grant money while failing to deliver on its promises.

Paul began her piece with comment on Kendi’s fall from grace and then continued with an examination of why so many cultural institutions bought into his mantras in the first place.

She wrote, "The recent turmoil at Ibram X. Kendi’s Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University, with more than half its staff laid off and half its budget cut amid questions of what it did with the nearly $55 million it raised, led to whoops of schadenfreude from Kendi’s critics and hand wringing from his loyal fans."

After noting how both right and left viewed Kendi, as either "what was right or wrong with America’s racial reckoning since the police murder of George Floyd," she wrote that it is "more interesting" that he was so propped up considering his "simplistic" ideas.

"More interesting is that many major universities, corporations, nonprofit groups and influential donors thought buying into Kendi’s strident, simplistic formula — that racism is the cause of all racial disparities and that anyone who disagrees is a racist — could eradicate racial strife and absolve them of any role they may have played in it," Paul wrote.

She rebuked these institutions, adding, "After all, this reductionist line of thinking runs squarely against the enlightened principles on which many of those institutions were founded — free inquiry, freedom of speech, a diversity of perspectives."

But because of their support, Paul added, "Kendi’s ideas gained prominence, often to the exclusion of all other perspectives."

After giving a brief history of how the racial thinker developed his ideas, the columnist claimed there are better, more nuanced ideas of confronting racism.

She first cited Kendi’s 2019 book, "How to Be an Antiracist," which was the basis for much of the antiracist thought that made him an often-cited expert in the George Floyd era.

Paula wrote, "In this book, Kendi made clear that to explore reasons other than racism for racial inequities, whether economic, social or cultural, is to promote anti-black policies. ‘The only remedy to racist discrimination is antiracist discrimination,' Kendi wrote, in words that would be softened in a future edition after they became the subject of criticism."

She summarized this assessment, adding, "In other words, two wrongs do make a right. As practiced, that meant curriculums that favor works by Black people over white people is one way to achieve that goal; hiring quotas are another."

Paula also noted how antiracism "requires a commitment" to "active opposition to sexism, homophobia, colorism, ethnocentrism, nativism, cultural prejudice and any class biases that supposedly harm Black lives. To deviate from any of this is to be racist. You’re either with us or you’re against us."

The columnist slammed these ideas, arguing that individuals can advocate less extreme positions and still be considered not racist. "Contra Kendi, there are conscientious people who advocate racial neutrality over racial discrimination. It isn’t necessarily naive or wrong to believe that most Americans aren’t racist," she said, adding, "To believe that white supremacists exist in this country but that white supremacy is not the dominant characteristic of America in 2023 is also an acceptable position."

Paula concluded the piece advocating for a "more nuanced and open-minded conversation around racism and a commitment to more diverse visions of how to address it."

#nunyas news #nice to see the number of people that are tired of him

[wonderlandleighleigh]

I know you are very puzzled about what’s the right thing to do given the circumstances, but I wanted to ask as an ally if you are willing to give some insight on how we should best show our support? I personally have noticed a lot of celebrities post “Pray for Peace” on the social medias and I as a Black woman can’t help but think to myself that that’s as unhelpful as posting Black squares in the wake of George Floyd. But I realize others have jumped the gun and have taken a stance while being uneducated on the matter and spreading biased misinformation. I’ve been looking out for posts that come from Palestinian and Jewish voices that give a nuance take on the matter, and if not from them directly then from creators that actually cite their sources. Or posts like reading lists on how to educate yourself on the matter. Sorry if I’m rambling on I don’t mean to virtue signal but I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m still learning so is it worth amplifying Jewish & Palestinian voices at the risk of jumping the gun?

I wish I had a definitive answer on this.

I would say support and amplify compassionate voices.

Voices that don't treat Jewish or Palestinian bodies as expendable.

The links to aid I posted before. There's also T'ruah, who are an NYC based charity that works to support rabbis and cantors who fight for the human rights of both Israelis and Palestinians.

I would avoid anyone who is bloodthirsty. Anyone who thinks Hamas has any interest in freeing Palestine. Anyone who blindly supports the Israeli government without thinking harder.

I would remember that there are 2000 years of history behind this conflict, and both Jews and Palestinians belong in that region. We are all originally from there. I keep hearing cries of "colonizer" but bitch, where do you think jews came from?? 🤣 I know there's more nuance there but uh...hi. yes.

Remember that all of us are scared, and a lot of this is coming out of fear.

Thank you for this question. I don't know if this helps, but it's what I got. ❤️

#stuff and things #gonna barf soon probably

[politics-project]

Hi guys!

In this blog, I’ll give talk about the positives and negatives of online activism in regards to the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements. And what change has been achieved from it.

Positives:

It helped with organising protests

It helps give voices to people who were victims of police brutality and sexual assault

It created a wider awareness to those who are normally apolitical

It helped grow system of support for victims of assault or made them aware that they were also a victim of assault

It helped destigmatise sexual assault

It made people more informed on the history and the systems that enabled rape culture and systemic racism

It can put elected officials under more pressure to make change

Petitions can be widely shared to make the views of people known to officials

Negatives:

People treat serious movements as trends

People often don’t put in the effort to actually help these movements and unpack their unconscious bias such as the performative ‘black square’ people posted in 2020 to show solidarity with the BLM movement

‘# Activism’ often drowns out the voices of those most affected and in most need of being heard

Not knowing the people you’re protesting with can lead to distrust and disjointed protest (You can see this with the protests for BLM in 2020)

Fake news can be spread rapidly to sow distrust in the movement and fear monger about those fighting for their rights

Achievements from Online Activism:

It helped hold some police officers accountable and got them to actually be charged with the crime they committed after much online pressure.Rev Wheeler Parker, a cousin of Emmett Till credited the Black Lives Matter movement with finally making lynching a federal hate crime. Derek Chauvin convicted of murdering George Floyd which was the spark from the 2020 Black Lives Matter Protests.

It helped pass The Times Up Act of 2018, which aimed to strengthen anti harassment and anti discrimination laws. It also helped to pass the Survivors Bill of Rights act of 2016 although the movement had not skyrocketed notoriety. It helped to convince Harvey Weinstein in 2020 and Larry Nassar in 2018. It also helped start the Times Up Legal defense Fund be established in 2018 which provided legal support for survivors of harassment assault and abuse. It helped to pass many other laws and put predators behind bars.

#school project #black lives matter #me too campaign #blm

[lucymontero]

I cannot emphasize how unhinged the hatred is in these excerpts. In one interview she manages to make statements that are antisemitic, Islamaphobic , racist, transphobic, and homophobic.

While speaking “as a lesbian” (because she plays one on TV), seemingly unaware or denying the existence of Black Jews, Black Muslims, and queer Muslims of any race.

And unironically claiming that she was “the first” to march for Black Lives in the wake of George Floyd’s murder because she “put a black square on my Instagram”. (In case you don’t recall- that performative act of bullshit was specifically cited by organizers of the BLM marches as making it more difficult and suppressing information sharing required to safely demonstrate by flooding the tag with black. )

#Juliana margulies #palestine

[finelinens]

need to ramble

i'm reading a lot of studies about social media activism and its effectiveness short-term and long-term and i still feel really conflicted about it. on one hand, social media activism (i.e. things going viral for outrage-based reasons) has absolutely helped lead to positive changes. for example, derek chauvin was eventually sent to jail for murdering george floyd. the video going viral online led to mass protests offline, all of which absolutely contributed to floyd's killer being jailed. so many massive social changes in the new social media era have had their start on social media itself, its ability to bring people together is undeniable. on the other hand, social media is manipulated and monitors our behaviors to influence us. also, remember in summer 2020 when people on instagram decided to post a black square in support of blm? remember how fuckin stupid that was? this article about moral posturing on social media is interesting, and it makes me think that a lot of my skepticism about the effectiveness of social media activism via appeals to morality may truly just be based in feelings of annoyance.

these simultaneous feelings of "why are you speaking like you're better/smarter than me?" and "why are you speaking like you know everything?" just result in me feeling disdainful. i do support "slacktivism" even when it's annoying, and even when i wish the framing were different, because it generally accomplishes its goal at least somewhat. the way a lot of people portray themselves when they're trying to send out a rallying cry to get people to join their cause is ultimately effective, but i'm just not sure how long-lasting that support is. i dunno. having a lot of thoughts and trying to make sense of them. i feel helpless because my palestinian friends are suffering and there is so little i can do for them, and seeing the way people on stan twitter (of all places) are speaking is making me frustrated and angry. so i fear i'm just doing my usual "i bet i can analyze my way out of this feeling" method tonight.