Berkeley Protests - Six Things Mainstream Media Wont Tell You About In Berkeley, California, a second consecutive night of demonstrations against police brutality turned ugly late on Sunday when a handful of the 500 protesters who began marching hours before broke police car windows and began vandalizing corporate chain businesses on several commercial streets. By Monday morning, that vandalism was beginning to eclipse the main points that protest organizers have been trying to make about ending the institutional racism in the legal system, as newspapers like the San Francisco Chronicle led with businesses “assessing damages” and the local FOX News affiliate described the clean up after “destructive protests.” What’s missing in these news reports—which will undoubtedly feed mainstream coverage—are key facts and points about what makes the Berkeley protests different from many across the country that are responding to the white police-caused deaths of unarmed Black men in Ferguson, Missouri, and Staten Island, New York, this past summer. 1. The Police Were First To Riot On Saturday Night. 2. Sunday’s Night Protest March Was Spontaneous. 3. The Protest Movement Has Different Factions. 4. Many Protesters Tried To Stop The Vandalism. 5. There is a movement schism over targets and means. 6. These Protests Do Not Appear To Be Going Away. (complete report at link) alternet.org/activism/6-things-mainstream-media-wont-tell-you-about-berkeley-protests-against-abusive-police?page=0%2C1&akid=12559.278734.nJWJ9a&rd=1&src=newsletter1028426&t=9
Posted on: Wed, 10 Dec 2014 01:39:01 +0000