‘Black brunch’ protesters interrupt diners in NYC, Oakland (#BlackBrunch #BlackLivesMatter)
Source: Yahoo News
In a twist on sit-in-style protests, civil rights activists entered several restaurants in New York City and Oakland, Calif., on Sunday in what organizers billed as Black Brunch.
About three dozen people participated in demonstrations in New York, where they momentarily disrupted meals at popular midtown eateries, including Lallisse, Maialino and Pershing Square places protesters identified as predominantly white spaces.
At each stop, demonstrators read the names of African-Americans killed by police.
Every 28 hours, a black person in America is killed by the police, the protesters said. These are our brothers and sisters. Today and every day, we honor their lives.
Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/black-brunch-protests-nyc-berkeley-oakland-190212742.html
Lots of tweets and pictures in the article -- definitely worth the click and scroll through. Here's one:
Response to progree (Original post)
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bravenak
(34,648 posts)You know like remaining silent and sitting down.
What is your solution to end police violence?
Response to bravenak (Reply #2)
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bravenak
(34,648 posts)They can do this too and more. No limits.
Response to bravenak (Reply #8)
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bravenak
(34,648 posts)Please elucidate.
I think trolls are stupid lame asses with no lives, what about you ?
progree
(10,918 posts)On Sun Jan 4, 2015, 07:00 PM an alert was sent on the following post:
Sure. Scare and anger people against you who were previously for you.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=980516
REASON FOR ALERT
This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate.
ALERTER'S COMMENTS
"You guys sure are stupid."
Never acceptable. Particularly to a black person
JURY RESULTS
You served on a randomly-selected Jury of DU members which reviewed this post. The review was completed at Sun Jan 4, 2015, 07:07 PM, and the Jury voted 7-0 to HIDE IT.
Juror #1 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: Personal attack.
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Juror #3 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: Tro lollo Lola
Juror #4 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #5 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: troll be gone
Juror #6 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: 10 posts and making such nasty posts? Off to "message auto removed" with you!
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Thank you very much for participating in our Jury system, and we hope you will be able to participate again in the future.
bravenak
(34,648 posts)Response to bravenak (Reply #10)
progree This message was self-deleted by its author.
Response to bravenak (Reply #2)
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PatrynXX
(5,668 posts)probably doing more for the protesters than anything else... it's not like these are violent protests. face palm is on anyone who thought this was a bad idea.
George II
(67,782 posts)....what they're presumably protesting? "Predominantly white spaces"?
What they originally had to say weeks or months ago was valid, now they're just being disruptive and hurting their cause.
DonCoquixote
(13,616 posts)You said it was valid, as in, is on loner valid. Question, are the people killed by cops still dead? Are people still being made to be dead? the answer to both is yes, therefore, none of the validity was been lost.
7962
(11,841 posts)Most of those patrons would likely support them, but may now say "the heck with 'em"
This movement is going to degenerate quickly if crap like this continues and thats a shame
brush
(53,848 posts)their consciousness raised by the protest and respond in ways that they can.
Perhaps by financial means, by political pressure, by legal assistance, maybe by even getting in the streets and protesting themselves.
The struggle is sometimes about making the comfortable uncomfortable sorta like what the media used to be about, "comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable" but in this day and age of corporate media that duty seems to have been taken up people of color protesting against injustice.
The movement can us people of non-color too.
Live and Learn
(12,769 posts)protecting you so you can eat like nothing is happening."
brush
(53,848 posts)in making them aware of the innocent people who were actually murdered by brutal cops, I say go for it.
Just think of the courage it takes to do this. You have to know, going in, that there's a good chance of being arrested and roughed up or even worse by the very people you are protesting against.
Being part of the movement/struggle against police killings takes a serious commitment (much more than objecting on a liberal site).
Idiotic to you maybe because peoples "comfort zone" is temporarily disrupted, but to some it's courageous.
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)DonCoquixote
(13,616 posts)I suppose the lunch strike MLK did were not a good idea either.
The fact is, the only way presuure will be felt on city hall is if this happens where people with money eat. I might have not have used the term 'white spaces" especially as there are many non whites who eat there, and who sadly, may be as clueless as the rest. Grenn is the color that matters, and non violent types have to hit at the places where people spend.
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)DonCoquixote
(13,616 posts)just against one that disprupt comfort, which of course, is the point.
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Bucky
(54,065 posts)They broke unjust laws in order to draw attention to an inherently evil system of "justice" that was backed up by violence and racial oppression. They won over allies and drew whites out of complascency by drawing out the contrast between assumptions of law and order and the realities of Jim Crow segregation.
These "protesters" have every right to be where they are--they're breaking no laws. But then again, they're not confronting any evil, either. They're just pestering people in hopes that they'll wake up to a greater wrong--the systemic abuse of black civilians by police forces. Their cause is just, but their tactics are woefully misdirected--and geared toward turning off potential allies. In essense, they're trying to win over these allies (I would hope), not by moral persuasion but by extortion of their time. This approach is little more than annoying.
NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)because diners in the South were segregated and therefore part of the problem.
These diners in NYC didn't shoot unarmed black men.
George II
(67,782 posts)....doing the discriminating. The owner of these restaurants didn't kill anyone. And don't give us the crap that they're "part of the system" that is doing the killing. That's a lame-ass rationalization for misguided protests.
7962
(11,841 posts)And there have been a LOT of them too. Never makes national news though. No race has a monopoly on being abused by power hungry renegade cops. The stories are easy to find and a few have been posted here by others in other threads.
bravenak
(34,648 posts)That's how you would respond to people protesting police violence in the wake of the death of an unarmed man at the hands of police? Those people were non violent. Why stain them with the death of white cops? They are protesting an institution that disproportionately targets them. Not protesting white people being cops.
DonCoquixote
(13,616 posts)I think he meant white people who have also BEEN KILLED BY COPS, which, there have been more than a few. It would remind them "ask not for whom the bell tolls" becauzse sooner or later, they will come for them too.
bravenak
(34,648 posts)My bad. Still not very helpful.
7962
(11,841 posts)Please re-read my post.
Edit: nevermind; just noticed someone else pointed it out!
bravenak
(34,648 posts)My bad. Sorry.
Response to bravenak (Reply #20)
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progree
(10,918 posts)progree
(10,918 posts)I recall this being a "Pic of the Moment" a couple(?) months ago
http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/02/politics/kristoff-oreilly-police-shooting-numbers-fact-check/
(Selected excerpts)
Kristof was citing an analysis by ProPublica ( http://www.propublica.org/article/deadly-force-in-black-and-white?utm_source=et&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailynewsletter ), which combed through the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Supplementary Homicide Report.
The site reported: "The 1,217 deadly police shootings from 2010 to 2012 captured in the federal data show that blacks, age 15 to 19, were killed at a rate of 31.17 per million, while just 1.47 per million white males in that age range died at the hands of police."
The Fox News host's numbers, meanwhile, came from a fatal injury database maintained by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A search in 2012 for deaths caused by "legal intervention" as a result of the use of a firearm -- that is, a police shooting -- yields just the numbers O'Reilly cited Monday night. In the 15-19 age range, the database shows 20 white people killed in 2012 and 14 blacks. (but then there are 5X as many non-Hispanic whites as blacks -Progree)
(the article goes on to say the data sucks, for example: "The numbers are self-reported by individual law enforcement agencies and not all local and state agencies participate. Most shootings are marked as justified homicides, with little follow-up." )
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)brooklynite
(94,727 posts)Joe Shlabotnik
(5,604 posts)Duckhunter935
(16,974 posts)those people might be supporters even though they are "predominantly white" They would be better off protesting around police stations that are the problem not some "predominantly white" restaurant.
I understand and support the protest but not the right way to do it.
progree
(10,918 posts)and harmless, assuming they go in, make their statement, and are out in 5 minutes or so.
Tamer than being killed at 3X the rate of white people, I'd say. [font color =red](on edit: or 21 X the rate in case of males, age 15-19)[/font]
Tamer than say even a typical union strike that shuts down the business, hurting not only the business owners, but customers who did no wrong-doing. But then some people are against unions, so...
(I am not for shutting down freeways)
alp227
(32,052 posts)and making them use their brain every once in a while instead of living in their own comfortable bubble.
Duckhunter935
(16,974 posts)Response to progree (Original post)
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progree
(10,918 posts)ismnotwasm
(42,008 posts)hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)brooklynite
(94,727 posts)Please explain how this sort of tactic has encouraged Mayor De Blasio or Governor Cuomo to change any policies currently in force.
progree
(10,918 posts)Even the most peaceful ones, if they involve more than 50 people, tend to disrupt traffic as they cross streets, even though disrupting traffic is not the intent. I've been in a few of those (monitors and police help direct the traffic as the march goes through).
Lots of people think civil disobedience is a tactic that moved a lot of policies to change. This restaurant thing seems to be as mild as I can think of.
McKim
(2,412 posts)I have a different take on the interrupted brunches. If I were having brunch and they came in to protest. I would think: "Yes, they are reminding me of my civic duty to create a better world. Yes, this is my job. I will do something to support their efforts. I will be a part of this." These protestors are sending an invitation and we need to listen and act.
For example, at our household my husband came home yesterday from a senator's town hall saying that the meeting had to be shut down because young blacks and whites were yelling "I can't breathe!". I thought, yeah, that's right, they are shutting it down because nothing else matters more after slavery, and now poverty and mass jailing and killings in the streets by police. Something must be done.
So I decided today to join a class at church on how to be a white ally to this movement and I am sending our local Black leaders a check to support their work and I will show up at the demonstrations.
So this is how these activists are communicating with us whites. Do you want to continue to eat eggs in peace or do you want to join a movement that has the potential to do great things in this country? I know where I stand! Be a part of history on the right side!
Joe Shlabotnik
(5,604 posts)Sometimes it takes something uncomfortable to trigger the necessary soul searching.
And welcome to DU.
TexasMommaWithAHat
(3,212 posts)"holier than thou" applies to more than just christian fundamentalists.
brush
(53,848 posts)Welcome to DU, McKim.
It posted this earlier:
Folks in the restaurant who had their consciousness raised can contribute "perhaps by financial means, by political pressure, by legal assistance, maybe by even getting in the streets and protesting themselves".
DinahMoeHum
(21,809 posts)How in hell do you/we know they are not undercover police?
progree
(10,918 posts)The dead give away was that it was peaceful. No windows smashed, no conveniently placed (yet stripped) cruisers to burn, by a supposed 'black block' (all wearing the same police issue boots).
tavalon
(27,985 posts)And I wouldn't have considered it an interruption. It's a needed reminder.
I wish we weren't still so damn segregated. When I lived near military bases in the eighties and nineties, our neighborhoods were mixed with all colors and races and people got along just fine.
It makes me sad that this is necessary but it is, so therefore, it is no interruption.
progree
(10,918 posts)Last edited Mon Jan 5, 2015, 01:22 AM - Edit history (1)
...
#Blackbunch protesters entering Oak restaurants 2 read names of dead. Manager of Forge: "I think it's beautiful."
http://news.yahoo.com/black-brunch-protests-nyc-berkeley-oakland-190212742.html
Although in fairness I have to mention that there were also confrontations.
stage left
(2,966 posts)Live and Learn
(12,769 posts)To heck with those that don't get it. Wrong side of history and morality.
Skittles
(153,193 posts)I live in a very diverse apartment complex, work with a variety of folk including virtual offshore people - I grew up as a military brat; have never really known segregation
tavalon
(27,985 posts)And I wouldn't have considered it an interruption. It's a needed reminder.
I wish we weren't still so damn segregated. When I lived near military bases in the eighties and nineties, our neighborhoods were mixed with all colors and races and people got along just fine.
It makes me sad that this is necessary but it is, so therefore, it is no interruption.
Inkfreak
(1,695 posts)No harm, no foul. Maybe someone will learn something or listen a little closer. As long as no ones standing on my table. Or taking my food!!
But seriously, no problems. You're not gauranteed never to be bothered when out in public.
alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)Love it!
progree
(10,918 posts)Starry Messenger
(32,342 posts)It takes a lot of guts to put yourself in a place of discomfort, even in a group.
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)I figured that if the protesting moved away from the easy-to-pretend-to-criticize traffic blockings to something more benign and even less inconvenient, idiots and half-wits would still find something to complain about. The reactions of idiots are almost as simple as the idiots themselves.
Racism needs to be confronted every time in this country. Blacks are treated as second class citizens in America in many ways.
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)Joe Magarac
(297 posts)This nonsense affects the ruling class not at all.
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)or not.
Response to Jefferson23 (Reply #70)
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whereisjustice
(2,941 posts)Response to progree (Original post)
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mountain grammy
(26,648 posts)this is completely appropriate. If it happens where I'm dining, I will join them. This is a just cause. Innocents are dying, no time for niceties. Nobody got hurt, this is a peaceful protest.
Lynchings of citizens went on unnoticed and unpunished for almost 100 years, only to be replaced by mass incarceration, capital punishment and police brutality. Damn right these protests are appropriate!
Truprogressive85
(900 posts)Untill cops are held accountable
Making those im the majority uncomfortable will continue until they join the call for change