Having my mom give me a lecture before I left for a party seemed like a waste of time. But deep down, I knew what she was saying was the truth. I was walking on Mission Street, listening to music on my headphones and the cops stopped me. They thought since I was an African American and because I had a Rockstar energy drink in my hands, I was drinking. I was frisked and questioned without reason. This was a form of police brutality because I am an innocent person who was harassed by the the cops. Police brutality is a problem that needs to be stopped because it is destroying homes and lives. Many of the people being targeted by this type of policebrutality are people of color.
Many African Americans are being targeted by the police. Benjamin Spock, a pediatrician said, “Most middle-class whites have no idea what it feels like to be subjected to police who are routinely suspicious, rude, belligerent, and brutal.” This quote shows how white people will never fully understand what communities of color are going through. For a problem like this to change, other races need to at least try to understand what we are going through and fight along with us.
How many more lives is it going to take for us to rise up against police brutality? I should not be scared to wear certain things in public and be seen as a bad person or a gang member because of the color of my skin. Since I am a Black male, I feel targeted by law enforcement, and I’ve made it my business to lower my hood, or take it off before I leave my house.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.