paddysnuffles: robphoton7:lotrlocked: weaselle:There was an arrest across the street from my place
paddysnuffles: robphoton7:lotrlocked: weaselle: There was an arrest across the street from my place in Oakland one day – three cop cars with a bullhorn and guns out – and before I could even get out the gate there were a couple people posted up and one of them was filming and another one was narrating in a calm but very loud voice, just “HE IS COOPERATING! HIS HANDS ARE EMPTY! HE IS DOING WHAT HE IS TOLD TO DO! HE IS HOLDING STILL! HIS HANDS ARE EMPTY! HE IS NOT BEING THREATENING! HE HAS PUT HIS HANDS BEHIND HIS HEAD AS ASKED! HE IS NOT RESISTING!” and that was something I hadn’t thought to do before. It certainly let the cops know what the narrative of eye witnesses was going to be. I especially liked “his hands are empty” because this statement would still be true and a witnessed reason the police should not become violent even if it turned out he had a weapon on his person somewhere. I see people in NYC stop and record a lot. Even if they are just being nosey, that’s still witnesses if shit goes down. We must be vigilant. The New Solidarity. You might just save a fellow human being. If you don’t feel comfortable with doing the narrating thing (which really is quite clever), even just standing around and blatantly staring actually legit helps immensely.There are studies that show that even an image of someone looking can be effective to change people’s behaviours.Sidenote: If you see a cop stopping an Indigenous person, the same protocol applies. -- source link