You may have seen the footage from Sunday morning of a Black man pressing Mayor Darrell Steinberg on his racist policies, such as taking $10 million each year from Measure U funding that’s supposed to go to underserved communities and giving it to a violent, irresponsible Sacramento police force. That man’s name is Conrad Crump, and we were lucky to have the longtime community organizer join us for this episode.
This past week has been a long year. So it’s fitting that we recorded just as the mayor’s 8 p.m. curfew went into place, and as police joined up with 500 National Guard troops to terrorize hundreds of peaceful demonstrators holding a ceremony for George Floyd in Cesar Chavez Park.
This is a long episode, but it’s one of our best yet.
We discuss the events that took place in the week since a white police officer in Minnesota killed George Floyd: How demonstrators took a police precinct from Minneapolis police and burned it to the ground, how Sacramento joined cities across the nation in demonstrations seeking justice, how American police forces showed the world just how violent and craven they are, and how politicians — particularly Democrats — failed their communities.
In particular, we take a look at Sacramento mayor Darrell Steinberg. He failed when Conrad pressed him in front of reporters on the immoral use of Measure U funding (to the tune of $10 million per year) on the police. He’s failed when folks press him on his inability to understand the Black experience, shouting back in a classic display of white fragility, “You don’t know me!” And he’s failed by bringing in the National Guard and imposing a curfew on a city in grief.
We also discuss a lot more within the context of a George Floyd America: White Nonsense Roundup, mainstream media’s history of credulity and deference to police forces, and what comes next in the fight to neutralize the Sacramento region’s violent police forces.
By the way, Verso Books has just made the ebook of Alex Vitale’s The End of Policing free to download. Give it a read, and share with your friends!
Thanks for listening, Black Lives Matter, and, as always:
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Twitter: @youknowkempa, @guillotine4you, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune
And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.
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