Tactical urbanism, bicycle rebellion, Right to the City.

To the Cop Who Nearly Ran Me Off the Road: Fuck You

Cops suck. It’s a fact. They’re armed, trained to use lethal force, and can almost never be punished for crimes they commit. They protect the wealthy and their private property while enforcing a class structure designed to fuck the poor forever and ever. Cops are overwhelmingly white men, attracting to their ranks an infinite supply of KKK members, military rejects, and high school bullies.

While on the job, cops rape, they scalp, they strangle, they lie to protect each other, and they kill with impunity. On average, cops and private security shoot a black man every 28 hours in America. While virtually all law enforcement agencies follow the same fascist playbook, the Portland Police Bureau’s especially barbaric track record has recently been scrutinized by a Federal investigation and international media coverage.

Despite witnessing cops physically assault and arrest people I know, as a general rule, I do not voluntarily speak to or even make eye contact with police. I mention this so you don’t think me biased when I say: to the cop who almost hit me while I rode my bike last Friday, FUCK YOU.

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Documenting the Art of Street Rebellion

The historical tactics of domestic and international street uprising is one usually condemned in the moment and glorified decades later. I’ve never ceased to be amazed by those who support mass demonstrations in Egypt while criticizing civil disobedience here in the states. They recognize the value the Boston Tea Party but abhor the notion of burning cop cars.

As a graduate of the NW Film Center, I was taught essential theories of documentary ethics. The importance of recognizing the camera as a weapon for social justice was stressed in most courses. Used as a tool to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted, cameras are a powerful weapon indeed. So much so that globally, journalists have recently suffered a massive increase of attacks and murders while on the job.

Few spectacles draw more journalistic interest than the riot. While obviously portrayed disingenuously by corporate media, such uprisings are not mindless acts of aggression. What begins as a peaceful demonstration against injustice often escalates into more severe methods. This happens most commonly for one reason: police escalation.

tumblr_nc19523Tt71qexjbwo1_1280Courtesy: America Wakie Wakie

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Portland Solidarity March for Ferguson: PHOTO ESSAY

Last Thursday saw rallies, marches and actions taking place in over 90 cities across the United States in solidarity with the unfolding events in Ferguson, Missouri. While the situation is ongoing, there can be little doubt about a few basic facts. Michael Brown, a black teenager, was executed by the police for absolutely no reason. Officer Darren Wilson used lethal force to stop the “crime” of jaywalking, continuing to fire round after round into Brown’s body after the teenager had put his hands in the air to surrender.

A cheap PR stunt by the governor of Missouri involving state troopers replacing St. Louis county SWAT cops proved predictably, absurdly Orwellian – high ranking officers marched alongside protesters – yet did nothing to halt the onslaught of police violence once the sun went down. Rubber-encased bullets and chemical weapons have been fired on civilians and reporters each night since Brown was killed. Marshal law has effectively being instituted in Ferguson by way of a constitutionally ambiguous ‘curfew’.

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