Recommentunde | The Trial | 1 Apr 2021

Baratunde Thurston

Apr 01, 2021

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Recommentunde - 1 Apr 2021

The Trial

I’m feeling dramatic this week, so you get a dramatic opening photo. Mandaloritunde?

WHAT’S UP WITH ME

Start listening to season two of How To Citizen with Baratunde right now! Check out the emerging howtocitizen.com for ways to listen and engage more in the journey of citizening. Many thanks to our new producing team at Dustlight for helping us take things up a few notches.

Are you on the Clubhouse app? If so join us for Whiskey Friday 3-5pm PT. And next week I’m going to experiment with playing the first episode of the newest How To Citizen season and open the floor to discussion and feedback live! Follow me there or text the word “clubhouse” to 202-894-8844 to get updates.

A BRIEF STATEMENT

I really didn’t want to dive into the Chauvin trial, but I went on Brian Williams last night to talk about it. Watch it on my Instagram, Twitter or MSNBC’s YouTube. Read here:

BRIAN WILLIAMS

It is the endless string of humanity, regular people who could be in any of our lives on the stand speaking English and using emotion, from a nine-year-old girl to a 69-year-old man. Talk about the humanity of this case which is built around the humanity we saw drain from a man in the street.

BARATUNDE

For the past year I've had to build up a psychic wall around myself to survive, and I have been avoiding this trial all week because I wasn't ready to be re-traumatized by Memorial Day 2020. The way you just phrased that has brought a lot of that back to the surface.

And I think what's remarkable is when you see the range of that humanity all week on display of, sorry, an off-duty firefighter, a jujitsu expert who just happened to be walking by, a store employee, a would-be customer, a passer-by noticing something is up, and all these people trying to intervene, trying to preserve the humanity of a fellow citizen and being thwarted. And to hear them this week, not just what they experienced but what they felt after.

They all felt guilty for not saving George Floyd's life. They felt responsible for his death. Everybody seems to have felt responsible for George Floyd's death except the one person who's responsible for George Floyd's death, Derek Chauvin and the police officers who let him do what he did. So I am in awe of the humanity and I'm in pain over the lack of it displayed by those who are entrusted with our own safety.

LINKS I’VE CLICKED FOR YOU

Derek Chauvin Trial Coverage | Minnesota Statesman-Recorder

This is coverage from the region’s Black newspaper. I encourage you to check it out along with the 38thandchicagoGFS Instagram account. And this interview with the 9-year-old witness. Thanks to my Community text members in MPLS for these suggestions. You can sign up for my texts by sending a message to 202-894-8844.

How should Manhattan Beach atone for its racist past? - Los Angeles Times

This is a thoughtful and frustrating story of known land theft by the state, harming Black folks, and even the apology is hard for some. Gonna have to start a new section here called Reparations Watch!

Guaranteed income or reparations? A test case in Oakland - Los Angeles Times

Did someone say reparations!? Another article from my current hometown newspaper, and now I’m thinking this reparations thing is a trend.

Omna Tigray

Following up to last week’s mention of the genocide in Tigray at the hands of Eritrean forces, this organization has several actions you can take to try to bring the terror to an end.

Voting rights are under attack across America but corporations can help

Just do what Stacey Abrams says. It’s a useful shorthand for supporting democracy. She offers a nuanced take on how to “hold businesses accountable” for supporting trash laws.

Donnel Baird wants to bring green energy to America’s poorest neighborhoods - Washington Post

Inspiration! Climate solutions! Brooklyn! Some of my favorite things in one dope article from my original hometown newspaper.

One more time: howtocitizen.com!