"This generation of youth have spent their entire lives in fear of having guns pointed at them in schools; what a disgrace for America that it is now their own schools that are pointing the guns at them."

- Josh Paul, former Director at the US State Department (resigned in protest in October 2023)

-- quote (linked above) is from a post on his LinkedIn page, dated April 30, 2024.

Please don’t ever forget how campus presidents, mayors and governors sicced the police on college students who were protesting for peace and against war & genocide. Because years from now, I guarantee you that the people who currently hate the protesters will absolutely try to retcon their roles and paint themselves as heroes who were in the right side of history. They were not. Don’t let them whitewash their history.

seeing shit like this shared by someone who claims they are way too afraid to go to Central London because of past negative experiences despite repeating over and over and over again the necessity of doing the right thing regardless of danger is just amazing

Arresting Liberty

When the public university administrators call in #police do their dirty work, maybe it’s time to take #FreePalestine #protest to the public streets outside their homes. #UTAustin #Austin

Repost from @wawog_now:

SEIZE THE MOMENT THAT THE STUDENTS IGNITED. Over the past week, the student movement has shown us all what solidarity looks like. Putting bodies on the line; trading certain futures for the promise of liberation. University administrators have responded to this bravery by unleashing the state’s dogs on the students holding it down at encampments or occupying administrative buildings. Last night, the NYPD pigs brutalized protesters at Columbia University and City College, subjecting them to mace, drawing weapons on them, and pushing young people down concrete stairs. At UCLA, the LAPD stood watching as a right wing mob brutalized protesters for hours. Still, the students held their ground.

The struggle rages on. For every swept encampment, for every de-occupied building, thousands of comrades will rise and take up the fight that the students have escalated. Our struggle is rooted in Gaza, where the IOF is still massacring families and starving a besieged population. But the days of zionist impunity are numbered.

Solidarity with the students! Workers of the world unite!

The music you hear in the video is ‘Shaneera’ by Fatima Al Qadiri, the audio comes from Mumia Abu-Jamal’s address via phone call to the People’s CUNY on April 26th, 2024.

"The police and university had already barred outside press from the central campus, where they might have observed what was about to unfold. A crowd of student onlookers and journalists, most from student-run outlets, had already gathered in front of Hamilton Hall, which protesters had dubbed Hind's Hall in memory of a six-year-old girl, Hind Rajab, killed by the Israeli military in January. Having heard reports of an imminent police sweep,a group of around 20protesters wearing keffiyehs and facemasks to hide their identities linked their arms in front of the hall's main entrance as they sang "We Shall Not Be Moved."

....

Reporters were barred from entering Hamilton Hall, but video from inside the building shows police officers, with their weapons drawn, entering each room. Not long afterwards, protesters that were occupying Hamilton were brought out in handcuffs and taken off campus. In a press conference this morning, the NYPD said that 119 protesters had been arrested at Columbia on Tuesday evening.

Many Columbia studentson campus Tuesday evening were not surprised by the police response. 

"I expected it," said an undergraduate student who asked to remain anonymous. “I think police presence on campuses is whack. I'm not for it. I was definitely against Minouche calling the NYPD here a couple weeks ago on the encampment." They added, of the spectacle of hordes of police officers on campus, "It's dystopian. I think it's antithetical to what a university should be and what it should look like."

We warned you this is where this is going.

via ErinInTheMorn | Erin Reed Substack | House Bill 0009

April 30, 2024

CUNY City College.

Imagine your response to a genocide is to arrest the students protesting the genocide. Outrageous.

A Black couple living in Dallas say their 2-week-old daughter was taken from them because they decided to have a home birth with a midwife.

Home-births and midwifery services are increasingly sought out by Black pregnant people and families over traditional hospital settings amid a mounting maternal mortality crisis exacerbated by systemic medical racism. Black pregnant people are three to four times more likely than white pregnant people to die from pregnancy-related causes, per the CDC.

When Black pregnant people and families can’t feel safe seeking pregnancy and birth-related services from the hospital, and can’t feel safe choosing home births and home care options that draw police attention.

[Jennifer] Armentrout told Popular Information that it was surprising to learn we are "living in an era where, apparently, some adults find it appropriate to contact the police over a fictional book involving gargoyles."

Moms for Liberty members call the cops on Florida librarians

Much more interactive data here