where are we? the first day in video

Finally got some sleep last night. The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are not well.  Meanwhile the media has set a precedent as to how bad things can get and still not be deemed worth our national attention.  I am exasperated. There is a lot of fear here and a lot of police, national guard, and secret service.

I wish I could show it all to you.  I can’t explain it all again.  I watched police begin to close in on another group last night after darkness fell on the Poor People’s March.

I did an interview on Seattle’s AM 1090 today about it.  There is so much repression going around that it is hard to keep track of.   Fortunately we have some unexpected allies this time from the mainstream press.  The editor’s desks and the networks still leave out what they want, but there are rank-and-file journalists on the ground that know better.  Evidently this week some AP reporters finally had enough. One of them, Matt Rourke, was arrested along with 285 other people on Monday, including Amy Goodman.  Rumor has it roughly half of them (including Amy) are being charged with felonies, mostly rioting (probable cause), meaning ‘they didn’t but probably would.’

Several AP journalists have released the following video essays on youtube.   They show better than any other footage I have found what is really going on outside the RNC.  Ask your local news station why they haven’t used this footage (featured below) from the Associated Press.

I want to get over this and return to the beautiful fun things that we do in the streets — the giant puppets and the dancing, and the music.  We came on this tour to show the American people what we are for — but it is becoming more apparent to me than ever that we must get there all together.  My theme for this journal, this year, is the question “What does it mean to not give up?”  I will extend it at this moment.  If I had the world’s biggest megaphone, I would stand in the street or the jail with with my siblings, most now slightly younger than me, and ask these questions of our nation:

Will we continue to give up on our youth, who have not yet given up on the world?  What do they tell us with their bodies?

And even more footage:

Here is Amy Goodman’s arrest:

Have we been blaming the wrong people? Please reach your own conclusions.  I suppose that is what media reform is about…

From Minneapolis,

Logan