The Rebellion in Defense of Black Lives Is Rooted in U.S. History. So Too Is Trump’s Authoritarian Rule

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The Intercept

News, Politics, News Commentary

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🗓️ 3 June 2020

⏱️ 71 minutes

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Summary

With the threat of a widespread military deployment in U.S. cities looming, the president is acting as an authoritarian dictator. Dr. Keisha Blain, author of "Set the World on Fire: Black Nationalist Women and the Global Struggle for Freedom," discusses the history of black rebellion against police violence, the deadly ‘Red Summer” of 1919, and the life of Ida B. Wells. Dr. Blain, a history professor at the University of Pittsburgh, also discusses the context of various protests tactics and the weaponization of the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Police forces across the U.S. are functioning as violent militias equipped with military gear. Operating like a violent counterinsurgency force, the government has used drones and is using other military and intelligence-grade surveillance systems on protesters. Stuart Schrader, author of "Badges Without Borders: How Global Counterinsurgency Transformed American Policing" and a lecturer at Johns Hopkins, analyzes the long and intertwined history between policing in the U.S. and abroad. Schrader also discusses the context of U.S. military deployment on American soil and the long tradition of militarized police forces.

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0:00.0	This is intercepted.
0:30.0	I'm Jeremy Skatehill coming to you from my basement in New York City and this is
0:37.2	episode 133 of Intercepted. That is why I am taking immediate presidential
0:43.3	action to stop the violence and restore security and safety in America. I am
0:49.6	mobilizing all available federal resources, civilian and military to stop the
0:55.5	rioting and looting to end the destruction in arson and to protect the rights
1:01.4	of law-abiding Americans including your second amendment rights. We are at this
1:07.8	moment in the midst of a brutal campaign of state sanctioned terror and violence
1:13.2	that is being unleashed against protesters who have risen up to demand an
1:18.2	end to the police murder of black people in this country. There are powerful and
1:24.0	prominent figures in the United States right now who are trying to distract
1:28.6	and deflect from the real crisis the actions that sparked these rebellions and
1:34.2	that is the rampant murder of black lives that is encouraged and immunized
1:39.6	from accountability by the federal, state and local governments of this country.
1:44.6	As we speak I am dispatching thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers
1:51.6	military personnel and law enforcement officers to stop the rioting, looting,
1:59.1	vandalism, assaults and the wanton destruction of property. On Monday Donald
2:06.4	Trump threatened to deploy the US military to crush these uprisings. He is
2:11.8	telling governors that they have been too soft in confronting the protesters and
2:16.6	he said that they need to be violently dominated and he makes these statements as
2:21.9	police forces across this country are at this very moment operating as violent
2:28.6	racist posses with badges hunting and beating people,
	...

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