The racist hashtag that's been trending high on twitter.

[sufrommich]

All goddamned day: #GoHomeDeray

I swear to God,the murders in Charleston have made them giddy with joy.Michelle Malkin's site is cheering them on and encouraging this absolute batshit crazy trend.THEY HAVE NO SHAME,no matter how much death they encourage.



DeRay McKinney is an activist and leader in the BlackLivesMatter movement.

[ann---]

1. Who knows if this

murderer might get an all white jury - be acquitted and then
canonized by Fox as a martyr?

[Raine1967]

3. I was under the assumption he pled guilty.

has that changed?

[ann---]

4. I didn't see him plead anything

it was only a bond hearing. He hasn't been arraigned yet, has he?

Heard that he might plead "insanity" which would mean a trial.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. He confessed which means not much

if he pled, in front of the judge, that is a whole different kettle.

If the confession was somehow pressured out of him, legally that could also be trouble.

[Raine1967]

10. ah ok, he confessed, thank you.

[Runningdawg]

7. and I heard he confessed

I think he wants to go to prison. He had his chance to die, he didn't take that option. He is certainly looking for public acceptance and unfortunately he will find it. Like Charles Manson, I believe he looks forward to and has in fact, been counting on, leading a revolution from behind bars. Most likely he will barter this alleged confession for life without parole and be free to establish his cult.

[ann---]

9. Yes, he did, but

depending on the plea he enters, it's not a slam-dunk that
he will be convicted. If he pleads guilty, then he has to state
an allocution of the facts of his crime - then he will be sentenced
without a trial.

If he pleads not-guilty for any reason - he has a trial.

That's the way I understand it. He only had a bail bond hearing
and was held with $1 million bond for a weapons offense. Don't think
we'll know for sure how he pleads until October when he has another
hearing.

[Raine1967]

11. Thank you for that.

[octoberlib]

2. Omg, I just checked into Twitter and saw this. Conservative,racist trolls are out in force

tweeting some of the most vile , hateful things I've seen on Twitter. I started a new hashtag : #StayDeray I think he needs to wear a bulletproof vest down there. I'm serious.

[Fawke Em]

6. Unfortunately, for Twitter, this is nothing new.

I follow DeRay and started seeing these posts last night. He's kept his own Tweets on point, though.

[octoberlib]

8. Both Glenn Beck and Rick Santorum are in Charleston. The hashtag was started by conservative

trolls. I keep seeing the phrase 'outside agitator'.

[bigtree]

12. Deray

deray mckesson ?@deray 9h9 hours ago
I woke to see the trolls made #GoHomeDeray trend.
Home is where my people are, or where they've built. I am home.


I'd recommend anyone criticizing this man take a broader and more personal view of events in Ferguson and elsewhere and consider why they don't feel compelled to commit themselves as thoroughly and selflessly as this man or the thousands of others who are presently involving themselves in protests and activism around the nation in protest and in support of the cause of police brutality and killings.


from the Bowdoin Orient:

McKesson began to document the protests via Twitter because he was frustrated that the media—distracted by the shocking optics of the police response—had forgotten the purpose of the demonstrations, which he referred to as “principled protesting.”

“I never thought in America that I would run and hop fences because I thought police were going to shoot me when I didn’t do anything wrong,” he said.

Despite his fear, McKesson said he always remained committed to the cause.

“You continue to protest because you believe,” he said. “You believe that what’s right outweighs the fear for your own safety.”

The media’s attention has drifted away from Ferguson, but McKesson’s has not. He has returned several times and helps write a daily newsletter about the protest movement at hashtagferguson.org

McKesson said that his experiences in Ferguson have not made him more cynical, but that they have made him more vigilant.

“It was a reminder of the obligation to defend and protect democracy—the concept and reality of democracy—on all fronts,” he said. “There are more Fergusons in America.”

from Teach for America:

A native of Baltimore, DeRay McKesson is a graduate of Bowdoin College and began his career as a 6th grade math teacher in New York City as a member of the 2007 Teach For America corps. As a teenager, he worked as a community organizer, training youth and adults to work together to overcome community challenges with Baltimore’s Safe and Sound Campaign. He has also worked for the Harlem Children’s Zone, opened an academic enrichment center for middle grades in West Baltimore, served on grant-making boards, and has worked for TNTP. The majority of his career, however, has been working for school systems, leading Human Capital initiatives. He was previously the Special Assistant in the Office of Human Capital with Baltimore City Public Schools for 3 years and is currently the Senior Director of Human Capital with Minneapolis Public Schools. He works to ensure that structures and systems support all kids and that only the most talented and able adults work with and support our schools and students.

My Blackness Is Not A Weapon
by DeRay
August 21, 2014



“I got my hands on my head, please don’t shoot me dead.”

From the 5 days that I’ve been here marching and protesting thus far, this chant hits me the hardest.

I’ve been tear gassed 3 times, chased by an armored SWAT vehicle, and have had to hide under my steering wheel to avoid detection, in Ferguson, MO. And on the first night that officers patrolled the entire area on foot, when they stormed the crowd, I ran with my hands high, thinking that I could be taking my final steps. I’ll never forget running past the police, fighting back tears, with my hands as high as possible, afraid of my country...

As a kid, I remember the nights we slept on the floor because the gunshots were so close to the house and it was less likely that a bullet would go through a floorboard than a window or wall.

I became a teacher because I wanted to make sure that kids in communities like mine had the skills and opportunities to follow their dreams. I wanted to show my students that they, too, could master math skills and content and love it.

But I also want them to be alive. Kids deserve to walk down the street and feel free, feel like they have ownership of their bodies and the spaces in which they live. As the child of a recovered and recovering drug addicts, it is important to me that life circumstances don’t limit kids' understanding of what is possible in their life and their world...

Here, in Ferguson, this community is looking for allies. This community is looking for people who are willing to assist in changing structural inequity in the name of social justice. And, simply, allies who fundamentally believe that black lives matter.

Since the beginning of the protests, I have carried a sign that reads, “My blackness is not a weapon.” This community wants blackness to be understood as complex, worthy, powerful, imaginative and gifted -- just like all other races.

We are all in this community. We are Ferguson, too.

Each night that I go to protest, I am afraid. But I believe in justice. And I am my brother’s keeper.

read: https://www.teachforamerica.org/blog/my-blackness-not-weapon

[octoberlib]

13. Wonderful post! Thank you.