Think police brutality against protestors is rare? Think again. Twitter has the receipts #Bluefall

Twitter #Bluefall proves we need police reform — in one video of police brutality against activists after another, after another...

Screenshot / Twitter

Police forces can harbor not only racism, but a climate of barbarism and a notion of the world being divided into the two groups of Us and Them. As police bully and batter activists across the United States, the results of that mentality in practice are on full, savage display. This moment proves we need police reform.

“Too many officers who subscribe to the belief that specific communities are full of threats to neutralize, not people to serve and protect,” writes Tracie L. Keesee in the Washington Post. “This moment demands a new way of policing built around that understanding. There is no better time to start than now.”

Tracie Keesee’s hypothesis needs little more proof than from the ranks of various law enforcement forces who have been called up to respond not just to violence, but to peaceful activism as well. While it is fair to say that this must be a heartbreaking job for many of the officers, there seems to be no shortage of cops who relish this excuse to employ the loosest possible definition of “threat,” and to “neutralize” at will.

The hashtag #Bluefall is being used the document this brutality.

WARNING: These videos are graphic. This first video, of officers firing tear gas point-blank into a peaceful group of Black Lives Matter supporters, is among the LEAST disturbing to be found under the hashtag.

‘You’re next.’ Police threaten silent bystanders with arrest — or death.

A video of a man claiming innocence ends with a police officer threatening the person who stood, silently, documenting the arrest.

Another threatens unarmed citizens with a loaded gun — This moment proves we need police reform.

Pointing guns at children, pepper-spraying elected officials, destroying medical supplies…the list goes on and on.

Cops continue to kneel on suspects’ necks

In a situation that mirrors George Floyd’s assassination, an officer kneels on the neck of a person who is already subdued, delivering an occasional kidney punch to the prone, defenseless individual. A second officer aids the first, with no objection to either the dangerous, excessive restraint or the casual brutality. Both officers refuse to identify themselves.

Here, three officers beat a man as he lies on the ground under them and cries out over and over…until he can’t.

We need police reform.

Arrested for speaking. While seated. In broad daylight.

A Black Lives Matter activist bravely tries to open a dialogue with a phalanx of police while showing the least possible confrontation. He is seated, among friends, who are also seated or kneeling. His friends touch his back and sit silently as he holds his arms wide and tells the police, “I love you…I want to understand you.” He is an African American.

This appears to be reason enough for the police to walk up, pull him away and detain him while hiding him behind their ranks.

This moment proves the need for police reform.

Punching him isn’t working. Try shooting him.

Two police officers punch a suspect while trying to subdue him. When the person continues to wriggle around, one officer takes out his service pistol and shoots him. There is no clear racial disparity between the cops and their victim, which speaks directly to Tracie L. Keesee’s point about perceiving members of the public merely as “threats to neutralize.”

This moment proves we need police reform.

Officers are hiding their identities.

Police are using electrical tape to cover their badge numbers so they cannot be identified. They also do not identify themselves when requested. This would make it nearly impossible to register a complaint against an abusive officer. Those who bother to defend it, claim they are in mourning.

The Philadelphia police demonstrate how a real mourning band would still allow officers to be identified.

Maybe we’d all hide our identity if we maced a child.

Police are indiscriminate in their attacks on activists, showing no mercy even to children.

And that’s not the only time a child was purposefully maced. A white cop casually maces a black child as he strolls past.

These moments prove we need police reform.

If you still need an excuse to beat someone up, just frame them

At first, it seems that an officer is going to hit an individual held on the ground with a stick, but then he forces this “weapon” into the subdued person’s hand before punching his face into the asphalt. Repeatedly.

We need police reform.

‘I surrender,’ just doesn’t seem to be good enough.

A man stands with his hands up, but he flees in fear as police charge him. Then over two dozen officers swarm him and a woman who stood nearby, striking him, and throwing them both down.

Shoot them once. Shoot them twice. And shoot the medic.

As a medic displaying a red cross on her helmet helps treat a head wound, police can be heard approaching and firing at them, forcing them to flee.

This moment proves we need police reform.

Just run people over

After nosing his police SUV into a chanting crowd of Black Lives Matter activists, the officer driving it decides that a three-point turn is the best way to reverse direction — a three-point turn over some people.

 

Can I get a side of homophobia with my racism?

When an object was thrown at a police officer, his rage was perhaps understandable, but his choice of the words, “bitch,” and, “faggot,” reveal that he has plenty of rage at the ready.

This moment proves we need police reform.

It’s not pretty when an angry cop loses his temper at an unarmed citizen.

Multiple videos show police losing their cool and attacking Black Lives Matter supporters who were using no more than free speech.

How many cops does it take to beat up two women? Plenty of them.

This moment proves the need for police reform.

During a pandemic, saliva can be a lethal weapon.

But this cop is not ashamed to use it on a person who is handcuffed, on the ground, and surrounded by a gang of police.

This moment proves the need for police reform.

Before you mace someone, be sure to rip their mask off.

Activism during a pandemic is dangerous, and these cops want to make sure it’s as dangerous as possible. In multiple areas, police are shown stripping masks off compliant citizens in order to more effectively mace them.

This moment proves the need for police reform.

Police are firing directly at people, even as they retreat.

Even as they stand on their own porches.

This moment proves the need for police reform.

Racism

Let’s not forget what is the top line reason for the Black Lives Matter activism taking place across the nation, the difference between the way African American people are treated, and the way white people are.

All of these moments prove we need police reform.

‘Rubber bullet’ may sound okay…

Rubber bullets are not designed to be fired directly at people because any projectile that comes out of the barrel of a gun can be lethal.

Pushing old men

Age doesn’t protect citizens from being handled roughly by those in uniform.

Police reform. Now.

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