Movimiento Político de Resistencia: Beyoncé reivindica el Poder Negro durante la Super Bowl. Durante el intermedio de la Super Bowl, el espectáculo deportivo más visto del mundo, la cantante Beyoncé presentó su nueva canción “Formation”, en la que denuncia los asesinatos de la policía contra los negros en Estados Unidos. Un día antes del evento, Beyoncé lanzó un polémico vídeo de la misma canción que empieza con una alusión al olvido de parte del gobierno de la población negra en Nueva Orleans, tras la devastadora inundación causada por el huracán Katrina en 2005. Después de un año en el que la policía cometió múltiples asesinatos raciales, Beyoncé abordó el tema de los derechos de los afroestadounidenses y se ganó el aplauso enfervorecido de los presentes y de los telespectadores. Durante la presentación, la estrella lució una chaqueta de cuero negro con bandoleras cruzadas frente al pecho, como si fuera militante de una organización armada.
Baltimore activist 'kidnapped' on live TV is found in jail. Lawyer: He had “hands up the whole time.” A peaceful human rights activist who participated in protests following Freddy Gray's death in Baltimore was "snatched" by police as live television news rolled. Joseph Kent, 21, became the subject of widespread concern on social media. The Morgan State University student was located today by Guardian reporters: he was "in a large bullpen with other inmates on the second floor of Baltimore central booking. " Kent asked his attorney Patrick Beatty to let everyone know he was okay, and to relay the message that the protests should remain peaceful. From the Guardian's exclusive: According to Beatty, the 21-year-old was imploring others to remain peaceful and return home when he was “snatched” off the street.
"Baltimore activist 'kidnapped' on live TV is in jail despite having hands up 'the whole time'" [theguardian.com] Joseph Kent was snatched off the street in Baltimore by police in full view of cameras. He shows how the news talks about black people by talking about white people instead. Baltimore's real, untelevised revolution. "The revolution will not be televised. " — Gil Scott Heron For hours on Saturday, I marched with City Bloc, a student activist organization, and alongside hundreds of other justice-seeking Baltimoreans in an attempt to bring justice, not revenge, to Baltimore in the aftermath of Freddie Gray's death while in the custody of Baltimore City police.
During the endless hours of nonviolent protesting in which I participated, I felt proud to fight against the deplorable powers that be — I felt that my voice had been empowered as a youth in Baltimore City speaking out against injustice. As I began my job babysitting that Saturday night, after a long day of marching and chanting, my phone began buzzing, notifying me of the violence that had erupted in downtown Baltimore. At that moment, powerlessness overcame me. The voice that I had projected for the entire day and the dedication that so many Baltimore citizens had put into peaceful protests was crushed in an instant. Eyewitnesses: The Baltimore Riots Didn't Start the Way You Think.
Patrick Semansky/AP After Baltimore police and a crowd of teens clashed near the Mondawmin Mall in northwest Baltimore on Monday afternoon, news reports described the violence as a riot triggered by kids who had been itching for a fight all day. But in interviews with Mother Jones and other media outlets, teachers and parents maintain that police actions inflamed a tense-but-stable situation. The funeral of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who died in police custody this month, had ended hours earlier at a nearby church. According to the Baltimore Sun, a call to "purge"—a reference to the 2013 dystopian film in which all crime is made legal for one night—circulated on social media among school-aged Baltimoreans that morning.
The rumored plan—which was not traced to any specific person or group—was to assemble at the Mondawmin Mall at 3 p.m. and proceed down Pennsylvania Avenue toward downtown Baltimore. Police were forcing busses to stop and unload all their passengers.