Tamir Rice is not responsible for his own death by police shooting !

Dear Friends The City of Cleveland claims that 12-year-old Tamir Rice was responsible for his own death by police shooting.  If it's too hard to believe, you can read the article yourself.  I urge activists who live in their isolated outposts called "issues" - including those of us who reside within issues that we think include all the others, the big ones like Peace activism and Environmental activism, to understand that state-sanctioned violent insanity of the kind we see with Tamir Rice is a death gene that is in each of our bodies now.  This is not a tragedy. This is not tragedy that needs healing and closure. It is racialized murder coming from political leadership in suits and uniforms with straight faces. And oh let us demand of each other that we refuse to slide into some kind of purgatory of bloggy snarkiness over this. There is no witty comment that survives this. We can't drink, have sex, make money - to head-fake our way out of this.  We must reclaim our last goodness for this, as ripped and shredded as it might be. We can't possibly be free of this as long as it exists, and it is a flourishing killer, expanding in our bizarro reversed-out morality. This militarized-and-marketed racism is designed to seamlessly merge with all the old verities like "freedom" and "security" and "prosperity." Certainly no American can say that this is not central to their work if they are dedicated to health, to democracy, to growing loving communities.  Racism kills people, yes. Racism kills a 12 year old with a toy gun in a playground and slams his sorrowing big sister to the ground and handcuffs her but racism just as surely kills a smartly dressed hipster a thousand miles away living on save-the-world foundation grants. Racism kills all the good causes and so it has become the only progressive cause at this time in our history. Racism is the only issue until we are killed by it or we are free of it and we are all free. Peace-alujah! Reverend Billy Talen -------------------------- Rev. Billy goes to court March 10, facing a year in prison for "Obstruction."  He had just begun speaking to a Black Lives Matter gathering in Grand Central Station when he was arrested.  We ask our community for financial support to challenge this charge.  Rev. Billy is selling his books to raise funds for the trial.  Please donate and/or buy the book online today. .