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Kit O'Connell: Approximately 8,000 Words Posts

Reminder: It’s Against The Law To Fire Austin’s Police ChiefPhoto: Austin Police guard the brick facade of APD headquarters as activists raise their fists during a Black Lives Matter protest.
It's against the law to fire Austin Police Chief Brian Manley, further proving that the police are unaccountable. (Photo: Unsplash / Charles Fair, public domain)
July 30, 2020
Kit
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Reminder: It’s Against The Law To Fire Austin’s Police Chief

Posted in Austin, Creative Commons, and Journalism

Did you know it’s literally against the law to fire Austin’s chief of police?

I found myself tweeting this fact over and over again, each time some new fresh horror surfaced from Austin’s police force. So I thought I should write something too.

It would be an extraordinary fact at any time, but it seems worth repeating at this moment when so many people are demanding accountability from our nation’s police. One of the key forms of accountability under capitalism, firing a bad worker, is actually off limits.

Read moreReminder: It’s Against The Law To Fire Austin’s Police Chief
Beyond The Concrete Milkshake: Tactics For Defeating Media Trolls & Grifters (Zine)Photo: A Black person with long curly hair shouts into a bullhorn at a counter-protest to a fascist event in Washington, D.C.
Noise can be a powerful tactic for shutting down media trolls. But it's not foolproof. (Photo: Protest against Unite the Right 2 in Washington, D.C. 2018, Melany Rochester, Public Domain, Unsplash)
June 22, 2020
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Beyond The Concrete Milkshake: Tactics For Defeating Media Trolls & Grifters (Zine)

Posted in Creative Commons, Journalism, and Zines

A free zine by Kit O’Connell with nonviolent tactics for protecting your movement from media trolls and grifters that seek to harm activists.

During the Occupy movement, the smartphone allowed anyone to broadcast live or instantly report on protests or police action using social media. Some of these citizen journalists started to bring in donations from their viewers, usually just enough to keep them supplied with Megabus tickets to the next protest. Most of them either broadly supported the movement, or subscribed to “journalistic neutrality.”

Then, some of them figured out you can make way more money working for the dark side. So they tucked their beanie caps down a little lower and got to work making the Left look bad. A trickle of donations turned into a flood of money.

Dishonestly edit a video, and you could land a job with Infowars. Get roughed up while harassing antifascists, and you earn a 6-figure paycheck. All you have to do is give up a piece of your soul.

Read moreBeyond The Concrete Milkshake: Tactics For Defeating Media Trolls & Grifters (Zine)
Why Hemp Supporters Must Support Black Lives Matter, TooPhoto: A black person's hand holding up a handmade Black Lives Matter sign, against a natural looking background.
With its historic ties to drug prohibition and the War on Drugs, hemp supporters and the hemp industry need to back the Black Lives Matter movement. (Unsplash / Maria Oswalt, public domain)
June 19, 2020
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Why Hemp Supporters Must Support Black Lives Matter, Too

Posted in Journalism, and Ministry of Hemp

Over at Ministry of Hemp, I wrote about our feelings about the current Black Lives Matter uprising and how it ties to the hemp and cannabis industries:

In this time of extraordinary global protest, hemp advocates and the hemp industry must live up to our ideals by supporting the Black Lives Matter movement and working towards real change.

Going even further, our involvement can’t stop with just the protests. In order to build an ethical and sustainable industry, we need to be active participants in undoing the damage that the War on Drugs caused. We need to lobby to defund police forces which grew out of control during this “war.”

Read moreWhy Hemp Supporters Must Support Black Lives Matter, Too
Hemp Facemasks Offer Sustainable Protection From COVID-19 VirusWorkers at a Trader Joe’s pose in hemp masks created and donated by iLoveBad and The Hemp Cooperative.
Workers at a Trader Joe’s pose in hemp masks created and donated by iLoveBad and The Hemp Cooperative. (Photo: iLoveBad Organics)
May 26, 2020
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Hemp Facemasks Offer Sustainable Protection From COVID-19 Virus

Posted in Journalism, and Ministry of Hemp

On Ministry of Hemp, I interviewed Daniel Ong from iLoveBad Organics about their new hemp facemasks.

Read moreHemp Facemasks Offer Sustainable Protection From COVID-19 Virus