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Tag: Police

The Barbed Wire: First Arrests at Austin Pride in Over a DecadeOn Congress and 4th St in Austin, Texas, multiple police officers pin a shirtless man to the ground (his features have been blurred) as a Pride parade passes in the background. A police officer on a horse, with a rainbow painted on its flank, stands guard.
Kit O'Connell
October 18, 2024
Kit
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The Barbed Wire: First Arrests at Austin Pride in Over a Decade

Posted in Austin, Journalism, LGBTQIA, and The Barbed Wire

At Austin’s Pride Parade in August, while rainbow-painted police horses stood guard and brightly decorated floats passed by, officers tackled two men, using kicks and pressure points to pin their bodies to the ground. They were taken to jail on charges of ignoring law enforcement commands and resisting arrest. 

They were the first arrests at an Austin Pride event in years — perhaps more than a decade, according to one of the event’s longtime organizers. And it left many who watched it unfold, including journalists like myself, with one unshakeable thought: That didn’t need to happen. 

I’ve spent the weeks since reporting on why it did.

Read moreThe Barbed Wire: First Arrests at Austin Pride in Over a Decade
Deceleration: ‘Viva Viva Tortuguita!’ Atlanta Mayor Chased Out of SXSW ConferenceProtesters lock arms at the front of a conference roon, holding a banner reading Andre Dickens GOP Stooge. Stop Cop City
Kit O'Connell
March 12, 2024
Kit
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Deceleration: ‘Viva Viva Tortuguita!’ Atlanta Mayor Chased Out of SXSW Conference

Posted in Austin, Journalism, and SXSW

On Monday, a group of protesters at a conference in Texas challenged  the mayor of Atlanta over the city’s ongoing plans to build a massive  training center for police and other law enforcement agencies,  eventually forcing Andre Dickens to leave the event entirely.

The direct action took place at South by Southwest (SXSW),  an annual conference, film, and music festival in Austin, Texas, at a  ballroom of the downtown Hilton hotel (one of several sites where the  conference occurs). The panel discussion was intended to be about conflict between city and state governments. Instead the audience received a very different lesson in civic engagement, as the Austin chapter of the Weelaunee Defense Society, an activist group devoted to the national “Stop Cop City” movement, would soon dramatically change the agenda.

Read moreDeceleration: ‘Viva Viva Tortuguita!’ Atlanta Mayor Chased Out of SXSW Conference
Fact-checking Fascism: Axios Platforms Violent Biker Gang Over Veterans DayIn a heated confrontation, Proud Boys in their yellow uniforms confront a group facing away from the camera. One in a yellow Proud Boys mask points angrily at us.
A confrontation with Proud Boys in Wasington, D.C. (Geoff Livingston / Flickr, CC NC ND license)
November 11, 2021
Kit
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Fact-checking Fascism: Axios Platforms Violent Biker Gang Over Veterans Day

Posted in Creative Commons, Journalism, and Occupy Wall Street

Over 5 years since the election of Donald Trump and the rise of the powerful white supremacist movement he empowered, the mainstream media still struggles to fact-check fascists.

It always interests me which organizations get the benefit of the doubt from the mainstream media.

I (and many others) have written about how the mainstream media tends to take the words of police at face value. Reporters often use whatever language makes police seem blameless after violent interactions.

Just like cops, right-wing fascists frequently get platformed by reporters who fail to ask vital questions.

Which brings us to an article by Asher Price, an Austin reporter for Axios.

Read moreFact-checking Fascism: Axios Platforms Violent Biker Gang Over Veterans Day
Podcast: Talking with Visu.News about ‘Officer-Involved’ ShootingsA photo of a police car at a crime scene, framed with just the roof and blue light visible in the foreground, and a blurry urban scene in the background. Kit O'Connell went on the Visu.News podcast to discuss how the media covers police when they kill.
Kit went on the Visu.News podcast to discuss police and the media.
April 16, 2021
Kit
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Podcast: Talking with Visu.News about ‘Officer-Involved’ Shootings

Posted in Audio, and Journalism

I appeared on the Visu.News podcast to discuss my recent article on the language media uses when discussing the police. The hosts, Aaron Cynic and Zach Roberts, had just watched the recently released bodycam footage of the police murder of Adam Toledo. They were understandably shaken, and it gave our discussion an increased urgency.

Read morePodcast: Talking with Visu.News about ‘Officer-Involved’ Shootings
Officer-Involved Shootings: How Was The Officer Involved?A closer look at the myth of officer-involved shootings. Two police cars lined up at a roadside with their emergency lights lit.
At the scene of another 'officer-involved' shooting?
April 14, 2021
Kit
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Officer-Involved Shootings: How Was The Officer Involved?

Posted in Creative Commons, and Journalism

I found a really stark example this week of how the mainstream media continues to misreport about police killings, or as they too-often call them, “officer-involved shootings.”

I’m not the first one to point out that this is a problem. Experts on journalism discourages the use of vague language like “officer-involved shootings.” So why does the media persist in it?

Again, this happens all the time. I’m only calling out ABC here because it’s so blatant: two contrasting examples from the same 24-hour period. Here’s the first tweet:

Read moreOfficer-Involved Shootings: How Was The Officer Involved?
Virtual Gonzo Zine Library, Winter 2020: Surviving Dark TimesA set of protective goggles and a cloth mask with roses and skulls sit on a yellow surface near 4 zines, the main selections from this edition of the virtual zine library, which are fanned out in an arc.
Zine life in 2020 ... (Mask by JaneMichael.com. Photo by Kit O'Connell.)
December 1, 2020
Kit
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Virtual Gonzo Zine Library, Winter 2020: Surviving Dark Times

Posted in Creative Commons, and Zines

This is the Winter 2020 edition of the Virtual Gonzo Zine Library.

The VGZL is a zine reading list and miniature zine distro. From time to time, I curate some of my favorite zines — zines that I think everyone should be reading, including myself.

These are the main selections from this edition of my reading list. I’ve selected a few bonus zines as well as some other resources to consider, too.

Read moreVirtual Gonzo Zine Library, Winter 2020: Surviving Dark Times