00:00Joining me now are two people who have been on the front lines in Ferguson and Baltimore.
00:07Activist Janetta Elzey and DeRay McKesson join me now via Skype.
00:11Guys, thank you so very, very much for joining us.
00:14You're welcome.
00:15DeRay, I'll start with you first.
00:17Can you give us an idea what it's like to be out there in the middle of a tense situation
00:21like a Ferguson or a Baltimore?
00:24You know, it is, there's a strong sense of community here
00:27where people are coming together around the issue of police brutality to end it.
00:31You probably already know that the gangs have called a truce.
00:34There are many students who are part of the protest
00:36and people from all across the city who've come around Pennsylvania North
00:40to confront the police state that is here and the corruption here in Baltimore.
00:45And Janetta, how do you feel about the Ferguson in Baltimore?
00:48Are you seeing, what is that moment like, that tension between community and police?
00:53The only tension that I always feel is from the police.
00:58When I'm around people, no matter if I'm in St. Louis or D.C. or New York,
01:03I always feel like I'm around family because blackness is a bond.
01:09And in our struggle, we are practically a family, a community that is raising up
01:15against the police state that we are standing against.
01:18So intense moments, I'm always just wondering what the police are going to do
01:23because I know what to expect from people.
01:26Janetta, what are some of the parallels that you're seeing right now
01:29between the Ferguson and Baltimore protests?
01:31What are some of those similarities?
01:34I would say that I'm, hmm, it is almost very similar
01:39just with the intensity of the police, the militarization of the police here.
01:43I believe maybe on the second day, that was my first time seeing militarized police
01:49in full riot gear with M-16s.
01:52And here in Baltimore, they have the exact same thing.
01:56With the National Guard coming in, I do know that I did not feel safe
02:03when the National Guard was in St. Louis.
02:05And I did not feel safe when the police, when there was a curfew on in the city of Ferguson.
02:12And the same goes for here in Baltimore.
02:17The curfew, the citywide curfews basically turn the city into a sundown town for black people.
02:23And so once, whatever time that is set, black folks need to go in the house.
02:29And, you know, the city is open for everybody else, basically.
02:32So those are a few of the similarities that I see.
02:36And, DeRay, I position the same question to you.
02:39You're also on the ground in Baltimore.
02:41What similarities are you seeing between the protests and perhaps the media response
02:44between Ferguson and Baltimore?
02:46You know, I'll echo everything that Neta said.
02:49I'll also say that there are many young people who came out.
02:53The protests also started during the day, which is a little bit different.
02:57The sense of community is as strong as it was in St. Louis and in cities across the country.
03:04And also, people are tired, right?
03:06People are tired of the police killing people, which is why they're out in the street.
03:09So there have been an incredible number of people.
03:11We were at a protest yesterday that was organized by college students.
03:15That was a beautiful march.
03:16We've been at some organized by people who live directly where he was killed and also some by clergy.
03:21So just like in Ferguson, we've seen pockets of organizers come up and sort of create protest actions organically
03:28in ways that are really powerful and disruptive.
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