Today, just seconds before I came to join our second demonstration on campus, a freshman at our school, East Tennessee State University a freshman by the name of Tristan Pettke came up to my fellow protestors and taunted them with bananas, brandished a paper sack with the Confederate Flag, and carried around a noose. He called one protestor a nigger and handed out bananas. He was detained by public safety and onlookers demanded his mask be taken off before he was taken away. Though his actions deserved harsh repercussions, protestors remain calm while met with such heinous behavior. Tumblr, I ask of you to boost the heck out of this. We have been peaceful the entire time and to be met with such blatant racism is disgusting. Very proud of our president for taking immediate action and the good news is that he will be charged with civil rights intimidation and I spoke directly to our university president and demanded expulsion. For now, Tristan is suspended. I’m hoping for nothing worse tomorrow after what happened today. We might be waking people up on campus, but being in the South, the actions like today are to be expected and are nothing new.
Charles Kinsey, a 47-year-old behavioral therapist who was trying to help a patient with autism who ran away from a group home where Charles works and got shot three times in the leg by the police, is filing a lawsuit against North Miami SWAT officer Jonathan Aledda.
When the shooting happened, Kinsey asked Aledda why he had done that and the answer was “I don’t know”.
However, now Aledda tells a different story. He says:
“I took this job to save lives and help people. I did what I had to do in a split second to accomplish that and hate to hear others paint me as something I’m not.”
Hope everyone remembers that Kinsey said multiple times that his patient was holding a toy truck in his hands, not a gun like the police mistakenly assumed. So there was no reason whatsoever for Aledda to shoot either Kinsey or Rinaldo Rios (the patient). The fact that Aledda is trying to justify his actions shows that he is EXACTLY what others paint him to be.
if you’re embarrassed by the person you were 5 years ago, good. bc it means you’ve grown. you’ve educated yourself and expanded your horizons. given half the chance, I’d deck 2011 me right in the face .
