Ferguson, Palestine, & Fracking

Injustice Seen in Ferguson is Rallying Cry for Movement Confronting Police Violence Across U.S.

Interview with Tory Russell, co-founder of the youth-led group Hands Up United, conducted by Scott Harris

In the week since the Missouri grand jury announced its verdict opting not to indict Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of unarmed African American teenager Michael Brown, the local community is assessing the damage caused by riots that burned down a dozen buildings, as well as the persistent sense of injustice felt by many residents. But beyond Ferguson, the Michael Brown case has become a rallying cry for activists protesting police violence across the country. In addition to hundreds of solidarity demonstrations held on Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year, organizers called for a school and job walkout on Dec. 1.

On the eve of the 59th anniversary of the historic Montgomery Bus Boycott, the national NAACP launched the Journey for Justice march, where some 250 activists are walking 120 miles from Ferguson to the governor’s mansion in Jefferson City over the course of seven days. The marchers are seeking fundamental reform of policing nationwide, beginning with state legislation to stop racial profiling by police. A Pew survey earlier this summer, which revealed the racial polarization surrounding the death of Michael Brown, found that 63 percent of whites and only 20 percent of blacks think that Brown’s death at the hands of Darren Wilson was not about race.

In a series of meetings at the White House on Dec. 1, President Obama, Vice President Joseph Biden and Attorney General Eric Holder spoke with Cabinet members, law enforcement officials and young activists about the distrust between police and communities of color. The president called for $75 million in federal spending to purchase 50,000 body cameras that would record police interactions with civilians and also announced the convening of a government task force on “21st Century Policing.” Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with Tory Russell, co-founder of the youth-led group Hands Up United. Here, he discusses the current situation in Ferguson and his group’s work building a national movement to confront police violence in communities of color.

For more information on the youth-led group Hands Up United, visit

Related Links:

• Interview conducted by Scott Harris, Counterpoint, Dec. 1, 2014 (24:28)
• Millennial Activists United on Tumbler at Millennialau.tumblr.com
• Millennial Activists United on Twitter at twitter.com/MillennialAU
• Ferguson Action Demands at fergusonaction.com/demands
• Ferguson Action White House meeting at fergusonaction.com/white-house-meeting
• “Obama vows to address ‘simmering distrust’ between police, minorities,” Reuters, Dec. 1, 2014
• “FACT SHEET: Strengthening Community Policing,” The White House, Dec. 1, 2014
• “NAACP Announces March, ‘Journey For Justice: Ferguson To Jefferson City,'” NAACP
• “The Science of Why Cops Shoot Young Black Men,” Mother Jones, November 2014
• “When force is hardest to justify, victims of police violence are most likely to be black,” The Society Pages, Nov. 29, 2014
• “Stark Racial Divisions in Reactions to Ferguson Police Shooting,” Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, Aug. 18, 2014
• “Ferguson exit poll shows racial polarization in views of police,” Washington Post, Nov. 28, 2014

  With Two-State Solution Dead, Will Palestinians Launch a Third Intifada?

  Interview with Philip Weiss, founder and co-editor of Mondoweiss.net, conducted by Scott Harris

  Over the past six months, violence has swelled in and around Jerusalem, the city with religious sites holy to three of world’s major religions. The first incident occurred in June, two months after Israeli Palestinian peace talks led by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry collapsed. On June 13, three Israeli teenagers were abducted and killed while hitchhiking in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Then a Palestinian teenager was seized and burned to death by Jewish assailants in a suspected revenge attack. These crimes were followed by the Israeli military assault on Gaza where 2,100 Palestinians were killed, most of them civilians and 70 Israelis died, most of them soldiers.

  In September and October, tensions grew over access to the city’s holiest site, known to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif and to Jews as the Temple Mount, resulting in clashes and a series of deadly Palestinian attacks on Israeli Jews. The most recent of these attacks occurred in a Jerusalem synagogue on Nov. 18, where three rabbis and an Israeli policeman were allegedly killed by two Palestinian assailants, who were themselves later killed by police.

  Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with Philip Weiss, founder and co-editor of the news website Mondoweiss.net, which covers U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Here, he talks about the resent upsurge in violence and rising tensions in Jerusalem, amid the failure of diplomacy and a sense of hopelessness that the decades-long conflict between Israel and Palestine can be resolved through peaceful means.

  Visit Philip Weiss’ news website on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East at Mondoweiss.net.

  Related Links:

  • Interview conducted by Scott Harris, Counterpoint, Dec. 1, 2014 (24:21)
  • “Lieberman unveils racist peace plan: Pay Palestinians to leave Israel,” Mondoweiss.net, November 2014
  • Third Possibility: Coming Civil War in West Bank/ Jerusalem? Juan Cole, November 2014
  • “Will Jerusalem ever be shared by Palestinians and Israelis?” Al Jazeera, Nov. 26, 2014
  • “Israeli forces detain 13 Palestinian workers in Jerusalem,” Ma’an News Agency, Nov. 30, 2014
  • “How easy it is to prevent escalation in Jerusalem,” Haaretz, Feb. 2, 2014

    Sand Mined for Fracking Wells in Midwest Generates Environmental and Health Concerns

    Interview with Bobby King, an organizer with the Minnesota-based Land Stewardship Project, conducted by Melinda Tuhus

    A Minnesota company that mines sand to supply fracking wells, a controversial method of extracting natural gas from shale bedrock was recently fined $85,000 in mid-November for several violations, including emitting unlawfully high levels of toxic dust. So-called “frac sand” is the least well-known of three kinds of raw materials used to frack a well. Other resources used in the fracking method include millions of gallons of water and a toxic brew of chemicals, many of them cancer-causing or endocrine-disrupting. As fracking wells have sprouted up around the country, the extraction method has triggered local opposition due to pollution of the air and groundwater.

    Frac sand mining takes place almost exclusively along the upper Mississippi River in Wisconsin and Minnesota, which has the specific type of sand needed for fracking operations. A single fracked well can use up to 10,000 tons of this special sand over its lifetime. Critics say that mining for sand has devastated the region, creating similar environmental damage and health concerns as the fracking process itself.

    Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with Bobby King, policy program organizer with the Minnesota-based Land Stewardship Project. Here, he explains how this special sand came to exist in the region, the grassroots-led fights against frac sand mining, and how it fits into the bigger picture of extreme energy extraction.

    Find more information on the controversy surrounding mining sand for fracking by visiting the Land Stewardship Project at landstewardshipproject.org.

    Related Links:

    • “Minnesota Regulators Issue $85,000 Frac-Sand Fine on Tiller Corp.,” Inside Climate News, Nov. 26, 2014
    • “Frac Sand Mining,” Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters

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