Also.Also.Also: Georgia Police Who Killed “Stop Cop City” Queer Indigenous Activist Tortuguita Will Not Face Charges

This is a heavy one today, so take care of yourself as needed.


Queer as in F*ck You

Police Who Fatally Shot “Stop Cop City” Activist Tortuguita Will Not Face Criminal Charges. The Indigenous queer and nonbinary activist Tortuguita was shot and killed by police on January 18 was shot and killed following a raid on a tent in the Atlanta Forest where activists have been fighting against “Cop City,” the truly vile proposed police training facility. The police claim Tortuguita shot at them, but an independent autopsy released this spring discovered Tortuguita was sitting with their hands up when they were shot 57 times. Now, according to Them.us: “The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says it will not pursue criminal charges against the state troopers who shot and killed a nonbinary activist in January during a protest against Atlanta’s infamous ‘Cop City’ development project.”

I urge you to read more about Stop Cop City, its contexts, and what you can do to help even from afar.

We closed out Banned Books Week over the weekend, and here’s a relevant report from The 19th: Book Bans in Schools Jumped 33 Percent Last Year.

Nowhere To Party: The Decimation of Queer Spaces for Black Lesbians.

100 Easy Ways to Make the World Better for Trans People.

Elizabeth Warren Just Backed an ‘Online Safety’ Bill That Will Harm LGBTQ Youth.


Saw This, Thought of You

Gaza Is a Nightmare Today, but We Will Not Stop Dreaming of Freedom.

The Violence in Palestine and Israel Is the Tragic Fruit of Brutal Oppression.

The Fight Against Apartheid Was an International Struggle.

California Governor Vetoes Bill to Ban Caste Discrimination.

Decriminalizing Drugs Doesn’t Increase Fatal Overdoses: Study.

Death Threats, Closed Playgrounds: QAnon Queen Wreaks Havoc in Small Town Canada.


Political Snacks

Biden Promised Not “Another Foot of Wall.” Now, He’s Restarting Construction.


One More Thing

Instead of the usual embedded Instagram post containing a poem, I search around to see if I could find a person June Jordan favorite online: “Moving towards Home” by June Jordan.

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Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya

Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya is the managing editor of Autostraddle and a lesbian writer of essays, short stories, and pop culture criticism living in Orlando. She is the assistant managing editor of TriQuarterly, and her short stories appear or are forthcoming in McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, Joyland, Catapult, The Offing, and more. Some of her pop culture writing can be found at The A.V. Club, Vulture, The Cut, and others. You can follow her on Twitter or Instagram and learn more about her work on her website.

Kayla has written 885 articles for us.

6 Comments

  1. I’ll try again.

    On the largest single-day loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust, when Jewish civilians and babies are horrifically murdered, you couldn’t spare a single link for them?

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