Not Anonymous

Finally, finally, finally, I got it done! It took way longer than I thought, but yay! Listening to the same descriptions over and over again is quite harrowing - I cannot begin to imagine how it must have felt to be in Neli's shoes that day.

Any way, here's the video again, and under the cut is the transcript:


( Autism and Racial Injustice: Neli Finally Tells His Story )

I didn't transcript the whole thing, in the end. I looked for others who began to transcript it and thanks to trouble who contacted me earlier this week regarding the DW comm called transcripts I managed to finish this task by copying and pasting a segment from terajk's transcript here - the part that zie wrote begins at "Okay. So once they got you down to the police station, then what did they try to do?", thank you very much terajk, *hat/tip*.

I read about this yesterday and am appalled as well everyone else should be. Here is what happened to a young autistic black man while walking, minding his own business.

A Voice For Neli

On the morning of May 24, 2010, I arose at approximately 6:30 am to wake my son for school. I discovered that my son was not in his room. I did not immediately worry because I know that he loves to go for walks. A few hours later at approximately 10:30 I called the police station when he had not returned. I was told that he was in custody and was currently being questioned but I was not told why. I immediately told them that my son was Autistic. Although I told them this, they still refused to offer me any information. I told them the to ensure he got his phone call. Once he called me, I could barely hear him because his speech was very low. The only thing I could make out was that he was attacked by the police and he didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I still had no idea what he was talking about.

It wasn’t until later that evening that I found out about the events of what allegedly took place that morning. A neighbor came down to check on me and said she had seen this story on the News. Needless to say I was devastated, appalled, livid, sad and my heart just broke. I knew immediately that something was VERY wrong, because my son would not be in possession of a gun. My son, whom our family calls “Neli”, was jailed without bond and I was told that I was not allowed to visit him.

A school counselor from the school that he attends was however allowed to see him. I’m very grateful for that because she has a long relationship with Neli and she is someone whom he trusts. The school counselor was able to set up a “special” visit for me to get in and see my son a few days later. What I saw completely devastated me. My son was unable to speak, although he was desperately trying to. I have never witnessed anything such as what I saw that day with him before.

My son was traumatized. He has since been transferred to a mental hospital to receive treatment. I have placed a link to the story below for the world to see. How very sensational and yet sinister at the same time. What is so suspicious about a young man sitting under a tree at the library. The library is where my son goes quite frequently because there is a teen room there. What made him suspicious? Was it because he is a young black male? Possible gun? Why was the assumption made that he had a gun when there was no visible gun seen? Again was it because he was a young black man? These assumptions are what catapulted the events of that day and has turned our family’s life completely upside down.

There is a story to tell. My son’s story. For legal reasons, I cannot disclose his side of the events that took place that day. But the truth will come out. The actions that were taken by the police that day were excessive in the least and grossly mishandled. Someone says I see a suspicious black male and he “could” have a gun, while all my son was doing was sitting in the grass at the library. And you shut down six schools and go out on a manhunt for this dangerous black man who was sitting in the grass. Anyone reading this story can read between the lines and see that this just doesn’t add up. This website is just the beginning of an effort on my part to get my son’s story out there, garner support from the Autism Community and shine on the injustices that took place that day.

More info at the link above, there is a Huff-Po article circulating as well.

Do I even need to say what's wrong here?

I do not follow music news that closely, or often. Usually, I'm surprised when an album by and artist I like has come out.
It feels as though the world is being nice to me.

In addition, I'm a fan of the music. The public persona of artists that I like, don't interest me that much. If I hear about them, as the people they are, it's usually in some award capacity, some new relationship or if they've done something extraordinary.

(That's the reason I couldn't ignore Lady Gaga, she was just creating huge amounts of discussion and her music was fun. So now I like her. Yes, I know there are issues with her persona, presentation and performance...).

This entry is about Amanda Palmer. Who is one of those artists I would listen to anything she put out. I've been a fan of her (and Brian Viglione) for years. The day I heard "Girl Anachronism" I knew The Dresden Dolls were a duo for me.
Their musical style appeals to me, I like piano-rock and thrashing drums, their aesthetic turned me on a little (Yes, I have a crush on the Emcee from "Cabaret") and their exploration of the uncanny through their music, imagery and recall of the 1920's in Europe made for a winning combination.

When Amanda Palmer went solo I was a bit weary, unsure if she would manage to have the same energy without bouncing it off another person.

I love "Who killed Amanda Palmer?" - the kooky reference to that uncanny and weird of all teevee shows ever aired (Twin Peaks, in case you missed the reference) must have appealed to even more fans who had heard of The Dresden Dolls.
Her photography books accompanied by Neil Gaiman's gorgeous craft of horror, macabre and morbid was absolutely fantastic.
I think Amanda Palmer made a wonderful critique on the visuals of violence against women, the photographs made me twitchy, because she was very attractive in them...
She was also dead.
What does that mean, that I found her arousing as a dead body? It made me ponder.

I'm also second guessing myself and my reactions due to her latest project; a co-operation with fellow artist Jason Webely, in which she and Webley are producing an album which tells the tale of musically inclined conjoined twins known as Evelyn Evelyn.
I've not heard any of the music yet, so I shan't comment on the artistic merit of the music.
I will, however, voice my disappointment in the way Palmer and Webley decided to tackle this piece of performance art.

I had first heard of the Evelyn Evelyn project via the (truly amazing) site FWD - Disabled Feminists, in which Annaham wrote a critique, voicing concerns regarding the ableism¹ in this project. ( Cut for length )

I'm really sad about this. I ♥ Amanda Fucking Palmer a lot. I'm listening to her album as I write this.
I'm truly and honestly torn about this.
I really, really hope they manage to fix this debacle up, by not dismissing their disabled critics, that fans be aware of the issues arising from this project and that I can go back to admiring her without her entitlement and prejudice colouring her music and art for me.

I doubt that is going to happen though.

This is my *sad face*

Footnotes
1) For whom this is a new term (it is for me still, I'm very much out of my depth when it comes to speaking about accessibility and disability), it is a term used to describe the discrimination and prejudice towards disabled people in society - we're all (or should be) familiar in how inaccessible certain places are for wheelchairs, how there are usually no visual aids for people who are hearing impaired, etc. etc. I really recommend FWD - Disabled Feminists in order to gain awareness and learn more about how the world favours able-bodies people. ↵

2) It's not directly stated, but it's quite easy to infer that the twins, Evelyn Evelyn, are Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley in costume. The whole project is a conceptual performance art thing. Very likely, due to a desire for veracity, Palmer and Webley are simply "producers" and not "performers". The twins are independent personas people attached (seriously no pun intended) to the project in order to promote the album and show. ↵