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Joshua Clark Davis
@JoshClarkDavis
Author POLICE AGAINST THE MOVEMENT (2025) on civil rights activists vs. state violence, surveillance | Historian @ubaltmain | Bylines @thenation @jacobin @slate
Baltimore, Maryland
JoshuaClarkDavis.com
Joined April 2014
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    Joshua Clark Davis
    @JoshClarkDavis
    Aug 28, 2023
    Wrote a preview of my book. 60 years ago today, the March on Washington captured America's attention--including the attention of police spies from NYC, Chicago, Birmingham + Philly. Histories of the March should mention this surveillance.
    slate.com
    A Dark, Untold Story About the March on Washington Has Just Been Revealed
    Police from as far away as Alabama were watching.
    56K
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    Joshua Clark Davis
    @JoshClarkDavis
    Nov 23, 2022
    Wow, so Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was one of the bullies trying to stop his Black classmates from desegregating Central High in Little Rock in 1957. washingtonpost.com/sports/interac…
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    Joshua Clark Davis
    @JoshClarkDavis
    Dec 1, 2018
    President George Bush wanted to show America what crack cocaine looked like at his first Oval Office address on Sept 5, 1989. He wanted to show you could even buy crack in front of the White House. That’s how bad the crisis had gotten. That’s how Bush announced his War on Drugs.
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    Joshua Clark Davis
    @JoshClarkDavis
    Sep 11, 2020
    An extended family member of mine passed away recently and his obituary asked people to dedicate themselves to "rescuing our democracy from fascism." The New York Times refused to print the phrase "from fascism."
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    Joshua Clark Davis
    @JoshClarkDavis
    Nov 23, 2022
    Replying to @JoshClarkDavis
    Jones has acknowledged it's him in the photo--but hasn't apologized for it.
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    Joshua Clark Davis
    @JoshClarkDavis
    Dec 1, 2018
    Replying to @JoshClarkDavis
    This is a major part of Bush’s legacy. It’s what his War on Drugs did to just one person. But it shows the human costs of that war in miniature detail. A high schooler was lured to the WH to sell crack and spent 7+ years in prison, so that the President could make a point on TV.
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    Joshua Clark Davis
    @JoshClarkDavis
    Nov 23, 2022
    Replying to @JoshClarkDavis
    Correction: this was at North Little Rock High School, a few miles from Central High, in the same month as the Little Rock Nine entered school.
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    Joshua Clark Davis
    @JoshClarkDavis
    Nov 23, 2022
    Replying to @JoshClarkDavis
    I’m *not at all* surprised that a white person would do what Jones did, but it is surprising that it took this long for Jones to be identified in that photo. I don’t think it’s been made public before. Could be wrong.
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    Joshua Clark Davis
    @JoshClarkDavis
    Jun 18, 2024
    Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky at a press conference for the Committee to Defend the Panthers, October 20, 1970
    Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky at a press conference for the Committee to Defend the Panthers, October 20, 1970
    419K
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    Joshua Clark Davis
    @JoshClarkDavis
    Nov 5, 2022
    The tiny town of Hamlet, North Carolina took some giant steps to put up this new mural of John Coltrane, born there in 1926.
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    Joshua Clark Davis
    @JoshClarkDavis
    Dec 1, 2018
    Replying to @JoshClarkDavis
    Many applauded Bush’s story of the arrest, but Kevin Zeese, a defense atty specializing in drug cases, didn't. "It's disgusting...The situation is not bad enough that they have to create a false situation? It's the government creating a hoax so they can rev up the war effort."
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    Joshua Clark Davis
    @JoshClarkDavis
    Nov 23, 2022
    Replying to @JoshClarkDavis
    Apparently Jones admitted he was there in a 2010 oral history and described himself as “mischievous” and “scared to death” that day?! But not clear how widely the photo has circulated before today.
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    Joshua Clark Davis
    @JoshClarkDavis
    May 4, 2021
    60 years ago today, eighteen Freedom Riders left for New Orleans from Washington, D.C. to desegregate the South's Jim Crow interstate buses. Here are some of those who were arrested. Hank Thomas, Washington, D.C., 19
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    Joshua Clark Davis
    @JoshClarkDavis
    Dec 1, 2018
    Replying to @JoshClarkDavis
    “Where the fuck is the White House” Jackson asked in a secretly recorded call with an undercover DEA agent. That’s how segregated DC was. The Agent had to explain the location to Jackson, who eventually replied, “Oh, you mean where Reagan lives."