Tag: racial injustice

George Floyd died after officers didn’t step in. These police say they did — and paid a price.

Washington Post logoBUFFALO — When video of Buffalo police officers shoving and then walking past a bleeding, unmoving protester went viral, former Buffalo police officer Cariol Horne thought back to 2006 when, she says, a white colleague choked a handcuffed black man.

Horne says she told him to stop, then yanked the bigger officer’s arm away. According to the Buffalo News, the colleague accused her of jumping on him while he struggled for control. No one filmed the moment; other officers were there, according to news reports, but none backed her story during an independent arbitration, and Horne was fired.

“I always say that if I had to do it again, I would,” she told The Washington Post. Continue reading.

Senate GOP shifts on police reform

The Hill logoSenate Republicans are signaling a sharp shift on police reform, raising the chances that federal legislation could actually clear Congress and reach President Trump’s desk.

Just a week ago, it seemed likely that a legislative package would pass the House but run into a dam in the Senate, where Republicans seemed more focused on retaining their majority and bolstering an economy tanked by the coronavirus pandemic.

Yet the dark political clouds hovering over the White House and the Senate’s GOP majority coupled with a dramatic swing in polling showing a majority of Americans believe African Americans are the victims of excessive force by police have changed the political winds. Continue reading.

What’s different about this moment? Primarily the number of Americans supporting protests over racial injustice.

Washington Post logoIt’s common for lawmakers, activists and others who have been engaged in efforts to end police violence and racism to say this moment feels different.

What seems so obviously different is just how popular their message has become.

When viewing the protests around the country — and even the world — it’s impossible not to notice the demographic diversity. While demonstrators five years ago in Ferguson, Mo., after the killing of Michael Brown were mostly black and from cities with large black and working-class populations, the current protests include significant numbers of white demonstrators and have been held in affluent communities from Scottsdale, Ariz., to Provincetown, Mass. Continue reading.

Ivanka Trump’s anger reveals her ‘dissociated princess’ schtick is no longer ‘viable’: family biographer

AlterNet logoOn Tuesday, writing for Vanity Fair, Trump family biographer Emily Jane Fox revealed how first daughter Ivanka Trump’s political strategy of playing the “dissociated princess” has played to her advantage — and how recent events suggest her strategy is reaching its limits.

“Ivanka’s ability to operate on this otherworldly separate track — both from the president and from the everyday realities and rules that surround most Americans — was both an asset to the kind of power she cared about and a contrast from her father,” wrote Fox. “She ignored the harsher realities of the administration she was part of by creating a distinct narrative that she could market to those who were open to buying it as a way to both aid her father and whatever role she would ultimately decide to take on once he leaves the White House. It is a kind of impulse control and compartmentalization that the elder Trump does not possess. Her father is temperamentally unable not to dwell on and rave about exactly what is on his mind or the public consciousness at that precise moment, even when it’s in his obvious political interest to do so.”

“Her dissociative ability played out again over the weekend,” wrote Fox. “The controversy unfolded on Thursday, when Wichita State University Tech decided it would not air a speech that Ivanka had prerecorded for its virtual graduation ceremony on Saturday. The school made the decision after students and staff condemned the White House’s response to the protests in the wake of George Floyd’s killing. Ivanka had been asked to deliver the address in February, and she recorded the address, which largely talked about coronavirus and did not address matters of race, before the protests began.” However, following outrage, the school acknowledged the lineup was insensitive and canceled her engagement. Continue reading.

‘We ought to set aside this talk’: Pence’s take on systemic racism meets a new test

The vice president is flipping between backing his boss’ tough talk and articulating a more conciliatory approach to the protests sweeping the nation.

As protests unfolded over the latest police killing of a middle-aged black man, an African American bishop asked Mike Pence a simple question: How can you personally reunite a racially splintered nation?

Pence, a devout Christian of the born-again stripe, calmly replied that he would orient the country toward God and away from “voices of division” demanding transformational change — or, in his words, talking “too much” about systemic racism. “The faith community, I believe, has before and can again pay an enormously important role in healing the divide in our country,” Pence said to the clergy and congregants seated around him. What doesn’t help, he volunteered, is “this talk of institutional bias, or racism, within law enforcement.”

“It’s a challenging time to be in law enforcement, but I would tell you that Donald Trump and I know and believe that the men and women of law enforcement — our white officers, our African American officers, our Hispanic, Latino and Asian officers — they’re the best of us and we ought to set aside this talk … about institutional racism and institutional bias,” Pence advised. Continue reading.

Romney challenges Trump with Black Lives Matter march

The Hill logoSen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) is challenging President Trump’s antagonistic stance toward Black Lives Matter protesters at a time when Trump’s support in the polls is dropping.

Romney made a surprising and stirring gesture on Sunday by marching toward the White House with hundreds of other people protesting police violence against African Americans after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

On Monday, he announced that he is working with Republican colleagues to put together police reform legislation, filling the void left by Trump and GOP leaders in Congress who have not made it a priority.

Big majorities support protests over Floyd killing and say police need to change, poll finds

Washington Post logoAmericans overwhelmingly support the nationwide protests that have taken place since the killing of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis, and they say police forces have not done enough to ensure that blacks are treated equally to whites, according to a Washington Post-Schar School poll.

President Trump receives negative marks for his handling of the protests, with 61 percent saying they disapprove and 35 percent saying they approve. Much of the opposition to Trump is vehement, as 47 percent of Americans say they strongly disapprove of the way the president has responded to the protests.

The poll highlights how attitudes about police treatment of black Americans are changing dramatically. More than 2 in 3 Americans (69 percent) say the killing of Floyd represents a broader problem within law enforcement, compared with fewer than 1 in 3 (29 percent) who say the Minneapolis killing is an isolated incident. Continue reading.

Bashing Romney, McEnany reveals how worried the White House is about the protests

Washington Post logoThe president wouldn’t take the high road if it were owned by the Trump Organization

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) has been in politics long enough to understand that his appearance at a Black Lives Matter protest in Washington on Sunday served as a rebuke of President Trump. Romney has mastered the art of getting under Trump’s skin by passively highlighting Trump’s weaknesses, and the protest certainly achieved that goal.

On Monday morning, Trump tweeted a video snippet of Romney at the march, disparaging the senator and 2012 Republican nominee with a sardonic “what a guy.”

“Hard to believe, with this kind of political talent, his numbers would ‘tank’ so badly in Utah!” Trump wrote — apparently not knowing that Romney is, in fact, quite popular in his state. Continue reading.

Virginia Man Who Drove Truck Into Protest Says He’s A White Supremacist: Prosecutor

Harry H. Rogers was arrested on several charges, including assault and battery, after driving through a crowd of anti-racism protesters.

A Virginia man who drove his pickup truck into a crowd of anti-racism protesters on Sunday is a self-described white supremacist, prosecutors said Monday.

Harry H. Rogers, 36, has been arrested and charged with assault and battery, attempted malicious wounding and felony vandalism after witnesses in Richmond said he drove onto a median, revved his engine and drove into a crowd of protesters.

One person was injured during the incident. The victim was evaluated at the scene and refused further treatment, Henrico County Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor said in a statement issued Monday. Continue reading.

Trump: There won’t be any defunding of police

The Hill logoPresident Trump and his allies on Monday lashed out at activists and some Democrats for their support of the “defund the police” movement, seeking to draw a contrast with the administration’s embrace of law enforcement amid nationwide protests.

White House aides and campaign officials sought to tie Democrats to the mantra of “defund the police,” which has gained steam on social media and at some protests after George Floyd‘s death May 25.

“There won’t be defunding. There won’t be dismantling of our police, and there’s not going to be any disbanding of our police. Our police have been letting us live in peace, and we want to make sure we don’t have any bad actors in there,” Trump said during a meeting with law enforcement officers and police chiefs at the White House, adding that he believes “99 percent” of officers are “great people.” Continue reading.