Tag: racial injustice

Militarization has fostered a policing culture that sets up protesters as ‘the enemy’

The unrest sparked by the death of George Floyd after being pinned to the ground by the knee of a Minneapolis police officerhas left parts of U.S. cities looking like a battle zone.

Night after night, angry protesters have taken to the street. So too have police officers dressed in full riot gear and backed by an arsenal that any small military force would be proud of: armored vehicles, military-grade aircraft, rubber and wooden bullets, stun grenades, sound cannons and tear gas canisters.

The militarization of police departments has been a feature of U.S. domestic law enforcement since the 9/11 attacks. What is clear from the latest round of protest and response, is that despite efforts to promote de-escalation as a policy, police culture appears to be stuck in an “us vs. them” mentality. Continue reading.

James Mattis condemns Trump as a threat to the Constitution

Axios logoFormer Secretary of Defense James Mattis condemned President Trump for making a “mockery of our Constitution” in a statement to The Atlantic on Wednesday, saying he was “appalled” at the president’s response to mass protests in the wake of George Floyd’s killing.

Why it matters: Trump’s former defense secretary had refrained from publicly criticizing his former boss since resigning in 2018.

Full statement:

“I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled. The words “Equal Justice Under Law” are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court. This is precisely what protesters are rightly demanding. It is a wholesome and unifying demand—one that all of us should be able to get behind. We must not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers. The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values—our values as people and our values as a nation. Continue reading.

Tensions on streets slowly ebb in wake of George Floyd’s death

Minnesota leaders hoped cautiously Monday for continued de-escalation of tensions in the aftermath of George Floyd’s deadly encounter with Minneapolis police, even as President Donald Trump threatened to mobilize the military to tamp down unrest elsewhere in the country.

Gov. Tim Walz talked of pulling back a portion of more than 7,000 National Guard members that had been called in to help quell violence in the metro area. Hours were reduced on a Twin Cities curfew first issued days earlier, and officials planned to leave freeways open, unlike previous nights.

The state was in “a much more stable position,” National Guard Maj. Gen. Jon Jensen said Monday, though he emphasized that the Guard’s presence in the Twin Cities would look the same as it had over the weekend. Other units, which had been waiting at armories to step in if needed, could return home if leaders deemed it OK, he said. Continue reading.

Shadowy protesters inflame, muddle George Floyd debate

The Hill logoThe shadowy identity of the violent agitators trashing cities across the country has muddled the national debate over racial justice, inflaming partisan tensions, triggering finger-pointing from all sides and threatening to sap the power of those seeking reforms after the death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police.

Mass protests have erupted in scores of cities across the country since last Monday, when Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man, was killed in police custody — a death captured on a grisly video that flew across the internet.

While a majority of those demonstrators have marched peacefully, violence has flared from Seattle and Santa Monica, Calif., to Atlanta and Miami, where vandals have smashed police cars, looted shops and torched vehicles and businesses with seeming indiscrimination. In Washington, D.C., on Sunday night, some sought to burn a historic church.  Continue reading.

Minnesota charges three more former officers in George Floyd case

Axios logoMinnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison on Wednesday elevated charges against the former officer seen kneeling on George Floyd’s neck to second-degree murder, and also charged the three other former officers who were present with aiding and abetting murder, according to court documents.

Why it matters: Members of Floyd’s family and protesters across the country have demanded charges against all four officers on scene during his death.

  • Derek Chauvin, the former officer seen kneeling on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes, was originally charged last week with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
  • The three other former officers charged on Wednesday are Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng. Continue reading.

Before Trump vows to end ‘lawlessness,’ federal officers confront protesters outside White House

Washington Post logoIn a massive show of force, federal law enforcement officers fired rubber bullets and chemical gas at peaceful protesters outside the White House on Monday evening as President Trump appeared in the Rose Garden to threaten the mobilization of “thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers” to quell “lawlessness” across the country.

Hundreds of protesters were pushed away from Lafayette Square, where they were protesting the police killing of George Floyd, by the National Guard, U.S. Park Police and Secret Service. The ambush began half an hour before the city’s newly imposed curfew of 7 p.m. went into effect. When the crowds were cleared, the president walked through the park to visit the historic St. John’s Episcopal Church, which had been set on fire Sunday.

The sudden use of force left early protesters bruised, bleeding and in shock. Although the night would ultimately end with a spattering of smashed windows and vandalized businesses, the scene in front of the White House when federal law enforcement descended was far from the “violent mobs” Trump described in his speech. The gathering was smaller and calmer than previous evenings, with people dancing and singing to a woman playing a guitar instead of knocking over barricades. Continue reading.

As Trump Calls Protesters ‘Terrorists,’ Tear Gas Clears a Path for His Walk to a Church

New York Times logoIn a Rose Garden speech shaded with anger, President Trump threatened to send the American military to states where governors could not bring under control the protests over police brutality.

WASHINGTON — President Trump on Monday angrily denounced the demonstrators who have used violence to call attention to the deaths of black men killed by the police as “organizers” of terrorism, and threatened to send the American military to states where governors could not bring the protests under control.

“If a city or a state refuses to take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents,” Mr. Trump said in brief remarks in the Rose Garden, “then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them.”

As the president began speaking, the police used tear gas and flash grenades to clear out the crowd that had gathered across the street in Lafayette Square so Mr. Trump could walk to St. John’s Episcopal Church afterward and pose for photographs while holding a Bible outside the boarded-up church. Continue reading.

Illinois governor immediately confronted Trump over his ‘inflammatory’ rhetoric during call

AlterNet logoIn leaked audio obtained by CNN, President Donald Trump can be heard lambasting governors during a teleconference call on Monday — slamming them as “weak” for not doing more to bring protestors under control and not encouraging more arrests. Trump stressed that he wanted governors to “dominate” protestors. But Democratic Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker did not take it lying down.

Pritzker, according to the Chicago-Sun Times, asserted that he is “extraordinarily concerned about the rhetoric that’s been used” by Trump following protests in response to the killing of African-American Minneapolis resident George Floyd on May 25.

The Illinois governor told Trump, “It’s been inflammatory, and it’s not OK for that officer to choke George Floyd to death, but we have to call for calm. We have to have police reform called for. We’ve called out our National Guard and our state police, but the rhetoric that’s coming out of the White House is making it worse. And I need to say that people are feeling real pain out there. And we’ve got to have national leadership in calling for calm and making sure that we’re addressing the concerns of the legitimate peaceful protesters. That will help us to bring order.” Continue reading.

Autopsies say George Floyd’s death was homicide

Axios logoPreliminary results from an independent autopsy commissioned by George Floyd’s family found that his death in the custody of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was “homicide caused by asphyxia due to neck and back compression that led to a lack of blood flow to the brain,” according to a statement from the family’s attorney.

The latest: An updated official autopsy released by the Hennepin County medical examiner also determined that the manner of Floyd’s death was “homicide,” ruling it was caused by “cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdued, restraint, and neck compression.”

Why it matters: Both the independent autopsy and the updated official autopsy contradicted preliminary findingsfrom the Hennepin County medical examiner, who found “no physical findings that support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxiation or strangulation,” according to charging documents against Chauvin. Continue reading.

Trump calls governors ‘weak,’ urges them to use force against unruly protests

Washington Post logoPresident Trump on Monday berated the nation’s governors during a conference call, describing them as “weak” in the face of growing racial unrest and urging them to take an aggressive stand against unruly protests.

Trump told governors that if they don’t take back the streets and use force to confront protesters they would look like “fools,” alarming several governors on the call as they communicated privately.

“You have to dominate. If you don’t dominate, you’re wasting your time,” he said. “They’re going to run over you. You’re going to look like a bunch of jerks.” Continue reading.