Tag: systemic racism

Senate Democrats Demand Explanation Of Dropped Redlining Probes

Eighteen Senate Democrats on Monday asked a leading U.S. bank regulator to explain how his agency handled investigations into discrimination and “redlining” in the banking industry.

The letter, signed by Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, and the other lawmakers, comes after a story by ProPublica and The Capitol Forum recounting how six lending discrimination probes were dropped under President Donald Trump.

It calls on the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to explain how it handled those cases and why the banks involved have not been sanctioned. “Without intervention by the OCC, countless consumers could be subject to discrimination with no way to know or seek redress,” the letter says. Continue reading.

Brooklyn Center officials considering removing Earle Brown’s name from city sites

One historian says the former Hennepin County sheriff once belonged to the Ku Klux Klan.

Brooklyn Center leaders are confronting allegations that favorite son Earle Brown belonged to the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s, and they may soon opt to separate the city from a name that adorns many of its most prominent buildings.

Even the city’s summer festival, Earle Brown Days, honors the man who served as Hennepin County sheriff, helped found the Minnesota State Patrol and unsuccessfully ran for governor in 1932.

But at a City Council work session last week, members expressed concern about information on Brown in “The Ku Klux Klan in Minnesota,” a book published in 2013 by Minneapolis high school teacher Elizabeth Dorsey Hatle. They’re weighing name changes for the Earle Brown Heritage Center, Earle Brown Drive and Earle Brown Days. Continue reading.

Bodycam video shows officer pulled gun on George Floyd early on

Video from body cameras worn by two of the officers involved in the killing of George Floyd was viewed by the public for the first time.

Body-worn camera footage from former Minneapolis police officer Thomas Lane showed that George Floyd was given no explanation for why he was being questioned before Lane pointed a gun and swore at him, touched him multiple times and forced him out of his vehicle into the street.

The court made footage captured by Lane and fellow fired officer J. Alexander Kueng publicly viewable Wednesday by appointment. Sixty-six spaces were made available at one-hour increments to watch the videos that totaled about 65 minutes.

Lane and Kueng, along with onetime colleague Tou Thao, are charged with aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter in connection with Floyd’s death while he was under arrest on May 25 at E. 38th Street and S. Chicago Avenue. Another fired officer, Derek Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder, third-murder and second-degree manslaughter. Continue reading.

New police video reveals George Floyd’s desperate pleas before his death

Washington Post logoMINNEAPOLIS — A white police officer pulled his gun within 15 seconds of encountering George Floyd in a parked vehicle in May, prompting the 46-year-old black man to cry, panic and beg officers not to kill him during a harrowing ordeal revealed in police body camera videos released Wednesday.

The footage, captured by cameras worn by two of the four officers charged in Floyd’s May 25 death, presents an even more desperate scene than previously known. Floyd appeared visibly shaken and scared of police, whom he called “sir” and “Mr. Officer.” He moaned and begged for his life after they pinned him to the ground, a white officer’s knee at his throat for more than eight minutes.

The videos, made available to the public by a Hennepin County judge, were filed as evidence in the former officers’ criminal case and presented for viewing in court just hours before Floyd’s family filed a wrongful-death civil suit against the city of Minneapolis and the four police officers charged in his death. The family accused the officers of violating Floyd’s constitutional rights and the city of turning a blind eye to a culture of excessive force and racism in its police force that allowed the encounter with Floyd to happen. Continue reading.

#EndorseThis: Lincoln Project Ad Slaps Cowardly GOP Senators

“Walk of Courage,” the latest ad from the Lincoln Project, smacks down Republican Senators who won’t stand up to Donald Trump (meaning all of them except Utah’s Mitt Romney).

In just 30 seconds, this tiny gem contrasts the cowardice of those politicians with the courage of the protesters who rose up after the murder of George Floyd. It shows Black Lives Matter protesters marching peacefully past a group of armed white men during a demonstration in Crown Point, Indiana — and a parade of GOP senators skulking silently past reporters asking them about President Donald Trump’s conduct.or’s

Don’t miss the smile flashed by a protester walking past the gun thugs. Just click.

Partially blinded by police

Washington Post logoEight people suffered severe eye injuries at protests across the country on May 30. In three instances, video evidence undermines official accounts of what happened.

Protests erupted in cities across the country on May 30, the Saturday after George Floyd’s death in police custody in Minneapolis. As law enforcement officers moved to clear the streets, some fired what are called “less lethal” munitions.

The Washington Post found that eight people lost vision in one eye after being struck by police projectiles, including lead pellets packed in cloth pouches that were fired from shotguns. They were among 12 people who were partially blinded by police during a week of national unrest.

Of the eight who lost sight that day, six were protesters, one was a photojournalist, and another was a passerby. Drawing on cellphone and surveillance videos, along with other records, The Post reconstructed the circumstances of three of those incidents in detail. Continue reading.

Minnesota House Advances Resolution Declaring Racism a Public Health Crisis

House DFL logoSAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA — A Minnesota House of Representatives committee yesterday advanced a resolution declaring racism a public health crisis, with a final vote on the House floor likely to occur Monday, July 20. Click here to download a copy.

Authored by Rep. Ruth Richardson (DFL-Mendota Heights), the declaration applies to the entire state and affirms that the Minnesota House will be an active participant in the dismantling of racism. It creates a House Select Committee on Minnesota’s response tasked with analyzing legislative work through an intersectional race equity lens.

“Black, Indigenous, and people of color have known for generations that the systems in this country were designed to exclude them,” said Rep. Richardson. “The devastation we are seeing in our communities today is the result of those systems playing out for hundreds of years.” 

The resolution states that racism is embedded in the foundation of America, beginning with chattel slavery​ in 1619, and that much of the Black experience in America has been endured under slavery and​ Jim Crow, which created preferential opportunities for white people while subjecting people of​ color to hardships and disadvantages in every area of life.

“The Minnesota House as an institution can and should play an active role in dismantling systems that have denied dignity, respect, and compassion to so many,” said House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler. “Our nation is facing a historic moment and the Minnesota House plans to be on the side of justice and human rights.” 

Video of today’s Rules Committee discussion of the resolution will soon be available here.

 

Yes, even in small, single-stoplight towns they’re saying his name

Washington Post logoTANEYTOWN, MARYLAND — The silver pickup truck with a passenger-side rust spot passed the railroad tracks, then slowed down as it rolled past the crowd of demonstrators in this tiny downtown.

“Black lives matter!” yelled a white woman in comfort capri pants — then she and her neighbors waited for the silver truck’s verdict.

“Honk! Honk! Hoooonk!” went the truck, and the driver’s white fist emerged from his window, punching the air in support. Continue reading.

Corporate money, Black Lives Matter protests and elites’ opinion drove Redskins name change

Washington Post logoFour years ago, I wrote an opinion article for The Washington Post that began, “It’s humbling to admit it, but Dan Snyder wins.”

The piece was in response to a poll by this newspaper showing that 9 out of 10 Native Americans were not offended by the Redskins team name, just as owner Snyder had insisted for years.

I felt chastened because I had written 10 previous Metro columns arguing forcefully for a change on grounds that the name is a racist slur. Continue reading.

George Floyd warned police he thought he would die because he couldn’t breathe, according to body camera transcripts

Washington Post logoMINNEAPOLIS — George Floyd repeatedly begged police officers not to
shoot him and complained of being claustrophobic as they tried to place him in a squad car in the minutes before he was killed on a South Minneapolis street corner in May, according to transcripts of police body camera footage from the scene released Wednesday.

The transcripts make clear that Floyd was trying to cooperate with police but was deathly afraid of them, at times telling them that he had had covid-19 and was worried that he was going to die because he couldn’t breathe while in their custody. As one of the officers — Derek Chauvin — pressed a knee into his neck and held Floyd on the ground, he told Floyd that he must be okay because he was able to speak, saying that he was using up a lot of oxygen pleading for help.

“They going to kill me,” Floyd said as officers sat atop him in the street, according to the transcripts. “They’re going to kill me man.” Continue reading.