Vice President Mike Pence on Sunday invoked Martin Luther King Jr. and his anti-abortion views as he sought to defend his refusal to say “Black lives matter.”
CBS News host John Dickerson pressed Pence on his refusal to say the words “Black lives matter” amid weeks of protests over police brutality in the wake of the death of George Floyd.
“One thing protesters would like to hear is leaders say, ‘Black lives matter.’ You won’t say that,” Dickerson said. “Why?” Continue reading.
The protesters marching through St. Louis on Sunday evening were armed only with posters and chants, all meant to put pressure on Mayor Lyda Krewson to redirect city funds away from law enforcement.
“Resign Lyda, take the cops with you,” they shouted on the way to the mayor’s house in the Central West End, banging on drums and carrying signs that said, “Respect us.” The first-term Democrat had publicly released the names and addresses of some fellow activists, and now they wanted to bring their demonstration to her door.
But as the peaceful crowd of about 500 walked along a private, gated street, a white couple who emerged from a marble mansion had something else in mind. Continue reading.
How cops are talking about George Floyd’s killing and the protests sweeping America.This country is changing its mind about the police. Over the past few years, Americans have watched countless videos of police brutality against Black people. They’ve witnessed, or participated in, the formation of a massive social movement dedicated to the preservation and celebration of Black lives. And their perception of police forces has shifted: A Monmouth University survey conducted at the end of May found, for the first time in polling history, that a majority (57 percent) of Americans and a plurality (49 percent) of white people think police officers “faced with a difficult or dangerous situation” are “more likely to use excessive force if the culprit is black.” That’s an increase of 24 points among all Americans and 23 points among white people since Monmouth’s 2014 poll in the wake of NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo’s killing of Eric Garner.
Police officers have been watching those cameraphone videos too. They’ve witnessed, or participated in, the formation of a movement for “blue lives” in response to the movement affirming Black ones. More recently, they’ve been confronting Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin’s killing of George Floyd, the widespread protests against racism and police brutality, and the calls to defund or abolish police that have entered mainstream policy discourse as never before.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a cop who thinks his job ought to be bound for obsolescence. But law enforcement officials are processing this moment in American history in a wide variety of ways. Some officers are beating protesters and journalists in the streets. Some are beseeching their colleagues to listen to what the demonstrators have to say. Some are defending their profession on social media to strangers who reject the idea of a “good cop.” Some are considering a career change. Some police officers are drawing on their experiences as Black Americans to explain the protesters’ grievances to their co-workers. Many remain convinced that, in most cases that aren’t as cut-and-dry as Floyd’s killing, civilians who end up injured or killed by police could have avoided their fate if they’d simply followed officers’ orders. Continue reading.
When I toured the South Carolina Governor’s Mansion in 2019, I noticed the multi-volume papers of John C. Calhoun on display. It struck me as remarkable that Calhoun’s ideas would be featured so prominently given his vigorous defense of slavery and his role in laying the groundwork for the Civil War.
But the reality is Calhoun’s legacy until now has been quite prominent in American society – and not just in the South.
His statue stands between the two chambers of the House and Senate in the South Carolina Statehouse. However, a separate statue in Charleston has been removed from the town square following nationwide protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd during an encounter with police. The statue had stood for 124 years just a block from Mother Emanuel Church, site of the horrific shooting massacre in 2015 of nine Black worshipers by an avowed white supremacist. The church is also located on Calhoun Street. Continue reading.
Facebook is coming under mounting pressure from major companies to rein in hateful content on the platform or risk further loss of ad revenue.
In the past week, companies like Patagonia, The North Face, Ben & Jerry’s and REI have joined the Stop Hate for Profit campaign organized by civil rights groups in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd.
Organizers of the Facebook boycott acknowledge that while previous efforts to change Facebook’s platform have fallen short, the national focus on racial injustice has put a spotlight on all aspects of life, including social media. Continue reading.
A controversial statue of Robert E. Lee will remain in place in Richmond, the former capital of the American Confederacy –- at least temporarily.
On June 18, a judge extended an injunction barring the removal of the Confederate general’s statue, stating that “the monument is the property of the people,” not the state of Virginia, which seeks its removal.
In early June Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam vowed to dismantlethe prominent Lee statue in Richmond, the state capital, following sustained, nationwide protests over police brutality and racism. That plan was blocked by a 10-day court injunction – now extended through late July – based on the petition of a man whose ancestor, Otway Allen, gave Virginia the land the the sculpture sits on. Continue reading.
The former sheriff’s sergeant was charged with manslaughter after the fatal shooting of a black father of three. State officials say they lack authority to review allegations of racial discrimination in granting security-guard licenses.Carlos Carson was crossing the parking lot of the Tulsa motel where he had stayed the night when a shower of pepper spray hit him in the face, seemingly out of nowhere.
Overnight, the 36-year-old’s car had been vandalized, and he had exchanged words over the damage with the motel’s manager and later its armed private security guard, Christopher Straight. Carson was in the process of booking another night on June 6.
But as Carson walked outside the motel, a cup of coffee in his hand, Straight instigated an incident that police would later call an unprovoked attack, one that places the role of armed security guards — especially those with a checkered past in law enforcement — in the middle of the nation’s current conversation over police reform. Continue reading.
“We apologize for our failure to adequately recognize how the statue was viewed and the pain it caused for many people,” the Twins said in a statement.The Minnesota Twins removed the statue of former team owner Calvin Griffith from outside of Target Field.
“While we acknowledge the prominent role Calvin Griffith played in our history, we cannot remain silent and continue ignoring the racist comments he made in Waseca in 1978,” the team said in a statement. “His disparaging words displayed a blatant intolerance and disregard for the Black community that are the antithesis of what the Minnesota Twins stand for and value.”
The team made the decision after internal meetings following the May 25 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Friday’s announcement of the removal came on Juneteenth, the anniversary of federal troops arriving in Texas to announce the end of slavery in the aftermath of the Civil War. Continue reading.
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA — A judge has indefinitely extended an injunction that prevents the governor from removing the iconic statue of Robert E. Lee from state property on Monument Avenue, giving opponents more time to prove they have standing to challenge the removal.
Gov. Ralph Northam (D) announced June 4 that he would take down the Lee statue, which towers 60 feet over Richmond’s grandest residential boulevard, and put it in storage. The action was partly in response to ongoing demonstrations over police brutality against African Americans nationwide, which in Richmond have focused on the city’s extensive Confederate iconography.
On June 8, Richmond Circuit Judge Bradley B. Cavedo granted a temporary injunction to block the state from taking down the 130-year-old statue, responding to a lawsuit filed by a descendant of the couple who signed the deed giving land for the monument to the state. Continue reading.
The Fulton County district attorney announced at a press conference on Wednesday that former officer Garrett Rolfe, who shot and killed Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta last week, will be charged with 11 counts, including felony murder and aggravated assault.
The big picture: Rolfe fatally shot Brooks in a Wendy’s parking lot after a struggle, setting off another wave of protests that had taken place since the killing of George Floyd. Officer Devin Brosnan, who was also present during the incident, faces three charges, including aggravated assault.
