Is racism beyond control in the USA?

[MenInG]

A new movement of armed, far-right adherents is gaining attention in the United States, not just for its seemingly strange name, but for its alleged links to the violence that has taken place across the country following largely peaceful protests over police brutality.

Adherents of the loosely organised "Boogaloo" movement appear to believe in armed, anti-government actions that could lead to a second US civil war.

While it is impossible, authorities say, to point to a singular group for the unrest that has come as part of protests against the police killing of George Floyd, officials claim that much of the violence can be pinned on "outside agitators" who are seeking to distract from the main message of the demonstrations.

One movement authorities have blamed is the Boogaloo movement. On June 4, three men who allegedly belong to the Boogaloo movement were arrested in Las Vegas, Nevada, on charges related to "terrorism" and involving plots to accelerate violence at protests.

What's in the name?
The "Boogaloo" movement, a newcomer grouping, is hard to label but exists largely on the far-right of the political spectrum, and has aims to accelerate the US towards a second civil war.

Its members, known as "Boogaloo Boys" or "Boogaloo Bois", are typically seen with assault rifles and tactical gear. Some have said they want to support protesters in the face of heavily armoured police, while others appear to have connections to "extremist ideology", according to reports.

The loose movement borrows its name from Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo, a poorly-received 1980s sequel film that is regarded as nearly identical to the first.

The term "Electric Boogaloo" has come to be used to describe things of low quality, especially on message boards and social media. "Electric Boogaloo" is not commonly used in a political or violent fashion by most.

But some far-right elements use it as a code word for a second civil war, presumably as a sequel to the first. The use of the term seems to have gained prominence among some with far-right views around October 2019.

"A range of boogaloo-related phrases also emerged this year, as the term became more popular, including: 'showing up for the boogaloo,' 'when the boogaloo hits,' 'being boogaloo ready' and 'bring on the boogaloo', the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a Jewish NGO based in the US that tracks the far-right, wrote in a report on the movement.

Lockdown protests

The phrase "Electric Boogaloo" has also become a common platform among some individuals involved in armed protests against stay-at-home orders.

Like other movements that once largely inhabited corners of the internet, it has seized on the social unrest and economic calamity caused by the coronavirus pandemic to publicise its violent messages.

The pandemic became a catalyst for the "boogaloo" movement because the stay-at-home orders "put a stressor on a lot of very unhappy people," JJ MacNab, a fellow at George Washington University's Program on Extremism, told the Associated Press news agency.

MacNab said the movement's rhetoric goes beyond discussions about fighting virus restrictions - which many protesters brand as "tyranny" - to talking about killing FBI agents or police officers "to get the war going".

An April 22 report by the Tech Transparency Project, which tracks technology companies, found 125 Facebook "boogaloo"-related groups that had attracted tens of thousands of members in the previous 30 days. The project pointed to the coronavirus crisis as a driving factor.

"Some boogaloo supporters see the public health lockdowns and other directives by states and cities across the country as a violation of their rights, and they're aiming to harness public frustration at such measures to rally and attract new followers to their cause," the project's report said.

In April, armed demonstrators passed out "Liberty or Boogaloo" fliers at a statehouse protest in Concord, New Hampshire.

A May 9 demonstration in Raleigh, North Carolina, promoted by a Facebook group called "Blue Igloo" - a derivation of the term - led to a police investigation of a confrontation between an armed protester and a couple pushing a stroller.

Further, it is unknown whether the Boogaloo movement has a unifying ideology. Purported members have been seen at protests bearing signs saying "The Boogaloo stands with George Floyd". While many far-right groups have a supremacist element, it isn't always the case.

"Care must be taken when evaluating boogaloo-as-civil-war references, as some people - even those in extremist movements - still use the phrase jokingly, or to mock some of the more fanatical or gung-ho adherents of their own movement", the ADL wrote.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/06/boogaloo-movement-200604173050475.html

 

[MenInG]

Michael Jordan says he will donate $100m (£78m) to groups fighting for racial equality and social justice.

The NBA legend said in a statement that he and his Jordan Brand would distribute the money over 10 years.

The money will go to a number of organisations in a bid to tackle "ingrained racism".

It comes in the wake of protests breaking out across the US and around the world following the death of George Floyd as he was restrained by police.

Floyd, an unarmed black man, died on 25 May after a white police officer, since charged with murder, knelt on his neck for over eight minutes.

"We are announcing a joint commitment from Michael Jordan and Jordan Brand to donate $100m over the next 10 years. We must join forces with the community, government and civic leaders to create a lasting impact together," said Craig Williams, president of Jordan Brand.

"There is still more work for us to do to drive real impact for the black community. We embrace the responsibility."

Speaking last week Jordan said he was "deeply saddened, truly pained and plain angry".

"I see and feel everyone's pain, outrage and frustration," he added. "I stand with those calling out the ingrained racism and violence toward people of colour in our country.

"We have had enough."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Black lives matter. This isn't a controversial statement. We are you. We are a family. We are a community. <a href="https://t.co/cGH8bJl1GQ">pic.twitter.com/cGH8bJl1GQ</a></p>— Jordan (@Jumpman23) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jumpman23/status/1269003930790318080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 5, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

https://www.bbc.com/sport/basketball/52944161

 

[KB]

The problem is not with individuals being racist. The problem is with the system being racist.

It seems to me that you are in fact unaware and ignorant of the race situation in the United States, and I will not fault you for that. Let me however take the time to educate you.

1. African Americans were brought to this country as SLAVES. They did not come to this country on the base of education or skill set, they were brought to this country as slaves, as the property of the white man. It was not until 1863 that Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves (only to cripple the south during the Civil War) and even after that point Black people faced lynching and LEGAL discrimination until 1963.

2. Due to the LEGAL segregation and threats of lynching and discrimination this FORCED the African Americans into their own urban ghettos, which were often poverty stricken, lacking education. Imagine how difficult it is to be make a change in your community when many colleges will reject you if you're black, and many employers will simply not hire you if you're black.

3. Understand that Black people make up 80% of the federal prison population while only representing 13% of the countries population. Something must be wrong about that right? Or are black people just inherently more likely to commit crimes than white or brown people? Let me tell you that in the 1970s, President Richard Nixon launched something called the war on drugs, which saw a disproportionate amount of black people end up in jail over drug offenses. How did the drugs end up in the neighborhoods? The CIA saw an opportunity for cheap, powdered cocaine to be funneled into South Central Los Angeles bin an attempt increase funding for the contra army in Nicaragua. Now you have an influx of people living in your ghettos, with little to no access to education, lack of opportunity and so much more.

Over decades this has its effects and now we culminate to where we are today. This is about a racist SYSTEM. Not about racist individuals. I hope this clears up any misconceptions you may have.

A nicely crafted post. We cannot ignore the historical dimension.

A comment that I found quite striking recently came from the well known economist, Angus Deaton. He mentioned that one of the main reasons the US did not develop welfare and healthcare systems after the WWII along the lines of some countries in Europe was because of race. There were some - he says specifically southern senators and southern congressman - who basically did not want to pay for health and benefits for people who looked different to them.

 

[Firebat]

The problem is not with individuals being racist. The problem is with the system being racist.

It seems to me that you are in fact unaware and ignorant of the race situation in the United States, and I will not fault you for that. Let me however take the time to educate you.

1. African Americans were brought to this country as SLAVES. They did not come to this country on the base of education or skill set, they were brought to this country as slaves, as the property of the white man. It was not until 1863 that Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves (only to cripple the south during the Civil War) and even after that point Black people faced lynching and LEGAL discrimination until 1963.

2. Due to the LEGAL segregation and threats of lynching and discrimination this FORCED the African Americans into their own urban ghettos, which were often poverty stricken, lacking education. Imagine how difficult it is to be make a change in your community when many colleges will reject you if you're black, and many employers will simply not hire you if you're black.

3. Understand that Black people make up 80% of the federal prison population while only representing 13% of the countries population. Something must be wrong about that right? Or are black people just inherently more likely to commit crimes than white or brown people? Let me tell you that in the 1970s, President Richard Nixon launched something called the war on drugs, which saw a disproportionate amount of black people end up in jail over drug offenses. How did the drugs end up in the neighborhoods? The CIA saw an opportunity for cheap, powdered cocaine to be funneled into South Central Los Angeles bin an attempt increase funding for the contra army in Nicaragua. Now you have an influx of people living in your ghettos, with little to no access to education, lack of opportunity and so much more.

Over decades this has its effects and now we culminate to where we are today. This is about a racist SYSTEM. Not about racist individuals. I hope this clears up any misconceptions you may have.

Fantastic post. Just wanted to add a few more things:

When slavery was abolished, a lot of compensation money was dished out, for example Britain paid 40% of their GDP to free the slaves. ALL compensation money went to slave-owners, to compensate them for their loss of human property, and none to the actual freed human slaves. This means they were thrust into a society who hated them and a country they did not know, a whole ocean away from home, with absolutely nothing, and had to make lives out of that.

Then legal segregation which economically ruined and oppressed the black community only ended 56 years ago. Great, now 56 years of equality to regain their footing in America! No. The oppression continued in various economic and penal forms, such as red-zoning, where banks single out black-dominated areas as areas they would not give loans or mortgages or sell houses to. Generations and generations of black people denied economic equality, treated as third-rate citizens in housing, education, job market etc.

Do you think it's a surprise poverty is so rampant? That so many fall to lives of crime and drugs, only for the next generation to grow up in an inner city filled with gang violence where they have to sell drugs as a 13 year-old to help their mother put food on the table (the childhood of Jay-Z).

What is the societal solution to this increase in violence and crime and drugs? Not community investment, but mass incarceration and imprisonment and mass funding for police departments to quell this violent crime, while racial economic inequality grows bigger and bigger. The financial crisis of 2008 hit the lower classes the worst, and many studies showed how racial economic inequality once again broadened because of this, whereby today the average white family is 10x richer than the average black family.

On top of all of that poverty and lack of opportunities and mass incarceration, almost every single year since the 70s there have been high profile cases of police brutality and killings disproportionately on innocent black people, with almost ZERO accountability and the blame always placed at the door of the victim. And every single time they protest or riot or do anything to voice their frustration, people call them whining thugs and absolutely nothing changes.

"But if they stopped whining and just worked hard and had motivation instead of aspiring to be drug addicted rappers, it'd be okay" No, it'd be okay when a massive system of laws and funding designed to systematically oppress black people is reformed, that's when they'll stop whining. Watch the Netflix documentary "13th" if you really want to understand how deep-rooted this sysetmic racism is in the prison and legal system.

If you don't want to understand that they go through and continue being ignorant, then just don't post about things on which you have no knowledge.

 

[MenInG]

Fantastic post. Just wanted to add a few more things:

When slavery was abolished, a lot of compensation money was dished out, for example Britain paid 40% of their GDP to free the slaves. ALL compensation money went to slave-owners, to compensate them for their loss of human property, and none to the actual freed human slaves. This means they were thrust into a society who hated them and a country they did not know, a whole ocean away from home, with absolutely nothing, and had to make lives out of that.

Then legal segregation which economically ruined and oppressed the black community only ended 56 years ago. Great, now 56 years of equality to regain their footing in America! No. The oppression continued in various economic and penal forms, such as red-zoning, where banks single out black-dominated areas as areas they would not give loans or mortgages or sell houses to. Generations and generations of black people denied economic equality, treated as third-rate citizens in housing, education, job market etc.

Do you think it's a surprise poverty is so rampant? That so many fall to lives of crime and drugs, only for the next generation to grow up in an inner city filled with gang violence where they have to sell drugs as a 13 year-old to help their mother put food on the table (the childhood of Jay-Z).

What is the societal solution to this increase in violence and crime and drugs? Not community investment, but mass incarceration and imprisonment and mass funding for police departments to quell this violent crime, while racial economic inequality grows bigger and bigger. The financial crisis of 2008 hit the lower classes the worst, and many studies showed how racial economic inequality once again broadened because of this, whereby today the average white family is 10x richer than the average black family.

On top of all of that poverty and lack of opportunities and mass incarceration, almost every single year since the 70s there have been high profile cases of police brutality and killings disproportionately on innocent black people, with almost ZERO accountability and the blame always placed at the door of the victim. And every single time they protest or riot or do anything to voice their frustration, people call them whining thugs and absolutely nothing changes.

"But if they stopped whining and just worked hard and had motivation instead of aspiring to be drug addicted rappers, it'd be okay" No, it'd be okay when a massive system of laws and funding designed to systematically oppress black people is reformed, that's when they'll stop whining. Watch the Netflix documentary "13th" if you really want to understand how deep-rooted this sysetmic racism is in the prison and legal system.

If you don't want to understand that they go through and continue being ignorant, then just don't post about things on which you have no knowledge.

Blacks have been dealt a tough hand by history - and people need to recognize that.

 

[sweep_shot]

Fantastic post. Just wanted to add a few more things:

When slavery was abolished, a lot of compensation money was dished out, for example Britain paid 40% of their GDP to free the slaves. ALL compensation money went to slave-owners, to compensate them for their loss of human property, and none to the actual freed human slaves. This means they were thrust into a society who hated them and a country they did not know, a whole ocean away from home, with absolutely nothing, and had to make lives out of that.

Then legal segregation which economically ruined and oppressed the black community only ended 56 years ago. Great, now 56 years of equality to regain their footing in America! No. The oppression continued in various economic and penal forms, such as red-zoning, where banks single out black-dominated areas as areas they would not give loans or mortgages or sell houses to. Generations and generations of black people denied economic equality, treated as third-rate citizens in housing, education, job market etc.

Do you think it's a surprise poverty is so rampant? That so many fall to lives of crime and drugs, only for the next generation to grow up in an inner city filled with gang violence where they have to sell drugs as a 13 year-old to help their mother put food on the table (the childhood of Jay-Z).

What is the societal solution to this increase in violence and crime and drugs? Not community investment, but mass incarceration and imprisonment and mass funding for police departments to quell this violent crime, while racial economic inequality grows bigger and bigger. The financial crisis of 2008 hit the lower classes the worst, and many studies showed how racial economic inequality once again broadened because of this, whereby today the average white family is 10x richer than the average black family.

On top of all of that poverty and lack of opportunities and mass incarceration, almost every single year since the 70s there have been high profile cases of police brutality and killings disproportionately on innocent black people, with almost ZERO accountability and the blame always placed at the door of the victim. And every single time they protest or riot or do anything to voice their frustration, people call them whining thugs and absolutely nothing changes.

"But if they stopped whining and just worked hard and had motivation instead of aspiring to be drug addicted rappers, it'd be okay" No, it'd be okay when a massive system of laws and funding designed to systematically oppress black people is reformed, that's when they'll stop whining. Watch the Netflix documentary "13th" if you really want to understand how deep-rooted this sysetmic racism is in the prison and legal system.

If you don't want to understand that they go through and continue being ignorant, then just don't post about things on which you have no knowledge.

Minorities in all countries face issues. Discrimination problem is not exclusive to blacks only.

So, you are saying society should turn the other cheek when a man commits a crime due to poverty. I am sorry but that's not how it works.

I have a very good black friend (originally from Namibia) who is quite successful. I never saw him whine about any social issue. I believe change can happen through hard work and dedication. Protests and "reforms" can't do much.

 

[MenInG]

Minorities in all countries face issues. Discrimination problem is not exclusive to blacks only.

So, you are saying society should turn the other cheek when a man commits a crime due to poverty. I am sorry but that's not how it works.

I have a very good black friend (originally from Namibia) who is quite successful. I never saw him whine about any social issue. I believe change can happen through hard work and dedication. Protests and "reforms" can't do much.

as [MENTION=138771]Firebat[/MENTION] says - watch the Netflix doc "13th" - its an eye opener.

 

[sweep_shot]

as [MENTION=138771]Firebat[/MENTION] says - watch the Netflix doc "13th" - its an eye opener.

Thanks. Another person has also recommended me that documentary.

I have started to watch it.

 

[Technics 1210]

Michael Jordan says he will donate $100m (£78m) to groups fighting for racial equality and social justice.

The NBA legend said in a statement that he and his Jordan Brand would distribute the money over 10 years.

The money will go to a number of organisations in a bid to tackle "ingrained racism".

It comes in the wake of protests breaking out across the US and around the world following the death of George Floyd as he was restrained by police.

Floyd, an unarmed black man, died on 25 May after a white police officer, since charged with murder, knelt on his neck for over eight minutes.

"We are announcing a joint commitment from Michael Jordan and Jordan Brand to donate $100m over the next 10 years. We must join forces with the community, government and civic leaders to create a lasting impact together," said Craig Williams, president of Jordan Brand.

"There is still more work for us to do to drive real impact for the black community. We embrace the responsibility."

Speaking last week Jordan said he was "deeply saddened, truly pained and plain angry".

"I see and feel everyone's pain, outrage and frustration," he added. "I stand with those calling out the ingrained racism and violence toward people of colour in our country.

"We have had enough."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Black lives matter. This isn't a controversial statement. We are you. We are a family. We are a community. <a href="https://t.co/cGH8bJl1GQ">pic.twitter.com/cGH8bJl1GQ</a></p>— Jordan (@Jumpman23) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jumpman23/status/1269003930790318080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 5, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

https://www.bbc.com/sport/basketball/52944161

He has pledged the amount, and will still earn around 180M a year.

In UK such donations come under charity and can be offset from huge tax bills, hence celebrities donating money.

 

[Firebat]

Minorities in all countries face issues. Discrimination problem is not exclusive to blacks only.

So, you are saying society should turn the other cheek when a man commits a crime due to poverty. I am sorry but that's not how it works.

I have a very good black friend (originally from Namibia) who is quite successful. I never saw him whine about any social issue. I believe change can happen through hard work and dedication. Protests and "reforms" can't do much.

I’m sure your friend has worked very hard to get where he is and I commend him, and there have been many African Americans who have managed to be successful just like him, but sadly many aren’t blessed with the opportunities and the means for success. Rags to riches stories are fantastic, but they are by no means common at all, and not because those who are unsuccessful are just too lazy to make anything of themselves. You cannot deny the correlation between investment in a community’s access to education, housing, jobs, in opportunities to succeed, and the success of that community. You can provide as many anecdotes as you like of people who break that trend, but the trend is overwhelmingly true.

No one is saying turn the other cheek when a poor person commits a crime, but you cannot invest all your money and focus into treating the symptoms of the illness forever, at some point you’re going to have to pay attention to the very tangible causes, one of which is not laziness. Those causes like the very public deep-rooted laws and systems literally designed to exploit and widen racial and economic inequality. I’m not just making up vague excuses and repeating key words I’ve seen around, these are very real and very public concepts. The prison-industrial complex, the corporate motivations of mass incarceration that ruined communities, these are concepts you yourself can research and google. Like I said, the documentary 13th is a fantastic place to start. If you have never faced this scale of systemic oppression, like me, then it will be hard to fully appreciate, but there’s no harm in trying to understand the other side to what you believe.

If after all that you still refuse to acknowledge the nuance in this issue and still think it’s hard work vs laziness, then I’m afraid I can’t help that. We’ll just have to agree to disagree.

 

[Nostalgic]

Halfway through 13TH. Netflix have put it on YouTube so you don’t need a Netflix subscription to watch it. I was aware of most of the details they list anyhow, but it’s great to have it all consolidated in one slick production. Maybe it will open some eyes.

 

[moghul]

Blacks in USA have been through centuries of suffering and brutality by their white "masters'. But they have come a long way in claiming their rights in the US society but still have some way to go. Racism committed by police is still a big problem, not just against blacks but against all minorities.

Otherwise, thanks to decades of civil right movements, blacks in USA are perhaps in better situation than minorities in other countries in the world. They even have a two term black president ( the most useless one in US history who did not do any police reforms ) .

Blacks in USA enjoy many privileges which other minorities don't , including preference in college, universities and medical school admission and getting the jobs , both public and private.

Every single life lost is too much and is precious but non-black and non-white innocent lives lost also matter. People living in NYC know better how many cab drivers of Pakistani and Indian descent have been killed by blacks over last two-three decades . It has not been the case of random killing by a burglar , but target killing of a particular ethnic group. Those lives also mattered . No black leader or any civil right leader ever came to support south Indian community at that time . Blacks also discriminate a lot, more toward "desi" community than white or Hispanic community.

So the hate crime, based on religion, skin color, ethnicity or due to any other factor, should be prosecuted and punished, not only against blacks but against non-blacks also. All lives matter including black lives.

 

[moghul]

An ordinary Pakistani or Indian is treated better by police in USA than an ordinary Pakistani or Indian is treated by police in their respective countries. I have not lived in India , so I might be wrong ?

 

[Technics 1210]

It's not racism that is beyond control in USA, it's freedom of speech.

The US constituion guarantees freedom of speech for every citizen. Long after this puppet show is over, the same KKK, Nazis, White superemcy members are free to spew and promote their hatered, and there is not a soul or law that can touch them. Now give them guns. The constituion gives them the platform and protection to promote racism.

Try dressing up as a KKK member whilst standing in Parliament Square in London, you will be arrested for promoting and inticing racial hatered. If this were the case in USA, then racism wouldn't be as prevelant as it is today.

 

[Gharib Aadmi]

People from Pakistan and particularly India have no right to talk about racism in any other country. Forget about Middle East, they are ruled by brutal dictators but Pak-India are not.

Would people in Pakistan or India call the police on someone because of there skin color? Would they be scared of someone because of there skin color? Would they think that people of a certain skin color be more likely to be criminals?

The issue in Pakistan and India is that there a desire for lighter skin. The issue in US is that people of darker skin are viewed as dangerous, which is why the police discriminates against them.

 

[Gharib Aadmi]

Just seen a video of Denzel Washington with a speech which bought him to tears.

My question is his surname is a slave name. Why does he still keep it or anyone with a slave name continue to keep it?

Mabye if all the millions of black people decided to end their slave family name, they would be on a start to a new beginning.

Too much hassle to change it. Plus there parents and grandparents and great grand parents would have that same surname, so now its too late.

 

[Gharib Aadmi]

Which country of the world does not have racism and discrimination? Every country has its share of racism issues

Every country has discrimination, not racism. Most countries have predominantly people of the same race.

 

[MenInG]

George Floyd death: Hammad Miah on being called a 'shoebomber'

"A guy called me a shoebomber once. That was new to me and I was laughing about it because I didn't know what he was going on about. It was only afterwards, when reading up on it, did it become an insult."

As Hammad Miah prepares to compete in the Championship League on Sunday, he speaks to BBC Sport about his own experience of racism following the death of George Floyd in the USA.

Floyd, an unarmed black man who screamed "I can't breathe" while his neck was pinned under an officer's knee, has become a symbol for change with the #BlackLivesMatter movement that has sparked huge anti-racism protests across the country.

This week, sports stars including Serena Williams, Paul Pogba and Lewis Hamilton have added their voices. And there was a display of protest from snooker world number 75 Alfie Burden, who took a knee before his match against Ryan Day at the Championship League on Wednesday.

The concerns raised are all too familiar for Miah, who takes the 64th and final spot at the event in Milton Keynes, host to snooker's first tournament since the season was halted because of the coronavirus pandemic.

"I did have problems growing up; I faced a lot of racism," Miah said. "But that has shaped me into the person I am today.

"It is because of Islam that I have calmed down a little bit. That experience of being called a **** or taking the **** out of me because I am Muslim was really tough."

In a open and honest interview, Miah talks about:

Americans have defied curfews in cities and the threat of military action from President Donald Trump to take to the streets in their tens of thousands, with violence spreading in some parts.

"When I was growing up, the only way out was fighting," Miah said. "Slowly people started to realise that what they [racists] were saying was wrong.

"The reason why people keep getting away with it is because they don't get punished. Islam is not about violence - I understand that now as I have matured as an adult - but that was what we grew up with.

"Some people have no idea what we go through and that is why we can relate to this #BlackLivesMatter movement taking place at the moment. We get it because we feel discriminated against all the time."

'I feel I could have become a boxer'
Miah, whose family are from Bangladesh, was born in London and later moved to Hertford. It was his dad who first took him to a snooker club, spotting the talent after his son made a century break at 13 and won amateur tournaments at 16.

Now 26, he is one of only two British Asian players on the 128-man tour, the other being Welshman Kishan Hirani.

Looking back on those early days, going to the snooker club with his dad, Miah says he used to "enjoy it". But while the sport brought him "contentment and peace, taking my mind off a lot of things", he pin-points his early experiences as a reason why he has failed to fulfil his potential.

"What happened in my childhood plays a big part in my snooker and is probably the reason I get so angry when playing," said Miah, who is ranked 96 in the world. "It is my character and I feel I could have become a boxer.

"It is not good for my well-being because it plays a part in the house and those around me. If I was still living in London, I would have 100% been in a gang.

"The boys that racially abused me growing up, I had a rage and anger towards them. I did not see them for a couple of years and then I got a bit bigger so if I bumped into them I was going to slap them hard."

Miah explains how he once had a run-in with a fellow player at a tournament in a holiday park in Wales.

"A couple of other players were around too and he started acting up and offered me a bareknuckle fight for £20 - I took his money off him," he said.

Miah also recalls suffering harassment from the police.

"Growing up, I remember the police would give me and my black friend more trouble than the rest of the group," he said.

"Once I got pulled over in my car by two separate police officers in the space of five minutes. They asked what I was doing here in Hertford, I told them I live here and asked whether they pulled me over because I was Asian.

"People say it is worse in America but it is just as bad here. If our coppers carried guns, there would be so many deaths and I am thankful they don't."

So how do you solve the issue of racism?

"People that are silent, the people that are trying to justify other crimes or responding with #WhiteLivesMatter, they are the problem," Miah said. "There is always someone out there trying to justify something inhumane.

"At school, we learn all sorts of stuff and no-one is born racist. If they taught us properly about race and religion, things could change.

"These protests will make a slight change but nothing major; the change starts from the beginning.

"Teach everyone how to love each other, how to care for each other no matter the colour of the skin. We all bleed the same."

https://www.bbc.com/sport/snooker/52898284

 

[MenInG]

Is this the way forward?

==

A majority of Minneapolis City Council has pledged to dismantle the local police department, a significant move amid nationwide protests sparked by George Floyd's death last month.

Nine of the 13 councillors said a "new model of public safety" would be created in a city where law enforcement has been accused of racism.

Mayor Jacob Frey earlier opposed the move, drawing boos from the crowds.

Activists, who for years have defended such a move, called it a turning point.

Mr Floyd's death in police custody triggered mass protests against racism and police brutality. Security measures across the country were lifted on Sunday as unrest started to ease.

Thousands of people are expected to gather on Monday for a public viewing of Mr Floyd's body in Houston, his home city in Texas before he moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota. A private funeral will be held on Tuesday.

A video of Mr Floyd, a 46-year-old African American, pinned to the floor with a white police officer kneeling on his neck for almost nine minutes sparked worldwide outrage.

Officer Derek Chauvin has been dismissed and charged with second-degree murder. He will make his first court appearance later on Monday.

Three other officers who were at the scene have also been sacked and charged with aiding and abetting.

What did Minneapolis City Council members say?
The nine councillors read a statement to hundreds of protesters on Sunday.

"We are here because here in Minneapolis and in cities across the United States it is clear that our existing system of policing and public safety is not keeping our communities safe," City Council President Lisa Bender was quoted as saying.

"Our efforts at incremental reform have failed. Period."

Ms Bender said details of the overhaul plan needed to be discussed further, adding that she would try to shift police funding towards community based strategies.

Meanwhile, councillor Alondra Cano tweeted that "a veto-proof majority" in the council had agreed that the city police department was "not reformable and that we're going to end the current policing system".

Last week, Minnesota launched a civil rights investigation of the Minneapolis Police Department, with Governor Tim Walz saying he wanted to root out "systemic racism that is generations deep".

The city council later voted for a number of policing changes, including the ban on chokeholds and neck restraints by police officers.

What has the reaction been?
The reform plan in Minneapolis sets up what is likely to be a long and complicated debate over new ways of policing across the US. But the process of setting up a new system will probably take months, and is not guaranteed because of the mayor's opposition.

Reacting to the announcement, Kandace Montgomery, the director of the Minnesota-based campaign group Black Vision, said: "It shouldn't have taken so much death to get us here. We're safer without armed, unaccountable patrols supported by the state hunting black people."

On Monday, Democrats in Congress are expected to present sweeping legislation on police reform.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio had already said he would divert money from the city's police department to social services.

"Defund the police" was a rallying cry during the latest street protests, that occasionally spilled into violence and looting.

"Defunding" advocates have for years been condemning what they describe as the aggressive militarised policing in the US.

They argue that police departments' budgets should be slashed and funds diverted to social programmes to avoid unnecessary confrontation and heal the racial divide.

Entire city police departments have been disbanded before in the country: in Compton, California, in 2000, and 12 years later in Camden, New Jersey. In both cases they were replaced with bigger new forces that covered local counties.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52960227

 

[moghul]

Would people in Pakistan or India call the police on someone because of there skin color? Would they be scared of someone because of there skin color? Would they think that people of a certain skin color be more likely to be criminals?

The issue in Pakistan and India is that there a desire for lighter skin. The issue in US is that people of darker skin are viewed as dangerous, which is why the police discriminates against them.

Please educate your self what racism is . Its not just discrimination based upon skin color, its more than that, whether its based upon religion, ethnicity , language and much more . That's what I have been saying , awareness about racism and is lacking in many countries, you're not the only one.

 

[Gharib Aadmi]

Please educate your self what racism is . Its not just discrimination based upon skin color, its more than that, whether its based upon religion, ethnicity , language and much more . That's what I have been saying , awareness about racism and is lacking in many countries, you're not the only one.

I don't deny that racism is more than skin color. However the response was based on your post stating that people in Pakistan have no right to talk about racism in other country. I just don't see how Pakistan is more racist than the US. If anything i think Pakistanis, because of Islamic values, are probably among the least racist in the world.

And discrimination based on religion, while wrong, is not racism.

 

[MenInG]

Democrats unveil 'Justice in Policing' act to make wide-ranging changes to US police policy

The legislation address excessive use of force, qualified immunity and racial profiling, answering calls from protesters across the country after the death of George Floyd and other Black Americans while in police custody.

"It will demilitarize the police by limiting the transfer of military weaponry to state and local police departments," said Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the US House of Representatives.

It also proposes banning 'no-knock' warrants, that allow police officers to enter a residence without warning. The legislation would require support by US Republicans who control the upper house of the legislature.

 

[MenInG]

Trump opposes police defunding

Protesters are pushing to "defund the police" after the death of George Floyd and other Black Americans killed by law enforcement.

Their chant has become a rallying cry - and a stick for President Donald Trump to use on Democrats as he portrays them as soft on crime.

Trump has said he opposes the idea, and is set to meet with members of law enforcement at the White House on Monday afternoon.

Supporters say it is not about eliminating police departments or stripping agencies of all of their money. They say it is time for the country to address systemic problems in policing in the US and spend more on what communities across the country need, like housing and education.

 

[sweep_shot]

Trump opposes police defunding

Protesters are pushing to "defund the police" after the death of George Floyd and other Black Americans killed by law enforcement.

Their chant has become a rallying cry - and a stick for President Donald Trump to use on Democrats as he portrays them as soft on crime.

Trump has said he opposes the idea, and is set to meet with members of law enforcement at the White House on Monday afternoon.

Supporters say it is not about eliminating police departments or stripping agencies of all of their money. They say it is time for the country to address systemic problems in policing in the US and spend more on what communities across the country need, like housing and education.

Removing police is a horrible idea. What will police be replaced with?

There has to be a better way.

 

[CricketCartoons]

Removing police is a horrible idea. What will police be replaced with?

There has to be a better way.

Remove the police so that criminals can get a free pass. America must quell the anarchists.

 

[MenInG]

Fitness brands including Reebok have cut ties with CrossFit after the company's CEO posted a tweet making light of George Floyd's death.

In reply to a public health body saying racism was a public health issue, Greg Glassman tweeted: "FLOYD-19."

He also called an affiliate "delusional" for questioning why CrossFit had been silent on the killing of Floyd by police in Minneapolis.

Mr Glassman has now apologised, saying CrossFit "will not stand for racism".

He said he had been trying to make a point about lockdowns that have been put in place to try to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

CrossFit is a company based on a fitness regimen developed by Mr Glassman, and is incorporated into gyms across the world.

These gyms are run on an affiliate model, paying the main CrossFit company for permission to use the name and regimen.

What did Greg Glassman say?
It began when the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington tweeted that "racism is a public health issue".

In response, Mr Glassman tweeted "FLOYD-19" - a play on Covid-19, the name of the disease caused by the coronavirus.

Mr Glassman also came under fire for an email he reportedly sent to an affiliate who asked for a response from the company on anti-racist protests across the US.

"I sincerely believe the quarantine has adversely impacted your mental health," he reportedly wrote to the woman, before calling her "delusional". "You think you're more virtuous than we are. It's disgusting."

What has the response been?

Since Mr Glassman's tweet about George Floyd, hundreds of affiliate gyms have removed CrossFit from their branding. A spreadsheet tracking all of the gyms that are rebranding currently lists 227 fitness centres distancing themselves from CrossFit.

One of these gyms, Petworth Fitness in Washington DC - formerly CrossFit Petworth - wrote on Instagram: "For a brand that has preached about being 'for all', the deafening silence on current and past issues of racism tells us all we need to know."

It added that it would donate its annual affiliate fee - $3,000 (£2,364) - to the Black Lives Matter DC and Know Your Rights anti-racist campaign groups.

Adidas AG, which owns Reebok, also issued a statement confirming it was ending its relationship with CrossFit.

"Recently, we have been in discussions regarding a new agreement, however, in light of recent events, we have made the decision to end our partnership with CrossFit HQ," the company said in a statement to AFP news agency.

Several CrossFit athletes also criticised the company.

Four-time CrossFit Games champion Matthew Fraser praised a colleague for disaffiliating from the company, while Olympian and three-time CrossFit Games champion Tia-Clair Toomey said she was "incredibly saddened, disappointed and frustrated" with Mr Glassman's comments.

Icelandic CrossFit athlete Katrin Tanja Davidsdottir also posted screenshots of Mr Glassman's tweet and email, and said she was "ashamed, disappointed and angry".

Has CrossFit addressed the backlash?

In a statement posted on CrossFit's Twitter account, Mr Glassman apologised for the tweet and said he was trying to make a point about lockdowns to contain the spread of the coronavirus, which he doesn't agree with.

"I, CrossFit HQ, and the CrossFit community will not stand for racism. I made a mistake by the words I chose yesterday," he said. "My heart is deeply saddened by the pain it has caused. It was a mistake, not racist but a mistake.

"Floyd is a hero in the black community and not just a victim. I should have been sensitive to that and wasn't. I apologise for that.

"I was trying to stick it to the @IHME_UW [Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation] for their invalidated models resulting in needless, economy-wrecking, life-wrecking lockdown, and when I saw they were announcing modelling a solution to our racial crisis, I was incredulous, angry, and overly emotional. Involving George Floyd's name in that effort was wrong."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52963102

 

[MenInG]

Self-described KKK leader charged for driving into US protesters

An "admitted" Ku Klux Klan leader who drove a vehicle into a crowd of peaceful George Floyd protestors in the US state of Virginia is being investigated for possible hate crimes, a county attorney said.

The man has been charged with several offences after he "recklessly" drove into a crowd on Sunday, Henrico County's Commonwealth Attorney Shannon Taylor said in a statement posted on Twitter.

US media reported one protester was injured in the incident near Richmond. The person was checked at the scene by emergency responders and refused further treatment.
==

Cannot believe these people still exist!

 

[MenInG]

US dictionary to change its definition of racism

The American reference dictionary Merriam-Webster will change its definition of the word racism at the suggestion of a young black woman, who wanted it to better reflect the oppression of people of color.

Kennedy Mitchum, a recent graduate of Drake University in Iowa, contacted Merriam-Webster, which has published its dictionaries since 1847, to propose updating the term.

"I basically told them that they need to include that there's a systematic oppression upon a group of people," she told the local CBS affiliate KMOV. "It's not just, 'Oh, I don't like someone.'"

Merriam-Webster's editorial manager Peter Sokolowski confirmed to AFP that the definition would be modified after Mitchum's request.

 

[MenInG]

Al-Qaeda is actively trying to exploit the current unrest in the US by reaching out to both Muslims and non-Muslims to present themselves as "champions of the oppressed".

The latest issue of the jihadist group's online magazine One Ummah uses the iconic image of George Floyd's last moments and a painting by the graffiti artist Banksy to help deliver its message of unsolicited support to protesters on US streets.

The English-language issue, clearly aimed at a domestic US audience, predicts the imminent demise of the US and its political system as well its economy and society.

"Armed protests rage across America and a civil war appears to be in the offing," reads its commentary. One of its messages is that, "not even the Democrats can help you but we can".

Mina Al-Lami from BBC Monitoring says there is a contrast between the approaches of al-Qaeda and its main rival, the Islamic State group (IS). Whereas IS has simply been gloating at America's discomfort and predicting that the unrest will spread to other countries, al-Qaeda has been more subtle, reaching out and trying to convert Americans to its version of Islam and its cause, she says.

The magazine piece, our analyst suggests, has clearly been written by someone who has a good knowledge of what is going on in the US.

Seeking to return

Al-Qaeda has largely been eclipsed in recent years by IS. But Dr Shiraz Maher, the Director of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King's College London, believes it is proactively trying to show it still has relevance on the world stage.

"It [the Black Lives Matter protests] is a huge current event... which is having a cascading effect across the globe and beyond the media and political sphere into the cultural and artistic realm," Dr Maher says. "So al-Qaeda is seeking to move into that space and trying to say, 'look here we are'."

There is a profound irony that a group with one of the most oppressive and bloodthirsty ideologies in the Middle East should now be presenting itself to angry Americans as champions of their cause against police brutality and systemic racism.

Al-Qaeda, which under the leadership of the late Osama Bin Laden, carried out the worst-ever terrorist attack in US history in September 2001, imposed a rule of such intolerance when it held sway in Iraq's Falluja province that it cut men's fingers off if it caught them smoking cigarettes.

It has since spawned violent offshoots all over the world, including IS.

Yet, despite occasional and isolated attack, such as the one by an al-Qaeda-inspired Saudi at Pensacola, Florida, in December 2019, both groups have until now largely failed to build significant support in the US population. This is in marked contrast to Europe whose cities have produced numerous hotbeds of jihadist sympathisers from the 1990s onwards.

For months Western intelligence chiefs have been warning that al-Qaeda has not gone away, it has simply been waiting for the right opportunities.

Already this year both al-Qaeda and IS have trumpeted the way Covid-19 has afflicted the US and the UK particularly badly, saying this is just retribution for these two countries' actions in the Middle East. Yet Iran currently has over 175,000 people infected and Egypt is now reportedly experiencing around 2,000 new infections daily.

Today the fugitive jihadist group is trying to make common cause with those in the US protesting against police brutality and racial discrimination, but urging them towards violent action.

Certainly their intervention, if it is noticed, is likely to be most unwelcome for protesters.

Al-Qaeda is a proscribed terrorist organisation that killed nearly 3,000 Americans in the 11 September attacks and has vowed to keep targeting Americans.

So how worried should US counter-terrorism officials be? Dr Shiraz Maher, who has spent the last 20 years studying the group and its ideology, believes this is all about exploiting opportunities.

"The nature of this type of propaganda is that it's always trying to cast the fishing net out there. They just need to hook in one person to say 'look how successful our campaign was'," Dr Maher says.

"And that's the great difficulty Western intelligence and law enforcement face when trying to mitigate this type of threat."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52999812

 

[shaykh]

One black academic McWorther has quite a nuanced view of this...

Is there any evidence that Floyd was murdered because he was black?...

The fact that a white man killed a black man isn’t evidence of that fact even if it may very well be true...it’s speculation at best ...

The suggestion isn’t that racism doesn’t exist ...but more about how it is presented ...

For example ...black people are more likely to be arrested as an argument ...well a simple retort to that is for instance that over half of the homicides in the US are committed by black males...so it stands to reason that they will be arrested more ...

Poverty as evidence of racism takes away agency ...it presumes that inequalities can only be explained by race when in fact as a social scientist inequality can be attributed to many factors ...issues of cultural norms for instance ...breakdown of the family and its links to criminality ...absentee fathers etc ...all at least add to the debate ...

This isn’t to say the all lives matter camp aren’t without fault ...of course their remit is simply to undermine black lives don’t matter ...and the black experience which frankly has led to a lack of intellectualism on both sides ...

The media have a part to play also ...Michael brown for instance was initially reported to be surrendering and to have been shot in the back ...something which inflamed tensions ...following investigation it became evident that he made a grab for the officers gun and was consequently shot ...

I’ve seen statistics used for example that show that you are more at risk of dying in the US by police than say Europe ...the fact that officers are armed and the public are is indicative of that ...you’re also more likely to be shot as an officer in the US than elsewhere ...

That said each incident needs to be viewed separately ...you will get racist officers, you will get trigger happy officers, you will get officers who act in fear, and you will also get legitimate shootings ...

There were some activists pushing for defunding the police...well interestingly enough the violence in Chicago when the police were dealing with protests was instructive ...

As with many issues ...there are a diversity of voices but often other sides are not listened to...it’s just not interesting enough to interview the black voices who request more of a police presence in their areas due to black on black violence where they are...interestingly in the 90s there were many complaints about the police...one of which was neglect and now the opposite is the case...and despite a lower crime rate overall which if one even reads liberal criminologists was because states copied the methods of New York in reducing the rate ...the tactics that police are currently using which successfully reduced crime are now used as arguments against the police ...

 

[Buffet]

I don't deny that racism is more than skin color. However the response was based on your post stating that people in Pakistan have no right to talk about racism in other country. I just don't see how Pakistan is more racist than the US. If anything i think Pakistanis, because of Islamic values, are probably among the least racist in the world.

And discrimination based on religion, while wrong, is not racism.

Imagine a black has to declare in his passport that he is black. Imagine if there was a law that balcks can't be president of country due to skin color. Pakistan does all that and more not using skin color but using religion.

Problem is that most people who do racism don't even realize what they are doing. It applies to many in USA and many in Pakistan.

 

[Gharib Aadmi]

Imagine a black has to declare in his passport that he is black. Imagine if there was a law that balcks can't be president of country due to skin color. Pakistan does all that and more not using skin color but using religion.

Problem is that most people who do racism don't even realize what they are doing. It applies to many in USA and many in Pakistan.

Discriminating on the basis of religion is wrong, but its not racism.

This is the definition of racism per Meriam-Webster "a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race"

How does Pakistan do this?

 

[shaykh]

Discriminating on the basis of religion is wrong, but its not racism.

This is the definition of racism per Meriam-Webster "a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race"

How does Pakistan do this?

Aren’t there issues of ethnicity and nationality in Pakistan ie Punjabi, Sindhi , Balochi of Pashtun?

Or if we go a little earlier...anti-Bengali issues ...

 

[Buffet]

Discriminating on the basis of religion is wrong, but its not racism.

This is the definition of racism per Meriam-Webster "a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race"

How does Pakistan do this?

If Meriam-Webster definition makes you feel better about Pakistan doing much better than USA then good for you.

 

[MenInG]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The importance of knowing your rights - and having a camera...<a href="https://t.co/CkPeIhTUp0">pic.twitter.com/CkPeIhTUp0</a></p>— Rex Chapman&#55356;&#57287;&#55356;&#57340; (@RexChapman) <a href="https://twitter.com/RexChapman/status/1272184177430007808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 14, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[MenInG]

Black Americans disproportionately die in police Taser confrontations: Reuters

As police confront protesters across the US, they're turning to rubber bullets, pepper spray, tear gas and other weapons meant to minimise fatalities.

But some are using a weapon that has potential to kill: the Taser. When those encounters have turned fatal, black people make up a disproportionate share of those who die, according to a Reuters analysis.

Reuters documented 1,081 cases through the end of 2018 in which people died after being shocked by police with a Taser. At least 32 percent of those who died were black, and at least 29 percent were white. African-Americans make up 14 percent of the US population, and non-Hispanic whites 60 percent

 

[MenInG]

UN rights council agrees to debate on racism, police violence

The United Nations' top human rights body will hold an urgent debate on allegations of "systemic racism, police brutality and violence against peaceful protests" in the US on Wednesday, a statement said.

The decision by the UN Human Rights Council followed a request last week by Burkina Faso on behalf of African countries, it said in a statement on Monday.

"The death of George Floyd is unfortunately not an isolated incident," the letter said.

 

[Firebat]

Breonna Taylor: Beyoncé calls for criminal charges against officers

Pop star Beyoncé has demanded justice for a black woman killed by police in a letter to the attorney general in the US state of Kentucky.

The singer urged Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron to bring charges against the three officers involved in Breonna Taylor's killing.

Ms Taylor, 26, was shot eight times while she slept when officers entered her home in Louisville on 13 March.

They were executing a no-knock search warrant as part of a drugs raid.

A no-knock warrant is a search warrant approved by a judge that permits police to enter a home without permission.

Inside, the officers exchanged fire with Ms Taylor's partner, who believed the raid was a home invasion, but no drugs were found.

Police have said they knocked before using a battering ram to enter the home but this account has been disputed by Ms Taylor's family and a neighbour.

The three officers involved - Jon Mattingly, Myles Cosgrove, and Brett Hankison - have been placed on administrative leave but none have been arrested or charged over Ms Taylor's death. Investigations are ongoing.

"Three months have passed - and Breonna Taylor's family still waits for justice," Beyoncé wrote in the letter, shared on her official website on Sunday.

Ms Taylor's killing has been propelled into the spotlight again since the death of unarmed African-American man George Floyd, who died in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota, last month.

Ms Taylor's name has been used as a rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter protests sweeping the US and the globe.

Last Thursday, Louisville's city council voted unanimously in favour of banning no-knock warrants. Similar legislation that would ban the warrants nationwide was tabled in Congress, the US federal legislature, on the same day.

Beyoncé said the legislation represented "small steps in the right direction" but were a "painful" reminder that there was still "no justice for Breonna Taylor".

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53050263

 

[MenInG]

In the wake of George Floyd's death in police custody, dozens of Muslim organisations in the United States have come together to call for reform to policing practices and to support Black-led organisations.

"The victimization of unarmed Black Muslims has a long and troubling history," said a coalition statement signed by more than 90 civil rights, advocacy, community and faith organisations and released on Monday. "As American Muslims, we will draw on our diversity, our strength, and our resilience to demand these reforms because Black lives matter."

Proposed changes include prohibiting racial profiling and manoeuvers that restrict the flow of blood or oxygen to the brain, such as chokeholds; making it legally easier for prosecutors to hold law enforcement accountable; and redirecting police funding "into community health, education, employment and housing programs".

The statement also calls for the establishment of "a federal standard that use of force be reserved as a last resort, only when absolutely necessary" and after exhausting all reasonable options.

"These demands are a floor for our groups and not a ceiling. Some would call for much more," said Farhana Khera, executive director of Muslim Advocates, one of the statement's co-conveners.

"We're also urging all American Muslims to call their members of Congress right now and to demand a stronger response from them."

Like members of other faith groups, many Muslims in the US have joined in the outrage unleashed after Floyd, an unarmed Black man, died after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed a knee to his neck.

Groups from multiple denominations across faiths have publicly called for action against racism and aligned with the goals of peaceful demonstrators.

In street protests, statements, sermons and webinars, US Muslims have rallied against racism and discussed reforms.

"Muslim American organizations are committed to advocating at all levels to put an end to excessive use of force which has led to the murders of countless Black Americans," said Iman Awad, legislative director of Emgage Action, one of the statement's signatories. "Our message is that we will continue to fight but most importantly uplift the work being done by our Black leaders."

Muslims in America are ethnically and racially diverse and Floyd's death has also reinvigorated conversations about the treatment and representation of Black Muslims in their own faith communities.

"I'm hopeful and heartened by the number and diversity of groups that have signed on," said Kameelah Rashad, president of Muslim Wellness Foundation, also a co-convener. "That says to me that there's at least recognition that we as a whole can no longer separate Islamophobia, anti-Black racism, surveillance, and violence. People are reconciling with the notion that means our struggles are intertwined."

Now, she said, is the time for action.

"It's vital that non-Black Muslims develop a respect for the resilience and resistance of Black people."

The statement said: "Black people are often marginalized within the broader Muslim community. And when they fall victim to police violence, non-Black Muslims are too often silent, which leads to complicity."

Moving forward, American Muslim communities must make space for Black-led organisations, Awad said.

Also, "we must commit to having leadership positions which reflect the diversity of our faith community," she said. "We cannot be successful until we have all voices represented at all levels within our organizational structures and our communities must do better."

The statement said the demands represent only a "down payment" on needed reforms.

"If this deep-seated discrimination cannot be done away with through reform, then these systems will need to be abolished and re-imagined entirely," the statement said.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...forms-wake-floyd-killing-200615151310921.html

 

[Slog]

You had provided individual instances, which do not prove anything "systemic".



I really don't want to delve deep into "academic research", I really don't have time for that. The data is sliced and diced till the result that confirms the dominant paradigm in academics is found, and then the editors are willing to publish.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replication_crisis



There may be bias in drug sentencing, but that is not the topic of our discussion.



If a cop was facing someone in a hood where the murder rate is 500% higher than in a suburb, will the cop be more likely to discharge his firearm? Probably. Will that be evidence of "systemic bias"? Yes, to researchers and to editors, but not to me.

Are the larger number of shootings of blacks done by black cops in the hoods? Not something an academic will discuss.

Because it doesn't suit his purposes, the academic will make no distinction whether the larger number of police shootings occurred in areas infested by drug gangs or not. Not something I want to waste my time refuting.



To "cherrypick" is to take data and give it more significance than is due. To quote aggregate stats that blacks commit more murders than whites though their numbers are one-sixth is not cherrypicking. Data manipulation and cherrypicking are the basic tools of the trade of social science research.

There is a bias among many white and black cops. What Chauvin did is criminal and it sure looks like murder. However, to decide something is "systemic", one needs to get away from individual cases and consider all aspects of the issue, not just some aspects cherrypicked by academics.

if ever one needed an illustration of 'running from an argument with your tail between your legs'

 

[Napa]

if ever one needed an illustration of 'running from an argument with your tail between your legs'

Get past your childish insults and try to make a proper argument.

 

[CricketCartoons]

african americans should stop committing disproportionate crimes if they don't want to be disproportionate in prisons.

 

[Firebat]

Exclusive: African nations seek U.N. inquiry into U.S. racism, 'police brutality': text

GENEVA (Reuters) - African countries are lobbying to set up a U.N. inquiry into “systemic racism” and “police brutality” in the United States and elsewhere, aiming to defend the rights of people of African descent, a draft resolution seen by Reuters shows.

The text, circulating among diplomats in Geneva, voices alarm at “recent incidents of police brutality against peaceful demonstrators defending the rights of Africans and of people of African descent”. It is due to be considered at an urgent debate of the U.N. Human Rights Council on Wednesday.

The 47-member Council agreed on Tuesday to convene at the request of Burkina Faso on behalf of African countries after the death last month of George Floyd, an African American, in police custody in Minneapolis. His death has ignited protests worldwide.

The United States, which quit the Council two years ago alleging bias against its ally Israel, has not commented on being put in the dock.

The text, subject to change after negotiation at the Council, calls for setting up “an independent international commission of inquiry ... to establish facts and circumstances related to the systemic racism, alleged violations of international human rights law and abuses against Africans and of people of African descent in the United States of America and other parts of the world”.

The panel should examine federal, state and local government responses to peaceful protests “including the alleged use of excessive force against protesters, bystanders and journalists”.

The resolution calls on the United States and other countries to cooperate fully with the inquiry, which would report back in a year.

The Council already has commissions of inquiry or fact-finding missions into human rights violations in hotspots including Syria, Burundi, Myanmar, South Sudan, Venezuela and Yemen.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...-s-racism-police-brutality-text-idUSKBN23N0UM

 

[The Viper]

Why some black-owned U.S. businesses are hardest hit by coronavirus shutdowns

After 15 years working as a hair stylist in other people’s salons, Gary Connell opened his “Healthy Hair” studio in Montgomery County, Maryland in early March, sinking his savings into a two-chair shop in a busy mall.

It hadn’t even been up and running for a full month when stay-at-home orders were issued because of the novel coronavirus, shutting down the mall.

Connell, 57, went two months with no income before Maryland loosened restrictions in early June, allowing him to take a limited number of clients. He couldn’t access the federal government’s small business loan program, or get unemployment insurance.

His situation isn’t unusual.

U.S. black-owned small businesses are highly concentrated in retail, restaurants and other service industries most affected by shutdowns and social distancing. Their owners typically have had fewer resources to fall back on and a tough time getting aid, research shows.

Economists are sounding alarms that coronavirus-related damage may be permanent. “A lot of these business owners that are shut down right now are not going to come back,” said Robert Fairlie, an economics professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz who wrote a paper about the pandemic’s impact on small businesses.

The number of black businesses owners in the United States dropped by 41% between February and April to 640,000, compared to a 17% drop in the number of white business owners, Fairlie’s analysis shows.

FEWER BUSINESSES, FEWER RESOURCES
U.S. small businesses are where U.S. jobs are created, Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said during congressional testimony on Tuesday, and any wave of insolvencies would weigh on the economy for years. “That’s all the more so true of minority businesses because of the important role they play in our economy and in their communities,” he said.

Black business owners are under-represented, making up about 7% of the 15 million small business owners who were working in February before the coronavirus pandemic hit, compared to more than 13% of the U.S. population in 2019, Census data here show.

Black-owned businesses also had fewer resources to fall back on when the pandemic struck; some 21% were financially "distressed" at the end of 2019 based on their profitability, credit score and earnings, compared to just 5% of white-owned businesses, according to a Federal Reserve survey here

Distressed firms were more likely to use the owner’s personal funds, take on debt or close or sell the business if they faced two months without revenue, the Fed study here found.

Minority-owned businesses were less likely to borrow from banks, with only 23% of black-owned businesses having turned to a bank for a loan in the last five years, compared to 46% of white-owned businesses, the survey showed.

Long-standing wealth disparities leave black entrepreneurs with fewer funds to fall back on during the downturn. The typical black family had a net worth of $17,150 in 2016, a tenth of the $171,000 held by white families, according to the Brookings Institutihere

“That’s just not enough money to survive a pandemic when you’re trying to run a business and you have to pay rent, maybe you’re renting equipment,” said Fairlie. “You have a lot of costs that don’t just stop during a pandemic.”

Government programs such as the $660 billion Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), haven’t always been helpful.

Only 12% of black and Latino-owned businesses that sought assistance from the federal government received the amount they requested, and 41% were denied, according to a survey by UnidosUS and Color of Change here

The government has not collected or released data on PPP loan acceptance overall.

“The challenges that black-owned business and business owners of color face are not new but they have been exacerbated by this crisis,” said Tom Feltner, a director of research at the Center for Responsible Lending.

UPSIDE DOWN
Sage Ali, co-owner of Washington, D.C.’s U-Street restaurant Ben’s Chili Bowl, said the family-owned company had been poised to have its best year yet after opening a new location in a casino in Baltimore in March, and being featured in United Airline’s in-flight magazine.

The restaurant’s sales dropped as much as 85% in the coronavirus crisis and it failed to get a PPP loan initially, but it did in the second round. “It’s not a lot of money and there are a lot of bills other than payroll and our business is still down more than 50% for sure,” Ali said.

Many of the restaurant’s workers have been too fearful to return to work, and a Virginia location closed altogether, after the nearby area became what Ali called “a ghost town.”

“We’re struggling. Imagine small black-owned businesses that don’t have as much time in the game and don’t have as much recognition, and it’s got to be more challenging,” Ali said.

Hair salon owner Connell said he and his wife, a personal trainer who was also out of work, faced technical problems every time they tried to apply for unemployment benefits, as have millions of others.

“Everything feels upside down right now,” Connell said.

More consumers have been supporting black-owned businesses in the weeks after George Floyd, an unarmed black man, was killed in police custody, sparking protests over racism and police brutality.

But lack of capital means some firms are struggling to meet the demand.

Every time Donica Johns, 48, founder of the plant-based skin care brand Natural Mixologist, replenishes her most popular face masks and facial serums, the items sell out within days.

Johns, who lives in New Orleans, has not been able to restock as quickly as she would like, because she doesn’t have the capital reserves to order more ingredients.

As her company’s only employee, she decided not to apply for a PPP loan, but said she could benefit more from a flexible loan to help her rebuild inventory.

“It’s just so hard to get the capital we need,” said Johns. “When you’re strapped for cash it’s a very difficult balancing act.”

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-u...t-by-coronavirus-shutdowns-idUKKBN23N33H?il=0

 

[finalfantasy7]

black business are not the hardest hit, lets be honest its the Chinese

 

[aloo paratha]

No. How is the US institutionally racist?

 

[The Viper]

New York City declares Juneteenth an official holiday

Spoiler

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced that Juneteenth - the 19 June date which marks the end of US slavery - will become an official holiday.

It comes as millions of Americans plan to commemorate, with marches and personal observances, the 1865 date when the last US slaves were freed.

Several states already observe the day as an official holiday and there is a push to declare it a national holiday.

The date's significance has grown this year amid Black Lives Matter protests.

Mayor de Blasio said in a press conference on Friday that the date would be marked as an official city holiday beginning in 2021, and will also be a public school holiday.

"We'll work with all the unions to work through the plan, give this day the importance and recognition it deserves," Mr de Blasio said. "Every city worker, every student will have the opportunity to reflect the meaning of our history and the truth."

Earlier this week, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed an order making Juneteenth - also known as Emancipation Day and Freedom Day - a paid holiday for state workers.

Mr Cuomo said he would introduce legislation to make the day a holiday for all New Yorkers by 2021.

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam also promised to make Juneteenth a holiday by 2021 in the former capitol of the Confederacy which rebelled against the US during the Civil War for the legal right to enslave black people.

In Pennsylvania, Gov Tom Wolf has also signed an order making Juneteenth a holiday for state workers.

"In recent weeks, people around the nation have joined together to demand an end to systemic racism and oppression of African Americans," he said in the statement.

"Freedom for all is not fully realised until every person is truly free. This Juneteenth we have an opportunity to unite against injustice and create lasting change," he continued.

Texas was the first US state to declare Juneteenth a holiday in 1980. Now all but four US states observe or recognise the date in some form.

This year, the date has become particularly prominent in the public consciousness amid a wave of protests over racial inequality following the deaths of several unarmed African Americans. Juneteenth rallies are planned in Washington DC and across the country.

What is Juneteenth?
On 19 June, 1865 enslaved people in Galveston, Texas received the news that slavery had been abolished by President Abraham Lincoln two years earlier.

The news took so long to reach slaves in Texas in part due to fighting that continued even after the surrender of the Confederacy that ended the Civil War, according to historians.

The US National Archives said on Thursday that the original handwritten decree is believed to have been recently discovered, after a researcher was tasked with unearthing it due to heightened interested in the holiday.

"The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, 'all slaves are free,' " the military order reads.

"This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labour."

The elaborately written note was found in a book of formal orders in Washington DC.

"I think it's terrific. I think the timing is just amazing," David Ferriero, the head librarian of the Archives, told the Washington Post.

What else is happening?
Corporate America is also treating the holiday with more reverence than in previous years, with employees from Nike, Uber, and Twitter being given a paid day off.

Google has asked employees to cancel non-urgent meetings and instead "create space for learning and reflection".

Amazon told employees to "take some time to reflect, learn and support each other".

In Washington, the most senior Republican in the Senate said on Thursday that he would introduce a bill to make Juneteenth a federal holiday.

Four Democrats have also announced a similar proposal.

In the House of Representatives, the Texas congresswoman who has been pushing for a national holiday for two decades, told CBS that the chances of a holiday becoming a reality are growing.

"The potential of having this national holiday opens a whole world of discussion for America, a whole reckoning with racism and the systemic racism that permeates the nation," said Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, adding that the House proposal now has the endorsement of 204 lawmakers.

"It's delayed freedom, but it is the only recognition of the original sin of this nation," she continued.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-53113555

 

[The Viper]

FBI, NASCAR investigate noose found in Bubba Wallace's garage

Spoiler

Authorities said on Monday that the FBI is investigating the discovery of a noose found in the Talladega Superspeedway garage stall of Bubba Wallace and the governor of Alabama condemned the act against NASCAR's only Black full-time driver. Wallace two weeks ago successfully pushed NASCAR to ban the Confederate flag at its venues, though the sanctioning body has not outlined plans on how it will enforce the restriction.
"Late this afternoon, NASCAR was made aware that a noose was found in the garage stall of the 43 team," NASCAR said in a statement on Sunday. "We are angry and outraged, and cannot state strongly enough how seriously we take this heinous act."

On Twitter, Wallace said: "The despicable act of racism and hatred leaves me incredibly saddened and serves as a painful reminder of how much further we have to go as a society and how persistent we must be in the fight against racism."

Earlier this month, NASCAR banned the Confederate flag from all races as the sport moved to distance itself from a checkered past on race amid global protests against the death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody.

Flag ban
The noose was discovered on the same day NASCAR's fledgeling flag ban faced its biggest challenge. The ban took effect before last week's race near Miami, but there were only about 1,000 military members admitted into that race.

At the Talladega, Alabama Superspeedway, in the heart of the South, as many as 5,000 fans were allowed in, even though rain postponed the race until Monday and visitors were barred from the infield.

No flags were spotted inside the race venue on Sunday, but cars and pick-up trucks driving along nearby roads were flying the flag and parading past the entrance to the superspeedway over the weekend.

Wallace's 2013 victory in a Truck Series race was only the second in a NASCAR national series by a Black driver (the first being Wendell Scott in 1963) and helped push him into the Cup Series, where he drives the number 43 for Hall of Famer Richard Petty and is forced to scramble for sponsorship dollars.

Wallace, a 26-year-old Alabama native, said he has found support among fellow drivers for his stance on the flag. He noted that in his tweet after the noose announcement.

"Over the last several weeks, I have been overwhelmed by the support from people across the NASCAR industry including other drivers and team members in the garage," he said. "Together, our sport has made a commitment to driving real change and championing a community that is accepting and welcoming of everyone. Nothing is more important and we will not be deterred by the reprehensible actions of those who seek to spread hate."

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey said she was "shocked and appalled" by the "vile act" against Wallace, an Alabama native.

NASCAR has spent years trying to distance itself from the Confederate flag, long a part of its moonshine-running roots from its founding more than 70 years ago. Five years ago, former Chairman Brian France tried to ban flying the flags at tracks, a proposal that was not enforced and largely ignored.

This year was different and it was Wallace who led the charge. Over the past month, as the nation has been roiled by social unrest largely tied to Floyd's death, Wallace wore a black T-shirt with the words "I Can't Breathe" at one race and had a #BlackLivesMatter paint scheme at another.

Wallace, whose father is white, was not always outspoken about racism; even after Floyd was killed last month, he was not the first driver to speak out for racial equality.

He said he began to find his public voice on racism after watching the video in May of Ahmaud Arbery's fatal shooting in Georgia. He said he now recognises he must not let his platform as a prominent driver go to waste.

NBA star LeBron James tweeted his support to Wallace, calling the noose: "Sickening!"

"Know you don't stand alone! I'm right here with you as well as every other athlete," James wrote. "I just want to continue to say how proud I am of you for continuing to take a stand for change here in America and sports!"

Talladega is one of the more raucous stops on the NASCAR schedule, but the coronavirus pandemic prompted the series, like all sports, to ban or sharply limit fans for months. The scene this weekend was a dramatic departure from the Talladega norm with plenty of room for social distancing and fans being asked to wear masks.

Some NASCAR fans claim the flag is about heritage and not hate, though most African Americans disagree.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...bba-wallace-garage-stall-200622122202698.html

 

[Gotham Cronie]

FBI, NASCAR investigate noose found in Bubba Wallace's garage

Spoiler

Authorities said on Monday that the FBI is investigating the discovery of a noose found in the Talladega Superspeedway garage stall of Bubba Wallace and the governor of Alabama condemned the act against NASCAR's only Black full-time driver. Wallace two weeks ago successfully pushed NASCAR to ban the Confederate flag at its venues, though the sanctioning body has not outlined plans on how it will enforce the restriction.
"Late this afternoon, NASCAR was made aware that a noose was found in the garage stall of the 43 team," NASCAR said in a statement on Sunday. "We are angry and outraged, and cannot state strongly enough how seriously we take this heinous act."

On Twitter, Wallace said: "The despicable act of racism and hatred leaves me incredibly saddened and serves as a painful reminder of how much further we have to go as a society and how persistent we must be in the fight against racism."

Earlier this month, NASCAR banned the Confederate flag from all races as the sport moved to distance itself from a checkered past on race amid global protests against the death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody.

Flag ban
The noose was discovered on the same day NASCAR's fledgeling flag ban faced its biggest challenge. The ban took effect before last week's race near Miami, but there were only about 1,000 military members admitted into that race.

At the Talladega, Alabama Superspeedway, in the heart of the South, as many as 5,000 fans were allowed in, even though rain postponed the race until Monday and visitors were barred from the infield.

No flags were spotted inside the race venue on Sunday, but cars and pick-up trucks driving along nearby roads were flying the flag and parading past the entrance to the superspeedway over the weekend.

Wallace's 2013 victory in a Truck Series race was only the second in a NASCAR national series by a Black driver (the first being Wendell Scott in 1963) and helped push him into the Cup Series, where he drives the number 43 for Hall of Famer Richard Petty and is forced to scramble for sponsorship dollars.

Wallace, a 26-year-old Alabama native, said he has found support among fellow drivers for his stance on the flag. He noted that in his tweet after the noose announcement.

"Over the last several weeks, I have been overwhelmed by the support from people across the NASCAR industry including other drivers and team members in the garage," he said. "Together, our sport has made a commitment to driving real change and championing a community that is accepting and welcoming of everyone. Nothing is more important and we will not be deterred by the reprehensible actions of those who seek to spread hate."

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey said she was "shocked and appalled" by the "vile act" against Wallace, an Alabama native.

NASCAR has spent years trying to distance itself from the Confederate flag, long a part of its moonshine-running roots from its founding more than 70 years ago. Five years ago, former Chairman Brian France tried to ban flying the flags at tracks, a proposal that was not enforced and largely ignored.

This year was different and it was Wallace who led the charge. Over the past month, as the nation has been roiled by social unrest largely tied to Floyd's death, Wallace wore a black T-shirt with the words "I Can't Breathe" at one race and had a #BlackLivesMatter paint scheme at another.

Wallace, whose father is white, was not always outspoken about racism; even after Floyd was killed last month, he was not the first driver to speak out for racial equality.

He said he began to find his public voice on racism after watching the video in May of Ahmaud Arbery's fatal shooting in Georgia. He said he now recognises he must not let his platform as a prominent driver go to waste.

NBA star LeBron James tweeted his support to Wallace, calling the noose: "Sickening!"

"Know you don't stand alone! I'm right here with you as well as every other athlete," James wrote. "I just want to continue to say how proud I am of you for continuing to take a stand for change here in America and sports!"

Talladega is one of the more raucous stops on the NASCAR schedule, but the coronavirus pandemic prompted the series, like all sports, to ban or sharply limit fans for months. The scene this weekend was a dramatic departure from the Talladega norm with plenty of room for social distancing and fans being asked to wear masks.

Some NASCAR fans claim the flag is about heritage and not hate, though most African Americans disagree.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...bba-wallace-garage-stall-200622122202698.html

Except, it wasn't a noose. The media is ridiculous.

 

[MenInG]

Princeton University says it is to remove the name of former US President Woodrow Wilson from a building on its campus because of his racist beliefs and policies.

The move follows a wave of protests across the US sparked by the death of African-American man George Floyd.

Wilson was US president from 1913 to 1921 and helped to establish the League of Nations, a forerunner of the UN.

However, he supported segregation and imposed it on several federal agencies.

He also barred black students from Princeton while serving as university president and spoke approvingly of the Ku Klux Klan.

In a separate development on Saturday, the lower house of the Mississippi state congress passed a resolution that could remove the Confederate emblem - now viewed by many as a racist symbol - from the state flag.

Mississippi's Republican Governor Tate Reeves tweeted that he would sign a bill to change the current flag if the legislation was approved, saying arguments over the 1894 emblem had become as divisive as the flag itself. The measure now moves to a Senate committee before going to the chamber.

Outlining the university's decision on Saturday to remove Wilson's name, Princeton president Christopher Eisgruber said in a statement that "Wilson's racism was significant and consequential even by the standards of his own time".

He said that the board of trustees had concluded that "Wilson's racist views and policies make him an inappropriate namesake" for the university's public policy school. A residential college will also lose Wilson's name.

The name of the school will be changed to the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs.

Mr Eisgruber said Princeton had honoured President Wilson "not because of, but without regard to or perhaps even in ignorance of, his racism".

"That, however, is ultimately the problem," he added. "Princeton is part of an America that has too often disregarded, ignored, or excused racism, allowing the persistence of systems that discriminate against black people."

Earlier this month, Monmouth University in New Jersey removed Woodrow Wilson's name from one of its most prominent buildings.

The depth of feeling that followed the death of George Floyd has led to renewed demands for an end to institutional racism. In the US and other countries statues of controversial historical figures have either been pulled down or taken down.

However, US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order calling for protesters who target monuments to be imprisoned.

The measure says anyone who damages a public statue must be prosecuted to the "fullest extent of the law".

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53207649

 

[MenInG]

Politicians in the US state of Mississippi have taken a major step towards removing the Confederate emblem from the state flag.

On Saturday, both chambers of the Republican-led state congress voted to begin the process of changing the flag.

Mississippi is the last state in the US to feature the emblem on its flag.

The Confederate emblem is viewed by many as a racist symbol, with recent protests over the death of George Floyd reigniting debate over its use.

The flag was originally used by the slave-owning states who lost the US Civil War (1860-65).

The vote passed in both chambers of the Mississippi legislature: in the House of Representatives by a margin of 84-35, and then in the Senate by 36-14.

It means a bill to change the state flag can now be formally introduced. It is expected to be proposed on Sunday when the state congress is back in session, US media report.

A two-thirds majority was needed to begin the process. This was viewed as the biggest test because only a simple majority is needed to pass the final bill.

And in a major boost to the movement for change, Republican Governor Tate Reeves said that he would sign a bill to do so if it was approved in congress.

He had previously said that he would not veto a bill, but did not publicly back it.

"The argument over the 1894 flag has become as divisive as the flag itself and it's time to end it," he wrote on Twitter.

He added: "We should not be under any illusion that a vote in the Capitol is the end of what must be done - the job before us is to bring the state together."

"I would never have thought that I would see the flag come down in my lifetime," Democrat Barbara Blackmon, who is African-American, said on Saturday.

If the bill passes, a commission will design a new flag, to be be voted on in November.

Hundreds of statues dedicated to the Confederacy - the southern states which revolted against the US government - exist all throughout the US, and often serve as an reminder of the history of slavery and racial oppression in the US.

But the depth of feeling that followed the death of George Floyd has led to renewed demands for an end to institutional racism. In the US and other countries statues of controversial historical figures have either been pulled down or taken down.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53209854

 

[MenInG]

 

[The Viper]

Trump retweets, then deletes, video of supporter shouting 'white power'

U.S. President Donald Trump retweeted a video showing one of his supporters in Florida shouting “white power” at protesters of his administration, drawing rebukes from allies and adversaries as protests continue in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death.

The video on Twitter, which was later deleted from the president’s feed, showed Trump protesters and supporters in Florida shouting profanities at each other. After a protester called a Trump supporter a racist, the man responded by raising his fist and shouting, “white power.” The slogan is often used by white supremacists.

“There’s no question that he should not have retweeted it and he should just take it down,” U.S. Senator Tim Scott, the Senate’s only Black Republican, told CNN’s “State of the Union” program.

In the tweet, Trump wrote: “Thank you to the great people of The Villages”, a retirement community in Florida he visited last year.

White House spokesman Judd Deere said the president “is a big fan of The Villages. He did not hear the one statement made on the video. What he did see was tremendous enthusiasm from his many supporters.”

The tweet comes on the heels of Trump’s hostile response to protests against racial injustice engulfing the United States following the death of Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes in Minneapolis.

“It was so profanity laced, the entire thing was offensive. Certainly, the comment about the white power was offensive,” Scott added. “It’s indefensible. We should take it down.”

The Florida Democratic Party accused Trump of thanking “white supremacists” for their support and called on Floridians to deny him the swing state’s support in the November election.

Trump has been accused of racism by lawmakers for attacks on Black lawmakers and for telling four congresswomen of color that they should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”

Vice President Mike Pence refused repeated opportunities to say the phrase “Black Lives Matter” on Sunday, telling CBS’ “Face the Nation” program: “I really believe that all lives matter and that’s where the heart of the American people lies.”

Pence added that he views the Black Lives Matter movement as having a “political agenda of the radical left” that calls for cutting off funding for police departments and tearing down monuments.

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-u...orter-shouting-white-power-idUKKBN23Z0LO?il=0

 

[MenInG]

(CNN)Democrats in Orange County, California, are done with The Duke, and they want John Wayne's name and likeness stripped from the county's airport.

The pols cite Wayne's professed support of white supremacy in a 1971 Playboy interview, in which he espoused derogatory views of African Americans, Native Americans and movies with gay characters.

The article went viral in February 2019, but amid calls to take down tributes to Confederate soldiers and others who promoted hateful views, it has resurfaced and serves as the basis for the Orange County Democrats' resolution, which passed Friday.

It is up to the Orange County Board of Supervisors to make the final decision. Local Democrats want it renamed Orange County Airport.

"While some outside Orange County may not know of John Wayne's beliefs in white supremacy, many Orange County residents have been calling for his removal for years," county party chairwoman Ada Briceño said in a statement. "We're seeing renewed calls for this right now, and it's time for change."

'They're trying to contradict how he lived'

In an interview last year, the actor's son, Ethan Wayne, said his dad's words in the Playboy Q&A were being taken out of context and that his father "took everyone at face value."

"It would be an injustice to judge someone based on an interview that's being used out of context," he said. "They're trying to contradict how he lived his life, and how he lived his life was who he was. So any discussion of removing his name from the airport should include the full picture of the life of John Wayne and not be based on a single outlier interview from half a century ago."

State Sen. Tom Umberg, also a Democrat, wrote an op-ed published Saturday in The Orange County Register explaining his view that erecting statues and christening buildings should be reserved for those who reflect the county's values. That won't be the case, he wrote, for a child who today Googles the actor whose career spanned more than five decades.

"What they'll discover is that John Wayne died 41 years ago and was an actor who was most famous for his roles in Westerns and war movies, although in real life he was never a cowboy nor served in uniform," the lawmaker wrote.

"Among other disturbing facts, she will also discover that he was a self-proclaimed white supremacist."

Umberg proffered other Orange County luminaries for whom the airport could be named, including Medal of Honor recipients Walter Ehlers, Mike Monsoor and Tibor Rubin. Ehlers stormed the beach on D-Day, Monsoor died in Iraq protecting his fellow Navy SEALS from a grenade blast and Rubin survived the Holocaust and more than two years as a prisoner of war during the Korean War.

'I believe in white supremacy...'

Wayne's oeuvre included more than 150 feature-length films, including "Sands of Iwo Jima," for which he earned an Oscar nomination for best actor, and "True Grit," for which he took a little golden guy home. He died in 1979 in Los Angeles at age 72..

Though the county Democrats' resolution cites two direct quotes from the Playboy article, there are numerous instances in which Wayne made bigoted remarks:

In discussing the revocation of activist Angela Davis' teaching credentials, Wayne said, "We can't all of a sudden get down on our knees and turn everything over to the leadership of the blacks. I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. I don't believe in giving authority and positions of leadership and judgment to irresponsible people."

Asked about Native Americans playing subordinate roles in his movies, he replied, "I don't feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them, if that's what you're asking. Our so-called stealing of this country from them was just a matter of survival. There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves."

When the interviewer requests an example of movies he finds perverted, Wayne singles out Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight's characters in "Midnight Cowboy," which won three Oscars: "Wouldn't you say that the wonderful love of those two men in 'Midnight Cowboy,' a story about two f*gs, qualifies? But don't get me wrong. As far as a man and a woman is concerned, I'm awfully happy there's a thing called sex."

On the matter of education in the African American community, he said, "Some blacks have tried to force the issue and enter college when they haven't passed the tests and don't have the requisite background. ... I don't know why people insist that blacks have been forbidden their right to go to school. They were allowed in public schools wherever I've been."

Again on education, he said, "I don't feel guilty about the fact that five or 10 generations ago these people were slaves. Now, I'm not condoning slavery. It's just a fact of life, like the kid who gets infantile paralysis and has to wear braces so he can't play football with the rest of us. I will say this, though: I think any black who can compete with a white today can get a better break than a white man."

On casting Black actors, Wayne opined, "If it's supposed to be a black character, naturally I use a black actor, but I don't go so far as hunting for positions for them. I think the Hollywood studios are carrying their tokenism a little too far. There's no doubt that 10 percent of the population is black, or colored, or whatever they want to call themselves; they certainly aren't Caucasian. Anyway, I suppose there should be the same percentage of the colored race in films as in society, but it can't always be that way."

CNN could not immediately reach Michelle Steel, the Republican chairwoman of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, or Fred Whitaker, chairman of the Orange County Republicans.

Chapman University associate political science professor Fred Smoller and fellow Chapman academic Michael Moodian, who helped craft the county Democrats' resolution, wrote an op-ed last week explaining how Orange County's demographics and values have changed in the four decades since the airport took Wayne's name.

"I don't see this as a Democrat or a Republican or liberal vs. conservative issue. It's about universal values: Racism is wrong. It should play no role in America. John Wayne's own words provide the most powerful reason this civic honor should not be bestowed," Smoller told CNN. "John Wayne Airport is Orange County's confederate statue, its ode to white supremacy. If Mississippi can remove the confederacy from its flag, then Orange County can remove images of John Wayne from its airport."

Aviation pioneer Eddie Martin opened the airport, located south of Los Angeles, in 1923 and opened a flight school and eponymous aviation company there. Orange County acquired it in 1939.

The county Board of Supervisors renamed Orange County Airport to John Wayne Airport in 1979, calling the actor a "man of humility, of honesty, and a hero of the American West (who) was a symbol to the world of the traditional American values."

The same year, The John Wayne Associates commissioned sculptor Robert Summers to create a 9-foot statue of The Duke, in cowboy garb, sauntering atop a marble pedestal. The statue was finished in 1982 and later placed in the lobby of the Thomas F. Riley Terminal, named for a Marines brigadier general who went on to serve as an Orange County supervisor.

In addition to the statue, the airport's gift shops celebrate the actor with T-shirts, shot glasses and other knickknacks bearing Wayne's image.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/28/...ame-change-orange-county-democrats/index.html

 

[MenInG]

A US woman has been shot while trying to remove a Nazi flag from someone's front yard in the state of Oklahoma.

Garfield County Sheriff's office said the woman had been at a party nearby when she took one of two flags being flown outside Alexander Feaster's home.

Mr Feaster, 44, then reportedly shot her in the back with a semi-automatic rifle as she ran away.

The 26-year-old woman is expected to recover from her injuries and Mr Feaster is being held in custody.

Sherriff Jody Helm said the woman was found lying in a ditch with four gunshot wounds after deputies responded to a call early on Sunday morning.

Sherriff Helm initially suggested the woman had tried to steal the swastika-emblazoned flag for a dare, but in an interview with NBC News she said there was "conflicting information" surrounding the woman's motive.

An affidavit seen by NBC News says "several" cameras at Mr Feaster's home show he fired on the woman "without warning". A neighbour then moved a red pickup truck near the home to serve as a barricade, and a witness trained a rifle on the property as a precaution while waiting for deputies to arrive.

Mr Feaster was later taken into custody without incident. He has been charged with assault and battery with a deadly weapon, and shooting with intent to kill, and is due to appear in court on 9 July.

A neighbour told local radio KFOR that he had been flying the flags for around a year, and they had been snatched from his home a few times in the past. They added that he would occasionally dress up in black uniform with a red swastika armband - an outfit reminiscent of Nazi SS uniforms. But he was said to mostly keep to himself.

Another woman and friend of the victim said there had been "no problems" with Mr Feaster before, but that his flags were a cause for concern.

"I feel like these flags are a disaster waiting to happen," she told the Enid News and Eagle.

 

[Firebat]

Redskins sponsor, FedEx, urges team to rebrand

The headline sponsor of the Washington Redskins, Fedex, has called on the American football team to change its controversial name.

The Washington DC-based team has faced repeated calls to change its name, which is considered offensive to Native Americans.

After pressure from investors, FedEx on Thursday added its voice to the calls.

"We have communicated to the team in Washington our request that they change the team name," it said in a statement.

At the turn of the millennium, FedEx paid $205m (£165m) for the naming rights to the Redskins' 82,000-seat stadium in Maryland. The deal expires in 2025.

But that is not the delivery giant's only tie to the team. The boss and founder of FedEx, Frederick Smith also owns a minority stake in the Redskins.

The team has come under sustained pressure to change its name for decades.

Six years ago FedEx shareholders voted to allow the Redskins to keep its name after the shipping giant received a complaint from the Wisconsin-based Oneida Indian tribe.

But as firms assess their stance on issues around race, following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, FedEx has now called for the team to rebrand.

Last week, 87 investment firms and shareholders wrote to FedEx, along with fellow Redskins' sponsors Nike and PepsiCo, calling on the firms to sever ties with the Redskins, according to AdWeek.

"'Redskins' remains a de-humanising word characterizing people by skincolour and a racial slur with hateful connotations," the letter written to PepsiCo said.

As of Thursday, Nike's website did not display any Redskins merchandise. The Washington-based team was the only one of the 32 NFL teams no longer listed in the site's index. Nike did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In the past, the team's owner Dan Snyder has remained steadfast on keeping the name, calling it a "badge of honour".

The team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-53276070

 

[Napa]

So you ask for a numbers based analysis which is given, but academics are not be trusted, the media is to blame for racism and you still don't wish to address obvious racial biases in the judicial system which present a clear cut case for systemic racism.

Okay good day to you sir. I hope the stable genius steps out of his bunker soon.

If you wish to understand my contempt for academic research, you should read this article. These are the sort of groupthink idiots who now dominate academics in the US. Good luck trying to ever publish anything that challenges the dominant paradigm.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/202...sm-progressive-progressphiles-david-shor.html

 

[Firebat]

Cleveland Indians to review team name in light of protests against racial injustice

The Cleveland Indians are to review their team name in order to "embrace their responsibility to advance social justice and equality".

The Major League Baseball side's announcement comes in light of recent protests against racial injustice in the United States.

On Friday, NFL side the Washington Redskins said they would review their name after demands from major sponsors.

The Indians said they were "committed to making a positive impact".

"Our organisation fully recognises our team name is among the most visible ways in which we connect with the community," the team said in a statement.

"We have had ongoing discussions organisationally on these issues. The recent social unrest in our community and our country has only underscored the need for us to keep improving as an organisation on issues of social justice.

"With that in mind, we are committed to engaging our community and appropriate stakeholders to determine the best path forward with regard to our team name."

The Indians dropped the Chief Wahoo logo from their uniforms in 2019 after Major League Baseball said it was "no longer appropriate".

The logo - a grinning, red-faced cartoon man in a feather headband - had been used by the team since 1947 but had been singled out by Native American groups as an offensive racial caricature, with the team criticised for perpetuating stereotypes about indigenous people.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/baseball/53289799

 

[MenInG]

Three police officers have been fired over photos showing them re-enact a chokehold used on Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man who died last year after police stopped him on the street in a Denver suburb.

Officers Erica Marrero, Kyle Dittrich and Jaron Jones had imitated the chokehold used to subdue McClain in October last year.

In a statement posted online, interim police chief of Aurora Vanessa Wilson confirmed on Friday that Marrero and Dittrich had been fired. The third officer, Jones, resigned on Tuesday, she said.

She added that she understood "the devastating impact this incident has had on the relationship between the community and the [police] department".

A fourth officer, Jason Rosenblatt, was also fired on Friday, she said. He was sent the photo by one of the three and had responded with a text saying "haha", local US media reported.

Rosenblatt, a white Aurora officer, had helped stop McClain in August last year for wearing a ski mask and "being suspicious".

After police put McClain in a chokehold, paramedics injected him with a sedative and he later suffered cardiac arrest.

Officer Nathan Woodyard, who put McClain in the chokehold, also got the photos but he was not disciplined because he did not respond.

"We are ashamed, we are sickened, and we are angry," Wilson said. The officers may not have committed a crime, but the photographs are "a crime against humanity and decency", she said.

McClain's death had become a rallying cry amid a national reckoning over police brutality and racial injustice, with the state reopening the case for possible criminal charges and federal officials looking into a civil rights investigation.

In several places, the chokehold has been banned and other police reforms passed after nationwide protests.

McClain's family, friends and community activists noted during a rally that justice was swifter for the mocking photograph than the use of force that led to McClain's death.

The two other officers who stopped the young man are still on the force as authorities look again into possible criminal charges after clearing them last year.

"Rosenblatt got fired not for killing Elijah, not for murdering Elijah, but for making fun of Elijah," said Terrence Roberts, a community organiser and family friend.

"That is the culture that we're fighting, where a police officer can murder a Black man, a Black child, and keep his job and stay on the force so he can go make fun of this child.

Several police agencies have taken swift action to punish officers, including those involved in George Floyd's death on May 25 in Minneapolis that ushered in global demonstrations.

For Elijah McClain's mother, Sheneen McClain, "it was just devastating to see that people were mocking the murder of her son", family lawyer Mari Newman said.

"The fact that three on-duty, in-uniform police officers thought that it was appropriate to re-enact the murder, jokingly, shows that the department is rotten to the core," she said.

Facing increasing pressure as celebrities and others on social media called for justice, Colorado Governor Jared Polis last week ordered the state attorney general to reopen McClain's case.

The officers stopped McClain, a massage therapist, after a 911 call on August 24 reported him as suspicious because he was wearing a ski mask and flailing his arms. He begged them repeatedly to let go of him, according to body-camera video.

After the chokehold that cut off blood to his brain, paramedics administered 500 milligrams of a sedative to calm him down. A forensic pathologist could not determine what exactly led to McClain's death but said physical exertion during the confrontation likely contributed.

Police body-camera video shows an officer getting out of his car, approaching McClain and saying, "Stop right there. Stop. Stop ... I have a right to stop you because you're being suspicious."

In the video, the officer turns McClain around and repeats, "Stop tensing up!" As McClain tries to escape the grip, the officer says, "Relax or I'm going to have to change this situation."

As other officers join to restrain McClain, he begs them to let go and says, "You guys started to arrest me, and I was stopping my music to listen."

Aurora police have said McClain refused to stop walking and fought back when officers tried to take him into custody.

In the video, McClain tells officers: "Let go of me. I am an introvert. Please respect the boundaries that I am speaking."

The US attorney's office, the US Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and the FBI announced this week they are looking into whether to launch a civil rights investigation. Federal authorities said they were also considering an investigation into the photos.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...ting-chokehold-black-man-200704112639183.html

 

[MenInG]

Some 150 writers, academics and activists - including authors JK Rowling, Salman Rushdie and Margaret Atwood - have signed an open letter denouncing so-called cancel culture.

They say they applaud a recent "needed reckoning" on racial justice, but argue it has fuelled stifling of open debate.

The letter denounces "a vogue for public shaming and ostracism" and "a blinding moral certainty".

Cancel culture refers to online shaming of individuals who cause offence.

"The free exchange of information and ideas, the lifeblood of a liberal society, is daily becoming more constricted," says the letter.

US intellectual Noam Chomsky, eminent feminist Gloria Steinem, Russian chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov and author Malcolm Gladwell also put their names to the letter, which was published on Tuesday in Harper's Magazine.

The appearance of Harry Potter author Rowling's name among signatories comes after she recently found herself under attack online for comments that offended transgender people.

Her fellow British writer, Martin Amis, also signed the letter.

What unites young people against Obama and Trump
It also says: "We uphold the value of robust and even caustic counter-speech from all quarters.

"But it is now all too common to hear calls for swift and severe retribution in response to perceived transgressions of speech and thought."

The letter condemns "disproportionate punishments" meted out to targets of cancel culture by institutional leaders conducting "panicked damage control".

It continues: "Editors are fired for running controversial pieces; books are withdrawn for alleged inauthenticity; journalists are barred from writing on certain topics; professors are investigated for quoting works of literature in class; a researcher is fired for circulating a peer-reviewed academic study; and the heads of organizations are ousted for what are sometimes just clumsy mistakes."

It was signed by New York Times op-ed contributors David Brooks and Bari Weiss. The newspaper's editorial page editor was recently removed amid uproar after publishing an opinion piece by Republican Senator Tom Cotton.

The letter goes on to say that cancel culture has spread fear through arts and media.

"We are already paying the price in greater risk aversion among writers, artists, and journalists who fear for their livelihoods if they depart from the consensus, or even lack sufficient zeal in agreement," it says.

It adds: "We need to preserve the possibility of good-faith disagreement without dire professional consequences."

One signatory - Matthew Yglesias, co-founder of liberal news analysis website Vox - was rebuked by a colleague on Tuesday for putting his name to the letter.

Vox critic at large Emily VanDerWerff, a trans woman, tweeted that she had written a letter to the publication's editors to say that Yglesias signing the letter "makes me feel less safe at Vox".

But VanDerWerff said she did not want Yglesias to be fired or apologise because it would only convince him he was being "martyred".

One signatory recanted within hours of the letter being published.

Jennifer Finney Boylan, a US author and transgender activist, tweeted: "I did not know who else had signed that letter.

"I thought I was endorsing a well-meaning, if vague, message against internet shaming."

She added: "I am so sorry."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-53330105

 

[Firebat]

Washington Redskins to retire controversial team name following review

The Washington Redskins American football team has said it will retire its name, long criticised as racist.

In a statement, the team said it would "be retiring the Redskins name and logo upon completion of a review" demanded by its sponsors.

Its major sponsors recently threatened to pull funding from the NFL team unless it considered renaming itself.

The Washington DC-based team has faced years of pressure over a name seen as offensive to Native Americans.

Team owner Dan Synder had been a boyhood fan of the team - which was named the Redskins in 1933 when it was still based in Boston - and had vowed to never change the name.

But amid protests over police brutality and racism, major sponsors FedEx, Nike, Pepsi and Bank of America all called on Mr Snyder to consider finally changing the name.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-53390944

 

[The Viper]

Video of Pennsylvania officer restraining man sparks protests

Video posted on social media that shows a Pennsylvania police officer with his knee on a man's neck while trying to restrain him has prompted protests and a demand from the local Black Lives Matter group to suspend the officers involved.

The video shot Saturday night from a passer-by's vehicle shows officers in Allentown, Pennsylvania restraining a man on the ground outside the emergency room of the Sacred Heart Campus of St Luke's Hospital. An officer has his elbow on the man's neck before switching to a knee to hold him down while other officers restrained his arms.

The man does not appear to be resisting during the video.

Allentown Police released a statement Sunday night saying the interaction is being investigated and additional videos are being reviewed.

The Allentown department released details about its use of force policy earlier this month, five weeks after a white Minneapolis police officer put his knee on George Floyd's neck for several minutes, even after he stopped responding. Floyd's death has set off protests around the world calling for an end to police brutality and systemic racism.

The policy prohibits neck restraints and chokeholds. It said that officers should only use the amount of force necessary to control the situation.

According to the police statement, officers were outside the hospital for an unrelated matter when they saw a man staggering in the street, vomiting and stopping in the driveway of the ER.

The officers and hospital staff interacted with the man, who began to yell and spit at them, police said. The statement said the man was "noncompliant which required officers to restrain" him. It is unclear from the video how long the officer had his knee on the man's neck.

The man was treated at the hospital and released.

Police have not released the name or race of any individuals seen in the video.

The video was posted to social media where people on the Black Lives Matter to Lehigh Valley Facebook page demanded answers from police. The group formed a protest late Saturday in front of the police station, and is planning another march to City Hall on Monday evening with community leaders slated as speakers.

Allentown Mayor Ray O'Connell and Chief of Police Glenn Grantiz Jr showed up to the protest. Both said the police need to investigate the matter further. O'Connell called the video "disturbing".

Police said in their statement that they plan on releasing more videos later this week.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...ning-man-sparks-protests-200713164346756.html

 

[sweep_shot]

Rather than having knee on a person's neck, why not having that knee on shoulder or something. There should be a better way of restraining someone.

Neck is a sensitive body part.

 

[MenInG]

Donald Trump has refused to answer a question about police violence against black people, and instead claimed "more white people" are killed by officers in the US than African Americans.

The US president was being interviewed by CBS reporter Catherine Herridge on Tuesday when he was asked why black people are still dying at the hands of law enforcement.

"So are white people. So are white people. What a terrible question to ask. So are white people," Trump responded.

"More white people, by the way. More white people."

According to a Washington Post investigation and database tracking US deaths at the hands of police, white people make up around half the annual figure, while black Americans account for 24% of those fatally shot and killed by the police.

But it also notes African Americans make up about 13% of the US population, while 76% is white, meaning black people are around 2.5 times as likely as white Americans to be shot and killed by police officers in the country.

Also in the interview, Mr Trump defended the use of the Confederate flag as a mark of "freedom of speech".

The flag is a hugely divisive symbol in the US. Some of the population argue it represents heritage, while others point towards its association with slavery and its use by white supremacists.

"I know people that like the Confederate flag and they're not thinking about slavery," Mr Trump said.

"I look at NASCAR, you go to NASCAR, you had those flags all over the place, they stopped it. I just think it's freedom of speech - whether its Confederate flags, or Black Lives Matter, or anything else you want to talk about - it's freedom of speech."

The president's reference to NASCAR pointed to the association's decision in June to ban Confederate flags at its events.

It came after the only black driver in the top series called for change following the death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis in May.

Mr Trump has made a number of recent moves to protect Confederate monuments across the US after they became targets of protests sparked after Mr Floyd's death.

He signed an executive order in June to protect federal monuments, and threatened action against Congress should its annual defence authorisation bill suggest changing the names of military bases named after Confederate commanders.

https://news.sky.com/story/edward-c...ture-of-black-lives-matter-protester-12028799

 

[The Viper]

US federal agents use tear gas to disperse Portland's BLM protest

US federal agents have again used tear gas in a bid to disperse a large crowd of protesters outside the federal court in Oregon state's Portland city after multiple fireworks were shot towards the building during a Black Lives Matter demonstration.

Thousands of people gathered on Friday night in Portland's streets hours after a US judge denied Oregon's request to restrict federal agents' actions during protests that have roiled the city and pitted local officials against the Trump administration.

A few hundred people, most wearing masks and many donning helmets, gathered near a fountain before marching to the Hatfield Federal Courthouse, where the federal agents were stationed.

Beginning at 9pm (04:00 GMT on Saturday), the crowd pressed shoulder to shoulder, packed the area and overflowed into the streets as they chanted "Black Lives Matter" and "Feds go home" to the sound of drums.

As the night carried on, protesters shook the fence surrounding the court and shot multiple fireworks over it. Minutes later, tear gas was thrown into the crowd by the federal agents deployed by President Donald Trump to tamp down the unrest.

The agents have arrested dozens during nightly demonstrations against racial injustice that often turn violent.

Legal challenges

The clashes in Portland have further inflamed the nation's political tensions and triggered a crisis over the limits of federal power as Trump moves to send US officers to other Democratic-led cities as part of his new "law and order" re-election strategy after the coronavirus crashed the economy.

Democratic leaders in Oregon say federal intervention has worsened the two-month crisis, and the state attorney general alleged in his lawsuit that some people had been whisked off the streets in unmarked vehicles.

US District Judge Michael Mosman said the state lacked standing to sue on behalf of protesters because the lawsuit was a "highly unusual one with a particular set of rules".

Oregon was seeking a restraining order on behalf of its residents; not for injuries that had already happened, but to prevent injuries by federal officers in the future.

That combination makes the standard for granting such a motion very narrow, and the state did not prove it had standing in the case, Mosman wrote.

Legal experts who reviewed the case before the decision had warned the judge could reject the case.

"The federal government acted in violation of those individuals' rights and probably acted in violation of the constitution in the sense of exercising powers that are reserved to the states, but just because the federal government acts in ways that overstep its authority doesn't mean the state has an injury," said Michael Dorf, a constitutional law professor at Cornell University.

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, a Democrat who was tear-gassed this week as he joined the protesters, said the federal presence is exacerbating a tense situation and he has repeatedly told them to leave.

Homeland Security acting Secretary Chad Wolf denied that federal agents were inflaming the situation in Portland and said Wheeler legitimised criminality by joining demonstrators, whom Trump has called "anarchists and agitators".

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...rse-portland-blm-protest-200725081037916.html

 

[The Viper]

Seattle protest: Police and anti-racism demonstrators clash at march

Police in the US city of Seattle clashed with crowds marching in support of anti-racism protests, in one of the most tense of several rallies held across the country on Saturday.

Officers used stun grenades and pepper spray, as protesters set a fire and broke windows. The march was in support of ongoing protests in Portland.

Forty-five people were arrested while 21 officers were injured.

In Austin, Texas one man was killed during a Black Lives Matter march.

Police said initial reports suggested the victim might have been carrying a rifle and approached a vehicle, from where a person shot and killed him. The suspect has been arrested and is co-operating with officers.

The demonstrations have been given renewed energy by violent clashes in Portland between protesters and federal agents deployed by President Donald Trump despite opposition from local and state leaders.

In Seattle, thousands of protesters had initially gathered peacefully, carrying signs such as "Feds go home" and "We are living in a police state", and shouting chants of "No justice, no peace".

A group then set fire to the construction site for a youth detention facility before smashing windows of a courthouse and nearby businesses, police said. Authorities said rocks, bottles, fireworks and mortars were thrown at officers, and one of them was taken to hospital with a leg injury.

Police declared the demonstrations a riot and said they were investigating whether an explosive device was used against a police station. No injuries were reported.

Like Portland, Seattle has seen extended protests against racism and police brutality since the death of George Floyd in police custody in May. But after a police-free protest zone in the city was dismantled earlier this month following a series of shootings, demonstrations had waned.

What happened elsewhere in the US?
A car drove through a crowd in Aurora, Colorado but there were no reports of injuries. At the same march, a person was injured after a protester "decided to fire off a weapon", police said. The person is reportedly in a stable condition in hospital.

Demonstrators in the city also remembered Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old black man who died last August after being stopped by police.

In Louisville, Kentucky hundreds of members of a black militia demanded justice for Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old black woman who was fatally shot when officers entered her flat in March.

Carrying semi-automatic rifles and shotguns, the group walked in formation to a fenced off intersection where they were separated by police from a smaller crowd of armed counter-protesters. There were no reports of incidents.

Earlier, three members of the black militia were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries after a weapon was accidentally discharged. Police said the incident was being investigated.

In other developments:

Police said at least 75 people had been arrested in Omaha, Nebraska where protesters were remembering James Scurlock, a 22-year-old black man shot dead by a white bar owner in May

In Richmond, Virginia, a city dump lorry was set ablaze, police tweeted

In Los Angeles, protesters clashed with officers in front of the federal courthouse

What is happening in Portland?

Mr Trump's decision to send federal law enforcement agents to protect government buildings in Portland, Oregon, has been deeply controversial. Clashes have escalated recently.

Federal officers in unmarked vehicles appeared to forcefully seize protesters from the streets and detain them without justification. They have also fired tear gas and less-lethal munitions into crowds of demonstrators.

President Donald Trump says he is trying to restore order but his approach has drawn widespread criticism and legal challenges.

The Democratic governor of Oregon, Kate Brown, has demanded their withdrawal, and local officials say this is an election-year ploy by the president to try and paint his opponents as weak on law and order.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-53542504

 

[MenInG]

A senator for the state of Arkansas has described slavery as a "necessary evil" on which the American nation was built.

In a local newspaper interview, Republican Tom Cotton said he rejected the idea that the US was a systemically racist country to its core.

He is introducing legislation to ban federal funds for a project by the New York Times newspaper, aimed at revising the historical view of slavery.

The project's founder expressed outrage at the remarks.

This comes amid the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. The death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, in Minnesota in May sparked huge protests across the US against police brutality and racism.

Protesters and police in the city of Portland, Oregon, have clashed repeatedly in recent days. The confrontations have escalated since a deeply controversial decision by President Donald Trump to send federal law enforcement to the city. Under the US constitution, policing is a matter for individual states, not for the federal government.

Senator Cotton has been a strong critic of the nationwide protests, describing them in an opinion piece for the New York Times as an "orgy of violence" and backing Donald Trump's threat to use troops to quell unrest.

The article was widely criticised, and more than 800 Times employees signed a letter denouncing its publication, saying it contained misinformation.

The newspaper later apologised, saying the piece fell below its editorial standards. Opinion editor James Bennet resigned as a result.

What did Senator Cotton say?
Senator Cotton told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: "We have to study the history of slavery and its role and impact on the development of our country because otherwise we can't understand our country.

"As the Founding Fathers said, it was the necessary evil upon which the union was built, but the union was built in a way, as [Abraham] Lincoln said, to put slavery on the course to its ultimate extinction."

On Thursday Senator Cotton introduced the Saving American History Act, aimed at stopping funding for 1619, an initiative which bases US history teaching around the first arrivals of slave ships in the US in August of that year.

The project won the Pulitzer prize for commentary for its founder, the New York Times journalist Nicole Hannah-Jones, but it has been criticised by many US conservatives, with Senator Cotton describing it as "left-wing propaganda".

"The entire premise of the New York Times' factually, historically flawed 1619 Project… is that America is at root, a systemically racist country to the core and irredeemable," Senator Cotton said.

"I reject that root and branch. America is a great and noble country founded on the proposition that all mankind is created equal. We have always struggled to live up to that promise, but no country has ever done more to achieve it."

Responding to Senator Cotton's legislation, Hannah-Jones tweeted that if slavery was justified as a means to an end, anything else could be too.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53550882

 

[MenInG]

A police officer in the US has been fired after he was filmed repeatedly punching a black man during a traffic stop.

The deputy - who has not been named - has been sacked for "excessive use of force" on Roderick Walker, Clayton County Sheriff's Office in Georgia said.



https://news.sky.com/story/us-polic...ws-him-repeatedly-punching-black-man-12071469

 

[The Viper]

Breonna Taylor's family 'agree financial settlement' over death

The family of Breonna Taylor, a black woman who was killed by police in Louisville, Kentucky, have agreed a multimillion-dollar settlement with the city, US media report.

Ms Taylor, 26, was shot eight times when officers entered her home on 13 March during a drugs investigation.

Her name has featured prominently in anti-racism protests around the world in recent months.

The settlement will reportedly be announced later on Tuesday.

It includes a "substantial" payment and will also mandate a series of police reforms in the city, the local Courier Journal newspaper reports.

These are believed to include a requirement that all search warrants are approved by a senior officer, the newspaper says.

The settlement is reported to be one of the largest financial sums paid in a police misconduct case.

Ms Taylor's killing was propelled into the spotlight once again with the death George Floyd, an African American man who died after a police officer knelt on his neck for minutes during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in May.

The death of Mr Floyd sparked global anti-racism protests and brought renewed focus on police brutality.

What happened to Breonna Taylor?

Shortly after midnight on 13 March, three officers entered Ms Taylor's apartment by executing a no-knock search warrant - a court document that authorises police to enter a home without warning.

Ms Taylor and her partner, Kenneth Walker, were reportedly asleep as the commotion began.

The officers exchanged fire with Mr Walker, a licensed gun owner who called 911 in the belief that the drug raid was a burglary. The officers - who fired more than 25 bullets - said they returned fire after one officer was shot and wounded.

Ms Taylor, 26, was a decorated emergency medical technician

During the exchange, Ms Taylor, an emergency medical technician, was shot eight times and later died.

No drugs were found in the property.

The lawsuit filed by Ms Taylor's family accuses the officers of battery, wrongful death, excessive force and gross negligence. It also says the officers were not looking for her or her partner, but for an unrelated suspect who did not live in the complex.

One of the officers involved in the raid, Brett Hankison, was fired in June. The other two - Jonathan Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove - were placed on administrative leave.

A grand jury could soon decide whether criminal charges should be filed against any of the officers, local media report.

Earlier this year, Louisville's city council voted unanimously in favour of banning no-knock warrants. Similar legislation that would ban the warrants nationwide was introduced in the US Congress.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-54165646

 

[sweep_shot]

Breonna Taylor: Louisville to pay family $12m over police shooting

Officials in Louisville, Kentucky have agreed to pay $12m (£9.3m) to the family of Breonna Taylor, a black woman who was killed in her home by police.

Taylor was 26 when she was shot at least five times and killed on 13 March during a mistaken drugs raid.

Her name has featured prominently in anti-racism protests in recent months.

Lonita Baker, a lawyer for Taylor's family, called the settlement just one "layer" in the effort to seek justice, and praised new police reforms.

"Justice for Breonna is multi-layered," said Ms Baker at a press conference on Tuesday alongside Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer.

She called the agreement "tremendous, but only a portion" of what the family hopes for, including the arrest of the officers involved in her death.

"Today what we did here was to do what we could do to bring a little bit of police reform and it's just a start," continued Ms Baker.

"But we finished the first mile in the marathon and we've got a lot more miles to go to until we achieve and cross that finish line."

The settlement includes a series of police reforms in the city, including a requirement that all search warrants be approved by a senior officer and giving a housing credit to officers who move to low-income neighbourhoods they patrol in the city.

In a short statement, Taylor's mother Tamika Palmer called for criminal charges against the officers and asked people to continue to say her daughter's name publicly in advocacy for police reforms.

The settlement is the largest financial sum paid in a police misconduct case in the city's history, according to the Louisville Courier Journal.

Taylor's killing was propelled into the spotlight once again with the death George Floyd, an African-American man who died after a police officer knelt on his neck for minutes during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in May.

Floyd's death sparked global anti-racism protests and brought renewed focus on police brutality.

What happened to Breonna Taylor?
Shortly after midnight on 13 March, three officers entered Taylor's apartment by executing a no-knock search warrant - a court document that authorises police to enter a home without warning.

Taylor and her partner, Kenneth Walker, were reportedly asleep as the commotion began.

The officers exchanged fire with Mr Walker, a licensed gun owner who called 911 in the belief that the drug raid was a burglary. The officers - who fired more than 25 bullets - said they returned fire after one officer was shot and wounded.

During the exchange, Taylor, an emergency medical technician, was shot eight times and later died.

No drugs were found on the property.

The lawsuit filed by Taylor's family accuses the officers of battery, wrongful death, excessive force and gross negligence. It also says the officers were not looking for her or her partner, but for an unrelated suspect who did not live in the complex.

Her family has also accused police of leading the raid as a plot to gentrify her neighbourhood. The city's mayor dismissed the allegation as "outrageous" and "without foundation or supporting facts".

One of the officers involved in the raid, Brett Hankison, was fired in June. The other two - Jonathan Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove - were placed on administrative leave.

The city's police chief was also fired in June after a separate police shooting.

A grand jury could soon decide whether criminal charges should be filed against any of the officers.

Until Freedom, a social justice organisation that has held rallies for Taylor, released a statement saying: "No amount of money will bring back Breonna Taylor."

"True justice is not served with cash settlements," the group added. "We need those involved in her murder to be arrested and charged. We need accountability. We need justice."

Earlier this year, Louisville's city council voted unanimously in favour of banning no-knock warrants. Similar legislation that would ban the warrants nationwide was introduced in the US Congress.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-54165646.

 

[MenInG]

Hundreds of protesters in Philadelphia have marched through the city for a second night, demanding racial justice after police fatally shot a black man.

The family of Walter Wallace, 27, say he was suffering a mental health crisis when officers opened fire on him.

Police say they shot him because he wouldn't drop a knife he was holding.

Police reinforcements as well as the National Guard have been deployed. Officials say 30 officers were hurt during the first night of clashes.

The city's police have also accused protesters of looting and ransacking businesses during the unrest.

Mr Wallace had bipolar disorder, and his wife told officers this before they shot him, a lawyer representing his family said.

 

[Gilly]

Hundreds of protesters in Philadelphia have marched through the city for a second night, demanding racial justice after police fatally shot a black man.

The family of Walter Wallace, 27, say he was suffering a mental health crisis when officers opened fire on him.

Police say they shot him because he wouldn't drop a knife he was holding.

Police reinforcements as well as the National Guard have been deployed. Officials say 30 officers were hurt during the first night of clashes.

The city's police have also accused protesters of looting and ransacking businesses during the unrest.

Mr Wallace had bipolar disorder, and his wife told officers this before they shot him, a lawyer representing his family said.

A bit odd to leave out some of the facts in this case, he was chasing the police officers with a knife and the officers were trying to get away from him.

 

[Firebat]

Ahmaud Arbery murder trial: Prosecutors reveal full footage of black jogger's death

Georgia prosecutors have shown the full footage of the fatal shooting of a black jogger at the trial of three white men accused of his murder.

The prosecutors argued 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery was attacked by men who pursued him because of racial bias.

On the opening day of arguments, the court was also shown video from the first police officer on the scene.

Defendants Gregory and Travis McMichael and William Bryan deny all charges and have said they acted in self-defence.

Mr Arbery was shot and killed during the confrontation with the McMichaels on 23 February 2020. The case erupted into public view after footage of Mr Arbery's final moments surfaced online months later.

Mr McMichael, 65, his son Travis, 35, and neighbour Mr Bryan, 52, who filmed the incident, say they pursued Mr Arbery in order to make a citizen's arrest - allowed at the time under Georgia law. They say they suspected he had stolen from a nearby construction site.

The McMichaels have also said they acted in self defence, accusing Mr Arbery of attacking Travis when they tried to stop him.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-59180744