Two women were struck and injured by a car whose driver sped through a protest-related closure on a freeway in Seattle, authorities said on Saturday.
Related: US under siege from 'far-left fascism', says Trump in Mount Rushmore speech
Continue reading...A Minnesota judge on Monday warned that he was likely to move the trials of four police officers charged in George Floyd’s killing out of Minneapolis if public officials and attorneys do not stop talking publicly about the case.
Judge Peter Cahill stopped short of issuing a gag order on attorneys, but he said one is likely if public statements continue.
Continue reading...Police in riot gear confronted protesters in Aurora, Colorado, who had gathered at a violin vigil for Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old known for his violin playing who died after he was put into a neck hold by police in suburban Denver last year.
Aurora police department said officers did not use teargas on demonstrators but said pepper spray was used to make sure protesters were moving back.
Movement to get officers out of schools sees progress even as Chicago and Los Angeles school boards vote to keep them in place
A growing movement to get police officers out of US schools saw a major victory this week when Oakland’s school board voted to eliminate the school district’s dedicated police department.
But in Chicago and Los Angeles, despite protests by youth activists, support from teachers’ unions, and an outpouring of public support, school boards voted to keep police in public schools, at least for now.
Continue reading...Officers’ claims of Shake Shack ‘bleach poisoning’ were formally investigated and quickly dismissed by the NYPD’s own chief of detectives while Starbucks has debunked ‘tampongate’
Some good news, finally, for cops: you can go back to eating at Shake Shack without worry.
Last week, after drinking some weird tasting shakes, three New York officers alleged they had been poisoned with bleach. The claims were formally investigated and quickly dismissed by the NYPD’s own chief of detectives after video footage showed that the drinks had not been tampered with by employees. Subsequent New York Post reporting has shown the officers checked into the hospital even though they weren’t sick and, importantly, that Shake Shack could not have known they were cops because they pre-ordered through the Shake Shack app.
Continue reading...The Black Lives Matter protests in the US, which escalated in response to the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, have brought the little-known but decades-old campaign to abolish US police into the spotlight. But what are abolitionists calling for, and how would a police-free society work? Josh Toussaint-Strauss explores the arguments for abolition with a campaigner from MPD150 and Reclaim the Block, and also Sam Levin, LA correspondent for Guardian US
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It has been seven weeks since Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis took a coronavirus “victory lap”, pressing ahead with a swift reopening program while berating the media for a “doom and gloom” approach he said bore little relation to reality.
“We haven’t seen an explosion of new cases,” DeSantis insisted during a 29 April news conference, a day on which the state’s Covid-19 tally increased by 347.
Robert Mueller and his investigators thought it possible Donald Trump lied to them about conversations with Roger Stone, according to previously redacted sections of the special counsel’s report which were were released on Friday night.
The release, part of litigation over portions of Mueller’s findings which remain secret, was largely overshadowed by US attorney general William Barr’s announcement of the resignation of the attorney for the southern district of New York, Geoffrey Berman, who then denied he was stepping down.
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In Oakland, thousands rallied with members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), whose workers arranged a strike at 29 ports up and down the West Coast.
I was there, earlier today. The union workers were joined by a motorcycle brigade, a car caravan, a fleet of cyclists, and thousands on foot. Activist and scholar Angela Davis and filmmaker Boots Riley addressed the crowd.
In Wisconsin, governor Tony Evers called on the state legislature to ban police chokeholds, among reforms that he unveiled today.
The Democratic governor did not ask for a special legislative session to take up the policy as soon as possible, as the Brack Legislative Caucus had requested.
Our country promises the opportunity of justice and equity and in the wake of the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and the calls for justice across our state and nation, and as we celebrate Juneteenth today, we are called to deliver on that promise.
Continue reading...Thousands of people have taken to the streets across the US to mark Juneteenth, the holiday marking the end of slavery and those who fought for it. Combining the words “June” and “19th”, the holiday commemorates the anniversary of the day in 1865 when the Union army major general Gordon Granger read out Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation to remaining enslaved African Americans on a plantation in Galveston, Texas.
Sheriff’s deputies chased and shot dead Andres Guardado, 18, a security guard at an auto repairs shop
After sheriff’s deputies chased and shot dead a security guard at an auto repairs shop in Los Angeles on Thursday evening, family members have identified the dead man to local media as Andres Guardado, 18.
The killing came amid national protest and unrest over the deaths of African Americans, and other people of color, at the hands of law enforcement.
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Donald Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame has been defaced yet again during Sunday afternoon’s Black Lives Matter protest in Los Angeles, although these days it might qualify as bigger news if the former reality TV host’s terrazzo-and-brass totem went longer than a week unmolested.
Trump’s star was defaced during today’s Hollywood protest march. #blm #hollywoodprotest #JusticeForGeorgeFlyod #hollywoodboulevard #hollywoodblvd #protests pic.twitter.com/UI3SOIZSiV
Hundreds of demonstrators have gathered at the Montana State Capitol building in Helena in protest of the killing of George Floyd and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
The Helena Independent Record reports Sunday’s protest is the largest of a number of demonstrations that have been held in Montana’s capital city in recent weeks amid the nationwide backlash to police-related violence against black and brown people.
The protest for George Floyd in Helena, MT is... huge. pic.twitter.com/LLwdiHMwxZ
Continue reading...Footage from Garrett Rolfe and Devin Brosnan shows the officers approaching Rayshard Brooks in his car, which was parked in a Wendy’s drive-in lane, and asking him to move it. They question him and make him take a breathalyser test. The officers then attempt to arrest and handcuff Brooks, leading to a scuffle, which culminates in his shooting. The interaction lasted about 45 minutes. The footage in this video has been edited for length
Continue reading...A man suspected of ambushing and shooting a California sheriff’s deputy was killed on Thursday after a shootout with police, authorities said.
Three officers suffered non-life-threatening injuries on Thursday afternoon, a day after the alleged ambush in Paso Robles.
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Hallie Golden reports for The Guardian:
Governor Jay Inslee of Washington has ordered a new investigation into the death of Manuel Ellis, an African American man who died more than three months ago in police custody, following questions over the independence of the investigation.
Related: Washington governor orders new investigation into police custody death
Lane was released after posting bond. His bail was set for $1m.
Lane was one of the officers — including Derek Chauvin, Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng — who stopped George Floyd while responding to a call about the alleged use of a counterfeit $20 bill.
Continue reading...Governor Jay Inslee of Washington has ordered a new investigation into the death of Manuel Ellis, an African American man who died more than three months ago in police custody, following questions over the independence of the investigation.
The move comes one day after a lawyer for the Ellis family released footage from the night of his death, which shows him screaming, “I can’t breathe sir. I can’t breathe,” followed by what sounds like an officer saying, “Shut the fuck up.”
Continue reading...Can the phenomenal response to the police killing of George Floyd be channeled to secure lasting political change?
The New Yorker writer Jelani Cobb captured best the sense of wonder at what is happening on the streets of America. He posted a tweet from Mitt Romney, the Republican senator from Utah, which showed the former presidential candidate marching alongside demonstrators under the banner Black Lives Matter.
“Ladies and gentleman,” Cobb remarked. “This is what you call uncharted territory.”
Continue reading...I grew up facing attack after attack on myself and others. Today each of us has a role in the fight for Black lives
I was nine when I was first called a n---- while walking to my mom’s car after school.
Ten when I watched the savage beating of Rodney King by the Los Angeles police department on television. Eleven when I saw the flames and ashes of a city burning after four police officers were found not guilty.
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On Saturday night, 23-year-old Erik Salgado was shot and killed by California Highway Patrol officers in Oakland. His pregnant girlfriend was also injured in the shooting, NBC Bay Area reported.
Last night in East Oakland CHP officers shot and killed Eric Salgado during a traffic stop on the 9600 block of Cherry St. His family is out here mourning.
Police have not released much information about the incident. pic.twitter.com/e4JxH7Xjln
This is the block where the CHP shooting happened last night. Eric’s family is out here. Witnesses, including neighbors say the police shot upwards of 20 rounds into the car. pic.twitter.com/po1C3kFNbF
There’s thousands here. And they keep coming. CHP isn’t getting away with this. We’re putting an end to cops killing with impunity.
No justice, no peace. No racist police. #JusticeForErik pic.twitter.com/LQjmfZMbln
Related: 'George Floyd happens every day': activists seek justice for police killings the media forgot
The force of furious national protests over racist policing is rippling through many different industries now, as workers speak up about racist practices and racist bosses in culture industries like fashion, publishing, and media.
The editor-in-chief of beloved cooking brand Bon Appetit announced today that he is stepping down after photographs of him in “brown face” were recirculated on social media, and an editor spoke out about the “systemic racism” she had experienced at Bon Appetit and its parent company Conde Nast, including alleging that “currently only white editors are paid for their video appearances.” (A company spokesperson told Variety that was not true, but did not offer details.)
Condé Nast’s Bon Appetit Allegedly Pays Only White Editors for Videos, Image of EIC Adam Rapoport in Brown Face Surfaces https://t.co/vleRO9UvWN
Adam confusing Priya for Sohla told us all we needed to know pic.twitter.com/zWn6gIIcKj
Bon Apetit editor stepping down: pic.twitter.com/XSVmC6Do9Z
Continue reading...A veto-proof council majority says the city will move to a community-based public safety model – but what will that entail?
Nine members of Minneapolis city council have vowed to dismantle the city’s police department, which was responsible for the death of George Floyd, and replace it with a new community-based system of public safety.
Related: George Floyd protests: Democrats take a knee before unveiling police reform bill – live
Continue reading...From Birth of a Nation to Watchmen, the big and small screens have tried to wrestle with racial tensions within law enforcement with mixed results
As we’ve all seen, when it comes to American police brutality, the gloves are now off and the masks too. Faced with yet more incontrovertible evidence of brutal and racist policing – both the killing of George Floyd and others, and some forces’ response to the public protests – it has become virtually impossible to maintain the image of American law enforcement officers as straightforward protectors and servers of the people.
Related: George Floyd protests: fired officer to appear in court as calls to defund police sweep US – live
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