Category Archives: George Floyd

Virginia school board votes to restore Confederate names to two public schools

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Schools changed their names after 2020 George Floyd protests, but will now revert to old names celebrating slave-state leaders

An all-white school board in Virginia has voted to restore the names of Robert E Lee and other Confederate military leaders to two public schools in a backlash to the racial reckoning that followed the police murder of George Floyd.

The decision to restore the names of Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Turner Ashby was taken on Friday morning by the six-member school board in Shenandoah county. Only one of the members voted against the resolution.

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US prisoner charged with attempted murder over stabbing of Derek Chauvin

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John Turscak, 52, accused of stabbing Chauvin, convicted of George Floyd’s murder, 22 times in prison in Tucson, Arizona

A detainee at a federal prison was charged on Friday with attempted murder in the prison stabbing of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd.

John Turscak stabbed Chauvin 22 times in the law library at the Tucson federal correctional institution in Arizona with an improvised knife, prosecutors said. Turscak, 52, told correctional officers he would have killed Chauvin had they not responded so quickly, according to prosecutors.

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Derek Chauvin expected to survive stabbing attack in prison, officials say

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Minneapolis police chief provided updates about attack on former officer who was convicted of murdering George Floyd

The former Minneapolis police officer who was convicted of murdering George Floyd and was stabbed in prison by a fellow inmate Friday is expected to survive the attack, officials have told media outlets.

Updates about Derek Chauvin, the wounded convicted killer and ex-cop, were provided to various media outlets – including the Associated Press and the news station KSTP – by the Minneapolis police chief, Brian O’Hara, as well as a spokesperson for Minnesota state attorney general Keith Ellison’s office on Saturday.

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George Floyd murder: Minneapolis police have pattern of aggression and discrimination, DoJ inquiry finds

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Merrick Garland announces findings of Department of Justice investigation into department after Floyd’s killing by officers

The US attorney general, Merrick Garland, on Friday announced that the 2020 murder of George Floyd was part of a “pattern or practice” of excessive force used by the department and years of unlawful discrimination against Black Americans.

Garland held a press conference to reveal the findings of the two-year investigation by the Department of Justice (DoJ) into the conduct and training of the Minneapolis police department (MPD) both before and after George Floyd’s death at the hands of officers in the city in 2020.

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UK business leader diversity has not increased since George Floyd death

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Nearly 70% of office workers say their firms have not increased number of black, Asian or ethnic minority leaders

The number of senior business leaders from ethnically diverse backgrounds has not significantly increased since the death of George Floyd sparked global protests and $50bn (£40bn) of corporate pledges to address racial inequality in the workplace.

Three years on from the killing of Floyd at the hands of US police officers, which prompted chief executives including Apple’s Tim Cook and David Solomon of Goldman Sachs to declare that leaders also need to do more to address racial disparities in their own companies, nearly 70% of office workers say their firms have not increased the number of black, Asian or ethnic minority leaders.

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UN human rights experts begin US tour focusing on racial justice and policing

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Panel established in response to George Floyd killing will visit Washington DC, Atlanta, LA, Chicago, Minneapolis and New York

A team of United Nations experts has arrived in the US on a tour that will focus on racial justice, law enforcement and policing.

On Monday, the Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in the Context of Law Enforcement, an independent panel appointed by the UN human rights council, began its two-week visit to the US.

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Mayor says George Floyd would be alive if Derek Chauvin had been fired in 2017

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Jacob Frey makes remark during announcement that Minneapolis reached $8.9m settlement in two excessive force lawsuits

The mayor of Minneapolis said George Floyd would still be alive if the city’s police department had “done the right thing” and fired officer Derek Chauvin in 2017 after complaints he knelt on the necks of two people he arrested.

Jacob Frey was speaking at a press conference Thursday announcing the city had reached a $8.9m settlement in two excessive force lawsuits.

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‘It never stops’: killings by US police reach record high in 2022

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Law enforcement killed at least 1,176 people or about 100 people a month last year, making it the deadliest for police violence

US law enforcement killed at least 1,176 people in 2022, making it the deadliest year on record for police violence since experts first started tracking the killings, a new data analysis reveals.

Police across the country killed an average of more than three people a day, or nearly 100 people every month last year according to Mapping Police Violence. The non-profit research group maintains a database of reported deaths at the hands of law enforcement, including people fatally shot, beaten, restrained and Tasered.

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Former police officer who kneeled on George Floyd’s back sentenced to prison

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J Alexander Kueng pleaded guilty of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter and will serve a three and a half year term

The former Minneapolis police officer who kneeled on George Floyd’s back while another officer kneeled on the Black man’s neck was sentenced Friday to three and a half years in prison.

J Alexander Kueng pleaded guilty in October to a state count of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. In exchange, a charge of aiding and abetting murder was dropped. Kueng is already serving a federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights, and the state and federal sentence will be served at the same time.

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George Floyd’s family sues Kanye West for saying he died from drug abuse

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Rapper alleged Floyd died from a fentanyl overdose on a podcast, sparking a $250m lawsuit

The mother of George Floyd’s daughter, Roxie Washington, has sued rapper Kanye West for $250m (£221m) after the artist alleged that the 46-year-old man died from drug abuse rather than being murdered by a police officer.

Last Saturday, on the Drink Champs podcast, West, who legally changed his name to Ye, alleged that Floyd died from a fentanyl overdose. In the same interview, which has since been taken down by YouTube, West also made antisemitic comments.

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Former Minneapolis officer sentenced to three years in George Floyd’s murder

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Thomas Lane is already serving a two-and-a-half-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights

A former Minneapolis police officer who pleaded guilty to a state charge of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter in the killing of George Floyd was sentenced on Wednesday to three years.

Thomas Lane is already serving a two-and-a-half-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights. In the state case, prosecutors and Lane’s attorneys agreed to a recommended sentence of three years, to be served at the same time, in a federal prison.

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Ex-Minneapolis officer given two and a half years over George Floyd killing

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Thomas Lane convicted of violating Floyd’s civil rights as Derek Chauvin, convicted of murder, pinned Floyd’s neck with his knee

A federal judge has sentenced former Minneapolis police officer Thomas Lane to two and a half years in prison for violating George Floyd’s civil rights, calling Lane’s role in the restraint that killed Floyd “a very serious offense in which a life was lost” but handing down a sentence well below what prosecutors and Floyd’s family sought.

Judge Paul Magnuson’s sentence was just slightly more than the 27 months that Lane’s attorney had requested, while prosecutors had asked for more than five years in prison – the low end of federal guidelines for the charge Lane was convicted on earlier this year. He said Lane, who faces sentencing in September on state charges in Floyd’s killing, will remain free on bond until he must turn himself in on October 4.

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Getty opens access to 30,000 images of black diaspora in UK and US

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Photos dating back to 1800s made free to allow telling of black history stories beyond enslavement and colonisation

A collection of almost 30,000 rarely seen images of the black diaspora in the UK and the US, dating from the 19th century to the present, has been launched as part of an educational initiative to raise awareness of the history of black people in the UK.

The Black History & Culture Collection includes more than 20 categories of images including politics, hair, education, female empowerment and LGBTQ+.

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Former police officer pleads guilty to manslaughter in George Floyd killing

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Thomas Lane agrees to spend three years in prison after accepting guilty plea, a year after Derek Chauvin convicted of murder

A former Minneapolis police officer pleaded guilty on Wednesday to manslaughter in the murder of George Floyd and agreed to spend three years in state prison, officials said.

Thomas Lane’s plea to a count of aiding and abetting manslaughter came a year after his former colleague Derek Chauvin, who was recorded by a bystander killing Floyd by kneeling on his neck, was convicted of murder and sentenced to more than two decades in prison.

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Three ex-officers found guilty on federal charges in George Floyd killing

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Trio of former Minneapolis officers found guilty of violating the civil rights of Floyd, murdered by Derek Chauvin in May 2020

A jury has convicted three former Minneapolis police officers of violating George Floyd’s civil rights.

Floyd, a Black man, was killed by white police officer Derek Chauvin. His video-taped death triggered widespread outrage and sparked anti-police brutality protests that spread across the US and the world.

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Kabul to California: how the ‘hip-hop family’ mobilised for young Afghans

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With breakdancers, artists and parkourists facing a bleak future under the Taliban, a global network stepped in to help, drawing on the activist spirit of rap culture

A veteran of the hip-hop scene and internationally celebrated breakdancer, Nancy Yu – AKA Asia One – has her fair share of people contacting her looking for advice. But the message she received in 2019 from a young Afghan was a little different.

Frustrated by his breakdancing crew’s inability to get visas to perform internationally, Moshtagh* was wondering if Asia could help. “He felt they were really good, but they felt, like, invisible to the world,” she says. “I liked him. He wasn’t trying to bug me or say ‘we need this right now’ … He seemed rather humble and honest.”

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Derek Chauvin pleads guilty to civil rights charges in killing of George Floyd

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Ex-Minneapolis police officer has already been convicted of state murder and manslaughter charges and sentenced to 22 1/2 years

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has pleaded guilty to violating George Floyd’s civil rights during the arrest that killed Floyd in May 2020, sparking mass racial justice protests across the US and beyond.

Chauvin appeared in federal court in person on Wednesday morning to change his plea to guilty. It means he will not face a federal trial in January, though he could end up spending more years behind bars when a judge sentences him at a later date.

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Derek Chauvin expected to plead guilty to violating George Floyd’s civil rights

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Federal docket entry shows hearing scheduled for Wednesday for Chauvin to change his current not guilty plea in the case

Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer, appears to be on the verge of pleading guilty to violating George Floyd’s civil rights, according to a notice sent out Monday by the court’s electronic filing system.

The federal docket entry shows a hearing has been scheduled for Wednesday for Chauvin to change his current not guilty plea in the case. These types of notices indicate a defendant is planning to plead guilty.

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UN calls for end of ‘impunity’ for police violence against black people

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Report launched in aftermath of George Floyd murder cites example of 2018 death of Kevin Clarke in UK

A UN report that analysed racial justice in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd has called on member states including the UK to end the “impunity” enjoyed by police officers who violate the human rights of black people.

The UN human rights office analysis of 190 deaths across the world led to the report’s damning conclusion that law enforcement officers are rarely held accountable for killing black people due in part to deficient investigations and an unwillingness to acknowledge the impact of structural racism.

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Keith Ellison urges Congress to act on stalled police reform after Chauvin sentencing

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Minnesota attorney general secured conviction and sentencing of former police officer who murdered George Floyd last year

The Minnesota attorney general who secured the conviction and sentencing of Derek Chauvin said on Sunday Congress must pass stalled policing reform named for George Floyd, the African American man the former officer murdered in May last year.

Related: ‘I have begged for justice’: key moments from the Derek Chauvin sentencing

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