thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-09--The Police Have Been Spying On Black Reporters And Activists For Years. I Know Because I’m One Of Th

The Police Have Been Spying On Black Reporters And Activists For Years. I Know Because I’m One Of Them.

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MEMPHIS , Tenn. — On Aug. 20 , 2018 , the first day of a federal police surveillance trial , I discovered that the Memphis Police Department was spying on me .
The ACLU of Tennessee had sued the MPD , alleging that the department was in violation of a 1978 consent decree barring surveillance of residents for political purposes .
I ’ m pretty sure I wore my pink gingham jacket — it ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to look professional .
I know I sat on the right side of the courtroom , not far from a former colleague at the city ’ s daily newspaper .
I ’ d long suspected that I was on law enforcement ’ s radar , simply because my work tends to center on the most marginalized communities , not institutions with the most power .
One of the first witnesses called to the stand : Sgt .
Timothy Reynolds , who is white .
To get intel on activists and organizers , including @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , he ’ d posed on Facebook as a “ man of color , ” befriending people and trying to infiltrate closed circles .
Projected onto a giant screen in the courtroom was a screenshot of people Reynolds followed on Facebook .
My head was bent as I wrote in my reporter ’ s notebook .
“ What does this entry indicate ?
” ACLU attorney Amanda Strickland Floyd asked .
“ I was following Wendi Thomas , ” Reynolds replied .
“ Wendi C. Thomas.
” She , he replied , used @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In 2014 , I left the paper after being a columnist for 11 years .
It ’ s been more than a year since a judge ruled against the city , and I ’ ve never gotten a clear answer on why the MPD was monitoring me .
Law enforcement also was keeping tabs on three other journalists whose names came out during the trial .
Reynolds testified he used the fake account to monitor protest activity and follow current events connected to Black Lives Matter .
My sin , as best I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who were local organizers and activists , including some of the original plaintiffs in the ACLU ’ s lawsuit against the city .
In the days since cellphone video captured white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin squeezing the life out of George Floyd , a black man , residents in dozens of cities across the country have exercised their First Amendment rights to protest police brutality .
Here in Memphis , where two-thirds of the population is black and 1 in 4 lives below the poverty line , demonstrators have chanted , “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ racist police !
” The most recent protests were sparked by the killings of Floyd and of Breonna Taylor , a black woman gunned down in her home by Louisville , Kentucky , police in March .
But in Memphis , like elsewhere , the seeds of distrust between activists and police were planted decades ago .
And law enforcement has nurtured these seeds ever since .
In the mid-1960s , the MPD launched a domestic intelligence unit to spy not just on activists , but also on teachers ’ meetings , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
That included Martin Luther King Jr. , who came to Memphis in the spring of 1968 to stand in solidarity with underpaid and mistreated black city sanitation workers .
The police surveillance wasn ’ t conducted just with wiretaps and long lenses , but with snitches planted within local organizations , including spies planted by then-Mayor Henry Loeb , an anti-union segregationist , among sanitation workers who wanted to join a union .
In the iconic photo taken just moments after a gunman shot King on the Lorraine Motel balcony , several @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from which the bullet came .
Crouched over King ’ s body is a man holding a towel to the gaping wound on King ’ s face .
The man , rarely identified in photos , is Marrell “ Mac ” McCollough , a Memphis cop who was assigned to infiltrate a militant activist group hated by Memphis police .
There ’ s no evidence he was involved with King ’ s assassination .
Some , including members of King ’ s family , have long speculated that the assassination was not the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by federal law enforcement agencies ( the FBI famously monitored and harassed King ) .
Both a U.S. House committee independent review in 1979 and a Department of Justice review in 2000 found no basis for this .
Still , in 2002 , the National Civil Rights Museum , which sits where the motel was , added to its permanent exhibits “ Lingering Questions , ” which contains hundreds of pieces of evidence , including the bullet plucked from King ’ s body .
One of the questions ( that the exhibit does @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Memphis Police Department part of the conspiracy ?
” In 1976 , the ACLU of Tennessee sued the city , alleging it had violated residents ’ First Amendment rights by maintaining records that “ contained unverified information and gossip which related exclusively to the exercise of lawful and peaceful activities , ” and , according to the complaint , “ served no lawful or valid law enforcement purpose.
” A judge agreed and in 1978 signed the Kendrick consent decree , the first such decree in the country , which barred law @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Many of today ’ s protesters know about that ruling , because in 2017 the ACLU of Tennessee sued the city , alleging that police were violating the consent decree by again illegally spying on residents who were exercising their First Amendment rights .
In 2016 , protesters had a series of high-profile demonstrations including a May protest at the Memphis Zoo , a spontaneous protest against police brutality in July in which hundreds blocked traffic on the Interstate 40 bridge and a December “ die-in ” in the mayor ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the lawsuit , the city started a blacklist of residents barred from City Hall without an escort .
It contained the names not just of those who had been arrested at demonstrations , but many who had not , including the mother of Darrius Stewart , a black teen police shot and killed in 2015 following a traffic stop , and a white grandmother who ’ d made it through a security blockade outside Graceland while black protesters were held back .
Reynolds ’ sleuthing made up a good part of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with law enforcement agencies and some of the city ’ s largest corporations , such as FedEx and AutoZone , at the businesses ’ request .
( Facebook told the MPD it violated the social platform ’ s terms of service by creating fake accounts and impersonating others . )
In court , the city argued that the surveillance — videotaping demonstrations , using social media collators to sweep up posts about police and Black Lives Matters supporters — was necessary to protect public safety.\ \ But while joint intelligence briefings and internal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ potential threats , they were littered with unfounded rumors , misidentified photos of activists and surveillance reports of events that posed no clear threat , such as a black food truck festival .
And while it ’ s true that the pen is mightier than the sword , there ’ s nothing about me that screams threat , unless critical reporting on public policy and public officials , including Mayor Jim Strickland , counts .
In 2017 , MLK50 : Justice Through Journalism covered the anniversary of the bridge protest , but when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the mayor , I was rebuffed .
“ Objectivity dictates if the mayor does one on one interviews , ” wrote Ursula Madden , the city ’ s chief communications officer in an email .
“ You have demonstrated , particularly on social media , that you are not objective when it comes to Mayor Strickland.
” I replied that I was disappointed and asked her to point me to any errors of fact I ’ d made in my coverage .
She did not respond .
I ’ ve worked as a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ years .
I ’ ve never been a victim of police brutality , but few of my interactions with police have inspired confidence .
In 2014 , while I was at The Commercial Appeal , a reader threatened by email to rape me after a column I wrote about Confederate Gen. Nathan B. Forrest .
I reluctantly reported the threat to police , but the investigation felt lackluster and no suspect was ever identified .
It nagged at me , and years later , when I tried to learn more about what steps @ @ @ @ @ @ @ taken , department officials refused to share any information , even the details of their interview with me .
In July 2015 , I covered the demonstrations that followed Stewart ’ s death by police .
I interviewed the teen ’ s father and posted the video on Instagram .
A few days later , a cousin I hadn ’ t seen in years stopped by .
He wanted to take a quick tour through downtown Memphis .
It was dark and rainy .
He ’ s black with long locks and a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ good host , but before I left the house , I tweeted my hesitation : “ My cousin is in town for work , leaving tomorrow .
He wants to see Downtown .
My 1st thought : Do I want to risk an encounter w/ police ?
” My fear was not without cause : Less than two weeks earlier , Sandra Bland , a 28-year-old black woman , had been forced out of her car by an aggressive Texas cop who ’ d stopped her for failing to signal while changing lanes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ arrest and three days later , she was found dead in a jail cell .
Authorities said she died by suicide .
I was thinking about what happened to Bland and what had happened to Stewart , who had been shot to death by police following a traffic stop the same month .
Just a few miles from home , flashing lights filled my rearview mirror .
I pulled over , heart pounding .
I hit record on my cellphone and placed it on the dashboard .
You can ’ t see the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which I still have , but you can hear our voices over the windshield wipers .
The officer , who was black , asked for my license .
I handed it to him and asked why I ’ d been stopped .
He said my driver ’ s side headlight was out , but when he leaned over to tap it , he said it was back on .
“ I ’ m not trying to be Sandra Bland tonight , ” I told the officer .
The Memphis officer said he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ You think I want to stand out here in the rain ?
” he can be heard saying on video .
“ Ms .
Thomas , ” he said , reading my license .
“ Ms .
Wendi Thomas.
” I wondered if he recognized my byline .
I offered to show him what I had just tweeted but he declined .
“ Your headlights are working now , ” he said .
“ You be safe , OK ?
” “ Yeah , but what happens when somebody else pulls @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ I don ’ t know what somebody else is gon na do , ” he said , “ but I know that if you do the right things , if you ’ re doing the right things , then nothing else can happen but good.
” I now wonder if the police had been following me .
The police department did not answer questions for this story .
But at the time , I was paralyzed by fear and wanted to avoid being pulled over again .
Why Were You Following Me @ @ @ @ @ @ @ naming me as someone he had followed , the judge took a short recess .
I headed outside the courtroom and saw Reynolds headed to the elevator .
I followed him .
When the doors closed , I stuck out my hand and introduced myself .
I asked : Why were you following me on social media ?
Although it was chilly in the courtroom , Reynolds was sweating .
He said he couldn ’ t talk about it .
Two days after Reynolds ’ testimony , I filed a public records request @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for all joint intelligence briefings , emails or other documents that referenced me or any of the three other journalists that the MPD was following on social media .
Four hundred and thirty three days later , the city produced the records — and I still don ’ t understand what would make police see me as a threat worthy of surveillance in the name of public safety .
Contained in the documents : A screenshot of a Facebook post that I made on Jan. 28 , 2016 , while I was on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ d shared a notice about a grassroots coalition meeting to be held that day .
In a joint intelligence briefing was a screenshot of a tweet I ’ d been tagged in .
The original tweet , which at the time police captured it had 11 likes and one retweet , was itself a screenshot of an offensive image a Memphis police officer had allegedly posted on Snapchat .
In another police email was a February 2017 tweet I sent about an upcoming protest , which had been announced on Facebook .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Memphis is pushing back against the judge ’ s ruling .
Its lawyers have asked the court to modify the consent decree , contending that the city can ’ t participate in a Trump administration public safety partnership if it isn ’ t allowed to share intelligence with federal agencies .
My battles with the city of Memphis didn ’ t end with the lawsuit , unfortunately .
In 2018 , I was trying to figure out which corporations had answered the mayor ’ s call to financially subsidize police operations by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ through a secretive nonprofit , the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission .
Strickland wouldn ’ t divulge the companies ’ identities , but he realized that public records I ’ d requested would .
So the mayor ’ s staff , in conjunction with the Crime Commission and another secretive nonprofit , came up with a plan to release the companies ’ names to local journalists before releasing the records to me , I learned through emails released in conjunction with a 2018 public records lawsuit against the Crime Commission .
And this year @ @ @ @ @ @ @ city after it refused to include me on its media email advisory list despite repeated requests .
The city of Memphis did not respond to a request for comment for this story .
My experiences have shaped the way my newsroom has covered more recent protests , including those in Memphis since Floyd ’ s death .
A guide on covering protests from the Racial Equity in Journalism Fund at Borealis Philanthropy notes , “ Understand how police use news coverage to surveil black communities .
Don ’ t allow police to use @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do their jobs.
” We applied these principles to our recent coverage of a civil disobedience training that drew more than 350 people .
While we know the names of the people we talked to , if participants weren ’ t comfortable using their whole name or showing their entire face , we protected their identity .
After all , I know how it feels to know that the police are watching you .

ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — On Aug. 20, 2018, the first day of a federal police surveillance trial, I discovered that the Memphis Police Department was spying on me.
The ACLU of Tennessee had sued the MPD, alleging that the department was in violation of a 1978 consent decree barring surveillance of residents for political purposes.
I’m pretty sure I wore my pink gingham jacket — it’s my summer go-to when I want to look professional. I know I sat on the right side of the courtroom, not far from a former colleague at the city’s daily newspaper. I’d long suspected that I was on law enforcement’s radar, simply because my work tends to center on the most marginalized communities, not institutions with the most power.
One of the first witnesses called to the stand: Sgt. Timothy Reynolds, who is white. To get intel on activists and organizers, including those in the Black Lives Matter movement, he’d posed on Facebook as a “man of color,” befriending people and trying to infiltrate closed circles.
Projected onto a giant screen in the courtroom was a screenshot of people Reynolds followed on Facebook.
My head was bent as I wrote in my reporter’s notebook. “What does this entry indicate?” ACLU attorney Amanda Strickland Floyd asked.
“I was following Wendi Thomas,” Reynolds replied. “Wendi C. Thomas.”
I sat up.
“And who is Wendi Thomas?” Floyd asked.
She, he replied, used to write for The Commercial Appeal. In 2014, I left the paper after being a columnist for 11 years.
It’s been more than a year since a judge ruled against the city, and I’ve never gotten a clear answer on why the MPD was monitoring me. Law enforcement also was keeping tabs on three other journalists whose names came out during the trial. Reynolds testified he used the fake account to monitor protest activity and follow current events connected to Black Lives Matter.
My sin, as best I can figure, was having good sources who were local organizers and activists, including some of the original plaintiffs in the ACLU’s lawsuit against the city.
In the days since cellphone video captured white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin squeezing the life out of George Floyd, a black man, residents in dozens of cities across the country have exercised their First Amendment rights to protest police brutality.
Here in Memphis, where two-thirds of the population is black and 1 in 4 lives below the poverty line, demonstrators have chanted, “No justice, no peace, no racist police!”
The most recent protests were sparked by the killings of Floyd and of Breonna Taylor, a black woman gunned down in her home by Louisville, Kentucky, police in March. But in Memphis, like elsewhere, the seeds of distrust between activists and police were planted decades ago. And law enforcement has nurtured these seeds ever since.
A Long History of Spying
In the mid-1960s, the MPD launched a domestic intelligence unit to spy not just on activists, but also on teachers’ meetings, a college black student union and labor organizers. That included Martin Luther King Jr., who came to Memphis in the spring of 1968 to stand in solidarity with underpaid and mistreated black city sanitation workers.
The police surveillance wasn’t conducted just with wiretaps and long lenses, but with snitches planted within local organizations, including spies planted by then-Mayor Henry Loeb, an anti-union segregationist, among sanitation workers who wanted to join a union.
In the iconic photo taken just moments after a gunman shot King on the Lorraine Motel balcony, several people are seen pointing in the direction from which the bullet came. Crouched over King’s body is a man holding a towel to the gaping wound on King’s face. The man, rarely identified in photos, is Marrell “Mac” McCollough, a Memphis cop who was assigned to infiltrate a militant activist group hated by Memphis police. There’s no evidence he was involved with King’s assassination.
Some, including members of King’s family, have long speculated that the assassination was not the work of a lone gunman but orchestrated by federal law enforcement agencies (the FBI famously monitored and harassed King). Both a U.S. House committee independent review in 1979 and a Department of Justice review in 2000 found no basis for this. Still, in 2002, the National Civil Rights Museum, which sits where the motel was, added to its permanent exhibits “Lingering Questions,” which contains hundreds of pieces of evidence, including the bullet plucked from King’s body. One of the questions (that the exhibit does not definitively answer): “Was the Memphis Police Department part of the conspiracy?”
In 1976, the ACLU of Tennessee sued the city, alleging it had violated residents’ First Amendment rights by maintaining records that “contained unverified information and gossip which related exclusively to the exercise of lawful and peaceful activities,” and, according to the complaint, “served no lawful or valid law enforcement purpose.”
A judge agreed and in 1978 signed the Kendrick consent decree, the first such decree in the country, which barred law enforcement from surveilling protesters for political purposes.
Many of today’s protesters know about that ruling, because in 2017 the ACLU of Tennessee sued the city, alleging that police were violating the consent decree by again illegally spying on residents who were exercising their First Amendment rights.
In 2016, protesters had a series of high-profile demonstrations including a May protest at the Memphis Zoo, a spontaneous protest against police brutality in July in which hundreds blocked traffic on the Interstate 40 bridge and a December “die-in” in the mayor’s front yard. After those, according to the lawsuit, the city started a blacklist of residents barred from City Hall without an escort.
It contained the names not just of those who had been arrested at demonstrations, but many who had not, including the mother of Darrius Stewart, a black teen police shot and killed in 2015 following a traffic stop, and a white grandmother who’d made it through a security blockade outside Graceland while black protesters were held back.
Reynolds’ sleuthing made up a good part of the joint intelligence briefings, which were shared with law enforcement agencies and some of the city’s largest corporations, such as FedEx and AutoZone, at the businesses’ request. (Facebook told the MPD it violated the social platform’s terms of service by creating fake accounts and impersonating others.)
In court, the city argued that the surveillance — videotaping demonstrations, using social media collators to sweep up posts about police and Black Lives Matters supporters — was necessary to protect public safety.\\But while joint intelligence briefings and internal reports were ostensibly to keep track of potential threats, they were littered with unfounded rumors, misidentified photos of activists and surveillance reports of events that posed no clear threat, such as a black food truck festival.
And while it’s true that the pen is mightier than the sword, there’s nothing about me that screams threat, unless critical reporting on public policy and public officials, including Mayor Jim Strickland, counts.
In 2017, MLK50: Justice Through Journalism covered the anniversary of the bridge protest, but when I tried to get an interview with the mayor, I was rebuffed.
“Objectivity dictates if the mayor does one on one interviews,” wrote Ursula Madden, the city’s chief communications officer in an email. “You have demonstrated, particularly on social media, that you are not objective when it comes to Mayor Strickland.”
I replied that I was disappointed and asked her to point me to any errors of fact I’d made in my coverage. She did not respond.
Nagging Suspicions
I’ve worked as a journalist in Memphis for the last 17 years. I’ve never been a victim of police brutality, but few of my interactions with police have inspired confidence.
In 2014, while I was at The Commercial Appeal, a reader threatened by email to rape me after a column I wrote about Confederate Gen. Nathan B. Forrest. I reluctantly reported the threat to police, but the investigation felt lackluster and no suspect was ever identified.
It nagged at me, and years later, when I tried to learn more about what steps the detective assigned to my case had taken, department officials refused to share any information, even the details of their interview with me.
In July 2015, I covered the demonstrations that followed Stewart’s death by police. I interviewed the teen’s father and posted the video on Instagram.
A few days later, a cousin I hadn’t seen in years stopped by. He wanted to take a quick tour through downtown Memphis. It was dark and rainy. He’s black with long locks and a beard.
I wanted to be a good host, but before I left the house, I tweeted my hesitation: “My cousin is in town for work, leaving tomorrow. He wants to see Downtown. My 1st thought: Do I want to risk an encounter w/ police?”
My fear was not without cause: Less than two weeks earlier, Sandra Bland, a 28-year-old black woman, had been forced out of her car by an aggressive Texas cop who’d stopped her for failing to signal while changing lanes. A dashboard camera video caught her arrest and three days later, she was found dead in a jail cell. Authorities said she died by suicide.
I was thinking about what happened to Bland and what had happened to Stewart, who had been shot to death by police following a traffic stop the same month.
Just a few miles from home, flashing lights filled my rearview mirror. I pulled over, heart pounding.
I hit record on my cellphone and placed it on the dashboard. You can’t see the officer’s face in the video, which I still have, but you can hear our voices over the windshield wipers. The officer, who was black, asked for my license. I handed it to him and asked why I’d been stopped.
He said my driver’s side headlight was out, but when he leaned over to tap it, he said it was back on.
“I’m not trying to be Sandra Bland tonight,” I told the officer.
The Memphis officer said he was trying to be a nice guy. “You think I want to stand out here in the rain?” he can be heard saying on video.
“Ms. Thomas,” he said, reading my license. “Ms. Wendi Thomas.” I wondered if he recognized my byline. I offered to show him what I had just tweeted but he declined. “Your headlights are working now,” he said. “You be safe, OK?”
“Yeah, but what happens when somebody else pulls me over?” I asked.
“I don’t know what somebody else is gonna do,” he said, “but I know that if you do the right things, if you’re doing the right things, then nothing else can happen but good.”
I now wonder if the police had been following me. The police department did not answer questions for this story.
But at the time, I was paralyzed by fear and wanted to avoid being pulled over again.
I took side streets home.
Why Were You Following Me?
After Reynolds left the stand after naming me as someone he had followed, the judge took a short recess. I headed outside the courtroom and saw Reynolds headed to the elevator.
I followed him. When the doors closed, I stuck out my hand and introduced myself. I asked: Why were you following me on social media?
Although it was chilly in the courtroom, Reynolds was sweating. He said he couldn’t talk about it.
Two days after Reynolds’ testimony, I filed a public records request with the city of Memphis, asking for all joint intelligence briefings, emails or other documents that referenced me or any of the three other journalists that the MPD was following on social media.
Four hundred and thirty three days later, the city produced the records — and I still don’t understand what would make police see me as a threat worthy of surveillance in the name of public safety.
Contained in the documents: A screenshot of a Facebook post that I made on Jan. 28, 2016, while I was on a fellowship at Harvard University. I’d shared a notice about a grassroots coalition meeting to be held that day.
In a joint intelligence briefing was a screenshot of a tweet I’d been tagged in. The original tweet, which at the time police captured it had 11 likes and one retweet, was itself a screenshot of an offensive image a Memphis police officer had allegedly posted on Snapchat.
In another police email was a February 2017 tweet I sent about an upcoming protest, which had been announced on Facebook. It got two likes.
The city of Memphis is pushing back against the judge’s ruling. Its lawyers have asked the court to modify the consent decree, contending that the city can’t participate in a Trump administration public safety partnership if it isn’t allowed to share intelligence with federal agencies.
My battles with the city of Memphis didn’t end with the lawsuit, unfortunately.
In 2018, I was trying to figure out which corporations had answered the mayor’s call to financially subsidize police operations by funneling $6.1 million to the city through a secretive nonprofit, the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission.
Strickland wouldn’t divulge the companies’ identities, but he realized that public records I’d requested would. So the mayor’s staff, in conjunction with the Crime Commission and another secretive nonprofit, came up with a plan to release the companies’ names to local journalists before releasing the records to me, I learned through emails released in conjunction with a 2018 public records lawsuit against the Crime Commission.
And this year, I was forced to sue the city after it refused to include me on its media email advisory list despite repeated requests.
The city of Memphis did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
My experiences have shaped the way my newsroom has covered more recent protests, including those in Memphis since Floyd’s death.
A guide on covering protests from the Racial Equity in Journalism Fund at Borealis Philanthropy notes, “Understand how police use news coverage to surveil black communities. Don’t allow police to use you, or your coverage, to do their jobs.”
We applied these principles to our recent coverage of a civil disobedience training that drew more than 350 people. While we know the names of the people we talked to, if participants weren’t comfortable using their whole name or showing their entire face, we protected their identity.
After all, I know how it feels to know that the police are watching you.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-09--Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon Martin's Mother, Qualifies To Run For Public Office

Trayvon Martin ’ s mother Sybrina Fulton announced Monday that she is “ officially qualified ” to run for public office and is now a candidate for Miami-Dade County Commissioner for District 1 in her hometown of Miami Gardens , Florida .
Fulton joins a small group of mothers — including Rep. Lucy McBath ( D-Ga. ) , mother of Jordan Davis , and Lesley McSpadden , mother of Michael Brown — who ran for public office after their Black sons were shot and killed .
She intends to continue prioritizing gun violence prevention , her campaign manager Willis Howard @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her campaign last year .
Fulton will also push for policies that will help grieving families by increasing access to mental health resources , Harris said .
“ My time as a public servant began 30 years ago at Miami-Dade County .
Since 2012 , I have advocated tirelessly to empower our communities and make them safer , ” she said in a statement on Instagram a year ago , when she announced her plan to run .
“ But the work is not done .
I am proud to announce that I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the county commission.
” Sen. Corey Booker ( D-N.J. ) has endorsed Fulton ’ s campaign , as has former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton , who will host a virtual fundraiser for Fulton ’ s campaign on Friday .
In 2012 , Fulton ’ s son was shot and killed by George Zimmerman , a white neighborhood watchman , because he looked “ suspicious.
” Martin , who had just turned 17 , was walking home from a convenience store in Sanford , Florida , when Zimmerman confronted and killed him .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ has used her grief to highlight the many injustices the Black community faces by making speeches across the country , co-writing a book about her experiences , and launching the Trayvon Martin Foundation , which aims to elicit positive change and end “ senseless gun violence.
” “ She has given speeches where she talked about , here ’ s a couple things you might have to do : You might have to protest .
You might have to march .
You might have to run for office , ” Howard told The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ realizing , she was speaking to herself.
” Although Fulton is heavily associated with the Black Lives Matter movement , which has gained steam since George Floyd , a Black man , was killed by a white Minneapolis police officer at the end of May , she doesn ’ t necessarily buy into the idea of defunding the police , a proposal that has quickly gained traction among protesters and on social media .
She told the Guardian on Monday that she ’ d rather “ bridge the gap between the law enforcement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to reform the practices in police departments .
“ I think we need more police .
We need police with better standards , and police with better ethics and better work habits , ” she said .

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Trayvon Martin’s mother Sybrina Fulton announced Monday that she is “officially qualified” to run for public office and is now a candidate for Miami-Dade County Commissioner for District 1 in her hometown of Miami Gardens, Florida.
Fulton joins a small group of mothers — including Rep. Lucy McBath (D-Ga.), mother of Jordan Davis, and Lesley McSpadden, mother of Michael Brown — who ran for public office after their Black sons were shot and killed.
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Fulton — a former housing agency employee who assisted low-income renters — became a vocal gun reform advocate after the shooting death of her son in 2012.
She intends to continue prioritizing gun violence prevention, her campaign manager Willis Howard told The Washington Post when Fulton launched her campaign last year. Fulton will also push for policies that will help grieving families by increasing access to mental health resources, Harris said.
According to her campaign website, Fulton’s other priorities include economic opportunity, housing affordability and transportation.
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“My time as a public servant began 30 years ago at Miami-Dade County. Since 2012, I have advocated tirelessly to empower our communities and make them safer,” she said in a statement on Instagram a year ago, when she announced her plan to run. “But the work is not done. I am proud to announce that I will run to represent District 1 on the county commission.”
She will be running against mayor of Miami Gardens, Oliver G. Gilbert III.
Sen. Corey Booker (D-N.J.) has endorsed Fulton’s campaign, as has former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who will host a virtual fundraiser for Fulton’s campaign on Friday.
In 2012, Fulton’s son was shot and killed by George Zimmerman, a white neighborhood watchman, because he looked “suspicious.” Martin, who had just turned 17, was walking home from a convenience store in Sanford, Florida, when Zimmerman confronted and killed him.
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Martin’s death, and Zimmerman’s eventual acquittal, sparked nationwide protests and led to the formation of the Black Lives Matter movement.
It also ignited Fulton’s work as an activist.
Since Martin’s death, Fulton has used her grief to highlight the many injustices the Black community faces by making speeches across the country, co-writing a book about her experiences, and launching the Trayvon Martin Foundation, which aims to elicit positive change and end “senseless gun violence.”
“She has given speeches where she talked about, here’s a couple things you might have to do: You might have to protest. You might have to march. You might have to run for office,” Howard told The Post last year. “She kept realizing, she was speaking to herself.”
Although Fulton is heavily associated with the Black Lives Matter movement, which has gained steam since George Floyd, a Black man, was killed by a white Minneapolis police officer at the end of May, she doesn’t necessarily buy into the idea of defunding the police, a proposal that has quickly gained traction among protesters and on social media. She told the Guardian on Monday that she’d rather “bridge the gap between the law enforcement and the community” and would prefer to reform the practices in police departments.
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thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-09--Yosemite National Park To Reopen This Week

Yosemite National Park is reopening to the public on Thursday after being closed for nearly three months during the coronavirus pandemic , but visitors should expect limited access .
The Northern California park known for its sky-scraping waterfalls , deep canyons and towering rock formations has been closed since March 20 and is one of the last of the country ’ s 419 national parks to reopen to visitors .
“ There is no place like Yosemite , and we can ’ t wait to welcome visitors back , ” the park ’ s acting superintendent Cicely Muldoon said in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ going to be a different kind of summer , and we will continue to work hand in hand with our gateway communities to protect community health and restore access to Yosemite National Park.
” Yosemite , one of the busiest national parks , will allow just 1,700 vehicles to enter the park each day .
That ’ s about half the typical number that enter in June , park officials say , and everyone entering will need to have made a reservation .
Yosemite ’ s wildlife has thrived during its closure , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ few months .
With visitors away , the visible bear population has quadrupled , while coyotes , deer , bobcats and other creatures are freely roaming areas typically packed with throngs of tourists .
While Yosemite has a plan in place , the Department of the Interior has come under fire in recent weeks for being too hands-off in helping parks open safely while COVID-19 remains a threat .
It wasn ’ t until just days before the busy Memorial Day weekend , that managers at parks that had already opened received guidance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , controlling crowds and encouraging social distancing , according to internal documents HuffPost obtained last month .

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Yosemite National Park is reopening to the public on Thursday after being closed for nearly three months during the coronavirus pandemic, but visitors should expect limited access.
The Northern California park known for its sky-scraping waterfalls, deep canyons and towering rock formations has been closed since March 20 and is one of the last of the country’s 419 national parks to reopen to visitors.
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“There is no place like Yosemite, and we can’t wait to welcome visitors back,” the park’s acting superintendent Cicely Muldoon said in a statement. “It’s going to be a different kind of summer, and we will continue to work hand in hand with our gateway communities to protect community health and restore access to Yosemite National Park.”
Yosemite, one of the busiest national parks, will allow just 1,700 vehicles to enter the park each day. That’s about half the typical number that enter in June, park officials say, and everyone entering will need to have made a reservation.
Several facilities, including some trails, viewpoints and shuttles, will remain closed.
Yosemite’s wildlife has thrived during its closure, park rangers have said over the last few months. With visitors away, the visible bear population has quadrupled, while coyotes, deer, bobcats and other creatures are freely roaming areas typically packed with throngs of tourists.
While Yosemite has a plan in place, the Department of the Interior has come under fire in recent weeks for being too hands-off in helping parks open safely while COVID-19 remains a threat. It wasn’t until just days before the busy Memorial Day weekend, that managers at parks that had already opened received guidance from the Interior department on resuming operations, controlling crowds and encouraging social distancing, according to internal documents HuffPost obtained last month.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-09--Many Police Aren’t Wearing Masks, Posing Yet Another Risk To Protesters In A Pandemic

Yet masks remain optional for officers in the field .
In that , the NYPD is not alone .
Across the country , police departments have left it up to individual officers to decide if they will wear a mask while dealing with the public .
A HuffPost analysis of hundreds of videos and photos posted over the past two weeks of the protests sparked by the death of George Floyd , the Minneapolis man whom officers asphyxiated on camera last month , found that the majority of police working the demonstrations do not appear to be wearing protective masks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ opt against wearing a mask , even if it puts the individual and their loved ones at home at risk .
Some may doubt the seriousness of the COVID-19 threat .
Others may be relying on experts ’ guidance that there is a lower risk of transmission outdoors .
More still may find cloth masks that fully cover the mouth and nose uncomfortable as the summer heats up .
The Phoenix Police Department said that “ face masks are recommended for use while out in the public but are not mandatory.
” The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ consistent with the department of health ” and “ the propriety of discipline will continue to be evaluated as conditions continue to unfold.
” The San Francisco Police Department said masks were mandatory and officers “ shall switch from the surgical/isolation mask to the N95 respirator when feasible while providing service or engaging with the community within a 6-foot distance.
” Public health experts say that officers forgoing masks likely poses less of a risk to protesters than the use of tear gas and pepper spray , which can cause respiratory distress @ @ @ @ @ @ @ virus and increase the chance of severe infections .
But the lack of policy enforcing the wearing of masks sends a toxic message to anti-racism protesters at a moment when Black communities are suffering the highest death tolls from COVID-19 .
Requiring officers to don masks sounds straightforward , but changes to uniform requirements for public workers are historically very difficult to make .
It has taken lawsuits to force government agencies in big cities to allow employees to wear even limited religious garb .
It wasn ’ t until December 2016 that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ York City won the right to wear turbans and beards in uniform .
The city can ’ t order police officers to pay for their own masks .
The officers ’ union contract provides for a $ 1,000 uniform allowance , and any change in “ standard procedures ” would likely require an increase in that figure , said Nicole Gelinas , a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute , a center-right think tank .
That could amount to hundreds of dollars a year , depending on whether the masks are disposable or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are encouraged to wear masks while in the office , however it is optional when working in a secure facility and not interacting with members of the public , ” Melinda Gutierrez , a senior corporal in the Dallas Police Department , said in an email .
“ Masks worn in the office should primarily be of reusable cloth unless none are available.
” The effects of chemical irritants are largely under-researched , Jordt said .
In 2014 , a U.S. Army study found that recruits who were exposed even once to tear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ suffer respiratory illnesses such as influenza or the common cold .
But Jordt noted that “ most safety data we rely on for tear gas were generated in the 1950s , 1960s , and 1970s.
” “ Frankly , especially in the U.S. , there has been very little research and follow up on what happens to people exposed to tear gas , ” he said .
“ At the same time , the use is escalating as the police are accumulating big arsenals.
” Given the risks of spreading the coronavirus , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of people has even prompted some comparisons of police tactics to biological warfare .
But experts say the narrow legal definition of biological weapons , including the intent behind their use , precludes the application of international law to the current situation .
It would be difficult , given the major and growing percentages of city budgets that are directed toward policing , to argue that police departments don ’ t have the resources to supply officers with masks .
In New York last month , the Sergeants Benevolent Association called the city @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Barbot , a “ bitch ” for rejecting the union ’ s request for extra supplies of protective gear .
Days later , the force received 500,000 additional masks .

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On May 13, five New York City police officers wrestled a 22-year-old mother to the ground in a Brooklyn subway station and arrested her in front of her young child for refusing to wear a mask. Like two-thirds of New Yorkers arrested for not wearing a mask during the COVID-19 pandemic, the woman was Black.
Less than a month later, New York cops themselves are overwhelmingly going without masks at protests against police brutality and racism ― so much so that Mayor Bill de Blasio, widely criticized for defending the New York Police Department’s violence against demonstrators, pleaded with officers to “follow the rules.”
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“It’s just a human decency thing,” the mayor said on Sunday.
Yet masks remain optional for officers in the field. In that, the NYPD is not alone. Across the country, police departments have left it up to individual officers to decide if they will wear a mask while dealing with the public. A HuffPost analysis of hundreds of videos and photos posted over the past two weeks of the protests sparked by the death of George Floyd, the Minneapolis man whom officers asphyxiated on camera last month, found that the majority of police working the demonstrations do not appear to be wearing protective masks.
A survey of police departments in the country’s 20 most-populous cities found loose guidelines and zero measures to penalize officers who fail to cover their mouth and nose ― a basic step that the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recommended to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
There are many reasons someone may opt against wearing a mask, even if it puts the individual and their loved ones at home at risk. Some may doubt the seriousness of the COVID-19 threat. Others may be relying on experts’ guidance that there is a lower risk of transmission outdoors. More still may find cloth masks that fully cover the mouth and nose uncomfortable as the summer heats up.
Police officers guard the Trump International Hotel in Manhattan's Columbus Circle as a large demonstration approaches on June 3. Andrew Lichtenstein via Getty Images
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The Phoenix Police Department said that “face masks are recommended for use while out in the public but are not mandatory.” The Philadelphia Police Department said its guidelines were “consistent with the department of health” and “the propriety of discipline will continue to be evaluated as conditions continue to unfold.” The San Francisco Police Department said masks were mandatory and officers “shall switch from the surgical/isolation mask to the N95 respirator when feasible while providing service or engaging with the community within a 6-foot distance.”
Public health experts say that officers forgoing masks likely poses less of a risk to protesters than the use of tear gas and pepper spray, which can cause respiratory distress and coughing fits that could spread the virus and increase the chance of severe infections. But the lack of policy enforcing the wearing of masks sends a toxic message to anti-racism protesters at a moment when Black communities are suffering the highest death tolls from COVID-19.
“What the police are showing me is that they’re not protecting anybody, let alone Black and brown people,” said Angela Cooke-Jackson, a public health researcher at California State University in Los Angeles. “How simple would it be to do that?”
A Lack Of Mask Procedures
Requiring officers to don masks sounds straightforward, but changes to uniform requirements for public workers are historically very difficult to make. It has taken lawsuits to force government agencies in big cities to allow employees to wear even limited religious garb. It wasn’t until December 2016 that Sikh and Muslim police officers in New York City won the right to wear turbans and beards in uniform.
The NYPD’s 597-page guidebook for patrol officers includes more than a dozen pages of rules detailing uniform requirements. It was last updated in April 2019 and face masks are not discussed.
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The city can’t order police officers to pay for their own masks. The officers’ union contract provides for a $1,000 uniform allowance, and any change in “standard procedures” would likely require an increase in that figure, said Nicole Gelinas, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a center-right think tank. That could amount to hundreds of dollars a year, depending on whether the masks are disposable or not.
“Any new item would have to be consistently provided for free,” said Gelinas, adding that “the argument that ‘I couldn’t find a mask’ or ‘my mask got dirty and I didn’t have a spare that day’ would likely hold up in grievance procedure.”
The Police Benevolent Association and the Sergeants Benevolent Association, the two largest police unions in New York, did not return requests for comment.
“Perhaps it was the heat. Perhaps it was the 15 hour tours, wearing bullet resistant vests in the sun. Perhaps it was the helmets,” Sgt. Jessica McRorie, a New York police spokesperson, said by email. “With everything New York City has been through in the past two weeks and everything we are working towards together, we can put our energy to a better use.”
Similar dynamics likely play out in other cities, where mask requirements may be enforced in precinct stations but remain optional outside official buildings. The regulations shared with HuffPost by police departments made few if any references to wearing masks inside squad cars.
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Law enforcement officers stand guard after tear gas is deployed near 47th and Main streets in Kansas City, Missouri, on May 31. Kansas City Star via Getty Images
“Sworn and non-sworn members are encouraged to wear masks while in the office, however it is optional when working in a secure facility and not interacting with members of the public,” Melinda Gutierrez, a senior corporal in the Dallas Police Department, said in an email. “Masks worn in the office should primarily be of reusable cloth unless none are available.”
Tear Gas Is The Bigger Health Threat
Tear gas and pepper spray, which police across the country have readily used to disperse protesters, pose more direct public health threats, experts say. And it’s the one time many officers are seen in masks.
“Releasing tear gas on tightly packed demonstrators without masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic is really irresponsible,” said Sven Eric Jordt, a researcher at Duke University School of Medicine who studies the effects of tear gas. “It could foment further infections, specifically since these protesters then cough, scream and are pushed tighter together.”
The effects of chemical irritants are largely under-researched, Jordt said. In 2014, a U.S. Army study found that recruits who were exposed even once to tear gas during training were more likely to suffer respiratory illnesses such as influenza or the common cold. But Jordt noted that “most safety data we rely on for tear gas were generated in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.”
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“Frankly, especially in the U.S., there has been very little research and follow up on what happens to people exposed to tear gas,” he said. “At the same time, the use is escalating as the police are accumulating big arsenals.”
Sarah Grossman, a recent Ohio State University graduate, died after Columbus police fired tear gas at a protest late last month, which triggered her fatal asthma attack. The incident is now under investigation.
Not Quite Biological Warfare
Given the risks of spreading the coronavirus, the deployment of tear gas on crowds of people has even prompted some comparisons of police tactics to biological warfare. But experts say the narrow legal definition of biological weapons, including the intent behind their use, precludes the application of international law to the current situation.
“It would be argued that law enforcement is a peaceful purpose,” said Matthew Meselson, a preeminent scholar of biological warfare at Harvard University. “I don’t think there’d be a legal justification for invoking the Biological Weapons Convention.”
Citizen medics help a protester clear her eyes as police move in with tear gas against protesters near the Minneapolis Police 5th Precinct on May 30. Star Tribune via Getty Images via Getty Images
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Likewise, W. Seth Carus, a long-time scholar at the National Defense University’s Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction, said the use of tear gas and other irritants might be unethical, but they would not amount to biological weapons unless the police explicitly deployed them to inflame the COVID-19 outbreak.
“Unless the use of the riot-control agents was done deliberately with the intent of causing people to become infected, it falls into a different domain of what is reasonable and prudent behavior toward your fellow citizens,” Carus said.
‘Not Thinking About The People’
It would be difficult, given the major and growing percentages of city budgets that are directed toward policing, to argue that police departments don’t have the resources to supply officers with masks. In New York last month, the Sergeants Benevolent Association called the city’s health commissioner, Dr. Oxiris Barbot, a “bitch” for rejecting the union’s request for extra supplies of protective gear. Days later, the force received 500,000 additional masks.
By choosing to go without masks amid the nationwide protests, officers are showing that they are “not thinking about the people,” Cooke-Jackson said.
Near her home in the Los Angeles area, she said private businesses like grocery stores and coffee shops are requiring customers and workers to wear masks and maintain social distancing measures in line with federal recommendations. As agents of the state, police officers are supposed to be “the manifestation of what public health should look like,” she said.
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“That’s what’s profoundly deep to me ― I can’t even get on the next level of tear gas, because I’m just stuck on that perplexity,” Cooke-Jackson said.
At some demonstrations around the country, handfuls of officers have knelt with protesters in a show of solidarity. But every officer on the street wearing a mask would send a message, too.
“That shit’s visible,” Cooke-Jackson said. Until then, to the police, she says, “I see you.”


thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-09--Police Violence Videos Thwarting Officers Attempts To Control Narrative

Minneapolis police spokesman John Elder said Tuesday that he missed initial notifications about Floyd and did not visit the scene , as he usually does after major events .
He said he knew the arrest was on body camera video but that he would not be able to review it for several hours .
Instead , he released the initial description after being briefed by supervisors , whom he learned later were also not at the scene .
The department realized the statement was inaccurate hours later when the bystander video surfaced , and immediately requested an FBI investigation , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension had taken over the investigation of Floyd ’ s death , and Elder said he was unable to send out a corrected statement .
In Buffalo , authorities suspended and charged two officers who were seen last week shoving peace activist Martin Gugino , who fell backward and struck his head on the sidewalk .
The charges came only after video captured by a television crew was broadcast .
The shove was not mentioned in an initial statement saying that Gugino fell .
Police later apologized and said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ during what was a very fast-moving and fluid situation.
” The 21-year-old protester needed several staples and stitches to close his wound .
He was in custody for almost 40 hours on allegations that he assaulted and injured an officer , according to his attorney .
The student was released after prosecutors saw the video and decided to pursue the officer who hit him instead .
Those are only the most recent examples .
The same phenomenon has rocked other law enforcement agencies , particularly when minorities have been killed in police interactions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ systems or officers ’ cameras .
In Chicago , authorities initially said the 2014 shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald was justified because the teen was approaching officers with a knife .
But more than a year later , video was released showing that McDonald was veering away when he was shot by officer Jason Van Dyke , who was later convicted of second-degree murder .
When an officer in suburban Dallas shot 15-year-old Jordan Edwards in 2017 , his department said Edwards was in a vehicle with other teenagers that backed up toward @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The chief later acknowledged that police video showed the vehicle was moving away from , not toward , officers .
The officer who fired into the car was later convicted in Edwards ’ death .
“ But what is happening now with video , this is getting out into the larger world , into the media , into white communities , suburban communities , and people outside the affected communities are becoming more aware of what ’ s going on , ” he said .
” It ’ s a completely different situation.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ testimony is so widely known in New York that it has long been nicknamed “ testilying.
” Officers are rarely held accountable because they enjoy broad legal protections , and prosecutors almost never charge them with perjury , Avery said .

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Minneapolis police initially told the public that George Floyd died after a “medical incident during a police interaction.” The Buffalo, New York, department said a protester “tripped and fell.” Philadelphia police alleged that a college student who suffered a serious head wound had assaulted an officer.
All three claims were quickly disproved by videos seen widely on the internet and television, fueling mistrust and embarrassing agencies that made misleading or incomplete statements that painted their actions in a far more favorable light.
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Police departments deny lying but acknowledge sometimes making mistakes when releasing information in fast-moving, complicated situations. The videos, they say, do not always capture officers’ perspectives.
Defense lawyers say the inaccurate statements are encouraged by a culture of silence in which officers protect misbehaving colleagues, a court system that rarely holds officers accountable and a public that has given police the benefit of the doubt.
Floyd died after a white officer put his knee on his neck, even after Floyd stopped moving. Cellphone video showed him pleading for air as other officers stood by and bystanders urged the police to help him.
The department’s initial news release claimed that Floyd “appeared to be suffering medical distress” after he resisted arrest and was handcuffed. The death set off nationwide protests against police brutality and racial injustice.
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Minneapolis police spokesman John Elder said Tuesday that he missed initial notifications about Floyd and did not visit the scene, as he usually does after major events. He said he knew the arrest was on body camera video but that he would not be able to review it for several hours. Instead, he released the initial description after being briefed by supervisors, whom he learned later were also not at the scene.
The department realized the statement was inaccurate hours later when the bystander video surfaced, and immediately requested an FBI investigation, he said. By then, the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension had taken over the investigation of Floyd’s death, and Elder said he was unable to send out a corrected statement.
“I will never lie to cover up the actions of somebody else,” Elder said.
In Buffalo, authorities suspended and charged two officers who were seen last week shoving peace activist Martin Gugino, who fell backward and struck his head on the sidewalk. The charges came only after video captured by a television crew was broadcast. The shove was not mentioned in an initial statement saying that Gugino fell. Police later apologized and said they were “working with incomplete details during what was a very fast-moving and fluid situation.”
On Friday, a prosecutor in Philadelphia charged an officer who was seen on video striking a Temple University student in the head and neck with a metal baton.
The 21-year-old protester needed several staples and stitches to close his wound. He was in custody for almost 40 hours on allegations that he assaulted and injured an officer, according to his attorney. The student was released after prosecutors saw the video and decided to pursue the officer who hit him instead.
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Those are only the most recent examples. The same phenomenon has rocked other law enforcement agencies, particularly when minorities have been killed in police interactions that are captured by cellphones, surveillance systems or officers’ cameras.
In Chicago, authorities initially said the 2014 shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald was justified because the teen was approaching officers with a knife. But more than a year later, video was released showing that McDonald was veering away when he was shot by officer Jason Van Dyke, who was later convicted of second-degree murder.
When an officer in suburban Dallas shot 15-year-old Jordan Edwards in 2017, his department said Edwards was in a vehicle with other teenagers that backed up toward police “in an aggressive manner.” The chief later acknowledged that police video showed the vehicle was moving away from, not toward, officers. The officer who fired into the car was later convicted in Edwards’ death.
Civil rights lawyer Michael Avery, who is the board president of the National Police Accountability Project, said false claims by the police had long been known to inner-city communities.
“But what is happening now with video, this is getting out into the larger world, into the media, into white communities, suburban communities, and people outside the affected communities are becoming more aware of what’s going on,” he said. ”It’s a completely different situation.”
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When he started practicing law 50 years ago, Avery said, claims of misconduct were hard to prove because it was often one person’s word against “an officer and the officer’s buddies.”
The habit of police giving false testimony is so widely known in New York that it has long been nicknamed “testilying.” Officers are rarely held accountable because they enjoy broad legal protections, and prosecutors almost never charge them with perjury, Avery said.
False public statements made by police departments and their leaders are more of a “political issue” than a legal one, he said.
The availability of video and a fast-moving news cycle accelerated by social media have put extra pressure on police department public information officers.
Having to retract a statement is “very embarrassing to the agency” and causes the community to lose trust, said Leonard Sipes Jr., a retired law enforcement and government spokesman who has written and taught extensively about media relations.
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Police representatives should try to watch any video before releasing information to the public and take steps to verify the statements of officers and administrators, he said.
“If they aren’t sure as to what transpired, simply say it’s under investigation and leave it alone,” he said. “It makes no sense to be putting out a story today and two days later having to retract it.”
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thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-09--Mark Cuban: White People 'Get Defensive' When Discussing White Privilege

“ I need all of us to really open up and talk to each other , even when it ’ s difficult , ” Cuban said during his brief speech at the beginning of the event .
“ Even when it ’ s not something we ’ re comfortable with , particularly those of you who look like me , the white people .
Because it ’ s hard to discuss race when you ’ re white .
“ The reality is , to be brutally honest , when people talk about white privilege , we get defensive .
We @ @ @ @ @ @ @ manufactured equivalency to try to protect ourselves .
We ’ ll say , ‘ I have a lot of black friends.
’ We ’ ll say , ‘ I grew up in a mixed community , so I ’ m not like that .
I can ’ t possibly be someone who takes advantage of white privilege , ’ and manufacture this equivalency .
“ It ’ s incumbent on us to stop doing that , because that doesn ’ t move us forward when we do that .
That ’ s part @ @ @ @ @ @ @

“I need all of us to really open up and talk to each other, even when it’s difficult,” Cuban said during his brief speech at the beginning of the event. “Even when it’s not something we’re comfortable with, particularly those of you who look like me, the white people. Because it’s hard to discuss race when you’re white.
“The reality is, to be brutally honest, when people talk about white privilege, we get defensive. We all have this mechanism that I call manufactured equivalency to try to protect ourselves. We’ll say, ‘I have a lot of black friends.’ We’ll say, ‘I grew up in a mixed community, so I’m not like that. I can’t possibly be someone who takes advantage of white privilege,’ and manufacture this equivalency.
“It’s incumbent on us to stop doing that, because that doesn’t move us forward when we do that. That’s part of having a courageous conversation.”


thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-09--'Cops' Canceled Amid Nationwide Reckoning Over Police Violence

Paramount Network has canceled “ Cops , ” the long-running show that followed real police officers on the job , amid nationwide protests over racism , police brutality and general alarm over systemic law enforcement abuses in the U.S .
The cinéma vérité-style show has been on the air since 1989 , making it one of the longest-airing television shows outside broadcast news .
″ ‘ Cops ’ is not on the Paramount Network and we don ’ t have any current or future plans for it to return , ” a Paramount Network spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Paramount Network ( then known as Spike TV ) since 2013 , after a 25-season run on Fox .
Last week , the network said it was temporarily pulling “ Cops ” from its lineup , delaying this week ’ s start of the show ’ s 33rd season “ out of respect for the families of George Floyd and others who have lost their lives , ” a spokesperson said , citing the police killing of Floyd in Minneapolis last month .
Now they ’ re pulling the plug altogether .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ fire for the one-sided perspective it offers on policing by embedding camera crews with cops as they pursue and arrest suspects , sometimes in humiliating fashion .
In 2004 , a study of the show concluded it was racially skewed because it featured cops arresting Black and Latinx suspects for violent crimes at rates disproportionately higher than in reality .
Last year , the podcast “ Running From the Cops ” came to similar conclusions .
The TV show that turned policing into entertainment would go on to face other serious criticisms .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ found that officers followed on the show would sometimes coerce subjects into signing filming releases and that the show ’ s producers let police departments have the final say on what aired , thus letting the police dictate how they were portrayed on screen .
In some cases , the show found , police used aggressive tactics condemned by the Justice Department , protected under the premise of a show that shines a positive light on cops .
Other investigations have found that officers on the show sometimes took direction from camera crews @ @ @ @ @ @

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Paramount Network has canceled “Cops,” the long-running show that followed real police officers on the job, amid nationwide protests over racism, police brutality and general alarm over systemic law enforcement abuses in the U.S.
The cinéma vérité-style show has been on the air since 1989, making it one of the longest-airing television shows outside broadcast news.
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″‘Cops’ is not on the Paramount Network and we don’t have any current or future plans for it to return,” a Paramount Network spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday. The controversial show had been on the Paramount Network (then known as Spike TV) since 2013, after a 25-season run on Fox.
Last week, the network said it was temporarily pulling “Cops” from its lineup, delaying this week’s start of the show’s 33rd season “out of respect for the families of George Floyd and others who have lost their lives,” a spokesperson said, citing the police killing of Floyd in Minneapolis last month.
Now they’re pulling the plug altogether. The unscripted show has repeatedly come under fire for the one-sided perspective it offers on policing by embedding camera crews with cops as they pursue and arrest suspects, sometimes in humiliating fashion.
In 2004, a study of the show concluded it was racially skewed because it featured cops arresting Black and Latinx suspects for violent crimes at rates disproportionately higher than in reality. Last year, the podcast “Running From the Cops” came to similar conclusions.
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The TV show that turned policing into entertainment would go on to face other serious criticisms. “Running From the Cops” also found that officers followed on the show would sometimes coerce subjects into signing filming releases and that the show’s producers let police departments have the final say on what aired, thus letting the police dictate how they were portrayed on screen. In some cases, the show found, police used aggressive tactics condemned by the Justice Department, protected under the premise of a show that shines a positive light on cops.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-09--Sean Hannity Claims Trump Is Also A Victim Of Crooked Cops: ‘It’s Horrific’

Fox News host Sean Hannity said on Tuesday that President Donald Trump is also a victim of “ crooked cops.
” Hannity said he wouldn ’ t compare the supposed victimization of Trump to that of George Floyd , a Black man in Minneapolis killed by police in a May 25 incident that sparked widespread protests , civil unrest and calls for reform .
But then , Hannity did just that during a segment on a supposed “ deep state ” conspiracy to undermine Trump ’ s 2016 campaign by figures within the FBI .
“ Even the president himself @ @ @ @ @ @ @ thing as what happened to George Floyd ― but it ’ s horrific , ” he said , “ He was a victim of crooked cops.
” Hannity repeated that it wasn ’ t the same circumstances but then also repeated the claim .
“ I ’ m not making any comparison , ” he said in a clip posted online by the progressive watchdog organization Media Matters .
“ A bad cop is a bad cop , and by all means the damage was real to the country.
” Hannity : `` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not the same thing as what happened to George Floyd , but it 's horrific .
He was a victim of crooked cops .
Now , again , not the same circumstances , I 'm not making any comparison , '' pic.twitter.com/QQw0MvrBKM — Brendan Karet 🚮 ( @ bad_takes ) June 10 , 2020 At the end of his show , Hannity went back to the comparison he said wasn ’ t a comparison as he played a clip of an interview with Attorney General William Barr .
“ There ’ s no @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said .
“ Very different circumstances , I ’ m not comparing them.
” did it again at the end of the show .
ca n't help himself pic.twitter.com/U6c0d6aOvD — Brendan Karet 🚮 ( @ bad_takes ) June 10 , 2020

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Fox News host Sean Hannity said on Tuesday that President Donald Trump is also a victim of “crooked cops.”
Hannity said he wouldn’t compare the supposed victimization of Trump to that of George Floyd, a Black man in Minneapolis killed by police in a May 25 incident that sparked widespread protests, civil unrest and calls for reform.
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But then, Hannity did just that during a segment on a supposed “deep state” conspiracy to undermine Trump’s 2016 campaign by figures within the FBI.
“Even the president himself ― it’s not the same thing as what happened to George Floyd ― but it’s horrific,” he said, “He was a victim of crooked cops.”
Hannity repeated that it wasn’t the same circumstances but then also repeated the claim.
“I’m not making any comparison,” he said in a clip posted online by the progressive watchdog organization Media Matters. “A bad cop is a bad cop, and by all means the damage was real to the country.”
Hannity: "Even the president himself -- it's not the same thing as what happened to George Floyd, but it's horrific. He was a victim of crooked cops. Now, again, not the same circumstances, I'm not making any comparison," pic.twitter.com/QQw0MvrBKM — Brendan Karet 🚮 (@bad_takes) June 10, 2020
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At the end of his show, Hannity went back to the comparison he said wasn’t a comparison as he played a clip of an interview with Attorney General William Barr.
“There’s no comparison in the case,” he said. “Very different circumstances, I’m not comparing them.”


thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-10--Tucker Carlson Rails Against Elmo And His Dad In Bonkers New Rant

Tucker Carlson has found a new threat to American values ― and its address is on Sesame Street .
On Tuesday , the Fox News host complained that “ decades of relentless propaganda ” had weakened the nation .
“ All of it designed to make us feel that we have no right to stand up for ourselves , to stand up for our country , ” he said .
“ We are too sinful to resist , we deserve whatever we get .
Shut up and take it , America.
” His prime example was a CNN town hall @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that featured characters from the classic PBS show .
Elmo ’ s father , Louie , showed a “ Love , Justice , Peace ” sign he was planning to bring to a protest and explained racism to his son , who wanted to know why people were so upset .
“ Across the country , people of color ― especially in the black community ― are being treated unfairly because of how they look , their culture , race and who they are , ” Louie said .
“ What we are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is enough.
’ They want to end racism.
” “ Got that , Bobby ?
” Carlson said , addressing a fictional child .
“ America is a very bad place , and it ’ s your fault .
So no matter what happens , no matter what they do to you when you grow up , you have no right to complain .
That ’ s the message and it starts very young.
” While Carlson seemed surprised by “ Sesame Street ” characters championing inclusion , that ’ s been a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more than 50-year history .

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Tucker Carlson has found a new threat to American values ― and its address is on Sesame Street.
On Tuesday, the Fox News host complained that “decades of relentless propaganda” had weakened the nation.
“All of it designed to make us feel that we have no right to stand up for ourselves, to stand up for our country,” he said. “We are too sinful to resist, we deserve whatever we get. Shut up and take it, America.”
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His prime example was a CNN town hall event on racism for parents and children that featured characters from the classic PBS show. Elmo’s father, Louie, showed a “Love, Justice, Peace” sign he was planning to bring to a protest and explained racism to his son, who wanted to know why people were so upset.
“Across the country, people of color ― especially in the black community ― are being treated unfairly because of how they look, their culture, race and who they are,” Louie said. “What we are seeing is people saying, ‘Enough is enough.’ They want to end racism.”
The show’s central message was ultimately one of tolerance.
“On Sesame Street, we all love and respect one another,” Louie told Elmo.
But Carlson saw a very different message.
“Got that, Bobby?” Carlson said, addressing a fictional child. “America is a very bad place, and it’s your fault. So no matter what happens, no matter what they do to you when you grow up, you have no right to complain. That’s the message and it starts very young.”
While Carlson seemed surprised by “Sesame Street” characters championing inclusion, that’s been a consistent theme throughout the show’s more than 50-year history.
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thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-09--New York Legislature Votes To Repeal Law Shielding Police Disciplinary Records

New York lawmakers passed a bill Tuesday that will enable police officers ’ disciplinary records to be made public , the latest policing reform to emerge as protests continue in response to the police killing of George Floyd .
The Democratic-led state legislature repealed 50-A , a statute activists have long criticized that allowed police to shield records of misconduct and disciplinary actions from the public .
The decades-old legislation made personnel records of police officers , firefighters and corrections officers “ confidential ” and unreviewable unless mandated by court order .
The new bill makes police disciplinary records available @ @ @ @ @ @ @ law requests .
“ This is a historic win for New York and a long overdue change to the most restrictive police secrecy law in the country , ” New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman said in a statement , calling the repeal “ a critical step toward justice for New Yorkers , especially Black and Brown New Yorkers who have historically been the main targets of police abuse.
” Floyd , who was Black , was killed on May 25 when a white police officer , Derek Chauvin , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , “ I can ’ t breathe.
” Protests that began the next day in Minneapolis , where Floyd was killed , have since spread across the country and the world , calling for systemic change to address racism and police brutality .
New York ’ s 50-A statute came under increased scrutiny after the police killing of Eric Garner in 2014 , who repeated , “ I can ’ t breathe ” as an officer held him in a chokehold .
The law was used to block officer Daniel Pantaleo ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Democratic Gov .
Andrew Cuomo said Monday that he intends to sign the repeal of the law .
In response to anti-racism protests , many cities and states have been grappling with how to reform policing , particularly as activists call for the defunding of police departments .
In New York on Monday , lawmakers passed other reform legislation , including bills banning police chokeholds and assuring people ’ s right to record law enforcement activity .
In Minneapolis , city council members announced on Monday that they will “ begin the process @ @ @ @ @ @ @ police department , seeking to instead invest in a “ new transformative model for cultivating safety.
” What such a model will look like in the city remains to be determined .

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New York lawmakers passed a bill Tuesday that will enable police officers’ disciplinary records to be made public, the latest policing reform to emerge as protests continue in response to the police killing of George Floyd.
The Democratic-led state legislature repealed 50-A, a statute activists have long criticized that allowed police to shield records of misconduct and disciplinary actions from the public. The decades-old legislation made personnel records of police officers, firefighters and corrections officers “confidential” and unreviewable unless mandated by court order.
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The new bill makes police disciplinary records available to the public through freedom of information law requests.
“This is a historic win for New York and a long overdue change to the most restrictive police secrecy law in the country,” New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman said in a statement, calling the repeal “a critical step toward justice for New Yorkers, especially Black and Brown New Yorkers who have historically been the main targets of police abuse.”
Floyd, who was Black, was killed on May 25 when a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, knelt on his neck as he pleaded, “I can’t breathe.” Protests that began the next day in Minneapolis, where Floyd was killed, have since spread across the country and the world, calling for systemic change to address racism and police brutality.
New York’s 50-A statute came under increased scrutiny after the police killing of Eric Garner in 2014, who repeated, “I can’t breathe” as an officer held him in a chokehold. The law was used to block officer Daniel Pantaleo’s disciplinary history from being made public.
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Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday that he intends to sign the repeal of the law.
In response to anti-racism protests, many cities and states have been grappling with how to reform policing, particularly as activists call for the defunding of police departments.
In New York on Monday, lawmakers passed other reform legislation, including bills banning police chokeholds and assuring people’s right to record law enforcement activity.
In Minneapolis, city council members announced on Monday that they will “begin the process of ending” the city’s police department, seeking to instead invest in a “new transformative model for cultivating safety.” What such a model will look like in the city remains to be determined.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-10--NASCAR’s Bubba Wallace Calls For Confederate Flags To Be Banned From Tracks

NASCAR ’ s Bubba Wallace called Tuesday for the racing body to ban Confederate flags from its events as anti-racism protests continue to swell across the nation after the police killing of George Floyd .
“ No one should feel uncomfortable when they come to a NASCAR race .
So it starts with Confederate flags , ” Wallace said during an interview with CNN .
“ Get them out of here .
They have no place for them.
” Wallace , 26 , is the first full-time Black driver in the sport ’ s top level since 1971 and was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s national series in more than 50 years during a series race in 2013 .
He drives the No .
43 car for Richard Petty Motorsports and said Tuesday that , although he wasn ’ t always troubled by the Confederate flag , he ’ s been educating himself and said many people uncomfortable with the symbol “ bring up ” its frequent appearance at races .
“ What I ’ m chasing is checkered flags , and that was kind of my narrative , ” the driver told CNN ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ into it and educating myself , people feel uncomfortable with that , people talk about that ― that ’ s the first thing they bring up.
” NASCAR asked its largely white , Southern fan base to stop bringing the flag to races back in 2015 , but , as The New York Times notes , many have refused to do so and it remains a common sight at the events .
There will be no fans at NASCAR events until at least June 14 due to ongoing concerns about the spread of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was also updated with a Black Lives Matter paint scheme this week , a move the driver said would help fans “ hopefully get a better understanding ” about the ongoing protests and calls for racial justice and systemic change in policing .
The hood of the car will include a painting of two hands , one Black and one white , clasped with the words “ compassion , love , understanding ” stenciled below it .
“ There ’ s going to be a lot of angry people that carry those flags @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for change , ” Wallace said of his calls for the racist symbol to be banned .
“ We have to change that , and I encourage NASCAR ― we will have those conversations to remove those flags.
” Symbols linked to America ’ s history of racism have been targeted by protesters with renewed force amid the protests over the death of Floyd , a Black man , at the hands of a white police officer in Minneapolis last month .
Demonstrators have called for Confederate monuments to be taken down and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from displaying the Confederate flag earlier this month , saying it had been “ all too often … co-opted by violent extremists and racist groups .
”

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NASCAR’s Bubba Wallace called Tuesday for the racing body to ban Confederate flags from its events as anti-racism protests continue to swell across the nation after the police killing of George Floyd.
“No one should feel uncomfortable when they come to a NASCAR race. So it starts with Confederate flags,” Wallace said during an interview with CNN. “Get them out of here. They have no place for them.”
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Wallace, 26, is the first full-time Black driver in the sport’s top level since 1971 and was the first winner of one of NASCAR’s national series in more than 50 years during a series race in 2013. He drives the No. 43 car for Richard Petty Motorsports and said Tuesday that, although he wasn’t always troubled by the Confederate flag, he’s been educating himself and said many people uncomfortable with the symbol “bring up” its frequent appearance at races.
Bubba Wallace wears an "I can't breathe. Black lives matter" shirt before a NASCAR Cup Series race Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Ga. Brynn Anderson/ASSOCIATED PRESS
“What I’m chasing is checkered flags, and that was kind of my narrative,” the driver told CNN’s Don Lemon. “But diving more into it and educating myself, people feel uncomfortable with that, people talk about that ― that’s the first thing they bring up.”
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NASCAR asked its largely white, Southern fan base to stop bringing the flag to races back in 2015, but, as The New York Times notes, many have refused to do so and it remains a common sight at the events. There will be no fans at NASCAR events until at least June 14 due to ongoing concerns about the spread of the coronavirus.
Wallace’s car was also updated with a Black Lives Matter paint scheme this week, a move the driver said would help fans “hopefully get a better understanding” about the ongoing protests and calls for racial justice and systemic change in policing. The hood of the car will include a painting of two hands, one Black and one white, clasped with the words “compassion, love, understanding” stenciled below it.
“There’s going to be a lot of angry people that carry those flags proudly, but it’s time for change,” Wallace said of his calls for the racist symbol to be banned. “We have to change that, and I encourage NASCAR ― we will have those conversations to remove those flags.”
Symbols linked to America’s history of racism have been targeted by protesters with renewed force amid the protests over the death of Floyd, a Black man, at the hands of a white police officer in Minneapolis last month. Demonstrators have called for Confederate monuments to be taken down and the U.S. Marine Corps banned its troops from displaying the Confederate flag earlier this month, saying it had been “all too often … co-opted by violent extremists and racist groups.”
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