thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-08--Why The U.S. Needs To Do Reparations Now

In her 2017 book “ The Color of Money , ” Baradaran lays out how , over centuries , policymakers wrote Black Americans out of the economic system — and how policies blocking Black people from obtaining mortgages , land and credit created an immense wealth gap between Black and white Americans that persists to this day .
In her book , Baradaran says that after slavery was abolished , Black Americans held just .5 % of all the wealth in the U.S. Today , the number is barely higher , at about 1 % .
When you break a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ ve broken the contract with Black America .
We promised equal protection and equal rights and equality several times , and we violated it each time .
Mehrsa Baradaran , author and law professor at the University of California , Irvine Let me give an example of something that has worked in this area .
The Congressional Budget Office runs this cost-benefit analysis .
Every agency action , every regulation , every statute , every bill has to filter through this analysis of how much does it add to the debt ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ time I work on legislation with anyone , they ’ re like , “ Well , how would you score this ?
”

Photo Illustration: HuffPost Visuals; Photo: Getty
Defunding the police is just part of the structural reform needed to root out racism in the U.S., says Mehrsa Baradaran, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine, who studies the economic inequities between Black and white Americans.
What’s truly needed is a big-picture rethink of U.S. policy at every level, she told HuffPost in an interview by phone and in follow-ups over email this week.
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In her 2017 book “The Color of Money,” Baradaran lays out how, over centuries, policymakers wrote Black Americans out of the economic system — and how policies blocking Black people from obtaining mortgages, land and credit created an immense wealth gap between Black and white Americans that persists to this day. In her book, Baradaran says that after slavery was abolished, Black Americans held just .5% of all the wealth in the U.S. Today, the number is barely higher, at about 1%.
Baradaran’s work resonates now as millions protest around the U.S. ― speaking out not only against police brutality against Black Americans, but the systemic racism that pervades America’s institutions. The coronavirus pandemic has revealed the devastating effects of this inequality, as Black Americans disproportionately bear the brunt of fatalities from the virus and its economic fallout.
Baradaran worked with a few 2020 Democratic presidential contenders ― Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg ― on their policy proposals for addressing the racial wealth gap.
HuffPost spoke with Baradaran by phone about how her research applies to the social unrest gripping the country right now.
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This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
On Twitter, a reporter from The Washington Post asked what public policy would do the most to address the anger expressed around the country right now. You said: “Reparations.”
The [killing] of George Floyd ignited the protests, but the underlying issues are longstanding. When we talk about remedies, we really have to go back and look at this problem holistically, historically and at the roots. It is a structural issue: hundreds of years of racist policies ― economic, housing, criminal, education.
I teach contract law. When you break a contract, you pay damages. We’ve broken the contract with Black America. We promised equal protection and equal rights and equality several times, and we violated it each time.
After the Civil War, the freedmen were freed, theoretically. The Southern police system and the sharecropping system re-enslaved them. Jim Crow. There wasn’t a remedy.
Then the New Deal. Another big structural moment. We create the white suburbs with federally funded, subsidized credit. It rewrote our economy from scratch. Blacks were completely left out. [You can read more about racist New Deal policy in “The Case for Reparations,” Ta-Nehisi Coates’s groundbreaking 2014 essay in The Atlantic.]
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Then, there’s racially explicit contracts that say you cannot sell this house to a Black person. These are all embedded in law.
Then, we say those laws are illegal [with civil rights legislation in the 1960s] but don’t do anything to fix the long-lasting effects of all of those racist policies.
“When you break a contract, you pay damages. We’ve broken the contract with Black America. We promised equal protection and equal rights and equality several times, and we violated it each time.” - Mehrsa Baradaran, author and law professor at the University of California, Irvine
In your book, you write about race riots in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Wilmington, North Carolina, in the 19th century, for example. These are instances where white people violently force Black people out of their homes, businesses and entire cities.
Black families had the common experiences of moving into white neighborhoods and getting bombed, shot at, threatened with guns and violence.
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The state institutionalized that violence. Instead of bombing the houses and having a race riot outside of a Black person’s house, which happened all the time, you instead put it into a contract. Saying you can’t give this house to a Black person, we’ll take you to court.
The lawyers came in and did the work of the mobs. The Federal Housing Authority was that. The government bureaucrats did the work of what race riots achieved.
We embedded racism into policy. And how do you get that out? How do you fix that? I think reparations is the only answer.
And I think a process of reparations should involve truth and reconciliation. Let’s sit and talk about it. Have experts. Here are the witnesses. Here is the data. Here is what happened. Lay it all out.
We all know what the process is like to do something wrong and make up for it. You learn it in Sunday school, yoga, whatever is your spiritual practice. Making amends is part of that.
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What else would reparations involve?
Reparations are giving the Black community what they’ve always deserved. Giving them exactly what was given to whites.
How was wealth extracted from Black communities? It was through laws and policies and institutions that worked for whites and not Blacks. Every institution that benefited from these harms would account for them and make them up.
We have the funds. We saw this with the coronavirus. Over a weekend, the Fed infused trillions of dollars into the repo markets and into the economy. We don’t have limits of resources. We have limits of empathy and imagination.
The aftermath of the destruction by white mobs that attacked Black residents and businesses of the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1921. Bettmann via Getty Images
In practice, does that mean Black Americans are getting checks from different institutions?
It would depend. What does the institution do? Within each organization, target the places where the pain is.
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If it’s the FHA [Federal Housing Administration], what white people got was a guaranteed mortgage by the federal government that was really low-interest. So it would be down payment assistance, or you could do grants of houses.
I wrote the 21st century Homestead Act, which would take a formerly redlined Black community with a lot of abandoned properties; one of the hubs of poverty. The cities would take these properties, redevelop and give them through a grant to Black residents. [More detail on Baradaran’s housing proposal here.]
At the Department of Education, you could cancel Black student debt. Cancel all debt. Cancel debt for students at historically Black universities.
The IRS: We do this big mortgage interest rate deduction, which is a regressive tax. You end that. End that and you figure out how to make taxing progressive.
If you talk to any agency, they know where the bodies are hidden. The point of this would be to shift the thinking and figure out ways to reverse these problems.
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Hard to imagine that happening.
Let me give an example of something that has worked in this area. The Congressional Budget Office runs this cost-benefit analysis. Every agency action, every regulation, every statute, every bill has to filter through this analysis of how much does it add to the debt? It constrains all regulatory action. Every time I work on legislation with anyone, they’re like, “Well, how would you score this?”
I’m proposing something like that. Just score it as what are its effects on the racial wealth gap?
What do police reparations look like in this framework? Would “defund the police” make sense when it comes to structural reform?
The system of policing in America is deeply racist. W.E.B. Du Bois pointed out that policing basically began in the South as a way to criminalize Black freedom and enforce Black labor laws. Policing in other countries is just vastly different from ours, and so is punishment for crime.
Policing has always been more targeted toward Black and Brown communities. From top to bottom ― sentencing, arrests, criminal codes ― from the way they are written to the way they are enforced. It’s embedded. So you have to dismantle that whole system to achieve justice.
"We embedded racism into policy. And how do you get that out? How do you fix that? I think reparations is the only answer," says Mehrsa Baradaran. Ian Mcfarlane
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There is such a skewed funding structure ― police vs. every other agency. So yes, defund police and put those funds in education, public parks, etc. I mean, look at police funding in white suburban neighborhoods vs. funds for public places and work toward equality there.
Police killings are just the tip of the iceberg ― they are the part of the injustice that we can see and be horrified by.
But I want to be clear about this: We as a society are paying for this system of policing. Those people in the suburbs who are horrified [by social unrest] are complicit in the system that keeps their neighborhoods “safe” and the “bad neighborhoods” under constant surveillance.
So while we should definitely reform police and hold them accountable, that is just the bare minimum ― it’s like treating the system that comes to the surface, putting a Band-Aid on it, and letting the cancer continue on.
Unless we treat the cancer, we can’t stop these police killings. And the police should not be carrying the entire burden of our racist history.
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I know you’ve worked on a few Democratic campaigns. Where do you see policymakers on this?
The window has shifted on reparations. I think people understand it is on the table at least. And look, I don’t care what you call it. I think the theory for me is just fixing the damage. Justice.
I hope a Biden administration considers the scale of the problem and has a large-scale solution to match.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-08--White House Has 'No Regrets' About Violently Clearing Nearby Protest

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Monday that President Donald Trump ’ s administration regrets nothing about police using violent force to clear peaceful anti-racism protesters outside the White House last week .
“ There ’ s no regrets on the part of this White House because , look , I ’ d note that many of those decisions were not made here within the White House , ” she said , pointing to Attorney General William Barr as the one who called for law enforcement to enclose on the perimeter of the protest .
McEnany ’ s defense @ @ @ @ @ @ @ agencies cleared protesters demanding an end to police brutality against Black Americans in Lafayette Square , the park outside the White House , 30 minutes before a curfew went into effect .
According to reporters and footage from the protest , police used tear gas , pepper spray , smoke canisters , stun grenades and rubber bullets to clear the largely peaceful crowd ― though Trump ’ s administration specifically denies the use of tear gas .
Minutes after clearing the protest , Trump walked through the park to have a photo-op with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the historic St. John ’ s Church .
McEnany also claimed that because some “ protesters started hurling objects ” at officers , “ Park Police acted as they felt they needed to at that time in response , and we stand by those actions.
” Reporters at the gathering saw no evidence that protesters were throwing objects at authorities , calling into question claims by U.S. Park Police that protesters were pummeling “ bricks , frozen water bottles and caustic liquids ” at them .
While McEnany and other White House officials @ @ @ @ @ @ @ role in the events , reporters say the officers clearing the protest included a mix of U.S. Secret Service , the U.S .
Marshals Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration .
When a reporter pressed McEnany on Monday to say if Trump was truly “ not sorry for the way things went ” at the protest , she pivoted to two of Trump ’ s favorite scapegoats : the media and “ antifa , ” an umbrella term for leftist , anti-fascist militants .
“ The president is sorry about the fact that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the failure of some members of the media to note that , ” she said , repeating Trump ’ s baseless claims that the protests are not actually led by people outraged by systemic racism and the police killing of George Floyd .

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White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Monday that President Donald Trump’s administration regrets nothing about police using violent force to clear peaceful anti-racism protesters outside the White House last week.
“There’s no regrets on the part of this White House because, look, I’d note that many of those decisions were not made here within the White House,” she said, pointing to Attorney General William Barr as the one who called for law enforcement to enclose on the perimeter of the protest.
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McEnany’s defense comes a week after various law enforcement agencies cleared protesters demanding an end to police brutality against Black Americans in Lafayette Square, the park outside the White House, 30 minutes before a curfew went into effect. According to reporters and footage from the protest, police used tear gas, pepper spray, smoke canisters, stun grenades and rubber bullets to clear the largely peaceful crowd ― though Trump’s administration specifically denies the use of tear gas.
McEnany says the White House has "no regrets" about the aggressive treatment of peaceful protesters outside the complex last week https://t.co/Nj065CIsxp pic.twitter.com/CZvfYbBSoc — CBS News (@CBSNews) June 8, 2020
Minutes after clearing the protest, Trump walked through the park to have a photo-op with a Bible while posing in front of the historic St. John’s Church.
McEnany also claimed that because some “protesters started hurling objects” at officers, “Park Police acted as they felt they needed to at that time in response, and we stand by those actions.”
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Reporters at the gathering saw no evidence that protesters were throwing objects at authorities, calling into question claims by U.S. Park Police that protesters were throwing “bricks, frozen water bottles and caustic liquids” at them.
While McEnany and other White House officials have focused on Park Police’s role in the events, reporters say the officers clearing the protest included a mix of U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
When a reporter pressed McEnany on Monday to say if Trump was truly “not sorry for the way things went” at the protest, she pivoted to two of Trump’s favorite scapegoats: the media and “antifa,” an umbrella term for leftist, anti-fascist militants.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-08--Donald Trump Pokes At Roger Goodell For Encouraging NFL Player Protests

In a video last week , Goodell conceded that the league had erred in “ not listening ” to NFL players who protested police brutality and systemic racism ― issues that have seized the nation ’ s attention since the police killing of George Floyd .
“ We , the NFL , admit we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest , ” Goodell said .
“ We , the NFL , believe Black lives matter.
” The commissioner ’ s video came in response to a powerful statement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to listen to their concerns .
Goodell ’ s comments didn ’ t specifically mention the practice of kneeling during the national anthem , which some players have done to raise awareness of injustice ( following the lead of then-49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick beginning in 2016 ) .
But his remarks appeared to be a reference to it .
Trump , who for years has deemed the NFL demonstrations unpatriotic and even called for kneelers to be fired , responded with predictably divisive rhetoric .
“ Could it be even remotely possible that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ statement of peace and reconciliation , he was intimating that it would now be O.K .
for the players to KNEEL , or not to stand , for the National Anthem , thereby disrespecting our Country & our Flag ?
” he tweeted Sunday .
Could it be even remotely possible that in Roger Goodell ’ s rather interesting statement of peace and reconciliation , he was intimating that it would now be O.K .
for the players to KNEEL , or not to stand , for the National Anthem , thereby disrespecting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Donald J. Trump ( @ realDonaldTrump ) June 8 , 2020 Trump had already stoked the controversy last week when he declared that Saints quarterback Drew Brees should not have apologized for saying it was disrespectful to kneel during the national anthem .
Brees ’ initial remarks were condemned by other players , and he later acknowledged his comments “ were insensitive and completely missed the mark .
”

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In a provocative tweet aimed at NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, President Donald Trump on Sunday fanned the debate over football players protesting racial injustice.
In a video last week, Goodell conceded that the league had erred in “not listening” to NFL players who protested police brutality and systemic racism ― issues that have seized the nation’s attention since the police killing of George Floyd.
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“We, the NFL, admit we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest,” Goodell said. “We, the NFL, believe Black lives matter.”
The commissioner’s video came in response to a powerful statement from several athletes calling on the league to listen to their concerns. Goodell’s comments didn’t specifically mention the practice of kneeling during the national anthem, which some players have done to raise awareness of injustice (following the lead of then-49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick beginning in 2016). But his remarks appeared to be a reference to it.
Trump, who for years has deemed the NFL demonstrations unpatriotic and even called for kneelers to be fired, responded with predictably divisive rhetoric.
“Could it be even remotely possible that in Roger Goodell’s rather interesting statement of peace and reconciliation, he was intimating that it would now be O.K. for the players to KNEEL, or not to stand, for the National Anthem, thereby disrespecting our Country & our Flag?” he tweeted Sunday.
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Could it be even remotely possible that in Roger Goodell’s rather interesting statement of peace and reconciliation, he was intimating that it would now be O.K. for the players to KNEEL, or not to stand, for the National Anthem, thereby disrespecting our Country & our Flag? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 8, 2020


thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-08--Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Broken Promise Does Not Affect His Ability To Vote From There

NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters after making a video call at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach , Florida , in December 2019 .
WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump may be violating his agreement with Palm Beach , Florida , by claiming his resort there as his home , but that does not affect his ability to claim it as his legal residence for voting purposes , the county ’ s top elections official said Monday .
In 1993 , Trump agreed that if Palm Beach let him convert Mar-a-Lago from a private @ @ @ @ @ @ @ member , including himself , would be permitted to stay at the property more than 21 days a year and no more than seven days at a time .
Last year , nevertheless , he registered to vote in Florida using Mar-a-Lago as the “ address where you live , ” and , in fact , cast a mail-in ballot from there in the March presidential primary .
His apparent reneging on his promise , though , does not affect his registration , according to Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Wendy Sartory @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and the town of Palm Beach , ” she said .
Officials from the town , which covers a 12-mile stretch of the barrier island at the eastern edge of the county between the Atlantic Ocean and the Intracoastal Waterway , did not respond to multiple HuffPost queries .
Link said that Trump is permitted to vote in his home state as previous presidents have done .
Trump publicly announced his move from New York City to Palm Beach last year , and she said she had no reason to question its validity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ flagged for declaring a residence in a commercially zoned area , but even those are accepted if voters declare , under penalty of perjury , that it is actually their residence .
For example , a hotel manager who lives at a hotel is permitted to use that business address to register , just as a homeless person who declares that he lives under a particular bridge .
“ Zoning doesn ’ t allow one to live under a bridge , either , ” she said .
“ The question is : Where @ @ @ @ @ @ @ person intend to make their residence for voting purposes ?
” Glenn Zeitz , a lawyer and part-time Palm Beach resident working to block Trump ’ s recent attempts to build a dock at Mar-a-Lago , called Link ’ s argument a “ stretch ” because Trump has not previously lived in Florida and can not under the terms of his agreement with the town live at Mar-a-Lago now .
“ He is being treated no differently than a homeless person ?
And a homeless person living under a bridge is being treated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ United States ?
” he laughed .
“ It ’ s a stretch alright.
” Trump has in recent months been attacking mail voting , falsely claiming it was rife with fraud and a Democratic scheme to cheat , even though he and his top aides have used it themselves .
In March , Trump ’ s ballot was picked up from the elections office by a Republican operative ― even though Trump and other Republicans regularly accuse Democrats of “ harvesting ” ballots using political activists .
White House officials have refused @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the White House and then back to Florida , where it was hand-delivered the day before the March 17 primary .
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany similarly has voted by mail , including in the 2018 Florida primary and general elections using her parents ’ home address in Tampa even though she was living and working in Washington , D.C. , at the time and carrying a New Jersey driver ’ s license .
That document is available only to residents of New Jersey .
McEnany did not respond to HuffPost queries @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who last month said that if people could wait in line an hour to buy designer cupcakes , then they should also be able to wait in line to vote ― nevertheless cast her own 2018 midterm ballot in New Jersey by mail .

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WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump may be violating his agreement with Palm Beach, Florida, by claiming his resort there as his home, but that does not affect his ability to claim it as his legal residence for voting purposes, the county’s top elections official said Monday.
In 1993, Trump agreed that if Palm Beach let him convert Mar-a-Lago from a private estate to a social club, no member, including himself, would be permitted to stay at the property more than 21 days a year and no more than seven days at a time.
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Last year, nevertheless, he registered to vote in Florida using Mar-a-Lago as the “address where you live,” and, in fact, cast a mail-in ballot from there in the March presidential primary.
His apparent reneging on his promise, though, does not affect his registration, according to Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Wendy Sartory Link. “That is between him and the town of Palm Beach,” she said.
President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters after making a video call at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, in December 2019. NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images
Officials from the town, which covers a 12-mile stretch of the barrier island at the eastern edge of the county between the Atlantic Ocean and the Intracoastal Waterway, did not respond to multiple HuffPost queries.
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Link said that Trump is permitted to vote in his home state as previous presidents have done. Trump publicly announced his move from New York City to Palm Beach last year, and she said she had no reason to question its validity. She said that registration forms are flagged for declaring a residence in a commercially zoned area, but even those are accepted if voters declare, under penalty of perjury, that it is actually their residence.
For example, a hotel manager who lives at a hotel is permitted to use that business address to register, just as a homeless person who declares that he lives under a particular bridge.
“Zoning doesn’t allow one to live under a bridge, either,” she said. “The question is: Where do you live? Where does the person intend to make their residence for voting purposes?”
Glenn Zeitz, a lawyer and part-time Palm Beach resident working to block Trump’s recent attempts to build a dock at Mar-a-Lago, called Link’s argument a “stretch” because Trump has not previously lived in Florida and cannot under the terms of his agreement with the town live at Mar-a-Lago now.
“He is being treated no differently than a homeless person? And a homeless person living under a bridge is being treated no differently than the president of the United States?” he laughed. “It’s a stretch alright.”
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Trump has in recent months been attacking mail voting, falsely claiming it was rife with fraud and a Democratic scheme to cheat, even though he and his top aides have used it themselves.
In March, Trump’s ballot was picked up from the elections office by a Republican operative ― even though Trump and other Republicans regularly accuse Democrats of “harvesting” ballots using political activists. White House officials have refused to explain how the ballot got to the White House and then back to Florida, where it was hand-delivered the day before the March 17 primary.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany similarly has voted by mail, including in the 2018 Florida primary and general elections using her parents’ home address in Tampa even though she was living and working in Washington, D.C., at the time and carrying a New Jersey driver’s license. That document is available only to residents of New Jersey. McEnany did not respond to HuffPost queries.
And presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway ― who last month said that if people could wait in line an hour to buy designer cupcakes, then they should also be able to wait in line to vote ― nevertheless cast her own 2018 midterm ballot in New Jersey by mail.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-08--Push To Reform U.S. Police Intensifies Ahead Of George Floyd Funeral

WASHINGTON/MINNEAPOLIS ( Reuters ) - Pressure for sweeping reforms to policing intensified in the United States on Monday after two weeks of protests over the death of African American George Floyd , as the white officer accused of killing him prepared for his first court appearance .
Demonstrators ’ anger over the May 25 death of Floyd , 46 , is giving way to a growing determination to make his case a turning point in race relations and a lightning rod for change to the criminal justice system .
Floyd died after Derek Chauvin , the officer , knelt on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
A bystander ’ s cellphone captured the scene as Floyd pleaded with the officer , choking out the words “ I can ’ t breathe.
” Three other officers involved in the incident have been charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter .
All four officers have been fired .
In Houston , thousands of people were expected to attend a visitation for Floyd on Monday .
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden plans to meet with Floyd ’ s family later in the day , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was violence in the early days , the protests have lately been overwhelmingly peaceful .
They have deepened a political crisis for President Donald Trump , who repeatedly threatened to order active duty troops onto the streets .
Huge weekend crowds gathered across the country and in Europe .
The high-spirited atmosphere was marred late on Sunday when a man drove a car into a rally in Seattle and then shot and wounded a demonstrator who confronted him .
Democrats in Congress on Monday unveiled legislation that would make lynching a hate crime @ @ @ @ @ @ @ families to sue police for damages in civil court , ending a legal doctrine known as qualified immunity .
It is unclear if the proposal would receive support from Republicans , who control the U.S. Senate .
Their support and that of the Republican Trump would be needed for the measure to become law .
A Reuters investigation published last month revealed how qualified immunity , refined over the years by the U.S. Supreme Court , has made it easier for police to kill or injure civilians with impunity .
Minneapolis City Council @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was an acknowledgement the system was not working for many residents and that council members want to stop investing in what she described as a “ militarized police force ” and focus instead on funding stable housing and healthcare access .
Bender acknowledged such a process would take time and that “ the idea of having no police department is certainly not in the short term.
” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey , who ran a gauntlet of jeering protesters over the weekend after telling them he opposed their demands for defunding the city @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on Monday he was opposed to abolishing the police .
In New York , Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced a series of reforms he said are designed to build trust between residents and the police , telling reporters he would shift an unspecified amount of money out of the police budget and reallocate it to youth and social services in communities of color .
He said he would also take enforcement of rules on street vending out of the hands of police , who have been accused of using the regulations to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for racial equality are breaking out across the country as the United States reopens after weeks of unprecedented lockdowns for the coronavirus pandemic and just five months before the Nov. 3 presidential election .

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WASHINGTON/MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - Pressure for sweeping reforms to policing intensified in the United States on Monday after two weeks of protests over the death of African American George Floyd, as the white officer accused of killing him prepared for his first court appearance.
Demonstrators’ anger over the May 25 death of Floyd, 46, is giving way to a growing determination to make his case a turning point in race relations and a lightning rod for change to the criminal justice system.
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Floyd died after Derek Chauvin, the officer, knelt on his neck for nine minutes in Minneapolis. A bystander’s cellphone captured the scene as Floyd pleaded with the officer, choking out the words “I can’t breathe.”
Chauvin, due to appear in a Minneapolis court on Monday, has been charged with second-degree and third-degree murder as well as second-degree manslaughter.
Three other officers involved in the incident have been charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. All four officers have been fired.
In Houston, thousands of people were expected to attend a visitation for Floyd on Monday. Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden plans to meet with Floyd’s family later in the day, according to his aides.
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Floyd, who grew up in Houston, will be buried on Tuesday. Reverend Al Sharpton, a black civil rights leader, is expected to give the eulogy.
Though there was violence in the early days, the protests have lately been overwhelmingly peaceful. They have deepened a political crisis for President Donald Trump, who repeatedly threatened to order active duty troops onto the streets.
Huge weekend crowds gathered across the country and in Europe. The high-spirited atmosphere was marred late on Sunday when a man drove a car into a rally in Seattle and then shot and wounded a demonstrator who confronted him.
Democrats in Congress on Monday unveiled legislation that would make lynching a hate crime and allow victims of misconduct and their families to sue police for damages in civil court, ending a legal doctrine known as qualified immunity.
The legislation also was expected to ban police chokeholds and racial profiling, require nationwide use of body cameras, and subject police to civilian review boards, according to congressional sources.
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It is unclear if the proposal would receive support from Republicans, who control the U.S. Senate. Their support and that of the Republican Trump would be needed for the measure to become law.
A Reuters investigation published last month revealed how qualified immunity, refined over the years by the U.S. Supreme Court, has made it easier for police to kill or injure civilians with impunity.
People gather around a makeshift memorial for George Floyd, Wednesday, June 3, 2020, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) ASSOCIATED PRESS
POLICE REFORM
In Minneapolis, a majority of city council members have pledged to abolish the police department in favor of a community-led safety model, a step that would have seemed unthinkable before Floyd’s death.
Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender told CNN the action was an acknowledgement the system was not working for many residents and that council members want to stop investing in what she described as a “militarized police force” and focus instead on funding stable housing and healthcare access.
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Bender acknowledged such a process would take time and that “the idea of having no police department is certainly not in the short term.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who ran a gauntlet of jeering protesters over the weekend after telling them he opposed their demands for defunding the city’s police department, told CNN on Monday he was opposed to abolishing the police.
In New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced a series of reforms he said are designed to build trust between residents and the police, telling reporters he would shift an unspecified amount of money out of the police budget and reallocate it to youth and social services in communities of color.
He said he would also take enforcement of rules on street vending out of the hands of police, who have been accused of using the regulations to harass minority communities.
The renewed calls for racial equality are breaking out across the country as the United States reopens after weeks of unprecedented lockdowns for the coronavirus pandemic and just five months before the Nov. 3 presidential election.
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U.S. Democrats have largely embraced the activists packing into streets to decry the killings of black men and women by law enforcement, but have so far expressed wariness at protesters’ calls to defund the police.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-08--Democrats Unveil Police Reform Overhaul, Kneel At Capitol To Honor George Floyd

Before unveiling the package , House and Senate Democrats held a moment of silence at the Capitol ’ s Emancipation Hall , reading the names of George Floyd and others killed during police interactions .
They knelt for 8 minutes and 46 seconds — now a symbol of police brutality and violence — the length of time prosecutors say Floyd was pinned under a white police officer ’ s knee before he died .
The Justice in Policing Act would limit legal protections for police , create a national database of excessive-force incidents and ban police choke holds , among @ @ @ @ @ @ @ draft .
It is the most ambitious change to law enforcement sought by Congress in years .
Despite the worldwide protests , with tens of thousands of demonstrators taking to the streets in cities across America and abroad since Floyd was killed May 25 , the idea of broad-based U.S. police reforms remains politically polarized and highly uncertain in this election year .
While Democrats are expected to swiftly approve the legislation this month , it does not go as far as some activists want to “ defund the police.
” The outlook @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Senate is slim .
“ No industry is safe from the Democrats ’ abolish culture , ” said Micahel McAdams , a spokesman for the House Republican campaign committee , in an email blast .
“ First they wanted to abolish private health insurance , then it was capitalism and now it ’ s the police.
” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif. , center , and other members of Congress , kneel and observe a moment of silence at the Capitol 's Emancipation Hall , Monday , June 8 , 2020 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the names of George Floyd and others killed during police interactions .
The package confronts several aspects of law enforcement accountability and practices that have come under criticism , especially as more and more police violence is captured on cellphone video and shared widely across the nation , and the world .
The legislation would seek to provide greater oversight and transparency of police behavior in several ways .
For one , it would grant subpoena power to the Justice Department to conduct “ pattern and practice ” investigations of potential misconduct and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would ban racial profiling and boost requirements for police body cameras .
And it would create a “ National Police Misconduct Registry , ” a database to try to prevent officers from transferring from one department to another with past misconduct undetected , the draft said .
It is unclear if law enforcement and the powerful police unions will back any of the proposed changes or if congressional Republicans will join the effort .
At least one Republican , Sen. Mike Lee of Utah , who has long pushed for a criminal justice @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like to review the package coming from Democrats .
Rep. Will Hurd , R-Texas , who marched in support of Floyd in Houston , penned an op-ed Monday about his own black father instructing him as a teen how to respond if he was pulled over by the police .
Hurd offered his own proposals for improved police practices .

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats proposed a sweeping overhaul of police oversight and procedures Monday, a potentially far-reaching legislative response to the mass protests denouncing the deaths of black Americans in the hands of law enforcement.
Before unveiling the package, House and Senate Democrats held a moment of silence at the Capitol’s Emancipation Hall, reading the names of George Floyd and others killed during police interactions. They knelt for 8 minutes and 46 seconds — now a symbol of police brutality and violence — the length of time prosecutors say Floyd was pinned under a white police officer’s knee before he died.
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“We cannot settle for anything less than transformative structural change,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, drawing on the nation’s history of slavery.
The Justice in Policing Act would limit legal protections for police, create a national database of excessive-force incidents and ban police choke holds, among other changes, according to an early draft. It is the most ambitious change to law enforcement sought by Congress in years.
Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, which is leading the effort, said called it “bold” and “transformative.”
“The world is witnessing the birth of a new movement in this country,” Bass said.
Despite the worldwide protests, with tens of thousands of demonstrators taking to the streets in cities across America and abroad since Floyd was killed May 25, the idea of broad-based U.S. police reforms remains politically polarized and highly uncertain in this election year.
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While Democrats are expected to swiftly approve the legislation this month, it does not go as far as some activists want to “defund the police.” The outlook for passing the package in the Republican-held Senate is slim.
President Donald Trump, who will meet with law enforcement officials later Monday at the White House, was quick to characterize the Democrats as having “gone CRAZY!”
As activists call for restructuring police departments the president tweeted, “LAW & ORDER, NOT DEFUND AND ABOLISH THE POLICE.”
Republican campaign officials followed suit.
“No industry is safe from the Democrats’ abolish culture,” said Micahel McAdams, a spokesman for the House Republican campaign committee, in an email blast. “First they wanted to abolish private health insurance, then it was capitalism and now it’s the police.”
Democrats fought back.
This isn’t about that,” Pelosi said. Congress is not calling for any wholesale defunding of law enforcement, leaving those decisions to local cities and states, she noted.
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., center, and other members of Congress, kneel and observe a moment of silence at the Capitol's Emancipation Hall, Monday, June 8, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington, reading the names of George Floyd and others killed during police interactions. ASSOCIATED PRESS
The package confronts several aspects of law enforcement accountability and practices that have come under criticism, especially as more and more police violence is captured on cellphone video and shared widely across the nation, and the world.
The proposed legislation would revise the federal criminal police misconduct statute to make it easier to prosecute officers who are involved in misconduct “knowingly or with reckless disregard.”
The package would also change “qualified immunity” protections for police “to enable individuals to recover damages when law enforcement officers violate their constitutional rights.”
The legislation would seek to provide greater oversight and transparency of police behavior in several ways. For one, it would grant subpoena power to the Justice Department to conduct “pattern and practice” investigations of potential misconduct and help states conduct independent investigations. It would ban racial profiling and boost requirements for police body cameras.
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And it would create a “National Police Misconduct Registry,” a database to try to prevent officers from transferring from one department to another with past misconduct undetected, the draft said.
A long-sought federal anti-lynching bill stalled in Congress is included in the package.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., a co-author with Bass and the Democratic senators, will convene a hearing on the legislation Wednesday.
It is unclear if law enforcement and the powerful police unions will back any of the proposed changes or if congressional Republicans will join the effort.
At least one Republican, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, who has long pushed for a criminal justice overhaul, has said he’d like to review the package coming from Democrats.
And Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has said his panel intends to hold a hearing to review use of force issues and police practices.
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Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, who marched in support of Floyd in Houston, penned an op-ed Monday about his own black father instructing him as a teen how to respond if he was pulled over by the police. Hurd offered his own proposals for improved police practices.
The presumed Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden, has backed a ban on chokeholds and other elements of the package.
“I can’t breathe” has become a rallying cry by protesters. Floyd pleaded with police that he couldn’t breathe, echoing the phrase Eric Garner said while in police custody in 2014 before his death.
“All we’ve ever wanted is to be treated equally — not better, not worse,” said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. “Equal protection under the law.”
Democratic senators said they would pressure Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to consider the legislation.
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Sen. Cory Booker, a Democratic rival who had been critical of Biden during the presidential primary campaign, said Sunday he “fully” put his faith in Biden now “to be the person who could preside over this transformative change.”


Why I Protest

Protesters across the country and the world are not going home until their message is heard. The death of George Floyd, the issue of police brutality and the fight against racism have inspired people from all backgrounds, faiths and ages to take to the streets to demand justice.
HuffPost collected more than 100 responses from participants across the country — from Boston to Kansas to Oregon to Ohio to North Carolina and everywhere in between. We also received responses from protesters in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, France and the Netherlands.
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HuffPost asked each of the respondents about their experiences at protests. Some were first-time protesters, others took their children, and all said they wanted to see change. We asked protesters to tell us why they protested. Here are some of the stories.
These interviews were condensed and edited for clarity.
Joseph Williams, 52, Retired Police Detective, New Jersey
A former police detective, Army combat veteran and social science teacher, Williams has seen firsthand what it means to witness and fight injustice ― and when justice is denied.
After the Camden, New Jersey, police department was dismantled and taken over by the county, Williams became increasingly concerned with the new department’s policing tactics, which he called problematic and aggressive. So he retired earlier than planned and went into teaching.
Last week, Williams attended a protest at Philadelphia’s City Hall with his 20-year-old daughter. He chanted, marched and kneeled.
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After the protest, Williams said he “felt a sense of relief. I had to scream. I had to yell. I had to get the words out. I was proud of what I did and my daughter did. I was proud to see so many different people come together,” he said.
“I protest because I care. I care about my future. I care about the future of this country. I protest because I am an African American man who has seen too many violent things done.”
The Rev. Dana Patterson Nelson (second from right) Photo provided by the Rev. Dana Nelson
Dana Nelson, 48, Educator and Minister, Kansas
Dana Nelson and her husband are veteran protesters. The couple often discusses their many experiences: nearly being arrested after the HIV/AIDS awareness protests in the 1980s, protesting the Rodney King acquittal, dodging tear gas and demonstrating during college days in 1990s, marching during the civil rights and Million Man March as clergy. Just last year, they protested against family separations at the border.
“I always would teach my students that they’re the right reasons to go to jail. And if it’s civil disobedience or because you’re objecting to something that you don’t like in the government, you have the right to protest and to assemble,” Nelson said.
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It was natural that they wanted to model their beliefs for their children. Last Sunday, Nelson took her children — who were hesitant at first — to their local protest. Now, she said, they are ready to go to the next one and are constantly asking more questions about their rights.
“I protest because I’m a mother, I’m a wife, I’m an educator, a minister and a person who cares about the future of humanity,” she said.
Cara Fratianni Photo provided by Cara Fratianni
Cara Fratianni, 29, Registered Nurse, California
Cara Fratianni wanted to protest but also to contribute her skills. She is an advanced practice registered nurse specializing in emergency medicine and critical care. She painted her white coat with “Black Lives Matter” and volunteered medical relief to injured protesters. During a San Diego protest, she brought sterile gauze, Band-Aids and spray bottles mixed with milk of magnesia to help with tear gas.
“I protest because I want the world to be a better place if I have children,” she said. “I don’t want them to grow up like this, and for the kids growing up right now, I want the world to be better for them.”
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Fred Chavis Photo provided by Fred Chavis
Fred Chavis, 29, Teacher, Maryland
When Fred Chavis protested in Maryland and in Washington, all he could think about was his middle school students. He knew if he wanted to see change happen, it had to start in his own community, and it had to be for his students.
“For my kids, I just wanted to show them what it is I do and what they mean to me,” he said. “I don’t want them to think that I only do this in the classroom, but I do this in the community. I’m always there for my kids.”
As a Black man, Chavis knows firsthand what it means to be judged.
“They don’t know that I’m a teacher, they don’t know that I’m a coach. They don’t know anything about me, other than their own personal bias,” Chavis told HuffPost. “That’s what I want to dismantle this belief that Black men are dangerous or that we’re violent. “
“That’s why I was out there. So my kids can know that this is what a Black man can accomplish, and this is what we have to do to make things safe.”
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Gabriel Smith Photo provided by Gabriel Smith
Gabriel Smith, 29, Social Justice Educator, Georgia
Gabriel Smith was arrested with 40 to 50 other protesters on June 1 during an Atlanta protest, despite trying his best to follow police orders.
“Once I was arrested, I didn’t really feel any fear, because I knew that what I was there for was the right thing,” Smith told HuffPost.
He was issued a pedestrian in roadway ticket and released after curfew, a move he argued was strategic by the police as they knew he could get arrested again. Since he wasn’t able to access his belongings — including his wallet, phone and house keys — until the office opened the next morning, he was forced to sleep outside that night.
Smith called the entire experience extraordinarily frustrating.
“I protest because something needs to change. Society needs to change,” he said. “We keep going through the same, you know, rut of police violence and outreach in the community, and then nothing happens. And it repeats over and over again. So something needs to change.”
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Barghav Sivaguru Photo provided by Barghav Sivaguru
Barghav Sivaguru, 22, Recent Graduate, Illinois
It was important to Barghav Sivaguru as an Indian American to talk to his parents about the racism faced by the Black community — not just because they faced racism themselves, but because he knew that in order to be an ally he had to recognize that he also had the privilege as a person of color.
“It’s easy for us to sit on the sidelines and act like these things don’t affect us when Black people are disproportionately targeted by the police and are subjected to police brutality,” he said.
“For me, it was important to say, ‘I recognize the difference. I recognize my privilege, and I want to go out and do something about it. I want to stand up and speak out for the people in this country that are the most targeted and the most oppressed,’” he added.
Sivaguru’s parents — who defied their castes in India to marry — had a basic understanding of the effects of inequality. Last week, Sivaguru’s mother joined him on the frontlines of their local protest in central Illinois.
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“I protest because it’s not only my right, it’s my duty to speak out in every way that I can when I see injustice. Right now is a moment where we all can,” he said.
Ross Helart Photo provided by Ross Helart
Ross Helart, 28, Nonprofit Director, New York
Ross Helart grew up in a conservative Republican family and has multiple family members who work for the police. For the longest time, he largely avoided politics and controversial topics with them.
But all of that changed when he saw the footage of George Floyd’s death. Last weekend, Helart attended his first protest. He knew some of his family members would disagree with his participation.
But as a queer person, Helart knew that he could no longer be silent.
“If you cannot have compassion and think about how mad and angry you would be if there was an injustice happening to your family — and you can’t understand why people are as outraged as they are today — then you need to take a good look in the mirror and figure out what’s going on,” Helart said.
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Cyntelia Abrams Photo provided by Cyntelia Abrams
Cyntelia Abrams, 37, Digital Strategist, Georgia
It was important for Cyntelia Abrams to take her 8- and 6-year-old children with her to protests. She wanted to counter the images they saw on television of Black men and women being killed. On June 1, the family joined a peaceful protest, and her children picked up the chants with full conviction: “No justice. No peace!” When they stopped outside of a jail building, Abrams made sure her children heard their chants, too.
“I didn’t want them to grow up and be afraid to protest,” Abrams said. “I also wanted to show them that you can protest with passion and with power, and you can use your voice and use your presence to impact change, and you don’t have to have to hurt anybody in the process.”
“I protest because there’s still work to be done. I protest for my ancestors, who have been protesting for decades. I protest for the future,” Abrams said.
Adriana Allen, 27, Paralegal, New York
Adriana Allen has been struggling to find the words to describe how she feels. She’s grieving and hurting for her community. She said attending a protest was the only cathartic way to express emotions that have been overwhelming her.
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“I protest because I feel like I’ve been protesting my whole life. I feel like I have had to fight for every space that I take up, make it known that I deserve a seat at the table,” Allen said.
“I deserve to be here, my voice matters my thoughts matter my opinion matter. They mean something. This protest is a way for me to finally get my voice out to finally tell the world that I’m here that this matters,” Allen said.
Rabbi Yohanna Kinberg Photo provided by Rabbi Yohanna Kinberg
Yohanna Kinberg, 47, Rabbi, Washington
Rabbi Yohanna Kinberg knew exactly how she was going to spend her Sabbath. She put on her prayer shawl and went to the local protest, knowing it was important she show up as a Jewish woman. She thought about her congregation, which included Black men, and knew that if she proclaimed herself a leader in her community, she had to prove it on the ground.
“I protest because I want to be a manifestation of God’s love in this world and the biblical injunction to love my neighbor as myself,” Kinberg said.
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Yng-Ru Chen's husband and daughter Photo provided by Yng-Ru Chen
Yng-Ru Chen, 41, Arts Strategist, Boston
Growing up in the Taiwanese diaspora, Yng-Ru Chen learned about oppression, colonialism, and political bullying at a very young age. Her country is always fighting for freedom.
Those lessons are why she and her husband took their two children to a Boston protest. But the conversation about racism didn’t end there. She said that it’s important for her to talk to her children about anti-racism every day and that the work isn’t just about a protest. It’s always about standing up for people who do not have the rights they are supposed to have. It’s about long-term work.
“I protest because it’s the right thing to do,” Chen said.
Noel Williams in London Alan Mills
Noel Williams, 29, Policy And Campaign Manager, London
As a Black man in London, Noel Williams doesn’t need to be an American to understand the racism against Black individuals.
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“The link between British imperialism and Black slavery and colonization and oppression has been there for so long, I guess, America was just a catalyst,” Williams said. “The similarities and the solidarity we have comes from the way the world was built after slavery and colonization.”
Williams said he is heartened to see the vast turnout by people from all backgrounds all over the world. He urges those same people to take that energy back home and use it at work and at home. In order to seek justice for George Floyd, the movement is about justice for Black communities beyond the U.S.
“It’s not just about the Black people that are out protesting,” he said. “But Black people feel empowered that other people are protesting with us, too. … We are all people fighting to push the agenda for Black people, and I think that’s what I take absolute pride in worldwide.”
Kaitlyn Devereaux Photo provided by Kaitlyn Deveraux
Kaitlyn Devereaux, 27, Retail Management, California
Kaitlyn Devereaux cried the day after hearing about George Floyd and immediately thought about the Black men in her family, including her father and brother. She said that her family is trying to keep it together and that the latest murder of a Black man at the hands of police has taken a mental toll on them all.
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“Every human on this planet has the inherent need to feel safe. It’s in our biology. And that’s it, and that’s a concept that should not be that hard to understand,” she said. “We want to feel safe in our communities. We want to feel understood by our communities. We want to feel protected, and we want to feel loved, and we want to be able to exist.”
Devereaux emphasized that fighting for safety isn’t a political issue, and those who don’t agree with the protesters fail to understand that.
“I protest because Black men and women have a right to take up space,” she said. “We are allowed to exist. We are allowed to live. We are allowed to breed. We have a human inherent right to exist. We have to fight through that, and it’s horrific that we even have to fight for that right to exist and to feel safe.”
Desire Taylor Madelyne Tinsley Photograph
Desire Taylor, 24, Actress, Ohio
Desire Taylor knew it was important to join the peaceful protests and to stand up for anti-racism. She didn’t expect to be tear-gassed six times by police. She was temporarily blinded while shots went off in the background. She was worried she was going to get trampled by the crowd.
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Thankfully, she made it out all right and took a few days off. But she knew she had to go back. The fight for justice was bigger than her injuries, she said.
“I protest because I don’t have a choice. I need to make sure that me and everyone that looks like me deserves to have a chance to live, deserves protection. I need to show that we matter. That’s why I protest,” Taylor said.
Juliana Jung Photo provided by Juliana Jung
Juliana Jung, 28, Nanny, Pennsylvania
Juliana Jung drove more than an hour to the nearest protest last week. She was worried about contracting the coronavirus in a large gathering, but she also knew it was incredibly important to attend.
As an Asian American woman, Jung said that it was personal for her as a person of color to attend in order to send a message that racism affects all marginalized communities and that for Black individuals, it can kill.
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She brought her mask and a sign and didn’t look back. She hopes more people will join her.
“We all need to be kind and come from a place of wanting to understand and start a dialogue, not get angry and defensive,” Jung said. “I protest because I just can’t not.”
Ashley Gantt (from left), Iman Abid, Stanley Martin and Stevie Vargas Matt Weidenbach
Iman Abid, Ashley Gantt, Stanley Martin, Stevie Vargas, Nonprofit Organizers, New York
Four friends, all women of color, hosted a protest of their own in Rochester, New York, where nearly 2,000 people showed up. Change starts at home, they said, which is why they started a protest instead of simply attending one.
“I protest because I don’t have a choice,” Gantt said. “We have a generation of Black and brown bodies coming behind us, and I don’t necessarily think that we’re going to break the chains of white supremacy in our generation, but I want to at least loosen that up. So when the generation behind us comes it’ll be a little bit easier.”
“I protest because if I choose to remain silent, then I’m a part of the problem, and I continue to perpetuate racism…so I need to speak up,” Abid said.
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“I protest because I want to work towards normalizing standing up against the state, I want to normalize fighting back,” said Martin. “I want to normalize being able to speak out and have people know that anyone at all who wants to take a stand can do it.”
“I protest because it’s my duty,” said Vargas. “I can’t go to sleep and be ignorant to the issues that are happening in my community. I can’t go to sleep and know that people in my community are being harmed and not stand up and speak out against it and actively work every day to call it out and demand change.”
Adriana Alvarez's daughter hoists a sign through their car's sunroof. Photo provided by Adriana Alvarez
Adriana Alvarez, 45, Paralegal, New York
A Latina woman who fled communist Cuba, Adriana Alvarez said she didn’t immigrate to the U.S. in 2005 just to watch injustices occur here. She hopped in a car and drove to a protest while her daughter held up a sign through the sunroof. She wanted to send a message.
“We hear them, and we understand [the Black community’s] pain and want to let the world know that it’s not OK to kill Black people and that police brutality is not OK and that injustice is not OK and that Black Lives Matter,” Alvarez said.
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Anita McCullough, 42, Hospital Worker, Georgia
Each time Anita McCullough logged onto Facebook, she became angrier and angrier, reminded of the death of George Floyd and the inequality faced by Black people as a whole.
She was also upset by the lack of people over age 35 among the hundreds of young people she saw protesting.
“I wanted to put my body on the line, representative of my generation, and not just let it be the young people out there for tear gas fodder,” McCullough said.
She was motivated to go out and represent her age group and live out the ideals of her profession that calls her to serve those in need every day.
“I believe in social justice,” she said.“It also means action. If I don’t participate or engage in social justice in some way — meaning writing letters, protesting, being a therapist for those people that are in pain, putting my body on the line in some kind of way — then I don’t feel like I can call myself a social worker. That’s why I got into this profession.”
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thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-08--Barack And Michelle Obama Advise Graduates How To Utilize Turmoil

Former President Barack Obama and wife Michelle Obama on Sunday urged 2020 high school graduates to use these turbulent times as a springboard to a more meaningful life .
The former first lady commiserated with teens shaken by the coronavirus pandemic and the police killing of George Floyd that has ignited a reckoning on centuries-old injustice .
“ Perhaps you ’ re wishing that things could just go back to the way they were , ” she said in a celebrity-packed YouTube ceremony for students whose commencement ceremonies were canceled because of the outbreak .
She said she experienced similar @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and my best friend died within a year of each other .
I was in my late 20s .
It felt like my whole world was collapsing in on itself .
I would have given anything ― anything ― to bring them back .
But that experience gave me a kind of clarity .
“ With everything in pieces around me I had to forge a new path , a path fortunately more focused on meaning and service .
So , graduates , I hope that what you ’ re going through right @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
That it pushes you not just to think about what kind of career you want to build , but what kind of person do you want to be.
” “ These shocks to the system that we ’ re seeing right now , just as you prepare to go out into the world — they remind us that we can ’ t take things for granted , ” he said .
“ We have to work to make things better .
They remind us that our individual well-being depends on the well-being @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
And it doesn ’ t matter how much money you make if everyone around you is hungry and sick .
“ It reminds you that our country and our democracy only function when we think not just about ourselves but also about each other ...
So as scary and uncertain as these times may be , they are also a wakeup call ... You don ’ t have to accept what was considered normal before , you don ’ t have to accept the world as it is .
You can make @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be and could be .
”

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Former President Barack Obama and wife Michelle Obama on Sunday urged 2020 high school graduates to use these turbulent times as a springboard to a more meaningful life.
The former first lady commiserated with teens shaken by the coronavirus pandemic and the police killing of George Floyd that has ignited a reckoning on centuries-old injustice.
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“Perhaps you’re wishing that things could just go back to the way they were,” she said in a celebrity-packed YouTube ceremony for students whose commencement ceremonies were canceled because of the outbreak.
She said she experienced similar feelings “most profoundly when my father and my best friend died within a year of each other. I was in my late 20s. It felt like my whole world was collapsing in on itself. I would have given anything ― anything ― to bring them back. But that experience gave me a kind of clarity.
“With everything in pieces around me I had to forge a new path, a path fortunately more focused on meaning and service. So, graduates, I hope that what you’re going through right now, can be your wakeup call. That it pushes you not just to think about what kind of career you want to build, but what kind of person do you want to be.”
Her husband exhorted graduates to understand that business as usual no longer applied.
“These shocks to the system that we’re seeing right now, just as you prepare to go out into the world — they remind us that we can’t take things for granted,” he said. “We have to work to make things better. They remind us that our individual well-being depends on the well-being of the community that we live in. And it doesn’t matter how much money you make if everyone around you is hungry and sick.
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“It reminds you that our country and our democracy only function when we think not just about ourselves but also about each other... So as scary and uncertain as these times may be, they are also a wakeup call... You don’t have to accept what was considered normal before, you don’t have to accept the world as it is. You can make it into the world as it should be and could be.”


thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-08--The Fall Of America's Monuments To Racism

Since a Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd , protesters have graffitied and toppled Confederate monuments across the American South , including in Richmond , Virginia , the former capital of the Confederacy , and Birmingham , Alabama , in the still-beating heart of Dixie .
Local leaders have backed efforts to remove statues in both cities , and in states like Kentucky , Indiana and others that never left the Union .
The U.S. Marine Corps banned its troops from displaying the Confederate battle flag , and on Monday , a U.S. Army official told Politico that the Pentagon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bases named for Confederate generals .
But with protesters targeting monuments nearly a month before the law goes into effect on July 1 , Northam last week pledged to tear down Richmond ’ s century-old statue to Robert E. Lee “ as soon as possible.
” Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney , meanwhile , last week introduced a resolution to take down four other Confederate statues that line the city ’ s Monument Avenue , one of the most striking memorials to the Confederacy in the nation .
Nearly all of America ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1800s or early 1900s , during the Lost Cause Era efforts to mythologize the Civil War and the South ’ s reason for seceding to fight it .
Statues went up across the South , in an effort to obscure the war ’ s roots in the effort to preserve slavery , and to remind Black Americans during the Jim Crow years that they were still subject to violent and oppressive white supremacy .
Another wave of statues were erected in the 1950s , in response to desegregation efforts and calls for civil @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to reinforce the same message even in states that hadn ’ t seceded yet .
And even as cities pushed to enact policies aimed at curbing the disparities between Black and white residents , the statues ’ continued existence served as a barrier to real change ― an ugly reminder of how the country ’ s racist past continued to thwart progress in the present day , said Wes Bellamy , a former member of the Charlottesville City Council who has long argued for the removal of the Lee statue .
I can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have to walk by and see something painful like a 28-foot statue in their public park .
That sends a very strong message : You may have the policy , but we control the land .
Wes Bellamy , former member of the Charlottesville City Council “ We know that these are symbolic , but symbols matter , ” Bellamy said .
“ You can not deny just how important these racist symbols are , even when you ’ re looking to address things like affordable housing , education and criminal justice reform @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but people still have to walk by and see something painful like a 28-foot statue in their public park .
That sends a very strong message : You may have the policy , but we control the land.
” The speed with which tearing down the monuments has won the backing of political leaders , though , may be an indication that the message has begun to sink in with white Americans , as the protests and the police killings that led to them have made it impossible to ignore the realities facing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ changing has shown up in polls and at protests : A majority of Americans have said the demonstrations are justified , and for the first time , more than half of Americans now agree that police treat Black and white people differently .
Approval for the police has fallen to near-record lows , while calls to “ defund the police ” ― or devote less public money to police budgets while spending more on social services and other violence prevention efforts ― have reverberated across the country .
Although the Virginia GOP opposes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ less blowback overall so far this time around , which both Brundage and Grossman said is likely a product of continued activism against the memorials and the increased awareness that has resulted from the spread of videos documenting both police officers ’ and ordinary white Americans ’ racist treatment of Black people .

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Nationwide protests over the racism of America’s present have also reignited furor against the most powerful symbols of its racist past: the roughly 1,700 Confederate monuments and symbols that still dot the nation’s landscape.
Since a Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd, protesters have graffitied and toppled Confederate monuments across the American South, including in Richmond, Virginia, the former capital of the Confederacy, and Birmingham, Alabama, in the still-beating heart of Dixie. Local leaders have backed efforts to remove statues in both cities, and in states like Kentucky, Indiana and others that never left the Union. The U.S. Marine Corps banned its troops from displaying the Confederate battle flag, and on Monday, a U.S. Army official told Politico that the Pentagon may consider changing the names of military bases named for Confederate generals.
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The effort to reckon with slavery and the men who fought to preserve it has even gone global: On Sunday, demonstrators in the United Kingdom tore down the statue of a prominent slave trader in Bristol, then ceremoniously dumped it into a nearby river.
The renewed push to rid American public squares of the racist symbols of the Confederacy came as activists and protesters scored major policy and political victories, including pledges to cut police budgets, electoral wins for candidates who support police divestment, and a promise from the Minneapolis City Council that it would dismantle and rebuild the local police department in the wake of Floyd’s killing.
Next to drastic efforts like that, tearing down the memorials to long-dead traitors may seem like a mostly symbolic act. But the fight against Confederate monuments, activists and historians say, is as necessary as any reform effort during a moment of deep national reckoning.
“The symbols help sustain racist policies and racist policies help sustain the symbols,” James Grossman, the executive director of the American Historical Association, said of the statues. “Those statues legitimate racism. They legitimate violence against Black people, because slavery was a system of violence against Black people. To take down those statues is to make a statement about how a community’s values are changing.”
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A monument of Confederate president Jefferson Davis in Richmond, Virginia, was marked during widespread civil unrest following the death of George Floyd. Julia Rendleman / Reuters
The number of Confederate memorials to go by the wayside will only grow in the coming months, after Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) signed a law in April allowing localities to remove many of the more than 200 Confederate memorials and symbols still standing across his state.
But with protesters targeting monuments nearly a month before the law goes into effect on July 1, Northam last week pledged to tear down Richmond’s century-old statue to Robert E. Lee “as soon as possible.” Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, meanwhile, last week introduced a resolution to take down four other Confederate statues that line the city’s Monument Avenue, one of the most striking memorials to the Confederacy in the nation.
No state has more Confederate monuments than Virginia, and Northam’s decision could mark a “tipping point” for the effort to protect the honorifics, said W. Fitzhugh Brundage, a history professor at the University of North Carolina.
“I anticipate that in the next six months or a year, we’ll see them come down all over Virginia,” Brundage said. “That’s the most significant Confederate commemorative landscape in the South. The tipping point has been reached.”
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Nearly all of America’s Confederate monuments were built in the late 1800s or early 1900s, during the Lost Cause Era efforts to mythologize the Civil War and the South’s reason for seceding to fight it. Statues went up across the South, in an effort to obscure the war’s roots in the effort to preserve slavery, and to remind Black Americans during the Jim Crow years that they were still subject to violent and oppressive white supremacy. Another wave of statues were erected in the 1950s, in response to desegregation efforts and calls for civil rights. They spread across the nation to reinforce the same message even in states that hadn’t seceded.
Black Americans have targeted the monuments for decades because of their symbolic power, turning them into flashpoints for activism when protests over racial injustice break out.
There were similar sudden efforts to erase signs of the Confederacy after Dylann Roof, a white nationalist, killed nine people at a Black church in Charleston in 2015, and after the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville inflamed the country in 2017. (The rally took place amid efforts to remove Charlottesville’s Robert E. Lee statue.)
More than 100 Confederate monuments and symbols fell between 2015 and 2018, according to the Smithsonian, but at least 1,700, including nearly 800 monuments, remained.
And even as cities pushed to enact policies aimed at curbing the disparities between Black and white residents, the statues’ continued existence served as a barrier to real change ― an ugly reminder of how the country’s racist past continued to thwart progress in the present day, said Wes Bellamy, a former member of the Charlottesville City Council who has long argued for the removal of the Lee statue.
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“I can have sweeping legislation, but people still have to walk by and see something painful like a 28-foot statue in their public park. That sends a very strong message: You may have the policy, but we control the land.” - Wes Bellamy, former member of the Charlottesville City Council
“We know that these are symbolic, but symbols matter,” Bellamy said. “You cannot deny just how important these racist symbols are, even when you’re looking to address things like affordable housing, education and criminal justice reform. I can have sweeping legislation, but people still have to walk by and see something painful like a 28-foot statue in their public park. That sends a very strong message: You may have the policy, but we control the land.”
The speed with which tearing down the monuments has won the backing of political leaders, though, may be an indication that the message has begun to sink in with white Americans, as the protests and the police killings that led to them have made it impossible to ignore the realities facing Black people.
“The connection between slavery, Jim Crow and ongoing systemic racism in American society is much more familiar than it was three or five years ago,” Brundage said. “It’s so much easier for Americans, and particularly white Americans, to connect the dots from slavery to the current-day problems.”
That those attitudes are changing has shown up in polls and at protests: A majority of Americans have said the demonstrations are justified, and for the first time, more than half of Americans now agree that police treat Black and white people differently. Approval for the police has fallen to near-record lows, while calls to “defund the police” ― or devote less public money to police budgets while spending more on social services and other violence prevention efforts ― have reverberated across the country.
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People visit a monument of Confederate general Robert E. Lee on June 5 after Virginia Governor Ralph Northam ordered its removal after widespread civil unrest. Julia Rendleman / Reuters
On Sunday, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) joined a demonstration in Washington, D.C. New York Times editor James Bennet, meanwhile, resigned amid criticism ― largely from Black journalists on the paper’s staff ― for publishing Sen. Tom Cotton’s (R-Ark.) opinion piece calling for President Donald Trump to mobilize the military in cities where protests were taking place.
Previous efforts to take down monuments have faced stern backlash from opponents who have argued that activists want to erase history. State lawmakers and local residents have passed legislation and filed lawsuits to block efforts to remove the memorials.
Although the Virginia GOP opposes the removal efforts, there has been less blowback overall so far this time around, which both Brundage and Grossman said is likely a product of continued activism against the memorials and the increased awareness that has resulted from the spread of videos documenting both police officers’ and ordinary white Americans’ racist treatment of Black people.
“Defenders of these monuments are truly on their back foot,” Brundage said. “This is a different moment.”
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As the monuments continue to fall, they have taken on a different symbolic power for Black Americans like Bellamy, who kept pushing for the removal of Charlottesville’s statue of Robert E. Lee even as he faced death threats and doubters who told him it would never fall, and that the laws protecting it would never change.
“We’re in a new era in which the impossible is possible,” he said. “There’s an opportunity here for us to be able to push legislation and policy that create change. Now, we can actually say that this stuff works.”
Bellamy went on his normal morning jog Monday, through downtown Charlottesville and past the statue of Lee that likely won’t stand much longer.
“Goliath,” Bellamy thought, “meet David.”
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story described Sen. Tom Cotton as a Republican representing Oklahoma. He represents Arkansas.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-09--Tucker Carlson Stuns Twitter Users With 'Most Racist' Thing He's Ever Said

Fox News host Tucker Carlson is coming under fire after a segment some critics called his most racist yet .
On Monday night , Carlson claimed Democrats and the Black Lives Matter movement were trying to eliminate the police and replace them with an armed “ woke militia ” to take over cities and increase the power of the Democratic Party .
“ Democrats hate the police because they don ’ t control the police , ” Carlson said .
He said the left had taken over the Pentagon and now planned to do the same to law enforcement .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ rioters had weapons and immunity from prosecution , ” Carlson said .
“ That ’ s what they are talking about : partisan law enforcement.
” Carlson also declared that there was already a crackdown on free speech and thought happening .
“ Here ’ s the new rule , and it defines everything : You are not allowed to question Black Lives Matter , in any way .
Full stop , ” he said .
But it was his comments later in the segment that received the most attention on social media @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about Black lives , they ’ d do more to fight crime , close abortion clinics and keep families intact in cities .
He then warned Fox News viewers the left will “ come for you ” rather than fix the cities .
“ This may be a lot of things , this moment we ’ re living through , but it is definitely not about Black lives , ” Carlson said .
“ And remember that when they come for you ― and at this rate , they will.
” Anyone who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the mob knows the feeling .
It ’ s like being swarmed by hornets .
You can not think clearly .
And the temptation is to panic .
But you can ’ t panic .
You ’ ve got to keep your head and tell the truth .
Tell the truth .
If you show weakness of any kind , they will crush you .
“ This may be a lot of things , this moment we are living through , but it is definitely not about black lives and remember that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at this rate , they will .
`` @ TuckerCarlson said black people are coming for you .
That just happened.pic.twitter.com/ATwYiwpOoh — Travis Akers ( @ travisakers ) June 9 , 2020 WHEN THEY COME FOR YOU .
Guys I think Tuckety Tuck might not care about black people ?
He might be racist ?
I ’ m not sure though https : //t.co/JEpBWA31lw — nicole byer ( @ nicolebyer ) June 9 , 2020 I know there are many to choose from , but is this Tucker 's most outright racist comment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
What a disgusting prick .
https : //t.co/tkdN98hawI — Fire the Fool ( @ FIRE_THE_FOOL ) June 9 , 2020 Fox News literally can not survive without racism .
As in , it is part and parcel of its business model .
The protests right now are a threat — not because “ black people are coming for them ” — but because this is a moment of strong cross-racial solidarity .
It ’ s their Kryptonite .
https : //t.co/n176WXRHht — Asha Rangappa ( @ AshaRangappa_ ) June 9 , 2020 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you 've ever been ... and thats quite an achievement considering every other racist thing you 've ever said .
— Crystal Warren ( @ happyenchilada2 ) June 9 , 2020 This is shockingly racist , even for Fox News and Tucker Carlson .
The fear mongering and politics of hated is just going to keep getting worse .
Buckle up , this is going to be a bumpy ride .
# ONEV1 # PresidentBiden pic.twitter.com/EoAAC3U69q — Chris Thompson ( @ chris_maconlaw ) June 9 , 2020

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Fox News host Tucker Carlson is coming under fire after a segment some critics called his most racist yet.
On Monday night, Carlson claimed Democrats and the Black Lives Matter movement were trying to eliminate the police and replace them with an armed “woke militia” to take over cities and increase the power of the Democratic Party.
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“Democrats hate the police because they don’t control the police,” Carlson said.
He said the left had taken over the Pentagon and now planned to do the same to law enforcement.
“Imagine if the Black Lives Matter rioters had weapons and immunity from prosecution,” Carlson said. “That’s what they are talking about: partisan law enforcement.”
Carlson also declared that there was already a crackdown on free speech and thought happening.
“Here’s the new rule, and it defines everything: You are not allowed to question Black Lives Matter, in any way. Full stop,” he said.
But it was his comments later in the segment that received the most attention on social media. Carlson said if Democrats actually cared about Black lives, they’d do more to fight crime, close abortion clinics and keep families intact in cities. He then warned Fox News viewers the left will “come for you” rather than fix the cities.
“This may be a lot of things, this moment we’re living through, but it is definitely not about Black lives,” Carlson said. “And remember that when they come for you ― and at this rate, they will.”
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He added:
Anyone who has ever been subjected to the rage of the mob knows the feeling. It’s like being swarmed by hornets. You cannot think clearly. And the temptation is to panic. But you can’t panic. You’ve got to keep your head and tell the truth. Tell the truth. If you show weakness of any kind, they will crush you.
The reaction on Twitter was swift:
“This may be a lot of things, this moment we are living through, but it is definitely not about black lives and remember that when they come for you, and at this rate, they will."@TuckerCarlson said black people are coming for you.
That just happened.pic.twitter.com/ATwYiwpOoh — Travis Akers (@travisakers) June 9, 2020
WHEN THEY COME FOR YOU.
Guys I think Tuckety Tuck might not care about black people? He might be racist? I’m not sure though https://t.co/JEpBWA31lw — nicole byer (@nicolebyer) June 9, 2020
I know there are many to choose from, but is this Tucker's most outright racist comment in his broadcasting career? Good lord. What a disgusting prick. https://t.co/tkdN98hawI — Fire the Fool (@FIRE_THE_FOOL) June 9, 2020
Strong “Birth of a Nation” vibes. Tucker always doing the most to fill old white people with unnecessary, racist fear. https://t.co/e0hGJCMdFA — John Haltiwanger (@jchaltiwanger) June 9, 2020
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Tucker Carlson is a dangerous racist. https://t.co/Nohmy1PX6T — George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) June 9, 2020
Not even hiding it. https://t.co/PjocyCWs1v — Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) June 9, 2020
This guy is so overtly racist. https://t.co/K3sdRqnJjo — Soledad O'Brien (@soledadobrien) June 9, 2020
“Black people are coming for you” says racist Tucker Carlson. https://t.co/IF6yTGUuGe — Richard Marx (@richardmarx) June 9, 2020
Tucker Carlson gets paid $6 million a year to tell white people to be scared of Black people and advertisers foot the bill. https://t.co/WTgHMd3SNx — Sleeping Giants (@slpng_giants) June 9, 2020
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Fox News literally cannot survive without racism. As in, it is part and parcel of its business model. The protests right now are a threat — not because “black people are coming for them” — but because this is a moment of strong cross-racial solidarity.
It’s their Kryptonite. https://t.co/n176WXRHht — Asha Rangappa (@AshaRangappa_) June 9, 2020
That was hands down the most racist you've ever been...and thats quite an achievement considering every other racist thing you've ever said. — Crystal Warren (@happyenchilada2) June 9, 2020
This is shockingly racist, even for Fox News and Tucker Carlson. The fear mongering and politics of hated is just going to keep getting worse.
Buckle up, this is going to be a bumpy ride. #ONEV1 #PresidentBiden
pic.twitter.com/EoAAC3U69q — Chris Thompson (@chris_maconlaw) June 9, 2020
That was perhaps the most racist thing I’ve ever seen! — Brian Just Another "Coastal Elite" (@2016bucketojunk) June 9, 2020
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Wow, even for Tucker, that's racist https://t.co/0Fn4yHvwNI — preppa pig (@RaisingOneBrow) June 9, 2020


thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-08--Guardsman Told Barr Protest Was Peaceful Before Violent Attack, Lawmaker Says

A member of the National Guard directly informed Attorney General William Barr that anti-racist protesters were peaceful as Barr launched a violent police action against them before President Donald Trump walked to a church to pose with a Bible for a photo-op , Del .
Eleanor Holmes Norton ( D-D.C. ) said Monday .
The “ eyewitness ” account provided to Norton from the officer who was on duty that day contradicts Barr ’ s insistence in a CBS News interview Sunday that the protesters “ were not peaceful , ” and that their actions warranted a law enforcement onslaught @ @ @ @ @ @ @ batons and shields and rubber bullets , manhandled , and tear-gassed June 1 to make way for Trump to walk across the street from the White House so he could hold aloft a Bible in front of St. John ’ s Episcopal Church .
“ The D.C. National Guard member spoke to Attorney General Barr , who was in charge , and explained that the crowd was peaceful — but troops from federal agencies , including the Federal Bureau of Prisons , remained , ” said a statement Sunday from the delegate ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the National Guard officer , whom she personally talked to , because he was not authorized to speak for the Guard , she told HuffPost on Monday .
He had reached out to her office to recount the events of that evening , she said .
According to his account , protesters gathered outside the White House in Lafayette Park that evening were told three times to disperse but that the “ crowd was too large for most to hear the warnings.
” The “ sudden use of smoke and pepper balls @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the White House Rose Garden about cracking down on anti-racist protesters , “ caused pandemonium , ” and a “ horse cavalry ” pushed the crowd off the street , the statement noted .
The District of Columbia delegate to the U.S. House told HuffPost : “ The facts aren ’ t in question .
The crowd was peaceful .
We could all see that on TV.
” The U.S. National Guard referred HuffPost to the D.C. National Guard for comment , but it did not respond to messages — nor did @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sunday called it “ one of the big lies ” by the media that protesters in Washington were peaceful that day .
He claimed they were hurling “ projectiles ” at officers , though that was not supported in countless videos of the protesters by TV crews and cellphone users .
Barr also claimed the crowd ignored warnings to disperse .
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Monday that the Trump administration had no regrets about the violent crackdown on peaceful protesters .
She added : “ Look , I ’ d @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not made here within the White House , ” pointing to the attorney general as the one who called for law enforcement to clear the area .
Barr said on CBS that he gave the order to push protesters back but insisted he didn ’ t “ know that the president was going to be speaking ” that day .
Barr also insisted that tear gas was not used , which has been contradicted by witness accounts , experts and evidence at the scene .

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A member of the National Guard directly informed Attorney General William Barr that anti-racist protesters were peaceful as Barr launched a violent police action against them before President Donald Trump walked to a church to pose with a Bible for a photo-op, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) said Monday.
The “eyewitness” account provided to Norton from the officer who was on duty that day contradicts Barr’s insistence in a CBS News interview Sunday that the protesters “were not peaceful,” and that their actions warranted a law enforcement onslaught.
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Protesters were charged, struck with batons and shields and rubber bullets, manhandled, and tear-gassed June 1 to make way for Trump to walk across the street from the White House so he could hold aloft a Bible in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church.
“The D.C. National Guard member spoke to Attorney General Barr, who was in charge, and explained that the crowd was peaceful — but troops from federal agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Prisons, remained,” said a statement Sunday from the delegate’s office.
Norton shielded the identity of the National Guard officer, whom she personally talked to, because he was not authorized to speak for the Guard, she told HuffPost on Monday. He had reached out to her office to recount the events of that evening, she said.
According to his account, protesters gathered outside the White House in Lafayette Park that evening were told three times to disperse but that the “crowd was too large for most to hear the warnings.”
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The “sudden use of smoke and pepper balls” even before curfew as Trump spoke in the White House Rose Garden about cracking down on anti-racist protesters, “caused pandemonium,” and a “horse cavalry” pushed the crowd off the street, the statement noted.
The District of Columbia delegate to the U.S. House told HuffPost: “The facts aren’t in question. The crowd was peaceful. We could all see that on TV.”
The U.S. National Guard referred HuffPost to the D.C. National Guard for comment, but it did not respond to messages — nor did the Department of Justice.
Barr on Sunday called it “one of the big lies” by the media that protesters in Washington were peaceful that day. He claimed they were hurling “projectiles” at officers, though that was not supported in countless videos of the protesters by TV crews and cellphone users. Barr also claimed the crowd ignored warnings to disperse.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Monday that the Trump administration had no regrets about the violent crackdown on peaceful protesters. She added: “Look, I’d note that many of those decisions were not made here within the White House,” pointing to the attorney general as the one who called for law enforcement to clear the area.
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Barr said on CBS that he gave the order to push protesters back but insisted he didn’t “know that the president was going to be speaking” that day.
.@PressSec says law enforcement cleared protesters from Lafayette Square “peaceably” ahead of Trump’s walk: pic.twitter.com/Yd017XXtUm — Will Steakin (@wsteaks) June 3, 2020
Barr also insisted that tear gas was not used, which has been contradicted by witness accounts, experts and evidence at the scene.
We've ID'ed the 4th canister @wusa9 collected Monday H & 17th as a Stinger Ball Grenade carrying OC gas and spreading rubber pellets at high speeds launched by police at crowds. Thanks to @Brian_Castner for help. https://t.co/RVP52fBv1n pic.twitter.com/9ck6POWkDX — Nathan Baca (@NathanBacaTV) June 5, 2020
The American Civil Liberties Union and Black Lives Matter have sued the Trump administration for what the groups called an “unconstitutional” and “frankly criminal attack” on the protesters outside the White House.