thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-06--The Fight To Fix Policing Begins At The City Council

But the timing made the mailer less of an attack than an argument in favor of Lewis George : It arrived in mailboxes as protests over police killings of Black people , including George Floyd in Minneapolis , broke out nationwide and sparked calls for massive overhauls of police departments across the country .
Lewis George , who had argued that D.C. should demilitarize its police and pull money from law enforcement budgets to invest in other social services and crime prevention programs , might not have been able to produce a better piece of campaign literature for herself .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ have little resonance outside the city or district where it took place .
But the mailers and the protests in Washington and nationwide transformed the election into the “ first major referendum on policing ” in the country since the demonstrations began , said Tahir Duckett , a civil rights attorney in Washington .
The resounding victory will give Lewis George a powerful voice over a police force that ranks among the nation ’ s largest , relative to the local population .
But it ’ s also a reminder , criminal justice @ @ @ @ @ @ @ councils are often overlooked , perhaps no level of government has more direct power to affect the immediate and sweeping changes to American police departments that protesters and activist groups , including Black Lives Matter , have demanded .
Alongside mayors , city councils draft and approve metropolitan budgets that determine police funding , giving councilmembers the authority to cut funding for police and spend it on other public services instead , as activists calling to “ defund the police ” have demanded .
In most jurisdictions where police forces are unionized , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s role to bargain the contracts that , right now , play a massive part in shielding police from accountability .
The Los Angeles council changes , which restored police funding to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels , are smaller than many activists desired .
The District of Columbia ’ s council , meanwhile , is considering an emergency bill that would ban police from using chokeholds , the sort of meager and incremental changes that don ’ t go as far as many reform advocates say is necessary .
The election of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , could push cities like Washington ― which has in the past spent more per capita on police than any other city , according to a 2015 study ― toward more dramatic overhauls , and similar candidates have a chance to follow in her footsteps elsewhere .
One of seven Democratic candidates for the seat he ’ s seeking , Arthur has participated in the the protests that have blanketed downtown Louisville for the last nine days .
He said he ’ s noticed a change in how people approach a campaign message @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deep history of segregation , racism , inequality and police brutality .
Democrats and Republicans have long conflated “ policing ” with “ public safety , ” in part because large shares of voters have , too .
But local and national polling had shown that the public ’ s views of policing and criminal justice had begun to shift even before the protests , thanks to the work of Black Lives Matter and organizers and activists .
Majorities of Americans oppose increasing the number of police on streets and favor criminal justice @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and end harsh sentencing practices .
In some big cities , polls have shown that residents favor comprehensive approaches to issues like homelessness and drug use , preferring increased investments in affordable housing , mental health care and other intervention programs instead of criminalization .
But the protests have had a dramatic effect on Americans ’ views of policing ― a majority now believes the police treat white and Black Americans differently ― and the violent response from police to demonstrations in Washington almost certainly shaped the race ’ s later stages .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ residents ’ list of concerns , the protests may have only helped convince voters that D.C. ’ s heavy investments into policing were doing little other than subjecting Black residents to more brutality and violence .
“ Police reform does not reform the issue of race , because as long as we are living in poverty , we will have crime .
And as long as we have crime , we will have a heavy police presence , ” Arthur said .
“ So we can fix policing all day long .
We @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sorts of work in the police department itself .
But until we address poverty , we will never address racism .
The police are just really a symptom of racism , and it ’ s going to take a full-fledged approach .
That includes reparations .
That includes investing in our communities and divesting from our police department .
”

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In the weeks leading up to the District of Columbia’s primary election, a powerful interest group repeatedly hammered council candidate Janeese Lewis George with an attack that in the past has proved devastating: She was soft on crime and unsupportive of the D.C. police force.
“They get up every morning and serve their city,” a campaign mailer delivered to homes across Ward 4, D.C.’s northernmost council district, warned over a picture of five D.C. Metro Police Department officers. “If Janeese Lewis George is elected, THEY WON’T.”
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On the opposite side, it cited a tweet Lewis George posted in October 2019: “I will absolutely divest from MPD,” it said, leaving off a key part of Lewis George’s platform: that she would “put money into violence interruption programs” instead.
Democrats for Education Reform sent at least 4 mailers about JLG’s calls for police divestment to Ward 4 voters, in an effort to boost Todd. Here’s one that came just before the election, as protests broke out nationwide. pic.twitter.com/XZImwTJe0M — Travis Waldron (@Travis_Waldron) June 3, 2020
But the timing made the mailer less of an attack than an argument in favor of Lewis George: It arrived in mailboxes as protests over police killings of Black people, including George Floyd in Minneapolis, broke out nationwide and sparked calls for massive overhauls of police departments across the country. Lewis George, who had argued that D.C. should demilitarize its police and pull money from law enforcement budgets to invest in other social services and crime prevention programs, might not have been able to produce a better piece of campaign literature for herself.
Normally, a local council race would have little resonance outside the city or district where it took place. But the mailers and the protests in Washington and nationwide transformed the election into the “first major referendum on policing” in the country since the demonstrations began, said Tahir Duckett, a civil rights attorney in Washington.
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The result was clear: On Tuesday, just 24 hours after federal and D.C. police violently cracked down on protests across Washington, Lewis George appeared to have easily defeated incumbent Councilman Brandon Todd ― although the election hadn’t yet been officially called by Friday, she held a seemingly insurmountable 12-percentage-point lead in the Democratic primary race, which in D.C. serves as a de facto general election.
The resounding victory will give Lewis George a powerful voice over a police force that ranks among the nation’s largest, relative to the local population. But it’s also a reminder, criminal justice reform advocates say, that although city councils are often overlooked, perhaps no level of government has more direct power to affect the immediate and sweeping changes to American police departments that protesters and activist groups, including Black Lives Matter, have demanded.
“Mayors and city councils are where it’s at,” said Kate Chatfield, the senior adviser for legislation and policy at The Justice Collaborative, which advocates for wholesale reform of America’s policing and criminal justice systems. “The federal government sucks up so much media attention and energy, but [policing] is a local issue, by and large.”
Alongside mayors, city councils draft and approve metropolitan budgets that determine police funding, giving councilmembers the authority to cut funding for police and spend it on other public services instead, as activists calling to “defund the police” have demanded. In most jurisdictions where police forces are unionized, it’s also the city council’s role to bargain the contracts that, right now, play a massive part in shielding police from accountability.
That means city councils can fix “a big chunk” of the country’s problems with policing, Chatfield said, even if some broader reforms will require state and federal action.
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Already, councilmembers in cities experiencing protests have taken action or have pledged to do so. The Los Angeles City Council has proposed cutting $150 million from the police budget; in Minneapolis, City Council President Lisa Bender and others have pledged to “disband our police department and start fresh with a community-oriented, non-violent public safety and outreach capacity,” Councilman Steve Fletcher wrote for Time this week.
Text is projected Thursday on a building in downtown Washington during a protest over police brutality sparked by the May 25 death of George Floyd, a Black man who died after a white police officer in Minneapolis knelt on his neck. Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
The Los Angeles council changes, which restored police funding to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels, are smaller than many activists desired. The District of Columbia’s council, meanwhile, is considering an emergency bill that would ban police from using chokeholds, the sort of meager and incremental changes that don’t go as far as many reform advocates say is necessary.
The election of progressive members like Lewis George, however, could push cities like Washington ― which has in the past spent more per capita on police than any other city, according to a 2015 study ― toward more dramatic overhauls, and similar candidates have a chance to follow in her footsteps elsewhere.
In Louisville, Kentucky, the issues highlighted in protests over the police killing of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, could boost the efforts of city council candidates running on similar platforms, including Jecorey Arthur, a 28-year-old musician, educator and activist who is running in the June 23 Democratic primary for an open seat on the Louisville Metro Council.
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“I’ve been talking about divest and invest for the past few months now, before any of this popped off,” he told HuffPost this week. “Because it’s not new.”
One of seven Democratic candidates for the seat he’s seeking, Arthur has participated in the the protests that have blanketed downtown Louisville for the last nine days. He said he’s noticed a change in how people approach a campaign message that has focused on Louisville’s deep history of segregation, racism, inequality and police brutality.
Another candidate for the seat, Robert LeVertis Bell, has also called for cutting police budgets. In a March interview with Jacobin, LeVertis Bell criticized Louisville’s “bloated police budget” and blamed politicians who “are afraid to say no to the police department” for it.
Early in his campaign, Arthur said, people “told me not to speak about race as much as I was because Louisville was not ready to have that conversation” ― even in a city council district that has a Black majority.
“But as we see in this moment, everyone is having the conversation,” Arthur said. “Everyone is willing to listen.”
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To criminal justice reform advocates, it’s not surprising that Lewis George’s opponent in D.C. or the interest groups backing him seized on her comments about divesting from police ― or that those efforts failed.
Democrats and Republicans have long conflated “policing” with “public safety,” in part because large shares of voters have, too. But local and national polling had shown that the public’s views of policing and criminal justice had begun to shift even before the protests, thanks to the work of Black Lives Matter and organizers and activists. Majorities of Americans oppose increasing the number of police on streets and favor criminal justice reform efforts to reduce the prison population and end harsh sentencing practices. In some big cities, polls have shown that residents favor comprehensive approaches to issues like homelessness and drug use, preferring increased investments in affordable housing, mental health care and other intervention programs instead of criminalization.
“The public wants the problems addressed,” Chatfield said. “That said, I think elections like [Lewis George’s] reveal that when offered alternatives, the public also recognizes that incarceration doesn’t work and that policing doesn’t work. I think Americans have, by and large, moved well past where the politicians are.”
A sign to divest in the police department is held up during a Washington, D.C., protest over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed, handcuffed Black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Democrats for Education Reform, a pro-charter school advocacy group that backed Todd and sent the mailers, had polling suggesting that Lewis George was most vulnerable on policing and crime-related issues, the president of its D.C. chapter told the Washington City Paper.
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But the protests have had a dramatic effect on Americans’ views of policing ― a majority now believes the police treat white and Black Americans differently ― and the violent response from police to demonstrations in Washington almost certainly shaped the race’s later stages. In a city where crime has topped residents’ list of concerns, the protests may have only helped convince voters that D.C.’s heavy investments into policing were doing little other than subjecting Black residents to more brutality and violence.
Lewis George, whose district is majority Black and Latino but has a growing white population, won precincts across the area, including in neighborhoods that have been hit by recent crime spikes.
Louisville’s Metro Council is currently considering an incremental police reform bill that disappointed activists. To Arthur, it bolstered his argument that the area needs a young representative who understands what residents want and need.
Much like Lewis George, who backed paid family leave, raising the minimum wage for service employees, and investing in affordable housing and health care access, Arthur argued that Louisville needs to overhaul its approach to policing and make economic investments in communities like his own, where rates of poverty among Black residents have risen even as the city around it has grown and developed.
“Police reform does not reform the issue of race, because as long as we are living in poverty, we will have crime. And as long as we have crime, we will have a heavy police presence,” Arthur said. “So we can fix policing all day long. We can fire these cops and do all sorts of work in the police department itself. But until we address poverty, we will never address racism. The police are just really a symptom of racism, and it’s going to take a full-fledged approach. That includes reparations. That includes investing in our communities and divesting from our police department.”
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thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-06--Factory Discarding COVID-19 Swabs Produced During Tour By Unmasked Trump: Report

A Maine manufacturer of COVID-19 testing swabs said it ’ s discarding the entire output created while President Donald Trump toured the plant without a mask , USA Today reported .
A representative of Puritan Medical Products did not say explicitly that the action was due to Trump ’ s lack of any protective gear during his tour Friday — but no other explanation was offered .
The swabs are being tossed as manufacturers struggle to keep up with demand for the critical for COVID-19 testing swabs .
“ The running of the factory machines is very limited [ Friday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ president is touring the facility floor , ” the company ’ s marketing manager Virginia Templet told the newspaper .
“ Swabs produced during that time will be discarded.
” Temple did not reveal how many swabs would be thrown out .
During his appearance at the Puritan factory in Guilford , Trump made a few remarks to workers , posed for photos , and put his arm around an employee , saying , “ I ’ m not supposed to do that , ” then waved his hand dismissively .
( Check @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump wore no face mask nor any other protective gear , which is his typical controversial protocol , despite recommendations to the contrary by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .
He stopped to talk to employees — who were wearing white lab coats , masks , gloves , goggles , hair coverings and plastic booties — while working with the sterile swabs .
There was no immediate comment from the White House about the discarded swabs .
President Donald Trump roams the factory floor at Puritan Medical Products in Guilford , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sterile COVID-19 testing swabs .

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A Maine manufacturer of COVID-19 testing swabs said it’s discarding the entire output created while President Donald Trump toured the plant without a mask, USA Today reported.
A representative of Puritan Medical Products did not say explicitly that the action was due to Trump’s lack of protective gear during his tour on Friday, but no other explanation was offered. The swabs are being tossed as manufacturers struggle to keep up with demand for the critical for COVID-19 testing components.
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“The running of the factory machines ... will only occur when the president is touring the facility floor,” the company’s marketing manager, Virginia Temple, told the newspaper. “Swabs produced during that time will be discarded.”
Temple did not specify how many swabs would be thrown out.
During his appearance at the Puritan factory in Guilford, Trump made a few remarks to workers, posed for photos, and put his arm around an employee — then noting, “I’m not supposed to do that,” and waving his hand dismissively. (Check out the video up top.)
Trump wore no face mask nor any other protective gear, which is typical for him, despite recommendations to the contrary by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He stopped to talk to employees — who were wearing white lab coats, masks, gloves, goggles, hair coverings and plastic booties — while they were working with the sterile swabs.
There was no immediate comment from the White House about the discarded swabs.
President Donald Trump roams the factory floor at Puritan Medical Products in Guilford, Maine, around suited-up employees working with sterile COVID-19 testing swabs. ASSOCIATED PRESS


thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-06--Comedy Gem Sarah Cooper Conquers Trump In Hilarious TikTok Videos

Getting President Donald Trump just right in a comedy sketch poses a stiff competitive challenge .
But Sarah Cooper is leading the race , if her followers are any judge .
Cooper — a Brooklyn writer and comedian who ’ s proud to be “ blocked by Trump ” — lip syncs Trump ’ s voice in her sterling series of TikTok videos mocking the president .
She creatively exposes the tortured soul she imagines the president has .
One of her best recent offerings is “ How to Bunker , ” in which she acts out Trump ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to his underground bunker last week to protect him from Washington , D.C. , protesters , but to inspect it .
She shows a shower-curtain-caressing , paranoid , grimacing , contorting “ Trump ” ( her ) losing his mind .
Check it out here : Cooper ’ s fans hail her as a sanity-saver in these dark times : This is your best one yet — Molly Jong-Fast🏡 ( @ MollyJongFast ) June 6 , 2020 I 'd say we do n't deserve her , but with Trump in office , we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ BrownsObsession ) June 6 , 2020 Love her .
It ’ s the only way I can stand to hear his voice—when it ’ s coming from her mouth , skewering him .
— ( ( ( Judy Princz ) ) ) ( @ JudyPrincz ) June 7 , 2020

Getting President Donald Trump just right in a comedy sketch poses a stiff competitive challenge. But Sarah Cooper is leading the race, if her followers are any judge.
Cooper — a Brooklyn writer and comedian who’s proud to be “blocked by Trump” — lip syncs Trump’s voice in her sterling series of TikTok videos mocking the president. She creatively exposes the tortured soul she imagines the president has.
One of her best recent offerings is “How to Bunker,” in which she acts out Trump’s insistence that he wasn’t rushed to his underground bunker last week to protect him from Washington, D.C., protesters, but to inspect it.
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She shows a shower-curtain-caressing, paranoid, grimacing, contorting “Trump” (her) losing his mind. Check it out here:
How to bunker pic.twitter.com/cu7StjllD0 — Sarah Cooper (@sarahcpr) June 6, 2020
Cooper’s fans hail her as a sanity-saver in these dark times:
Sarah Cooper pulls me off the ledge every single time — Sandi Bachom (@sandibachom) June 7, 2020
This is your best one yet — Molly Jong-Fast🏡 (@MollyJongFast) June 6, 2020
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Like, a new genre created. — Ben Stiller (@RedHourBen) June 7, 2020
Not watching this, only “inspecting” it 😂 — TrivWorks (@TrivWorks) June 6, 2020
You
Are
A
National
Treasure
Bunker boy not so much — NOV 3rd We END This (@ruckus2) June 6, 2020
I'd say we don't deserve her, but with Trump in office, we definitely do. — AdammitDePodesta (@BrownsObsession) June 6, 2020
Love her. It’s the only way I can stand to hear his voice—when it’s coming from her mouth, skewering him. — (((Judy Princz))) (@JudyPrincz) June 7, 2020


thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-07--Around The World: Black Lives Matter

Around The World: Black Lives Matter

Michele Tantussi via Getty Images Alexanderplatz in Berlin , Germany , is seen fully crowded with people holding banners and placards as they stand in silence for eight minutes and 46 seconds in tribute to George Floyd during a protest against racism and police brutality on June 6 , 2020 .
While mourners filed past George Floyd ’ s body in a Free Will Baptist church in his hometown of Raeford , N.C. , just 12 days after he was killed under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer , tens of thousands of people across the country and around @ @ @ @ @ @ @ death .
They shut down part of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco , and they shut down Lake Shore Drive in Chicago .
They marched past U.S. President Donald Trump ’ s hotel in Manhattan , waving Black Lives Matter signs , and they marched under the gaze of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington , D.C .
They gathered in the rain in Parliament Square in London , and they rallied in front of JR Shibuya Station in Tokyo .
In London , protesters clashed with police on horseback and sat @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Boris Johnson ’ s home , calling attention to the Conservative leader ’ s history of racist remarks .
In Berlin , thousands packed Alexanderplatz in the city ’ s center , wielding signs with English slogans : “ Black Lives Matter , ” “ I can ’ t breathe ” and “ Germany is not innocent.
” In Paris , a crowd formed outside the U.S. embassy , despite officials banning protests over fears of the coronavirus , while another unsanctioned rally took place near the Eiffel Tower .
At least 100 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s central district , demanding that South Koreans “ form an alliance ” to combat racism in one of the world ’ s most ethnically homogeneous nations .
In Tokyo , protests took on a local flare as demonstrators condemned a May 22 incident in which Japanese police stopped and shoved a 33-year-old Kurdish man to the ground .
The demonstrators also picketed outside Twitter ’ s Japan office to denounce the suspension of an antiracism account .
In Brazil , where the far-right President Jair Bolsonaro draws frequent parallels to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the northeastern city of Recife to protest the death of Miguel da Silva , a Black 5-year-old who fell Tuesday from a ninth-story high-rise where his mother , a maid , was working .
Protesters cried “ Vidas negras importam ” — “ Black lives matter ” — while criticizing the white employer whom da Silva ’ s mother had entrusted with looking after the boy .
Some states are taking steps to walk back some of the harsher tactics that police have used during protests .
In Minneapolis , the city @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the state has already withdrawn its curfew and is sending state troopers and National Guard members home .
The city on Friday also announced an agreement to ban police from using chokeholds and strangleholds , requiring officers who witness such uses of force to intervene and file a report .
In other cities , efforts are already underway to try and limit police use of rubber bullets and tear gas , after images of police officers using the weapons on often peaceful protestors elicited outrage .
In Philadelphia , four council members @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rubber bullets , tear gas and pepper spray on demonstrators .
In California , a group of lawmakers is set to introduce legislation outlining when officers can use rubber bullets .
There , the governor has already called for police to reform how they treat protesters .
“ Protesters have the right not to be harassed , ” California Gov .
Gavin Newsom said Friday .
“ Protesters have the right to protest peacefully .
Protesters have the right to do so without being arrested , gassed or shot at by projectiles.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback who in 2016 started kneeling during the national anthem to peacefully protest police brutality against Black people .
Kaepernick has not played since the end of that season and has accused the league of colluding to keep him from getting signed to a team in reaction to his protests .
Also on Friday , the mayor of Washington , D.C. , Muriel Bowser , had “ Black Lives Matter ” painted in giant yellow letters on 16th Street .
She also renamed the street in front @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Matter Plaza .
While photos and videos of this act of defiance went viral , the D.C. chapter of Black Lives Matter criticized Bowser on Twitter .

While mourners filed past George Floyd’s body in a Free Will Baptist church in his hometown of Raeford, N.C., just 12 days after he was killed under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer, tens of thousands of people across the country and around the world came together to protest his death.
They shut down part of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and they shut down Lake Shore Drive in Chicago. They marched past U.S. President Donald Trump’s hotel in Manhattan, waving Black Lives Matter signs, and they marched under the gaze of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. They gathered in the rain in Parliament Square in London, and they rallied in front of JR Shibuya Station in Tokyo.
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After many days of unrest, police beating protesters, police shoving elderly people, and police arresting journalists, for the first time in a generation — or perhaps in history — the civil rights of Black people appear to finally matter to almost everyone.
The world has reached a boiling point.
In London, protesters clashed with police on horseback and sat in silence in front of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s home, calling attention to the Conservative leader’s history of racist remarks. In Berlin, thousands packed Alexanderplatz in the city’s center, wielding signs with English slogans: “Black Lives Matter,” “I can’t breathe” and “Germany is not innocent.” In Paris, a crowd formed outside the U.S. embassy, despite officials banning protests over fears of the coronavirus, while another unsanctioned rally took place near the Eiffel Tower.
“I find it scandalous that all these injustices go unpunished,” one 21-year-old Senegalese Ivorian student told France24 amid a crowd of people holding up signs that read “Being black is not a crime” and “Our police are assassins.”
A demonstrator holds up a sign that reads "Racism exists in Tokyo" at a Saturday protest in Tokyo. Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
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At least 100 people marched in Seoul through the city’s central district, demanding that South Koreans “form an alliance” to combat racism in one of the world’s most ethnically homogeneous nations. In Tokyo, protests took on a local flare as demonstrators condemned a May 22 incident in which Japanese police stopped and shoved a 33-year-old Kurdish man to the ground. The demonstrators also picketed outside Twitter’s Japan office to denounce the suspension of an antiracism account.
“I feel very sad,” Tomohiko Tsurumi, 43, who joined the march with his wife, told Reuters. “I always thought of this country as very safe and I realized that there is so much [police action] we cannot see.”
In Brazil, where the far-right President Jair Bolsonaro draws frequent parallels to the United States, hundreds of people marched in the northeastern city of Recife to protest the death of Miguel da Silva, a Black 5-year-old who fell Tuesday from a ninth-story high-rise where his mother, a maid, was working. Protesters cried “Vidas negras importam” — “Black lives matter” — while criticizing the white employer whom da Silva’s mother had entrusted with looking after the boy.
While Saturday’s protests were mostly peaceful yet passionate, throughout the day, Trump largely ignored this reality and tweeted “LAW & ORDER!” on Saturday evening.
Affecting Change, Albeit Lightly
Some states are taking steps to walk back some of the harsher tactics that police have used during protests. In Minneapolis, the city where George Floyd was killed by police, the state has already withdrawn its curfew and is sending state troopers and National Guard members home. The city on Friday also announced an agreement to ban police from using chokeholds and strangleholds, requiring officers who witness such uses of force to intervene and file a report.
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A mural of former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick and George Floyd on June 5 in Miami, Florida, as protesters demonstrate against police brutality. Johnny Louis via Getty Images
However, after Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey told protestors on Saturday that he would not commit to defunding the city’s police department, he was forced to leave a rally to resounding chants of, “Go home, Jacob. Go home,” and “Shame, shame, shame.”
In other cities, efforts are already underway to try and limit police use of rubber bullets and tear gas, after images of police officers using the weapons on often peaceful protestors elicited outrage. In Philadelphia, four council members are asking police to refrain from using rubber bullets, tear gas and pepper spray on demonstrators. In California, a group of lawmakers is set to introduce legislation outlining when officers can use rubber bullets. There, the governor has already called for police to reform how they treat protesters.
“Protesters have the right not to be harassed,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Friday. “Protesters have the right to protest peacefully. Protesters have the right to do so without being arrested, gassed or shot at by projectiles.”
Spurring Cultural Change
Beyond police reforms, the protests also seem to be spurring some cultural changes. On Friday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell apologized for the league’s past treatment of players who spoke out against racism, saying the league believes “Black lives matter.”
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The apology did not name Colin Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback who in 2016 started kneeling during the national anthem to peacefully protest police brutality against Black people. Kaepernick has not played since the end of that season and has accused the league of colluding to keep him from getting signed to a team in reaction to his protests.
Goodell, instead, spoke in generalities about past wrongs committed by the league.
The casket is moved at the conclusion of the George Floyd Memorial at R.L Douglas Cape Fear Conference B - United American Free Will Baptist Denomination in Raeford, N.C. POOL New / Reuters
“We, the NFL, condemn racism and the systematic oppression of Black people,” Goodell said in a filmed statement. “We, the NFL, admit we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest.”
Also on Friday, the mayor of Washington, D.C., Muriel Bowser, had “Black Lives Matter” painted in giant yellow letters on 16th Street. She also renamed the street in front of the White House to Black Lives Matter Plaza. While photos and videos of this act of defiance went viral, the D.C. chapter of Black Lives Matter criticized Bowser on Twitter.
“This is a performative distraction from real policy changes,” the group wrote. “This is to appease white liberals while ignoring our demands. Black Lives Matter means defund the police.”
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Holding The Police Accountable
Such calls fell flat earlier on Thursday when the city council of Buffalo, N.Y., voted 6-3 to fully fund the police budget. That same day, two police officers in Buffalo shoved a lone 75-year-old man to the ground, leaving him ― as seen in a widely circulated video – unconscious with blood pooling under his head.
A group of people exiting a memorial for Floyd embrace each other outside the R.L. Douglas Cape Fear Center on June 6. Melissa Sue Gerrits via Getty Images
On Saturday, the officers ― Aaron Torgalski, 39, and Robert McCabe, 32 ― pleaded not guilty to assault charges. At least 57 fellow officers resigned from an emergency response team to protest the department’s decision to discipline their colleagues.
In Minneapolis, however, lawmakers took a different tack. The city’s schools and parks on Thursday began the process of cutting ties with the police department. On Friday, the city council started rallying behind calls to “dismantle” the police department and “replace it with a transformative new model of public safety.”
He Sparked The Fuse
While the world was using the death of George Floyd to push for change on Saturday, mourners near his hometown were gathering to pay their respects. An intimate memorial service was held for Floyd in Raeford, North Carolina, about 25 miles away from his birthplace. There, a gold casket held his remains, according to CNN.
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At the memorial service, Rev. Christopher D. Stackhouse gave a eulogy remembering Floyd as a “gentle giant” and detailing how his death has already changed the world.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-06--Pentagon Threat Sparked Shocking Crackdown On Protesters For Trump Photo Op: Report

A National Guard attack on peaceful protesters in Washington , D.C. , Monday was spurred by a Pentagon threat that active-duty military units would be mobilized against American civilians if the Guard was ineffective , The New York Times reported .
Top Pentagon officials also ordered the use of two Army National Guard helicopters , including a Black Hawk , to hover loudly and ominously over the heads of civilians to disperse the protesters , sources told The Times .
Pentagon pressure on the National Guard to get tough may have been part of a strategy to calm President Donald @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was insisting that 10,000 military troops be deployed to the capital .
Dozens of cell phone and press videos failed to reveal any violence by protesters that would warrant a harsh crackdown .
People were tear-gassed , manhandled , shoved , battered with clubs and slammed with shields to clear the way for Trump so he could cross the street from the White House to hold aloft a Bible at St. John ’ s Episcopal Church for a photo op .
The onslaught against the protesters began 25 minutes before the 7 p.m. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ television news crew ( which can be seen below ) was so severe that Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison demanded an investigation in a complaint with the American embassy .
The startling , aggressive attacks on peaceful protesters by the National Guard occurred after a “ pointed threat ” from the Pentagon that if the Guard couldn ’ t handle the situation , active-duty military units would be sent to deal with civilians , the Times reported Street scenes shocked Americans .
“ What we saw on Monday night was our military using @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at risk on American soil , ” said Sen. Tammy Duckworth ( D-Ill. ) , a former Army Black Hawk pilot .
She slammed Trump as a “ tinpot dictator ” who is “ perverting ” the role of the military .
Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy , one of the officials who authorized part of the planning for the helicopters , according to the Times , said on Friday that the Army had opened an investigation into use of the aircraft .
The looming military threat against citizens exercising their First Amendment rights @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Pentagon power structure .
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley — wearing his fatigues — and Defense Secretary Mark Esper walked with Trump for his photo op as the Guard was moving against protesters .
Yet the Post reported that both Esper and Milley opposed using active troops in the capital as Trump wanted .
James N. Miller , a member of the Pentagon ’ s science advisory board , angrily resigned the following day , accusing Esper of breaking his oath to defend the Constitution .
“ Law-abiding protesters just outside @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gas and rubber bullets — not for the sake of safety , but to clear a path for a presidential photo op , ” Miller said in his resignation letter .
Esper issued an order sending active-duty troops out of Washington back to their home bases Wednesday , and said at a press briefing that military involvement was not warranted at this time .
He reversed himself later that same day after a meeting with Trump — then reversed that order Thursday , again sending hundreds of active-duty troops back to their bases @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the Army would “ continue to support and defend ” the Constitutional rights of Americans to “ peaceably assemble and petition the government for a redress of grievances.
” Yet McCarthy , according to documents viewed by the Times , was also involved in oversight of the aggressive National Guard operation , including use of the helicopters , against civilians doing just that .
The harshest attack on Trump and military action against civilians was issued in a statement in the Atlantic Wednesday by former Defense Secretary and retired Marine Corps general @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for working for a better future .
“ Militarizing ” the response to protests “ erodes the moral ground that ensures a trusted bond between men and women in uniform and the society they are sworn to protect , ” he warned .

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The National Guard’s crackdown on peaceful protesters in Washington, D.C., last week was spurred by a Pentagon threat that active-duty military units would be mobilized against American civilians if the Guard was ineffective, The New York Times reported.
Top Pentagon officials ordered the use of two Army National Guard helicopters, including a Black Hawk, to hover loudly and ominously over the heads of civilians — a tactic called “persistent presence” — to disperse the protesters, sources told The Times.
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Pentagon pressure on the National Guard to get tough may have been part of a strategy to calm President Donald Trump, who The Washington Post reported was insisting that 10,000 troops be deployed to the capital.
Dozens of cell phone and press videos failed to reveal any violence by protesters that would warrant the crackdown.
People were tear-gassed, manhandled, shoved, battered with clubs and slammed with shields on Monday to clear the way for Trump to cross the street from the White House for a photo op at St. John’s Episcopal Church. The onslaught against the protesters began 25 minutes before a 7 p.m. curfew.
I imposed a curfew at 7pm. A full 25 minutes before the curfew & w/o provocation, federal police used munitions on peaceful protestors in front of the White House, an act that will make the job of @DCPoliceDept officers more difficult. Shameful!
DC residents — Go home. Be safe — Muriel Bowser (@MurielBowser) June 2, 2020
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An attack on an Australian television news crew (which can be seen below) was so severe that Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison demanded an investigation in a complaint to the American embassy.
The startling, aggressive attacks on peaceful protesters by the National Guard occurred after a “pointed threat” from the Pentagon that if the Guard couldn’t handle the situation, active-duty military units would be sent to deal with civilians, the Times reported.
Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy, one of the officials who authorized part of the planning for the helicopters, according to the Times, said on Friday that the Army had opened an investigation into use of the aircraft.
The looming military threat against citizens exercising their First Amendment rights appeared to expose confusion in the Pentagon power structure. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley — wearing his fatigues — and Defense Secretary Mark Esper walked alongside Trump to his photo op as the Guard moved against protesters. The Post reported that both Esper and Milley opposed using active troops in the capital as Trump wanted.
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The choice to use the National Guard against protesters was roundly criticized inside and outside of the military.
“What we saw on Monday night was our military using its equipment to threaten and put Americans at risk on American soil,” said Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), a former Army Black Hawk pilot. She slammed Trump as a “tinpot dictator” who is “perverting” the role of the military.
James N. Miller, a member of the Pentagon’s science advisory board, resigned on Tuesday, accusing Esper of breaking his oath to defend the Constitution. “Law-abiding protesters just outside the White House were dispersed using tear gas and rubber bullets — not for the sake of safety, but to clear a path for a presidential photo op,” Miller said in his resignation letter.
Esper issued an order sending active-duty troops out of Washington back to their home bases Wednesday, saying at a press briefing that military involvement was not warranted at this time. He then reversed himself later that same day after a meeting with Trump, and then reversed the reversal on Thursday, again sending hundreds of active-duty troops back to their bases.
Both Esper and Milley have now reportedly refused to testify about the military’s response to the protesters before the House Armed Services Committee.
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McCarthy signed a statement Wednesday vowing that the Army would “continue to support and defend” the constitutional rights of Americans to “peaceably assemble and petition the government for a redress of grievances.” Yet McCarthy, according to documents viewed by the Times, was also involved in oversight of the aggressive National Guard operation, including use of the helicopters against civilians doing just that.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-07--Minneapolis Mayor Booed After Saying He Wouldn't 'Abolish' Police Department

Stephen Maturen via Getty Images MINNEAPOLIS , MN - JUNE 6 : Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey leaves after coming out of his home to speak during a demonstration calling for the Minneapolis Police Department to be defunded .
Mayor Frey declined when he was asked if he would fully defund the police and was then asked to leave the protest .
( Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images ) Protesters booted Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey from a protest Saturday after he told demonstrators that he would not commit to de-funding the police department .
During a peaceful protest led by the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Frey ’ s house , where he came out to meet them , the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported .
When Frey , 38 , told protest organizers that he would not commit to defunding the Minneapolis police department in the wake of the deadly arrest of Geroge Floyd , protesters booed him and told him to leave .
At first , Frey told the protest organizers that he had been “ coming to grips with my own responsibility , my own failure in this ” and said there needed to be “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Minneapolis Police Department .
Then , one of the protest organizers asked him whether he would commit to defunding the police department — and she asked the mayor to answer the question with a “ yes ” or “ no.
” Speaking into a microphone , the organizer reminded the large group of protesters that he was up for re-election in 2021 .
Frey responded to the question by shaking his head and saying , “ I do not support the full abolition of the police department.
” In response , the organizer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ him to “ get the f*** out of here.
” During the protests over the death of George Floyd , who was killed when a Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into Floyd ’ s neck during an arrest , many activists have called for state and local governments to “ defund the police.
” The phrase is being used to describe an effort to cut police budgets and redirect that money to other agencies that support communities .
Frey later told local news station WCCO that he supported “ massive structural reform @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said he would do “ everything possible to push back on the inherent inequities that are literally built into the architecture the answer is ‘ yes.
’ ” “ If you ’ re asking whether I ’ m willing to do everything I possibly can throughout the rest of my term to make sure that the police union , the police contract , the arbitration system , and some of these policies that have resulted in problems for specifically Black and Brown people and murder over series of generations , I ’ m @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the news station .
“ I ’ m not for abolishing the entire police department , I will be honest about that.
” When Frey entered office in 2018 , he vowed to mend the relationship between residents and the police department , the New York Times reported .

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey leaves after declining to say he would fully defund the police at a protest on Saturday. Stephen Maturen via Getty Images
Protesters booted Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey from a protest Saturday after he told demonstrators that he would not commit to defunding the city’s police department.
During a peaceful protest led by the advocacy group Black Visions, demonstrators marched to Frey’s house, where he came out to meet them, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.
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When Frey, 38, told protest organizers that he would not commit to defunding the Minneapolis police department — after four officers have been charged in the death of George Floyd — protesters booed him and told him to leave.
The moment was filmed and shared widely online.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey showed up today at the protests. He was asked if he would commit to abolishing/defunding the police. Incredible to witness crowd hold him directly accountable. Man did a literal walk of shame. pic.twitter.com/v645mfIZHt — Sana Saeed (@SanaSaeed) June 6, 2020
At first, Frey told the protest organizers that he had been “coming to grips with my own responsibility, my own failure in this” and said there needed to be “deep-seated, structural reform” within the Minneapolis Police Department.
Then, one of the protest organizers asked him whether he would commit to defunding the police department, and she asked the mayor to answer the question with a “yes” or “no.”
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Speaking into a microphone, the organizer reminded the large group of protesters that Frey is up for reelection in 2021.
Frey responded by shaking his head and saying, “I do not support the full abolition of the police department.”
In response, the organizer took the microphone from him and told him to “get the fuck out of here.”
As he walked away, protesters chanted, “Go home, Jacob. Go home!”
During the protests sparked by Floyd’s death, many activists have called for state and local governments to “defund the police.”
The phrase is being used to describe an effort to cut police budgets and redirect that money to other agencies that support communities.
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Frey later told local news station WCCO that he supported “massive structural reform” to Minneapolis’ police force and said he would do “everything possible to push back on the inherent inequities that are literally built into the architecture.”
However, he maintained that he does not support “abolishing the entire police department.”
“If you’re asking whether I’m willing to do everything I possibly can throughout the rest of my term to make sure that the police union, the police contract, the arbitration system, and some of these policies that have resulted in problems for specifically Black and brown people and murder over series of generations, I’m all for that,” Frey told the news station. “I’m not for abolishing the entire police department, I will be honest about that.”
When Frey entered office in 2018, he vowed to mend the relationship between residents and the police department, The New York Times reported.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-07--America Has Tried And Failed To Explain Its Racism To The World

“ It ’ s such a burden to have to carry that additional weight into the world , and I think that may be true for everyone , but particularly for the people who are being oppressed or mistreated at home , ” said Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley , a former ambassador who served in the State Department for more than 30 years before resigning in 2017 .
“ Not only do we have to deal with our own sorrow , but we have to answer for our European Americans .
I ’ ve got to try to explain white racism , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that extra burden of trying to explain that , not just dealing with my own pain and sense of heartbreak.
” How The Story Got Told Tying Black Americans ’ plight to the pain of European colonialism in Africa showed that as America ’ s prominence grew , so would the world ’ s knowledge of its domestic failings ― and that as powerful Americans united with leaders of other countries to shape global affairs with little regard for most people of color , other international bonds would flourish , too .
Du @ @ @ @ @ @ @ try to shape the settlement after World War I .
In the years that followed , some Black Americans who left for Europe , such as Josephine Baker , became cultural icons .
Being The Face Of A Troubled System In times such as this , in the aftermath of the Floyd killing , “ we have to balance that hope with reality .
… We have to redouble our efforts , ” she said .
And that work isn ’ t just for the disproportionately low number of people of color in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ We have to demand it of our European Americans .
This problem isn ’ t an African American problem .
This is a European American problem , and we are asking them to look to themselves : How are you dealing with your part of our greater community ?
”

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Thousands of people around the world are sending a dual message to Americans as they protest the death of George Floyd, the latest casualty of the systemic violence against Black residents of the U.S. Their message: We see your pain ― and we see your country for what it really is.
To those outside America’s borders, the nation’s state-sanctioned racism stands in stark contrast to its proudly proclaimed ideals of liberty and equality in the more than 100 years that the U.S. has been a global power.
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Black Americans and members of other marginalized communities in the U.S. often share their stories abroad in search of solidarity, recognizing that international embarrassment could help drive reform at home. Representatives of the U.S. government have offered foreigners a different narrative of progress towards fulfilling America’s promise.
Since Floyd died after a white police officer pinned him down by the neck — sparking international protest and outcry — it’s clear that deep skepticism persists worldwide about America’s commitment to racial justice and that people connected to the U.S., officials or others, will be asked to answer for it for years to come.
“It’s such a burden to have to carry that additional weight into the world, and I think that may be true for everyone, but particularly for the people who are being oppressed or mistreated at home,” said Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, a former ambassador who served in the State Department for more than 30 years before resigning in 2017. “Not only do we have to deal with our own sorrow, but we have to answer for our European Americans. I’ve got to try to explain white racism, white supremacy. I’ve got that extra burden of trying to explain that, not just dealing with my own pain and sense of heartbreak.”
Abercrombie-Winstanley added: “Blacks have been in the foreign service being representatives of the United States since the late 1890s, when we were sent out as envoys, so we have struggled with the contradiction of representing the nation and being disdained by the nation at the same time, and even so, we have served well.”
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Before President Donald Trump threatened to violently suppress demonstrations in memory of Floyd, before the spread of recording equipment let the world witness how U.S. police brutalize non-white bodies and before “I can’t breathe” became a global rallying cry challenging American cruelty and injustice, America tried to explain its racism to the world. It largely failed.
How The Story Got Told
European settlers made racist treatment of people of African descent integral to the entity that became America 400 years ago, when they brought enslaved Africans to the colony of Virginia. Two centuries later, much of the economy of the independent U.S. still relied on slavery as nations in Europe began banning the inhumane practice (while preserving other ways to oppress millions of people of color).
Americans who escaped slavery began telling the country’s peers about their mistreatment in visits abroad and in their writings. Frederick Douglass saw his “Narrative” translated into French and Dutch and spent two years speaking to audiences across Ireland and Britain. There, “the chattel becomes a man,” he reflected. Other Black Americans later echoed that sense of feeling fully acknowledged as human beings when they were away from American racism, even in other societies designed to benefit white people.
The Civil War and subsequent emancipation brought the U.S. in line with most European countries in barring the treatment of people as property. But it didn’t end white elites’ interest in sustaining their own power or widespread prejudice ― and Reconstruction, the crucial period of efforts to allow Black Americans to truly exercise their rights, was brief.
A trio of developments in the next few years ensured racism remained central to America’s identity and how it was perceived abroad. White politicians instituted Jim Crow laws to ensure that millions of Black people across the South were denied full citizenship. The U.S. became more ambitious as its wealth and power grew, with the result that it announced itself as a major international player by successfully waging a war against Spain in 1898.
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W.E.B. Du Bois, the sociologist and writer, saw a moment for Black Americans to redouble efforts to look beyond the U.S. in fighting for justice.
“It’s the era of post-slavery but really aggressive oppression so Du Bois is kind of Otto von Bismarck, writing to connect people,” said Stephen Casmier, an associate professor of English at Saint Louis University, referring to the German leader who drove the unification of German communities into one country. In his book “The Souls of Black Folk,” published in 1903, Du Bois argued “people of African descent all over the world were somehow connected together and involved in the same kind of struggle,” Casmier said.
Tying Black Americans’ plight to the pain of European colonialism in Africa showed that as America’s prominence grew, so would the world’s knowledge of its domestic failings ― and that as powerful Americans united with leaders of other countries to shape global affairs with little regard for most people of color, other international bonds would flourish, too. Du Bois co-organized his first Pan-African Congress to try to shape the settlement after World War I. In the years that followed, some Black Americans who left for Europe, such as Josephine Baker, became cultural icons.
Global awareness about how discrimination was endemic in the U.S. couldn’t force America to change its ways. But it helped make it harder to argue against reform.
By the middle of the 20th century, American officials often tried to describe their government as fundamentally opposed to racism and committed to tackling it for two major reasons, scholars said. Washington wanted to promote its defeat of the Nazis and their violent prejudice, and it was increasingly afraid of losing the global battle for public opinion to the Soviet Union.
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“The United States is participating in this global war against racism. Then you say, ‘Wait a minute, the United States is doing this with a segregated army,’” said Moshik Temkin, a historian at Harvard University. “That becomes a problem from a PR perspective. How are you actually selling the United States as a world democracy? It then becomes a severe geopolitical problem.”
Moscow highlighted American racism and atrocities such as the Birmingham church bombing in propaganda materials, particularly among the newly independent nations in Asia and Africa, whom both the Russians and the Americans wanted on their side in the Cold War and who were already angry with Europeans’ treatment of non-whites. U.S. officials promoted examples of progress — such as the Brown v. Board of Education ruling ending segregation in schools — and started such programs as a jazz diplomacy campaign featuring Black musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Temkin said.
Louis Armstrong performed during a State Department-organized tour of Africa in late 1960. Three years earlier, Armstrong had refused to carry out a tour in the Soviet Union on behalf of the U.S. over the South's treatment of Black Americans. Susan Wood/Getty Images via Getty Images
Many Black Americans helped resist Soviet efforts to “shape truth” internationally, said Abercrombie-Winstanley, the former ambassador. She cited Carl Rowan, who ran the United States Information Agency under President Lyndon B. Johnson and was the highest-ranking Black person in government. Rowan publicized events such as the 1963 March on Washington, noting Johnson’s support for it and calling it, in a rebuke to America’s authoritarian rivals, “a moving exercise of one of the most cherished rights in a free society: the right of peaceful protest.”
But for others, it was crucial to challenge the narrative of a country whose reality they knew fell short of its sales pitch. Malcolm X traveled the world condemning American perfidy ― a headache for U.S. representatives abroad who reported back on him and confronted him after he spoke at the Kenyan parliament, Temkin’s research shows.
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“The story is not African Americans against each other ― it’s more about what the American state was doing,” Temkin said.
For U.S. leaders, the goal of projecting a less racist image influenced key decisions about how to respond to demands from the civil rights movement throughout the 1950s and 1960s, he added.
American officials also cited evidence of greater equality at home to counter global criticism of American actions abroad, such as the Vietnam War and supporting right-wing coups. “It acts as a cover for the other things that we do, whether it is waging perpetual war or destroying entire civilizations in the Third World,” Casmier said.
Since the end of the Cold War and the development of an increasingly connected world dominated by American media and business, foreign familiarity with U.S. racial politics has likely only grown. Casmier, who is Black, thinks that could be a result of Black Americans’ experiencing what Du Bois called “double consciousness”: the sense of “always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others.”
“Maybe that sense of double consciousness also invades our performances, and that’s why the images that you often see coming out of American protests seem so perfectly forged,” Casmier said. “They get inside of you in a certain kind of way.”
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That can boost solidarity. But foreign racists are paying attention, too. In countries such as France, where Casmier studied and regularly travels, more white communities are developing American-style obsessions, such as the fear that people of color are exploiting national welfare systems, he said ― creating kindling for future conflict.
Being The Face Of A Troubled System
For representatives of the U.S. abroad, conversations about America’s racism are unavoidable, morally fraught and rarely easy.
Black diplomats “have had to learn early on how to navigate the spaces of being truthful about what’s happening in the United States ― of expressing our dismay, our disgust, our heartbreak ― at the same time as expressing our hope for the future and our belief in what this country says it stands for,” Abercrombie-Winstanley said.
Past experience offers something of a playbook.
In times such as this, in the aftermath of the Floyd killing, “we have to balance that hope with reality. … We have to redouble our efforts,” she said. And that work isn’t just for the disproportionately low number of people of color in the foreign service, she added: “We have to demand it of our European Americans. This problem isn’t an African American problem. This is a European American problem, and we are asking them to look to themselves: How are you dealing with your part of our greater community?”
Abercrombie-Winstanley added: “This burden is a European American burden, to get rid of this poison.”
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Tom Perriello, who served as a special envoy to the African Great Lakes region under President Barack Obama and has previously worked in conflict zones worldwide, regularly heard concerns abroad about race in the U.S., he told HuffPost.
“Sometimes that was done in a ‘gotcha’ way by countries that we had been pushing on their human rights records. Sometimes it was from allies and friends asking what the hell was going on,” Perriello said.
Perriello recommended breaking with the historic approach of “a largely white establishment foreign service that said the American project was perfect with one sin.” Instead, Americans should acknowledge that they have problems to reckon with and even show they have learned from the experiences of other nations in confronting painful truths about their own. He pointed to recent efforts to take down Confederate memorials in his home state of Virginia as an example.
Former Ambassador Dana Shell Smith was in her native California during the 1992 uprising that followed a jury’s decision to acquit white police officers for beating Rodney King, a Black man. She recalled foreigners frequently bringing up the unrest early in her career.
“White people shouldn’t be trying to speak to the Black perspective, but what a white diplomat can do is find voices who can and make sure to elevate and amplify those voices,” Smith said. She attempted to do just that while working in public diplomacy throughout the Middle East by organizing events featuring Americans of color.
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It also helps for international audiences to hear from figures outside official diplomatic roles such as visiting lawmakers, said Perriello, a former congressman himself and now the executive director of Open Society-U.S. He cited trips abroad by Reps. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.).
And moments of deep symbolism beyond American representatives’ control can be invaluable in proving that faith in the U.S. is worthwhile. Obama’s 2008 election “was like the greatest advertisement for what I always believed our country stands for,” Smith said.
The conduct of Obama’s successor has made it even more difficult to make America’s case in what was already a losing battle for global public opinion. Many diplomats have resigned under Trump, leaving the State Department over his public humiliation of veteran public servants, his racist rhetoric or the agency’s complicity in his extreme policies.
Those who remain now have to explain both a centuries-old American system of racism and an unprecedented authoritarian turn from a president facing a national crisis.
“This has been a challenge for many of the people I know in the foreign service from the beginning of this administration, but it is just crystallized to an enormous extent this past week,” said Laura Kennedy, a former ambassador.
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Kennedy recalled helping organize an American cultural exhibit in the old Soviet Union. In keeping with the regime’s goals, attendees would often ask questions designed to trip up the diplomats and the speakers they invited: Wasn’t the U.S. based on the genocide of Native Americans, and how could it justify how it treated Black citizens?
“We were encouraged to give our own answers and draw on our experience,” she said. “At least you could talk about the fact that we have a free press, and we debate these issues.”


thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-06--Protest Records Show Scant Evidence Of Trump's Bogus Antifa Claims

Lt. Andy Knotz of the Anoka County Sheriff ’ s Office , whose deputies were deployed from the suburban county @ @ @ @ @ city to help with the unrest , said it was a “ chaotic scene ” @ @ @ @ @ from the direction of the protests .
Knotz said Ortiz was removed from his car @ @ @ @ @ , and an Anoka deputy took him to the police station .

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Scott Nichols, a balloon artist, was riding home on his scooter from the protests engulfing Minneapolis last weekend when he was struck by a rubber bullet fired from a cluster of police officers in riot gear.
“I just pulled over and put my hands up, because I didn’t want to get killed,” said Nichols, 40. “Anybody that knows me knows I wasn’t out there to cause problems.”
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Nichols, who before the coronavirus pandemic made his living performing at children’s birthday parties under the stage name “Amazing Scott,” spent two days in jail before being released, facing criminal charges of riot and curfew violation.
President Donald Trump has characterized those clashing with law enforcement after George Floyd’s death under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer as organized, radical-left thugs engaging in domestic terrorism, an assertion repeated by Attorney General William Barr. Some Democrats, including Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, initially tried to blame out-of-state far-right infiltrators for the unrest before walking back those statements.
There is scant evidence either is true.
The Associated Press analyzed court records, employment histories, social media posts and other sources of information for 217 people arrested last weekend in Minneapolis and the District of Columbia, two cities at the epicenter of the protests across the United States.
Rather than outside agitators, more than 85% of those arrested by police were local residents. Of those charged with such offenses as curfew violations, rioting and failure to obey law enforcement, only a handful appeared to have any affiliation with organized groups.
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Those charged with more serious offenses related to looting and property destruction – such as arson, burglary and theft – often had past criminal records. But they, too, were overwhelmingly local residents taking advantage of the chaos.
Social media posts indicate only a few of those arrested are left-leaning activists, including a self-described anarchist. But others had indications of being on the political right, including some Trump supporters.
The president has tried to portray the protesters and looters with a broad brush as “radical-left, bad people,” ominously invoking the name “antifa,” an umbrella term for leftist militants bound more by belief than organizational structure. Trump tweeted last Sunday that he planned to designate antifa as a terrorist organization.
“These are acts of domestic terror,” Trump said in a Rose Garden speech Monday, moments after heavily armed troops and riot police advanced without warning on the largely peaceful protesters across the street from the White House.
Barr, put in charge of organizing the police and military response, activated the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force last weekend to target protest organizers.
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“The violence instigated and carried out by Antifa and other similar groups in connection with the rioting is domestic terrorism and will be treated accordingly,” Barr said in a statement issued Sunday.
There have been violent acts, including property destruction and theft. Police officers and protesters have been seriously injured and killed. But federal law enforcement officials have offered little evidence that antifa-aligned protesters could be behind a movement that has appeared nearly simultaneously in hundreds of cities and towns in all 50 states since Floyd’s death.
The AP obtained copies of daily confidential “Intelligence Notes” distributed this past week to local enforcement by the Department of Homeland Security that repeat, without citing evidence, that “organized violent opportunists — including suspected anarchist extremists — could increasingly perpetrate nationwide targeting of law enforcement and critical infrastructure.”
“We lack detailed reporting indicating the level of organization and planning by some violent opportunists and assess that most of the violence to date has been loosely organized on a level seen with previous widespread outbreaks of violence at lawful protests,” the assessment for Monday says.
The following day, the assessment noted “several uncorroborated reports of bricks being pre-staged at planned protest venues nationwide.”
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“Although we have been unable to verify the reporting through official channels, the staging of improvised weapons at planned events is a common tactic used by violent opportunists,” the Tuesday assessment says.
But social media posts warning that stacks of bricks have been left at protest sites in Atlanta, Boston and Los Angeles have been debunked by local officials who have explained that the masonry was out in the open before the protests or was for use in construction projects.
Nichols, the balloon artist, hardly fits the portrait of a radical.
He recently gained local notice for a giant balloon rabbit and other sculptures displayed in his front yard for Easter. He laughed when asked if he had any ties to antifa or other militant groups. A white man who lives less than a half mile from where Floyd was killed on May 25, Nichols said he protested to support of his neighbors, many of whom are black.
“It was the most insane thing I’ve seen in my life,” he said. “The city was going crazy.”
Nichols said he and a friend helped douse a dumpster fire near a laundromat. He remembers getting a text from his mother saying that Minneapolis had set an 8 p.m. curfew, but he thought it would be enforced loosely.
“Had I known that being out after curfew would be such a severe penalty, I would have never done it,” Nichols said, adding that he missed his son’s high school graduation while he was in jail.
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Lars Ortiz, a 35-year-old classical musician, said he was driving just blocks from his Minneapolis home on May 29 after visiting a friend recovering from COVID-19 when officers pulled him out of his car at gunpoint. He said he had been unaware of the 8 p.m. curfew enacted that night.
Ortiz and another friend in the car with him were put in zip-tie restraints and forced to wait on a bus for hours before police took them to jail, where he would spend the weekend.
“It was scary. It was confusing. I felt violated,” said Ortiz, a cellist who identifies as a biracial Mexican American.
Ortiz was held on a riot charge and curfew violation. He said he was told when he was released from jail on Monday the more serious rioting charge was dropped.
Lt. Andy Knotz of the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office, whose deputies were deployed from the suburban county north of Minneapolis into the city to help with the unrest, said it was a “chaotic scene” and that Ortiz was coming from the direction of the protests. Knotz said Ortiz was removed from his car by the Minnesota State Patrol, and an Anoka deputy took him to the police station.
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“In chaos like that you can’t determine who is legit and who isn’t,” Knotz said.
Natalie Cook, 43, who’s white, said she had never before participated in a protest, but wanted to be there to support and protect her 24-year-old son, who’s black.
“Not only did I want to go to be an ally to black people, but I wanted to go to support my son,” Cook said. “Also, I was afraid to send him out by himself.”
Cook said they were marching peacefully with about 100 protesters for hours when police started using tear gas and shooting rubber bullets. As they tried to get away, they were pepper sprayed and her son was hit at close range by a rubber bullet, she said. They were both jailed and released on Monday, charged with riot and violating curfew.
Cook said her son was deeply affected by Floyd’s death and she doesn’t have any regrets about going out to make their voices heard.
“My son was really struggling with it,” she said. “We couldn’t just sit by and watch.”
AP filed public records requests seeking arrest reports and other documents that might show what evidence law enforcement officers have against Nichols, Ortiz the Cooks and others arrested in Minneapolis. Those records have not yet been provided.
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In Washington, the D.C. Metropolitan Police arrested at least 81 people last weekend, including some as young as 13. Most were charged with curfew violations and felony rioting, which could result in up to 180 days in jail and $5,000 in fines.
Among the highest profile arrests made by federal authorities in the last week was Matthew Lee Rupert. Prosecutors allege the 28-year-old Illinois man traveled to Minneapolis to participate in riots and then posted videos on a Facebook page showing him looting stores and handing out explosives.
In one video, Rupert, a convicted felon, says: “We come to riot, boy! This is what we came for!”
Though Rupert is alleged to have targeted police officers, there is no evidence cited in his indictment he is affiliated with any organized group. Among the few indicators of his political beliefs was a series of Facebook posts celebrating Trump’s 2017 inauguration. “Trump is my president but I’m not racist,” he wrote, adding that he loves Mexican food.
Rupert, who made an initial court appearance Friday, remains in federal custody. A federal public defender assigned to represent him did not respond to a voicemail message seeking comment.
Michael German, a former FBI agent and fellow with the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, said people often travel and cross state lines to participate in protests and that not all of them have peaceful intent. He said politicians and law enforcement often cite the presence of out-of-towners to justify greater police force against protesters.
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“It’s an old tactic for law enforcement policing protests to suggest that the problems are being caused by outside agitators,” German said. “It opens up the opportunity for greater police violence in response.”
Among those who traveled to Minneapolis to protest Floyd’s killing was Tara Houska, a 36-year-old attorney and member of the Couchiching First Nation from northern Minnesota. An activist for indigenous rights, she was arrested in Minneapolis last Saturday night and charged with not complying with a peace officer.
Houska, who attended college and law school in the city, said she was with a group a couple blocks from where Floyd died when police told them they were breaking curfew. They replied they were going home, she said, and then the officers hit them with pepper spray and zip-tied their hands.
“Almost everyone that was in our holding tank with us was from Minnesota,” Houska said.
Sierra West, 29, of Kansas City, Missouri, said she drove to Minneapolis with a friend because she is “so angry about what is happening” with police brutality and wanted to peacefully protest.
After marching for hours, West broke away from the crowds and was walking back to her car through an alley alone when police arrested her early Saturday on riot and curfew violation charges. She said she did nothing to provoke the four officers who confronted her.
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“They were hiding, and they literally jumped out of the shadows with guns drawn on me,” she said. “The street was completely empty.”
West, who is white and describes herself as a strong supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement, was freed from jail on Monday afternoon.
University of Minnesota Law School student Santana Boulton, 23, said a police officer pepper-sprayed her in the face on May 28 before she was tear-gassed two days later and then arrested on Sunday, charged with unlawful assembly and violating a curfew.
About 15 minutes before the 8 p.m. curfew, Boulton said she and her boyfriend joined a large crowd of marchers on Interstate 35. People linked arms and kneeled before two lines of police officers formed near the protesters. She said she never heard any orders to disperse.
“It was nothing like a riot. It was a sit-in,” she said.
Boulton, a white woman who moved from Michigan to Minneapolis to attend law school, was arrested and spent 16 hours in custody. She described herself as “philosophically an anarchist,” but “not a revolutionary.”
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“Antifa isn’t even real,” Boulton said. “As an actual person who identifies with the political label of anarchist, the only thing anarchists do is have meetings where they argue for five hours and get nothing done.”
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Kunzelman reported from Silver Spring, Maryland, Bleiberg from Dallas and Durkin Richer from West Harwich, Massachusetts. Associated Press writers Brian Slodysko and Ashraf Khalil in Washington, Amanda Seitz and Don Babwin in Chicago, and Lori Hinnant in Paris contributed to this report.
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Follow Associated Press Investigative Reporter Michael Biesecker at http//:twitter.com/mbieseck
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Have a tip? Contact AP’s global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org
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thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-07--Rubber Bullets Are Still Bullets

Rubber Bullets Are Still Bullets

The 19-year-old had been at a protest in downtown Minneapolis at around 8 p.m. on May 27 .
She was in the middle of a crowd across the street from the Minneapolis Police Department ’ s 3rd Precinct headquarters .
All Green remembers is her boyfriend trying to push her out of the way as a flying object hit her bottom lip .
The care will likely cost her thousands of dollars .
Though she had previously been covered under her mother ’ s health insurance , her mom had recently lost her job .
It wasn ’ t until @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her injury was from a “ less lethal ” weapon police had fired into the crowd : rubber bullets .
Rubber bullets are formally known as “ kinetic impact projectiles , ” and are not always made of rubber .
Some are wood , plastic or even have a metal core .
Rubber bullets have been used for decades to subdue riots , and are now being aimed at protesters , journalists and uninvolved bystanders as protests continue throughout the country over the deaths of George Floyd , Breonna Taylor and other victims @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have known for years that “ less lethal ” can still be deadly , police units in the United States continue using them .
From Northern Ireland To The Civil Rights Movement The use of kinetic impact projectiles can be traced as far back as the 1880s , when police in Singapore used the ends of wooden broom handles to subdue rioters protesting an array of social issues .
By the 1970s , the British Ministry of Defence began using rubber bullets in Northern Ireland during the Troubles .
But in 2003 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ detailing legal advice for the Ministry of Defence to push for a settlement with the family of a young boy who had been blinded by a rubber bullet .
The concern was that going to court would lead to further investigation that would expose how the bullets had not been tested properly and had caused more serious injuries in the past .
“ I didn ’ t know you could actually see a bullet as it ’ s coming towards you , ” Segura said .
“ I was just happy it hit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to me .
There were some little kids not too far away from me either.
” In the first 24 hours after , Segura was in so much pain that she couldn ’ t touch her face .
Nearly a week later , the 21-year-old is having nightmares from the incident .
She often wakes up dry heaving from panic attacks .
Although she ’ s seen a doctor , she is still worried about long-term damage to her teeth .
There aren ’ t any national standards when it comes to training @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so it ’ s often up to the discretion of each police department .
And using a rubber bullet is a speciality skill , because where it ’ s aimed can make a huge difference in the damage it does .
“ Most police agencies are poor planners , and historically very reactionary , so they have very little or no knowledge on less-lethal ammunition , ” Ijames said .
“ Manufacturers right now are already overwhelmed by demand as is , so police departments are now trying to beg and borrow ammunition @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t been this bad since Ferguson.
” “ Most agencies also don ’ t have that kind of equipment just laying around , and training can be cumbersome if you have to take people out of service , ” Kenney said .
“ So when you see all of this equipment during protests , they haven ’ t had a lot of time for the advanced training .
It ’ s very safe to assume that very few of them have been properly trained.
” “ In general , nonlethal force is used @ @ @ @ @ @ @ compliance , ” Kenney said .
“ Rubber bullets are impact devices that tend to inflict pain , when the force used to overcome resistance is being met .
But in a good deal of these cases , the resistance is low .
It ’ s about getting a crowd to comply .
Using a device of that significance seems to be excessive .
”

Amara Green wasn’t entirely sure what hit her.
The 19-year-old had been at a protest in downtown Minneapolis at around 8 p.m. on May 27. She was in the middle of a crowd across the street from the Minneapolis Police Department’s 3rd Precinct headquarters. All Green remembers is her boyfriend trying to push her out of the way as a flying object hit her bottom lip.
“There was this ringing in my ears,” Green said. “I knew my lip was gushing blood, but I didn’t know what was going on.”
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Fellow protesters helped Green and her boyfriend push through the crowd to an area where medical volunteers could appraise her injury. She was told to get to the emergency room, because she was going to need stitches. (Warning: graphic photo below.)
“My lip and chin had both been busted open,” Green said. “While they sewed me up, they told me that my jaw may have shifted, and I would maybe need reconstructive surgery.”
Amara Green took this selfie at an emergency room in Minneapolis about an hour after police shot her with a rubber bullet while she was attending a protest on May 27. Courtesy of Amara Green
The care will likely cost her thousands of dollars. Though she had previously been covered under her mother’s health insurance, her mom had recently lost her job. It wasn’t until a few days later that she learned her injury was from a “less lethal” weapon police had fired into the crowd: rubber bullets.
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Rubber bullets are formally known as “kinetic impact projectiles,” and are not always made of rubber. Some are wood, plastic or even have a metal core. Rubber bullets have been used for decades to subdue riots, and are now being aimed at protesters, journalists and uninvolved bystanders as protests continue throughout the country over the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other victims of police brutality. And while researchers have known for years that “less lethal” can still be deadly, police units in the United States continue using them.
“To even use the word ‘safe’ is a misnomer,” said Ian Wittman, chief of emergency medicine at NYU Langone Hospital. “It is absolutely, unequivocally unsafe to use these ammunitions.”
From Northern Ireland To The Civil Rights Movement
The use of kinetic impact projectiles can be traced as far back as the 1880s, when police in Singapore used the ends of wooden broom handles to subdue rioters protesting an array of social issues. By the 1970s, the British Ministry of Defence began using rubber bullets in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.
And with the civil rights movement underway in the U.S., President Lyndon B. Johnson created a blue ribbon commission in 1966 to explore less lethal ammunition for protests and riots. Manufacturers began producing less lethal weapons to sell to American police departments.
But in 2003, the BBC published declassified document from 1977 detailing legal advice for the Ministry of Defence to push for a settlement with the family of a young boy who had been blinded by a rubber bullet. The concern was that going to court would lead to further investigation that would expose how the bullets had not been tested properly and had caused more serious injuries in the past.
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A National Center for Biotechnology Information study examining injuries from 1990 to 2017 found that over 71% of all injuries from rubber bullets and similar projectiles were severe, leading to at least 53 deaths and another 300 permanent disabilities during that period.
Zeelee Segura was attending a May 30 protest in La Mesa, California, when she was shot in the mouth, a high risk area, with a rubber bullet.
“I didn’t know you could actually see a bullet as it’s coming towards you,” Segura said. “I was just happy it hit me and not the pregnant woman next to me. There were some little kids not too far away from me either.”
Zeelee Segura shows her rubber bullet injury soon after leaving a May 30 protest in La Mesa, California. Courtesy of Zeelee Segura
In the first 24 hours after, Segura was in so much pain that she couldn’t touch her face. Nearly a week later, the 21-year-old is having nightmares from the incident. She often wakes up dry heaving from panic attacks. Although she’s seen a doctor, she is still worried about long-term damage to her teeth.
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“If I close my eyes and try to remember what being hit felt like, it was like a real bullet,” Segura said. “In the moment, I couldn’t tell the difference.”
Mike Griffin, 34, a senior organizer at Community Change Action, says he’s seen countless injuries from batons, tear gas canisters and rubber bullets every day in Minneapolis since demonstrations began.
“I’ve seen welts the size of a baseball, and I’ve seen people rushed to the hospital for internal bleeding or because a bullet hit an eye,” Griffin said. “I don’t even get why any of these are called ‘less lethal.’”
Wittman said most physicians feel the same way.
“It’s a heavy object being shot out of a gun at a high rate of speed at a human body,” Wittman said. “The most common injuries are fractures or ruptured blood vessels and nerves. If it hits someone’s eyes, they have a high likelihood of losing vision, and there are sometimes skull and intracranial fractures.”
Dangerous And Untrained
There aren’t any national standards when it comes to training police officers to use less-lethal weapons, so it’s often up to the discretion of each police department. And using a rubber bullet is a speciality skill, because where it’s aimed can make a huge difference in the damage it does.
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Steve Ijames, a Missouri police officer who has traveled the world training police departments on how to use less-lethal weapons, believes that less-lethal ammunition can save lives when used correctly, but acknowledges that the level of training each police department receives on how to use them can vary.
“The adequacy of training varies from state to state,” Ijames said. “My training can be as long as a full eight-hour day, but it could also be a 15-minute briefing in the range where someone said, ‘Here’s a beanbag [bullet], just shoot the arms and legs.’ I’ve seen that before.”
With protests occurring all across the country each day, police departments are running out of this ammunition, and turning to other departments for help.
“Most police agencies are poor planners, and historically very reactionary, so they have very little or no knowledge on less-lethal ammunition,” Ijames said. “Manufacturers right now are already overwhelmed by demand as is, so police departments are now trying to beg and borrow ammunition from other departments. It hasn’t been this bad since Ferguson.”
This scramble is why Dennis Kenney, a criminal justice professor at John Jay College in New York City and a former police officer, thinks most rubber bullets are shot by people who don’t know how to use them.
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“Most agencies also don’t have that kind of equipment just laying around, and training can be cumbersome if you have to take people out of service,” Kenney said. “So when you see all of this equipment during protests, they haven’t had a lot of time for the advanced training. It’s very safe to assume that very few of them have been properly trained.”
Kenney also noted that shooting at a crowd means the target is constantly moving, which also decreases accuracy and increases the likelihood of severe injury.
“In general, nonlethal force is used to overcome resistance, not to maintain compliance,” Kenney said. “Rubber bullets are impact devices that tend to inflict pain, when the force used to overcome resistance is being met. But in a good deal of these cases, the resistance is low. It’s about getting a crowd to comply. Using a device of that significance seems to be excessive.”
The number of reported injuries continues to climb. On May 31, 20-year-old Justin Howell was shot in the skull with a rubber bullet, and is expected to have permanent brain damage. A GoFundMe campaign has already raised nearly $150,000 as of Saturday to help cover his medical bills. Meanwhile, a federal judge is now temporarily prohibiting Denver police from using less-lethal weapons, including projectiles like rubber bullets, at protests.
Green has also started a GoFundMe to help cover her upcoming surgeries. In a few days, she was able to raise over $14,000.
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“I was so overwhelmed, I broke down in tears,” Green said. “I mean, I don’t even know these people.”
And while Green may be looking at months of rehabilitation, she thinks it was worth it.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-07--Colin Powell Says He 'Cannot In Any Way' Support Trump, Will Vote For Joe Biden

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday that he will vote for Joe Biden in the upcoming presidential election , stating he “ can not in any way ” support President Donald Trump ’ s reelection bid .
“ We have a Constitution and we have to follow that Constitution and the president has drifted away from it , ” Powell , a Republican , said during an appearance on CNN ’ s “ State Of The Union.
” “ I couldn ’ t vote for him in [ 2016 ] and I certainly can not , in any @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” he added .
“ I ’ m very close to Joe Biden on a social matter and on a political matter , ” Powell said .
“ I ’ ve worked with him for 35 , 40 years .
And he is now the candidate .
And I will be voting for him.
” Powell worked in four presidential administrations , serving most recently as secretary of state under President George W. Bush .
Previously , he served as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Presidents Bill Clinton @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as national security adviser to President Ronald Reagan .
“ He lies about things , and he gets away with it because people will not hold him accountable , ” Powell said .
“ While we ’ re watching him , we need to watch our Congress.
” Powell and others in the George W. Bush administration lied extensively while making the case for war in Iraq in the early 2000s , fabricating “ evidence ” of the existence of weapons of mass destruction within the country .
“ We have a Constitution @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and the President has drifted away from it , ” Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell says he agrees with fellow former generals who have condemned President Trump ’ s actions against protesters .
# CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/Uni950ct8i — State of the Union ( @ CNNSotu ) June 7 , 2020 Following Powell ’ s interview Sunday , Trump bashed the former secretary of state as “ a real stiff who was very responsible for getting us into the disastrous Middle East Wars.
” Several other high-profile Republicans have reportedly signaled they will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ including George W. Bush , Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah and Cindy McCain , widow of the late Arizona Sen. John McCain .
Some of the U.S. military ’ s top former leaders have spoken out against Trump in recent days .
Two other former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff ― Ret .
Adm. Michael Mullen and Ret .
Gen. Martin Dempsey ― denounced the president ’ s threat to use military force against anti-racism protesters .
Ret .
Gen. James Mattis , who resigned as Trump ’ s secretary of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for dividing the nation in a statement published Wednesday in The Atlantic .
“ Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try .
Instead , he tries to divide us , ” Mattis wrote .
“ We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort .
We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership .
”

LOADING ERROR LOADING
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday that he will vote for Joe Biden in the upcoming presidential election, stating he “cannot in any way” support President Donald Trump’s reelection bid.
“We have a Constitution and we have to follow that Constitution and the president has drifted away from it,” Powell, a Republican, said during an appearance on CNN’s “State Of The Union.”
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“I couldn’t vote for him in [2016] and I certainly cannot, in any way, support President Trump this year,” he added.
Asked if he will vote for Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Powell said yes.
“I’m very close to Joe Biden on a social matter and on a political matter,” Powell said. “I’ve worked with him for 35, 40 years. And he is now the candidate. And I will be voting for him.”
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell says he will be voting for former Vice President Joe Biden. “I certainly cannot, in any way, support President Trump this year.” #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/jmiUfDPhl1 — State of the Union (@CNNSotu) June 7, 2020
Powell worked in four presidential administrations, serving most recently as secretary of state under President George W. Bush. Previously, he served as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush, and as national security adviser to President Ronald Reagan.
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On Sunday, he slammed Congress for failing to hold Trump accountable for his constant lying.
“He lies about things, and he gets away with it because people will not hold him accountable,” Powell said. “While we’re watching him, we need to watch our Congress.”
Powell and others in the George W. Bush administration lied extensively while making the case for war in Iraq in the early 2000s, fabricating “evidence” of the existence of weapons of mass destruction within the country.
“We have a Constitution and we have to follow that Constitution and the President has drifted away from it,” Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell says he agrees with fellow former generals who have condemned President Trump’s actions against protesters. #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/Uni950ct8i — State of the Union (@CNNSotu) June 7, 2020
Following Powell’s interview Sunday, Trump bashed the former secretary of state as “a real stiff who was very responsible for getting us into the disastrous Middle East Wars.”
Several other high-profile Republicans have reportedly signaled they will not vote for Trump in November, including George W. Bush, Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah and Cindy McCain, widow of the late Arizona Sen. John McCain.
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Some of the U.S. military’s top former leaders have spoken out against Trump in recent days. Two other former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff ― Ret. Adm. Michael Mullen and Ret. Gen. Martin Dempsey ― denounced the president’s threat to use military force against anti-racism protesters.
Ret. Gen. James Mattis, who resigned as Trump’s secretary of defense last year, condemned the president for dividing the nation in a statement published Wednesday in The Atlantic.