theguardian--2020-06-12--‘We’re going to have a catastrophe’: US faces November election fiasco

The alarm bells have been going off for months , but the election fiasco in Georgia on Tuesday made it clear : America is ill-prepared to hold a fair presidential vote in November , and is dangerously close to having an election disaster .
The Georgia contest offered the most alarming preview to date of what could happen in November without major overhauls , training and planning .
Voters stood in line to vote for upwards of four hours , saying they never received mail-in ballots requested weeks ago .
Local officials , forced to consolidate polling locations because of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ influx of voters and struggled to operate new voting equipment .
Experts worry that poll worker shortages , long lines and other delays in processing requests for absentee ballots will only get worse in November , when there will be more voters .
Since March , voting advocates have been calling on states to prepare for an election like no other , and quickly implement plans that accommodate a surge in voters casting their ballots by mail for the first time as well as robust turnout at the polls .
One estimate places @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the country at $ 4bn .
“ We ’ re just going to have a catastrophe in November , ” said Michael McDonald , a professor at the University of Florida who studies elections .
“ We ’ ve already passed the point of catastrophic failure .
It doesn ’ t get any better if we have two to three times the number of people who are trying to vote in these polling locations.
” Not every primary in the Covid-19 era has been a disaster , and there has been strong turnout @ @ @ @ @ @ @ voting by mail at unprecedented levels .
But Georgia was far from the only place where there have been serious election problems .
Voters in Nevada waited hours in line to vote in the state ’ s primary on Tuesday , even after the state moved to conduct its election largely by mail .
Earlier this month , election officials in Pennsylvania and Washington DC struggled to meet the crush of requests for absentee ballots and voters in the nation ’ s capital waited hours to vote .
Voters in Baltimore , Maryland @ @ @ @ @ @ @ faced long lines .
In April , voters in Milwaukee , Wisconsin , waited hours to vote in the state ’ s primary as the city was forced to condense its usual 180 polling places into just five .
Most glaring , voting groups say , has been the disproportionate impact the election failures have had on communities of color .
LaTosha Brown , a co-founder of Black Voters Matter , told Politico it took her three hours to vote in her majority African American precinct in Atlanta on Tuesday , but she @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in a predominantly white area later in the day .
State officials have launched an investigation into what went wrong in Fulton county , which includes Atlanta .
“ Black voters in particular appear especially hard-hit , ” said Kristen Clarke , president and executive director of the Lawyers ’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law , which has closely monitored the primaries .
“ In some parts of the country , it feels like officials are making reckless decisions that are a recipe for disaster.
” Even before Covid-19 , there were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the pandemic has only exacerbated them .
Donald Trump is already making repeated baseless accusations of voter fraud in what appears to be an effort to lay the foundation for contesting the legitimacy of the 2020 election .
Activists were already deeply concerned about the mass closure of polling places and the Covid-19 pandemic has given election officials justification for doing so .
More than 1,600 polling places in jurisdictions previously covered by the Voting Rights Act were closed between 2012 and 2018 , according to a report by the Leadership Conference on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 214 polling places in Georgia .
Democrats and voting rights groups are also pushing states across the country to extend the deadline by which absentee ballots need to arrive to be counted .
Many states require the ballots to arrive by election night , a cutoff that could leave eligible voters disenfranchised .
In Wisconsin , Democrats secured a court order requiring the state to count ballots as long as they were postmarked before election day and arrived within six days of the election .
More than 79,000 ballots that normally would have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ extension ( Trump won the state in 2016 by just under 23,000 votes ) .
There is also growing concern about plummeting voter registration in recent months and an unprecedented Republican effort to monitor the polls and challenge the eligibility of voters who appear , something that could result in voter intimidation .
The Republican National Committee , freed from a decades-old court order prohibiting them from such activity , is seeking to recruit up to 50,000 volunteers .
The window for states to understand the problems from their primaries and implement solutions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deadlines for purchasing necessary equipment and other measures are approaching and in some cases have already passed .
Republicans in Congress have also scaled back funding to help states run elections , allocating just $ 400m so far , a small fraction of the billions experts say is needed .
The Republican National Committee also plans to spend at least $ 20m to oppose efforts to expand vote by mail .
“ If no one , legislators/advocates/voters/election officials , listens to what is being said it will be a debacle in November , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ election administration at the Democracy Fund , said in an email .
“ The primaries have been the canary in the coalmine.
” Meanwhile , there have been some encouraging signs .
After Wisconsin ’ s chaotic April primary , the state ’ s bipartisan election commission released a detailed analysis of what went wrong and unanimously voted to send an absentee ballot application to all voters who hadn ’ t requested one for November .
The commission also moved to give local clerks – who were overwhelmed by ballot requests during the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in May it would send a ballot to all registered voters .
Michigan – which saw long lines at some election offices during its March primary – is also sending an absentee ballot application to all voters .
But other signs suggest states may move in the opposite direction .
In Georgia , Brad Raffensperger , the state ’ s top election official , refused to acknowledge systemic problems in the way the election was run this week , instead blaming local election officials .
In Iowa , Republicans are considering legislation that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Paul Pate , from sending absentee ballot applications to all voters , something Pate , a Republican , did ahead of the state ’ s June primary when there was record turnout .
Ohio Republicans are also considering legislation that would bar the state ’ s top election official from paying for postage on absentee ballot requests and the ballots themselves .
“ On the one hand , it ’ s very concerning , ” said Amber McReynolds , CEO of the National Vote at Home Institute , which is advising election officials @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ On the other , what I would say is that this is a wake-up call.
” Stacey Abrams , the 2018 Democratic nominee in Georgia who put voting rights at the core of her campaign , said some states were better positioned for November “ because those states have an intention of actually letting every person vote ” .
“ It is not that we don ’ t know the answer .
It is that the Republican party in particular has been resistant to solving the problem and that will put our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .

The alarm bells have been going off for months, but the election fiasco in Georgia on Tuesday made it clear: America is ill-prepared to hold a fair presidential vote in November, and is dangerously close to having an election disaster.
The Georgia contest offered the most alarming preview to date of what could happen in November without major overhauls, training and planning. Voters stood in line to vote for upwards of four hours, saying they never received mail-in ballots requested weeks ago. Local officials, forced to consolidate polling locations because of Covid-19, were unable to manage the influx of voters and struggled to operate new voting equipment.
Experts worry that poll worker shortages, long lines and other delays in processing requests for absentee ballots will only get worse in November, when there will be more voters. Since March, voting advocates have been calling on states to prepare for an election like no other, and quickly implement plans that accommodate a surge in voters casting their ballots by mail for the first time as well as robust turnout at the polls.
One estimate places the cost of upgrading vote-by-mail systems across the country at $4bn.
“We’re just going to have a catastrophe in November,” said Michael McDonald, a professor at the University of Florida who studies elections. “We’ve already passed the point of catastrophic failure. It doesn’t get any better if we have two to three times the number of people who are trying to vote in these polling locations.”
Not every primary in the Covid-19 era has been a disaster, and there has been strong turnout in many states as Americans have embraced voting by mail at unprecedented levels. But Georgia was far from the only place where there have been serious election problems.
Voters in Nevada waited hours in line to vote in the state’s primary on Tuesday, even after the state moved to conduct its election largely by mail. Earlier this month, election officials in Pennsylvania and Washington DC struggled to meet the crush of requests for absentee ballots and voters in the nation’s capital waited hours to vote. Voters in Baltimore, Maryland, didn’t get ballots and faced long lines. In April, voters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, waited hours to vote in the state’s primary as the city was forced to condense its usual 180 polling places into just five.
Most glaring, voting groups say, has been the disproportionate impact the election failures have had on communities of color. LaTosha Brown, a co-founder of Black Voters Matter, told Politico it took her three hours to vote in her majority African American precinct in Atlanta on Tuesday, but she saw no line at a polling place in a predominantly white area later in the day. State officials have launched an investigation into what went wrong in Fulton county, which includes Atlanta.
“Black voters in particular appear especially hard-hit,” said Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which has closely monitored the primaries. “In some parts of the country, it feels like officials are making reckless decisions that are a recipe for disaster.”
Social distancing is ignored as voters wait in an hours long line to vote at Fulton county’s Park Tavern precinct in the coronavirus-delayed Georgia presidential primary election in Atlanta, Georgia. Photograph: Erik S Lesser/EPA
Even before Covid-19, there were concerns about mass disenfranchisement in November; the pandemic has only exacerbated them. Donald Trump is already making repeated baseless accusations of voter fraud in what appears to be an effort to lay the foundation for contesting the legitimacy of the 2020 election.
Activists were already deeply concerned about the mass closure of polling places and the Covid-19 pandemic has given election officials justification for doing so. More than 1,600 polling places in jurisdictions previously covered by the Voting Rights Act were closed between 2012 and 2018, according to a report by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. That includes 214 polling places in Georgia.
Democrats and voting rights groups are also pushing states across the country to extend the deadline by which absentee ballots need to arrive to be counted. Many states require the ballots to arrive by election night, a cutoff that could leave eligible voters disenfranchised. In Wisconsin, Democrats secured a court order requiring the state to count ballots as long as they were postmarked before election day and arrived within six days of the election.
More than 79,000 ballots that normally would have been thrown out were counted during the extension (Trump won the state in 2016 by just under 23,000 votes).
There is also growing concern about plummeting voter registration in recent months and an unprecedented Republican effort to monitor the polls and challenge the eligibility of voters who appear, something that could result in voter intimidation. The Republican National Committee, freed from a decades-old court order prohibiting them from such activity, is seeking to recruit up to 50,000 volunteers.
The window for states to understand the problems from their primaries and implement solutions for November is rapidly closing. Recommended deadlines for purchasing necessary equipment and other measures are approaching and in some cases have already passed. Republicans in Congress have also scaled back funding to help states run elections, allocating just $400m so far, a small fraction of the billions experts say is needed. The Republican National Committee also plans to spend at least $20m to oppose efforts to expand vote by mail.
“If no one, legislators/advocates/voters/election officials, listens to what is being said it will be a debacle in November,” Tammy Patrick, who works on election administration at the Democracy Fund, said in an email. “The primaries have been the canary in the coalmine.”
New state-issued voting machines proved problematic in a number of locations in Georgia’s primary. Photograph: Erik S Lesser/EPA
Meanwhile, there have been some encouraging signs. After Wisconsin’s chaotic April primary, the state’s bipartisan election commission released a detailed analysis of what went wrong and unanimously voted to send an absentee ballot application to all voters who hadn’t requested one for November. The commission also moved to give local clerks – who were overwhelmed by ballot requests during the primary – more help. California announced in May it would send a ballot to all registered voters. Michigan – which saw long lines at some election offices during its March primary – is also sending an absentee ballot application to all voters.
But other signs suggest states may move in the opposite direction. In Georgia, Brad Raffensperger, the state’s top election official, refused to acknowledge systemic problems in the way the election was run this week, instead blaming local election officials. In Iowa, Republicans are considering legislation that would prohibit the secretary of state, Paul Pate, from sending absentee ballot applications to all voters, something Pate, a Republican, did ahead of the state’s June primary when there was record turnout. Ohio Republicans are also considering legislation that would bar the state’s top election official from paying for postage on absentee ballot requests and the ballots themselves.
“On the one hand, it’s very concerning,” said Amber McReynolds, CEO of the National Vote at Home Institute, which is advising election officials on how to prepare for November. “On the other, what I would say is that this is a wake-up call.”
Stacey Abrams, the 2018 Democratic nominee in Georgia who put voting rights at the core of her campaign, said some states were better positioned for November “because those states have an intention of actually letting every person vote”.
“It is not that we don’t know the answer. It is that the Republican party in particular has been resistant to solving the problem and that will put our elections in jeopardy,” she said.


theguardian--2020-06-13--Clemson to strip name of John C Calhoun, champion of slavery, from honors college

Clemson University trustees voted on Friday to rename its honors college , stripping the name of former vice-president John C Calhoun , a leading defender of slavery in the years before the American civil war .
The university board also publicly requested permission from the state legislature to change the name of Tillman Hall back to its original name , the Main building .
The iconic campus building currently honors “ Pitchfork ” Ben Tillman , a governor and US senator who used virulent racism to dominate South Carolina politics after Reconstruction .
Other than removing the Confederate flag from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on nine black Charleston church members in 2015 , South Carolina lawmakers have refused to take up any major changes of Confederate monuments .
Change requires a two-thirds vote of both the House and Senate .
Trustees cited the recent killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis , which has spurred protests over racial injustice and police brutality across the country , as an impetus for the renaming .
The honors program will now be called the Clemson University Honors College .
Calhoun , who was born in South Carolina and is thought by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Captain Ahab , the monomaniacal whaling captain in Herman Melville ’ s classic novel Moby-Dick , declared slavery a “ positive good ” on the US Senate floor in 1837 .
Tillman led a white mob in 1876 that killed several black men in Hamburg , an Aiken county town where freed slaves had settled .
Following recent protests over racial injustice and police brutality , activists have renewed calls to remove monuments and rename buildings honoring the Confederacy , slavery and white supremacy across the state .
Clemson ’ s honors college @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Calhoun in 1981 .
The university maintains Calhoun ’ s plantation home , Fort Hill , on campus .
Earlier attempts to rename the college have stalled .
But in the week before Clemson trustees convened , an online petition by students calling for administrators to support a name change drew more than 20,000 signatures .
Clemson football alumni and onetime Houston Texans teammates DeAndre Hopkins and Deshaun Watson voiced support for the petition on social media .
Student , faculty and alumni organizers said on Friday they were elated by the board @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the symbolic act needed to lead to material changes for black students and other students of color .
“ This needs to be the beginning of a much better , much more inclusive , much more diverse Clemson , ” said Roann Abdeladl , a junior health sciences major .
After the Confederate flag was removed from statehouse grounds in 2015 , South Carolina House speaker Jay Lucas said his chamber would take up no more requests to alter or remove monuments under the Heritage Act , which requires a two-thirds vote to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or move a monument .
But the Heritage Act , passed in 2000 , has yet to be challenged in court .
The law doesn ’ t include an explicit penalty if a local government chooses to act without the General Assembly ’ s approval .
In Clemson ’ s case , the renaming of the Honors College is not subject to the law as no building is named for it , a university spokesman told the Greenville News .
A spokesperson for state attorney general Alan Wilson ’ s office said they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ asking Lucas if he maintains his 2015 position went unanswered .
Lucas has given no public indication his position has changed .
House minority leader Todd Rutherford said the state ’ s institutions of higher learning now have better role models to choose from than figures like Calhoun and Tillman .
Rutherford has previously sought to remove a statue of Tillman from statehouse grounds and to add context to other statues there .
“ Until it can be removed , we have to contextualize everything , ” Rutherford said .
“ We need @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and those monsters played a pivotal role in South Carolina ’ s history.
” Earlier this week , Seth Rose , a Columbia Democrat , stated he would introduce a resolution to remove the Capitol ’ s Tillman statue .

Associated Press in Columbia, South Carolina

Clemson University trustees voted on Friday to rename its honors college, stripping the name of former vice-president John C Calhoun, a leading defender of slavery in the years before the American civil war.
The university board also publicly requested permission from the state legislature to change the name of Tillman Hall back to its original name, the Main building. The iconic campus building currently honors “Pitchfork” Ben Tillman, a governor and US senator who used virulent racism to dominate South Carolina politics after Reconstruction.
Other than removing the Confederate flag from state House grounds after a deadly attack on nine black Charleston church members in 2015, South Carolina lawmakers have refused to take up any major changes of Confederate monuments. Change requires a two-thirds vote of both the House and Senate.
Trustees cited the recent killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, which has spurred protests over racial injustice and police brutality across the country, as an impetus for the renaming. The honors program will now be called the Clemson University Honors College.
Calhoun, who was born in South Carolina and is thought by some to have been a model for Captain Ahab, the monomaniacal whaling captain in Herman Melville’s classic novel Moby-Dick, declared slavery a “positive good” on the US Senate floor in 1837.
Tillman led a white mob in 1876 that killed several black men in Hamburg, an Aiken county town where freed slaves had settled.
Following recent protests over racial injustice and police brutality, activists have renewed calls to remove monuments and rename buildings honoring the Confederacy, slavery and white supremacy across the state.
Clemson’s honors college was established in 1962 and named after Calhoun in 1981. The university maintains Calhoun’s plantation home, Fort Hill, on campus.
Earlier attempts to rename the college have stalled. But in the week before Clemson trustees convened, an online petition by students calling for administrators to support a name change drew more than 20,000 signatures. Clemson football alumni and onetime Houston Texans teammates DeAndre Hopkins and Deshaun Watson voiced support for the petition on social media.
Student, faculty and alumni organizers said on Friday they were elated by the board’s decision, but emphasized that the symbolic act needed to lead to material changes for black students and other students of color.
“This needs to be the beginning of a much better, much more inclusive, much more diverse Clemson,” said Roann Abdeladl, a junior health sciences major.
After the Confederate flag was removed from statehouse grounds in 2015, the South Carolina house speaker, Jay Lucas, said his chamber would take up no more requests to alter or remove monuments under the Heritage Act, which requires a two-thirds vote to change the name of a historical building or move a monument.
Tillman Hall. Photograph: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
But the Heritage Act, passed in 2000, has yet to be challenged in court. The law doesn’t include an explicit penalty if a local government chooses to act without the general assembly’s approval.
In Clemson’s case, the renaming of the Honors College is not subject to the law as no building is named for it, a university spokesman told the Greenville News. A spokesperson for state attorney general Alan Wilson’s office said they were reviewing the issue.
A message asking Lucas if he maintains his 2015 position went unanswered. Lucas has given no public indication his position has changed.
The house minority leader, Todd Rutherford, said the state’s institutions of higher learning now have better role models to choose from than figures like Calhoun and Tillman. Rutherford has previously sought to remove a statue of Tillman from statehouse grounds and to add context to other statues there.
“Until it can be removed, we have to contextualize everything,” Rutherford said. “We need to know that monsters do exist, and those monsters played a pivotal role in South Carolina’s history.”
Earlier this week, Seth Rose, a Columbia Democrat, stated he would introduce a resolution to remove the capitol’s Tillman statue.


theguardian--2020-06-13--William Sessions, FBI director fired by Bill Clinton, dies aged 90

William Sessions , a former federal judge who was appointed by Ronald Reagan to head the FBI and fired by Bill Clinton , died on Friday at his San Antonio home .
He was 90 .
Sessions died of natural causes not related to the novel coronavirus , said his daughter , Sara Sessions Naughton .
Sessions was a career justice department attorney and federal judge until Reagan appointed him FBI director in 1987 .
He modernized the bureau ’ s technology , overhauled the FBI ’ s fingerprint files , reassigned 325 counterintelligence agents after the end of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s efforts on violent crime .
His most enduring legacy may have been his commitment to affirmative action at a bureau historically dominated by white men .
Sessions refused to fight a federal judge ’ s ruling that favored Hispanic agents , settled a civil rights lawsuit brought by black agent Donald Rochon , who was harassed by white agents , and settled a threatened suit by black agents .
All of which placed him at odds with some FBI traditionalists .
Clinton fired him in 1993 , saying Sessions could “ no @ @ @ @ @ @ @ He was accused of being a weak administrator who gave his wife , Alice , too much influence on bureau affairs .
Alice Sessions spoke publicly in support of her husband , leading many of his backers to plead with her to stop naming longtime FBI officials she believed were plotting against her him .
Sessions resisted Clinton ’ s pressure for him to resign until the president fired him .
Sessions said he refused to step down because he wanted to ensure the bureau was not politicized .
An example of politicization @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dissatisfaction of 10 employees can be translated into “ so-called ethical problems ” .
Alice Sessions said some agents fed misinformation to the justice department ’ s Office of Professional Responsibility , which issued a report that undercut her husband ’ s position .
The report accused him of using government vehicles for personal trips , avoiding taxes on chauffeured travel , having a taxpayer-funded fence improperly built at his home and using his position to receive a “ sweetheart ” deal on his home mortgage .
He denied any misdeeds .
FBI @ @ @ @ @ @ @ became increasingly isolated from bureau employees .
Alice Sessions died last year .
Survivors other than Naughton include sons Pete Sessions , a former Republican congressman from North Texas , William L Sessions and Mark Sessions .

William Sessions, a former federal judge who was appointed by Ronald Reagan to head the FBI and fired by Bill Clinton, died on Friday at his San Antonio home. He was 90.
Sessions died of natural causes not related to the coronavirus, said his daughter, Sara Sessions Naughton.
Sessions was a career justice department attorney and federal judge until Reagan appointed him FBI director in 1987.
He modernized the bureau’s technology, overhauled the FBI’s fingerprint files, reassigned 325 counterintelligence agents after the end of the cold war and focused the bureau’s efforts on violent crime.
His most enduring legacy may have been his commitment to affirmative action at a bureau historically dominated by white men. Sessions refused to fight a federal judge’s ruling that favored Hispanic agents, settled a civil rights lawsuit brought by black agent Donald Rochon, who was harassed by white agents, and settled a threatened suit by black agents.
All of which placed him at odds with some FBI traditionalists. Clinton fired him in 1993, saying Sessions could “no longer effectively lead the bureau”. He was accused of being a weak administrator who gave his wife, Alice, too much influence on bureau affairs.
Alice Sessions spoke publicly in support of her husband, leading many of his backers to plead with her to stop naming longtime FBI officials she believed were plotting against her him.
Sessions resisted Clinton’s pressure for him to resign until the president fired him. Sessions said he refused to step down because he wanted to ensure the bureau was not politicized. An example of politicization, he said, is that the dissatisfaction of 10 employees can be translated into “so-called ethical problems”.
Alice Sessions said some agents fed misinformation to the justice department’s Office of Professional Responsibility, which issued a report that undercut her husband’s position.
The report accused him of using government vehicles for personal trips, avoiding taxes on chauffeured travel, having a taxpayer-funded fence improperly built at his home and using his position to receive a “sweetheart” deal on his home mortgage.
He denied any misdeeds. FBI morale plummeted, however, and he became increasingly isolated from bureau employees.
Alice Sessions died last year. Survivors other than Naughton include sons Pete Sessions, a former Republican congressman from North Texas, William L Sessions and Mark Sessions.


theguardian--2020-06-13--Black candidates and political groups see a surge of support amid US protests

African American candidates and political groups focused on racial justice have experienced a surge of donations and support amid ongoing national protests about police reform and anti-racism .
The country has been wracked by protests since the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis .
Floyd ’ s death has also triggered an intense introspection on race relations and police brutality , especially against African Americans , and it seems black political candidates are getting more attention as a result .
In Kentucky , state representative Charles Booker , said he ’ s raised $ 1m over the past month @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s also been endorsed by top progressive Democrats : Vermont senator Bernie Sanders and New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez .
In New York , Democrat Jamaal Bowman , who is challenging New York congressman Eliot Engel in a tough primary , has surpassed fundraising benchmarks since the beginning of June , as he ’ s tried to capitalize on missteps by the incumbent congressman – including a hot mic incident at a Black Lives Matter event .
Sanders has endorsed Bowman as well .
The Real Justice Pac , a group that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” , said it had seen an influx of support amid the ongoing national discussion of reforming the police .
“ Real Justice Pac is seeing a significant increase in the frequency and amount of donations – large and small , ” said Chris Lazare , the group ’ s organizing director , in a statement .
“ We think people across the country are realizing that electing reform minded prosecutors is an integral part of achieving the change we want and holding police accountable.
” Real Justice Pac officials declined to give @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Multiple factors are at play in each individual race and strategists are hesitant to attribute money flows to one single subject or force but the timing suggests that the general unrest throughout the country is an active factor .
“ We know anecdotally that people across the country and in the district are moved by how Jamal has talked about this moment , ” explained a Democratic operative involved in Bowman ’ s campaign .
The operative added : “ This period coincides with all of these other activities.
” A renewed and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the way up to the presidential level where both Donald Trump ’ s reelection campaign and Joe Biden ’ s presidential campaign have attacked each other on their positions on policing and racial justice .
Biden also continues to face strong pressure to pick an African American woman as his running mate and vice presidential nominee .
Kentucky ’ s Booker , the underdog Senate candidate competing with Amy McGrath for the Democratic nomination to face Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell , said in an interview on Friday his campaign raised $ 1m @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ With all the racial tension that has been growing in [ not only ] my state but across the country I think what you ’ re seeing is people are looking to ‘ who ’ s going to lead in this moment , ” Booker said.
“ We have seen a big surge in our fundraising .
We ’ ve seen an outpouring of support from across Kentucky and across the country .
And we have a very real shot to win this race.
” Booker added : “ It ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of resolve , this fire , this aggressive urge and plea from regular folks to [ say ] we got ta do things different and make sure that we don ’ t keep playing the status quo .
”

African American candidates and political groups focused on racial justice have experienced a surge of donations and support amid ongoing national protests about police reform and anti-racism.
The country has been wracked by protests since the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Floyd’s death has also triggered an intense introspection on race relations and police brutality, especially against African Americans, and it seems black political candidates are getting more attention as a result.
In Kentucky, state representative Charles Booker, said he’s raised $1m over the past month. Roughly over that same period he’s also been endorsed by top progressive Democrats: Vermont senator Bernie Sanders and New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
In New York, Democrat Jamaal Bowman, who is challenging New York congressman Eliot Engel in a tough primary, has surpassed fundraising benchmarks since the beginning of June, as he’s tried to capitalize on missteps by the incumbent congressman – including a hot mic incident at a Black Lives Matter event. Sanders has endorsed Bowman as well.
The Real Justice Pac, a group that works to boost progressive “reform-minded prosecutors”, said it had seen an influx of support amid the ongoing national discussion of reforming the police.
“Real Justice Pac is seeing a significant increase in the frequency and amount of donations – large and small,” said Chris Lazare, the group’s organizing director, in a statement. “We think people across the country are realizing that electing reform minded prosecutors is an integral part of achieving the change we want and holding police accountable.”
Real Justice Pac officials declined to give exact figures on their fundraising numbers.
Multiple factors are at play in each individual race and strategists are hesitant to attribute money flows to one single subject or force but the timing suggests that the general unrest throughout the country is an active factor.
“We know anecdotally that people across the country and in the district are moved by how Jamal has talked about this moment,” explained a Democratic operative involved in Bowman’s campaign. The operative added: “This period coincides with all of these other activities.”
A renewed and intense focus on race relations stretches all the way up to the presidential level where both Donald Trump’s reelection campaign and Joe Biden’s presidential campaign have attacked each other on their positions on policing and racial justice.
Biden also continues to face strong pressure to pick an African American woman as his running mate and vice presidential nominee.
Kentucky’s Booker, the underdog Senate candidate competing with Amy McGrath for the Democratic nomination to face Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, said in an interview on Friday his campaign raised $1m in the first week of June.
“With all the racial tension that has been growing in [not only] my state but across the country I think what you’re seeing is people are looking to ‘who’s going to lead in this moment,” Booker said.“We have seen a big surge in our fundraising. We’ve seen an outpouring of support from across Kentucky and across the country. And we have a very real shot to win this race.”
Booker added: “It’s come from this energy, this sense of resolve, this fire, this aggressive urge and plea from regular folks to [say] we gotta do things different and make sure that we don’t keep playing the status quo.”


theguardian--2020-06-13--'He just doesn't get it': has Trump been left behind by America's awakening on racism?

Longtime observers of Donald Trump have often compared him to an old man sitting at the end of a bar , holding forth with crazed opinions , overwhelming self-assurance and taboo-busting shock value guaranteed to draw a crowd .
Now , perhaps for the first time , it seems the US president may have lost the room .
Trump ’ s sixth sense for striking populist notes appears to have deserted him in the wake of the death of George Floyd , an African American man killed when a white Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for nearly nine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nationwide .
Over the last three weeks the president has found himself on the wrong side of public opinion – and history – on everything from police reform to symbols of the Confederacy which fought a civil war to preserve slavery 150 years ago .
Even a sport synonymous with his base , Nascar ( National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing ) , is on a different wavelength having banned the Confederate flag from its events .
Some presidents capture a moment and give voice to a movement .
At this time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seems to have hit the wrong notes , out of tune with much ( if not all ) of the rest of the nation .
“ Whether it is suggesting shooting protesters or siccing dogs on them , pre-emptively defending the Confederate names of military installations or arguing that his supporters ‘ love the Black people ’ , Mr Trump increasingly sounds like a cultural relic , detached from not just the left-leaning protesters in the streets but also the country ’ s political middle and even some Republican allies and his own @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Times wrote on Thursday .
The uprising over Floyd ’ s killing , and over four centuries of slavery , segregation and injustice , demanded a space and time to heal , not a time to fight .
But Trump ’ s entire political identity is constructed around conflict .
At the height of the demonstrations , he staged a bizarre photo op outside a church after law enforcement used tear gas to clear peaceful protesters outside the White House .
In an unprecedented announcement this week , General Mark Milley , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , apologised for taking part .
Meanwhile Trump ’ s economic adviser Larry Kudlow said : “ I don ’ t believe there is systemic racism in the US.
” Asked if the president believes there is a problem with institutional racism , press secretary Kayleigh McEnany replied : “ I think this is the fourth time I ’ ve been asked it , and I ’ ve said each and every time : there are injustices that we have seen ... and I would say this president has done a whole lot @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it comes to rectifying injustices.
” Yet the public mood is now one of acknowledgement that racism is systemic and not merely a case of some “ bad apples ” .
The crowds protesting across 750 US cities over more than two weeks have been strikingly multiracial .
After the death of Floyd , a Monmouth University poll found that 57 % of Americans ( and 49 % of whites ) believe police are more likely to use excessive force against African Americans , compared with just 33 % of Americans after Eric @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in 2014 .
Frank Luntz , a Republican consultant and focus group organiser , tweeted : “ In my 35 years of polling , I ’ ve never seen opinion shift this fast or deeply .
We are a different country today than just 30 days ago .
The consequences politically , economically , and socially are too great to fit into a tweet.
” Even Trump ’ s enabler and enforcer , Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell , seemed to get the memo .
“ We are still wrestling with America ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reporters , adding that Senate Republicans are working on a police reform plan to tackle the “ obvious racial discrimination that we ’ ve seen on full display on our television screens over the last two weeks ” .
But if Republicans , fearful of losing their Senate majority in November , are feeling the weight of public opinion , Trump remains defiant .
His attempt to retool his election campaign around Nixonian “ law and order ” seems increasingly discordant as the violence and looting dwindled and the protests became overwhelmingly peaceful @ @ @ @ @ @ @ policing in Dallas on Thursday , he failed to invite the county ’ s top three law enforcement officials , all of whom are Black , and reiterated his demand for police to “ dominate ” the streets .
“ If someone ’ s really bad , you ’ re going to have to do it with real strength , real power , ” he said .
That evening , the conservative Fox News channel , normally a safe space , became treacherous ground .
Interviewer Harris Faulkner said : “ You look @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Harris on TV , but I ’ m a Black woman .
I ’ m a mom .
You ’ ve talked about it , but we haven ’ t seen you come out and be that consoler in this instance.
” On Friday , Pew Research published the results of a survey of 9,654 people , conducted between 4 and 10 June , that showed six in 10 say Trump ’ s message in response to the protests has been wrong , including 39 % who think it has been completely wrong @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wrong .
Only 37 % say his message has been completely or mostly right .
LaTosha Brown , a civil rights activist and co-founder of the Black Voters Matter Fund , said : “ He is fundamentally , if you look at his actions , a fascist .
He has been tone deaf and disrespectful .
He ’ s shown how far he ’ s willing to go to dismantle democracy .
He is the quintessential example of why people are protesting .
He ’ s the embodiment of white supremacy , of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ no value in human rights.
” The president has seldom seemed so isolated , both from the public and his own party .
When he tweeted a baseless conspiracy theory that a 75-year-old protester shoved to the ground by police in Buffalo , New York , was in fact in league with the fringe anti-fascist movement known as Antifa , Republicans declined to lend their support , ducking and weaving as a reporter confronted them with a printout of the tweet .
Then a Republican-led Senate panel on Thursday approved a plan by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to have the names of Confederate figures removed from military bases and other Pentagon assets .
Trump , apparently siding with the slave-owning losing side in the civil war , preemptively declared his opposition and threatened to veto legislation changing them .
Protesters have also targeted Confederate monuments in numerous cities , prompting some state officials to consider taking them down .
Democrat Nancy Pelosi , the House speaker who is pushing for Confederate statues to be removed from the US Capitol building , said of the president : “ He seems to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t get it.
” And this week Nascar announced it would ban displays of the Confederate flag at its races and Bubba Wallace , a Black driver , wore a t-shirt that said “ I Can ’ t Breathe ” and drove a Chevy with “ Black Lives Matter ” written on the side on a track in Martinsville , Virginia .
This was particularly resonant because Nascar organisers and drivers have long appeared with Trump and his rallies have a Nascar-like feel with their rambunctious atmosphere and blue collar , overwhelmingly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ days after George Floyd ’ s funeral , Trump announced his first campaign rally after a three-month hiatus due to the far-from-over pandemic .
It was declared that it would take place on 19 June – a day dedicated to honoring Black emancipation , Juneteenth – and in Tulsa , Oklahoma , scene of a horrifying race massacre in 1921 .
“ Think about it as a celebration , ” he told Fox News on Friday , despite uproar at the timing and location .
“ My rally is a celebration.
” He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Friday night , tweeting that the rally would be postponed to 20 June .
“ Many of my African American friends and supporters have reached out to suggest that we consider changing the date out ... of respect for this holiday , ” he wrote .
Meanwhile , Tuesday will mark the fifth anniversary of Trump declaring his candidacy for president with the charge that Mexico is sending drugs , crime and rapists into the US that only a border wall can stop .
His race-baiting campaign flew in the face of conventional @ @ @ @ @ @ @ condemned him to defeat in the popular vote – but threaded a needle in the electoral college .
Tara Setmayer , a political commentator and former Republican communications director on Capitol Hill , said : “ Anyone who knows the history of this country has to acknowledge that systemic racism is the original American sin .
“ There is a considerable amount of Donald Trump ’ s base that harbours these types of antiquated , bigoted attitudes toward minorities in this country .
He began his entire campaign with the baseless racist birtherism @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as rapists and criminals and he is ginning up that sentiment .
There ’ s a reason why the racists and white supremacists of this country support Donald Trump .
Why is that ?
”

Longtime observers of Donald Trump have often compared him to an old man sitting at the end of a bar, holding forth with crazed opinions, overwhelming self-assurance and taboo-busting shock value guaranteed to draw a crowd.
Now, perhaps for the first time, it seems the US president may have lost the room.
Trump’s sixth sense for striking populist notes appears to have deserted him in the wake of the death of George Floyd, an African American man killed when a white Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes, sparking Black Lives Matter protests nationwide.
Over the last three weeks the president has found himself on the wrong side of public opinion – and history – on everything from police reform to symbols of the Confederacy which fought a civil war to preserve slavery 150 years ago. Even a sport synonymous with his base, Nascar (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing), is on a different wavelength having banned the Confederate flag from its events.
Some presidents capture a moment and give voice to a movement. At this time of national reckoning, however, Trump seems to have hit the wrong notes, out of tune with much (if not all) of the rest of the nation.
“Whether it is suggesting shooting protesters or siccing dogs on them, pre-emptively defending the Confederate names of military installations or arguing that his supporters ‘love the black people’, Mr Trump increasingly sounds like a cultural relic, detached from not just the left-leaning protesters in the streets but also the country’s political middle and even some Republican allies and his own military leaders,” the New York Times wrote on Thursday.
I’ve never seen opinion shift this fast or deeply. Frank Luntz, Republican consultant
The uprising over Floyd’s killing, and over four centuries of slavery, segregation and injustice, demanded a space and time to heal, not a time to fight. But Trump’s entire political identity is constructed around conflict. At the height of the demonstrations, he staged a bizarre photo op outside a church after law enforcement used tear gas to clear peaceful protesters outside the White House. In an unprecedented announcement this week, General Mark Milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, apologised for taking part.
00:44 Joining Trump church photo op 'a mistake', says Gen Mark Milley – video
Meanwhile Trump’s economic adviser Larry Kudlow said: “I don’t believe there is systemic racism in the US.” Asked if the president believes there is a problem with institutional racism, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany replied: “I think this is the fourth time I’ve been asked it, and I’ve said each and every time: there are injustices that we have seen... and I would say this president has done a whole lot more than Democrats have ever done when it comes to rectifying injustices.”
Yet the public mood is now one of acknowledgement that racism is systemic and not merely a case of some “bad apples”. The crowds protesting across 750 US cities over more than two weeks have been strikingly multiracial. After the death of Floyd, a Monmouth University poll found that 57% of Americans (and 49% of whites) believe police are more likely to use excessive force against African Americans, compared with just 33% of Americans after Eric Garner was killed by New York police in 2014.
Frank Luntz, a Republican consultant and focus group organiser, tweeted: “In my 35 years of polling, I’ve never seen opinion shift this fast or deeply. We are a different country today than just 30 days ago. The consequences politically, economically, and socially are too great to fit into a tweet.”
Even Trump’s enabler and enforcer, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, seemed to get the memo. “We are still wrestling with America’s original sin,” he told reporters, adding that Senate Republicans are working on a police reform plan to tackle the “obvious racial discrimination that we’ve seen on full display on our television screens over the last two weeks”.
But if Republicans, fearful of losing their Senate majority in November, are feeling the weight of public opinion, Trump remains defiant. His attempt to retool his election campaign around Nixonian “law and order” seems increasingly discordant as the violence and looting dwindled and the protests became overwhelmingly peaceful.
05:16 What the George Floyd protests say about America – video explainer
When he held a roundtable on policing in Dallas on Thursday, he failed to invite the county’s top three law enforcement officials, all of whom are black, and reiterated his demand for police to “dominate” the streets. “If someone’s really bad, you’re going to have to do it with real strength, real power,” he said.
That evening, the conservative Fox News channel, normally a safe space, became treacherous ground. Interviewer Harris Faulkner said: “You look at me, and I’m Harris on TV, but I’m a black woman. I’m a mom. You’ve talked about it, but we haven’t seen you come out and be that consoler in this instance.”
The president has seldom seemed so isolated, both from the public and his own party
On Friday, Pew Research published the results of a survey of 9,654 people, conducted between 4 and 10 June, that showed six in 10 say Trump’s message in response to the protests has been wrong, including 39% who think it has been completely wrong and 21% who think it mostly wrong. Only 37% say his message has been completely or mostly right.
LaTosha Brown, a civil rights activist and co-founder of the Black Voters Matter Fund, said: “He is fundamentally, if you look at his actions, a fascist. He has been tone deaf and disrespectful. He’s shown how far he’s willing to go to dismantle democracy. He is the quintessential example of why people are protesting. He’s the embodiment of white supremacy, of structural racism, of someone who find no value in human rights.”
The president has seldom seemed so isolated, both from the public and his own party. When he tweeted a baseless conspiracy theory that a 75-year-old protester shoved to the ground by police in Buffalo, New York, was in fact in league with the fringe anti-fascist movement known as Antifa, Republicans declined to lend their support, ducking and weaving as a reporter confronted them with a printout of the tweet.
Then a Republican-led Senate panel on Thursday approved a plan by Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, to have the names of Confederate figures removed from military bases and other Pentagon assets. Trump, apparently siding with the slave-owning losing side in the civil war, preemptively declared his opposition and threatened to veto legislation changing them.
Protesters have also targeted Confederate monuments in numerous cities, prompting some state officials to consider taking them down. Democrat Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker who is pushing for Confederate statues to be removed from the US Capitol building, said of the president: “He seems to be the only person left who doesn’t get it.”
And this week Nascar announced it would ban displays of the Confederate flag at its races and Bubba Wallace, a black driver, wore a t-shirt that said “I Can’t Breathe” and drove a Chevy with “Black Lives Matter” written on the side on a track in Martinsville, Virginia. This was particularly resonant because Nascar organisers and drivers have long appeared with Trump and his rallies have a Nascar-like feel with their rambunctious atmosphere and blue collar, overwhelmingly white demographic.
On Thursday, two days after George Floyd’s funeral, Trump announced his first campaign rally after a three-month hiatus due to the far-from-over pandemic. It was declared that it would take place on 19 June – a day dedicated to honoring black emancipation, Juneteenth – and in Tulsa, Oklahoma, scene of a horrifying race massacre in 1921. “Think about it as a celebration,” he told Fox News on Friday, despite uproar at the timing and location. “My rally is a celebration.”
He finally bowed to the criticism late on Friday night, tweeting that the rally would be postponed to 20 June. “Many of my African American friends and supporters have reached out to suggest that we consider changing the date out... of respect for this holiday,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, Tuesday will mark the fifth anniversary of Trump declaring his candidacy for president with the charge that Mexico is sending drugs, crime and rapists into the US that only a border wall can stop. His race-baiting campaign flew in the face of conventional wisdom in an increasingly diverse America and condemned him to defeat in the popular vote – but threaded a needle in the electoral college.
Tara Setmayer, a political commentator and former Republican communications director on Capitol Hill, said: “Anyone who knows the history of this country has to acknowledge that systemic racism is the original American sin.
“There is a considerable amount of Donald Trump’s base that harbours these types of antiquated, bigoted attitudes toward minorities in this country. He began his entire campaign with the baseless racist birtherism charge against Obama and going after Mexicans as rapists and criminals and he is ginning up that sentiment. There’s a reason why the racists and white supremacists of this country support Donald Trump. Why is that?”


theguardian--2020-06-14--Atlanta police chief resigns after officers shoot dead African American man – as it happened

The chairman of the New York chapter of Black Lives Matter has said Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden “ would be an idiot ” to select two-term Florida congresswoman Val Demings , the two-term Florida congresswoman and former Orlando police chief , as his running mate .
“ Joe Biden would be an idiot to put her on his ticket .
People are already on the fence about him , ” the group ’ s Hawk Newsome , told the New York Post .
“ When black people become police officers , they are no longer black .
They are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this by numerous officers , ” the BLM official said that California senator Kamala Harris should also be disqualified after serving as San Francisco district attorney and the state ’ s attorney general .
Demings , 63 , is reportedly one of six female Democrats to have passed an initial round of vetting by Biden ’ s vice presidential search committee and has submitted documents for review .
The former police chief is believed to be on a shortlist that includes Harris , Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren , former national security adviser Susan @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Grisham and Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms .
Demings worked as a uniformed patrol detective , information officer and internal affairs supervisor during her 27 years on the force , walking away in 2007 to lead the 700-strong Orlando police force before retiring four years later .
But during her time as police chief , the department was involved in a series of excessive-force controversies , including in 2010 when a department officer was involved in the injury of an 84-year-old second world war veteran who had complained about his car being towed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of wrongdoing with Demings telling the Palm Beach Post at the time : “ After review of the defensive tactic … by the training staff and Officer Lamont ’ s chain of command , it appears the officer performed the technique within department guidelines.
” A year later , another officer pushed a woman to the ground during a scuffle , breaking her teeth .
After that incident , which was captured on video , Demings wrote an op-ed to the Orlando Sentinel : “ Looking for a negative story in a police @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at church , ” she wrote .
“ I believe a reasonable person also understands that a few seconds ( even on video ) rarely capture the entire set of circumstances .
”

Bryan Armen Graham (now) in New York and Tom Lutz (earlier)

14 Jun 2020 01.02 BST Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard says he believes the NBA and other forms of entertainment are unnecessary distractions from the nationwide protest movement that is entering its fourth week following the death of George Floyd. I agree with Kyrie (Irving). Basketball, or entertainment period, isn’t needed at this moment, and will only be a distraction. Sure it might not distract us the players, but we have resources at hand majority of our community don’t have. And the smallest distraction for them, can start a trickle down effect that may never stop. Especially with the way the climate is now. I would love nothing more than to win my very first NBA Championship. But the unity of My People would be an even bigger Championship, that’s just to (sic) beautiful to pass up. What better time than now for us to be focusing on our families. This is a rare opportunity that, I believe, we as a community should be taking full advantage of. When have we ever had this amount of time to sit and be with our families. This is where our Unity starts. At home! With Family!! European Colonization stripped us of our rich history, and we have yet to sit down and figure us out. The less distractions, the more we can put into action into rediscovering ourselves. Nations come out of families. Black/African American is not a Nation or Nationality. It’s time Our Families became their own Nations. No Basketball till we get things resolved. The NBA is set to become the first major North American sports league to make a return to action when it resumes its season on 31 July at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida.
13 Jun 2020 00.42 BST Hundreds of anti-racism demonstrators took to the streets of Palmdale in southern California on Saturday to demand a full investigation into the death of a 24-year-old black man found hanging from a tree near city hall. While the sheriff’s department said the initial results of a coroner’s investigation indicate Fuller’s death was a suicide, the protesters who gathered on Saturday described it a “lynching” and called on the state to investigate. Community members had confronted city officials at a contentious news briefing Friday, asking why they were quick to label Fuller’s death on Wednesday a suicide and demanding an independent autopsy. On Saturday, protesters marched from the park where Fuller was found to the Los Angeles county sheriff’s station, demanding a full investigation into the man’s death. Many carried signs that said “Justice for Robert Fuller”. Fuller’s sister addressed the crowd near Palmdale’s city hall. “We want to find out the truth on what really happened,” Diamond Alexander said, according to the LATimes. “We just want the truth. My brother was not suicidal. He was a survivor. He was street smart.” Sheriff’s Capt Ron Shaffer said homicide detectives were investigating the circumstances leading to Fuller’s death to determine if foul play was involved. Investigators have been in contact with Fuller’s family, Palmdale officials said. The city said there were no outdoor cameras that could have recorded what happened.
13 Jun 2020 00.25 BST Former Atlanta police chief Erika Shields, who has resigned in the wake of Friday night’s fatal shooting of Rayshard Brooks, has issued a statement: For more than two decades, I have served alongside some of the finest men and women in the Atlanta Police Department. Out of a deep and abiding love for this City and this department, I offered to step aside as police chief. APD has my full support, and Mayor Bottoms has my support on the future direction of this department. I have faith in the Mayor, and it is time for the city to move forward and build trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve.
13 Jun 2020 00.08 BST Nina Lakhani Several hundred protesters gathered at West 135th street and St Nicholas Avenue in Harlem this afternoon in what was advertised as a march to demand New York City mayor Bill de Blasio reinstate habeas corpus: the right of a detainee to be seen by a judge within 24 hours to determine whether the arrest was lawful. This constitutional right was controversially suspended by a state supreme court judge last week amid mass arrests during protests against police brutality. Protesters gathered near the Frederick Douglass Sculpture at the northwest corner of Central Park on Saturday afternoon. Photograph: Nina Lakhani But it was so much more. We heard an emotionally raw, urgent speech by Hawah Bah, the mother of Mohamed Bah, a 28-year-old immigrant from Guinea who was shot and killed inside his Harlem apartment by police officers in September 2012, after she’d called an ambulance to help her mentally distressed son. “When I heard George Floyd call for his mama, I felt it,” a tearful Bah said. “If they can kill a baby in front of his mother, that is not freedom. Stay on the streets until we have our rights.” This was also partly a grassroots political rally for Kristin Richardson Jordan, a poet and educator who is seeking to become the first openly black gay woman to be elected to the New York City council. “I’m on a mission to disrupt this district with radical love,” Jordan said. “We want NYPD out of our schools, off our trains. ... In Harlem, black lives will matter.” Anger towards the NYPD was prevalent during the rally including those particularly contentious moments when protestors chanted: “How do you spell racist? N-Y-P-D!” and “No justice, no peace, fuck the racist ass police!” at a line of cops stood in front of the 32th precinct. Moments later, Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On, considered both a protest and love song, blasted out from the boom box that accompanied protesters south towards Frederick Douglass Circle Plaza, situated opposite the northwest corner of Central Park.
13 Jun 2020 23.07 BST Atlanta police chief resigns less than 24 hours after Rayshard Brooks shot dead The chief of Atlanta’s police department has stepped down less than 24 hours after a black man was killed in a late-night struggle with officers after he failed a field sobriety test and resisted arrest. Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said during a news conference on Saturday afternoon that she had accepted the resignation of police chief Erika Shields. “I do not believe that this was a justified use of deadly force and have called for the immediate termination of the officer,” Bottoms said. “What has become abundantly over the last couple of weeks in Atlanta is that while we have a police force full of men and women who work alongside our communities with honor, respect and dignity, there has a been a disconnect with what our expectations are and should be as it relates to interactions with our officers and the communities in which they are entrusted to protect.” Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announces she has accepted the resignation of APD chief Erika Shields. Police were called to the restaurant on a complaint that a man was sleeping in a car blocking the drive-thru lane as customers waited in line, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said. The agency identified the man who was fatally shot as 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks. A crowd of demonstrators gathered Saturday outside the restaurant where Brooks was shot. Gerald Griggs, an attorney and a vice president of Atlanta’s NAACP chapter, estimated there were 150 people protesting at the scene as he walked with them Saturday afternoon. “The people are upset,” Griggs said. “They want to know why their dear brother Rayshard Brooks was shot and killed when he was merely asleep on the passenger side and not doing anything.”
Updated at 23.16 BST
13 Jun 2020 22.28 BST The AP reports from New Orleans where bars are letting in customers on Saturday for the first time in three months amid an atmosphere of uncertainty for owners: Capacity is limited to 25 percent, live music remains prohibited, and nobody knows how many tourists will show on Bourbon Street in the age of COVID-19. Pam Fortner, owner of six French Quarter venues, is opening only two of them, both on Bourbon, where the customary blocks-long frat party atmosphere ended in an abrupt shutdown in mid-March. Now, she’s not sure what to expect. She sat at a sidewalk table at Royal and St. Ann on Thursday, eating a Caesar salad and deriving hope from the occasional out-of-state license plate she saw amid sparse traffic. “I think Saturday will be busy,” she said in an interview. Cherie Boos, manager of Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop, in an authentically rustic, creaky floored 18th-century Creole cottage, said she’s hoping locals will help keep the bar financially afloat as Bourbon Street revives. But she adds, “We’re hoping that, you know, we can start generating some tourists in the city, too, now that the bars are going to be open.” Bourbon Street, which had the ambiance of an empty movie set in April, has experienced a slow re-awakening in recent weeks. Dine-in restaurants have been allowed to reopen at 25% capacity, as have bars with food permits. Still, traffic has been slow and plywood covered numerous tavern windows until Mayor LaToya Cantrell announced the latest easing of restrictions in a city that, in the spring, had become an international hot spot for COVID-19. Even as they announced the reopenings on Tuesday, city officials admitted they were concerned about a possible recurrence. “Oh, I’m worried. I am worried,” Cantrell said at a news conference. She said city code enforcement officials will watch to make sure social distancing, masking requirements and building capacity limits are enforced.
13 Jun 2020 21.43 BST Fox News has removed digitally altered photos from its website after the Seattle Times noted misleading images used in the network’s coverage about the city’s Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ), which has become a protest center against police brutality and racial injustice. As part of a package of stories Friday about the zone, where demonstrators have taken over several city blocks on Capitol Hill after Seattle police abandoned the East Precinct, Fox’s website for much of the day featured a photo of a man standing with a military-style rifle in front of what appeared to be a smashed retail storefront. The image was actually a mashup of photos from different days, taken by different photographers — it was done by splicing a Getty Images photo of an armed man, who had been at the protest zone June 10, with other images from May 30 of smashed windows in downtown Seattle. Another altered image combined the gunman photo with yet another image, making it appear as though he was standing in front of a sign declaring “You are now entering Free Cap Hill.” Fox’s site had no disclaimers revealing the photos had been manipulated. The network removed the images after inquiries from The Seattle Times. In addition, Fox’s site for a time on Friday ran a frightening image of a burning city, above a package of stories about Seattle’s protests, headlined “CRAZY TOWN.” The photo actually showed a scene from St. Paul, Minnesota, on May 30. That image also was later removed. When asked by the Times about the clear breach of journalistic ethics, a Fox News spokeswoman said: “We have replaced our photo illustration with the clearly delineated images of a gunman and a shattered storefront, both of which were taken this week in Seattle’s autonomous zone.”
13 Jun 2020 21.27 BST Edward Helmore The chairman of the New York chapter of Black Lives Matter has said Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden “would be an idiot” to select two-term Florida congresswoman Val Demings, the two-term Florida congresswoman and former Orlando police chief, as his running mate. “Joe Biden would be an idiot to put her on his ticket. People are already on the fence about him,” the group’s Hawk Newsome, told the New York Post. “When black people become police officers, they are no longer black. They are blue. And I have been told this by numerous officers,” the BLM official said that California senator Kamala Harris should also be disqualified after serving as San Francisco district attorney and the state’s attorney general.
Demings, 63, is reportedly one of six female Democrats to have passed an initial round of vetting by Biden’s vice presidential search committee and has submitted documents for review. The former police chief is believed to be on a shortlist that includes Harris, Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren, former national security adviser Susan Rice, New Mexico governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.
Demings worked as a uniformed patrol detective, information officer and internal affairs supervisor during her 27 years on the force, walking away in 2007 to lead the 700-strong Orlando police force before retiring four years later. But during her time as police chief, the department was involved in a series of excessive-force controversies, including in 2010 when a department officer was involved in the injury of an 84-year-old second world war veteran who had complained about his car being towed.
An internal review cleared Travis Lamont of wrongdoing with Demings telling the Palm Beach Post at the time: “After review of the defensive tactic … by the training staff and Officer Lamont’s chain of command, it appears the officer performed the technique within department guidelines.”
A year later, another officer pushed a woman to the ground during a scuffle, breaking her teeth. After that incident, which was captured on video, Demings wrote an op-ed to the Orlando Sentinel: “Looking for a negative story in a police department is like looking for a prayer at church,” she wrote. “I believe a reasonable person also understands that a few seconds (even on video) rarely capture the entire set of circumstances.”
Updated at 22.03 BST
13 Jun 2020 21.02 BST Police in South Carolina have released body camera footage of officers fatally shooting a handcuffed black man they said was wielding a gun in a Walmart parking lot. The Associated Press reports: Ariane Lamont McCree, 28, was shot and killed by police in November outside a Chester Walmart. He was handcuffed at the time of the shooting after being detained on suspicion of shoplifting. The South Carolina attorney general’s office said in a March news release that the officers acted in self-defense and that McCree pulled a gun on police as he was fleeing the shoplifting arrest. The Post and Courier reported that the video released to news outlets shows an officer with his gun drawn approaching the suspect from across the parking lot. The video also shows officers later removing a gun from the suspect’s body. Mullins McLeod, a Charleston attorney who has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the police department on behalf of McCree’s family, has said there is no way McCree could have aimed a gun at officers with his hands cuffed behind his back, the newspaper reported. Police and McCree’s family gave different interpretations of the video. The fatal shooting prompted protests in the small South Carolina city. At a news conference in Chester on Friday, McCree’s family maintained the video shows that the handcuffed man was not a threat to officers, the newspaper reported. They criticized officials for waiting more than six months to release the video. Charlie Stringfellow, McCree’s grandfather, took issue with the use of force after an alleged shoplifting incident. “If it’s true, it’s not worth his life,” Stringfellow said.
13 Jun 2020 20.25 BST Kentucky governor Andy Beshear, who has led a push to take down a statue of Jefferson Davis at the state capitol, finished the job on Saturday with a push of a button. The Louisville Courier-Journal reports: The South has lost again. Jefferson Davis and his legacy departed Kentucky’s Capitol rotunda after a 12-foot marble statue commemorating the lone president of the Confederate States of America was removed from its base Saturday morning. Workers assembled a rig that lifted the 5-ton marble sculpture off the pedestal where it stood for 84 years – just a few feet behind the bronze statue of fellow Kentuckian Abraham Lincoln. Gov. Andy Beshear, who joined workers in the rotunda on Saturday, said the monument represented a divisive symbol in Kentucky. “After calling for its removal and urging the Historic Properties Advisory Commission to act, today I pressed the button to bring it down,” Beshear tweeted. “Now, every child who walks into their Capitol feels welcome. Today we took a step forward for the betterment of every single Kentuckian.” It’s been somewhat of a bearish week for the legacy of the first and only president of the CSA. A different Davis statue was toppled by protesters on Wednesday night in Richmond, which had been the capital of the Confederacy until it was captured in the later stages of the war.
Updated at 20.41 BST
13 Jun 2020 19.58 BST A relative of Rayshard Brooks, the African American man shot dead by police in Atlanta last night, has spoken about his grief and shock at the killing. Decatur Redd spoke to reporters and a crowd that had gathered outside the Wendy’s where the 27-year-old Brooks was shot on Friday after police were called to reports of a man who had fallen asleep in his vehicle. Protesters stand outside the Wendy’s where Rayshard Brooks was killed on Friday. Photograph: Erik S Lesser/EPA “I’ve watched this on the internet, from the whole George Floyd situation to us coming together like we’re doing and this whole thing landed on my doorstep with my little cousin,” Redd said. The George Bureau of Investigation and the country district attorney’s office are looking into the death. “We’ve been watching this happen for so many years, with young black boys around the country just dying in vain – I just don’t want that to continue and keep happening like that,” Redd said. Redd added that he was shocked the incident had happened in Atlanta. “I didn’t think it would hit right here, man. I thought this city was better than that. They’ve got to answer. Somebody’s gotta say something,” Redd said, “We need to at least know that the city is with us.”
13 Jun 2020 19.49 BST Director Ava DuVernay has endorsed a petition calling for Edmund Pettus Bridge in Montgomery, Alabama to be renamed the “John Lewis Bridge for Freedom”. The bridge was the location of the Bloody Sunday beatings by police of marchers campaigning for voting rights in 1965. The episode featured in DuVernay’s Oscar-nominated 2014 film, Selma. Pettus was an Alabama senator and Klu Klux Klan Grand Wizard, while John Lewis is a veteran US politician and civil rights leader. I’ve just signed a petition about this bridge to dignity as seen in SELMA. It is named after a KKK grand wizard and confederate warlord. Edmund Pettus Bridge should be the John Lewis Bridge. Named for a hero. Not a murderer. Join this call. It’s past due. https://t.co/EZqu7ic0bU — Ava DuVernay (@ava) June 13, 2020 “I’ve just signed a petition about this bridge to dignity as seen in SELMA. It is named after a KKK grand wizard and confederate warlord,” wrote DuVernay on Twitter. “Edmund Pettus Bridge should be the John Lewis Bridge. Named for a hero. Not a murderer. Join this call. It’s past due.”


theguardian--2020-06-13--Kentucky Confederate statue removal reveals evidence of Jim Crow past

Officials supervising the removal of a statue of Jefferson Davis from the Kentucky state capitol on Saturday found items left in its base .
Those who put up the marble statue of the Confederate president left a Glenmore Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey bottle and a newspaper – dated 20 October 1936 .
Davis was born in Fairview , Kentucky in 1808 and became a soldier , a senator from Mississippi and US secretary of war .
From 1861 to 1865 he led the Confederacy through the American civil war .
“ African slavery , as it exists in the United @ @ @ @ @ @ @ social and a political blessing , ” he said .
The Confederacy lost the war and slavery was abolished under the 13th amendment , ratified in December 1865 .
Davis was charged with treason but never tried , having his citizenship stripped instead .
He died in New Orleans in 1889 .
Though Kentucky remained in the Union during the war , and indeed was the home state of Abraham Lincoln , the presence in its capitol of a statue of a Confederate leader is not particularly unusual .
Nor should it seem @ @ @ @ @ @ @ found under the Davis statue were from the 1930s .
Southern states erected many of the monuments to Confederate leaders and soldiers that are now the focus of national protests long after the civil war , at the height of the Jim Crow system of racial segregation and repression and later during years of civil rights protest and reform .
During civil unrest sparked by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis , Kentucky has seen concerted protests over racism and police brutality .
Two deaths in the state have attracted particular attention @ @ @ @ @ @ @ medical technician , was killed in her home in Louisville in March , by officers conducting a narcotics raid in which no drugs were found .
David McAtee , a 53-year-old restaurant owner , was killed in the same city by national guard troops confronting protesters earlier this month .
Across the US , monuments to the Confederacy have been attacked by protesters .
Some have been removed .
In Richmond , Virginia this week , a famous statue of Davis on Monument Avenue , the pantheon of Confederate leaders , was forcibly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ place .
There is even a statue of Davis , given to Congress by Mississippi in 1931 , in the US Capitol in Washington .
In 1978 , President Jimmy Carter welcomed the restoration of Davis ’ s US citizenship as the completion of a “ long process of reconciliation that has reunited our people following the tragic conflict between the states ” .
This week House speaker Nancy Pelosi , another Democrat , called on Republicans who hold the Senate to help remove such works .
The Senate armed services committee has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ commission on renaming US military bases named for Confederate generals .
Donald Trump , who has rejected such calls , spoke on Saturday at the United States Military Academy at West Point .
The New York base is home to a barracks named for Confederate general Robert E Lee .
In a tweet on Saturday , Kentucky governor Andy Beshear , a Democrat , said of the Davis statue in Frankfort : “ After calling for its removal and urging the Historic Properties Advisory Commission to act , today I pressed the button @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , every child who walks into their capitol feels welcome .
Today we took a step forward for the betterment of every single Kentuckian.
” Beshear ’ s Republican predecessor , Matt Bevin , opposed attempts to remove the statue as a “ sanitisation of history ” .
But on Saturday Jason Nemes , a Republican state representative , told the Courier-Journal : “ Today is a symbol we are moving ahead .
It ’ s a recognition of the sins of our past .
“ We honor our history , the good @ @ @ @ @ @ @ think it ’ s a wonderful thing that we don ’ t want to celebrate Jeff Davis anymore.
” On Friday , the Kentucky Historic Properties Advisory Commission voted to move the Davis statue to the site where the Confederate leader was born .
From the capitol , state representative Derrick Graham , an African American Democrat , tweeted : “ He ’ s gone , y ’ all .
Glory , Hallelujah !
”

Officials supervising the removal of a statue of Jefferson Davis from the Kentucky state capitol on Saturday found items left in its base.
Those who put up the marble statue of the Confederate president left a Glenmore Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey bottle and a newspaper – dated 20 October 1936.
Davis was born in Fairview, Kentucky in 1808 and became a soldier, a senator from Mississippi and US secretary of war. From 1861 to 1865 he led the Confederacy through the American civil war.
“African slavery, as it exists in the United States, is a moral, a social and a political blessing,” he said.
The Confederacy lost the war and slavery was abolished under the 13th amendment, ratified in December 1865. Davis was charged with treason but never tried, having his citizenship stripped instead. He died in New Orleans in 1889.
Though Kentucky remained in the Union during the war, and indeed was the home state of Abraham Lincoln, the presence in its capitol of a statue of a Confederate leader is not particularly unusual. Nor should it seem particularly surprising that the bottle and newspaper found under the Davis statue were from the 1930s.
Southern states erected many of the monuments to Confederate leaders and soldiers that are now the focus of national protests long after the civil war, at the height of the Jim Crow system of racial segregation and repression and later during years of civil rights protest and reform.
During civil unrest sparked by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Kentucky has seen concerted protests over racism and police brutality. Two deaths in the state have attracted particular attention.
Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency medical technician, was killed in her home in Louisville in March, by officers conducting a narcotics raid in which no drugs were found.
David McAtee, a 53-year-old restaurant owner, was killed in the same city by national guard troops confronting protesters earlier this month.
Across the US, monuments to the Confederacy have been attacked by protesters. Some have been removed. In Richmond, Virginia this week, a famous statue of Davis on Monument Avenue, the pantheon of Confederate leaders, was forcibly torn down.
But many remain in place. There is even a statue of Davis, given to Congress by Mississippi in 1931, in the US Capitol in Washington.
In 1978, President Jimmy Carter welcomed the restoration of Davis’s US citizenship as the completion of a “long process of reconciliation that has reunited our people following the tragic conflict between the states”.
This week House speaker Nancy Pelosi, another Democrat, called on Republicans who hold the Senate to help remove such works.
The Senate armed services committee has approved an amendment meant to create a commission on renaming US military bases named for Confederate generals.
Donald Trump, who has rejected such calls, spoke on Saturday at the United States Military Academy at West Point. The New York base is home to a barracks named for Confederate general Robert E Lee.
In a tweet on Saturday, Kentucky governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat, said of the Davis statue in Frankfort: “After calling for its removal and urging the Historic Properties Advisory Commission to act, today I pressed the button to bring it down.
“Now, every child who walks into their capitol feels welcome. Today we took a step forward for the betterment of every single Kentuckian.”
Beshear’s Republican predecessor, Matt Bevin, opposed attempts to remove the statue as a “sanitisation of history”. But on Saturday Jason Nemes, a Republican state representative, told the Courier-Journal: “Today is a symbol we are moving ahead. It’s a recognition of the sins of our past.
“We honor our history, the good and the bad, but … I think it’s a wonderful thing that we don’t want to celebrate Jeff Davis anymore.”
On Friday, the Kentucky Historic Properties Advisory Commission voted to move the Davis statue to the site where the Confederate leader was born. From the capitol, state representative Derrick Graham, an African American Democrat, tweeted: “He’s gone, y’all. Glory, Hallelujah!”


theguardian--2020-06-13--Clemson to strip name of John C Calhoun from honors college

Clemson University trustees voted on Friday to rename its honors college , stripping the name of former vice-president John C Calhoun , a leading defender of slavery in the years before the American civil war .
The university board also publicly requested permission from the state legislature to change the name of Tillman Hall back to its original name , the Main building .
The iconic campus building currently honors “ Pitchfork ” Ben Tillman , a governor and US senator who used virulent racism to dominate South Carolina politics after Reconstruction .
Other than removing the Confederate flag from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on nine black Charleston church members in 2015 , South Carolina lawmakers have refused to take up any major changes of Confederate monuments .
Change requires a two-thirds vote of both the House and Senate .
Trustees cited the recent killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis , which has spurred protests over racial injustice and police brutality across the country , as an impetus for the renaming .
The honors program will now be called the Clemson University Honors College .
Calhoun , who was born in South Carolina and is thought by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Captain Ahab , the monomaniacal whaling captain in Herman Melville ’ s classic novel Moby-Dick , declared slavery a “ positive good ” on the US Senate floor in 1837 .
Tillman led a white mob in 1876 that killed several black men in Hamburg , an Aiken county town where freed slaves had settled .
Following recent protests over racial injustice and police brutality , activists have renewed calls to remove monuments and rename buildings honoring the Confederacy , slavery and white supremacy across the state .
Clemson ’ s honors college @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Calhoun in 1981 .
The university maintains Calhoun ’ s plantation home , Fort Hill , on campus .
Earlier attempts to rename the college have stalled .
But in the week before Clemson trustees convened , an online petition by students calling for administrators to support a name change drew more than 20,000 signatures .
Clemson football alumni and onetime Houston Texans teammates DeAndre Hopkins and Deshaun Watson voiced support for the petition on social media .
Student , faculty and alumni organizers said on Friday they were elated by the board @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the symbolic act needed to lead to material changes for black students and other students of color .
“ This needs to be the beginning of a much better , much more inclusive , much more diverse Clemson , ” said Roann Abdeladl , a junior health sciences major .
After the Confederate flag was removed from statehouse grounds in 2015 , the South Carolina house speaker , Jay Lucas , said his chamber would take up no more requests to alter or remove monuments under the Heritage Act , which requires a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a historical building or move a monument .
But the Heritage Act , passed in 2000 , has yet to be challenged in court .
The law doesn ’ t include an explicit penalty if a local government chooses to act without the general assembly ’ s approval .
In Clemson ’ s case , the renaming of the Honors College is not subject to the law as no building is named for it , a university spokesman told the Greenville News .
A spokesperson for state attorney general Alan Wilson ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
A message asking Lucas if he maintains his 2015 position went unanswered .
Lucas has given no public indication his position has changed .
The house minority leader , Todd Rutherford , said the state ’ s institutions of higher learning now have better role models to choose from than figures like Calhoun and Tillman .
Rutherford has previously sought to remove a statue of Tillman from statehouse grounds and to add context to other statues there .
“ Until it can be removed , we have to contextualize everything , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ know that monsters do exist , and those monsters played a pivotal role in South Carolina ’ s history.
” Earlier this week , Seth Rose , a Columbia Democrat , stated he would introduce a resolution to remove the capitol ’ s Tillman statue .