therealnews--2020-05-30--Minneapolis Speaks: George Floyd, Unrest, Aftermath

Editors ’ Note : This interview was taped as former officer Derek Chauvin was arrested .
This is a rush transcript and may contain errors .
It will be updated .
Kim Brown : Welcome to The Real News , I ’ m Kim Brown .
The eyes of the nation have been focused on Minneapolis , Minnesota after video showing former police officer , Derek Chauvin , with his knee on the neck of handcuffed George Floyd .
Mr. Floyd ultimately died from his injuries and subsequently , there were a number of uprisings and protests in the streets @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the officers involved in Mr. Floyd ’ s death .
As of Friday afternoon , May 29th , Derek Chauvin has now been charged with murder and manslaughter .
Well , to get a better understanding and perspective about what has been happening in the streets of Minneapolis in the last several days , we ’ re joined today with Oluchi Omeoga from the organization , Black Visions , and Reclaim the Block , based in Minneapolis .
And that ’ s where they join us from right now .
Oluchi , thank @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Oluchi Omeoga : Yeah .
Thank you for having me .
I appreciate it .
Kim Brown : Before we get started , I did want you to let our viewers know about your organization .
Can you tell us what Black Visions is along with Reclaiming the Block , just to give us some context ?
Oluchi Omeoga : Yeah .
Black Visions is a black led organization that centers the power of queer and trans black folks in Minneapolis and St. Paul to create change and vision of a world where @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Block is a coalition of Black Visions and other community members in Minneapolis who actually envision a world beyond policing and actualize that through our city ’ s legislative system and direct organizing .
Kim Brown : Well , as of Friday , May 29th , a little shy of two o ’ clock Eastern time , it was announced on national media outlets that the officer who had his knee on the neck of George Floyd , Derek Chauvin has been taken into custody .
Let me get your reaction to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ What do you think about this ?
Oluchi Omeoga : I mean , I don ’ t really have a reaction to it .
I mean , folks are charged and not convicted .
Folks are convicted .
Folks are not even charged right .
And I think that the sentiment of Black Visions and of Reclaim the Block is that regardless of the accountability measures that you have on police , the system of policing is inherently racist .
So instead of advocating and demanding for the conviction of this , specifically @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a world where police don ’ t exist in the same ways that they do now and abolish the system ?
Kim Brown : Talk to us about what Minneapolis feels like right now .
It ’ s been stated by other organizers , residents in the area even acknowledged today by the governor of Minnesota , that Minneapolis policing has been brutal , has been targeted towards communities of color , black and brown and indigenous communities there .
And what happened to George Floyd was certainly not an isolated incident .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ seen are really an outgrowth of that rage and frustration that has been building up there now for generations .
Can you talk to us about how Minneapolis police have been historically dealing with black , brown , and indigenous communities and why this anger is seemingly justified by many other black communities across the country that are looking at this and recognize exactly what is going on .
Oluchi Omeoga : Yeah , thank you for that .
I think one thing that I wanted to respond to very quickly was this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , rage has to be justified in order for their actions to be deemed necessary .
As black people living in the world of anti-black racism , we experience generational trauma that is so overflowing in our bodies innately that like , regardless of what we do , our rage is always justified .
So when I think about specifically Minneapolis , even like the history that I ’ ve had of organizing for like even just the past six years , we had Jamar Clark be executed by police in 2015 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ organization formation that I was a part of back then , Black Lives Matter Minneapolis really organized around that and led an 18 day occupation of the 4th Precinct .
So this has been happening for like , even in the short period of time that I ’ ve been organizing , but regardless , it ’ s been happening since the inception of the MPD , which was like 151 years ago now .
I think another thing to note generally around the region is like Minneapolis tops itself , and like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in class as far as unemployment , having the best biking system , being the best places that people want to move to .
But when you look at the numbers that are coming out around the most racist and worst cities to live in in the nation , you see that Minneapolis , St. Paul is actually number four on that list and that every other city on that list on the top five , if not the top seven are all in the Midwest .
So we think of this place @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t racist up North , when in reality , what we ’ re seeing is that it has the greatest racial tension of all of the nation .
And I think that ’ s something that people outside of the Midwest don ’ t realize , places like Milwaukee as the worst place in the country for being black .
Or places like Chicago , Detroit where the unemployment rate for white people might be really low , but the unemployment for black people are very high .
And also you ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ households is like a third of what white people are getting .
So I think that ’ s where the tension starts and it ’ s very underlying , and I ’ m not surprised at the tactics that are being used in this moment because people are fed up .
They ’ ve had enough and they ’ re ready to uprise and dream of something new .
Kim Brown : And speaking of the uprisings , we ’ ve really seen some incredible things happening out of these uprisings , including @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the 3rd Police Precinct police station , those pictures were incredible .
And the so-called looting of the Target store , but I ’ ve seen on social media where some of the items taken from the Target store have been re-distributed to the community .
Can you talk about this particular nature of the uprisings , because it is not simply just wanting looting and destruction , there definitely seems to be an organized element about it .
What ’ s your take on that ?
Oluchi Omeoga : I don ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ what has been or hasn ’ t been taken .
I know that the things that are being taken are being redistributed to the community .
I also know that people in community are creating safe places and safe havens for small businesses that are local and in the community .
So you see people protecting black owned businesses and PLC businesses that actually give back to the community .
And I think another interesting piece around the precinct that people don ’ t necessarily understand or know about if they ’ re @ @ @ @ @ @ @ precinct is located not one or two blocks away from a houseless encampment that has been going on even before the pandemic has started .
That no one seems to want to talk about that they only got housing for as far as hotels yesterday and that people aren ’ t talking about , like , why do we have these structures , these stores , these whatever in place when people are homeless on the street and people don ’ t have houses ?
So I think that it ’ s like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ opinion on is it good or is it bad to loot , but I do understand the use of reparations in this time looking like taking from corporations and giving back to people who actually need the resources .
And also needing the resources because unemployment is at an all time high nationally and also in Minnesota because of the COVID-19 crisis .
And we ’ re not seeing national dollars go to immigrants and which black people are .
Not going to the indigenous community , which is a huge portion of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have Little Earth , which is like two blocks away , which is one of the biggest centralized indigenous populations in Minnesota .
And they ’ re seeing that they ’ re not getting any type of statewide or national support when it comes to the COVID crisis .
And now we ’ re seeing that we ’ re able to give those people those things because Target was looted , because Cub Foods was looted and they ’ re able to redistribute that to the community .
Kim Brown : Historically , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but also broader across the US , there ’ s always a reluctance to charge and prosecute killer cops .
A former attorney general from your state is possibly in the running to be Joe Biden ’ s vice-president , and that is Amy Klobuchar .
And there were at least two incidents involving two of the officers in Mr. Floyd ’ s incident , officer Chauvin and officer Tou , I believe where they were alleged to have committed violent assaults on people .
I know Chauvin actually murdered an indigenous man @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , whose name is Mr. Reyes , and yet there was no discipline resulting from that .
The attorney general at that time declined to press charges .
And many are saying that blood is on her hands , that Mr. Floyd ’ s death possibly could have been avoided if officer Chauvin had been charged and possibly prosecuted , removed off the streets , so to speak .
What is your take about how cops have been dealt with , killer cops , cops who brutalize have been dealt with in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or hope to see come out of this situation with Mr. Floyd ?
Oluchi Omeoga : I don ’ t have opinions on Amy Klobuchar or like her , I know I am not an Amy Klobuchar supporter personally .
I can ’ t speak for our organization , but I don ’ t have really an answer for that portion .
I think as far as convicting and prosecuting cops , I don ’ t think that that is a solution to the issues that we ’ re seeing .
I actually @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cop exists .
I think that the whole institution needs to be abolished and completely changed .
And I think what ’ s interesting when we think about cops in this time is that what we ’ re envisioning is community policing or community safety rather .
And 80 % of the cops that are working in Minneapolis that actually don ’ t even live in Minneapolis .
Officer Chauvin is one of those examples .
He lives in Oakdale , which is 40 minutes away from Minneapolis .
So I don ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , I apologize .
I don ’ t think the solution to mass societal shift of policing is prosecution and jail time .
I think that actually just recreates trauma , I don ’ t believe in the prison system at all .
And I don ’ t believe that that ’ s actually going to create transformative justice .
And I think what is going to create transformative justice is taking money from the Minneapolis Police Department specifically , and actually gaining momentum towards a total abolition of the police department .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ police abolitionist , what would you like to happen ?
What would a police abolitionist have happened in this case ?
Oluchi Omeoga : Reclaim the Block actually just sent out a four piece demand to the city council members of Minneapolis .
Currently , we ’ re in a special budget process because of the COVID-19 crisis .
So they ’ re trying to reallocate resources .
So the number one thing that we ’ re asking for , or two of the four things that we ’ re asking for is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ budget in any of your terms or allocate any more resources to the Minneapolis Police Department .
Sorry , and the specific , tangible number that we ’ re asking for is we ’ re asking for $ 4.5 million of the Minneapolis Police Department budget to be diverted towards social services as far as due to the COVID crisis and actual community policing outside of the Minneapolis Police Department .
Kim Brown : Oluchi , another point that I wanted to raise with you is the reaction of President Donald Trump .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , he was demanding the reopening of many states across the nation .
And he did reference Minnesota specifically .
And Trump supporters , I would imagine that ’ s who they were , came out in force , some of them armed , obviously in defiance of the large gathering ordinance that was in place in many states because of the COVID-19 pandemic , but yet he took to Twitter to call protestors in Minneapolis thugs .
Now , obviously this is not a surprise to anyone , this part of Donald @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the fact that that is such a striking difference , the fact that people who are in the streets protesting the unjustified murder of a black man are called thugs whereas people who just want to go out and get their haircut , or the ability to go eat in a restaurant are so-called liberating their state or trying to reopen Minnesota .
What is your take on that ?
Oluchi Omeoga : I mean , you basically said it , right ?
It ’ s not a surprise .
It ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ probably made that tweet himself , then he rhymed it and everything , so he thought it was very clever .
But it ’ s not a surprise to me that that ’ s the rhetoric that ’ s coming from the right .
And that ’ s what folks want to do is divide and be divisive across what is protesting and what isn ’ t protesting .
So yeah , I guess I don ’ t necessarily have anything much to say to that other than it ’ s not surprising @ @ @ @ @ @ @ continue to happen .
And what I think is interesting though is that police officers from probably out of state are going to start coming here and that ’ s okay , yet it ’ s not okay for people in their own community to be able to come together and try to create societal change .
So I think that ’ s what ’ s scaring me the most .
And I think another thing that ’ s scaring me is that Minneapolis organizing , specifically Minneapolis black organizing has had history @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
I was specifically there that day of the 4th Precinct when four armed alt-right protestors came in and shot , peaceful protestors , peaceful , whatever peaceful means to you all , peaceful protesters that were occupying the 4th Precinct .
So these weren ’ t people that were destroying property or redistributing wealth or anything like that .
These were folks who were just sitting and being in the street together and mourning the loss of a life that happened in the North side of Minneapolis .
So I think that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ me is that this is just going to increase the vigilantism and the vigilantes that are going to come and try to do some type of justice of their own and are probably going to take lives .
Kim Brown : Well , and that ’ s another concern I wanted to raise with you is that Trump tweeted , I ’ m paraphrasing here .
“ When they start looting , we start shooting.
” And I ’ m curious if you could , can you specifically reference which incident because I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ talking about a protest connected to Mr. Floyd .
Was this another incident that happened prior where these vigilantes came in and shot at peaceful protestors ?
Oluchi Omeoga : Yes .
Yes .
This was in 2015 during the Jamar Clark occupation of the 4th Precinct .
So this happened about five , yeah , it ’ s about five years ago now .
We were occupying the 4th Precinct .
Maybe a week in , we got a lot of anti-protestors throughout , but they didn ’ t really do anything @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The folks that were on the ground shoot them away , obviously because they were armed and then they actually shot at three or four of our folks and they ended up having to go to the hospital .
So that happened in 2015 .
And especially now after the election of Trump , this was before .
This was when Obama was still president .
After the election of Trump , I just see that being escalated to another level .
Kim Brown : And speaking of escalation , I wanted to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Minnesota National Guard has been now called in ?
And if I ’ m not mistaken , they have been authorized to use lethal force against protestors .
Are you afraid ?
I almost feel as if that ’ s a silly redundant question , but are you personally afraid about police escalating now rather than deescalating the situation and whether or not the arrest potentially of officer Chauvin will help to assuage some of the concerns and some of the anger of the people that are taking to the streets ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ question .
I think for me , I ’ m not on the front lines as of right now .
I was at the protest for the last three days , but I ’ m not as hyper-visible as I was during the 4th Precinct occupation .
So as far as my personal and my body , I ’ m less so afraid .
I think being black , you ’ re always just afraid .
There ’ s always this fear that comes out in different ways .
It comes in rage @ @ @ @ @ @ @ depression .
I ’ m afraid of my comrades .
I know people that are on the front lines every single day , that are there every single day .
I ’ m afraid for them .
I ’ m afraid for black Minneapolitians .
I ’ m afraid specifically for black youth that are out there in this moment because the people that are out there are black youth , they ’ re POCs .
So I ’ m really , really afraid for them .
And not even just like , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and the National Guard , but also through what this is going to mean for their trauma going forward in life .
And yeah , I think that ’ s mainly what I ’ m afraid of .
I ’ m afraid of the loss of more lives due to this and yeah , that ’ s all I can definitely say .
Kim Brown : All right .
I just have two more questions for you .
First , what are your thoughts about seeing these protests and uprisings spread to other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people from Minneapolis are taking to the streets ?
People were taking to the streets in Louisville , Kentucky , in Los Angeles , California , in Memphis , Tennessee , in solidarity but also in response to police brutality instances in their cities as well that has been torch lit by what happened to George Floyd .
What was your thoughts when you were aware that these other uprisings and protests were happening simultaneously ?
Oluchi Omeoga : I mean , I love a solidarity action .
I think that for first @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is not an isolated incident , point blank period .
We know that through Michael Brown , Trayvon Martin , Sandra Bland , Rekia Boyd , all of these people .
All of these people have died at the hands of police in different areas .
Jamar Clark , Philando Castile .
This is not an isolated incident .
So understanding that people are angry and upset about the things and the oppression that they face in their communities and are taking initiatives to make that change .
I am a hundred percent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ very , very happy that that ’ s happening .
And I also think that the thing that that does is it pushes this from , this is a Minneapolis issue , then this is a societal issue , and how do we actually create societal changes ?
And that ’ s what I ’ m really , really happy about .
Kim Brown : And lastly , Oluchi , what is it that you think that people outside of Minneapolis ought to know about what ’ s been happening in this instance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also what has been happening to communities of color in Minneapolis over , I guess the past 150 years .
As you said , that ’ s how long the MPD has been in existence .
For people who are not there or not familiar what ’ s going on in Minneapolis , generally , what do people need to know if we ’ re looking from the outside inward ?
Oluchi Omeoga : Thank you for that .
I think the one thing that I want to raise up in this time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for Black Lives in 2013 , in 2017 , till now , I think one thing that people don ’ t realize is that people , specifically black youth , specifically black organizers , are getting more abolitionist in their politics .
Before it was calling for prosecution and accountability and all of these things .
And that was what was resonant to the people that were on the ground .
But right now they ’ re past that .
And which is why I don ’ t actually think that getting them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s happening right now , it ’ s because people are asking for abolition .
They ’ re saying in layman ’ s terms , I apologize , I don ’ t know who your audience is , but they ’ re saying , “ Fuck 12 , ” which means , fuck the police .
This is a message that ’ s happening and that ’ s resonant within the vast majority of black folks .
So I think that ’ s one thing .
I think another thing about Minneapolis @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like , it is told that Minneapolis is one of the [ inaudible 00:24:30 ] places in the country for black folks and understanding that we ’ re resilient and also we ’ re so diverse .
So I think one thing that people don ’ t recognize is that the highest population of Somali people outside of Somalia is in isn ’ t Minnesota .
That we have a huge , huge , huge Somali population .
We have a huge Eritrean population .
We have a huge Kenyan , Ethiopian population @ @ @ @ @ @ @ very , very big West African population .
So my parents being Nigerian and the community that we come from and also Liberian population as well , that people don ’ t necessarily recognize when they look at blackness within Minnesota .
So I think that ’ s another thing is that we ’ re resilient to diverse population in Minnesota as far as people of color .
I ’ m not sure if folks know what monk folks are , but they are nomadic folks in Southeast Asia , from Laos , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ population of monk people outside of Southeast Asia is in Minnesota .
So when we talk about resiliency within , after the Vietnam war , when we talk about resiliency after what happened in Africa , these people have been refugees from different populations outside of the US and that ’ s one thing that folks don ’ t necessarily realize when they think about population and the diverse population in Minnesota .
Kim Brown : All right .
Well , listen , I can ’ t tell you how much we appreciate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ us , to inform and enlighten our viewers about the situation past and present in Minneapolis and in Minnesota at large .
And on behalf of The Real News , we are definitely standing in solidarity with the movement there to get justice , not only for George Floyd , but for so many others who have suffered and died as a result of police brutality .
So thank you very much .
Oluchi Omeoga : Yeah .
Thank you for having me .
Kim Brown : We ’ ve been speaking with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the organization , Black Visions , along with Reclaim the Block based out of Minneapolis .
Obviously we ’ ve been speaking about the uprisings as a result of the police murder of 46 year old George Floyd .
Thank you very much .
And thank you for watching The Real News Network .

Oluchi Omeoga of groups Reclaim the Block and Black Visions Collective talks about what life is like on the ground in Minneapolis right now.
Story Transcript
Editors’ Note: This interview was taped as former officer Derek Chauvin was arrested.
This is a rush transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated.
Kim Brown: Welcome to The Real News, I’m Kim Brown. The eyes of the nation have been focused on Minneapolis, Minnesota after video showing former police officer, Derek Chauvin, with his knee on the neck of handcuffed George Floyd. Mr. Floyd ultimately died from his injuries and subsequently, there were a number of uprisings and protests in the streets of Minneapolis calling for the arrest of the officers involved in Mr. Floyd’s death. As of Friday afternoon, May 29th, Derek Chauvin has now been charged with murder and manslaughter.
Well, to get a better understanding and perspective about what has been happening in the streets of Minneapolis in the last several days, we’re joined today with Oluchi Omeoga from the organization, Black Visions, and Reclaim the Block, based in Minneapolis. And that’s where they join us from right now. Oluchi, thank you so much for being here.
Oluchi Omeoga: Yeah. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
Kim Brown: Before we get started, I did want you to let our viewers know about your organization. Can you tell us what Black Visions is along with Reclaiming the Block, just to give us some context?
Oluchi Omeoga: Yeah. Black Visions is a black led organization that centers the power of queer and trans black folks in Minneapolis and St. Paul to create change and vision of a world where black people are liberated. And Reclaim the Block is a coalition of Black Visions and other community members in Minneapolis who actually envision a world beyond policing and actualize that through our city’s legislative system and direct organizing.
Kim Brown: Well, as of Friday, May 29th, a little shy of two o’clock Eastern time, it was announced on national media outlets that the officer who had his knee on the neck of George Floyd, Derek Chauvin has been taken into custody. Let me get your reaction to that latest news in this incident. What do you think about this?
Oluchi Omeoga: I mean, I don’t really have a reaction to it. I mean, folks are charged and not convicted. Folks are convicted. Folks are not even charged right. And I think that the sentiment of Black Visions and of Reclaim the Block is that regardless of the accountability measures that you have on police, the system of policing is inherently racist. So instead of advocating and demanding for the conviction of this, specifically murderer, how do we actually envision a world where police don’t exist in the same ways that they do now and abolish the system?
Kim Brown: Talk to us about what Minneapolis feels like right now. It’s been stated by other organizers, residents in the area even acknowledged today by the governor of Minnesota, that Minneapolis policing has been brutal, has been targeted towards communities of color, black and brown and indigenous communities there. And what happened to George Floyd was certainly not an isolated incident. And the uprisings that we’ve seen are really an outgrowth of that rage and frustration that has been building up there now for generations.
Can you talk to us about how Minneapolis police have been historically dealing with black, brown, and indigenous communities and why this anger is seemingly justified by many other black communities across the country that are looking at this and recognize exactly what is going on.
Oluchi Omeoga: Yeah, thank you for that. I think one thing that I wanted to respond to very quickly was this idea that protesters, specifically black protestors, rage has to be justified in order for their actions to be deemed necessary. As black people living in the world of anti-black racism, we experience generational trauma that is so overflowing in our bodies innately that like, regardless of what we do, our rage is always justified. So when I think about specifically Minneapolis, even like the history that I’ve had of organizing for like even just the past six years, we had Jamar Clark be executed by police in 2015, in November of 2015.
And the organization formation that I was a part of back then, Black Lives Matter Minneapolis really organized around that and led an 18 day occupation of the 4th Precinct. So this has been happening for like, even in the short period of time that I’ve been organizing, but regardless, it’s been happening since the inception of the MPD, which was like 151 years ago now. I think another thing to note generally around the region is like Minneapolis tops itself, and like Minnesota specifically tops itself for being lowest in class as far as unemployment, having the best biking system, being the best places that people want to move to.
But when you look at the numbers that are coming out around the most racist and worst cities to live in in the nation, you see that Minneapolis, St. Paul is actually number four on that list and that every other city on that list on the top five, if not the top seven are all in the Midwest. So we think of this place as a safe haven that people aren’t racist up North, when in reality, what we’re seeing is that it has the greatest racial tension of all of the nation. And I think that’s something that people outside of the Midwest don’t realize, places like Milwaukee as the worst place in the country for being black. Or places like Chicago, Detroit where the unemployment rate for white people might be really low, but the unemployment for black people are very high.
And also you’re seeing that the median income for households is like a third of what white people are getting. So I think that’s where the tension starts and it’s very underlying, and I’m not surprised at the tactics that are being used in this moment because people are fed up. They’ve had enough and they’re ready to uprise and dream of something new.
Kim Brown: And speaking of the uprisings, we’ve really seen some incredible things happening out of these uprisings, including the burning of the 3rd Precinct, the 3rd Police Precinct police station, those pictures were incredible. And the so-called looting of the Target store, but I’ve seen on social media where some of the items taken from the Target store have been re-distributed to the community. Can you talk about this particular nature of the uprisings, because it is not simply just wanting looting and destruction, there definitely seems to be an organized element about it. What’s your take on that?
Oluchi Omeoga: I don’t have a lot of specifics around what has been or hasn’t been taken. I know that the things that are being taken are being redistributed to the community. I also know that people in community are creating safe places and safe havens for small businesses that are local and in the community. So you see people protecting black owned businesses and PLC businesses that actually give back to the community. And I think another interesting piece around the precinct that people don’t necessarily understand or know about if they’re not from Minneapolis, is that police precinct is located not one or two blocks away from a houseless encampment that has been going on even before the pandemic has started.
That no one seems to want to talk about that they only got housing for as far as hotels yesterday and that people aren’t talking about, like, why do we have these structures, these stores, these whatever in place when people are homeless on the street and people don’t have houses? So I think that it’s like, I don’t have an opinion on is it good or is it bad to loot, but I do understand the use of reparations in this time looking like taking from corporations and giving back to people who actually need the resources. And also needing the resources because unemployment is at an all time high nationally and also in Minnesota because of the COVID-19 crisis. And we’re not seeing national dollars go to immigrants and which black people are. Not going to the indigenous community, which is a huge portion of where the authored precinct sits.
We have Little Earth, which is like two blocks away, which is one of the biggest centralized indigenous populations in Minnesota. And they’re seeing that they’re not getting any type of statewide or national support when it comes to the COVID crisis. And now we’re seeing that we’re able to give those people those things because Target was looted, because Cub Foods was looted and they’re able to redistribute that to the community.
Kim Brown: Historically, and this is specific to Minneapolis, but also broader across the US, there’s always a reluctance to charge and prosecute killer cops. A former attorney general from your state is possibly in the running to be Joe Biden’s vice-president, and that is Amy Klobuchar. And there were at least two incidents involving two of the officers in Mr. Floyd’s incident, officer Chauvin and officer Tou, I believe where they were alleged to have committed violent assaults on people. I know Chauvin actually murdered an indigenous man, if I’m not mistaken, whose name is Mr. Reyes, and yet there was no discipline resulting from that.
The attorney general at that time declined to press charges. And many are saying that blood is on her hands, that Mr. Floyd’s death possibly could have been avoided if officer Chauvin had been charged and possibly prosecuted, removed off the streets, so to speak. What is your take about how cops have been dealt with, killer cops, cops who brutalize have been dealt with in the past and potentially what we could expect or hope to see come out of this situation with Mr. Floyd?
Oluchi Omeoga: I don’t have opinions on Amy Klobuchar or like her, I know I am not an Amy Klobuchar supporter personally. I can’t speak for our organization, but I don’t have really an answer for that portion. I think as far as convicting and prosecuting cops, I don’t think that that is a solution to the issues that we’re seeing. I actually don’t think that a good cop exists. I think that the whole institution needs to be abolished and completely changed. And I think what’s interesting when we think about cops in this time is that what we’re envisioning is community policing or community safety rather. And 80% of the cops that are working in Minneapolis that actually don’t even live in Minneapolis.
Officer Chauvin is one of those examples. He lives in Oakdale, which is 40 minutes away from Minneapolis. So I don’t think, to answer your question, I apologize. I don’t think the solution to mass societal shift of policing is prosecution and jail time. I think that actually just recreates trauma, I don’t believe in the prison system at all. And I don’t believe that that’s actually going to create transformative justice. And I think what is going to create transformative justice is taking money from the Minneapolis Police Department specifically, and actually gaining momentum towards a total abolition of the police department.
Kim Brown: From the perspective of police abolitionist, what would you like to happen? What would a police abolitionist have happened in this case?
Oluchi Omeoga: Reclaim the Block actually just sent out a four piece demand to the city council members of Minneapolis. Currently, we’re in a special budget process because of the COVID-19 crisis. So they’re trying to reallocate resources. So the number one thing that we’re asking for, or two of the four things that we’re asking for is one, to never increase the police budget in any of your terms or allocate any more resources to the Minneapolis Police Department. Sorry, and the specific, tangible number that we’re asking for is we’re asking for $4.5 million of the Minneapolis Police Department budget to be diverted towards social services as far as due to the COVID crisis and actual community policing outside of the Minneapolis Police Department.
Kim Brown: Oluchi, another point that I wanted to raise with you is the reaction of President Donald Trump. Just a couple of short weeks ago, he was demanding the reopening of many states across the nation. And he did reference Minnesota specifically. And Trump supporters, I would imagine that’s who they were, came out in force, some of them armed, obviously in defiance of the large gathering ordinance that was in place in many states because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but yet he took to Twitter to call protestors in Minneapolis thugs. Now, obviously this is not a surprise to anyone, this part of Donald Trump’s racist playbook.
But the fact that that is such a striking difference, the fact that people who are in the streets protesting the unjustified murder of a black man are called thugs whereas people who just want to go out and get their haircut, or the ability to go eat in a restaurant are so-called liberating their state or trying to reopen Minnesota. What is your take on that?
Oluchi Omeoga: I mean, you basically said it, right? It’s not a surprise. It’s not a surprise at all. He probably made that tweet himself, then he rhymed it and everything, so he thought it was very clever. But it’s not a surprise to me that that’s the rhetoric that’s coming from the right. And that’s what folks want to do is divide and be divisive across what is protesting and what isn’t protesting. So yeah, I guess I don’t necessarily have anything much to say to that other than it’s not surprising and that it’s going to continue to happen. And what I think is interesting though is that police officers from probably out of state are going to start coming here and that’s okay, yet it’s not okay for people in their own community to be able to come together and try to create societal change.
So I think that’s what’s scaring me the most. And I think another thing that’s scaring me is that Minneapolis organizing, specifically Minneapolis black organizing has had history of vigilantes and vigilantism within our protest. I was specifically there that day of the 4th Precinct when four armed alt-right protestors came in and shot, peaceful protestors, peaceful, whatever peaceful means to you all, peaceful protesters that were occupying the 4th Precinct. So these weren’t people that were destroying property or redistributing wealth or anything like that. These were folks who were just sitting and being in the street together and mourning the loss of a life that happened in the North side of Minneapolis.
So I think that that’s what’s scaring me is that this is just going to increase the vigilantism and the vigilantes that are going to come and try to do some type of justice of their own and are probably going to take lives.
Kim Brown: Well, and that’s another concern I wanted to raise with you is that Trump tweeted, I’m paraphrasing here. “When they start looting, we start shooting.” And I’m curious if you could, can you specifically reference which incident because I don’t think you’re talking about a protest connected to Mr. Floyd. Was this another incident that happened prior where these vigilantes came in and shot at peaceful protestors?
Oluchi Omeoga: Yes. Yes. This was in 2015 during the Jamar Clark occupation of the 4th Precinct. So this happened about five, yeah, it’s about five years ago now. We were occupying the 4th Precinct. Maybe a week in, we got a lot of anti-protestors throughout, but they didn’t really do anything, but these ones were armed. The folks that were on the ground shoot them away, obviously because they were armed and then they actually shot at three or four of our folks and they ended up having to go to the hospital. So that happened in 2015. And especially now after the election of Trump, this was before. This was when Obama was still president. After the election of Trump, I just see that being escalated to another level.
Kim Brown: And speaking of escalation, I wanted to ask about how concerned are you that the Minnesota National Guard has been now called in? And if I’m not mistaken, they have been authorized to use lethal force against protestors. Are you afraid? I almost feel as if that’s a silly redundant question, but are you personally afraid about police escalating now rather than deescalating the situation and whether or not the arrest potentially of officer Chauvin will help to assuage some of the concerns and some of the anger of the people that are taking to the streets?
Oluchi Omeoga: Thank you for that question. I think for me, I’m not on the front lines as of right now. I was at the protest for the last three days, but I’m not as hyper-visible as I was during the 4th Precinct occupation. So as far as my personal and my body, I’m less so afraid. I think being black, you’re always just afraid. There’s always this fear that comes out in different ways. It comes in rage, it comes out in sadness, depression. I’m afraid of my comrades. I know people that are on the front lines every single day, that are there every single day.
I’m afraid for them. I’m afraid for black Minneapolitians.
I’m afraid specifically for black youth that are out there in this moment because the people that are out there are black youth, they’re POCs.
So I’m really, really afraid for them. And not even just like, as far as repression through the police and the National Guard, but also through what this is going to mean for their trauma going forward in life. And yeah, I think that’s mainly what I’m afraid of. I’m afraid of the loss of more lives due to this and yeah, that’s all I can definitely say.
Kim Brown: All right. I just have two more questions for you. First, what are your thoughts about seeing these protests and uprisings spread to other cities nationwide at the same time that people from Minneapolis are taking to the streets? People were taking to the streets in Louisville, Kentucky, in Los Angeles, California, in Memphis, Tennessee, in solidarity but also in response to police brutality instances in their cities as well that has been torch lit by what happened to George Floyd. What was your thoughts when you were aware that these other uprisings and protests were happening simultaneously?
Oluchi Omeoga: I mean, I love a solidarity action. I think that for first and foremost, what happened in Minneapolis is not an isolated incident, point blank period. We know that through Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, Rekia Boyd, all of these people. All of these people have died at the hands of police in different areas. Jamar Clark, Philando Castile. This is not an isolated incident. So understanding that people are angry and upset about the things and the oppression that they face in their communities and are taking initiatives to make that change. I am a hundred percent in support of, and I am very, very happy that that’s happening.
And I also think that the thing that that does is it pushes this from, this is a Minneapolis issue, then this is a societal issue, and how do we actually create societal changes? And that’s what I’m really, really happy about.
Kim Brown: And lastly, Oluchi, what is it that you think that people outside of Minneapolis ought to know about what’s been happening in this instance to people in your city, but also what has been happening to communities of color in Minneapolis over, I guess the past 150 years. As you said, that’s how long the MPD has been in existence. For people who are not there or not familiar what’s going on in Minneapolis, generally, what do people need to know if we’re looking from the outside inward?
Oluchi Omeoga: Thank you for that. I think the one thing that I want to raise up in this time is that since organizing from the Movement for Black Lives in 2013, in 2017, till now, I think one thing that people don’t realize is that people, specifically black youth, specifically black organizers, are getting more abolitionist in their politics. Before it was calling for prosecution and accountability and all of these things. And that was what was resonant to the people that were on the ground. But right now they’re past that. And which is why I don’t actually think that getting them arrested is going to actually squelch what’s happening right now, it’s because people are asking for abolition.
They’re saying in layman’s terms, I apologize, I don’t know who your audience is, but they’re saying, “Fuck 12,” which means, fuck the police. This is a message that’s happening and that’s resonant within the vast majority of black folks. So I think that’s one thing. I think another thing about Minneapolis that I already brought up was that like, it is told that Minneapolis is one of the [inaudible 00:24:30] places in the country for black folks and understanding that we’re resilient and also we’re so diverse. So I think one thing that people don’t recognize is that the highest population of Somali people outside of Somalia is in isn’t Minnesota. That we have a huge, huge, huge Somali population.
We have a huge Eritrean population. We have a huge Kenyan, Ethiopian population, and we have a very, very, very big West African population. So my parents being Nigerian and the community that we come from and also Liberian population as well, that people don’t necessarily recognize when they look at blackness within Minnesota. So I think that’s another thing is that we’re resilient to diverse population in Minnesota as far as people of color. I’m not sure if folks know what monk folks are, but they are nomadic folks in Southeast Asia, from Laos, Thailand, Cambodia. And the biggest population of monk people outside of Southeast Asia is in Minnesota.
So when we talk about resiliency within, after the Vietnam war, when we talk about resiliency after what happened in Africa, these people
have been refugees from different populations outside of the US and that’s one thing that folks don’t necessarily realize when they think about population and the diverse population in Minnesota.
Kim Brown: All right. Well, listen, I can’t tell you how much we appreciate you making some time to speak with us, to inform and enlighten our viewers about the situation past and present in Minneapolis and in Minnesota at large. And on behalf of The Real News, we are definitely standing in solidarity with the movement there to get justice, not only for George Floyd, but for so many others who have suffered and died as a result of police brutality. So thank you very much.
Oluchi Omeoga: Yeah. Thank you for having me.
Kim Brown: We’ve been speaking with Oluchi Omeoga, an activist and organizer from the organization, Black Visions, along with Reclaim the Block based out of Minneapolis. Obviously we’ve been speaking about the uprisings as a result of the police murder of 46 year old George Floyd. Thank you very much. And thank you for watching The Real News Network.
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therealnews--2020-05-31--Police Intensify Repression Of Protests Demanding Justice For George Floyd

On Saturday , May 30 , people in cities across the United States took to the streets for the fourth night in a row demanding justice for George Floyd , a Black man killed by Minneapolis police on Monday , May 25 .
Law enforcement responded with heavy handed tactics , using tear gas , flash-bang grenades , and rubber bullets to disperse crowds .
Looting and property damage was reported in multiple cities .
Los Angeles , Chicago , Atlanta , Miami , and Philadelphia were placed under curfew .
On Friday , Officer Derek Chauvin , who was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as Floyd plead “ I can ’ t breathe , ” was arrested on third-degree murder and manslaughter charges .
Many thought this would quell the expanding uprising but it did not .
Protesters are demanding the arrest of three other officers seen in the video who did not stop Chauvin .
Those officers have been fired and are being investigated .
The White House was forced into lockdown on Friday as hundreds of protestors stormed Pennsylvania Avenue .
Along with countless videos of police officers brutally attacking protesters , including multiple incidents @ @ @ @ @ @ @ act that immediately calls to mind the Charlottesville , Virginia white supremacist attack—video has emerged of police targeting journalists .
LA Times reporter Molly Hennessy-Fiske said police “ fired tear gas at reporters and photographers at point blank range.
” Photojournalist Linda Tirado said she lost sight in one of her eyes after Minneapolis police shot her with a rubber bullet .
In Louisville , Kentucky , Wave 3 News reporters Kaitlin Rust and James Dobson were shot with pepper balls from police while covering a protest live on air .
On Friday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ arrested while live on air .
In Baltimore , Maryland , which had an uprising of its own in 2015 when a Black man named Freddie Gray was tackled by police and had his spine broken and throat crushed , thousands took to the streets to demand justice for George Floyd and other victims of police brutality in a protest that criss-crossed much of the city and ended in front of City Hall .
Among those taking part in that protest earlier today in Baltimore was Tawanda Jones , the sister of Tyrone @ @ @ @ @ @ @ killed by Baltimore police and Morgan State University officers in 2013 during a traffic stop .
Those who viewed the traffic stop said West was beaten and kicked by the police officers and that one officer , David Lewis , put his knees on Jones ’ back .
When Jones saw the video of George Floyd ’ s death , she not only thought of New York ’ s Eric Garner , who , like Floyd , screamed “ I can ’ t breathe , ” but thought of her brother Tyrone because @ @ @ @ @ @ @ man .
“ When I first saw the video of George Floyd , I heard a grown man call for help saying ‘ I can ’ t breathe , ’ ” Jones told The Real News .
“ That hit home.
” Before the protest arrived at City Hall , some protesters split up , and Jones went with them to Baltimore ’ s Medical Examiner ’ s Office .
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner said he found no evidence Floyd died of “ asphyxia ” —the body losing oxygen as a result @ @ @ @ @ @ @ kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes .
Instead , underlying health issues were blamed for Floyd ’ s death .
For Jones , this also reminded her of her brother , whose autopsy also made claims that his death was a result of the extreme summer heat and pre-existing health issues rather than ” asphyxia.
” Jones and her family challenged that medical examiner ’ s report and had a second one performed , which did indicate asphyxia .
None of the officers involved in her brother ’ s death were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the reason why these killer cops get off , ” Jones said , blaming medical examiners .
“ We talk about the blue code silence with the offers , it transfers over to the [ Medical Examiner ] too.
” While Jones protested at Baltimore ’ s Medical Examiner ’ s Office , police began gathering in front of City Hall .
One of the officers posted there monitoring protesters was Jorge Omar Bernardez-Ruiz , one of the officers implicated in Tyrone West ’ s death .
She was “ outraged , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ murdered my brother.
” Into the evening , the police presence in Baltimore grew and police officers released tear gas and fired rubber bullets at the group of approximately 200 protesters .
More police in riot gear have been called in , and in the downtown area there are reports of property damage and attempts at looting .
“ It ’ s amazing how white racist people can go into capitals and no one pulls a weapon , no one was shot , you don ’ t see pepper spray , ” Jones @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out there , because our bodies are being killed everyday , they still want to kill us .
It is utterly ridiculous … George Floyd was lynched—it was a modern day lynching .
”

Photo: Protesters in Baltimore demand justice for George Floyd. Ryan Harvey/Rebel Lens Baltimore
On Saturday, May 30, people in cities across the United States took to the streets for the fourth night in a row demanding justice for George Floyd, a Black man killed by Minneapolis police on Monday, May 25. Law enforcement responded with heavy handed tactics, using tear gas, flash-bang grenades, and rubber bullets to disperse crowds. Looting and property damage was reported in multiple cities. Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Miami, and Philadelphia were placed under curfew.
On Friday, Officer Derek Chauvin, who was filmed kneeling on Floyd’s neck as Floyd plead “I can’t breathe,” was arrested on third-degree murder and manslaughter charges. Many thought this would quell the expanding uprising but it did not. Protesters are demanding the arrest of three other officers seen in the video who did not stop Chauvin. Those officers have been fired and are being investigated.
The White House was forced into lockdown on Friday as hundreds of protestors stormed Pennsylvania Avenue.
Along with countless videos of police officers brutally attacking protesters, including multiple incidents of police driving into groups of protesters—an act that immediately calls to mind the Charlottesville, Virginia white supremacist attack—video has emerged of police targeting journalists.
LA Times reporter Molly Hennessy-Fiske said police “fired tear gas at reporters and photographers at point blank range.”
Photojournalist Linda Tirado said she lost sight in one of her eyes after Minneapolis police shot her with a rubber bullet.
In Louisville, Kentucky, Wave 3 News reporters Kaitlin Rust and James Dobson were shot with pepper balls from police while covering a protest live on air.
On Friday a CNN crew in Minneapolis were wrongfully arrested while live on air.
In Baltimore, Maryland, which had an uprising of its own in 2015 when a Black man named Freddie Gray was tackled by police and had his spine broken and throat crushed, thousands took to the streets to demand justice for George Floyd and other victims of police brutality in a protest that criss-crossed much of the city and ended in front of City Hall.
Among those taking part in that protest earlier today in Baltimore was Tawanda Jones, the sister of Tyrone West, a Black man who was killed by Baltimore police and Morgan State University officers in 2013 during a traffic stop. Those who viewed the traffic stop said West was beaten and kicked by the police officers and that one officer, David Lewis, put his knees on Jones’ back.
When Jones saw the video of George Floyd’s death, she not only thought of New York’s Eric Garner, who, like Floyd, screamed “I can’t breathe,” but thought of her brother Tyrone because of the officer kneeling on the subdued man.
“When I first saw the video of George Floyd, I heard a grown man call for help saying ‘I can’t breathe,’” Jones told The Real News. “That hit home.”
Before the protest arrived at City Hall, some protesters split up, and Jones went with them to Baltimore’s Medical Examiner’s Office. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner said he found no evidence Floyd died of “asphyxia”—the body losing oxygen as a result of an inability to breathe—even though Chauvin kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes. Instead, underlying health issues were blamed for Floyd’s death.
For Jones, this also reminded her of her brother, whose autopsy also made claims that his death was a result of the extreme summer heat and pre-existing health issues rather than ”asphyxia.” Jones and her family challenged that medical examiner’s report and had a second one performed, which did indicate asphyxia. None of the officers involved in her brother’s death were ever charged.
“They are basically the reason why these killer cops get off,” Jones said, blaming medical examiners. “We talk about the blue code silence with the offers, it transfers over to the [Medical Examiner] too.”
While Jones protested at Baltimore’s Medical Examiner’s Office, police began gathering in front of City Hall. One of the officers posted there monitoring protesters was Jorge Omar Bernardez-Ruiz, one of the officers implicated in Tyrone West’s death. She was “outraged,” she said, “seeing someone that murdered my brother.”
Into the evening, the police presence in Baltimore grew and police officers released tear gas and fired rubber bullets at the group of approximately 200 protesters. More police in riot gear have been called in, and in the downtown area there are reports of property damage and attempts at looting.
“It’s amazing how white racist people can go into capitals and no one pulls a weapon, no one was shot, you don’t see pepper spray,” Jones said. “But when we go out there, because our bodies are being killed everyday, they still want to kill us. It is utterly ridiculous … George Floyd was lynched—it was a modern day lynching.”
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therealnews--2020-06-02--Thousands In Baltimore March For Justice For George Floyd

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Jaisal is currently the Democracy Initiative Manager at the Solutions Journalism Network and is a former TRNN host, producer, and reporter. He mainly grew up in the Baltimore area and studied modern history at the University of Maryland, College Park. Before joining TRNN, he contributed print, radio, and TV reports to Free Speech Radio News, Democracy Now! and The Indypendent. Jaisal's mother has taught in the Baltimore City Public School system for the past 25 years. Follow him on Twitter @jaisalnoor.


therealnews--2020-06-01--Climate Crisis: Dead Med Gas, Executive Bonuses, Coal Exports, Aviation Loophole

Welcome back to TRNN ’ s Climate Crisis News Roundup .
In recent weeks , this column has focused heavily on the intersection between COVID-19 and the climate crisis , and that will continue as the pandemic sweeps through the world .
But climate change and the politics of surrounding this monumental issue are still happening outside of the context of COVID-19 too , and we will use this space to tell those stories too .
If you have a story you think deserves a spot in the roundup or story pitches in general , get in touch with me @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Twitter at @ SteveAHorn .
You can read the previous edition here .
Several months ago , drilling for natural gas in the eastern Mediterranean Sea appeared to be the next great offshore frontier for Big Oil .
With Israel , Cyprus and Greece on board , a new geopolitical alliance had greenlit drilling at the behest of major companies like ExxonMobil , Eni , and Total .
We covered these developments back in February in an investigation published jointly with The Intercept .
That piece covered how the American Chamber of Commerce @ @ @ @ @ @ @ financed by the U.S. Embassy in Cyprus—helped ExxonMobil and Noble to forge a three-country alliance to fend off Turkey ’ s presence in these contested waters and tap into the gas .
It looked like a formidable troika .
And then COVID-19 happened .
Now , offshore drilling in this region may not happen at all , or at least not anytime soon .
This is due to a topic covered previously where we looked at the United States ’ oil industry and the demise of fracking as we know it .
That @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deepwater offshore extraction is expensive and requires a high global price of oil , a price which currently doesn ’ t exist with the global economic system is in turmoil due to the coronavirus .
Put simply , offshore drilling in the Mediterranean no longer appears economically viable .
Industry publication Platts reports that “ activity has all but ground to a halt , with drilling by players such as France ’ s Total , Italy ’ s Eni and the US ’ ExxonMobil postponed until at least next year ” due to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s not just an economics issue .
As covered in last week ’ s roundup , the European Commission—the legislative body for European Union countries—has proposed a green stimulus plan to grant billions of dollars to transition member states off of fossil fuels and hit zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 .
Offshore drilling for gas , due to concerns over methane leakage , may not fit under the banner of the European Commission ’ s green stimulus planning and financing .
“ I was very dubious about East Mediterranean gas even @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” Jonathan Stern , Distinguished Research Fellow for the Natural Gas Research Programme at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies , told Platts .
Stern also said that by the time a commercial-scale industry is set up in the region , “ CO2 constraints would add further costs and complexity.
” Eight EU countries have pushed back against taking natural gas out of the body ’ s Green Deal stimulus plan .
One of them is Greece , while the other are Eastern European countries heavily reliant on gas imports sent from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ include Bulgaria , the Czech Republic , Hungary , Lithuania , Poland , Romania , and Slovakia , which co-signed a position paper titled the “ Role of natural gas in climate-neutral Europe.
” “ While transitioning away from solid fossil fuels , we need to ensure the security of energy supplies as well as to address the social and economic aspects of this process with particular emphasis on overcoming the consequences of the current situation caused by COVID 19 , ” the countries state in the paper .
“ As the Member @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the EU energy and climate policy should recognise the existence of national and regional differences and should allow tailored solutions to be implemented leading to the achievement of climate-neutral European Union by 2050.
” The countries ’ letter goes on to say , “ Natural gas can curtail greenhouse gas emissions ( 60 % less CO2 than coal ) but also of dusts and other pollutants such as [ nitrogen oxide ] and [ sulfur dioxide ] ( up to 99 % less than coal ) .
” But as we covered previously @ @ @ @ @ @ @ offshore drilling for gas is a major emitter of methane , a greenhouse gas dozens of times more potent than CO2 during its first 20 years in the atmosphere .
Methane emissions go unmentioned in the position paper .
The oil industry is in economic freefall , but the executives running many of America ’ s top fracking companies could still walk away with bonuses .
That ’ s according to a March 27 story by Reuters , pointing to a metric the industry uses called total shareholder return .
The metric is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , though , but only the oil industry itself .
So , if a company is failing economically , it is measured only relative to how badly other companies in the industry are failing .
This enables “ executives to get big payouts even if their companies ’ stocks lose value , ” Reuters explained .
“ That system means the heavy shareholder losses expected this year will likely not translate to big reductions in CEO stock awards because the pandemic hit all oil companies in roughly equal measure , ” the publication @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not the only industry which does bonuses this way : “ One-third of S & P 500 companies benchmark relative [ total shareholder return ] against a broad index of firms , ” the piece explained .
In practice , this has led to the CEOs of the 15 largest oil and gas producers landing more than $ 2 billion in bonuses over the past decade under this system of incentives .
One example is Devon Energy , the Oklahoma City-based company and namesake of its Devon Energy Center skyscraper office building .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ took home $ 1.3 million in stock awards as a bonus in January even after the company ’ s stock value fell 41 % in the past three years .
Fellow Oklahoma City-based fracking company Chesapeake Energy also doled out $ 25 million in bonuses to its executives for work performed in the previous year even as it may soon enter bankruptcy proceedings .
Responding to the article on Twitter , the Alaska Wilderness League wrote that “ U.S .
energy executives have received lavish payouts even as they have struggled for years @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their compensation is being insulated from the pain of the worst energy crisis in four decades caused.
” Meanwhile , the oil and gas industry consultancy firm Rystad Energy predicts that over 1 million oil and gas sector workers could lose their jobs due to COVID-19 economic fallout .
Tens of thousands of workers in the industry have already lost their jobs in recent weeks , and the cuts keep coming .
Some have called for a nationalization of the industry as a means of ensuring a just transition away from fossil fuels @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to ensure , as Reuters reported , that executives do not come out of this moment with even more wealth at the expense of their workers .
We covered that in a recent video report .
The Ninth Circuit has upheld the U.S. District Court ’ s 2018 reversal of a coal export ban implemented by the Oakland City Council in 2016 .
The court ruled that Oakland violated its initial contract with the company seeking to build an exports terminal when the City Council subsequently voted to ban exports within city limits @ @ @ @ @ @ @ movement around another coal storage ban in the neighboring San Francisco Bay Area city of Richmond .
Richmond ’ s City Council voted for the ban in January of 2016 .
The Real News Network reported on Mayor Tom Butt ’ s decision the previous December to delay the vote under political pressure from the coal industry .
The court ruling provides a major lifeline to an industry in steep decline in the United States , with already an announced 13 power plants shuttering in 2020 .
In this case , that lifeline @ @ @ @ @ @ @ area in the world still where coal is still king .
Slated as the largest West Coast coal exports terminal in the country after many other proposals have received denials , it is proposed by the company Oakland Bulk & Oversized Terminal ( OBOT ) and would sit close to the Port of Oakland on a former Army base .
OBOT ’ s real estate developer has business ties to former Governor Jerry Brown , known in many circles as a globally iconic climate leader .
The owner of the terminal , businessman @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2005 wedding in which he married Anne Gust .
In response to the court ruling , the volunteer group No Coal in Oakland said in a press release that environmental and climate concerns about the proposed export terminal “ remain unaddressed ” by the federal judiciary .
“ As a third-generation resident , I have fought for environmental justice in West Oakland for over 20 years and will continue to fight the developer ’ s plans of putting profit over people and his total disregard for West Oakland residents , and the health @ @ @ @ @ @ @ work , play and pray in the city , ” Margaret Gordon , the cofounder of West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project , said in the release .
The publication Climate Central reported in February that though coal only “ accounted for 31 % of energy generated in the U.S. in 2017 , it was responsible for 68 % of the emissions.
” Lastly , the aviation sector is attempting to obtain a regulatory loophole from a United Nations body created to curb its emissions .
Commercial aviation creates 2.5 % of the world @ @ @ @ @ @ @ current rates , air travel could grow at a 5 % annual rate through 2034 .
Called the International Civil Aviation Organization ( ICAO ) , the United Nations-administered group runs an international offsets scheme for the aviation industry known as the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation ( CORSIA ) .
CORSIA currently mandates that beginning in 2020 , airlines must take greenhouse gas emissions mitigation efforts like increasing the efficiency of aircraft or buying credits from the carbon market if company emissions rise above 2019-2020 levels .
Now under @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for offsets levels to be based upon its high 2019 emissions levels , not its historically low 2020 levels and the accompanying extraordinarily declining number of commercial airline passengers caused by the COVID-19 pandemic .
The request comes from the industry ’ s trade association , the International Air Transport Association ( IATA ) .
Keeping it at 2019 levels , rather than 2020 levels , would allow the industry higher “ allowances ” to pollute in the future .
It is those allowances to emit which critics believe are the root problem @ @ @ @ @ @ @ begin with .
First reported on by the UK-based outlet Climate Home News , a coalition of climate groups sent a letter on May 25 to the ICAO requesting that the industry request not get the green light .
“ As organisations active in various aspects of the aviation carbon market ( including programmes , developers , brokers , NGOs and businesses ) , we would like to highlight the importance of safeguarding the integrity , stability , and regulatory predictability of CORSIA as adopted by the Assembly , ” wrote the signatories @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Carbon Market Watch , World Wildlife Federation and others .
“ We , therefore , urge you not to modify the CORSIA baseline.
” Similarly , the Germany-based environmental advocacy think tank Öko-Institut ( Institute of Applied Ecology ) published an analysis on May 25 about the IATA proposed rule change and concluded that , in effect , this could “ could reduce the overall mitigation achieved through CORSIA by about 25-75 % .
” The aviation degrowth advocacy group Stay Grounded Network added in a tweet that “ CORSIA is almost @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not mean that you have to make it even worse .
”

Welcome back to TRNN’s Climate Crisis News Roundup. In recent weeks, this column has focused heavily on the intersection between COVID-19 and the climate crisis, and that will continue as the pandemic sweeps through the world. But climate change and the politics of surrounding this monumental issue are still happening outside of the context of COVID-19 too, and we will use this space to tell those stories too.
If you have a story you think deserves a spot in the roundup or story pitches in general, get in touch with me at steve@therealnews.com or on Twitter at @SteveAHorn. You can read the previous edition here.
Med Gas Dead?
Several months ago, drilling for natural gas in the eastern Mediterranean Sea appeared to be the next great offshore frontier for Big Oil. With Israel, Cyprus and Greece on board, a new geopolitical alliance had greenlit drilling at the behest of major companies like ExxonMobil, Eni, and Total.
We covered these developments back in February in an investigation published jointly with The Intercept. That piece covered how the American Chamber of Commerce in Cyprus—a U.S. Chamber of Commerce offshoot financed by the U.S. Embassy in Cyprus—helped ExxonMobil and Noble to forge a three-country alliance to fend off Turkey’s presence in these contested waters and tap into the gas.
It looked like a formidable troika. And then COVID-19 happened. Now, offshore drilling in this region may not happen at all, or at least not anytime soon. This is due to a topic covered previously where we looked at the United States’ oil industry and the demise of fracking as we know it. That is, unconventional drilling like fracking and deepwater offshore extraction is expensive and requires a high global price of oil, a price which currently doesn’t exist with the global economic system is in turmoil due to the coronavirus.
Put simply, offshore drilling in the Mediterranean no longer appears economically viable.
Industry publication Platts reports that “activity has all but ground to a halt, with drilling by players such as France’s Total, Italy’s Eni and the US’ ExxonMobil postponed until at least next year” due to the economic dynamics at play.
It’s not just an economics issue. As covered in last week’s roundup, the European Commission—the legislative body for European Union countries—has proposed a green stimulus plan to grant billions of dollars to transition member states off of fossil fuels and hit zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Offshore drilling for gas, due to concerns over methane leakage, may not fit under the banner of the European Commission’s green stimulus planning and financing.
“I was very dubious about East Mediterranean gas even at pre-2019 prices. Now forget it,” Jonathan Stern, Distinguished Research Fellow for the Natural Gas Research Programme at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, told Platts.
Stern also said that by the time a commercial-scale industry is set up in the region, “CO2 constraints would add further costs and complexity.”
Eight EU countries have pushed back against taking natural gas out of the body’s Green Deal stimulus plan. One of them is Greece, while the other are Eastern European countries heavily reliant on gas imports sent from the United States and Russia. They include Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia, which co-signed a position paper titled the “Role of natural gas in climate-neutral Europe.”
“While transitioning away from solid fossil fuels, we need to ensure the security of energy supplies as well as to address the social and economic aspects of this process with particular emphasis on overcoming the consequences of the current situation caused by COVID 19,” the countries state in the paper. “As the Member States and their regions vary significantly, the EU energy and climate policy should recognise the existence of national and regional differences and should allow tailored solutions to be implemented leading to the achievement of climate-neutral European Union by 2050.”
The countries’ letter goes on to say, “Natural gas can curtail greenhouse gas emissions (60% less CO2 than coal) but also of dusts and other pollutants such as [nitrogen oxide] and [sulfur dioxide] (up to 99% less than coal).”
But as we covered previously here at The Real News, deepwater offshore drilling for gas is a major emitter of methane, a greenhouse gas dozens of times more potent than CO2 during its first 20 years in the atmosphere.
Methane emissions go unmentioned in the position paper.
Executive Bonuses
The oil industry is in economic freefall, but the executives running many of America’s top fracking companies could still walk away with bonuses. That’s according to a March 27 story by Reuters, pointing to a metric the industry uses called total shareholder return.
The metric is not measured against companies in other industries, though, but only the oil industry itself. So, if a company is failing economically, it is measured only relative to how badly other companies in the industry are failing. This enables “executives to get big payouts even if their companies’ stocks lose value,” Reuters explained.
“That system means the heavy shareholder losses expected this year will likely not translate to big reductions in CEO stock awards because the pandemic hit all oil companies in roughly equal measure,” the publication further detailed.
The energy industry is not the only industry which does bonuses this way: “One-third of S&P 500 companies benchmark relative [total shareholder return] against a broad index of firms,” the piece explained.
In practice, this has led to the CEOs of the 15 largest oil and gas producers landing more than $2 billion in bonuses over the past decade under this system of incentives.
One example is Devon Energy, the Oklahoma City-based company and namesake of its Devon Energy Center skyscraper office building. In January, its CEO David Hager took home $1.3 million in stock awards as a bonus in January even after the company’s stock value fell 41% in the past three years. Fellow Oklahoma City-based fracking company Chesapeake Energy also doled out $25 million in bonuses to its executives for work performed in the previous year even as it may soon enter bankruptcy proceedings.
Responding to the article on Twitter, the Alaska Wilderness League wrote that “U.S. energy executives have received lavish payouts even as they have struggled for years to deliver shareholder returns, and now their compensation is being insulated from the pain of the worst energy crisis in four decades caused.”
Meanwhile, the oil and gas industry consultancy firm Rystad Energy predicts that over 1 million oil and gas sector workers could lose their jobs due to COVID-19 economic fallout. Tens of thousands of workers in the industry have already lost their jobs in recent weeks, and the cuts keep coming.
Some have called for a nationalization of the industry as a means of ensuring a just transition away from fossil fuels for the industry’s workforce and to ensure, as Reuters reported, that executives do not come out of this moment with even more wealth at the expense of their workers. We covered that in a recent video report.
Coal Exports
The Ninth Circuit has upheld the U.S. District Court’s 2018 reversal of a coal export ban implemented by the Oakland City Council in 2016. The court ruled that Oakland violated its initial contract with the company seeking to build an exports terminal when the City Council subsequently voted to ban exports within city limits. Oakland’s ban inspired a movement around another coal storage ban in the neighboring San Francisco Bay Area city of Richmond. Richmond’s City Council voted for the ban in January of 2016. The Real News Network reported on Mayor Tom Butt’s decision the previous December to delay the vote under political pressure from the coal industry.
The court ruling provides a major lifeline to an industry in steep decline in the United States, with already an announced 13 power plants shuttering in 2020. In this case, that lifeline is the Asian market, the only area in the world still where coal is still king.
Slated as the largest West Coast coal exports terminal in the country after many other proposals have received denials, it is proposed by the company Oakland Bulk & Oversized Terminal (OBOT) and would sit close to the Port of Oakland on a former Army base. OBOT’s real estate developer has business ties to former Governor Jerry Brown, known in many circles as a globally iconic climate leader. The owner of the terminal, businessman Phil Tagami, hosted Brown’s 2005 wedding in which he married Anne Gust.
In response to the court ruling, the volunteer group No Coal in Oakland said in a press release that environmental and climate concerns about the proposed export terminal “remain unaddressed” by the federal judiciary.
“As a third-generation resident, I have fought for environmental justice in West Oakland for over 20 years and will continue to fight the developer’s plans of putting profit over people and his total disregard for West Oakland residents, and the health and safety of all who live, work, play and pray in the city,” Margaret Gordon, the cofounder of West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project, said in the release.
The publication Climate Central reported in February that though coal only “accounted for 31% of energy generated in the U.S. in 2017, it was responsible for 68% of the emissions.”
Aviation Loophole
Lastly, the aviation sector is attempting to obtain a regulatory loophole from a United Nations body created to curb its emissions. Commercial aviation creates 2.5% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and at current rates, air travel could grow at a 5% annual rate through 2034.
Called the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the United Nations-administered group runs an international offsets scheme for the aviation industry known as the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA). CORSIA currently mandates that beginning in 2020, airlines must take greenhouse gas emissions mitigation efforts like increasing the efficiency of aircraft or buying credits from the carbon market if company emissions rise above 2019-2020 levels.
Now under CORSIA, the aviation industry has asked for offsets levels to be based upon its high 2019 emissions levels, not its historically low 2020 levels and the accompanying extraordinarily declining number of commercial airline passengers caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The request comes from the industry’s trade association, the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Keeping it at 2019 levels, rather than 2020 levels, would allow the industry higher “allowances” to pollute in the future. It is those allowances to emit which critics believe are the root problem with market-based cap-and-trade programs like CORSIA to begin with. First reported on by the UK-based outlet Climate Home News, a coalition of climate groups sent a letter on May 25 to the ICAO requesting that the industry request not get the green light.
“As organisations active in various aspects of the aviation carbon market (including programmes, developers, brokers, NGOs and businesses), we would like to highlight the importance of safeguarding the integrity, stability, and regulatory predictability of CORSIA as adopted by the Assembly,” wrote the signatories, who include the Environmental Defense Fund, Carbon Market Watch, World Wildlife Federation and others. “We, therefore, urge you not to modify the CORSIA baseline.”
Similarly, the Germany-based environmental advocacy think tank Öko-Institut (Institute of Applied Ecology) published an analysis on May 25 about the IATA proposed rule change and concluded that, in effect, this could “could reduce the overall mitigation achieved through CORSIA by about 25-75%.”
The aviation degrowth advocacy group Stay Grounded Network added in a tweet that “CORSIA is almost completely useless anyways – but that does not mean that you have to make it even worse.”
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therealnews--2020-06-01--Stir Crazy! Episode #44: Cities Can Be Rebuilt, Lives Cannot

Host, The Marc Steiner Show
Marc Steiner is the host of "The Marc Steiner Show" on TRNN. He is a Peabody Award-winning journalist who has spent his life working on social justice issues. He walked his first picket line at age 13, and at age 16 became the youngest person in Maryland arrested at a civil rights protest during the Freedom Rides through Cambridge. As part of the Poor People’s Campaign in 1968, Marc helped organize poor white communities with the Young Patriots, the white Appalachian counterpart to the Black Panthers. Early in his career he counseled at-risk youth in therapeutic settings and founded a theater program in the Maryland State prison system. He also taught theater for 10 years at the Baltimore School for the Arts. From 1993-2018 Marc's signature “Marc Steiner Show” aired on Baltimore’s public radio airwaves, both WYPR—which Marc co-founded—and Morgan State University’s WEAA.
marc@therealnews.com
@marcsteiner