vox--2020-06-07--The protests are growing larger, calmer, and more community-oriented

Cities and towns across the country saw multiple peaceful protests against police brutality and racism throughout the day on Saturday — from family-themed marches to dance parties — with many taking on the feel of a community gathering as a way to stand up in solidarity .
The protests , which began almost two weeks ago following the death of George Floyd , were mostly calm this weekend as protesters marched through neighborhoods and downtowns from coast to coast , holding signs that read “ Black Lives Matter ” and “ No justice , no peace.
” It was a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when tensions escalated as protesters clashed with the police in numerous cities .
Washington , DC , saw its largest crowds yet as people flocked to the nation ’ s capital to protest police violence against the black community .
Ahead of the demonstrations , Mayor Muriel Bowser had “ Black Lives Matter ” painted in bold yellow words on 16th Street , which leads directly to the White House , and renamed an area in front of the White House “ Black Lives Matter Plaza.
” Thousands of people gathered in front @ @ @ @ @ @ @ merging in front of the White House .
President Donald Trump commented on the protests by tweeting , “ Much smaller crowd in D.C. than anticipated.
” While the hundreds of thousands expected did not materialize , Saturday ’ s protests were , in fact , the largest the city had seen in the past two weeks .
Demonstrations in Philadelphia also attracted thousands of people .
Protesters flocked to City Hall to demand defunding of the police and redirecting the money to city services , such as the library and public parks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s curfew of 8 pm , but the protesters eventually peacefully dispersed before midnight on their own , according to the Philadelphia Inquirer .
As the crowds grew , the protests also became a place for the community to get together .
In Philadelphia , a couple joined the protests on their wedding day to march in a suit and wedding dress .
The people around them clapped and cheered as they held hands and kissed in the middle of the street .
In Atlanta , the protests also became a center @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Childish Gambino ’ s “ This is America ” — which has become an informal anthem for the protests .
People also enjoyed live music played by a band perched on top of a parking garage , CNN reported .
“ Music has completely changed the atmosphere , as you can see , ” the band director told CNN .
“ As soon as we started playing , the crowd just immediately came this way .
We just want justice .
We understand what ’ s going on .
Music will bring togetherness @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Detroit also threw a dance party on Saturday as a way to help the community deal with the trauma caused by recent violence .
MLive ’ s Dana Afana reported that people gathered downtown for dabke , a native Levantine folk dance , before heading back to the police headquarters for another round of protests .
“ I saw during the crowd people trying to move their feet and move their bodies to kind of match with the marching .
I ’ m just trying to let the people get out this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ way and a way they can own , ” Jah-T Headd , a Detroit resident who helped organize the dancing , told MLive .
“ As black people specifically , we deal with our trauma , we deal with our pain , often times through song and dance.
” The protests ’ presence also continued to grow overseas .
Tens of thousands of people gathered in London , despite Covid-19 warnings from the health minister .
Though a pandemic-related order banned more than six people from different households from gathering outside , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the US Embassy and even knelt on the ground for a minute in solidarity of the Black Lives Matter movement , according to the New York Times .
At least 20,000 people marched in Sydney to protest the police mistreatment of the black community as well as Indigenous Australians .
The march almost didn ’ t happen : It was ruled unlawful under Covid-19 restrictions on Friday , but the decision was overturned by the court of appeals minutes before the event was supposed to begin .
The protests spread as far as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Tokyo and Osaka to speak out on police abuse , Japan Times reported .
The demonstrations were fueled by the violent arrest of a Kurdish man by Tokyo police officers on May 22 — just three days before the death of George Floyd .
“ We all know what ’ s happening in the US , ” protester Nami Nanami told Japan Times .
“ The same thing is happening in Japan but nobody is talking about it.
” There have still been some escalations , despite protesters ’ calls for accountability @ @ @ @ @ @ @ response to the protests by eliminating curfews and reducing arrests , with mixed success .
DC and Los Angeles lifted curfews earlier in the week , and protesters remained peaceful as demonstrations lasted late into the night .
And officers didn ’ t enforce curfews in cities where they still existed , such as in New York City .
The number of arrests also drastically fell : Chicago , which once arrested more than 100 protesters in a single day , announced that the police made no arrests on Saturday .
Cities like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Miami made similar announcements .
Some officials also made the effort to keep their officers accountable .
On Saturday , a Virginian police officer was charged with three counts of misdemeanor assault and battery for a violent arrest he made on Friday .
Body camera footage reveals the officer using his stun gun on a black man who was walking away , then using it again when the man is already face-down on the ground .
Another officer from St. Louis was suspended for driving into a man on June 2 — and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were also placed on leave .
None have been arrested .
Despite these efforts , however , not all protests were free from conflict due to provocation from the police : In Seattle , the police used tear gas to disperse a peaceful crowd — even though the mayor had promised a 30-day ban on the use of the chemical weapon just a day before .
Provocations such as these are likely to help ensure the protests continue — particularly given they are part of what demonstrators hope to change .
Whether high @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seen — but large protests are again expected across the world Sunday .
Every day at Vox , we aim to answer your most important questions and provide you , and our audience around the world , with information that has the power to save lives .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
Vox ’ s work is reaching more people than ever , but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will not constitute a donation , but it will enable our staff to continue to offer free articles , videos , and podcasts at the quality and volume that this moment requires .
Please consider making a contribution to Vox today .

Cities and towns across the country saw multiple peaceful protests against police brutality and racism throughout the day on Saturday — from family-themed marches to dance parties — with many taking on the feel of a community gathering as a way to stand up in solidarity.
The protests, which began almost two weeks ago following the death of George Floyd, were mostly calm this weekend as protesters marched through neighborhoods and downtowns from coast to coast, holding signs that read “Black Lives Matter” and “No justice, no peace.” It was a stark contrast to a week ago, when tensions escalated as protesters clashed with the police in numerous cities.
Washington, DC, saw its largest crowds yet as people flocked to the nation’s capital to protest police violence against the black community. Ahead of the demonstrations, Mayor Muriel Bowser had “Black Lives Matter” painted in bold yellow words on 16th Street, which leads directly to the White House, and renamed an area in front of the White House “Black Lives Matter Plaza.” Thousands of people gathered in front of the Capitol and Lincoln Memorial before merging in front of the White House.
Thousands protesting outside Lincoln Memorial in #WashingtonDC today for #BlackLivesMatter. Definitely biggest day of George Floyd protests here.
You can see Reflecting Pool and Washington Monument in background: pic.twitter.com/TwgjAEPoLf — Joyce Karam (@Joyce_Karam) June 6, 2020
President Donald Trump commented on the protests by tweeting, “Much smaller crowd in D.C. than anticipated.” While the hundreds of thousands expected did not materialize, Saturday’s protests were, in fact, the largest the city had seen in the past two weeks.
Demonstrations in Philadelphia also attracted thousands of people. Protesters flocked to City Hall to demand defunding of the police and redirecting the money to city services, such as the library and public parks. People were out past the city’s curfew of 8 pm, but the protesters eventually peacefully dispersed before midnight on their own, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
As the crowds grew, the protests also became a place for the community to get together. In Philadelphia, a couple joined the protests on their wedding day to march in a suit and wedding dress. The people around them clapped and cheered as they held hands and kissed in the middle of the street.
In Atlanta, the protests also became a center for community building as demonstrators danced to Childish Gambino’s “This is America” — which has become an informal anthem for the protests. People also enjoyed live music played by a band perched on top of a parking garage, CNN reported.
“Music has completely changed the atmosphere, as you can see,” the band director told CNN. “As soon as we started playing, the crowd just immediately came this way. We just want justice. We understand what’s going on. Music will bring togetherness and everybody is here now.”
Protesters in Detroit also threw a dance party on Saturday as a way to help the community deal with the trauma caused by recent violence. MLive’s Dana Afana reported that people gathered downtown for dabke, a native Levantine folk dance, before heading back to the police headquarters for another round of protests.
“I saw during the crowd people trying to move their feet and move their bodies to kind of match with the marching. I’m just trying to let the people get out this energy that they have in a positive way and a way they can own,” Jah-T Headd, a Detroit resident who helped organize the dancing, told MLive. “As black people specifically, we deal with our trauma, we deal with our pain, often times through song and dance.”
The protests’ presence also continued to grow overseas.
Tens of thousands of people gathered in London, despite Covid-19 warnings from the health minister. Though a pandemic-related order banned more than six people from different households from gathering outside, the crowed marched together from Parliament Square to the US Embassy and even knelt on the ground for a minute in solidarity of the Black Lives Matter movement, according to the New York Times.
At least 20,000 people marched in Sydney to protest the police mistreatment of the black community as well as Indigenous Australians. The march almost didn’t happen: It was ruled unlawful under Covid-19 restrictions on Friday, but the decision was overturned by the court of appeals minutes before the event was supposed to begin.
The protests spread as far as Japan, where nearly 1,000 people marched in Tokyo and Osaka to speak out on police abuse, Japan Times reported. The demonstrations were fueled by the violent arrest of a Kurdish man by Tokyo police officers on May 22 — just three days before the death of George Floyd.
“We all know what’s happening in the US,” protester Nami Nanami told Japan Times. “The same thing is happening in Japan but nobody is talking about it.”
There have still been some escalations, despite protesters’ calls for accountability
City officials attempted to tone down their response to the protests by eliminating curfews and reducing arrests, with mixed success.
DC and Los Angeles lifted curfews earlier in the week, and protesters remained peaceful as demonstrations lasted late into the night. And officers didn’t enforce curfews in cities where they still existed, such as in New York City.
The number of arrests also drastically fell: Chicago, which once arrested more than 100 protesters in a single day, announced that the police made no arrests on Saturday. Cities like Atlanta, DC, Phoenix, and Miami made similar announcements.
Some officials also made the effort to keep their officers accountable. On Saturday, a Virginian police officer was charged with three counts of misdemeanor assault and battery for a violent arrest he made on Friday. Body camera footage reveals the officer using his stun gun on a black man who was walking away, then using it again when the man is already face-down on the ground.
Another officer from St. Louis was suspended for driving into a man on June 2 — and two other officers involved in the incident were also placed on leave. None have been arrested.
Despite these efforts, however, not all protests were free from conflict due to provocation from the police: In Seattle, the police used tear gas to disperse a peaceful crowd — even though the mayor had promised a 30-day ban on the use of the chemical weapon just a day before.
Dispersing the entire area and threatening arrest if people do not disperse pic.twitter.com/I5yX05O8dI — Chase Burns (@chaseburnsy) June 7, 2020
Provocations such as these are likely to help ensure the protests continue — particularly given they are part of what demonstrators hope to change. Whether high attendance can be sustained remains to be seen — but large protests are again expected across the world Sunday.


vox--2020-06-07--Protesters tore down a statue in the former capital of the Confederacy. More may follow.

Protesters toppled a statue of a Confederate general in Richmond , Virginia , Saturday night — it was the latest of a number of monuments to the former slave-owning South to be pulled down by both protesters and public officials as people nationwide demand racial justice and an end to police brutality .
Protesters defaced the statue of of Confederate Gen. Williams Carter Wickham in the city ’ s Monroe Park , which sits on the Virginia Commonwealth University campus , before using ropes to pull it down .
One person urinated on it before running away , according to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ statue had stood in the park since 1891 .
The toppling of the monument in the Confederacy ’ s former capital comes as protests against police brutality and racism continue nationwide in the wake of the death of George Floyd , who was killed by a former police officer in Minneapolis on May 25 .
Monuments celebrating the former Confederate States of America and its defense of slavery have been torn down or marred regularly since protests began .
Earlier this week , protesters in Montgomery took down a statue of Confederate Gen. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ named after him .
In Nashville , a memorial to Edward Carmack , a former lawmaker and newspaper publisher who pushed racist views , was taken down outside the state Capitol .
A Confederate monument in the middle of the University of Mississippi campus was tagged “ spiritual genocide ” and covered in red handprints .
But it ’ s not just protesters advocating for the removal of the statues — some state and local officials have endorsed plans to remove the controversial monuments and rename Confederacy-venerating roadways and buildings in former Confederate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Alabama ’ s mayor agreed to remove a five-story-tall Confederate statue despite a 2017 state law that protects it from harm .
The New Orleans City Council is considering changing Jefferson Davis Parkway — named after the first and only president of the Confederate States of America — to honor Norman Francis , a civil rights leader and longtime president of Xavier University .
Gov .
Ralph Northam of Virginia announced on Thursday that the state will remove a statue of Lee from Richmond ’ s Monument Avenue , one of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ statues on the street .
However , not all government officials with purview over Confederate monuments are willing to tear down the vestiges of a racist past — when discussions first arose years ago about removing the monuments , many pushed back .
And this time , a number of politicians are doing the same .
The debate over Confederate symbols has been raging for years The debate over the value of Confederate monuments goes back to 2015 , when Dylann Roof , a self-described white supremacist , killed nine people in a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Carolina .
Photos of Roof posing with a Confederate flag sparked debate in the state over whether the symbol is appropriate to be displayed at the state capitol .
( It was eventually taken down . )
Since then , many Southern cities and states have been questioning their attachments to Confederate symbols .
Vox ’ s German Lopez explains the divide : Two years after the shooting in Charleston , as the debate wore on , local officials in Charlottesville , Virginia , agreed to take down a statue of Lee .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ nationalist Unite the Right rally that eventually turned deadly .
President Donald Trump weighed in on the issue shortly afterward , saying taking down Confederate monuments is “ foolish ” and “ sad.
” But there ’ s plenty of historical evidence that Confederate monuments and symbols became popular not amid any wave of Southern pride , but in response to civil rights gains made by black Americans over the last century .
The flag ’ s popularity grew among Southern universities and social groups in the 1950s as a symbol of white @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to promote civil rights , many — including the Ku Klux Klan — adopted the flag as a symbol of opposition .
Roy Harris , a Georgia politician who opposed civil rights , even said in 1951 that the flag was becoming “ the symbol of the white race and the cause of the white people.
” Even as calls grow for Confederate monuments to come down , some officials don ’ t support the changes .
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall sued the city of Birmingham Tuesday for pulling down a Confederate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ $ 25,000 fine be paid in accordance with a state law that requires local governments to get permission from the state before removing buildings or monuments deemed historically significant .
A handful of other Southern states have similar laws protecting statues , making removals difficult for local officials and residents who want to replace Confederate monuments , but are at odds with state leaders .
Notably , there has also been no renewed discussion of taking down the many Confederate monuments that remain in the US Capitol building .
Lee , Davis , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Alexander Hamilton Stephens , are memorialized in statue in Statuary Hall .
John Calhoun , a former South Carolina lawmaker , US vice president , and an ardent slavery advocate , and North Carolina ’ s Charles Aycock , former governor and white supremacist leader , are also enshrined in the building .
In prior years , there was an effort led by black lawmakers , including legislation sponsored by Sen. Cory Booker and Rep. Barbara Lee , to replace these memorials — but these efforts failed .
Whether protests can overturn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ remains to be seen .
Nor is it clear exactly what impact the protests will have on changing the police policies that disproportionately impact people of color .
But as they continue , it is clear that they have already helped to prompt the dismantling of some of the symbols those American inequities were built upon .
Every day at Vox , we aim to answer your most important questions and provide you , and our audience around the world , with information that has the power to save lives .
Our mission @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
Vox ’ s work is reaching more people than ever , but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn .
Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation , but it will enable our staff to continue to offer free articles , videos , and podcasts at the quality and volume that this moment requires .
Please consider making a contribution to Vox today .

Protesters toppled a statue of a Confederate general in Richmond, Virginia, Saturday night — it was the latest of a number of monuments to the former slave-owning South to be pulled down by both protesters and public officials as people nationwide demand racial justice and an end to police brutality.
Protesters defaced the statue of of Confederate Gen. Williams Carter Wickham in the city’s Monroe Park, which sits on the Virginia Commonwealth University campus, before using ropes to pull it down.
One person urinated on it before running away, according to reporting by the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The statue had stood in the park since 1891.
The toppling of the monument in the Confederacy’s former capital comes as protests against police brutality and racism continue nationwide in the wake of the death of George Floyd, who was killed by a former police officer in Minneapolis on May 25.
Monuments celebrating the former Confederate States of America and its defense of slavery have been torn down or marred regularly since protests began. Earlier this week, protesters in Montgomery took down a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee outside a high school named after him. In Nashville, a memorial to Edward Carmack, a former lawmaker and newspaper publisher who pushed racist views, was taken down outside the state Capitol. A Confederate monument in the middle of the University of Mississippi campus was tagged “spiritual genocide” and covered in red handprints.
But it’s not just protesters advocating for the removal of the statues — some state and local officials have endorsed plans to remove the controversial monuments and rename Confederacy-venerating roadways and buildings in former Confederate states like Kentucky and Louisiana.
Birmingham, Alabama’s mayor agreed to remove a five-story-tall Confederate statue despite a 2017 state law that protects it from harm. The New Orleans City Council is considering changing Jefferson Davis Parkway — named after the first and only president of the Confederate States of America — to honor Norman Francis, a civil rights leader and longtime president of Xavier University. Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia announced on Thursday that the state will remove a statue of Lee from Richmond’s Monument Avenue, one of the largest pieces in a parade of Confederate statues on the street.
However, not all government officials with purview over Confederate monuments are willing to tear down the vestiges of a racist past — when discussions first arose years ago about removing the monuments, many pushed back. And this time, a number of politicians are doing the same.
The debate over Confederate symbols has been raging for years
The debate over the value of Confederate monuments goes back to 2015, when Dylann Roof, a self-described white supremacist, killed nine people in a predominantly black church in Charleston, South Carolina. Photos of Roof posing with a Confederate flag sparked debate in the state over whether the symbol is appropriate to be displayed at the state capitol. (It was eventually taken down.)
Since then, many Southern cities and states have been questioning their attachments to Confederate symbols. Vox’s German Lopez explains the divide:
The argument is simple: The Confederacy fought to maintain slavery and white supremacy in the United States, and that isn’t something that the country should honor or commemorate in any way. Critics argue, however, that these monuments are really about Southern pride, not commemorating a pro-slavery rebellion movement. They argue that trying to take down the Confederate symbols works to erase part of American history.
Two years after the shooting in Charleston, as the debate wore on, local officials in Charlottesville, Virginia, agreed to take down a statue of Lee. That sparked protests, including a white nationalist Unite the Right rally that eventually turned deadly.
President Donald Trump weighed in on the issue shortly afterward, saying taking down Confederate monuments is “foolish” and “sad.”
Sad to see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments. You..... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 17, 2017
But there’s plenty of historical evidence that Confederate monuments and symbols became popular not amid any wave of Southern pride, but in response to civil rights gains made by black Americans over the last century.
The flag’s popularity grew among Southern universities and social groups in the 1950s as a symbol of white culture. As President Harry Truman promised to promote civil rights, many — including the Ku Klux Klan — adopted the flag as a symbol of opposition.
Roy Harris, a Georgia politician who opposed civil rights, even said in 1951 that the flag was becoming “the symbol of the white race and the cause of the white people.”
Even as calls grow for Confederate monuments to come down, some officials don’t support the changes. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall sued the city of Birmingham Tuesday for pulling down a Confederate monument. And Marshall has demanded a $25,000 fine be paid in accordance with a state law that requires local governments to get permission from the state before removing buildings or monuments deemed historically significant.
A handful of other Southern states have similar laws protecting statues, making removals difficult for local officials and residents who want to replace Confederate monuments, but are at odds with state leaders.
Notably, there has also been no renewed discussion of taking down the many Confederate monuments that remain in the US Capitol building.
Lee, Davis, and Davis’s former vice president, Alexander Hamilton Stephens, are memorialized in statue in Statuary Hall. John Calhoun, a former South Carolina lawmaker, US vice president, and an ardent slavery advocate, and North Carolina’s Charles Aycock, former governor and white supremacist leader, are also enshrined in the building. In prior years, there was an effort led by black lawmakers, including legislation sponsored by Sen. Cory Booker and Rep. Barbara Lee, to replace these memorials — but these efforts failed.
Whether protests can overturn opposition to the removal of Confederate statues remains to be seen. Nor is it clear exactly what impact the protests will have on changing the police policies that disproportionately impact people of color. But as they continue, it is clear that they have already helped to prompt the dismantling of some of the symbols those American inequities were built upon.


vox--2020-06-08--How K-pop fans are weaponizing the internet for Black Lives Matter

It ’ s been a good week in the media for K-pop fans .
After spending days urging social media support for the Black Lives Matter movement , fans around the world went viral and gained mainstream media attention for their use of K-pop fancams to jam police apps .
The K-pop fandom is just one of the groups online making ingenious use of social platforms to aid in the ongoing wave of protests against police brutality in the wake of the killing of George Floyd .
Across the internet , supporters of Black Lives Matter are weaponizing tweets , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , protect protesters , and derail racist rhetoric .
Here are a few examples of internet and social media tools playing unexpected roles in the protests .
For those who are new to K-pop fandom , a fancam is a video closeup filmed by an audience member during a live performance by a K-pop idol group .
( However , fan-made edits of preexisting K-pop footage increasingly also fall under the umbrella term “ fancam , ” and while many fans take pains to distinguish between fancams and edits , the average outsider @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . )
Fancams usually focus on a single specific member of the group as they sing and dance , and they ’ re wildly popular on Twitter as a way to advertise favorite groups and celebrate a favorite idol ’ s talent and excellence .
Fancams have also been the bane of many Twitter users , however , who often find their own viral threads hijacked by users posting fancams to capitalize upon the thread ’ s popularity .
A fancam , then , is sort of a shorthand reference for everything other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ visible fandoms : their obsessive , single-minded focus on the thing they like when you ’ re trying to discuss something else .
Which is all to say that it was a big deal when K-pop fans came up with the brilliant idea to do their usual fancam-spam thing — only this time , they aimed it at cops : The Dallas Police Department ’ s iWatch Dallas app is a localized version of the app CloseWatch , created by a company called Zeteky to allow users to submit tips in real time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s our firm belief that if every phone had Closewatch3 , the world could be a safer place , ” the company ’ s website states .
After the Dallas police force tweeted a request for the public to submit tips to them through the app during the protests , a viral tweet called for K-pop stans to submit fancams instead in response .
The fancam spam would theoretically prevent police from seeing real local videos that might put protesters in danger .
As the idea spread , fans flooded the app , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ app in the process .
The work of the K-pop fandom was so popular among other Twitter users that people have begun summoning them to apply their trade to other missions .
And the K-pop fans were quick to respond .
K-pop fandom has had its share of internal battles throughout the wave of protests as fans debate how best to show support for issues affecting black citizens , while simultaneously grappling with generalized racism within the fandom and the K-pop industry .
But this is also by no means the first time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or humanitarian cause , and K-pop fans continued to drum up support for the Black Lives Matter movement in more concrete ways : after news leaked on Saturday that BTS and its studio Big Hit had donated $ 1 million to the movement ’ s official charity fund , fans themselves launched a hashtag movement to collectively match the donation .
The fans also continued to operate systematically when it came to streamlined responses supporting protesters .
In addition to shutting down police apps , they led an entirely different trend : Hashtag @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on a hashtag and found it to be full of off-topic posts , burying the hashtag ’ s true meaning .
Usually , this cacophony is created by one of two actions : individuals grandstanding in order to chase a viral hashtag for clout , or responding in confusion or outrage to whatever they think the tag is about , generating more confusion and diluting the tag ’ s original topic .
It ’ s rarer that a hashtag is derailed on purpose .
But white supremacists ’ attempts to generate trending tags @ @ @ @ @ @ @ matter ” led K-pop fans to turn that tag against its advocates .
Many fans spent days making sure the entire white lives matter hashtag was consumed with fancams , tweets about music , and tweets about people tweeting about music under the tag .
Paradoxically , the virality K-pop fans have gained for this stunt has kept “ white lives matter ” trending as a topic for days .
At one point , Twitter presented it to me as a “ K-pop ” topic , and even listed the phrase “ # @ @ @ @ @ @ @ music ” topic .
Several Twitter users have pointed out that posting with the racist hashtag keeps ensuring that the racist hashtag will continue to trend , which may be undermining the point that K-pop fans originally wanted to make .
On Instagram , although the “ whitelivesmatter ” tag is completely swamped with K-pop and anime references , white supremacist messages and troll memes also continue to appear .
The resulting discord , however , makes the tag more or less useless — and on Twitter , most people , it seems @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : The K-pop stans aren ’ t the only ones getting in on the white supremacist hashtag takeover game .
Tons of people on Twitter unaffiliated with fandoms have gotten creative with their definitions of “ white lives.
” One of the cleverest ways people are using social media to spread information about the protests and related activity is something like the idea of derailing hashtags to advocate for anti-racism .
It ’ s what I like to think of as rickrolling for justice .
You probably already know what a rickroll is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The concept of rickrolling involves luring someone in with juicy clickbait and then surprising them with a disguised URL linking to , specifically , the music video for “ Never Gon na Give You Up ” by Rick Astley .
What ’ s the point ?
To get your hopes up and then disappoint you , all for the lulz .
As much as any meme that technically started in 2007 can be , rickrolling is one of the founding edifices of internet culture : It has always been with us and will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of rickrolling has become more broadly used to describe surprising someone with something totally unexpected .
That basic concept is applicable to many , many things — including luring people into Twitter threads that promise to spill juicy celebrity gossip , only to rickroll them with information about the Black Lives Matter movement .
Did you think you were about to get a tea-spilling drama about music royalty feuds ?
Nah — but here are links to resources to help the family of George Floyd .
Capitalizing on some recent Glee-related drama involving @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Michele for alleged racially tinged on-set microaggressions , one Twitter user lured people in with promises of more .
But rather than jaw-dropping stories of on-set misbehavior , the user offered links inviting people to donate to the Black Lives Matter fund instead .
Disney has long made life hell for remixers , artists , and other people trying to make stuff on the internet using Disney characters and images through heavy-handed use of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ’ s provision for allowing corporations to pursue alleged infringement by removing from the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to infringe its copyright .
Doing so leaves the alleged infringer to make a case for why their work does or doesn ’ t infringe .
( This copyright ban is colloquially known on the internet as getting a DMCA takedown , or just “ getting DMCA ’ d. ” ) But savvy internet users have started manipulating Disney ’ s overbearing use of DMCA takedown requests .
Last fall , for example , a movement spread among artists who found their original work stolen and sold by bots .
The bots would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ merchant sites , then profit off selling the image on T-shirts and other items at the expense of the original artist , who usually lacked the funds to begin a laborious and expensive copyright takedown process .
The solution , as popularized among such artists for a time : bait the bots with copyrighted Disney art .
The hope was that the bots would upload the copyrighted Disney art to the merchant sites — which would then be destroyed by the giant looming hand of Disney ’ s legal might and its stern @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unclear how well this idea actually worked in practice .
But it embodies a growing belief that Disney ’ s copyright takedowns can be used strategically to the advantage of people who are usually on the weak end of a DMCA complaint .
This brings us to the protests .
Over the weekend of May 30 , the notorious “ gun girl ” Kaitlin Bennett , a young conservative activist who gained a right-wing following for her videos supporting gun rights and other issues , showed up to protests .
She was presumably @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her website and YouTube channels .
But protesters who saw her weren ’ t having it .
How to keep Bennett ’ s videos of the protests from airing ?
Summon the power of Disney ’ s copyright-flagging system .
Protesters encouraged one another to play , specifically , music from Disney films and musicals , so that any video footage Bennett uploaded would trigger Disney ’ s copyright flag .
This approach is a fascinating convergence of direct on-the-ground activism ( by following someone around and playing music ) and elements that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ YouTube video DMCA ’ d ) .
It also reveals the way internet users are subverting the power of a huge corporation so that its effects are wielded not against poor individual artists and creators working in online spaces , but against bad actors in a real-life struggle for justice .
YouTubers often monetize their videos for a cause — meaning they ’ ll take the ad revenue generated by videos and donate it to a charity or cause of their choice .
What is notable in this moment of protest is the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ monetizing content specifically related to the protests .
YouTuber Stephanie Soo , who runs a popular channel where she eats while discussing true crime , posted a heartfelt apology for not doing more to speak out in support .
As part of her atonement , she shared a series of true crime stories that have been heavily impacted by systemic racism , then donated all of the ad revenue collected from these videos to support Black Lives Matter and the Minnesota Freedom Fund .
By donating proceeds from their channels , YouTubers like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ through which people without many financial resources can still do their part to generate funds in support .
Many YouTubers are also making content tailored specifically for the moment to raise awareness while entertaining — like this video created specifically to raise money for the BLM movement while highlighting black musicians .
The neat thing about the trend of monetized awareness-raising is that it ’ s a holistic exercise of everything YouTube ’ s platform is designed to do — entertain and educate viewers while benefiting creators — in service of Black Lives @ @ @ @ @ @ @ these methods of virtual and real-world support reveal the individual quirks and cultures of many different platforms , apps , and internet communities .
They also remind us that we need the tools we use on the internet to be controlled by more than one or two megalithic corporations .
The more varied , messy , and decentralized the internet is , the more versatile it is .
And as the protests are showing us , the humans of the internet are always ready to use it in ever more versatile and interesting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we aim to answer your most important questions and provide you , and our audience around the world , with information that has the power to save lives .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
Vox ’ s work is reaching more people than ever , but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn .
Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation , but it will enable our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , videos , and podcasts at the quality and volume that this moment requires .
Please consider making a contribution to Vox today .

It’s been a good week in the media for K-pop fans. After spending days urging social media support for the Black Lives Matter movement, fans around the world went viral and gained mainstream media attention for their use of K-pop fancams to jam police apps.
The K-pop fandom is just one of the groups online making ingenious use of social platforms to aid in the ongoing wave of protests against police brutality in the wake of the killing of George Floyd. Across the internet, supporters of Black Lives Matter are weaponizing tweets, posts, and hashtags to spread information, protect protesters, and derail racist rhetoric.
Here are a few examples of internet and social media tools playing unexpected roles in the protests.
K-pop fancams
For those who are new to K-pop fandom, a fancam is a video closeup filmed by an audience member during a live performance by a K-pop idol group. (However, fan-made edits of preexisting K-pop footage increasingly also fall under the umbrella term “fancam,” and while many fans take pains to distinguish between fancams and edits, the average outsider probably won’t recognize a difference.) Fancams usually focus on a single specific member of the group as they sing and dance, and they’re wildly popular on Twitter as a way to advertise favorite groups and celebrate a favorite idol’s talent and excellence.
Fancams have also been the bane of many Twitter users, however, who often find their own viral threads hijacked by users posting fancams to capitalize upon the thread’s popularity. A fancam, then, is sort of a shorthand reference for everything other social media users find annoying about highly visible fandoms: their obsessive, single-minded focus on the thing they like when you’re trying to discuss something else.
Which is all to say that it was a big deal when K-pop fans came up with the brilliant idea to do their usual fancam-spam thing — only this time, they aimed it at cops:
stan twitter nows your chance to use them fancams for GOOD please https://t.co/5FPlL1bkqD — pretty boy dad (@notextzone) May 31, 2020
The Dallas Police Department’s iWatch Dallas app is a localized version of the app CloseWatch, created by a company called Zeteky to allow users to submit tips in real time to law enforcement. “It’s our firm belief that if every phone had Closewatch3, the world could be a safer place,” the company’s website states.
After the Dallas police force tweeted a request for the public to submit tips to them through the app during the protests, a viral tweet called for K-pop stans to submit fancams instead in response. The fancam spam would theoretically prevent police from seeing real local videos that might put protesters in danger.
As the idea spread, fans flooded the app, going viral and effectively temporarily disabling the app in the process.
Due to technical difficulties iWatch Dallas app will be down temporarily. pic.twitter.com/zksA1hkVhV — Dallas Police Dept (@DallasPD) May 31, 2020
I never understand stan Twitter but you crazy fucks rule pic.twitter.com/4keZmu72R2 — Logan Rapp (@Loganchance) June 1, 2020
The work of the K-pop fandom was so popular among other Twitter users that people have begun summoning them to apply their trade to other missions.
It would be a shame if kpop twitter got a hold of this pic.twitter.com/L1rWoVqNlX — yosub wyd ⁷ (@yosub) June 4, 2020
And the K-pop fans were quick to respond.
we got your message — hygie⁷ (@DlONYSAN) June 4, 2020
now watch a real president pic.twitter.com/5fkcp3gGBf — Pal ⁷ ⟭⟬ (@namjinbros) June 4, 2020
K-pop fandom has had its share of internal battles throughout the wave of protests as fans debate how best to show support for issues affecting black citizens, while simultaneously grappling with generalized racism within the fandom and the K-pop industry. But this is also by no means the first time K-pop fandom has rallied behind a political or humanitarian cause, and K-pop fans continued to drum up support for the Black Lives Matter movement in more concrete ways: after news leaked on Saturday that BTS and its studio Big Hit had donated $1 million to the movement’s official charity fund, fans themselves launched a hashtag movement to collectively match the donation, and quickly did so.
i just love the bts fandom so much. it's currently self-organizing through #matchamillion to match the group's $1 million donation https://t.co/D8pTi5RCcz — Karen Yuan⁷ (@karenyuan_) June 7, 2020
The fans also continued to operate systematically when it came to streamlined responses supporting protesters. In addition to shutting down police apps, they led an entirely different trend: Hashtag derailment.
Hashtag derailment
We’ve all clicked on a hashtag and found it to be full of off-topic posts, burying the hashtag’s true meaning. Usually, this cacophony is created by one of two actions: individuals grandstanding in order to chase a viral hashtag for clout, or responding in confusion or outrage to whatever they think the tag is about, generating more confusion and diluting the tag’s original topic.
It’s rarer that a hashtag is derailed on purpose. But white supremacists’ attempts to generate trending tags for the idea that “white lives matter” led K-pop fans to turn that tag against its advocates. Many fans spent days making sure the entire white lives matter hashtag was consumed with fancams, tweets about music, and tweets about people tweeting about music under the tag.
Paradoxically, the virality K-pop fans have gained for this stunt has kept “white lives matter” trending as a topic for days. At one point, Twitter presented it to me as a “K-pop” topic, and even listed the phrase “#WhiteLifeMatter” as a more mainstream “music” topic.
Several Twitter users have pointed out that posting with the racist hashtag keeps ensuring that the racist hashtag will continue to trend, which may be undermining the point that K-pop fans originally wanted to make. On Instagram, although the “whitelivesmatter” tag is completely swamped with K-pop and anime references, white supremacist messages and troll memes also continue to appear. The resulting discord, however, makes the tag more or less useless — and on Twitter, most people, it seems, are delighted by the entire concept:
how i was how i am
ready to fight after seeing
whoever kpop stans
trended doing god's#WhiteLivesMatter work pic.twitter.com/TQwgkRraFC — jhoooooooooooooooooooooope⁷ (@eu4rialife) June 3, 2020
Kpop fans are taking over M*GA and pro-police hashtags and crashing law enforcement snitch apps and it’s beautiful https://t.co/h2HzGj9MEx pic.twitter.com/uUPgHOu76W — Laura Hudson (@laura_hudson) June 3, 2020
To clarify- if it weren’t for the K-Pop fans, Twitter would today be filled with many thousands of anti-black tweets that would be trending and highly visible. Kpop kids are expert at using twitter and knew how to stop this. — chrisb (@chrisb23202436) June 3, 2020
The K-pop stans aren’t the only ones getting in on the white supremacist hashtag takeover game. Tons of people on Twitter unaffiliated with fandoms have gotten creative with their definitions of “white lives.”
So we're doing #WhiteLivesMatter huh? Well here are the white lives that matter
The Southern White-Cheeked Gibbon, which is endangered https://t.co/QbWjj1w2NO pic.twitter.com/raUBfIGoNt — Elle Maruska (they/them) (@ellle_em) June 3, 2020
One of the cleverest ways people are using social media to spread information about the protests and related activity is something like the idea of derailing hashtags to advocate for anti-racism. It’s what I like to think of as rickrolling for justice.
Rickrolling for justice
You probably already know what a rickroll is, but just to make sure: The concept of rickrolling involves luring someone in with juicy clickbait and then surprising them with a disguised URL linking to, specifically, the music video for “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley.
What’s the point? To get your hopes up and then disappoint you, all for the lulz. As much as any meme that technically started in 2007 can be, rickrolling is one of the founding edifices of internet culture: It has always been with us and will always be with us. The concept of rickrolling has become more broadly used to describe surprising someone with something totally unexpected.
That basic concept is applicable to many, many things — including luring people into Twitter threads that promise to spill juicy celebrity gossip, only to rickroll them with information about the Black Lives Matter movement.
how jay z ruined beyoncé’s and rihanna’s friendship; a thread pic.twitter.com/YB3xZiniJQ — leyah ✿ blm (@fentyybeyy) June 2, 2020
Did you think you were about to get a tea-spilling drama about music royalty feuds? Nah — but here are links to resources to help the family of George Floyd.
Capitalizing on some recent Glee-related drama involving former cast members calling out star Lea Michele for alleged racially tinged on-set microaggressions, one Twitter user lured people in with promises of more.
My first job in Hollywood was as a PR assistant at 20th TV, and the Lea Michele stories were pretty insane. Here are my favorites (THREAD): pic.twitter.com/OMd97Phcfy — Ryan Aguirre (@aguirreryan) June 3, 2020
But rather than jaw-dropping stories of on-set misbehavior, the user offered links inviting people to donate to the Black Lives Matter fund instead.
Weaponizing Disney’s heavy-handed copyright policing
Disney has long made life hell for remixers, artists, and other people trying to make stuff on the internet using Disney characters and images through heavy-handed use of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s provision for allowing corporations to pursue alleged infringement by removing from the web any video or image that appears to infringe its copyright. Doing so leaves the alleged infringer to make a case for why their work does or doesn’t infringe. (This copyright ban is colloquially known on the internet as getting a DMCA takedown, or just “getting DMCA’d.”) But savvy internet users have started manipulating Disney’s overbearing use of DMCA takedown requests.
Last fall, for example, a movement spread among artists who found their original work stolen and sold by bots. The bots would upload the artists’ work to internet merchant sites, then profit off selling the image on T-shirts and other items at the expense of the original artist, who usually lacked the funds to begin a laborious and expensive copyright takedown process.
The solution, as popularized among such artists for a time: bait the bots with copyrighted Disney art. The hope was that the bots would upload the copyrighted Disney art to the merchant sites — which would then be destroyed by the giant looming hand of Disney’s legal might and its stern approach to infringement.
It’s unclear how well this idea actually worked in practice. But it embodies a growing belief that Disney’s copyright takedowns can be used strategically to the advantage of people who are usually on the weak end of a DMCA complaint.
This brings us to the protests. Over the weekend of May 30, the notorious “gun girl” Kaitlin Bennett, a young conservative activist who gained a right-wing following for her videos supporting gun rights and other issues, showed up to protests. She was presumably looking to speak to protesters on-camera for her website and YouTube channels. But protesters who saw her weren’t having it. How to keep Bennett’s videos of the protests from airing? Summon the power of Disney’s copyright-flagging system.
If she approaches you to speak, play Disney music! The mouse will render the footage useless because of copyright https://t.co/ngdd5Z7C7l — Disty Dickens (@distykisaragi) June 1, 2020
Protesters encouraged one another to play, specifically, music from Disney films and musicals, so that any video footage Bennett uploaded would trigger Disney’s copyright flag.
If anyone does encounter this vile hag follow her and loudly play Disney music. Disney copyright strikes everything, so she can’t use any footage and it becomes useless https://t.co/ec9eIRpTbQ — TATA(CAB) (@TATAdventures) June 1, 2020
This approach is a fascinating convergence of direct on-the-ground activism (by following someone around and playing music) and elements that are digital-only (getting someone’s YouTube video DMCA’d).
It also reveals the way internet users are subverting the power of a huge corporation so that its effects are wielded not against poor individual artists and creators working in online spaces, but against bad actors in a real-life struggle for justice.
YouTubers monetizing their videos for good
YouTubers often monetize their videos for a cause — meaning they’ll take the ad revenue generated by videos and donate it to a charity or cause of their choice.
What is notable in this moment of protest is the degree to which many YouTube influencers are monetizing content specifically related to the protests. YouTuber Stephanie Soo, who runs a popular channel where she eats while discussing true crime, posted a heartfelt apology for not doing more to speak out in support. As part of her atonement, she shared a series of true crime stories that have been heavily impacted by systemic racism, then donated all of the ad revenue collected from these videos to support Black Lives Matter and the Minnesota Freedom Fund.
By donating proceeds from their channels, YouTubers like Soo are turning their content into tools through which people without many financial resources can still do their part to generate funds in support.
INFO THREAD: if you cant donate yourself, here is a thread of youtubers you can watch. all proceeds from ads (pls do not skip) in their videos will go into donations! there is no excuse for you not to do your part — kris (@KRISTINSANGRY) June 2, 2020
if you can't donate right now, here is a playlist of youtubers that will donate the money from these videos, please watch and don't skip the ads!! https://t.co/4r0gwzW32o — ‿୨♡୧‿ (@fiItery) June 2, 2020
Many YouTubers are also making content tailored specifically for the moment to raise awareness while entertaining — like this video created specifically to raise money for the BLM movement while highlighting black musicians.
The neat thing about the trend of monetized awareness-raising is that it’s a holistic exercise of everything YouTube’s platform is designed to do — entertain and educate viewers while benefiting creators — in service of Black Lives Matter and the protests.
All of these methods of virtual and real-world support reveal the individual quirks and cultures of many different platforms, apps, and internet communities. They also remind us that we need the tools we use on the internet to be controlled by more than one or two megalithic corporations. The more varied, messy, and decentralized the internet is, the more versatile it is.
And as the protests are showing us, the humans of the internet are always ready to use it in ever more versatile and interesting ways.


vox--2020-06-08--What we know about how Trump’s “law and order” message is going

What we know about how Trump ’ s “ law and order ” message is going Share All sharing options for : What we know about how Trump ’ s “ law and order ” message is going President Donald Trump is betting that his support for law enforcement is going to help him this November .
“ I am your president of law and order , ” Trump said last week in his first formal address on the subject of protests against police brutality .
“ Where there is no justice , there is no liberty .
Where there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ future.
” It ’ s a strategy that resonated with some in 2016 , but new , early polling raises doubts about whether it ’ ll be as effective a message as it was four years ago .
It ’ s worth noting that it ’ s too early to draw a definitive conclusion about how the current demonstrations will affect the 2020 election , which is five months away .
But here ’ s what we know so far .
Since protests began two weeks ago , multiple polls have found Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ voters overall and independent voters .
According to a Monmouth poll fielded between May 28 and June 1 , 51 percent of independent voters support Biden while 35 percent back Trump .
That ’ s a 4-point swing from a Monmouth poll conducted in early May , when 47 percent of independent voters backed Biden and 35 percent supported Trump .
A Morning Consult survey conducted between May 25 and May 31 found a similar dynamic : In it , 38 percent of independent voters backed Biden while 33 percent supported Trump .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ support the protests and , just 33 percent approve of Trump ’ s handling of them , according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted last week .
In that same survey , 67 percent of independent voters backed the peaceful protests while only 28 percent approved of how Trump has handled them .
And when people were asked specifically about the impact of George Floyd ’ s death and the protests on their voting decision , a larger proportion of independents said recent events made them more likely to vote for Biden .
According @ @ @ @ @ @ @ May 31 and June 1 , 34 percent of independent voters said they were more likely to vote for Biden while 22 percent were more likely to vote for Trump .
In short , Trump ’ s recurring appeals to “ law and order , ” which have included a push to use military forces to quell the protests in various cities , do not seem to be connecting with a majority of voters this cycle .
“ The race continues to be largely a referendum on the incumbent .
The initial reaction @ @ @ @ @ @ @ suggests that most voters feel Trump is not handling the situation all that well , ” said Patrick Murray , director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute , in a statement .
The “ law and order ” message has appealed to Republicans and some independents in the past There ’ s an obvious reason Trump is touting his support for law enforcement : The strategy has worked before .
Former President Richard Nixon , for example , rode that message to the White House in 1968 .
And in 2016 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ enforcement but did so in a manner that served as a racist “ dog whistle ” for many voters , according to a new paper from researchers Kevin Drakulich , Kevin Wozniak , John Hagan , and Devon Johnson .
“ In this race for the White House , I am the law and order candidate , ” Trump said at the Republican National Convention in 2016 .
“ The crime and violence that today afflicts our nation will soon — and I mean very soon — come to an end .
Beginning @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will be restored.
” ( Now , at a moment when many Americans are expressing anger at police , Trump has begun to make statements using similar dog-whistle phrases . )
Drakulich ’ s paper , which relied on data from more than 3,000 voters in 2016 , examined whether support of Black Lives Matter and the police — as well as a person ’ s level of racial resentment — was tied to a voters ’ ultimate choice in a candidate .
( Levels of racial resentment were determined using a battery @ @ @ @ @ @ @ race . )
And he found that many Trump voters did have an affinity toward police .
“ [ Voters ] who felt warmly toward the police , saw the police as unbiased , and felt coldly toward BLM were all substantially more likely to vote for Trump than were people who expressed the opposite feelings , ” the paper notes .
But , Drakulich says that police support , alone , does not indicate whether a voter will back Trump .
Drakulich and the rest of the team determined that a voter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with backing for Trump if that voter was also aligned with the GOP and had high levels of racial resentment .
“ Those who said they supported the police were more likely to vote for Trump , but this was because they also tended to be people who identified as Republican and felt racial resentment , ” they write .
Among independents , the 2016 data was mixed , Drakulich notes : Those who had high racial resentments were more likely to vote for Trump , and those who were more likely to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ less likely to do so .
Per his conclusions , liberals won ’ t be the only ones motivated by these protests and what Trump says about them come November — Republicans will be too .
“ The protests will continue to raise awareness and motivate people who care about racial justice to vote , but they will also raise racial anxieties in other voters that can be exploited by politicians using ... pro-police rhetoric — as Donald Trump has been , ” Drakulich told Vox .
While promoting his ties to law @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , it is not clear doing so will continue to pay dividends with voters beyond his base .
Perceptions about law enforcement have shifted over the last few years in the wake of growing scrutiny of police brutality — including among independents .
In 2016 , Trump ’ s endorsements of police coincided with high respect for law enforcement .
As Vox ’ s Matt Yglesias reported , respect for police was up by more than 10 points in 2016 among both white and nonwhite respondents in a Gallup poll , compared to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people said they had a great deal of respect for police in 2016 versus 64 percent who said the same in 2015 .
And though law enforcement remains broadly popular in America — 71 percent of respondents in the Monmouth poll are satisfied with the job they ’ re doing — public awareness of police bias and abuses has grown in the last few years .
For example , 41 percent of independents agreed that black people were treated less fairly by police in a 2015 Gallup poll , while 52 percent did @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Washington Post ’ s David Fahrenthold , that same trend line holds in polling that ’ s been done about police use of force : Since 2016 , there ’ s been a slight shift in how much people trust police , too .
That year , 56 percent of people expressed overall confidence in the police , and in 2019 , this number declined slightly to 53 percent , according to a recurring Gallup survey .
A caveat : The decrease is within the 4 percent margin of error on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , this dip could well reflect a slight change in attitude .
For example , in the same time frame , confidence in the military stayed constant , with 73 percent of people who were polled expressing confidence in the institution in both 2016 and 2019 .
“ Until 2010 , most people just had no idea what communities were going through , ” says Georgetown law professor Christy Lopez , who previously worked in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice .
“ Between the use of phone cameras and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ information known , and the federal government bringing lawsuits investigating police violence , you couldn ’ t ignore it.
” The decline the Gallup survey found between 2016 and 2019 appears to have been spurred largely by Democrats , but independents saw a decrease as well .
In 2016 , 46 percent of Democrats had strong confidence in the police , a number that declined to 34 percent in 2019 .
Similarly , in 2016 , 54 percent of independents had strong confidence in the police and that decreased to 50 percent in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But small changes in independent voters could swing electoral votes during the presidential election — particularly in battleground states like Pennsylvania and Michigan , both of which Trump carried by less than 1 percentage point in 2016 .
Ultimately , too , Trump ’ s efforts to frame himself as a “ law and order ” president could backfire given his status as the incumbent and the crises the country currently faces in both addressing police violence and the pandemic .
“ When disorder is all around them , voters tend to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ disorder—and , sometimes , punish those who exploit it for political gain , ” writes Rick Perlstein for Mother Jones .
There are still questions about how the protests will affect voter preferences Beyond anything said or done by the president , there are questions about whether the protests themselves will affect voter decisions .
Researchers have looked toward history for parallels , though much is unique about the current political climate , and Trump ’ s presidency .
In his work , Princeton political scientist Omar Wasow found that the violence at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ some voters to support Richard Nixon , who campaigned heavily on “ law and order.
” “ If your county was proximate to violent protests , then that county voted six to eight percentage points more toward Nixon in November , ” Wasow told the New Yorker ’ s Isaac Chotiner in a recent interview .
His conclusions were based on an analysis of 137 protests that took place across the country following Martin Luther King Jr. ’ s assassination .
The protests in Ferguson , Missouri , in 2014 , serve as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ police violence that took place during an election year .
Based on the voter turnout rates between the 2014 and 2010 midterms , Charles Ellison , a political strategist and correspondent for WURD Radio , suggested that Democrats need to take serious steps to engage with protesters — and consider policy reforms that would energize them this fall — in order to prevent declines in turnout .
He pointed to such decreases in 2014 as an example ; that same year , Republicans retook the Senate and won a larger majority in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ participation rates dropped several percentage points between the 2010 and 2014 midterms , ” he told Vox .
“ It seems counter-intuitive for turnout to fall like that , but it reflects many people assuming traditional pathways of political and civic engagement aren ’ t working for them.
” Between 2010 and 2014 , voter turnout for the general election declined from 41 percent to 36 percent .
There ’ s a lot we still don ’ t know about how voters will react in November The key caveat in all this is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ months away and it ’ s unclear how public opinion will change between now and then .
Right now , most independent voters support the protests .
In the Morning Consult poll , fielded last weekend , 52 percent of independent voters said they backed the protests while 20 percent said they opposed them .
The most recent Reuters/Ipsos survey also found that 53 percent of independent voters are sympathetic to the protesters while 40 percent approved of how police were handling them .
What is certain is that the protests have drawn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in a way that will make the issue — particularly if demonstrations continue through the summer — a core one candidates will have to address .
Howard University law professor Justin Hansford , who was actively involved with the Ferguson protests , says this increased awareness is a direct byproduct .
“ I believe they would have never spoken about policing during a presidential debate if it wasn ’ t for this , ” he told Vox .
Every day at Vox , we aim to answer your most important questions and provide @ @ @ @ @ @ @ world , with information that has the power to save lives .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
Vox ’ s work is reaching more people than ever , but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn .
Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation , but it will enable our staff to continue to offer free articles , videos , and podcasts at the quality and volume @ @ @ @ @ @ @ making a contribution to Vox today .

What we know about how Trump’s “law and order” message is going
Share All sharing options for: What we know about how Trump’s “law and order” message is going
President Donald Trump is betting that his support for law enforcement is going to help him this November.
“I am your president of law and order,” Trump said last week in his first formal address on the subject of protests against police brutality. “Where there is no justice, there is no liberty. Where there is no safety, there is no future.”
It’s a strategy that resonated with some in 2016, but new, early polling raises doubts about whether it’ll be as effective a message as it was four years ago.
It’s worth noting that it’s too early to draw a definitive conclusion about how the current demonstrations will affect the 2020 election, which is five months away. But here’s what we know so far.
New polls show Joe Biden leading Trump as protests continue
Since protests began two weeks ago, multiple polls have found Trump continuing to trail Biden, both among voters overall and independent voters.
According to a Monmouth poll fielded between May 28 and June 1, 51 percent of independent voters support Biden while 35 percent back Trump. That’s a 4-point swing from a Monmouth poll conducted in early May, when 47 percent of independent voters backed Biden and 35 percent supported Trump. A Morning Consult survey conducted between May 25 and May 31 found a similar dynamic: In it, 38 percent of independent voters backed Biden while 33 percent supported Trump.
Most voters, 73 percent, also support the protests and just 33 percent approve of Trump’s handling of them, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted last week. In that same survey, 67 percent of independent voters backed the peaceful protests while only 28 percent approved of how Trump has handled them.
And when people were asked specifically about the impact of George Floyd’s death and the protests on their voting decision, a larger proportion of independents said recent events made them more likely to vote for Biden. According to a Morning Consult survey fielded between May 31 and June 1, 34 percent of independent voters said they were more likely to vote for Biden while 22 percent were more likely to vote for Trump.
In short, Trump’s recurring appeals to “law and order,” which have included a push to use military forces to quell the protests in various cities, do not seem to be connecting with a majority of voters this cycle.
“The race continues to be largely a referendum on the incumbent. The initial reaction to ongoing racial unrest in the country suggests that most voters feel Trump is not handling the situation all that well,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute, in a statement.
The “law and order” message has appealed to Republicans and some independents in the past
There’s an obvious reason Trump is touting his support for law enforcement: The strategy has worked before.
Former President Richard Nixon, for example, rode that message to the White House in 1968. And in 2016, Trump consistently trumpeted that he backed law enforcement but did so in a manner that served as a racist “dog whistle” for many voters, according to a new paper from researchers Kevin Drakulich, Kevin Wozniak, John Hagan, and Devon Johnson.
“In this race for the White House, I am the law and order candidate,” Trump said at the Republican National Convention in 2016. “The crime and violence that today afflicts our nation will soon — and I mean very soon — come to an end. Beginning on January 20th, 2017, safety will be restored.” (Now, at a moment when many Americans are expressing anger at police, Trump has begun to make statements using similar dog-whistle phrases.)
Drakulich’s paper, which relied on data from more than 3,000 voters in 2016, examined whether support of Black Lives Matter and the police — as well as a person’s level of racial resentment — was tied to a voters’ ultimate choice in a candidate. (Levels of racial resentment were determined using a battery of questions that measured voter attitudes on race.) And he found that many Trump voters did have an affinity toward police.
“[Voters] who felt warmly toward the police, saw the police as unbiased, and felt coldly toward BLM were all substantially more likely to vote for Trump than were people who expressed the opposite feelings,” the paper notes.
But Drakulich says that police support alone does not indicate whether a voter will back Trump. Drakulich and the rest of the team determined that a voter’s warmth toward police was associated with backing for Trump if that voter was also aligned with the GOP and had high levels of racial resentment. “Those who said they supported the police were more likely to vote for Trump, but this was because they also tended to be people who identified as Republican and felt racial resentment,” they write.
Among independents, the 2016 data was mixed, Drakulich notes: Those who had high racial resentments were more likely to vote for Trump, and those who were more likely to see the police as biased were less likely to do so. Per his conclusions, liberals won’t be the only ones motivated by these protests and what Trump says about them come November: Republicans will be, too.
“The protests will continue to raise awareness and motivate people who care about racial justice to vote, but they will also raise racial anxieties in other voters that can be exploited by politicians using ... pro-police rhetoric — as Donald Trump has been,” Drakulich told Vox.
Independent voters’ views on police are shifting
While promoting his ties to law enforcement has benefited Trump in the past, it is not clear doing so will continue to pay dividends with voters beyond his base. Perceptions about law enforcement have shifted over the last few years in the wake of growing scrutiny of police brutality, including among independents.
In 2016, Trump’s endorsements of police coincided with high respect for law enforcement. As Vox’s Matt Yglesias reported, respect for police was up by more than 10 points in 2016 among both white and nonwhite respondents in a Gallup poll, compared to 2015. Overall, 76 percent of people said they had a great deal of respect for police in 2016 versus 64 percent who said the same in 2015.
And though law enforcement remains broadly popular in America — 71 percent of respondents in the Monmouth poll are satisfied with the job they’re doing — public awareness of police bias and abuses has grown in the last few years. For example, 41 percent of independents agreed that black people were treated less fairly by police in a 2015 Gallup poll, while 52 percent did in 2018.
And as reported by the Washington Post’s David Fahrenthold, that same trend line holds in polling that’s been done about police use of force:
A new study from Monmouth University, released Tuesday, found that 57 percent of Americans today believe police are more likely to use excessive force against black people. That represents an increase from the 34 percent of registered voters who said the same in 2016 following the police shooting of Alton Sterling in Louisiana, and the 33 percent who said so in 2014 after a grand jury did not indict a New York City police officer in the death of Eric Garner.
Since 2016, there’s been a slight shift in how much people trust police, too.
That year, 56 percent of people expressed overall confidence in the police, and in 2019, this number declined slightly to 53 percent, according to a recurring Gallup survey. A caveat: The decrease is within the 4 percent margin of error on the surveys conducted in both years.
Still, this dip could well reflect a slight change in attitude. For example, in the same time frame, confidence in the military stayed constant, with 73 percent of people who were polled expressing confidence in the institution in both 2016 and 2019.
“Until 2010, most people just had no idea what communities were going through,” says Georgetown law professor Christy Lopez, who previously worked in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. “Between the use of phone cameras and the movement for black lives making this information known, and the federal government bringing lawsuits investigating police violence, you couldn’t ignore it.”
The decline the Gallup survey found between 2016 and 2019 appears to have been spurred largely by Democrats, but independents saw a decrease as well. In 2016, 46 percent of Democrats had strong confidence in the police, a number that declined to 34 percent in 2019. Similarly, in 2016, 54 percent of independents had strong confidence in the police, and that decreased to 50 percent in 2019.
The latter dip is small. But small changes in independent voters could swing electoral votes during the presidential election, particularly in battleground states like Pennsylvania and Michigan, both of which Trump carried by less than 1 percentage point in 2016.
Ultimately, too, Trump’s efforts to frame himself as a “law and order” president could backfire given his status as the incumbent and the crises the country currently faces in both addressing police violence and the pandemic. “When disorder is all around them, voters tend to blame the person in charge for the disorder—and, sometimes, punish those who exploit it for political gain,” writes Rick Perlstein for Mother Jones.
There are still questions about how the protests will affect voter preferences
Beyond anything said or done by the president, there are questions about whether the protests themselves will affect voter decisions.
Researchers have looked toward history for parallels, though much is unique about the current political climate and Trump’s presidency. In his work, Princeton political scientist Omar Wasow found that the violence at civil rights protests in 1968 likely compelled some voters to support Richard Nixon, who campaigned heavily on “law and order.”
“If your county was proximate to violent protests, then that county voted six to eight percentage points more toward Nixon in November,” Wasow told the New Yorker’s Isaac Chotiner in a recent interview. His conclusions were based on an analysis of 137 protests that took place across the country following Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination.
The protests in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014 serve as a more recent example of protests against police violence that took place during an election year.
Based on the voter turnout rates between the 2014 and 2010 midterms, Charles Ellison, a political strategist and correspondent for WURD Radio, suggested that Democrats need to take serious steps to engage with protesters — and consider policy reforms that would energize them this fall — in order to prevent declines in turnout. He pointed to such decreases in 2014 as an example; that same year, Republicans retook the Senate and won a larger majority in the House.
“Following Ferguson, voter participation rates dropped several percentage points between the 2010 and 2014 midterms,” he told Vox. “It seems counterintuitive for turnout to fall like that, but it reflects many people assuming traditional pathways of political and civic engagement aren’t working for them.”
Between 2010 and 2014, voter turnout for the general election declined from 41 percent to 36 percent.
There’s a lot we still don’t know about how voters will react in November
The key caveat in all this is that the November election is still several months away and it’s unclear how public opinion will change between now and then.
Right now, most independent voters support the protests. In the Morning Consult poll, fielded last weekend, 52 percent of independent voters said they backed the protests while 20 percent said they opposed them. The most recent Reuters/Ipsos survey also found that 53 percent of independent voters are sympathetic to the protesters while 40 percent approved of how police were handling them.
What is certain is that the protests have drawn attention to the problem of police violence in a way that will make the issue — particularly if demonstrations continue through the summer — a core one candidates will have to address.
Howard University law professor Justin Hansford, who was actively involved with the Ferguson protests, says this increased awareness is a direct byproduct. “I believe they would have never spoken about policing during a presidential debate if it wasn’t for this,” he told Vox.


What day is it today?

Today is Monday , June 8 , 2020 , at least in the continental United States .
It is already Tuesday , June 9 , 2020 , in some parts of the world .
To some degree , time is an illusion .
We are bound by its forward passage , being the third-dimensional creatures we are , but the perceptions we have placed upon time have been invented .
Humans invented the year .
Humans invented the month .
Humans invented the day , the hour , the minute , the second .
These distinctions are not arbitrary — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the Earth to orbit the sun — but their creation was not inevitable .
Our numerical system is likely base-10 because we have 10 fingers ; the way we understand time is almost entirely dependent on the fact that we evolved on this planet , circling this sun .
Time , at least as we understand it , is also a byproduct of capitalism .
In his seminal 1967 economic paper “ Work-Discipline and Industrial Capitalism , ” E. P. Thompson notes that in early human cultures , delineations of time were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up and went down , when the seasons changed .
But as industrialization became the norm , time became a mechanized system that no longer served those who ’ d invented it .
We increasingly served at the beck and call of time , for that is how those who possessed capital could best regulate those who performed the labor .
For we are now at a point where sociologists are discussing the “ problem ” of leisure .
And a part of the problem is : how did it come to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ marriage of convenience with industrial capitalism , was the agent which converted men to new valuations of time ; which taught children even in their infancy to improve each shining hour ; and which saturated men ’ s minds with the equation , time is money .
One recurrent form of revolt within Western industrial capitalism , whether bohemian or beatnik , has often taken the form of flouting the urgency of respectable timevalues .
And the interesting question arises : if Puritanism was a necessary part of the work-ethos which enabled the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ poverty-stricken economies of the past , will the Puritan valuation of time begin to decompose as the pressures of poverty relax ?
Is it decomposing already ?
Will men begin to lose that restless urgency , that desire to consume time purposively , which most people carry just as they carry a watch on their wrists ?
But it remains that on some base level , we will always understand time .
The sun comes up , the sun goes down .
Though we might be inside , where that process is more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our insideness does not obscure the day and night cycle .
What is lost , as each day blends into the next , in vaguely similar ways , is the mechanistic definition of time , the capitalist definition of time , the industrial definition of time .
We do not know what day it is , but we do know when there is a new day .
To live inside is to lose distinction .
There is a numbing effect that occurs when each day is the same , when our schedules are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gulf of undifferentiated time .
And yet isn ’ t this how so many of the less privileged around the world , forced to work jobs involving menial labor , day after day after day , already live ?
Isn ’ t this why we invented the weekend ?
Has this quarantine simply shown to those of us with more economic privilege that our “ free time ” was always a mirage , which could disappear before our eyes , by giving us so much “ free ” time ?
I have a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and when I need to orient myself in time , I look at it .
But even the usefulness of my calendar has started to fray around the edges .
I began writing this story because I couldn ’ t quite believe it was a Thursday , even as I knew it had to be a Thursday .
But it might as well not be .
A cycle that bears the sun across our sky until it sets in the west is a reality ; “ Thursday ” is an invention .
Is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t know .
I will update this article daily until we don ’ t need it anymore .
I hope there is a time when we know it is Thursday or Tuesday or June 17 without having to look at a calendar or ask each other or Google .
I hope there is a time when going outside to see the sun doesn ’ t feel like exposing yourself to toxic levels of radiation .
( I know I should be taking walks ; every time , I feel like I ’ m @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is a time in which all this “ free ” time no longer feels like a period we must exploit for maximum value .
I hope there is a time when I remember what it ’ s like to grab lunch with a friend , to watch dogs play in the surf , to breathe in the air and just be .
Until then , find a way to make time have meaning for you .
Read a long book .
Cook an elaborate meal .
Take up knitting .
Write an epic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ ve always meant to get to .
Sleep .
Remember that time doesn ’ t own you , and that you own time .
This will be over someday , a part of the past .
It will someday be a memory .
Hang on to that .
I ’ ll see you outside again .
For now , it is Monday , June 8 , 2020 .
In some parts of the world , it is Tuesday , June 9 , 2020 .
Are you a “ What day is it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our official theme song .
It ’ s written by composer Laura Stratford , and it is wonderful .

Today is Wednesday, July 1, 2020, at least in the continental United States. It is already Thursday, July 2, 2020, in some parts of the world. Life isn’t resuming gracefully, but the herky jerky train wreck of America’s reopening certainly speaks to some desire to exit this quarantine period. And so “What Day Is It Today” will exit the stage, too. For now, at least.
To some degree, time is an illusion. We are bound by its forward passage, being the third-dimensional creatures we are, but the perceptions we have placed upon time have been invented. Humans invented the year. Humans invented the month. Humans invented the day, the hour, the minute, the second.
These distinctions are not arbitrary — it really does take about 365 days for the Earth to orbit the sun — but their creation was not inevitable. Our numerical system is likely base-10 because we have 10 fingers; the way we understand time is almost entirely dependent on the fact that we evolved on this planet, circling this sun.
Time, at least as we understand it, is also a byproduct of capitalism. In his seminal 1967 economic paper “Work-Discipline and Industrial Capitalism,” E. P. Thompson notes that in early human cultures, delineations of time were broad understandings of when the sun came up and went down, when the seasons changed. But as industrialization became the norm, time became a mechanized system that no longer served those who’d invented it. We increasingly served at the beck and call of time, for that is how those who possessed capital could best regulate those who performed the labor.
Thompson writes:
For we are now at a point where sociologists are discussing the “problem” of leisure. And a part of the problem is: how did it come to be a problem ? Puritanism, in its marriage of convenience with industrial capitalism, was the agent which converted men to new valuations of time; which taught children even in their infancy to improve each shining hour; and which saturated men’s minds with the equation, time is money. One recurrent form of revolt within Western industrial capitalism, whether bohemian or beatnik, has often taken the form of flouting the urgency of respectable timevalues. And the interesting question arises: if Puritanism was a necessary part of the work-ethos which enabled the industrialized world to break out of the poverty-stricken economies of the past, will the Puritan valuation of time begin to decompose as the pressures of poverty relax? Is it decomposing already? Will men begin to lose that restless urgency, that desire to consume time purposively, which most people carry just as they carry a watch on their wrists?
But it remains that on some base level, we will always understand time. The sun comes up, the sun goes down. Though we might be inside, where that process is more difficult to witness, the fact of our insideness does not obscure the day and night cycle. What is lost, as each day blends into the next, in vaguely similar ways, is the mechanistic definition of time, the capitalist definition of time, the industrial definition of time. We do not know what day it is, but we do know when there is a new day.
To live inside is to lose distinction. There is a numbing effect that occurs when each day is the same, when our schedules are subsumed by what feels like an endless gulf of undifferentiated time. And yet isn’t this how so many of the less privileged around the world, forced to work jobs involving menial labor, day after day after day, already live? Isn’t this why we invented the weekend? Has this quarantine simply shown to those of us with more economic privilege that our “free time” was always a mirage, which could disappear before our eyes, by giving us so much “free” time?
I have a wall calendar hanging above my desk, and when I need to orient myself in time, I look at it. But even the usefulness of my calendar has started to fray around the edges. I began writing this story because I couldn’t quite believe it was a Thursday, even as I knew it had to be a Thursday. But it might as well not be. A cycle that bears the sun across our sky until it sets in the west is a reality; “Thursday” is an invention. Is it still necessary? I don’t know.
What’s important to remember is that time doesn’t own you. You own time. This will be over someday, a part of the past. It will someday be a memory. Hang on to that. I’ll see you outside again.
This story was originally published Friday, March 27, 2020.
Are you a “What day is it today?” superfan? Check out our official theme song. It’s written by composer Laura Stratford, and it is wonderful.