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Category: Society

Racial justice groups flooded with millions in donations in wake of Floyd death

Racial justice groups flooded with millions in donations in wake of Floyd death

The New York Times reports: The killing of George Floyd and the ensuing nationwide wave of protests are generating a record-setting flood of donations to racial justice groups, bail funds and black-led advocacy organizations across America, remaking the financial landscape of black political activism in a matter of weeks. Money has come in so fast and so unexpectedly that some groups even began to turn away and redirect donors elsewhere. Others said they still could not yet account for how…

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Black leaders regularly fail to rise to the challenges that confront young people

Black leaders regularly fail to rise to the challenges that confront young people

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor writes: Young black people have exploded in rebellion over the grotesque killing of George Floyd. We are now witnessing the broadest protest movement in American history. And yet the response of black elected officials has been cautious and uninspired. The Congressional Black Caucus offered a familiar list of the kind of police reforms that have failed for decades to end police violence. After protesters vandalized CNN’s headquarters and set a police car on fire in Atlanta, the mayor,…

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Why Minneapolis was the breaking point

Why Minneapolis was the breaking point

Wesley Lowery writes: For years, thousands of protesters have taken to the streets to demand a wholesale reimagining of the criminal-justice system. They have stated clearly that they believe American policing is inherently flawed. Black people in America, they argue, are chronically overpoliced and underserved. They are stopped and frisked while walking to the bodega and harassed while cooking out on their porches and patios. But when they are murdered? American police almost never deliver them justice. “We shouldn’t fear…

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As cities grew safer, police budgets kept growing

As cities grew safer, police budgets kept growing

The New York Times reports: In Boston, Los Angeles and Milwaukee, about one in every 10 dollars of local government spending goes to the police. In Minneapolis, it’s about one in every 20 dollars. American society has not settled on what that number should be — how much of a priority the police ought to have, alongside schools and parks and housing and health care. But the police share of spending has grown over the past 40 years, even as…

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Yes, we mean literally abolish the police

Yes, we mean literally abolish the police

Mariame Kaba writes: Congressional Democrats want to make it easier to identify and prosecute police misconduct; Joe Biden wants to give police departments $300 million. But efforts to solve police violence through liberal reforms like these have failed for nearly a century. Enough. We can’t reform the police. The only way to diminish police violence is to reduce contact between the public and the police. There is not a single era in United States history in which the police were…

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Americans are pretending that the pandemic is over

Americans are pretending that the pandemic is over

Yascha Mounk writes: A second wave of the coronavirus is on the way. When it arrives, we will lack the will to deal with it. Despite all the sacrifices of the past months, the virus is likely to win—or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that it already has. In absolute terms, the United States has been hit harder than any other country. About a quarter of worldwide deaths have been recorded on these shores. And while the…

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Seattle’s CHAZ: Inside the occupied vegan paradise – and Trump’s ‘ugly anarchist’ hell

Seattle’s CHAZ: Inside the occupied vegan paradise – and Trump’s ‘ugly anarchist’ hell

The Independent reports: There were activists with bullhorns, and artists painting designs on the street. Stalls collected donations for the homeless and others offered vegan curry. There were people posing for images in front of a boarded-up police station, while others sat on the grass. There were people of colour, and there were white people, lots of white people. But the “ugly anarchists” denounced by Donald Trump on Twitter that very morning? Could it be they existed only in his…

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Most Americans, including Republicans, support sweeping Democratic police reform proposals, poll finds

Most Americans, including Republicans, support sweeping Democratic police reform proposals, poll finds

Reuters reports: Most Americans, including a majority of President Donald Trump’s Republican Party, support sweeping law enforcement reforms such as a ban on chokeholds and racial profiling after the latest death of an African American while in police custody, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Thursday. The national survey on June 9-10, shows the public broadly on the side of Democratic lawmakers, who proposed a series of changes to police departments (here) in the United States as protesters…

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America is losing in the fight against Covid-19

America is losing in the fight against Covid-19

The Hill reports: When throngs of tourists and revelers left their homes over Memorial Day weekend, public health experts braced for a surge in coronavirus infections that could force a second round of painful shutdowns. Two weeks later, that surge has hit places like Houston, Phoenix, South Carolina and Missouri. Week-over-week case counts are on the rise in half of all states. Only 16 states and the District of Columbia have seen their total case counts decline for two consecutive…

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Why are so many NYPD officers refusing to wear masks at protests?

Why are so many NYPD officers refusing to wear masks at protests?

The New York Times reports: Riot helmets, ballistic vests, shields, batons — fully decked-out police officers have become staples in New York City as the protests against racism and police brutality approach their third week. But increasingly, one piece of equipment has attracted attention with its absence: the face mask. On any given day, any corner, any group of officers, some or all of them are not wearing masks. Others wear them below their chin. With masks having become as…

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Inside Seattle’s ‘autonomous zone’ with free food, free speech, and no police

Inside Seattle’s ‘autonomous zone’ with free food, free speech, and no police

The New York Times reports: On the streets next to a police precinct in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, protesters and officers spent a week locked in a nightly cycle of standoffs, at times ending with clouds of tear gas. But facing a growing backlash over its dispersal tactics in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis, the Seattle Police Department this week offered a concession: Officers would abandon their precinct, board up the windows and let the protesters have…

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Most Americans trust Black Lives Matter movement more than Trump to promote justice and racial equality

Most Americans trust Black Lives Matter movement more than Trump to promote justice and racial equality

USA Today reports: The police crackdown to clear protesters from Lafayette Square last week looms as a defining moment in the national debate over race and law enforcement that has been sparked by the death of George Floyd. An exclusive USA TODAY/Ipsos Poll finds Americans overwhelmingly endorse the right of peaceful protest outside the White House – a view held by nearly 9 of 10 people across racial and partisan lines. Nearly 9 of 10 had heard about the clashes…

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Large majorities of Americans support protests over Floyd killing and say police need to change, poll finds

Large majorities of Americans support protests over Floyd killing and say police need to change, poll finds

The Washington Post reports: Americans overwhelmingly support the nationwide protests that have taken place since the killing of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis, and they say police forces have not done enough to ensure that blacks are treated equally to whites, according to a Washington Post-Schar School poll. President Trump receives negative marks for his handling of the protests, with 61 percent saying they disapprove and 35 percent saying they approve. Much of the opposition to…

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After this city dissolved its police department, crime fell by almost half

After this city dissolved its police department, crime fell by almost half

CNN reports: Last week, Minneapolis officials confirmed they were considering a fairly rare course of action: disbanding the city police department. It’s not the first locale to break up a department, but no cities as populous have ever attempted it. Minneapolis City Council members haven’t specified what or who will replace it if the department disbands. Camden, New Jersey, may be the closest thing to a case study they can get. The city, home to a population about 17% of…

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Police think they can get away with anything. That’s because they usually do

Police think they can get away with anything. That’s because they usually do

Bocar Abdoulaye Ba and Roman Rivera write: Minneapolis citizens had already put the city’s police department on notice that Derek Chauvin, the officer charged with second-degree murder in the death of George Floyd, might be dangerous. Over his 18-year career, they lodged at least 17 complaints against him, but none resulted in meaningful discipline. Chauvin’s example mirrors a pattern seen in earlier prominent police killings — such as the murder by Jason Van Dyke of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, in Chicago…

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The virus isn’t done with us

The virus isn’t done with us

Alexis C Madrigal and Robinson Meyer write: After months of deserted public spaces and empty roads, Americans have returned to the streets. But they have come not for a joyous reopening to celebrate the country’s victory over the coronavirus. Instead, tens of thousands of people have ventured out to protest the killing of George Floyd by police. Demonstrators have closely gathered all over the country, and in blocks-long crowds in large cities, singing and chanting and demanding justice. Police officers…

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