09 June 20
Frank Rich | America's Eternal Battle With Itself
Frank Rich, New York Magazine
Rich writes: "The waves of pestilence that have swept over America leave one anxiously searching for historical analogies."
Frank Rich, New York Magazine
Rich writes: "The waves of pestilence that have swept over America leave one anxiously searching for historical analogies."
EXCERPT:
It was late in 1967, as the Kerner commission was reaching this conclusion, that the police chief of Miami, Walter Headley, responded to his city’s unrest by declaring “war” on criminals, vowing to go after them with shotguns and dogs, killing them if need be: “I’ve let the word filter down that when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” he said. The coinage was echoed by the white supremacist third party candidate of 1968, the Alabama governor George Wallace, who would win five Southern states and come close to throwing the tight presidential election into the House of Representatives.
It was, of course, Headley’s message that Trump revived in his tweet last weekend — though in Trump’s case, it turned out that he was willing to inflict violent punishment even on those who are not looting. He and his attorney general Bill Barr unleashed rubber bullets and gas on peaceful protesters, including clergy, to clear the stage for the photo op in which he held up an upside-down Bible that had been carried to St. John’s Church by his daughter in a $1,540 Max Mara handbag. This religious tableau was carried out by the President with an all-white cadre that included the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joints Chief of Staff. Soon the internet was flooded with photoshopped images of Hitler staging a similar Bible-toting photo op, and within 48 hours even Jim Mattis, the esteemed retired General and former Trump Secretary of Defense, released a statement likening his former boss’s divisive rhetoric to the Fuhrer’s.
Most Vichy Republicans in Washington are remaining silent even so — unless you count the Arkansas senator Tom Cotton, who did his part to uphold Walter Headley’s legacy by calling for American troops to go to war against their own citizens to restore order. Unlike Trump, he took the trouble to pretty up Headley’s words a bit by fashioning them into an Op-Ed piece that the Times saw fit to publish — on grounds redolent of Facebook — despite its bloodthirsty tenor and its inclusion of a discredited Antifa conspiracy theory to justify its call for martial law.
People wait to say final goodbyes as the casket of George Floyd leaves after a memorial service. (photo: Salwan Georges/WP)
George Floyd, Whose Death Energized a Movement, to Be Buried
Juan A. Lozano and Nomaan Merchant, Associated Press
Excerpt: "The black man whose death has inspired a worldwide reckoning over racial injustice will be buried in Houston Tuesday, carried home in a horse-drawn carriage."
Juan A. Lozano and Nomaan Merchant, Associated Press
Excerpt: "The black man whose death has inspired a worldwide reckoning over racial injustice will be buried in Houston Tuesday, carried home in a horse-drawn carriage."
EXCERPTS:
Calls for “defunding the police” have cropped up in many communities, and people around the world have taken to the streets in solidarity, saying that reforms and dialogue must not stop with Floyd’s funeral.
His death has also reshaped the presidential race. To be re-elected, President Donald Trump must rebound from one of the lowest points of his presidency, with recent polls showing that 8 in 10 Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction and even spiraling out of control. The president got a boost late last week with a better-than-expected jobs report, but he’s struggling to show consistent leadership on multiple fronts, including the nationwide protests against police brutality.
Meanwhile, former Vice President Joe Biden met with Floyd’s family Monday, according to a photo posted on Twitter by the Rev. Al Sharpton. Biden will provide a video message for Floyd’s funeral service. Previous memorials have taken place in Minneapolis and Raeford, North Carolina, near where Floyd was born.
The memorials have drawn the families of black victims in other high-profile killings whose names have become seared into America’s conversations on race — among them Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Ahmaud Arbery and Trayvon Martin.
Four Minneapolis officers were charged in connection with Floyd’s death, which was captured on video by bystanders, who begged police to stop hurting him.
A Minnesota judge on Monday kept bail at $1.25 million for Derek Chauvin, the police officer charged with second-degree murder in Floyd’s death. Chauvin’s former co-workers, J Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao, are charged as accomplices.
The 44-year-old Chauvin said almost nothing during the 11-minute hearing while appearing on closed-circuit television from a maximum-security prison.
Police dash-camera footage released June 8 captured the fatal shooting of a 28-year-old unarmed black man in New Jersey by a white state trooper weeks earlier. (photo: NJ1015)
Newly Released Video Shows NJ Trooper Fatally Shooting Unarmed Black Man During Traffic Stop
Meryl Kornfield, The Washington Post
Kornfield writes: "New Jersey's attorney general released police dash-camera footage Monday that captured the fatal shooting of a 28-year-old unarmed black man by a white state trooper last month."
Meryl Kornfield, The Washington Post
Kornfield writes: "New Jersey's attorney general released police dash-camera footage Monday that captured the fatal shooting of a 28-year-old unarmed black man by a white state trooper last month."
Maurice Gordon of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., had been pulled over by Sgt. Randall Wetzel on May 23 for allegedly speeding. Then, his car became disabled in the left shoulder of the Garden State Parkway in Bass River, N.J., according to the attorney general’s office, which is investigating the shooting. While they waited for a tow truck to arrive, Wetzel told Gordon to sit in his police cruiser to stay out of the way of traffic.
During a half-hour of dash-cam footage, the stop appeared routine. Wetzel got Gordon’s information and called a tow truck. The trooper offered to drive Gordon to a car dealership and offered him a mask.
“I can give you a ride wherever you’re trying to go,” Wetzel told Gordon.
After 20 minutes of sitting in the patrol car, Gordon unfastened his seat belt and appeared to get out of the car. Wetzel then yelled “Get in the car” several times while they seemed to tussle outside the cruiser.
The attorney general’s office said Gordon twice tried to enter the driver’s seat of Wetzel’s patrol car. The first time, Wetzel pepper-sprayed him, and during the second instance Wetzel pulled Gordon out of the driver’s seat and, during a struggle, shot him six times.
The time between when Gordon exited the car and when his body collapsed onto the road was more than a minute.
The audio and video recordings are part of the attorney general’s investigation of the use of force. New Jersey law requires such recordings be released once the initial phase of the investigation is substantially complete, typically within 20 days.
But the recordings weren’t shared with Gordon’s family before their public release, according to their attorney, William O. Wagstaff III, who told The Washington Post on Monday that the family was planning the funeral arrangements for Gordon when they got texts from friends and family members about the recordings.
“I just can’t imagine the insensitivity,” Wagstaff said. “They sat on this for two weeks. In the absence of media and the press putting pressure on the state of New Jersey to do the right thing, which is to allow the family to learn the circumstances of Mr. Gordon’s death, they didn’t even give the family a day.”
A spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office said officials offered to show the family the video at their office Sunday and sent a link to the recordings Monday morning before releasing the files to the public.
The video of Gordon’s death comes amid national outrage over the recorded killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, two days after the incident with Gordon. Families of both unarmed black men have demanded the arrest of the officers involved as protests across the country demand accountability for officers who use unnecessary force. Four former police officers have been charged with Floyd’s death and could face up to 40 years in prison if convicted.
At a news briefing Monday, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) announced that a grand jury would review the case to consider possible criminal charges.
“Police have a responsibility to protect the people they serve, and that demands a high level of accountability when things go wrong,” Murphy said.
Wetzel remains on administrative leave with pay, New Jersey State Police confirmed Monday.
Amid the investigation and promised grand jury review, the family is left with mounting questions about how Gordon was shot during a routine traffic stop.
“I can’t eat, I can’t sleep and just want answers to what happened to my son at 6:30 in the morning,” Gordon’s mother, Racquel Barrett, said as she cried in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. “I don’t know how I’m going to go on in life not hearing his voice.”
Originally from Spanish Town, Jamaica, Gordon was studying chemistry at Dutchess Community College in Poughkeepsie and worked as an Uber driver, Wagstaff said.
In addition to the video of Gordon’s death, the state’s attorney released an audio recording of a 911 call from the day before. A friend of Gordon’s in Poughkeepsie called 911 early in the morning, minutes after Gordon left his home, telling a dispatcher that he was concerned about Gordon’s well-being. He said Gordon had started “to act a little weird” the day before and “said something about a paranormal experience.”
After shooting Gordon, Wetzel radioed emergency communications and requested an ambulance. He told investigators that he thought Gordon was trying to take his gun and car, according to a report obtained by the New York Daily News.
Wagstaff said the framing of the release by the attorney general is questionable.
“They are already rushing to what appears to me to be spin, a narrative to defend the actions of the officer, when you should be arresting the officer,” he said.
ICE agents make an arrest. (photo: Getty Images)
Amid Protests, Phoenix Police Swept Up Immigrants on Mistaken Charges. Now They Face Deportation.
Hannah Critchfield, The Intercept
Critchfield writes: "Twenty-six-year-old Orona Prieto was playing it safe, Paez said. Having fled death threats from a gang in his home state of Chihuahua, Mexico, he didn't need any extra trouble."
Hannah Critchfield, The Intercept
Critchfield writes: "Twenty-six-year-old Orona Prieto was playing it safe, Paez said. Having fled death threats from a gang in his home state of Chihuahua, Mexico, he didn't need any extra trouble."
EXCERPTS:
The Phoenix Police Department admitted that the four undocumented people were labeled with the wrong charges when they were booked into the central jail.
“We have learned that, initially, there was some confusion on the paperwork process,” said Mercedes Fortune, spokesperson at the Phoenix Police Department. “Originally, the paperwork associated with the arrests of [the individuals] listed the charge they were arrested for as a Class Five Felony. The correct charge should have been a Class One Misdemeanor for Unlawful Assembly. Those corrections have been made.”
Nonetheless, the arrests set in motion Arizona’s notorious arrest-to-deportation pipeline. The erroneous felony charges almost certainly drew ICE’s attention.
“This is a prime example of why local law enforcement should not have any interaction with ICE — because cops make mistakes,” said Ray Ybarra Maldonado, an attorney representing one of the DACA recipients. “They make mistakes all the time. And a mistake of a police officer should not result in someone being put in removal proceedings.”
As uprisings spread across the country last week, undocumented people faced added risk. Many had attended demonstrations before, but few anticipated such sweeping arrests.
“We knew that Phoenix police were going to respond violently, just from the long period that we’ve been doing this work,” said Sandra Solis, a community organizer with Puente Human Rights Movement, a local migrant advocacy organization. “While we’ve seen an excessive use of nonlethal force by them, we’ve never seen them go into cars to pluck people out and chase people into neighborhoods to arrest them.”
May 30 was the third night of demonstrations against police brutality and for black lives in Arizona’s largest city. Hundreds of people were gathered in downtown Phoenix for what began as a peaceful protest, condemning the deaths of Dion Johnson, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Tony McDade, and others who have been killed by law enforcement.
There was no curfew that night, but police declared the protest an unlawful assembly around 10:30 p.m. Officers in riot gear began firing tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters. And then the mass arrests began.
“All of them have ankle monitors, all of them have to go back to ICE — they’re pretty much in the same situation where deportation’s a big risk,” said Ybarra Maldonado, Guerrero’s attorney, noting that she and Cortes Mondragon have already received dates for removal proceedings. “We need to be very clear about this: This is a temporary victory. They’re not in custody, but it’s far from over.”
Dreamers cannot be deported unless U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services decides to remove their DACA status. But ICE can request it be removed as part of deportation proceedings, and “USCIS could still terminate your DACA, even if you’re not disqualified, for ‘discretionary reasons’ — including arrests or charges,” said Katrina Eiland, senior attorney for ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project.
“The DACA program wasn’t designed for USCIS to terminate somebody for any sort of low-level infraction, but it has happened in a number of cases,” she added.
A healthcare worker and a patient. (photo: ABC News)
FDA Authorizes COVID-19 Saliva Test by Phosphorus Diagnostics
Reuters
Excerpt: "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday allowed emergency use of a COVID-19 saliva test made by privately held Phosphorus Diagnostics LLC that allows people to send in their saliva samples to the company's laboratory for testing."
READ MORE
Reuters
Excerpt: "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday allowed emergency use of a COVID-19 saliva test made by privately held Phosphorus Diagnostics LLC that allows people to send in their saliva samples to the company's laboratory for testing."
READ MORE
Demonstrators with the Democratic Socialists of America. (photo: Lucas Jackson/Reuters)
US Democratic Voters More Than Ever Not Afraid of 'Socialism'
teleSUR
Excerpt: "Socialism is not usually associated with the United States but the 2020 primaries have placed it at the center of the discussion."
READ MORE
teleSUR
Excerpt: "Socialism is not usually associated with the United States but the 2020 primaries have placed it at the center of the discussion."
READ MORE
'At least 164 environmental activists were killed in 2018 alone.' (photo: Prostock-Studio/Getty Images/Grist)
For Indigenous Protesters, Defending the Environment Can Be Fatal
Rachel Ramirez, Grist
Ramirez writes: "Environmental activists - particularly indigenous activists and activists of color - have for years faced high rates of criminalization, physical violence, and even murder for their efforts to protect the planet."
Rachel Ramirez, Grist
Ramirez writes: "Environmental activists - particularly indigenous activists and activists of color - have for years faced high rates of criminalization, physical violence, and even murder for their efforts to protect the planet."
dán Vez Lira, a prominent defender of an ecological reserve in Mexico, was shot while riding his motorcycle in April. Four years earlier, the renowned activist Berta Cáceres was shot dead in her home in Honduras by assailants taking direction from executives responsible for a dam she had opposed. Four years before that, Cambodian forest and land activist Chut Wutty was killed during a brawl with the country’s military police while investigating illegal logging.
These are some of the most prominent examples of violence faced by environmental activists in recent years — but, according to a new report, they are not unusual. As police crack down on protests demanding justice and equity in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd in the U.S., it’s clear that activism in general comes at a heavy price. Environmental activists specifically — particularly indigenous activists and activists of color — have for years faced high rates of criminalization, physical violence, and even murder for their efforts to protect the planet, according to a comprehensive analysis by researchers from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, which was released last Tuesday.
The researchers analyzed nearly 2,800 social conflicts related to the environment using the Environmental Justice Atlas (EJAtlas) database, which they created in 2011 to monitor environmental conflicts around the world. The study, published in the journal Global Environmental Change, found that 20 percent of environmental defenders faced criminal charges or were imprisoned, 18 percent were victims of physical violence, and 13 percent were killed between 2011 and 2019. The likelihood of these consequences increased significantly for indigenous environmental defenders: 27 percent faced criminalization, 25 percent were victims of physical violence, and 19 percent were murdered.
“We can think of this as compounded injustice, highlighting the extreme risks vulnerable communities opposing social and environmental violence against them face when they stand up for their rights,” one of the study’s researchers, Leah Temper, told Grist.
Environmental defenders, as the researchers defined them, are individuals or collectives that mobilize and protest against unsustainable or harmful uses of the environment. Examples of the sort of conflict covered by the study are the construction of pipelines on tribal lands, illegal mining in the Amazon rainforest, oil extraction in the Arctic, and the construction of fossil fuel refineries.
The analysis draws on last year’s report from the human rights and environmental watchdog organization Global Witness, which found that at least 164 environmental activists were killed in 2018 alone. The Philippines was named the deadliest country in the world for environmental defenders, who have been called terrorists by President Rodrigo Duterte.
In fact, not long after these findings, 37-year-old Brandon Lee, an American environmental activist who was in the Philippines on a volunteer mission, was shot four times in Ifugao province by unknown assailants after his group, the Ifugao Peasant Movement — a farmers group opposing a hydropower project — had been labeled an “enemy of the state” across social media by propagandists. As of April, Lee was recovering in his hometown of San Francisco, but he remains paralyzed from the chest down.
The lead author of last week’s study, Arnim Scheidel, said he hopes that the analysis gives lawmakers and the public a better understanding of the causes of the violence that protesters still face around the world.
“Globally, indigenous peoples suffer significantly higher rates of violence in environmental conflicts,” Scheidel said. “Being aware of these connections may help to connect struggles against various forms of racism worldwide. Protest is key for the success of such struggles, particularly when using diverse channels and building on broad alliances.”
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