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NFL admits it was wrong not to let players protest police brutality – live NFL admits it was wrong not to let players protest police brutality – live
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‘Hopefully, George is looking down right now and saying, “This is a great thing happening for our country”’ Trump says amid police brutality at protests‘Hopefully, George is looking down right now and saying, “This is a great thing happening for our country”’ Trump says amid police brutality at protests
Attorney general William Barr said he did not give the order to have peaceful protestors dispersed with chemical agents to clear the way for Trump to pose for a photo in front of a church near the White House, though the supports the decision.
In an interview with the AP, Barr said law enforcement was already clearing the crowd from a park near the White House on Monday evening when he arrived at the scene.
The episode has received widespread criticism, including from senior military figures outside the administration and church leaders. Earlier this week, White House spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany said it was Barr who decided to push back protestors and expand the perimeter around the White House.
In the AP interview, Barr indicated that the call to have protestors pushed back was pre-decided, before the presidential photoshoot — saying, basically, that he wanted the protestors moved, but he didn’t directly give the tactical order.
Administration officials have been playing hot potato, passing responsibility for the choice to have peaceful protestors moved with force.
Washington governor Jay Inslee has promised an independent review of Manuel Ellis’ death.
Ellis, who was 33, died minutes after his arrest after pleading, “I can’t breathe”, echoing George Floyd and Eric Garner. The local medical examiner’s office concluded that Ellis’ death was a homicide.
Sara McDowell, a bystander who filmed parts of Ellis’ fatal encounter with the police, said she saw him approach a police car on 3 March. An officer thew open the car door, knocked Ellis down. In brief video clips, McDowell’s voice can be heard calling out to police officers: “Stop. Oh my God, stop hitting him.”
Police provided a different account, saying that Ellis initiated the confrontation, which prompted officers to restrain him.
The mayor of Tacoma, Washington, has called for the police officers involved to be fired and prosecuted.
“We know that Manuel Ellis is one of far, far too many Black men who died while in police custody in America,” Inslee said in a statement promising an “independent review of the investigation and any charging decisions related to the death of Manuel Ellis.”
Hallie Golden writes for The Guardian:Hallie Golden writes for The Guardian:
Dozens of healthcare workers in Seattle lined the streets outside Swedish Hospital for a moment of silence Friday in support of the George Floyd protests. A reporter for local news station Kiro 7 captured the moment the workers, who have spent months battling coronavirus, took a knee in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood.Dozens of healthcare workers in Seattle lined the streets outside Swedish Hospital for a moment of silence Friday in support of the George Floyd protests. A reporter for local news station Kiro 7 captured the moment the workers, who have spent months battling coronavirus, took a knee in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood.
Agroup of 66 United Nations human rights monitors issued a devastating critique of what they call modern-day “racial terror” lynchings in the US in the form of state-sponsored police violence against black Americans.Agroup of 66 United Nations human rights monitors issued a devastating critique of what they call modern-day “racial terror” lynchings in the US in the form of state-sponsored police violence against black Americans.
The group released two joint statements on Friday, prompted by the wave of protests against police brutality that has swept the nation in the wake of the deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky.The group released two joint statements on Friday, prompted by the wave of protests against police brutality that has swept the nation in the wake of the deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky.
The action marks an almost unparalleled outpouring of criticism by the UN’s independent body of human rights experts. Rarely have so many come together to speak as one voice. The language they deploy is also highly unusual in its excoriating critique of what the monitors state is the “fundamental racial inequality and discrimination that characterize life in the United States for black people”.The action marks an almost unparalleled outpouring of criticism by the UN’s independent body of human rights experts. Rarely have so many come together to speak as one voice. The language they deploy is also highly unusual in its excoriating critique of what the monitors state is the “fundamental racial inequality and discrimination that characterize life in the United States for black people”.
Most piercingly, the experts make a direct link between police killings of unarmed African American men today with the spate of thousands of racial lynchings that terrorized black communities in the era of segregation.Most piercingly, the experts make a direct link between police killings of unarmed African American men today with the spate of thousands of racial lynchings that terrorized black communities in the era of segregation.
“African Americans continue to experience racial terror in state-sponsored and privately organized violence … In the US, this legacy of racial terror remains evident in modern-day policing.”“African Americans continue to experience racial terror in state-sponsored and privately organized violence … In the US, this legacy of racial terror remains evident in modern-day policing.”
Earlier today, Drew Brees, the New Orleans Saints quarterback, apologized for comments implying that NFL players who kneel during the national anthem were unpatriotic, a common mischaracterization of the protest against police violence launched by Kaepernick in 2016.Earlier today, Drew Brees, the New Orleans Saints quarterback, apologized for comments implying that NFL players who kneel during the national anthem were unpatriotic, a common mischaracterization of the protest against police violence launched by Kaepernick in 2016.
But at least one person was unhappy with Brees’s decision to change the play at the line.But at least one person was unhappy with Brees’s decision to change the play at the line.
Trump took aim at the future Hall of Fame signal-caller on Friday afternoon, saying on Twitter: “I am a big fan of Drew Brees. I think he’s truly one of the greatest quarterbacks, but he should not have taken back his original stance on honoring our magnificent American Flag. OLD GLORY is to be revered, cherished, and flown high... We should be standing up straight and tall, ideally with a salute, or a hand on heart. There are other things you can protest, but not our Great American Flag - NO KNEELING!”Trump took aim at the future Hall of Fame signal-caller on Friday afternoon, saying on Twitter: “I am a big fan of Drew Brees. I think he’s truly one of the greatest quarterbacks, but he should not have taken back his original stance on honoring our magnificent American Flag. OLD GLORY is to be revered, cherished, and flown high... We should be standing up straight and tall, ideally with a salute, or a hand on heart. There are other things you can protest, but not our Great American Flag - NO KNEELING!”
Calls for the NFL to formally apologize to Colin Kaepernick, who was sidelined after he protested police brutality in 2016, are gaining steam. So are calls to give him back his job – with a significant promotion.Calls for the NFL to formally apologize to Colin Kaepernick, who was sidelined after he protested police brutality in 2016, are gaining steam. So are calls to give him back his job – with a significant promotion.
Fox News is drawing rebuke after airing a graphic tracking stock market gains following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr, the acquittal of Los Angeles police officers who savagely beat Rodney King, and the police killings of Michael Brown and George Floyd.Fox News is drawing rebuke after airing a graphic tracking stock market gains following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr, the acquittal of Los Angeles police officers who savagely beat Rodney King, and the police killings of Michael Brown and George Floyd.
Representative Bobby Rush, a Democrat of Illinois and prominent civil rights activist, wrote on Twitter: “This is absolutely outrageous and disgusting. This graphic tells every single @FoxNews viewer that Black lives can be exchanged for market gain.”Representative Bobby Rush, a Democrat of Illinois and prominent civil rights activist, wrote on Twitter: “This is absolutely outrageous and disgusting. This graphic tells every single @FoxNews viewer that Black lives can be exchanged for market gain.”
The Guardian’s Ankita Rao reports from New York:The Guardian’s Ankita Rao reports from New York:
Hundreds of people gathered in Union Square this evening once more in New York City. But this gathering, organized in part by Frontlines on the Frontlines, called for health workers to show solidarity with the movement against police brutality. Hundreds of people gathered in Union Square this evening once more in New York City. But this gathering, organized in part by Frontlines for Frontlines, called for health workers to show solidarity with the movement against police brutality.
Amid a nationwide, politicised dialogue about why public health professionals are supporting the protests during a pandemic, the doctors and nurses here said systemic racism is a public health crisis that existed before Covid-19 and will continue to after. This evening, they knelt in silence, chanted the names of people who had died at the hands of police, and marched down the main route on Broadway toward City Hall.Many of the nurses and doctors here have been treating Covid-19 patients in the city, and said they saw the protest as essential for the wellbeing of their patients. The New York gathering was one of many that happened across hospitals and cities in the country, where healthcare workers knelt or observed silence for victims of police brutality. Amid a nationwide, politicized dialogue about why public health professionals are supporting the protests during a pandemic, the doctors and nurses here said systemic racism is a public health crisis that existed before Covid-19 and will continue to after. This evening, they knelt in silence, chanted the names of people who had died at the hands of police, and marched down the main route on Broadway toward City Hall.Many of the nurses and doctors here have been treating Covid-19 patients in the city, and said they saw the protest as essential for the wellbeing of their patients. The New York gathering was one of many that happened across hospitals and cities in the country, where healthcare workers knelt or observed silence for victims of police brutality.
The New York Times added an editor’s note to a piece by Republican senator Tom Cotton, which received widespread rebuke.The New York Times added an editor’s note to a piece by Republican senator Tom Cotton, which received widespread rebuke.
The note maintains that “The basic arguments advanced by Senator Cotton — however objectionable people may find them — represent a newsworthy part of the current debate.”The note maintains that “The basic arguments advanced by Senator Cotton — however objectionable people may find them — represent a newsworthy part of the current debate.”
But it continues:But it continues:
Cotton responded that the paper is “now run by a woke mob’.Cotton responded that the paper is “now run by a woke mob’.
Here’s the scene in Columbus, Ohio, captured by a reporter for WOSU, the local public radio station:Here’s the scene in Columbus, Ohio, captured by a reporter for WOSU, the local public radio station:
The NFL commissioner Roger Goodell admitted that the organization was wrong for not letting players peacefully protest.
“We, the NFL, admit we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest,” Goodell said in a video posted to social media. “We, the NFL, believe Black Lives Matter.”
The statement is a huge reversal for the NFL. After former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, Colin Kaepernick began kneeling before games to protest police brutality, no team offered him a contract.
Yesterday, a group of NFL players called on the league to “condemn racism and the systematic oppression of black people” in a video. “How many times do we need to ask you to listen to your players?” Tyrann Mathieu of the Kansas City Chiefs asked in the video, which was shared widely yesterday.
Here are some scenes from Detroit, where a huge showing of protestors has shut down a bridge:
Trump has rolled back yet another Obama-era environmental protection. The president signed a proclamation today that opened the Atlantic Ocean’s only fully protected marine sanctuary to commercial fishing.
Trump’s proclamation allows fishing to resume at the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, reversing a policy from the Obama banning crabbing and fishing in the monument in order to protect endangered whales and other marine life.
Obama had blocked of 5,000 miles of the monument off the coast of New England in 2016 over opposition from crabbers and lobster catchers.
The city’s mayor announced the policy at a press conference amid growing concern over the use of chemical agents against protesters. Nearly 1,300 public health providers and experts have signed a letter this week, warning that dousing crowds in teargas and pepper spray will accelerate the spread of coronavirus.
Public health experts and civil rights advocates have long advocated against the use of tear gas, a chemical weapon that can be lethal, especially to the elderly and those with underlying conditions like asthma. Various international treaties and the Geneva Convention have banned its use in international warfare.
Kanye West will provide financial support to the families of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor.
The Guardian’s André Wheeler reports:
West will fund the entire college education of George Floyd’s six-old-daughter, representatives for the rapper confirmed late Friday afternoon to PEOPLE. In addition, the rapper will also donate $2 million to support the “legal defenses and families” of the late Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor.
The news comes after West was seen participating in a South Side Chicago protest Thursday. The appearance came after a notable silence from West, as many in the hip hop field, including Jay-Z, Drake, and Ludacris, issued calls for justice. West is a noted supporter of President Trump, who has threatened violence and military action against protestors repeatedly.
While West has not publicly commented on the deaths of Floyd, Arbery, or Taylor, his wife, Kim Kardashian-West, wrote she was “infuriated and disgusted.” Previously, the couple have worked closely with President Trump on criminal justice reform and freeing inmates.
Another dispatch from our West Coast bureau…
Earlier today, California governor Gavin Newsom called for an end to police chokeholds, a technique that has been controversial for decades.
The Los Angeles Times notes that the Los Angeles police department limited the use of the carotid neck holds – where officers apply pressure to a detainee’s neck – after 1982, after the then LAPD chief Daryl Gates notoriously said blacks die from the technique at disproportionate rates because the “veins or arteries of blacks do not open up as fast as they do in normal people”.
The carotid neck hold was not used by the officer in Minneapolis who kneeled on George Floyd’s neck.
Newsom also had words on the approach police have used to disperse crowds of demonstrators, which has included the use of tear gas and rubber bullets.
“Protesters have the right to protest peacefully – not be harassed. Not be shot at by rubber bullets or tear gas,” Newsom said.
“Today I am calling for the creation of a new statewide standard for use of force in protests. Acts of violence against peaceful protestors will not be tolerated.”
Aside from force targeted at protestors, public health experts have warned that the use of tear gas, which causes people to sneeze, gag and cough, could accelerate the spread of coronavirus in the middle of the pandemic.
Newsom addressed the need for larger and more consistent efforts to change what he described as a two-tier justice system that treats people who “are rich and guilty a hell of a lot better than it treats people that are poor and innocent”.
“One thing we know about our criminal justice system, it’s not blind,” Newsom said.
The governor called on Californians to reject the sense of “normalcy” that has resulted in an unequal justice system.
“We’ve accepted that as normal. Normalcy created the conditions that led to this moment. If you want to go back to normalcy – I’m not going there with you”, he said.
News from Canada, where prime minister Justin Trudeau this afternoon took a knee with protesters at an event in memory of George Floyd.
According to Reuters, Trudeau was “wearing a black mask and surrounded by bodyguards [when he] made a surprise appearance at the “No justice = No peace” rally in front of parliament in Ottawa. His appearance came a day after police shot and killed an indigenous woman during a wellness check in eastern Canada.”
When Trudeau kneeled, protesters chanted “Stand up to Trump!”
More from Reuters: “Demonstrations were held in other Canadian cities on Friday, including Toronto, where hundreds walked downtown.
“Trudeau three times took a knee alongside other protesters, a gesture used to protest against police brutality and the treatment of African-Americans by police. Afterward, several people thanked Trudeau for kneeling.”
Our west coast tech reporter sends the following report about the Washington Post’s big story on internal dissent at Facebook…
Internal documents from Facebook show thousands of employees oppose chief executive Mark Zuckerberg’s choice not to remove inflammatory speech posted on the platform by Donald Trump, a Washington Post report shows.
Employees have criticized Zuckerberg over his decision to leave live on the site a post made by Trump that seemingly encouraged the shooting of protesters. Social media rival Twitter chose to hide the message behind a warning.
According to a report the Post published on Friday, in response to growing unrest among employees, Zuckerberg held an emergency town hall meeting this week, during which 5,500 workers voted on which questions should be put to him.
The one that got the highest number of votes asked: “Can we please change our policies around political free speech? Fact checking and removal of hate speech shouldn’t be exempt for politicians.”
One internal message board at Facebook with hundreds of participants questioned whether the social media giant has an “abusive relationship” with the president, the Post reported.
The Post report is the latest to uncover growing unrest within Facebook and among the company’s partners surrounding Zuckerberg’s content moderation decisions. Criticism has come from former employees and current employees at all levels of the company, including senior staff.
Also this week, nearly three-dozen founding Facebook employees wrote an open letter to Zuckerberg opposing the decision to leave the Trump post up. Current employees staged a virtual walkout, and online therapy company Talkspace cut ties with Facebook over the issue.
Facebook did not respond to request for comment.
Reports and footage are coming in from across the US of crowds gathering for more protests this afternoon and tonight, as the killing in Minneapolis of George Floyd – and other deaths of African Americans at the hands of police, including those of Breonna Taylor and David McAtee in Louisville, Kentucky – fuel lasting civil unrest, the worst since 1968 and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Hre’s Josh Wood’s report from Louisville about the death of McAtee.
And here’s a Guardian video, in which Kenya Evelyn, one of our Washington reporters, explains what the George Floyd protests says about America:
From New York, meanwhile, the Associated Press reports that arrests from a week of protests have started to put a strain on the city’s justice system:
Good evening from New York – I’m here to take you through the next couple of hours, until Maanvi Singh logs on from Oakland to close out the day in America.
The Washington Post has an in-depth and fascinating report about troubles at Facebook, over Mark Zuckerberg’s refusal to check or question posts by Donald Trump about the George Floyd protests seen by most observers to encourage violence and division.
The Post editors have like good editors everywhere gone for the grabby headline: “Facebook employees said they were ‘caught in an abusive relationship’ with Trump as internal debates raged”.
On Twitter this afternoon – Twitter being a platform that has attempted to censor or censure Trump’s outbursts, and has in return felt the full blast of Trumpian invective and executive orders of dubious utility – Trump went there on the subject of what he deems to be legitimate protest.
“I am a big fan of Drew Brees,” he said of the New Orleans Saints star who waded into huge controversy this week by saying he did not agree with NFL protests against police brutality during the pre-game anthem.
“I think he’s truly one of the greatest quarterbacks,” Trump continued, “but he should not have taken back his original stance on honoring our magnificent American Flag. OLD GLORY is to be revered, cherished, and flown high. We should be standing up straight and tall, ideally with a salute, or a hand on heart. There are other things you can protest, but not our Great American Flag – NO KNEELING!”
Two things. One, protesting, even burning the US flag is a right protected by the US constitution. And two, if Trump says kneeling in front of the flag is not OK, pictorial evidence suggests he thinks groping it is perfectly OK. Which, of course, it is. Like Trump’s regular love-ins with the Stars and Stripes at CPAC and other events, his outrage today is purely performative politics.