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Daily thread for news/updates/discussion of George Floyd protests - June 6
This thread is posted daily - please try to post relevant content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Especially significant updates may warrant a separate topic, but most should be posted here.
Progress in New York. We now know the shape of the reform package that will likely pass before the end of next week when the legislature is back in session.
You can read the summary and find links to the text of every bill right here.
I'm surprised and pleased to see legalization of cannabis is included. This will deprive police of one of their most effective excuses for harassing people. It's a much larger issue in the NYC area than in the rest of the state, it's been my experience upstate cops give zero fucks about cannabis. I know cops who smoke it, and know I grow it. They only get worked up over large scale grow operations, not personal use.
The NYPD, on the other hand, uses cannabis like a club to beat their way through every door and into every car trunk. 'I smell something' will no longer serve that function for them.
More updates on Buffalo. The two officers involved in that video were arrested and charged with felony 2nd degree assault.
So much for resignations helping. Even better, the officers lied in their police report saying the man tripped and fell. Not just the two charged - many others who were at that incident. We haven't heard the last of this yet.
Yeah, my question when I heard about the resignations was, "Was this to protest how the other officers are being treated, or to show disdain for their actions?" My assumption was that they were angry about the officers being held accountable, not that they were angry at the officers for being shitbags.
Yes this was exactly what they were doing
Two hours and nine minutes of police brutality videos. This compilation popped up on /r/publicfreakout yesterday.
I must say I'm amazed at the idiocy of these cops. They know people are filming them and they are still under the impression these acts won't cost them their careers in law enforcement and land them with felony convictions. It's wonderful to get so many of these thugs out in the open where they can be held accountable and stripped of their public trust.
If you're too foolish/thuggish to behave when fifty cameras are pointed at you, then you're clearly lacking the required integrity to remain in the police force.
The template that's been laid down across the US over the last 20+ years is that they won't suffer major repercussions, and that's still a possibility in this case as well. These situations often look promising (in terms of achieving actual justice) during the first few days of response, but tend to swing back in the alleged offending cop's favor after the public furor dies down. The only way that real justice is accomplished in these scenarios is if the interested public sees the entire process through - not just the initial fury.
This is a hyper-local report, but I just wanted to say that I attended a BLM protest and memorial for George Floyd in my wee tiny (pop. 15,000) very white northwestern Michigan town, and 1,500 people turned out for a passionate, but orderly event. [It doesn't sound like much of a thing, until you imagine 10% of the population of a major city showing up.]
The Chief of Police spoke, acknowledging that the actions of the Minneapolis officers in George Floyd's death were wrong and unconscionable. He quoted Robert Woodson on just policing - interesting quotes, even if the figure behind them has some problematic history.
Local-resident Black speakers described incidents of profiling, unnecessary use of force, and racist social media posts from police officers. The local BLM leadership presented demands for an end to racial profiling, annual implicit bias training, civilian review, and incidentally brought up the fact that 40% of the county budget is dedicated to police services [national average for similar forces is 25%]. They recommended public release of the detailed budget, and reallocation of those funds for non-police community services.
Video is published here.
Aside from the mere presence of a single dude in a very questionable yellow Hawaiian shirt, I didn't see any evidence of Boogaloo, white nationalist, or other potentially violent infiltrators. Lots of kids, people of all ages, genders, colors, significant call-outs for native, Latinx, LGBT+, and other minorities in the community. Lots of supportive honking from passing cars.
One of the rally organizers is a leader in the local Indivisible group, a major Democratic Party activist, and also sits on the city Board of Commissioners.
The Mayor's office was able to persuade organizers of an Open Carry firearms rally (with some really awful white nationalist backing) to choose another day.
Bill de Blasio (mayor of New York City) gave a jaw dropping interview on WNYC yesterday. An amazing display of gaslighting about the well documented nightly brutality by NYPD during the protests. (Link goes to audio and full transcript.)
Here's a short summary.
Democrats to Propose Broad Bill to Target Police Misconduct and Racial Bias
Lots of incredibly positive changes in the Bill:
Hopefully they can actually get it passed without being watered down too much. If not, hopefully they will try again in 6 months.
p.s. Does anyone else think this may deserve its own post, given its importance?
Not being a lawyer, does this have a specific legal definition?
IANAL either, so don't know if the following definitions would apply to the Federal Police Misconduct Statute the Dems plan on changing the wording of, but this document from the 3rd Circuit Court seems to explain the specific meanings of each. It's pretty legalese heavy but still reasonably understandable, IMO.
General Introduction to Mental State Instructions
vs. the proposed new wording:
or
Has there been any sign that the Senate would pass it or negotiate a compromise?
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/civilian
From a few days ago but interesting nonetheless:
UPDATED: Suspended Fargo deputy police chief resigns
Doing that to "protect all officers and the protesters and citizens of Fargo", was he? I'm sure being a provocateur never once crossed his mind while he was out there pretending to be a protestor either. /s
I just wanted to post a few article of note about the National Guard. Sorry a couple of them are a bit of old news.
A National Guardsman in MA was removed from active duty after posting "I can't wait to shoot you".
An Ohio guardsman who was removed because of his white supremacist posts
National Guard flying aggressive "persistent presence" mission with helicopters earlier this week over protesters. Apparently that was ordered by the Pentagon
Edit: Fixed link to Ohio National guard.
Your second link is just another article on the helicopter incident. This article talks about the Ohio guardsman:
DeWine: Ohio National Guardsman removed after white supremacist posts were made online
Whoops. Thanks for the heads up.
From tear gas to rubber bullets, here’s what ‘nonlethal’ weapons can do to the body
Kind of a surprising article coming from National Geographic, especially given they are owned by Disney now.
@spit-evil-olive-tips, figured you might want to read this given your post on chemical weapons the other day.
Thanks. Really glad to see "neutral" outlets like Nat Geo picking up reporting on this.
This article from the Washington Post breaks down some of the various "non-lethal" / "less-lethal" weapons used by police, with pictures.
Physicians for Human Rights also has a page about the affects of "chemical irritants" including tear gas. Among other things:
In a sane world, conservative "pro-life" groups (that normally spend all their time focusing on controlling women's reproductive rights) would be up in arms condemning the use by police of weapons that can kill unborn children.
Denver Police fired "pepper ball" rounds at an unarmed man shouting that his pregnant fiancee was in the car with him. They were not part of the protests, they were making food deliveries.
Warning: cringe-inducing violence.
Another instance of "non-lethal" weapons causing permanent injury or disability when misused with malevolent intent, here.
The officer in the above story that shot and permanently injured the community activist for no reason whatsoever is the same that was caught laughing, smiling, and amping himself up shortly before shooting another protestor point blank for saying "fuck you" to him after he said "shut up, bitch" to another protestor. Also of note is that his chief called him "a good kid who made a mistake" in the press briefing in response to the above videos going viral.
Yeahhh... clearly not just "a" mistake, and based on his sociopathic behavior I very much doubt he is a "good kid" or feels embarrassed for his actions.
Nothing to see here , move along.
Manhattan D.A. Cy Vance will not prosecute protesters arrested for unlawful assembly or disorderly conduct.
(note: Vance is still a corrupt goon, despite doing the right thing here.)
Protests about police brutality are met with wave of police brutality across US
Police Board President: Officers Struck Me 5 Times With Their Batons During Protest
Seattle PD, unable to use tear gas, are now trying to redefine what words mean.
"we're asking the crowd to back away from the fencing in order to keep this a peaceful demonstration"
So...if they don't back up, the police will make it not peaceful by firing the first shot? Or if they don't back up, they'll consider "standing too close to the fence" to be violence and use that as an excuse to start firing anyway?
edit: their justification is that the crowd got violent and threw a candle at them
Separately, yesterday here in Seattle, police reportedly pepper-sprayed a woman with her child in their car. This video shows the aftermath but not the event itself, which I haven't been able to find any video of.
Their official statement today confirms they used pepper spray, but claims that the child was not in the car at the time.
Which...I hope is wrong, or I'm misunderstanding it, because it would mean they first dragged the child out of the car, then pepper-sprayed the mother, with the child watching from the sidewalk?
Some comedy gold in that twitter thread from the Seattle Police Dept. claiming "Several officers injured due to improvised explosives" (that had pic of the supposed "explosive" with a label saying "CANDLE" still on it):
Edit: Some new ones.
Video on how to diffuse these bombs
Unidentified police in plain clothes do not identify themselves and arrest woman on the street and throw her into an unmarked car (turns out to be San Diego police department). People filming are told they will be shot if they follow
That is so fucked up. You don't even know whether those people abducting you are criminal members of the police of just criminals. If you're just arresting someone in plain clothes without identifying yourself, you're indistinguishable from a kidnapper with a tactical vest. These people should not be allowed to take people with them without first being properly identified as police. I dunno, maybe call 911, make them give you and the police a password. If the "cop" tells you the correct password, he's in fact one. Unfortunately, I doubt dispatch would be helpful enough - if these guys even have their radios on them.
I'm pretty sure the FBI intended that to be used for citizens reporting fellow citizens for inciting violence, but a bunch of users in the subreddits where police brutality during the protests is being documented (e.g. /r/PublicFreakout, /r/Bad_Cop_No_Donut, etc) have coopted it and are submitting evidence of police brutality to it instead. It's kind of a brilliant move, IMO.
I love it because the FBI is getting exactly what they asked for :)
LOL yeah... it is technically what they asked for, so they can't really reject the submissions without looking partisan and biased. Hopefully they don't just ignore it all though. Especially since if they actually do follow through with investigating those violations of citizens 1A rights, regardless of the fact that it's being done by the police, it would probably go a long way towards ending the protests amicably and helping make a positive change in the country.
George Floyd's brother to testify in House hearing on police brutality
(Out of Protest)
Because this situation is so strange, I wanted to condense my thoughts into a post. I've donated $10 to the ACLU and encourage you to do so if possible. I'm not making any money from this post either as I don't monetise my blog in any way.
How Americans Feel About George Floyd’s Death And The Protests
On one hand, cool.
On the other hand, this is what happened with the coronavirus where it went from partisan to not partisan to partisan.
Salt Lake City, Utah
BTS and Big Hit Entertainment Donate $1 Million to Black Lives Matter
In liberal Austin, protests unleash violence — then an identity crisis