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The post Portland unrest prompts arrests; objects thrown at officers, flag burned: reports appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>More than a dozen rioters were arrested late Saturday in Portland, Ore., as crowd members threw cans, bottles and other objects at law enforcement officers, authorities said.
The rioting was underway in the downtown area, with the state’s largest city now seeing more than four months of daily and nightly protests, vandalism and violence.
Crowd members became “hostile to officers trying to clear the street” for vehicular traffic, prompting the arrests, the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office wrote in Twitter messages.
At one point in the evening, rioters were seen setting an American flag on fire.
At another point, a detainee escaped from a police van and ran off, according to a KOIN-TV reporter’s video on Twitter.
A protester burns an American flag while rallying at the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse on Saturday, Sept. 26, 2020, in Portland, Ore. (Associated Press)
Around 7 p.m. local time, Portland police posted on Twitter their account of confiscating firearms, paintball guns, baseball bats and shields from a vehicle leaving Delta Park.
FBI’S WRAY SAYS PROTESTS MORE PEACEFUL IN CITIES, STATES THAT SAW FEDERAL HELP
“At least one criminal citation was issued,” the tweet said.
Saturday’s unrest began hours earlier, around noon, with a planned event by the conservative Proud Boys, but an expected crowd of thousands for that rally failed to materialize, with only several hundred showing up, FOX 12 of Oregon reported.
When the Proud Boys gathered, chairman Enrique Tarrio claimed the group had helped prompt action by Brown and Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler to help discourage violence.
“I’m actually really happy we forced Kate Brown and Ted Wheeler’s hand into actually doing their job. They haven’t been doing their job for 120 days,” Tarrio says, according to FOX 12. “We’ve seen destruction, mayhem.”
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About 50 Portland police officers had been deputized as federal officers in anticipation of trouble at the Proud Boys event, OregonLive.com reported.
About 50 Oregon State Police members were federally deputized in July, the report said.
The designations, in part, would help federal authorities bring federal charges – with potential harsher prison terms — against any suspects accused of assaulting the officers, according to the report.
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]]>The post Amid Kentucky unrest, AP poll shows public support for racial justice protests falling appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>A new poll shows support for protests like those engulfing Louisville following a grand jury decision in the Breonna Taylor case has fallen from a peak reached soon after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody in May.
The survey by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that 44% of Americans disapprove of protests in response to police violence against Black Americans, while 39% approve. In June, 54% approved of the protests
The survey was conducted before Wednesday’s announcement that a former Louisville police officer would be charged in the Taylor case, but not for her actual death.
Floyd’s death had also sparked a renewed focus on the shooting that killed Taylor during a drug raid on the night of March 13.
“I was supportive back in June, but after seeing everything up until now, I’m almost dead against them,” said Dave Hipelious, 63, of New Lenox, Ill., who is a retired pipe fitter in the energy industry.
Hipelious, who is White, said his support for the protests soured when he saw violent unrest, arson and looting that marred the largely peaceful demonstrations following Floyd’s death.
“I was a pretty wild young man,” Hipelious said. “Every time the police stopped me, and every issue I had with them, I was completely in the wrong. I do believe they are doing their job right.”
The poll also found that 35% of White Americans approve of the protests now, while 50% disapprove. In June, 53% of White Americans approved of the protests while 34% disapproved.
Among Latinos, 31% approve, compared with 44% in June; 63% of Black Americans support the protests, down from 81%, with more now saying they neither approve nor disapprove.
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Eighty-four percent of Black Americans, but just 42% of white Americans and 50% of Latinos, say police more often use deadly force against a Black person than a white person. Mewanwhile, 74% of Black Americans say the criminal justice system is too lenient when officers cause injury or death, 47% of white Americans and 50% of Latinos say the same.
Among Republicans, 75% say they disapprove of the protests, up from 56% in June. Just 9% approve, down from 29% then. And more Republicans now describe protests as mostly or all violent, 52% vs. 36%. Among Democrats, 70% approve, and close to half describe them as mostly or all peaceful. Still, roughly as many describe them as a mix of both.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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]]>The post Portland’s unrest continues for six straight weeks with no apparent end in sight appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>The death of George Floyd triggered a wave of protests and violent mayhem across the country as demonstrators demanded justice and a reckoning against racial injustice and police brutality.
In Portland, Oregon’s largest city, those demonstrations have raged for six weeks straight, and local businesses have reported $23 million in losses due to looting and rioting that have gripped its downtown area since the end of May.
Demonstrators have been seen lighting mattresses on fire and setting off fireworks in the streets.
PORTLAND POLICE DECLARE A RIOT DURING ANOTHER NIGHT OF UNREST IN THE CITY
Just this weekend, a federal officer protecting a closed courthouse was struck in the head and shoulder with a hammer as protesters attempted to break down the court’s door. The courthouse suffered an estimated $50,000 in damages, according to KGW.
A federal officer in Portland was struck in the head and shoulder with a hammer after a man tried to use to the tool to break down a door to a federal courthouse, police said.
(Portland Police Bureau)
Jacob Michael Gaines, 23, of Texas, was arrested for the assault on the officer.
Amid the unrest, federal officers were called into the city to protect federal properties including the Mark. O Hatfield Federal Courthouse, Pioneer Courthouse, the Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt Federal Building and Terry Schrunk Plaza.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security deployed more than a half-dozen law enforcement agencies and departments, with officers from the U.S. Marshalls, the Federal Protective Service and U.S. Customs and Border Protection rotating protection services throughout the city.
FEDERAL OFFICER IN PORTLAND STRUCK WITH HAMMER DURING PROTESTS, SEVERAL ARRESTED
However, the violence has no apparent end in sight, and it remains unclear who is responsible for helping organize and supply protesters as they continue to wreak havoc in the streets – most recently focusing on federal property.
In this Friday, July 10, 2020, file photo, federal officers pull a protester into the Federal Courthouse as protesters gather in downtown Portland, Ore.
(The Oregonian via AP)
Local officials have criticized federal law enforcement and even President Trump for the havoc. Meanwhile, one group of anti-capitalist, anti-fascist teens who call themselves the Pacific Northwest Youth Liberation Front has used social media to organize throughout the city.
The Seattle Times reported the group uses social media to promote rallies, provide rioters with tactical advice and offer commentary on the gatherings that have led to clashes with police. Its goal is to upend the U.S. political system.
Agents from different components of the Department of Homeland Security are deployed to protect a federal courthouse in Portland, Ore., on Sunday, July 5, 2020. (Doug Brown via AP)
On an unverified Twitter page attributed to the group – which has amassed more than 21,000 flowers – shared a post on Monday that said: “The Feds and Portland Police are very quickly finding out that if they build a fortress and use literal siege tactics, the People will put their f—ing fortress under siege.”
Early Tuesday morning, the Portland Police Department – which is banned by a temporary federal court order from using tear gas unless they declare a riot – took to Twitter to declare the situation in the streets had once again devolved into a riot scenario outside the city’s police union headquarters. The city’s police bureau has declared a riot multiple times before federal officers showed up to assist.
The department warned those who refused to disperse would be subject to arrest, tear gas or impact weapons. It shared images of the objects thrown at officers – including paint, ball bearings, and glass bottles.
ANTI-FASCIST GROUP SEEN AS PLAYING BIG ROLE IN PORTLAND UNREST: REPORT
Last week, Deputy Police Chief Chris Davis said an “agitator corps” of violent protesters were responsible for the vandalism and chaos in the city – which has been ready to reopen for weeks after the coronavirus pandemic lockdowns.
Davis pledged support for the Black Lives Matter movement and its nonviolent protests, and condemned the separate group of dangerous and sophisticated vandals causing the “mayhem.”
“There’s a very big difference between protests and the kind of mayhem that we see every night,” he said. “You’re going to hear me make a lot of effort not to refer to what we’re talking about here as protests because protests and this are two different things.”
He said last week that more than 100 people – both city employees and the public – have sustained injuries throughout the demonstrations.
Among those injured was Donovan LaBella, 26, who collapsed to the ground unconscious and bleeding profusely from the head after he was hit by a less-lethal round outside the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse.
In this July 2, 2020 photo released by the U.S. Attorney Office in Oregon and taken from security cameras, officers with the Federal Protective Service can be seen, top right, holding their shields up and guarding the doorway of the Hatfield Federal Courthouse after the glass door shattered.
(U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Oregon via AP)
Video recorded by bystanders shows LaBella standing with both arms in the air holding a large speaker across the street from the courthouse when he was hit. His mother told Oregon Public Broadcasting that her son underwent surgery on Sunday after suffering facial and skull fractures.
“I want to make it very clear so that there’s no confusion,” Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said. “The serious injuries sustained by Donavan LaBella at the hands of a federal officer were unacceptable.”
The U.S. Marshals Service has launched an investigation into the incident.
Wheeler, a Democrat, accused President Trump on Monday of escalating the situation in his city with his “heavy-handed tactics” which “led to a serious injury and enflamed an already tense situation.”
The remarks came after Trump earlier in the day said federal officers “very much quelled” the violence seen in Portland over the weekend.
“We’ve done a great job in Portland. Portland was totally out of control. They went in and I guess they have many people right now in jail. We very much quelled it. If it starts again, we’ll quell it again, very easily. It’s not hard to do,” Trump said at a White House roundtable on law enforcement.
At a press conference later Monday, Wheeler said he wants the federal agents in his city to “deescalate the situation, not add to an already highly volatile situation. He said he had no problem with federal officers protecting their facilities.
“What I have a problem with is them leaving the facilities and going out onto the streets of this community and then escalating an already tense situation as they did the other night,” he said. “I would consider telling them to leave — and I have no authority to do so.”
Portland police Chief Chuck Lovell also addressed a recent uptick in shootings and homicides across the city – without claiming the violence was associated with the unrest in the city brought by riots. Portland witnessed a 380 percent increase in shootings over the past year. Five homicides occurred within a 24 hour period this weekend.
“Each of these numbers represents a human being, we must not lose sight of that,” Lovell said at the same press conference. “Five victims of homicide within 24 hours is staggering.”
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Addressing rumors on social media, Portland Police said that one of those homicide victims, 28-year-old Dominique Marcel Dunn, who was gunned down on a city street corner Thursday, did not appear to be targeted because he was Black.
The agency said that “Detectives interviewed multiple witnesses to this crime and there is no information at this time to support race was a factor that played a role in this case.”
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]]>The post In an era of racial unrest, Americans converging in D.C. to celebrate the Fourth of July question the meaning of freedom appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>The holiday has lost its lofty meaning, said Perkins, who is African American; Juneteenth would be her new freedom day. “July Fourth now is just a day that people like to celebrate with their family, have a fun party.”
Bill Seibert, who had roared to the Capitol grounds from Easton, Pa., as part of a biker contingent of supporters of President Trump, might as well have been standing in a different country.
“When I hear about racism, I don’t see it,” said Seibert, who came with his wife, Chris Curto. To the white couple in their 50s, freedom means the right to speak freely as Trump supporters as well as freedom of religion and the right to bear arms — all under threat, they believe.
“Watch the news,” said Seibert, a small-business owner and Fox News fan.
“There are U-Hauls arriving with antifa. It’s scary,” Curto chimed in, referring to an unfounded rumor circulating online. “Think of everything the country got through. Slavery, then we overcame it. Now it feels like we’re going backwards.”
The crowds that typically flow into the District on Independence Day to line the streets for a parade or to get a prime spot on the Mall to see the fireworks were markedly thinner this year. Dan Stessel, a Metro spokesman, said that as of 9 p.m., there were 34,000 trips taken on Metrorail for Saturday, compared with just more than 315,000 on July 4 last year.
The throngs were often headed in different directions. Hundreds flocked to Black Lives Matter Plaza, which has been the gathering place for more than a month for demonstrations over the killing of George Floyd, a black man, by police in Minneapolis. Hundreds more ventured to the Mall for protests or to celebrate the nation’s founding.
The day was capped, as usual, with the spectacle of fireworks and flyovers, even as an evening speech by Trump was riven with the kind of racially divisive, partisan rhetoric that had dominated his remarks the day before at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. The speech, made on the South Lawn of the White House before a ticketed throng of supporters who arrived mostly maskless, denounced elements of the social justice protests for attacking statues and monuments of historical figures.
“We are now in the process of defeating the radical left, the Marxists, the anarchists, the agitators, the looters,” Trump said. “We will safeguard our values, traditions, customs and beliefs.”
As public health officials’ warnings and fear of the novel coronavirus dampened enthusiasm for the nation’s signature Fourth of July event, those who ventured out — most masked, some without — represented a kaleidoscope of Americans.
Some were there simply to catch a break and celebrate, in red, white and blue garb and waving flags as they chatted amiably and spread out in the shade to await the show.
There were, however, few sightings of the flag during the day or celebration in the sweating throngs of Black Lives Matter protesters, congregating at the Capitol or on Black Lives Matter Plaza. As evening wore on, the plaza became a stage for scattered flag burnings and derisive sneers as military flyovers swept the skies overhead.
A queer Latina woman who identified herself as Kiara R. stomped on a large U.S. flag spread across the asphalt, her white Adidas sneakers crisscrossing the red and white stripes.
“Now’s your chance to step on the flag and all it represents: slavery, genocide and war,” the activist with Refuse Fascism DC said into a microphone as her words echoed throughout the plaza.
Ben Ferreira, 43, a white trucker from San Francisco, looked on.
“Ma’am, why are you standing on the American flag?” asked Ferreira.
“Because freedom of speech,” Kiara R. said. “Isn’t that what the troops fight for?”
Ferreira said he understood the “emotional plea” from protesters was one he could not fully understand, but he felt enriched by the experience nonetheless.
“Part of the promise of the United States is having the freedom to speak your mind,” he said, gazing back at the activists on the dirtied banner. “I completely disagree with stepping on the flag, but I support their right to do it.”
Bands of Trump supporters strode about the nearby Mall in telltale Make America Great Again hats throughout, bearing signs and shirts declaring, “We support the president!” and “We support law and order.”
Mostly, the groups passed each other peacefully, if they intersected at all. Occasionally, though, they collided.
Just before the fireworks began, hundreds of protesters, chanting “black lives matter” and “no justice, no peace,” marched onto the Mall near 15th Street and up to the Washington Monument, where they confronted a much smaller crowd of Trump supporters.
Trump supporters, numbering perhaps 50 or more, faced off with the protesters, yelling, “USA” and “all lives matter!”
There was a scuffle, with people trying to snatch hats, flags or signs from each other. A transgender woman waving a pro-Trump sign marched right into the middle of the BLM supporters, until she was surrounded and chased off. Police moved in, first one marked vehicle and then perhaps 100 or more, including Park Police and other federal officers. They struggled to part the two groups but eventually formed a double line between them as the fireworks began.
Earlier in the day, Trump supporters on motorcycles thundered around the Capitol as a group of about three dozen men from a group known as the Proud Boys cheered them on after finishing a march from Harry’s Restaurant in Northwest Washington. Members of the all-male far-right organization, which is listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group, arrived as a contingent of Black Lives Matter protesters set off on a march from the Capitol.
The group’s Cuban American chairman, Enrique Tarrio, said members make the holiday jaunt annually and are not there to mix it up with protesters.
Wearing matching black polo shirts with yellow trim and few masks, the group gathered behind a statue of Ulysses S. Grant across the street from the Capitol.
A Proud Boy who would only give his name as Bobby Pickles, who is white, said he had come from Florida to show his patriotism and symbolically defend the city’s statues, which he said represent the nation’s history and heritage.
“I understand Black Lives Matter a little, but I think a lot of this energy is misdirected,” the man said of the Confederate memorials that have been torn down or defaced in recent weeks.
The state of the nation is perilous on this Fourth of July, he said. “This is the craziest time,” the man said. “It’s ‘1984.’ Conservative voices are being silenced.”
When a group of Black Lives Matter protesters passed on the opposite side of the street, the Proud Boys launched into a chant of “Four more years!”
The miles of fencing that enclosed the monuments on the Mall seemed a visible reminder of the nation’s divisions. The silver wire extended down East Basin Drive and around 15th Street, preventing an early wave of Black Lives Matter activists from converging at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial as they had planned. They met up instead at the National Museum of African American History and Culture before pausing in a shady patch near the Washington Monument.
Patty Wood, 67, stood talking to Ebony Johnson, 32, who had draped a blue flag with white stars atop her Black Lives Matter T-shirt.
“After seeing what’s going out here today, I’m not sure what this flag represents,” said Johnson, who describes herself as African American and Native American. “But for some reason, it makes me feel safe.”
“No, it’s okay,” consoled Wood, who is white. “The Republicans have stolen our flag and our country, and we need to take it back.”
During such an unrestful time in the nation’s history, it might be hard to imagine that anyone would visit the District on the Fourth of July just to relax. But as they spread out under a tree, Mark and Joannie Hines looked out from the spot where Johnson had earlier stood and saw a largely empty expanse of tranquility.
Mark had spent months away from his wife and three children while battling the coronavirus as a nurse in Delaware. Joannie had never been to the East Coast and flew out here to meet Mark for the weekend. It was Mark’s 38th birthday, and they had never seen the national fireworks before.
“It’s been hard — a lot of loss,” said Mark of his work with patients. “This is a little weekend reprieve.”
Mark, who is white and an Army veteran, and who is so far virus-free, said he thinks the unprecedented health crisis has left people more receptive to social change after the killing of Floyd.
“It’s a time of change. It’s needed change,” Mark said, citing change in stances by NASCAR and the National Football League. “The country as a whole has kind of done a 180 from where it was four years ago.”
Then Mark turned to the more mundane concerns that normally occupy people on the Fourth of July. “We’ve got the ice chest. We’ve got the shade,” he said. “I think we’ve got the prime spot.”
Not far away, Patt Cannady was laughing with her siblings as she stretched out in the shade. Cannady, 27, who is white, said she has a good life and is happy a lot of the time. Even so, she was reluctant to truly celebrate, considering Americans who have a different experience of life in her country. Chants of “No Justice, no peace!” rode on the air as she spoke.
“I am thinking a lot about how other people think about the holiday and how your privilege sort of affects how you can view this holiday,” she said.
Michelle Boorstein, Hannah Natanson, Dana Hedgpeth, David Nakamura and Moriah Balingit contributed to this report.
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]]>The post Amid unrest, Black Lives Matter and other social justice groups see fundraising windfall appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>As protests over police brutality and racial injustice have escalated in recent weeks, the mounting pressure of public opinion has led both parties in Congress to draft their own reform bills, states and local governments to tear down statues perceived as racist, places like Washington, D.C. to fast-track police reform legislation and some officials to even consider dismantling their police departments.
With this upheaval has come an unprecedented surge of donations to organizations and causes associated with the social justice movement, including Black Lives Matter groups and others.
One GoFundMe page associated with the Black Lives Matter Los Angeles chapter had been in existence since 2018 and as of the beginning of June had raised about $615,000. In less than four weeks, it’s skyrocketed to over $2.4 million.
DC PROTESTERS CONDEMN EMANCIPATION MEMORIAL IN LINCOLN PARK
And The National Bail Fund Network, which essentially serves as a directory for local groups that help disadvantaged people afford bail, has seen its organizations raise more than $75 million in recent weeks, according to a spokesperson. In a three-week period, that spokesperson says, “many individual bail funds have seen an increase of 100-200 times last year’s annual fundraising amount.”
Some of the funds associated with the network, having their needs met for the foreseeable future by the outpouring of support, have asked people to stop giving to them and instead give to other causes.
GoFundMe, the popular fundraising platform, has also been at the center of the movement, connecting the citizens eager to support a cause to the organizations working to change a system they see as unjust.
A GoFundMe spokesman said that it still doesn’t have a number for how much has been donated to racial justice and police reform causes, but “we’ve definitely seen an outpouring of support on GoFundMe for a diverse range of causes that are focused on racial justice and equality.”
DC MAYOR BOWSER SAYS ‘MOB’ SHOULD NOT BE DECIDING WHICH STATUES FALL AS PROTESTERS EYE LINCOLN
“These fundraisers range from those helping the victims and families of injustice, to those supporting protestors, to those created by and for organizations focused on driving change, to those helping at the community level,” the spokesman said.
One fundraiser has garnered more than $200,000 for Texas State student Gregory Arellano, whose skull was fractured by a rubber bullet during a protest in Austin, Texas, according to the fundraiser’s page. Another for a bail fund associated with Black Lives Matter Charleston has pulled in more than $100,000.
The money isn’t just coming in through GoFundMe, either. ActBlue is an online small-dollar fundraising platform used by Democratic political candidates and organizations, and other progressive groups, which collects a processing fee in exchange for providing a centralized way for these organizations to raise money.
Between May 28 and June 26, ActBlue processed approximately $371 million, according to the ticker on its website, for a range of candidates and causes, not just those tied to social justice groups. But while the platform doesn’t break down how much went to individual groups, the death of George Floyd on May 25 in Minneapolis police custody appeared to precede an overall surge in donations. By comparison, the site processed $141 million in April and $178 million in May, which was its fifth-highest fundraising month since ActBlue was founded in 2004.
COULD BLACK LIVES MATTER GET ON THE BALLOT?
The outpouring of support has even helped those who were hurt when protests sometimes turned into riots. One GoFundMe fundraiser raised more than $1 million for a black-owned sports bar in Minneapolis that was first hurt by the coronavirus and then later looted and vandalized in late May.
But the fundraising windfall hasn’t been without its controversies, either.
Many people, seeking to support the Black Lives Matter movement, went onto platforms like GoFundMe and gave to the first verified charity with Black Lives Matter in the name that they could find. For many, that was the Black Lives Matter Foundation, a group based out of California whose “mission is to help survivors and families that have suffered from the loss of a relative or loved one as a result of an unjust or questionable police shooting, and use our unique and creative ideas to help bring the police and the community closer together to save lives.”
But the foundation is not affiliated with the Black Lives Matter Global Network, which is widely recognized as the official central organization for the movement.
A Buzzfeed story first flagged the distinction. The foundation, for one, is not as aggressive on the issue of overhauling police as the Global Network, which has advocated for reducing funding for police; its official Washington, D.C. chapter has advocated to “defund” the police and framed the current moment as “The Police vs The People.”
According to Buzzfeed, millions had been raised for the Black Lives Matter Foundation, some of which has been frozen by platforms like GoFundMe — as they consider diverting the funds elsewhere.
“GoFundMe utilizes PayPal Giving Fund’s database to enable people to fundraise for a charity,” GoFundMe said in a statement. “180 campaigns have recently raised money for the Black Lives Matter Foundation, raising $350,000. GoFundMe placed all funds on hold and we are working with PayPal and the campaign organizers to ensure the money raised is transferred to the Black Lives Matter movement via their fiscal sponsor.”
Foundation leader Robert Ray Barnes confirmed that he had nothing to do with Black Lives Matter Global Network and said that, despite insinuations he’s tried to take advantage of his group’s name with donors, he doesn’t want anyone’s money “that came to me that did not support the kinds of things that we do.”
He added in a statement to Fox News: “The overall goal of Black Lives Matter Foundation is to comprehensively improve and elevate the lives of Black and Brown people. We want the public to understand that all of Black life matters and mustn’t be reduced to just Black and Brown interactions with law enforcement… Consequently, when we focus only on the interactions with the police, we lessen the importance and significance of all the other issues that require attention, or that ‘matters’ as it relates to the overall well-being of members of Black and Brown communities.”
The Buzzfeed story quoted a Black Lives Matter Global Network spokesperson as saying Barnes’ organization is “improperly using our name.” But Barnes’ organization has existed longer than the Black Lives Matter Global Network.
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: ON POLICE REFORM CONGRESS MAY HAVE MISSED ITS ‘MOMENT’
Black Lives Matter Global Network did not respond to questions sent by Fox News for this report.
Past IRS documents indicate that the Black Lives Matter Foundation had not spent much of the money it’s raised, but Barnes says that more recently he has worked with programs in Los Angeles that help the homeless and the Peaceful Warriors Foundation in Michigan.
Additionally, Barnes confirmed reports that he did receive a cease and desist order for his organization from California, and said his group is “currently working with and is in constant contact with the California Charitable Trust Section to correct the record and differentiate ourselves from the other ‘for profit organizations,’ which we expect to have resolved in the first couple weeks of July.”
The Black Lives Matter Global Network has not escaped scrutiny. It’s not technically a registered charity with the IRS, and therefore raises money through its fiscal sponsor, Thousand Currents. The Washington Examiner reported Thursday that Alicia Garza, a co-founder of the global network, has said that cop-killer Assata Shakur is an inspiration to her. And Susan Rosenberg, who sits on the board of Thousand Currents, has been convicted of domestic terrorism, though was granted clemency by former President Bill Clinton.
And as with any large and unexpected influx of money to such a decentralized set of hands, there is a chance that some of it will be misspent — though there have been no such allegations related to the rush of cash to activist groups this month.
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For its part, The National Bail Fund Network says that money donated to its groups will be “used to bail people out of jail as that is what bail funds do and that was clear when people donated.”
Its spokesperson slammed the current pretrial bail system, which it also advocates against on the grounds that it is not fair to disadvantaged populations.
“Our current criminal justice system incarcerates hundreds of thousands of people every year for their inability to pay money bail,” the spokesperson said. “As long as the pretrial detention and money bail system exist, community bail funds exist to get people free.”
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Two statues were torn down outside the Wisconsin Capitol in Madison.
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Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty
Two statues were torn down outside the Wisconsin Capitol in Madison.
Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty
Two statues toppled, including one of an abolitionist. Several windows smashed at the state Capitol. A state senator attacked by a group of demonstrators. A small fire set outside a local jail.
Those are some of the scenes that played out late Tuesday and early Wednesday in Wisconsin’s capital of Madison.
The arrest of a Black man earlier Tuesday sparked the unrest. He was taken into custody after bringing a megaphone and a baseball bat into a restaurant on the city’s Capitol Square.
The chaos that played out in Madison follows weeks of largely peaceful protests there and across the nation after last month’s death of George Floyd, a Black man who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck in Minneapolis.
Protesters continued to face off with police about a block from the Capitol early Wednesday, NPR member station Wisconsin Public Radio reported, adding that officers played a prerecorded message on a loop informing the crowd that it had gathered unlawfully.
The crowd, the station reported, responded to the message with chants.
The two statues that were removed from their pedestals have stood at the Capitol for decades.
One of the statues, of abolitionist Hans Christian Heg who died fighting for the Union during the Civil War, was dumped in a nearby lake. The other one, celebrating the state motto “Forward,” was moved into the middle of a street near the Capitol, as WPR noted.
Found the statue of Hans Christian Heg in Madison’s Lake Monona, almost a half-mile from where it was toppled on the Wisconsin State Capitol square. pic.twitter.com/Wdu0KXKHw7
— Shawn Johnson (@SJohnsonWPR) June 24, 2020
During the melee, Tim Carpenter, a Democratic state senator, was assaulted after snapping a photo of the protests, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
“I don’t know what happened … all I did was stop and take a picture … and the next thing I’m getting five-six punches, getting kicked in the head,” Carpenter told the newspaper.
Carpenter later took to social media to respond to a reporter who posted an image of what appeared to be him on the ground in foliage.
I took this pic- it got me assaulted & beat up. Punched/kicked in the head, neck, ribs. Maybe concussion, socked in left eye is little blurry, sore neck & ribs. 8-10 people attacked me. Innocent people are going to get killed. Capitol locked- stuck in office.Stop violence nowPlz! pic.twitter.com/Zw2hdfYG66
— Tim Carpenter (@TimCarpenterMKE) June 24, 2020
“Punched/kicked in head, neck, ribs,” Carpenter tweeted. “Maybe concussion, socked in left eye is little blurry, sore neck & ribs. 8-10 people attacked me. Innocent people are going to get killed. Capitol locked- stuck in office.Stop violence nowPlz!”
Attached to his tweet was an 11-second video in which two people with face coverings quickly approach him and grab at the phone. One person is heard yelling, “Delete it!” before the video shuts off.
Another reporter, Dylan Brogan, tweeted an image of Carpenter in what looks to be a heated discussion with protesters.
The demonstrations followed the arrest earlier Tuesday of a Black man, later identified as Devonere Johnson by the Journal Sentinel.
Video released by the Madison Police Department shows a Black man with a baseball bat and a bullhorn follow a white man into a bar near the statehouse. (Editor’s note: This video contains explicit language.)
The Black man said, “You’re a racist,” and later asked, “Why are you a racist?”
He turned to the person filming the encounter to talk about how Jesus is not a man who had “blond hair, blue eyes and pink lips.” He later exited the restaurant but continued to address the mostly white patrons outside. What he said outside is unintelligible.
“Officers attempted to place him under arrest for his actions inside the restaurant,” Madison police officers wrote in a report, according to the Journal Sentinel.
According to The Associated Press, “as many as five officers can be seen taking the man to the sidewalk and carrying him to a police squad car after he initially resisted arrest.”
The Journal Sentinel added that protesters demanding the man’s release rallied near the Dane County jail and set a small fire there.
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]]>Among those killed as protests over the death of George Floyd have roiled American cities in the past week are a retired police captain, a beloved owner of a barbecue restaurant, and a former star football player known as “Mr. Indianapolis.”
As of Monday, an informal tally shows 17 people have died in incidents stemming from the unrest following Floyd’s May 25 death — though details in some of the cases remain murky.
Floyd, a black man who had been arrested, died after a white Minneapolis officer kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes, ignoring his pleas that he couldn’t breathe.
Many of the people killed were black, compounding the tragedy for black communities.
FEDERAL PROTECTIVE SERVICE OFFICER KILLED IN OAKLAND SHOOTING DURING GEORGE FLOYD PROTEST IDENTIFIED
Here’s a snapshot of those who have died:
DAVID DORN
David Dorn, a 77-year-old retired St. Louis police captain was shot and killed on June 2 by looters who broke into a pawn shop. Dorn went to the pawn shop to check on a burglar alarm.
In this 2008, photo David Dorn poses. Dorn, a 77-year-old retired St. Louis police officer who served 38 years on the force was shot and killed by looters at a pawn shop early Tuesday,June 2, 2020, police said. David Dorn was found dead on the sidewalk in front of Lee’s Pawn & Jewelry, which had been ransacked after peaceful protests over the death of George Floyd turned violent overnight. (Scott Bandle, Suburban Journals/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)
The shooting apparently was streamed on Facebook Live but has been taken down. It came on a violent night in St. Louis, which saw four officers shot, businesses burned and ransacked, and people pelting officers with rocks hours following a peaceful protest.
Stephan Cannon, 24, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary, felon in possession of a firearm, St. Louis police said on June 7.
DAVID MCATEE
David McAtee, the 53-year-old owner of a barbecue restaurant was shot and killed on June 1 in Louisville. Police and the National Guard troops were trying to clear a crowd when they heard gunshots and returned fire.
The mayor fired the police chief after finding out officers did not turn on their body-worn cameras. State police and the U.S. attorney also are investigating.
DAVID DORN SHOOTING: ARREST, MURDER CHARGE ANNOUNCED IN KILLING OF RETIRED ST. LOUIS POLICE CAPTAIN
Police say a surveillance camera captured McAtee firing a gun as officers approached.
“This video does not provide all the answers. But we are releasing it to provide transparency. It does not answer every question, including why did he fire and where were police at the time he fired,” acting Police Chief Robert Schroeder said.
CHRIS BEATY
Chris Beaty, 38, who played football for Indiana University and was known as “Mr. Indianapolis,” was shot and killed on the street in downtown Indianapolis on May 30 during a protest.
Cops haven’t released information about Beaty’s death.
Jared Thomas, Beaty’s nephew, says the family has been told Beaty was helping two women who were being mugged when he was shot, the Indianapolis Star reported.
DORIAN MURRELL
Dorian Murrell, 18, was fatally shot in Indianapolis the same night as Beaty.
Cops say the man who shot him, Tyler Newby, 29, told police the shooting happened after he and friend found a gas canister on the ground as they were walking around downtown after the protests.
They said after picking it up they were approached by a group of about 10 males who asked them what they found.
According to the court documents, Newby claimed he was pushed to the ground and saw Murrell standing over him, so he shot Murrell one time, Fox 59 Indianapolis reported. Newby has been charged with murder.
ITALIA KELLY
Italia Kelly, 22, was shot and killed June 1 in Davenport, Iowa, as she was leaving a protest outside a Walmart.
This undated photo provided by the Kelly family shows Italia Marie Kelly, 22, of Davenport, Iowa. Kelly, who also went by the last name Impinto, was shot and killed outside a Walmart early Monday, June 1, 2020, while leaving a protest against police brutality. Police say the death is under investigation and came amid a night of civil unrest in Davenport, Iowa’s third largest city. (Courtesy of the Kelly family via AP)
CHICAGO MAN ARRESTED FOR SHOOTING, KILLING INNOCENT BYSTANDER AMID LOOTING, POLICE SAY
Kelly and a friend were getting in a vehicle to leave because a protest had turned unruly when she was struck in the back by a bullet, said her aunt, Amy Hale of Atchison, Kansas. No arrests have been made.
“She was always smiling, always laughing. That’s why it’s so sad that she was taken in such a violent way,” Hale said. “That is not Italia. She was the bright, bubbly big personality in the room.”
Dwayne Simmons makes a memorial to David McAtee near the intersection of 26th and Broadway, Tuesday, June 2, 2020, in Louisville, Ky. McAtee, the owner of a barbecue spot who was known for offering meals to police officers, died while police and National Guard soldiers were enforcing a curfew early Monday amid waves of protests over a previous police shooting. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
MARQUIS TOUSANT
Marquis Tousant, 23, of Rock Island, Ill., was shot and killed in Davenport the same night as Kelly.
He was found dead near where police say one or more persons fired 13 shots at an unmarked police truck investigating a suspicious car in an alley around 3 a.m., the Des Moines Register reported.
An officer driving the truck was shot in the leg during the shootout, the paper reported. Another officer in the truck returned fire.
Six men fled in a car and were arrested after a high-speed chase, the paper reported. Police found numerous guns in their vehicle.
Police later found Tousant lying dead next to a vehicle at the shooting scene. Under his body investigators said they found a semi-automatic handgun, according to the paper.
PATRICK UNDERWOOD
Patrick Underwood, 53, a federal officer, died as he was providing security at a U.S. courthouse in Oakland, Calif., during a protest when someone fired shots from a vehicle. Another officer was critically wounded.
Federal law enforcement officer Patrick Underwood, 53, was killed in Oakland, Calif. while protecting the U.S. courthouse during a violent protest for George Floyd.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the drive-by shooting was related to the protests, though the federal building’s glass doors were smashed and the front entrance was sprayed with anti-police graffiti. No one has been arrested.
Underwood, who was black, and the other officer were contracted security officers employed by the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Protective Service. They were monitoring a nearby protest.
CALVIN HORTON JR.
Calvin Horton Jr., a 43-year-old black man was fatally shot outside a Minneapolis pawn shop on May 27, two days after Floyd’s death. The 59-year-old owner was later booked into jail on suspicion of murder and then released as the investigation continues, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.
JAMES SCURLOCK
James Scurlock, a 22-year-old black man, was killed Saturday after authorities said he tussled with the owner of two downtown bars. Surveillance video of the strip of bars shows a group of people, including Scurlock, approach white bar owner Jake Gardner.
FORMER INDIANA FOOTBALL PLAYER SHOT, KILLED DURING VIOLENT GEORGE FLOYD PROTESTS IN INDIANAPOLIS
Two people shoved Gardner to the ground, and he fired shots in the air. Seconds later, Scurlock is seen jumping on Gardner, who then fires the gun over his shoulder, striking Scurlock.
Authorities have declined to press charges in the death, calling the shooting self-defense. But Gardner could still face misdemeanor gun charges because his concealed carry permit for the gun had expired, the police chief said.
Prosecutors also want a grand jury to review the case.
JAVAR HARRELL
Javar Harrell, a 21-year-old man, was killed in downtown Detroit on June 5 after someone fired shots into a vehicle during a protest.
According to a police report, Harrell, of Eastpointe, Mich., was sitting in the driver’s seat of a car in a parking lot with two others when someone opened fire and then ran away.
Detroit police have released photos of Harrell’s suspected killer, a man in a surgical mask, and a dark hooded sweater.
BARRY PERKINS III
Barry Perkins III, 29, of St. Louis, was killed May 30 after climbing between two trailers of a FedEx truck during an interstate protest near downtown St. Louis.
Local media reported that the driver had been stopped by protesters and then took off when several people began removing items from one of the trailers.
Lawyers for Perkins family said he was peacefully protesting Floyd’s death and was not looting.
“We offer our sincerest condolences to the family of the individual involved,” FedEx said in a statement. “There is no higher priority for FedEx than safety, and we are cooperating fully with the investigating authorities at this time.”
JORGE GOMEZ
Jorge Gomez, 25, of Las Vegas, was shot fatally shot by officers breaking up a protest in downtown Las Vegas on June 1.
Police said the officers opened fire after Gomez pointed a gun at them.
Gomez had recently shared anti-Donald Trump conspiracies on his Facebook page, and hours before the protest started, he wrote, “Be ready for war. Do not cower in the face of revolution,” the Las Vegas Sun reported.
The paper reported that unlike the other protesters, Gomez was carrying several guns and wearing body armor.
JOSE GUTIERREZ
Jose Gutierrez, 28, of Chicago, was fatally shot during unrest following a protest in Cicero on June 1, according to reports.
He was shot as people were breaking into businesses in the neighborhood and taking whatever they could carry, police said. They said Gutierrez was a bystander, not involved in any looting.
Zion Haygood of Chicago has been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting.
VICTOR CAZARES JR.
Victor Cazares Jr., 27, was fatally shot near a grocery store in Cicero the same night as Gutierrez in a separate incident. Cazares was from Cicero.
MARVIN FRANCOIS
Marvin Francois, 50, was shot and killed May 31 after a protest in Kansas City, Mo., according to reports.
Police said his killers were three carjackers trying to steal his car, Fox 4 KC reported.
“For him to go out that way — it’s hard. It’s really hard,” his son Jayden Francois, 18, told the station.
He said his father was a software engineer whose passion was photography.
2 UNIDENTIFIED MALES
A suspected looter was killed Tuesday breaking into a gun shop after protests in Philadelphia, police said.
The man was shot and killed by the owner of the gun shop, Greg Isabella, who said he saw a group of looters on his surveillance video breaking a padlock on his gate with bolt cutters.
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“The facts we know and the law are clear that the business owner’s use of force while inside his own property against a burglar accompanied by others who was entering with a gun in his hand was justified,” Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said. “It is fortunate for the City of Philadelphia that this large cache of guns and ammunitions were not taken and sold on the street.”
On the same night of the looting incident at Isabella’s gun shop, a 24-year-old looter was killed trying to blow up a sidewalk ATM in Philadelphia, police said.
His name has not been released.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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]]>WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden’s search for a running mate could be reshaped by the police killing of George Floyd and the unrest it has ignited across the country, raising questions about contenders with law-and-order backgrounds and intensifying pressure on the presumptive Democratic nominee to select a black woman.
Biden, who has already pledged to pick a woman, has cast a wide net in his search. Some of the women on his list have drawn national praise amid the protests over Floyd’s death, including Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who delivered an impassioned appeal for calm in her city on Friday night. But the outcry over police brutality against minorities has complicated the prospects of Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who had a controversial record addressing police violence as a prosecutor in the city where Floyd died.
Biden’s choice of a running mate will be among the most consequential decisions he makes in the campaign, particularly given that the 77-year-old is already talking about himself as a “transition” candidate to a new generation of Democratic leaders. His pick will also be viewed as a signal both of his values and who he believes should have representation at the highest level of the American government.
Even before the outcry over Floyd’s death, some Biden allies were already urging him to put a black woman on the ticket given the critical role African Americans played in his path to the Democratic nomination. Those calls have gotten louder in recent days.
“The more we see this level of hatred, the more I think it’s important to confront it with symbolic acts, including potentially the selection of an African American woman as vice president,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers and one of the labor leaders who’s been asked for input by Biden’s team on the selection process.
Bottoms is one of several black women under consideration by Biden’s campaign. Others Biden is believed to be considering include California Sen. Kamala Harris, Florida Rep. Val Demings and Stacey Abrams, the Georgia Democrat and voting rights activist.
Demings didn’t answer directly when asked if the events of the past week increased pressure on Biden to choose a black woman in an interview with The Associated Press on Sunday.
“Well, we’ve never seen a black woman selected as a vice presidential candidate. But I think the American people want someone who cares about their issues and are willing to move the ball forward,”
Asked if she believes race should be left out of the conversation, she was careful to defer to Biden.
“It doesn’t really matter what I think,” she said. “What matters is what Americans think, and what Joe Biden thinks.”
Demings, a former Orlando police chief, wrote a high-profile editorial on Friday challenging her former colleagues in law enforcement.
“As a former woman in blue, let me begin with my brothers and sisters in blue: What in the hell are you doing?” Demings wrote in The Washington Post.
Politicians with law-and-order backgrounds have been viewed skeptically by some in the Democratic Party given the high-profile instances of police brutality against minorities and other inequities in the criminal justice system. In an interview Sunday, Demings defended herself and other potential contenders with such backgrounds, declaring “you’re either gonna be part of the problem or part of the solution.”
“And I think the community wants people who understand the system from the inside out in order to bring real life necessary reforms,” she said.
Harris faced criticism throughout her Democratic primary campaign for her record as a prosecutor and attorney general in California, when she resisted reforms that would have required her office to investigate killings by police and established statewide standards for body cameras.
Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid suggested a resume as a prosecutor could be problematic for potential contenders.
“Prosecutors are not very popular, especially among young people now,” he said. “I’ve got a granddaughter who is graduating from law school and she wants to be a public defender. She doesn’t want to be a prosecutor. And I think a lot of younger people feel the same.”
Klobuchar, who also sought the Democratic nomination, has faced questions about her eight years as prosecutor for Minnesota’s largest county during the primary. Most of the more than two dozen people who died during police encounters in her tenure were people of color, according to data compiled by Communities United Against Police Brutality and news articles reviewed by the AP.
An officer involved in one of those past fatal incidents was Derek Chauvin, who was arrested and charged Friday with Floyd’s murder.
Since ending her campaign, Klobuchar has emerged as a key Biden surrogate and some Democrats see her as a running mate who could help him appeal to some of the white, working-class voters who turned against the party in the 2016 election. Yet some Democrats say the renewed focus on police brutality could complicate her path.
“This is very tough timing for her,” said Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., a top Biden ally.
Klobuchar has said that she is confident Biden will make the right choice and that she’s not thinking about politics right now.
Biden has said he will announce a running mate by Aug. 1, a timeline that leaves plenty of time for the national mood to shift again, particularly as the coronavirus pandemic and resulting economic collapse pressed on.
Those twin crises have already led to increased scrutiny for others in the mix to become Biden’s running mate.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a frequent Trump target during the pandemic for her resistance to lifting stay at home orders, faced questions after her husband allegedly tried to skip the line with a dock company and get his boat in the water ahead of other patrons over Memorial Day weekend.
And Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico was criticized by Republicans in her state following a report that she purchased jewelry from a local business just days after she ordered non-essential businesses to shut down and told residents to stay home.
Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who was vetted as a potential vice presidential pick in 2004, said the scrutiny contenders are facing now has “proliferated.”
“The scrutiny compared to when I was vetted is so much more intense and potentially troublesome for a VP candidate,” he said.
Biden’s search process is still in a relatively early phase. A search committee has been meeting with power players on the left, with special attention to Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill and across organized labor. Biden, who has largely been cloistered at his home in Delaware during the pandemic, would also like to conduct in person meetings with finalists.
“It’s important for him to see the candidate, talk to the candidate, get body language from the candidate. And I don’t mean one time. I think it needs to be several times,” said Cedric Richmond, a Louisiana congressman and campaign co-chair.
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Barrow reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writers Alan Fram in Washington and Michelle L. Price in Las Vegas contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2020 The Washington Times, LLC.
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