Walls covered in graffiti and street art can offer a synopsis of social movements. Recently, in response to police brutality and the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, and many others, artists worldwide have been ignited, taking to streets to express themselves. Syrian artists Aziz Asmar and Anis Hamdoun painted I cant breathe across a fragment of wall in the northwest Idlib province; Italian artist Jorit Agoch made a mural of Floyd along with revolutionaries Angela Davis, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Vladimir Lenin in Naples; and on the Berlin Wall, Eme Freethinker portrayed Floyd and his final words. Driven by the necessity for reform and resistance, these artists are reclaiming public spaces.

In recent years, as the Black Lives Matter movement has gained momentum and protests occur internationally, graffiti has increasingly been used to propel its vision. The inherently political mediums storytelling powers have become a way for communities to raise awareness, express themselves, and even educate the public.

On June 20th in Cleveland, Ohio, artists Stamy Paul and Ricky Smith led a group of local artists, graffiti writers, and activists in creating a Black Lives Matter street mural. While such efforts have proliferated since Mayor Muriel Bowser unveiled Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C., the Cleveland mural, like some others across the U.S., is more elaborate and artful. Each bold letter encompasses kaleidoscopic images of fire, characters, words (such as unity), and messages (Black women are beautiful).

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How Graffiti Artists Are Propelling the Vision of the Black Lives Matter Movement - Artsy

The logo at the top of a website called Now 8 News looks like it could be the logo of a local television station. The slogan below it reads: "First in news." But the supposed news story that social media users are now sharing from the site is fake.

"Los Angeles police: 12 white female bodies in garage freezer tagged, Black Lives Matter," it says. Though the story is undated, it claimed the Los Angeles Police Department made the "gruesome discovery today."

"Upon arriving at the scene, police knocked on the door to be greeted by a man under the influence of drugs," the story says, italicizing that detail. "Upon further investigation, they found 12 White Female Bodies in Garage Freezer Tagged, Black Lives Matter."

The victims were all white women in their mid-20s with blond hair, according to the story, and a suspect is identified only as "Mathis."

This post was flagged as part of Facebooks efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

The images that appear with the story one of a Black man looking at the camera and the other showing the back of a man in a shirt that says "coroner" are the same images from a similar hoax we fact-checked in 2017. Only in that version of the story, a 39-year-old man in Chicago was arrested after police found "19 white female bodies in freezers with Black Lives Matter carved into skin."

But we called LAPD to be sure. "Fake news," a spokesperson said.

We rate this story Pants on Fire.

Excerpt from:

That fake story connecting dead bodies and Black Lives Matter is back - PolitiFact

WASHINGTON - Of all the ways that John Lewis influenced American life and politics, his indelible impact on young people may be among the most enduring. From student activist to elder statesman, Lewis continually encouraged the nation's youth to start "good trouble" and modeled just how to do that.

He was arrested alongside millennial activists pushing for comprehensive reform of U.S. immigration laws in 2013. He led a sit-in in the House of Representatives over gun control following a mass shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Orlando in 2016. And when he was not protesting, he was helping young people understand history, as when he cosplayed as his younger self at San Diego's Comic-Con to celebrate the release of his Selma, Alabama-themed graphic novel series in 2015.

Lewis, the Black civil rights icon who some called the "conscience of Congress," died Friday. In one of his last public appearances, he posed for a picture in June, standing on the Black Lives Matter Plaza mural painted just outside of the White House amid nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd.

For the Black Lives Matter generation, the connection to Lewis is deeper than many may realize. As a young man, through clouds of teargas and a hail of billy clubs, Lewis nearly lost his life marching against segregation and for voting rights. As a Georgia congressman, Lewis was generous with his time, taking meetings and sharing stages with activists who, from Sanford, Florida, to Ferguson, Missouri, Baltimore to Minneapolis, also withstood teargas as well as rubber bullets, pepper spray and arrests in their own protests against racism.

"He didn't have to stand with us, he chose to," Malkia Devich Cyril, the founder and senior fellow of MediaJustice, which advocates for open and democratic media and technology platforms, told The Associated Press. "That's real leadership."

In exclusive interviews with the AP, prominent organizers from the Black Lives Matter movement reflected on Lewis' example and his kinship with their generation:

Brittany Packnett Cunningham, Ferguson activist and educator:

"I remember sitting on the other side of President Obama from (Lewis) at this pretty historic, multigenerational civil rights meeting, and understanding the optical placement of the generations in that moment. And I just kept thinking to myself, do not let John Lewis down. I was finally able to thank him, face to face, eye to eye, for treading the path my generation was now walking. With kindness in his eyes and determination in his voice, he reminded me that the road to freedom is never easy and that's precisely why we have to keep taking it. 'You'll have setbacks,' he told me. 'Keep going. Be consistent. You will get there.'"

Phillip Agnew, co-founder of the Dream Defenders, a police and prison abolition group, and organizer in the Movement for Black Lives:

"I think the first time I ever met him was at (Congressional Black Caucus Foundation), the legislative forum that they have every year. This is kind of after Dream Defenders had taken over the Capitol of Florida, and there was a big buzz about our little fledgling group at that time. I didn't think that he would know who I was I absolutely knew who he was. And I remember him coming and speaking to me and saying how proud he was, looking at the things that we had done in Florida."

Patrice Cullors, co-founder of Black Lives Matter and its global network of chapters:"The first time I was introduced to Congressman Lewis was through (the 1990 PBS docuseries) 'Eyes on the Prize.' And I was like, 'Oh, that's me.' He was a young, radical Black man who was challenging not just the status quo in government, but also the older leadership in the movement. And I felt really moved by him. What I witnessed significantly in 'Eyes on the Prize' was police terror and police brutality, and the way that it was used against the (Edmund) Pettus Bridge protesters who were brutalized fighting for a more equitable America, for Black people in particular. And so, we fast forward to 2020, when we have been in the streets, and the same tactics of the police being used against us as a way to deter us from fighting for Black freedom. And yet, that never deterred Congressman Lewis. ... That is a deeply moving commitment to Black people."

Alencia Johnson, political strategist:

"I had the opportunity to staff (former Democratic presidential candidate) Sen. Elizabeth Warren, when we did the Edmund Pettus Bridge crossing, the Sunday before Super Tuesday, when I was working on her campaign. And (Lewis) came. It was like he was literally passing the torch to everyone who was there. ... That symbol of him coming from his sick bed, all the way to Selma was just so, wow, I'm actually getting emotional thinking about that. He was so intentional and persistent about ensuring that people who are fighting know that they have his support and his admiration. He talked about how he admires how young people are showing up now."

Ash-lee Woodard Henderson, co-executive director of the Highlander Center for Research and Education, a social justice leadership training school:

"I've been thinking about how important John Lewis' life has been and will continue to be for weeks. And this moment still feels so freaking unfair. ... I remember the stories and encouragement. The never-wavering mandate. I will remember a man who reminded us all that our optimism isn't futile. That building a global neighborhood and a building beloved community are similar but not the same. That's the legacy. That's the work. I'm so grateful, in this sea of grief, for such a divine human who loved us so deeply."

Charlene Carruthers, founding national director of BYP100, a Black youth organizing group, and Movement for Black Lives organizer:

"Looking at his work and his story, if I can even do half of that with my life then I'd consider it a worthy contribution. And it's not about being perfect. But it is about saying, 'I'm going to be in this for my entire life.' I'm in this thing. Not for fame, not for glory. He could have done something else. His legacy is one of making a lifetime commitment to Black people."

Chelsea Fuller, spokesperson for the Movement for Black Lives and deputy communications director for Blackbird, which supports grassroots movements:

"In 2000, I was 12 years old and, like most children that age, struggling to comprehend the possibilities of who I could become. He asked me if I liked school and what I wanted to do when I was all grown up. I told him I didn't know, but that I liked to write and that I liked Black history, but didn't think there was much I could do outside of being a professor. He took my hand and looked me square in the eye and said that loving my people and being a storyteller were not small things; but that they were powerful. Congressman John Lewis encouraged me to see the power in stories about our people and our fight for freedom."

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How The Black Lives Matter Generation Remembers John Lewis - Voice of America

"End Racism Now" mural painted in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

In the wake of the tragic murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and too many other Black Americans, nonprofits and other organizations have begun to take stock of their approach to racial equity. Many of them have posted statements pledging to do better. Friends of the Children, a high-performing nonprofit that empowers youth who face tremendous obstacles, decided to go deeper. Friends of the Children created a three-pronged plan that focuses on advancing two of its core values: Put Children First and Demand Equity. It also asked each of its 22 locations to explore how they could drive substantive change in their communities.

Friends of the Childrens proactive approach undertaken even as it scrambled to adjust its work in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic has much to offer any organization striving to turn its statement expressing support for the Black community into real-world change.

Building a Foundation

Friends of the Children was founded back in 1993 by Duncan Campbell, who was himself an at-risk child. Both of my parents were alcoholics, he explained. We were on welfare, living in a tough neighborhood in Portland, Oregon. My dad was in prison twice. But Campbell had some good fortune, too. In the face of chaos at home, he told me when I interviewed him for my book Engine of Impact (co-authored with Bill Meehan), I was fortunate to have profound, shaping influences by other caring adults in my life who encouraged and mentored me, and this was transformational. I landed on my feet and went on to have a successful career working in the private sector.

A youth from the Friends of the ChildrenAustin chapter enjoys time on the playground with his ... [+] Friend.

Campbell became convinced that the best way to help children with troubled and unstable backgrounds was through enduring mentor relationships, and he used the fruits of his business success to establish Friends of the Children. Many mentoring programs depend on volunteers. But Campbell decided that Friends of the Children would instead employ and train salaried professional mentors who could provide a high level of quality and consistency. The Friends of the Children model derives from that decision: Mentors, known as Friends, work with kids over a 12-and-a-half-year period. Children selected for the program, who come from the most adverse circumstances, benefit from that kind of sustained commitment.

Campbell was determined to ensure that Friends of the Childrens work would be evidence-based. Given my childhood, he told Leap of Reason, everything starts with reality for me. Whatever I was going to do for children, I knew it had to be grounded in real data and real outcomes. Today, Friends of the Children regularly measures results by working with an outside evaluator. (It also participated in a multisite, longitudinal randomized controlled trial funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.)

And Friends of the Children generates strong outcome data: 83 percent of Friends of the Children youth graduate from high school (or receive a GED); 98 percent wait until after their teen years to become parents; 93 percent remain free from involvement in the juvenile justice system; and 92 percent enroll in post-secondary education, serve in the military, or join the workforce.

Duncan Campbell, Founder, Friends of the Children (L) and Terri Sorensen, CEO, Friends of the ... [+] Children (R)

Meeting the Moment

Friends of the Children has always served people of color. According to CEO Terri Sorensen, 88 percent of the youth in its program identify as people of color (with 60 percent identifying as Black or African American, or as multiracial) and 68 percent of its program staff identify as people of color.

When I talk to Duncan, Sorensen continued, he says, This is work we have been doing all along, and that is true. The recent focus on Black Lives Matter has led Friends of the Children to ask what more it can do on the national level to end the structural racism that exists in education, juvenile justice, child welfare, and mental health systems. Friends of the Children is taking this work further by creating a racial equity working group that includes46 percent of its board members. Previous equity work facilitated the creation of this group. Several years ago, Friends of the Children made a deliberate decision to increase the racial and ethnic diversity of its board. It was incredibly important that we bring` more diverse voices to the table who represent the youth we serve, Sorensen explained, a combination of putting children first with our demanding equity value is how we approach Black Lives Matter.

An adolescent and her Friend talking together from the Friends of the ChildrenBoston chapter.

Friends of the Children has taken steps internally as well, like creating a staff focus around racial equity, questioning how racial bias might have affected its policies, and auditing itself. Under the leadership of chief program officer Carmi Brown, a staff-led racial equity working group has begun to work on what Friends of the Children calls asset framing. This effort, said Sorensen, is based on the work of BMe Community, an organization that strives to present Black and brown people in a positive light by shifting the narrative away from such topics as poverty and prison and by focusing on positive contributions that Black and brown people make to society.

Finally, Friends of the Children is working with BMe to strengthen its advocacy within systems that impact its youth. Friends of the Children is also creating a new chief officer of racial equity position to help make decisions, align chapters, and communicate with stakeholders on racial equity issues. Weve always thought it would be great to do this, said Sorensen, but [the current focus on racial justice] spurred us to act.

Supporting a Movement

All of Friends of the Childrens 22 locations are working with the national organization to advance racial equity while also crafting and implementing their own approaches to this issue. For Gary Clemons, executive director of Friends of the ChildrenNew York, doing this work is both a professional and a personal commitment. Clemons joined Friends of the Children in 2008 as a Friend in its Portland chapter and quickly worked his way up in the organization. He is also a Black man who grew up in a community with high unemployment rates, lack of social services, and under-resourced schools, which attributed to his experiences with gangs and homelessness. Having overcome these obstacles to become a passionate advocate for marginalized communities, Clemons is determined to make the most of the current nationwide focus on racial justice. Im 44, he said, and for the first time in my life I feel like there could be change. I have made a pact with myself: We want to make sure this is not a moment it is a movement.

Gary Clemons, Executive Director, Friends of the ChildrenNew York

Under Clemonss leadership, Friends of the ChildrenNew York is working to implement and scale an anti-racism framework that starts by changing the narrative around race. A lot of times, when we talk about Black and Latinx people, we talk about them in such a negative way, or we do it through the lens of whiteness. Theres so much richness in those two cultures, and we want to make sure we bring it to life, he said. It is also essential to change this narrative in the minds of Black and brown youth. When he was working as a Friend, Clemons recalled, he knew from experience that his youth didnt feel affirmed by our society and made it a point to tell them what they were doing right. I told them how great they were, he explained, and how great their caregivers were, to reaffirm their identities.

Equally important, Clemons seeks to expand the definition of racism. The country has been stuck in a 1960s version of racism, which is just [about] color, he explained. You need to talk about institutional racism, but you also have to talk about culture how someone talks, dresses, looks. We demonize certain parts of Black or Latinx culture that are furthest from whiteness, and we need to think about it in a more expanded way. Clemons offered guidance on how organizations like Friends of the Children can begin that process: Highlight all aspects of Black and brown culture, and, as an organization, make sure that we tell positive stories around youth and communities we serve and talk more about systemic issues that act as barriers for them. Families have been part of a racist system for a long time, so we see symptoms but not the root causes.

A youth and his Friend from the Friends of the ChildrenLos Angeles chapter.

Addressing these causes, said Clemons, entails advocating for policy change; partnering with systems including criminal justice, foster care, and education that are often punitive toward Black and brown children; and mobilizing resources for Black and brown communities. And, he noted, even organizations like his own, with a long history of serving Black and brown people, need to consider how they may reflect the values of a society centered on whiteness. Whatever is in your mission, he concluded, figure out what you can do to influence change. We can all contribute to changing the narrative.

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For Friends Of The Children, Black Lives Matter Is More Than A Moment - Forbes

Speaking from Madrid, President Obama said the Black Lives Matter movement shouldn't be judged by the actions of a few non-peaceful protestors.

Black Lives Matter rally in Oklahoma City, Sunday, July 10, 2016.(Photo: Sue Ogrocki, AP)

After a week of conflict in the United States that included the police-involved shooting deaths ofAlton Sterling andPhilando Castile,and the subsequent sniper attack thatleftfive Dallas police officers dead,the Black Lives Matter movement once again hasbeen at the center of controversy.

But lost in the discussion is a sense of what Black Lives Matter isand what it stands for.

What is Black Lives Matter?

Black Lives Matter was founded by PatrisseCullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi as botha hashtagand a political projectaftertheacquittal of George Zimmerman in the 2012 killing of Trayvon Martin. Distraught at the verdict, Oakland, Calif., community activist Garza wrote an impassioned Facebook plea ending with the words "black lives matter." Cullors, a community organizer from Los Angeles, shared the Facebook post and put a hashtag in front of those three words. The ideals expressed the economic, political and socialempowerment ofAfrican-Americans resonated nationwide.

Since 2013, Black Lives Matter has movedfromsocial media platforms to the streets, morphing into an organization andamovement that gainednationalrecognitionduring demonstrations after the 2014 police-involved killings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner.

How does Black Lives Matter work?

What setsBlack Lives Matter apart from other social justice groups, however,is its decentralized approach and reliance almost solely on local, rather than national, leadership. Cullors said organizing is often spontaneous and not directed byone person or group of people.

We dont get (people) onto the streets, they get themselves onto the street, she said.

Black Lives Matteris made up of a network of local chapters who operate mostly independently. Chelsea Fuller of the Advancement Project, a nonprofit that works with grassroots justice and race movements, said that local organizing is a powerful way to address poverty, access to housing and jobs, community policingand other issues that intersect with systemic racism.

We cant affect national narrative, we cant affect national legislation that comes down and affects local people if local people dont push back and take a stand about what's happening in local communities, Fuller said.

Black Lives Matter founder Patrisse Cullors shares her thoughts about race in America.

What does Black Lives Matter stand for?

Themost important directive of Black Lives Matter,Cullors said,is to deal with anti-black racism,to push for black peoples right to live with dignity and respect and be included in theAmerican democracy that they helped create.

This is about the quality of life for black people, for poor people in this country, said Umi Selah, co-director of Dream Defenders in Miami. Though not officially affiliated, Dream Defenders and similar social justice groups often align themselves with Black Lives Matter.

The conception that all were mad about is police and policing is a strong misconception, Selah said.In fact, Black Lives Matter released a statement last weekcondemning the shooting in Dallas as counter to whatthe movement is trying to accomplish.

Ralikh Hayes of Baltimore BLOC echoed Selah, saying that Black Lives Matter is not inherently anti-police or anti-white, nor does the phrase Black Lives Matter means other lives aren't important.

We are against a system that views people as tools, Hayes said.

Cullors also hears claims that Black Lives Matterlacks direction or strategy. But Cullors said the strategyis clear -- working to ensure that black people live with the full dignity of theirhuman rights.

We are not leaderless, were leader-full, she said. "We're trying to change the world...developing a new vision for what this generation of black leaders can look like."

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Black Lives Matter: A primer on what it is and what it stands for

Black Lives Matter has delivered a ten-point manifesto of what they want. I have to say, it isnt as bad as I expected. In fact, some of it makes a lot of sense. For example, they ask for the end of broken windows policing, the end of for-profit policing practices such as civil asset forfeiture as well and the end of the police use of military equipment.

What I am, however, surprised about is that the list doesnt at all mention ending the failed Drug War even though many of their demands are to end policies (like the ones mentioned above) that are by-products of the Drug War. It is even more surprising since manyhave noted how the black community suffers disproportionately from the policy.

I find this essay from John McWhorter extremely compelling and moving about the disastrous results the Drug War has had on Black families. Far from finding excuses for the decisions made by those who choose employment in the illegal drug market rather than lower-paying jobs in the legal labor market due to the incentives created by the Drug War, McWhorter explains the consequences and the vicious cycle that follows. He writes:

The War on Drugs destroys black families. It has become a norm for black children to grow up in single-parent homes, their fathers away in prison for long spells and barely knowing them. In poor and working-class black America, a man and a woman raising their children together is, of all things, an unusual sight. The War on Drugs plays a large part in this. It must stop.

I know this is a controversial issue among conservatives, even though acknowledging that the Drug War has failed and needs to be scaled back is different from condoning the use of drugs.National Review even called for legalization of Marijuana back in 1996, long before the New York Times did in 2014.

That being said, no matter what conservatives think about the policy, it remains strange that it doesnt appear on the BLMs list of demands.

Less surprising, but important, is a failure to ask for the end of minimum-wage policies. Over at Cafe Hayek, Don Boudreaux posted a great discussion between George Mason Universitys Walter Williams and the Hoover Institutions Thomas Sowell on, as Boudreaux writes, the minimum wage governments practice of ordering low-skilled workers to remain unemployed if, and for however long as, those workers are unable to persuade or entice employers to hire them at wages at least as high as the wage that government dictates. As Williams says during the interview:

The minimum-wage law has been, and continues to be, one of the most effective tools in the arsenal of racists everywhere around the world.

It is worth also reading the article published a few months ago over at the TNR about the racist origins of the minimum-wage laws. While the intentions behind the law have changed dramatically, it doesnt mean that the policy has become low-income-worker friendly. As we know, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Even less surprising is the absence on the BLMs list of the need to reform Social Security. As I have mentioned before Social Security redistributes money from blacks and other minorities to white people. You would think that considering the stakes, BLM would put it on their list.

All this goes to say that while the list wasnt as bad as I expected, it fails to address important policy changes that would really make a difference.

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Black Lives Matter -- Manifesto in Ten Points | National Review

Filmmaker Emmai Alaquiva of Pittsburgh wanted to talk to his 8-year-old daughter about the racial climate in the US, but was concerned that at her age, she might not be able to fully grasp the issues.

I told her the name George Floyd and we talked about what Black Lives Matter means, he says. I sort of gave her the Cliffs Notes version, to give her some inspiration.

His daughter surprised him, however, and came back to him with a question: She said, hey, Dad, how come theres no people doing sign language or ASL in your photos and videos? It was a great point, we werent. He says he and his daughter take ASL classes together, part of his mission to help her learn to express herself in different mediums.

Over the next few days Alaquiva reached out to professionals in the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community including freelance sign language interpreter Amy Crawford, Danielle Filip of Pittsburgh-area Sign Language Interpreting Professionals, and Greg Pollock, an accessibility officer at a local bank, to be consultants on the script for the video he wanted to do, featuring a message in American Sign Language.

I wanted to make sure the messaging was clear, and that we werent appropriating anything from the community, Alaquiva said.

The result is Unspeakable, a public service announcement featuring members of the Deaf community: Although we may be Deaf, we can hear the world loud and clear, the group signs.

It is my hope that Unspeakable brings attention to the basic human right of communication access as a thread which connects us all, Filip said.

The nuances of communicating in sign language were important to get right in the video, Alaquiva said: for instance, the word black referring to the color can be signed with one finger pointed out in the ASL 1 handshape moving horizontally across the forehead. But when referring to a Black person, the sign uses four fingers pressed together in the ASL b handshape moving horizontally across the forehead, and is generally reserved for use by Black people, Alaquiva said.

Participating in public rallies is often challenging for Deaf and hard-of-hearing people, especially in large crowds with many people wearing face masks that cover their mouths. Activists have worked with the National Alliance of Multicultural Disabled Advocates to push for the #BlackDisabledLivesMatter efforts, to spotlight these challenges, as Teen Vogue columnist Sarah Kim reported. They also seek to call attention to the number of police violence victims who had disabilities.

Alaquiva said he hopes the PSA is inspiration for others involved in protest movements to be more inclusive, not necessarily just for people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, but anyone with a disability. Its not our job to just do something then go about our business, he said, adding he and his production team built a website with additional resources.

Theres a photo I took at a protest in Oakland and the persons sign said Im sorry Im late, I had a lot to learn. That can apply to any movement you want to be a part of. Whether youre on time or late, you gotta show up.

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Unspeakable video highlights the role of Deaf and hard-of-hearing people in Black Lives Matter - The Verge

Multiple events scheduled at locations throughout city

by: Danny Peterson

In a Fridays4Freedom Black Lives Matter march, demonstrators walk from NE Killingsworth to Peninsula Park. July 17, 2020 (KOIN)

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) Portland protests against police brutality and in support of Black Lives Matter continued Saturday, amid tensions between federal police presence and protesters.

From 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. a Portland Artist Rally was organized at Peninsula Park. According to the website PDX Black Lives Matter Events, it was touted as a protest through art and performance. Gather to celebrate the voices, art, and music of BIPOC from the Portland areaPlease wear a mask! the description reads.

An event titled PDX Protest: Bank of America Owes Reparations was scheduled from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at 221 NW 21st Ave. Its description says it was a protest bringing awareness to Bank of Americas connections to slavery and demanding that they provide reparations to African people.

A Black Lives Matter event at Lents Park is set to kick off from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. It is titled Take Back Our City: Occupy Lents Park and will feature a performance from local rapper Mic Crenshaw and guest speakers.

Finally, a Black Lives Matter March for Justice event was scheduled for 5 p.m. at Holladay Park, across from Lloyd Center, and ends at Pioneer Square. The description says to please wear a mask and bring friends.

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Black Lives Matter events continue in Portland amid tensions with feds - KOIN.com

Written by Rob Picheta, CNNLondon

A statue of a Black Lives Matter protester in Bristol, England, secretly installed overnight on the plinth where a monument to a slave trader had previously stood, has been removed by the local authority.

"This morning we removed the sculpture. It will be held at our museum for the artist to collect or donate to our collection," Bristol City Council tweeted Thursday.

Jen Reid poses by the statue on Wednesday. Credit: Matthew Horwood/Getty Images

The city's mayor Marvin Rees had previously said that "the future of the plinth and what is installed on it must be decided by the people of Bristol."

"This will be critical to building a city that is home to those who are elated at the statue being pulled down, those who sympathize with its removal but are dismayed at how it happened and those who feel that in its removal, they've lost a piece of the Bristol they know and therefore themselves," he added in a statement on Wednesday.

Quinn's artwork depicted Reid with her fist raised in a Black Power salute, mimicking a picture from June 7 of her atop the empty plinth where the original Colston statue once stood.

After contacting Reid, the artist produced a life-sized sculpture of the moment using black resin. In a press statement released Wednesday, he said that the sculpture "is an embodiment and amplification of Jen's ideas and experiences, and of the past, present and her hope for a better future."

Protestors calling for the removal of the statue of British imperialist Cecil John Rhodes outside Oriel Cllege at the University of Oxford, two days after Colston's statue was removed. Credit: ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/AFP via Getty Images

The work, officially titled "A Surge of Power (Jen Reid) 2020," was intended to be temporary. The artist confirmed that he did not receive permission from authorities to erect the statue. Should the artwork be sold, Quinn said that profits will be donated to two charities, chosen by Reid, that promote the inclusion of Black history in school curricula.

But the sculpture has caused a divide in the art world, with some suggesting that the intervention of a White, London-based artist is unhelpful to the wider Black Lives Matter movement.

British artist Thomas J Price, who has been commissioned to create a public artwork in London honoring the Windrush generation, wrote on Twitter that Quinn had created a "Votive statue to appropriation."

But author Bernardine Evaristo commended the work and suggested it be erected again elsewhere. "Now it has to find a public spot. If Bristol doesn't have the guts, I nominate Brixton," she said on Twitter.

The actions of the protesters sparked a national conversation in the UK about what should be done with statues, monuments and street names dedicated to slave traders and imperialists around the country.

The original Colston monument, which was fished out of a river by authorities after being dumped there by protesters, will be placed in a museum alongside placards from the protest.

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Edward Colston's statue stood for 125 years. The Black Lives Matter statue that replaced it stood for about 25 hours - CNN

Your report (The day Bristol woke up to a new statue, 15 July) and feature (G2, 15 July) on the Bristol statue of Jen Reid created by the artist Marc Quinn were marred by the comments of Thomas J Price in a different article (Allyship or stunt? Marc Quinns BLM statue divides art world, 15 July). He claims that Quinn has created the votive statue to appropriation and it should have been a black artists output, not that of a white cis man. This is reactionary politics disguised in obscure, trendy jargon.

The core values of all progressive movements are liberty, equality and solidarity. Millions of us didnt need to be black South Africans to oppose apartheid. Similarly, we dont need to be black Americans to oppose the endless police brutality meted out to them.

Our empathy lies with the exploited and oppressed. Price offers the worst kind of identity politics, where solidarity is impossible because only direct personal experience counts. That would be a disastrous dead end for Black Lives Matter and for all other social movements, while making broader alliances on social justice all but impossible. At a moment when the hard right is busy and active stirring up social divisions and cultural wars, progressives need to oppose those who unwittingly help them.Jon BloomfieldBirmingham

I went to see the statue of Jen Reid and was horrified, when I got there, to realise I was six hours too late. People kept arriving hoping to see the statue too, but only a void now occupies that plinth.

Marvin Rees, the Labour mayor of Bristol, may believe that the statues removal has squashed the issue. But removing it has highlighted a key issue of the Black Lives Matter campaign. It suggests that black people are invisible, an underclass who do not have recognition. That racism is unheard.

A savvy mayor would have left Quinns statue there until Bristol city council had decided what could go in its place. There should have been a recognition of the pain and hurt rather than some petty excuse that the artist was not Bristolian. Here in Bristol we know how long it takes for the council to make decisions about controversial statues Colstons statue was erected 60 years after abolition, was up for more than 100, and despite 30 years campaigning was only removed through passionate opposition to injustice. If treated the same, the Jen Reid statue would have stood for decades. The empty plinth says more than if the statue had remained. It says we cannot upset the racists. It says black lives are invisible.Lyn HowardBristol

I find the swift removal of the Jen Reid statue by Bristol city council regrettable, but it will not be forgotten, and serves to remind us that temporary works of art can be just as memorable as permanent ones. For example, Rachel Whitereads House or the wonderful installations by Christo and Jeanne-Claude. The latter took years to come to fruition due to planning permits, financing etc, but the swift creation and erection of Quinns statue suggests that a series of temporary works could be commissioned, as on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square, with a variety of artists (black, white, male, female, LGBTQ+) and subjects (local activists, historical figures, abstract symbols) chosen and voted for by local residents.

This should satisfy the Bristol mayors insistence on democratic process, create opportunities for a range of artists, and lead to genuine public involvement and engagement with quickly achieved results. Clive Sykes London

Excerpt from:

Removing the statue of Black Lives Matter activist Jen Reid was a mistake - The Guardian

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Black Lives Matter rally held in Saginaw after couple says they were targeted twice by hate crime - WNEM Saginaw

The FBI calls her a terrorist but some Black Lives Matter supporters in the Bay Area call her a fighter for civil rights.

Fugitive Assata Shakur is the source of a lot of debate in Palo Alto, after an artist painted the convicted murderer as part of a city-sanctioned mural.

A national police group says thats an insult to police everywhere and are calling on the city to scrub Assata off the mural.

The U.S. government has branded Shakur, a member of the Black Power movement who was convicted in the murder of a New Jersey state Trooper, as part of the nations Most Wanted Terorist List.

Shakur escaped from prison in 1979 and is believed to be hiding out in Cuba ever since.

Assata is one of many minority members who have been slandered by this country, said JT Faraji from Hood Squad from East Palo Alto.

On the same day, that happens to be Shakurs 73-year-old birthday, Black Lives Matter supporters gathered outside of Palo Alto City Hall to defend her as a civil rights leader and to chip away at the label cop-killer.

We have to defend Assata, a righteous woman, a woman who fought for her people, Faraji said.

The National Police Association doesnt see Assata that way. Retired police sergeant Betsy Smith says Shakur should not be glorified.

Police officers have to walk by that every day and see the face of a convicted cop killer, thats a hostile work environment, said Betsy Smith from the National Police Association.

Palo Altos Mayor Adrian Fine says its a contentious issue.

I got hundreds of calls over the past week calling it idiotic and cruel, he said.

Fine says he took the mural artists advice and read up Shakurs biography to decide for himself how Shakur should truly be remembered.

When asked if the mural should stay, the mayor said, as far as Im concerned, absolutely.

Read more here:

Fugitive the Source of Debate Over Black Lives Matter Mural in Palo Alto - NBC Bay Area

Mariam Beshir spent the days leading up to her graduation from Gorham High School organizing a Black Lives Matter march in her town.

She wanted to celebrate. But she knew that Tamir Rice should have graduated from his own high school this year if a white police officer had not shot and killed him in Cleveland when he was 12 years old.

So the day after her festivities, she went back to work, posting a map of the finalized route for that weeks march in a local Facebook group.

Having the marches around the same time as my graduation also reminded me that there are so many Black mothers and fathers out there who wont be able to see their children walk across a stage and receive their diploma whether it be because of systematic oppression or police brutality, Beshir, 18, said. This all, of course, motivated me even more.

Young people have long been drivers of social change in the United States.

Four Black teenagers staged the first sit-in at a North Carolina lunch counter in 1960. Their protest was quickly modeled in other college towns and inspired a student activist group that was integral to the civil rights movement. School walkouts have been a tool for young protesters for decades, among them the 1968 walkouts at Los Angeles high schools that drew national attention to the Chicano movement and the 2018 national walkout to protest gun violence. An Iowa junior high schooler and her peers wore black armbands to protest the Vietnam War and sparked the Supreme Court case that confirmed the free speech rights of students in 1969.In more recent decades, teenagers have been at the forefront of activism about climate change.

Now, they are holding the megaphones at protests over the police killing of George Floyd, directing the chants of Black Lives Matter and No Justice, No Peace. Across the country and in Maine, young Black people are taking the lead, bringing the movement to their police departments and school boards and neighbors.

Six teenagers of color talked to the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram about their experiences with activism and their next steps.

Deante Campbell, 17, Sanford

Deante Campbell knew her mom would be worried.

But she and her friend decided to push their way to the front of their first Black Lives Matter protest in Portland last month. Once they got there, Campbell took the microphone to talk about her own experiences as a Black teenager in Maine.

If Im going to get in trouble for going to protests, Im going to make it count, Campbell remembered thinking.

Campbell emigrated from Jamaica to the United States when she was 10 years old, and her family has lived in Sanford since. She studied Black history in America in school, but she also began to do research and watch documentaries on her own time. That learning gave her new understanding of her past experiences a classmate using a slur unchecked during an eighth-grade lesson about Africa, white teenagers posting blackface photos on Snapchat on Halloween.

A local group called Project CommUnity sponsored the protest in Sanford, but Campbell and two other teenagers took the lead at the event. About 400 people gathered in a local park and marched to the nearby police station. The next day, a man shared a photo of Campbell at the protest on his Facebook page, saying that his wife is a local police officer and accusing protesters of using obscenities against her at the rally. In the comments on the post, which has since been deleted, another person suggested that Campbell should have been maced.

That untrue information spread on Facebook and affected my reputation, Campbell said. I felt unsafe due to this response because I was criminalized and I was getting serious threats. My parents were scared that someone would hurt me.

But that fear didnt stop her. She and her fellow organizers recently met with local leaders to deliver a list of recommendations for Sanford High School to be more inclusive and safer for Black students. Campbell, who will be a senior there in the fall, said she feels the most important proposal is a more robust curriculum about Black history in America.

She remembered visiting a shipyard on a middle school field trip and only learning later that vessels from Maine were used to transport enslaved people.

Ignoring the truth about the pain inflicted on Black people and people of color in America will not end the suffering, she said.

Fiona Akilo Stawarz, 17, South Portland

Fiona Akilo Stawarz thought maybe 30 people would show up.

Instead, the crowd that gathered outside South Portland High School in early June was 300 strong. People wore face masks and held handmade signs and chanted as they marched to the nearby police station.

It went by like in a flash, Akilo Stawarz said. Everything felt like it was moving in a really quick speed, and part of me wanted to slow everything down, so we could really be in the moment and appreciate that this is beautiful.

Her first protest had been just days before in Portland, but the rising senior was not new to activism.

Akilo Stawarz used to put all her energy into sports, like volleyball and basketball. Then her priorities changed when she tore her ACL and was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. She still plays sports, but she began to throw herself into social justice work at South Portland High School.

She got more involved with the Culture Club, attended the Seeds of Peace Camp and completed a summer internship at Maine Initiatives. She participated in a panel discussion with other young leaders at this years annual dinner on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Portland. During her upcoming senior year, she wants to start a Black student union and push her school to hire more teachers of color.

My friends, were all embedded into social activism, social justice within this community, she said.

The news about George Floyds killing gave her a feeling of hopelessness and powerlessness, and she was wrestling with those emotions when she learned about the South Portland protest on Snapchat. Akilo Stawarz got in touch with the other organizers and sourced a megaphone and other supplies through friends at Maine Youth Justice.

When it was her turn to give a speech that night, she had a message for the hundreds of people in the crowd.

Protesting is a beautiful thing, she said. But I want to see support from all those people who were out there. When we get back during the school year, I want to see them at civil rights team meetings. I want to see them at school board meetings, giving their opinions about policies that are inequitable. We cant just protest and be angry and do nothing with that.

Josh Wood, 15, Sanford

For Josh Wood, activism began in climate change.

He works with Maine Youth Climate Strikes and helped organize a forum on environmental policy for U.S. Senate candidates earlier this spring. As he became more active on those issues, Wood learned that people of color are disproportionately affected by air pollution and other impacts of climate change.

I learned that racial justice is climate justice, Wood said.

He also learned about the Black Lives Matter movement and began to better understand his own experiences. Wood identifies as mixed race, and he remembers how it felt to have the darkest skin in his elementary school. His classmates would ask him why he looked different than they did and if they could play with his hair. He attends an online school now he is a rising senior but he still wants to change the public schools for others.

I dont want my family to go through that, especially my brothers and sister and nieces and nephews, he said.

So he recently started a petition to remove school resource officers from Sanford schools. The Portland Board of Education has since voted to remove those officers from the citys high schools, and nearly 500 people had signed Joshs petition for similar action in Sanford as of Friday.

Wood was circulating that petition online in early June when he connected with other organizers for the Sanford protest. He offered to help and ended up with a microphone in hand.

Theres not that many young Black people in leadership positions in Maine, so I think that was a very important experience for me, he said.

Younger people are more willing than older generations to push for dramatic change, he said, a trend he has noticed in his activism on both climate and racial justice.

Its reclaiming our future, he said. Something Ive learned as a climate activist is that adults are very passive about radical climate action.

Wood joined Campbell and other organizers in presenting the list of recommendations to Sanford officials last month, and he expects to keep pushing at future meetings. That list included the call in his petition to remove school resource officers from local schools and cited supporting research.

We dont need sympathy cards right now, Wood told those officials. We need you to commit to change.

Mariam Beshir, 18, Gorham

Mariam Beshir was in second grade in Gorham, and her friends wanted to play a game.

Well be the princesses, and youll be the maid, she remembered. At the time, I didnt think anything of it, just, I guess theres no more princesses for me to be. Looking back at that now, I realize that she wasnt intentionally being racist. This was something that had been ingrained.

Beshir, whose family is from Sudan, learned about the Black Lives Matter movement as a freshman and joined her high schools civil rights team. Last year, they developed a workshop where teachers could hear directly from students who had experienced racism or discrimination in the school. In recent weeks, she and other students presented their school committee with their own list of suggestions for changes to curriculum and policies.

I dont think they knew we could find the police budget online, she said. I think they realized that we know how to use the resources that we have, and were not just teens who sit in their rooms and play video games all day. We actually want to create change to the oppression that theyve let slide all these years.

When Beshir attended her first Black Lives Matter march in Gorham, she immediately wanted to be more involved in the movement. She quickly became one of the lead organizers for recurring marches in June. The gatherings have been peaceful and positive, she said, and she was alarmed by Facebook comments from a person who suggested that he wanted to drive his car into the protesters.

She has managed the stress of organizing by praying and taking days off with her family. She wants to stay involved even after she starts at Southern Maine Community College in the fall. Beshir planned to eventually move to a more diverse city, but now she thinks she will stay in Gorham until she feels some change is made.

When people only come to the first protest, take pictures with their sign and go back, it shows they were only participating because it was a trend, she said. I believe we only have one shot at this, and we need to keep going on with the momentum. Otherwise, were going to be out here protesting next year and the year after that and after that.

Olivia Levine, 17, Sanford

The guns scared Olivia Levine. But more than that, they embarrassed her.

With Campbell and Wood, Levine was one of the leaders of the June protest in Sanford. Their event drew 400 peaceful participants, including many teenagers. It also drew armed observers, including a couple of white men standing on the sidewalk holding guns, as well as other groups dressed in body armor.

Ive lived in this town my entire life, she said. The fact that so many people were standing there (in an intimidating way), that was super embarrassing to me.

Levine said white Sanford residents often do not see racism as a local issue, but her own experience has proven otherwise.

She remembered standing in the lunch line in third grade, when a group of white boys behind her used a racial slur to talk about her. Even though she didnt know exactly what the word meant, she already understood that it was related to her skin color.

As she got older, she struggled with self-esteem and wished for a Black mentor in her schools. She also attends an online program now, and she said her experience as a Black student was one of her reasons for leaving the public school.

I had problems with how I saw myself for years, she said. Sanford schools didnt help me fix them. I had to fix them.

When it was her turn to speak at the rally, Levine directed her message to the white people in the crowd.

Ive seen a lot of white allies trying to speak over Black voices and make the movement their own, she said. Its not about white people right now. I wanted them to know its our movement, that they were there to listen.

Levine will be a senior in the fall. She isnt sure exactly what she wants to do next she likes to write poetry, and she has a talent for makeup but she is sure activism will be part of her life.

Were the ones who are still in high school, she said. We are the ones who are still dealing with this outdated education system. Were the ones who are going to have to grow up and keep watching Black people die. Were definitely taking this movement a lot more seriously because its going to affect us directly.

Kyle Ouillette, 18, Gorham

Kyle Ouillette used to dread picture day.

When I was younger, I just thought I looked like a sore thumb in that class photo, he said.

Ouillette, who is Latino, said he often struggled to feel like he belonged among his white classmates. He often thought of Guatemala as his home and the United States as the place where he lived. Even as he moved up to larger and more diverse schools, the feeling of being different has remained.

He remembered this spring when he was sitting in a school parking lot with a friend, eating potato chips and talking. He said a police officer pulled up and almost immediately asked Ouillette if he had drugs in the car. The officer eventually told Ouillette and his friend that he could bring them to jail for violating the governors stay-at-home order, but he left without taking any action.

Then the world erupted in protests over George Floyds death, and Ouillette heard about a Black Lives Matter march in Gorham. He offered to help because he wanted to make sure people of color were involved. But he described his role as one of support for Beshir and other Black students. He said their experience is still different from his, and he wants to defer to them in this movement.

One of the biggest pushbacks that we had in the community was this preconceived notion that this is happening miles and miles away from us, and racism doesnt exist, and this isnt a problem here, Ouillette said.

He said he learned more about racism as he got older. He researched American intervention in Guatemala that led to human rights violations history he never learned in school. He got involved with the civil rights team and attended Seeds of Peace Camp. He realized that jokes he had heard in the locker room were racist.

A lot of stuff that I let fly, I would definitely not let fly now, he said.

Ouillette plans to attend Springfield College in Massachusetts in the fall and eventually become an orthopedic surgeon. But he has also been thinking about how he can apply his experience organizing in Gorham to other issues that directly impact Latino people in the United States, like immigration policy.

Getting my first real taste of activism has me second-guessing where Im meant to be, he said.

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Teenagers lead the way in Black Lives Matter movement - Press Herald

Editor's note: The following contains language about suicide.

Theoplis Smith III otherwise known as Phresh Laundry is a self-taught artist whose latest paintings are on the boarded-up businesses of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

"With the recent passing of George Floyd, this kind of got the city up in the uproar, if you will," he told Business Insider Today. "Unfortunately, some people decided to come down and riot through the city and they broke glasses in the city of small businesses."

After that happened, Smith was one of 100 local artists who came armed with paintbrushes to help. And now, almost every piece of plywood downtown has been transformed into murals with messages.

"When we see the boards going up, you know, we were just like, OK, this is a blank canvas. And we need to have some kind of a healing process," he said.

Smith's paintings offer thought-provoking takes on the aftermath of Floyd's death and the conversations it has inspired. One mural, called "Wake Up and Smell the Coffee," is painted by the window of a coffee shop. It shows a Black man sipping coffee with a white man as both sit on a larger coffee cup labeled "Black Lives Matter."

Theoplis Smith III, aka Phresh Laundry, is one of 100 artists commissioned to paint murals in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana. Erika Celeste for Business Insider Today

"You see a conversation between two people that are not alike," Smith said. "One person has a smaller cup in his hand, but we're sitting on a bigger cup of the other person's issues. And it's more so an invitation to say, 'Hey, I want to swap life with you. I want to understand you more and I want to grow with you together.'"

For Smith, painting on these unconventional canvases has offered a chance to express what the Black Lives Matter movement means to him, and to share his own story and identity.

"To be an African American male, I take pride in who I am, my culture, and I wanted to make sure that what I do is something that's inviting, it's tasteful, and something that brings the community together," he said.

A volunteer-run program called Art This Way which has been working to install more public art in downtown Fort Wayne over the last five years made the project possible by connecting artists with business owners, who then decide what to do with the finished pieces.

"We have relationships with the businesses here in town, and this is obviously private property still," the group's manager and cofounder, Alexandra Hall, told Business Insider Today. "So it was something to have artists approach them all day long and ask for permission. But as an organization, we really were able to make that happen more easily and facilitate, and also provide stipends for the artists."

For Smith, painting has offered a chance to express what the Black Lives Matter movement means to him, and to share his own story and identity. Erika Celeste for Business Insider Today Residents have welcomed the bright colors.

"I think that it spreads a positive message in this time for a change for the Black community and the community overall," said Miracle James, who celebrated her Sweet 16 by posing with the murals. "And I just think it's just strong and empowering."

Painting has always been empowering for Phresh Laundry. And his name is a powerful reminder for him.

"I found myself literally in a load of dirty clothes laying on the ground, frustrated with life," he said. "I was like, why am I here? Why do I exist? And I found myself at a lowest point where I was either going to do damage to, you know, something or someone else, or pretty much kill myself.

"The only time I felt that relief was either talking to people, praying, or painting. And so I would go through bouts, battles for battles, you know, every night where I would paint every night so I could think clear. And so anytime that I'm painting, this is me hanging my laundry versus hanging a canvas or a piece of art.

"Me being a soft-spoken person, this is my loudest voice that I have," he said. Erika Celeste for Business Insider Today

He continued: "And me being a soft-spoken person, this is my loudest voice that I have, and being able to share, and kind of invite people into a world of more than just a picture and brushstrokes that's when it becomes therapy. Art becomes therapy for me."

His art saved him, and ultimately, he hopes it can help mend some of the nation's wounds, too.

"I mean, we're in a pandemic in a pandemic," Theo said. "I have hope, but also I'm human. I don't think that everything will be ironed out in my lifetime, and I'm OK with that.

"I like to kind of share things and my point of view and my perspective, or what may pierce my heart, or what may challenge others. I think some people, you can't force-feed topics, whether it be political or social or economical. But as an artist, I find that it's my job and it's my gift to be able to explore and share those stories."

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Artists paint Black Lives Matter murals on boarded-up windows in Fort Wayne - Business Insider - Business Insider

Social media posts from members of Congress referencing Black lives matter increased dramatically in the weeks following the death of George Floyd, a Black man who was killed by a white police officer during an arrest. There were more total mentions of the phrase Black lives matter and the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag from members of the 116th Congress on Twitter and Facebook between May 25 and June 14, 2020, than from all members of Congress in the five years prior.

All told, 236 members (45%) of the 116th Congress have mentioned Black lives matter on Facebook or Twitter dating back as far as Jan. 1, 2015 the earliest data point in the Centers collection of congressional social media accounts. And of those members, roughly half (121 lawmakers) mentioned these terms on social media for the first time in the three weeks following Floyds killing.

Attention to the Black Lives Matter movement intensified in the weeks after the death of George Floyd while in police custody. This post examines mentions of the phrase Black lives matter and its associated hashtag by members of Congress on social media. To conduct this analysis, Pew Research Center collected every Facebook post and tweet created between Jan. 1, 2015, and June 14, 2020, by every voting member of the 116th U.S. Congress who was actively serving as of June 14, 2020. The analysis includes official, campaign and personal accounts.

Lawmaker posts were classified as mentioning Black lives matter if they used that phrase or the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag, regardless of capitalization, in the text of a post on Facebook or Twitter (images and other attachments were not included in the analysis). Because the Centers collection of lawmaker social media posts dates back to early 2015, it does not capture the congressional social media conversation during certain seminal moments related to the broader Black Lives Matter movement, such as the 2013 acquittal of George Zimmerman in the killing of Black teenager Trayvon Martin. For a more detailed account of the data collection process and analysis, read the full methodology.

This surge in usage among elected officials on social media is yet another indicator of the increased attention to the Black Lives Matter movement, aligning with the historic spike in activity related to the use of the hashtag on Twitter, as well as widespread support for the movement among the public.

Mentions of Black lives matter on social media are highly correlated with party affiliation. A majority (76%) of Democrats in the current Congress have used the phrase Black lives matter or the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag on social media dating back to 2015, with roughly half of these members mentioning the phrase for the first time during this three-week period. In contrast, very few currently serving Republicans (10%) have explicitly mentioned Black lives matter on social media in the last five years either before or after George Floyds killing.

Collectively, Asian, Black and Hispanic legislators accounted for a large share of these posts in the weeks following Floyds death. These members account for 21% of congressional seats, but produced roughly twice that share (43%) of lawmaker posts mentioning Black lives matter from May 25 through June 14. Black lawmakers accounted for 25% of all posts mentioning this phrase more than double their share of congressional seats (10%).

And as is true of their social media use more broadly over the last five years, Democratic and Republican members used distinctive language that is, terms used frequently by members of one party but rarely by members of the other in the weeks following May 25.

For Democratic lawmakers, these distinctive terms focused closely on issues related to racial justice and police violence. Roughly three-quarters of Democratic members but just 13% of Republicans used the term police brutality over this time period. And more than half of Democratic members mentioned the name Breonna Taylor or terms like racial injustice, but fewer than one-in-ten Republicans did so. Meanwhile, a larger share of congressional Democrats than Republicans specifically mentioned George Floyd on social media (98% vs. 75%). But because this name was used by a majority of members of both parties, it was less distinctive than a number of other words and phrases.

By contrast, Republicans most distinctive language largely focused on different issues. Terms like assistance programs (often referencing the governments response to the COVID-19 outbreak), happy birthday (often referring to President Donald Trumps birthday on June 14) and various expressions related to Memorial Day remembrances were more prevalent among Republican lawmakers on social media during this period.

Note: Here is the methodology for this analysis.

Read more here:

Posts mentioning 'Black lives matter' spiked on lawmakers' social media accounts after George Floyd killing - Pew Research Center

Black Lives Matter supporters held a vigil Saturday morning along Kenilworth in the latest local demonstration against racial inequality and police brutality.

About 40 people parked at Olympia Stadium around 9 a.m. and gathered peacefully on the Kenilworth Parkway medians between Perkins Road Community Park and Pennington Biomedical Research Center.

They held signs reading "Black Lives Matter - South Baton Rouge" and waved energetically at cars that honked in approval as they passed. The occasional vehicle slowed near the median, with occupants jeering or shouting profanities, but the response was positive from most passersby.

Kyle Crane, who helped organize the protest, said that those gathered have "no agendaother than love and support for everybody."

"Equality and justice are two founding factors in this country," Crane said. "We live in a time when those arent equal across the playing field for everybody."

Crane said a group of people who live in the Kenilworth, Magnolia Woods and Walden subdivisions decided they wanted to show support for the Black Lives Matter movement in South Baton Rouge. They instructed everyone to arrive in face masks and to socially distance along the median to keep each other safe from the coronavirus.

It was the latest in a number of rallies and protests that have been held across the city in the weeks following George Floyd's death. Floyd was a Black man who died after a White Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly eight minutes. Video footage of his death ignited civil unrest across the country.

Although several protesters were detained and then released in a Wednesday demonstration at Baton Rouge Police Headquarters, the gatherings have been largely peaceful in East Baton Rouge and adjoining parishes.

Unlike other demonstrations in recent weeks, this vigil included many children, older adults and seniors.

Chester Burnett, 67, attended the protest with his wife, Donna.

"Ive seen a lot of injustice," said Burnett. "We have to come together and make this work. Blacks cant do it by themselves. Whites cant do it by themselves. This is for our country. Were actually fighting for our country, and the soul of our country, right now. It cant wait."

Donna Burnett added that systemic racism has been going on "for way too long."

"It has become the norm and thats not acceptable," she said. "Black lives matter today more than ever. We have to be a voice for the change."

Her friend, Melissa Herbert, said she was there to show up not just for her son, who she worries could be hurt by law enforcement violence for being Black, but for all children who could be affected.

"Its someones life," Herbert said. "Its something thats precious. Thats God-given, and no one has the right to take it."

In another departure from other area protests, there were no slogans shouted or names recited of people who died in police brutality incidents. Soft music played from beneath a pop-up tent; under another, participants were urged to take a fresh doughnut and a sign.

The majority of protesters who showed up were White, in contrast to more diverse gatherings across the parish. Organizers mentioned many people who showed up had likely never attended any kind of activist demonstration before.

"I think that, as a White person, many of us just dont understand until we open ourselves up to whats going on,"said protester Denise Crowe. "Im hoping that just having a dialogue about it is going to make a difference."

Eighty-year-old Marian Cassidy, also White, attended the vigil with both a Black Lives Matter face mask and sign. She accompanied her son, daughter-in-law and three young grandchildren, one of whom rushed up to hug her around the knees as she explained why she decided to show up that day.

"What weve experienced lately is gut-wrenching in terms of human decency." she said. "Its so hard to explain. Its just right to be here, because this is right."

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Black Lives Matter vigil held on Kenilworth Parkway: "We have to be a voice for change" - The Advocate

A man was recorded throwing red paint onto the Black Lives Matter mural that was painted on the street in front Trump Tower in New York City. Wochit

Expressing support for the "Black Lives Matter" movement isn't political or partisan, an independent federal agency has said in an opinion addressingquestions from federal employees on the topic.

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel cleared the way for federal employees to support the Black Lives Matter movement and the Black Lives Matter Global Networkwhile on duty, includingwearing or displaying materials related to the cause, according toanadvisory opinionobtained by USA TODAY. The opinion was first issued July 10 and updated Tuesday.

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel is an independent federalagency which investigates Hatch Act violations.The Hatch Act prohibits appointed federal employees from participating in several types of partisan political activities, such as running for office, hosting fundraisers, making campaign speeches or distributing campaign materials.

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"The Hatch Act generally allows employees to engage in BLM-related activity while on duty or in the workplace," the opinion says, while also stipulatingactivity involving more overtly political actions would be prohibited. The opinion is also narrowly focused on the Hatch Act, meaning other laws or rules may be relevant to certain federal employees.

The opinion comes as President Donald Trump has criticized the Black Lives Matter movement. In early July, he called a proposed New York City Black Lives Matter mural a "symbol of hate." That mural was later paintedpainted on Fifth Avenue in front of Trump Tower.

Trump and aides have described some supporters of Black Lives Matter as vandals, citingproperty damage and some violence duringnationwide protests of police brutality, particularly after theMay 25 death of George Floyd at the hands of officers in Minneapolis.

The U.S. Office of Special Counselacknowledged the Black Lives Matter movementhas become a "'hot-button'issue," complicated by the use of "Black Lives Matter" as an umbrella term for a social movement.TheBlack Lives Matter Global Networkis the most prominent organization tied to that movement, the opinion says.

The agency reached its opinion because the Black Lives Matter movement concerns itself with issues such as racism, which are not inherently aligned with a single political party. And the prominentBlack Lives Matter Global Networkdid not meet any criteria for a "partisan political group," in part because the group says it will fight against officials from both parties who do not share its beliefs.

"An employee is not prohibited by the Hatch Act from expressing support for, or opposition to, the BLM movement while on duty or in the workplace. But the employee may not say, for example, 'if you believe that Black Lives Matter, then you should vote for/against X in November,' " the advisory opinionsays.

The agency notedit made a similar ruling about the Tea Party movement, known for its push to reduce the size of government, during the Obama administration.

TheBlack Lives Matter Global Network tracesits roots tobotha hashtagand a political projectaftertheacquittal of George Zimmerman in the 2012 killing of Trayvon Martin.Foundersof the organization include PatrisseCullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tomet.

Themost important directive of Black Lives Matter,Cullors has said,is to deal with anti-black racism,to push for black peoples right to live with dignity and respect and be included in theAmerican democracy that they helped create.

What setsBlack Lives Matter apart from other social justice groups, however,is its decentralized approach and reliance almost solely on local, rather than national, leadership. Cullors said organizing is often spontaneous and not directed byone person or group of people.

Contributing: Ryan Miller, David JacksonandJessica Durando, USA TODAY;John Tuohy,Indianapolis Star

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Federal agency: Supporting 'Black Lives Matter' isn't partisan or political - USA TODAY

LaTeal in Black Lives Matter Plaza during the video shoot. Photograph by Reese Bland.

OnRa LaTeal has been making activism-driven music in DC for many years, but her latest video has received more attention than ever before. A Howard grad who is now a Journalism and Media Arts educator, LaTeal recently shot the video for Middle Finger to the Law at the spot near the White House that the city has renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza. The song, which will appear on her forthcoming album, Black Joy Experience Vol. 2., was inspired by the recent protests over the killing of George Floyd.

I am a music producer, videographer, and creative arts educator. I like to call myself a Liberation Music Maker because most of the music I produce is made to support the movement for Black lives. I am mostly known for transforming sounds from the movement into contemporary music. One of my latest musical works includes the Black Joy Experience, a musical compilation album of freedom songs and liberation chants I produced in partnership with the national member-based organization Black Youth Project 100.

My favorite artist quote is by Nina Simone, who once said, it is an artists duty to reflect the times that we are in. So as of late, I have been using my superpowers to create an audio/visual soundtrack highlighting the DC communitys response to the murders of Black people by state sanctioned violence across the nation. My music videos include footage from direct actions held by organizations like Black Lives Matter DC, Black Youth Project 100, Freedom Fighters DC, and local community activists. I normally attend these organizations protests to capture audio/video footage and later produce a musical track (or liberation chant remix) that embodies the overall mood and emotions I observed from participating protestors.

I refer to my chant remixes as fight songs because the goal is to get you amped up to enter revolutionary combat. Whether your fighting is done through writing legislation, attending a protest, facilitating healing circles, leading dance classes for youth of color, or resting in Black joy, I want my music to get supporters ready to battle fearlessly for the complete liberation of all Black people.

As a Black, queer woman, I want the stories that are later told about this moment in history to include the audio/visual soundtrack I am creating. I feel that its necessary for those stories to come directly from the perspective of someone who is intimately affected by and fighting against systemic oppression.

Most recently, I created a hip-hop remix to my favorite liberation chant, Middle Finger to the Law. I was previously introduced to this chant through Black Youth Project 100 while attending a few of their direct actions. It was during these moments when I noticed that the chant was clearly an entire vibe.

Every time I hear this chant at a protest, it gets people so hype and lifted that the energy in the space immediately goes from 0 to 100. Considering the recent demand from several Black organizers nationwide to defund the police, I wanted to support my comrades call to action by creating a fight song to amplify their demand.

Since the chant is already so igniting when performed a cappella, I knew that I needed to create an accompanying instrumental that could either match its energy or just completely send peoples adrenaline level into outer space. From what Im hearing from my comrades since releasing the music video, it seems that I did a pretty good job!

I am a classically trained instrumentalist who attended Suitland High Schools Center for Visual and Performing Arts, so that training really supports my composing abilities. I normally pray before sitting down to create, just to simply ask for musical ideas and a clear mind. My creating always comes best when Im resting in a positive spiritual space. On the other hand, Im super competitive, so my creative brain gets super active when Im being challenged by what I like to call an evil nemesis. Oddly, a good deal of my best works have come from a competition I have conjured up with a fellow artist in my head.

Shooting the video at BLM Plaza was incredible! I hit up a couple comrades from Black Lives Matter DC and Black Youth Project 100s DC Chapter and they basically brought out their whole squad to support. When I started to set up my equipment, there were about five young men hanging out so I asked them to help me set up because I was shooting a music video. They were super hype to help and asked me over and over again if they could make a cameo appearance. I didnt know that the small group of five would turn into an entire crowd!

The great thing about BLM Plaza is that it has basically turned into a mural where everyone wants to visit and take selfies. So mural visitors began congregating around us while shooting. What started out as a music video shoot quickly transformed into a Black joy community event, which is in complete alignment with the albums mission. I received countless requests from people passing by to join in so youll see more than a few people just partying and vibing with me and the organizers in the video. At one point I just said, Okay! Everyone jump in! It was really just to accommodate everyone. I didnt want anyone to feel left out. The energy was just so positive and affirming.

I am a long-time educatorIm always making it a point to include youth in my work. I reached out to a local dance troupe called the Silver Starlets, a young LED mask designer and skateboarder named FRO LITES, and an amazing hip-hop ballerina named Nya C. They all came prepared with routines and brought along so much young Black joy to the shoot.

For my Middle Finger to the Law video, I wanted to wear a statement piece that plainly symbolized Black culture and Black history in the boldest and most overt way possible. Every Black person born in the 90s is familiar with the hip-hop clothing brand FUBU. The brand was and is not only Black owned, but their slogan, For Us, By Us, basically made the brand feel super exclusive to Black people. My amazing artist friend Nia Keturah is reigniting the brand using art activism. She has basically developed FUBU WORLD, a distant galaxy that Black people can escape to and rid themselves of the chains of white supremacy. In FUBU WORLD everyone rocks FUBU gear, especially the FUBU jumpsuit you see me wearing in my music video.

My fingernails design was definitely intentional. I knew that I wanted my camera person and videographer, Teddy Gee, to grab multiple close-up shots of me beat mixing during the shoot, which meant that my hands would ultimately be the main attraction. So I figured it would be crazy cool to do something that would make people look once, look twice, then have to ask, What do your fingernails say? I was asked countless times during the shoot! Getting the letters to spell out DEFUND MPD on my nails was simply to drive home the overall messaging of the song in a non-traditional way.

It was also funny getting the letters painted on. Judy, my nail technician, had to basically turn my hands upside down while painting to make sure the letters read correctly on camera. She asked me to explain DEFUND MPD to her after she was done. My simple response was, LESS MONEY FOR THEM, MORE MONEY FOR OUR COMMUNITY! I promise I didnt yell at her, but thats how it came out in my head.

I consider myself a Liberation Music Maker who uses my beats to fight for the freedom of all Black people. Most importantly, I am a longtime advocate for youth. As a creative arts educator based in the District, Ive worked with organizations on a local, national, and international level to serve young people over the last eight years. Whether it is teaching in the classroom or hosting community events, Ive always been dedicated to serving and developing youth artistically in our city.

Im specifically interested in designing creative spaces for girls of color. I work with schools and youth serving organizations across the city through my grassroots program, Black Girls Handgames Project (BGH). The project revitalizes age-old games such as Miss Mary Mack, Gigolo, and Rockin Robin with soulful hip-hop remixes created by and featuring Black women and girls. As the co-founder of BGH, I use the project to elevate gender equality in the field of music production by teaching teenage girls fundamental skills in beat-making.

Ive also spent years creating spaces for youth of color to gain access to mentorship and training in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) career fields. A lot of my work as an educator and community organizer for youth involves producing high-quality learning opportunities and curating community-driven events offering teens in the city the platform to showcase their creative works to thousands of DC, Maryland, and Virginia community members.

I often say that Black joy is a form of resistance because it is something that we arent always entitled to. It is no secret that Black people have faced centuries of trauma and abuse. Today, Black women like Breonna Taylor can be murdered by law enforcement while sleeping peacefully in their homes. Black men like George Floyd can be killed by police officers after not being granted a simple breath of air for over eight minutes. These mere facts are a means for Black people to be everything except joyful. However, we as Black people seem to find a way to center ourselves in joy. As stated in a 2017 Black Youth Project article by Imani Jackson, We have always been people who prioritized joy. Joy gives us love, family, art, music and resilience. So even during a tumultuous time such as this in our country, I find myself using my art to combat oppressive systems, but most importantly to support my people in reclaiming the joy that we deserve.

Ive been to more than a few protests over the last several months, some with hundreds of people marching alongside me. One where I even experienced being pepper sprayed for the first time. However, the most significant moment I experienced was during a children-led protest hosted by Kendra Johnson, founder of the self-care and community movement Tribe Healer. The protest involved no more than 20 people, 75% being children. The youngest was being pushed in a stroller by their mother, and the oldest was about nine years old.

The children marched down MLK [Avenue] with their handmade signs, holding hands and yelling, We are black! We are strong! Our lives matter! While it may not have been as high profile with the press and hundreds of people in attendance, this march was the most memorable for me because this is the day that I came to a crucial realization. It is our duty to use everything within us to make sure that these babies dont have to step foot onto this battle field with us ever again. We fight so that our kids wont have to.

I want for all my Black fellow creators to know that you have the power to make a difference. Dont be afraid to create and share your work. This is not the time to be shy or feel that youre interrupting the movement. Create with a purpose to support the movement for Black lives. Whether its music, video, photo, fashion, event curation, blogging, cooking, teaching, dance, hair styling, or wherever you feel your gifts may lay, be bold and unapologetic. We need you and your talents now more than ever. Im here with you. We are in this fight together.

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Check Out This Amazing Music Video Shot on the Black Lives Matter Mural - Washingtonian

Photo by Beth Neely

Protestors hold Black Lives Matter signs while they march around the Courthouse Square June 2.

The Black Lives Matter organization was founded in 2013 in response to the death of Trayvon Martin and the acquittal of George Zimmerman, who fatally shot him.

Black Lives Matter Foundation Inc. is a global organization in the U.S., U.K. and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes, according to the Black Lives Matter website.

By combating and countering acts of violence, creating space for Black imagination and innovation, and centering Black joy, we are winning immediate improvements in our lives.

The organization was founded by Patrisse Khan-Cullors, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi. The organization outlines its beliefs on its website, blacklivesmatter.com .

Every day, we recommit to healing ourselves and each other, and to co-creating alongside comrades, allies and family a culture where each person feels seen, heard and supported.

We acknowledge, respect and celebrate differences and commonalities, the website states.

The beliefs state that they work for freedom and justice for Black people and, by extension, all people.

We are unapologetically Black in our positioning. In affirming that Black Lives Matter, we need not qualify our position. To love and desire freedom and justice for ourselves is a prerequisite for wanting the same for others, the website states.

Black Lives Matter says that they are part of the global Black family, and are aware of the different ways Black people are impacted depending on where they live.

We are guided by the fact that all Black lives matter, regardless of actual or perceived sexual identity, gender identity, gender expression, economic status, ability, disability, religious beliefs or disbeliefs, immigration status or location, the website states.

The Black Lives Matter organization says they accept transgender people to participate and lead. They also support Black transgender women who are impacted by trans-antagonistic violence.

The organization states they affirm Black women and are free from sexism, misogyny and environments in which men are centered. Black Lives Matter states they practice empathy and its environment is family-friendly.

We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and villages that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents and children are comfortable, the website states.

Christians have spoken out about the organizations belief in a non-nuclear family structure by saying it destroys the idea of a Christian family structure.

Todd Slade, pastor of First Baptist Church of Moreland, brought that statement up at the Pastors and Leaders Lunch Monday.

Slade said while he believes in and preaches that Black lives matter, he doesnt support the organization. He said they are a Marxist organization that believes in the decentralization of family structures.

They dont believe in the nuclear family; they dont have the same beliefs that I do as a pastor and whats going to cure our problem, Slade said.

Black Lives Matter states that it is queer-affirming, and they gather with the intention of freeing themselves from heteronormative thinking. The organization also says they accept people of any age.

We embody and practice justice, liberation and peace in our engagements with one another, the website states.

U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., doubled down Monday at a campaign stop in Cobb County on criticism of the Black Lives Matter protest movement, calling it a political organization promoting violence and anti-Semitism.

They are built on a Marxist foundation and the most socialist principles, Loeffler said of Black Lives Matter Monday, according to the Capitol Beat News Service.

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What is the 'Black Lives Matter' organization? - Newnan Times-Herald

The name of George Floyd looks set to enter the history books along with Rosa Parks and Emmett Till, as the face of a moment that fueled a movement. Floyds murder in Minneapolis was one that may have been added to the long tally of Black Americans who have died at the hands of police officers. It could have caused a brief, mostly local, flurry of attention before the world moved on.

But this time was different. This time Floyds murder ignited a wave of national and then global protest, a wave that is leading to changes in symbols of racism from flags to statues in stances of corporations, in hopes of real police reform, and of overdue reparations to Black Americans.

Here we analyze the evolution of a moment into a movement by analyzing Twitter traffic from May 27th to June 4th related to protests sparked by the death of George Floyd. These 15 million tweets were compiled using an open-source command line tool known as Twarc, which archives tweets that contain a specific qualifying term in this case, any tweet containing the word or hashtag protest. (Note that owing to technical issues, some of the days do not have full collection of tweets. Only days that have tweet entries for the full day are shown here. For more details on the methodology employed, see the note below).

The Twitter traffic shows that protest-related tweets, initially strongly centered on George Floyd, quickly widened to be about Black Lives Matter more generally:

Number of protest-related tweets, by hashtag bundle

Source: Author's calculations using Twitter Collection of "protest".

At the same time that the protests broadened from the specific case to the general cause, the movement spread out geographically, from an initial concentration in Minneapolis to other U.S. cities and other nations. Using Twitter locations and location hashtags, we can see how on May 28th Minneapolis was the epicenter:

But by June 2nd, the protest movement (as measured in Twitter location hashtags) had spread across the nation and around the world:

The sense that this time is different is palpable in our institutions and our communities, and our analysis here shows how quickly the movement grew. The death of George Floyd also brought similar tragedies, like that of Breonna Taylor, into public light. The question now is how far this energy will translate into concrete action, not least in terms of public policy.

Note on methodology

A single tweet can contain more than 150 different data variables. For the analyses presented here, we focus on the following information: time when the tweets was created, location of the user, the full text of the tweet or retweet, and hashtags used (which were extracted from the full text of the tweets). Hashtags are rich in information, but can vary in terms of exact in spelling of phrases, even well-known ones like #BlackLivesMatter. Once extracted, we sorted the hashtags into bundles. First, topic bundles that pertained to George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Regis Korvhinski, and more general hashtags that started with #justicefor*name*. Then, clusters of different phrases referring to Black Lives Matter were bundled, along with popular phrases used that include take a knee and I cant breathe. (The hashtags used to create these bundles are available on request). Many of the hashtags also included locations from cities to countries that were also bundled together and tracked in usage throughout the days.

The authors did not receive financial support from any firm or person for this article or from any firm or person with a financial or political interest in this article. The authors are not currently officers, directors, or board members of any organization with a financial or political interest in this article.

Interactive design: Becca Portman

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From the George Floyd moment to a Black Lives Matter movement, in tweets - Brookings Institution