Category Archives: Black Lives Matter

Last year, amid the unrest in Philadelphia following the shooting death of Walter Wallace Jr., Rickia Young, a young Black mother, was ripped from her SUV alongside her 16-year-old nephew and beaten.

Now, the city of Philadelphia has reached a $2 million settlement with Ms. Young and serves as an appalling note of the continued brutality that Black people face routinely by the police.

I will not forget what those officers did to us that night, Young said at a news conference last Tuesday. I hope that the officers responsible will never have the chance to do something like this to another person ever again.

Young was driving home last October and when protesters surrounded her vehicle, a pack of Philadelphia police officers suddenly and without warning, according to her lawyers, descended on her car and yanked both Young and her nephew into the street and beat them. Significant injuries were caused and while the police tried to dismiss the incident, video of the encounter was recorded from a building down the street and went viral.

Young was taken to a hospital and separated from her 2-year-old son, who was in the back seat of the SUV throughout the duration of the confrontation.

Soon after, a social media post featuring a Philadelphia officer comforting Youngs son in her absence amplified the story, yet also boosted an inaccurate pro-police stance as it was shared by the National Fraternal Order of Police.

This child was lost during the violent riots in Philadelphia, wandering around barefoot in an area that was experiencing complete lawlessness, the caption on the since-deleted post read. The only thing this Philadelphia Police Officer cared about at that moment was protecting this child.

WATCH: Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon Martins mother, shares her story and reflects on Black Lives Matter

Young and her lawyers are planning to sue the National Fraternal Order of Police for $50,000 in damages in a new suit. Her attorneys said Young has endured harassment, anxiety, depression, and a damaged reputation as a result of the social media post.

For them to portray me as the type of mom who wouldnt know or care where her child was while chaos was happening all around is very hurtful, Young said during the news conference.

The National Fraternal Order of Police didnt immediately offer a rebuttal to the comments, but in a statement to USA Today, the group blamed the caption on conflicting accounts of the circumstances under which the child came to be assisted by the officer.

According to the New York Times, two officers were fired after a review of the incident; 14 others are awaiting disciplinary hearings.

TOPICS: abolish police Black Lives Matter

Excerpt from:

Philadelphia Reaches $2M Settlement With Mother Police Injured During Black Lives Matter Protests - Essence

Nadine Seiler saved hundreds of items once attached to an infamous Trump White House fence. Now, she's finding homes for each of the Black Lives Matter artifacts.

WASHINGTON At the end of a concrete corridor, inside a simple storage space the size of a small sedan, the artwork, signs and photographs once lining a White House fence still bloom with life, memories of the sinew and struggle of a moment now hidden from public view.

A giant, "YOU'RE FIRED," poster comes into view. "BLACK LIBERATION," is printed on a sign placed gingerly between two towers of boxes.

They are the items and artifacts from the much-loathed H Street fence, a boundary built to separate the Trump White House from Black Lives Matter Plaza.

The Biden Administration dismantled the barrier earlier this year, but not before Nadine Seiler saved more than 700 mementos attached to each section of steel.

We were lucky that the Library of Congress took some pieces, and Howard University took some pieces, Seiler said in an interview. But the vast majority of the collection remained with us.

Seiler is referring to fellow fence guardians, friends who camped alongside what they eventually named The Black Lives Matter Memorial Fence.

Seiler and fellow fence guardian Karen Irwin are now finding homes for each item, asking interested businesses, non-profits and organizations to contact them via their BLM Memorial Fence Facebook page.

Ideally, the Black Lives Matter community would like the pieces to stay in the hands of Black organizations, ideally, Seiler said. But personally, any organization that would give these treasures a safe home, and recognize their value, they should reach out as well.

Baltimores Enoch Pratt Free Library is engaging in a massive parallel effort to scan each item, creating a virtual collection of what Seiler has managed to save. The meticulous scanning began in April, as Seiler drove items in batches of 100 to the librarys facilities. The effort will continue into 2022, Seiler said.

Enoch Pratt is going to have a partnership with the D.C. Public Library Foundation, The Peoples Archive, where they will host the digital collections, Seiler offered. With the generosity of this, and other people finding homes for these items, it will mean they will be around for the next 100 years for people to see.

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Help find homes for +700 BLM Plaza fence artifacts. This Fence Guardian is saving them in her DC storage space - WUSA9.com

SOUTH BEND As the school board prepares to decidewhether to continueor end their relationship with local police departments, those opposed to the school resource officer program urged the board not to renew the contract during the comment portion of Monday's board meeting at Washington High School.

All but one of the people who spoke about the SRO program during the hearing of visitors portion appealed to the board not to renew contracts with the South Bend Police and the St. Joseph County Police departments to provide armed officers to the schools.

Superintendent Todd Cummings said the administration is working on a newcontract, which was first signed in 2012, which will be presented to the board with a recommendation to continue or end the program at a future meeting.

South Bend: Schools adjust to new start times amid local and national bus driver shortage

Cummings said the administration will also make public the results of a survey that asked members of the public for their opinions on the SRO program during that meeting.

"We shared it broadly," Cummings said, after the meeting. "We shared it with the NAACP, and we shared it with other folks to let them have a look at it first.

"We'll share our data when we come back to the MOU (memorandum of understanding) with the city."

Black Lives Matter, South Bend;the NAACP and other SRO critics who spoke during the meetingrepeated their claims the administration's surveywording was biased.

"We believe the survey distributed in its current content systematically favors an outcome that supports having SROs in school," said Trina Robinson of the NAACP.

Both Jorden Giger of Black Lives Matter, South Bend and Drew Duncan of the NAACPsaidtheir workgathering petition signatures from members of the public who want the program endedput them in contact with students who have concerns about the presence of armed police in schools.

"We've heard from students at various high schools in particular who talked about students being tased by police officers, particularly at Clay High School,"Giger said.

Police in schools: South Bend leaders to review a new agreement next month

Giger also pointed board members of a presentation earlier in Monday's meeting about staff training on diversity, equity and inclusion that was done earlier in the meeting to make the point the $500,000 the district spends on the SRO program could be used to initiate programs toaddress the root causes of the problems confronting many of the district's students.

Duncan agreed, noting the money could be used to hire 12 to 13 employees at $40,000 a year who could be trained to perform many of the functions done by the SROs.

Maya Marosz, a student at Washington High School, said she attends a school that does not have apolice presence and she feels more comfortable with the unarmed security guardsemployed at Washington.

Maya, a junior at Washington, said she tranferred to the South Bend schools from John Glenn, a district that employs SROs. And while she never had a problem with the officers while at John Glenn, their presence was always a constant source of worry, she said.

Catrina Baker, who attended the meeting with her daughter Kyla Henderson, said she spoke as a parent believes there are better uses for the $500,000.

"This irks me that we are spending half a million dollars on the police department instead of giving our youth who are in trouble that funding," she said. "Yes, we need behavioral intervention. Yes, we need restorative justice."

Linda Lucy, the president of the National Education Association-South Bend teachers union, was the only member of the public to speak in favor of keeping the SRO program.

"I think that they are very important," she said. "I don't think the SROs deprive the kids of an education."

Most of the board members saidthey are still studying the issue. Oletha Jones, though, said she planned to vote against renewing the contract, while Leslie Wesley spoke favorably about the SRO program, noting that people regularly interact with law enforcement in a variety of places.

Email South Bend Tribune reporter Howard Dukes at hdukes@gannett.com

Follow him on Twitter:@DukesHoward

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Community groups, members of public urge South Bend board to remove police from schools - South Bend Tribune

YPSILANTI, MI After a Black Lives Matter mural was found covered in white paint, organizers hoped it would strengthen the fight against racism.

In a way, an organizer was almost glad it happened.

Everybody thinks we go around (complaining about racism), that were the problem, Trische Duckworth said.

No, this the problem, she told MLive on Sunday, Sept. 19.

A Black Live Matter mural in Ypsilanti was vandalized with white paint. (Photo by Chris McCall)

Vandals painted over the words, Black Lives, on the 260-foot mural, with 18-feet tall lettering at the entrance drive for Riverside Park in Depot Town. The word Matter was untouched.

A similar mural, on South Washington Street, off Michigan Avenue, was not touched. Surveillance cameras downtown may have kept vandals away.

Duckworth, executive director of Survivors Speak, a community organization, was joined by city officials and others who were outraged.

It was an ugly display of hatred, Duckworth said.

A Black Lives Matter mural in Ypsilanti was defaced with paint. (Photo by Chris McCall).

The vandals had painted the name of a group identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a white nationalist hate group.

Duckworth said that no matter who defaced the mural it showed that racism and white supremacy are not a thing of the past. Its alive and active.

She said that the vandalism is a blatant reminder of the need to fight racism. Some suggested repainting, with some of the white paint left behind so people will understand what happened here, a reminder of how hard we need to work, she said.

(Racists) do what they do, we do what we do. What they dont know is, we wont stop. There is an outpouring of support and love coming here. We are greater than this hate, she said.

The vandalism was despicable, Mayor Lois Allen-Richardson said.

A Black Lives Matter mural is painted on South Washington Street off Michigan Avenue in Ypsilanti on Tuesday, June 8, 2021.Jacob Hamilton | The Ann Arbor News

Racism has raised its ugly head, she said. Its a shame theres still people in the country and the city that dont want to admit there is racism. Its all around us.

She said that the vandals may have been part of a group who stopped by a showing of the documentary, Walking While Black: L.O.V.E. is the Answer, on Thursday as part of an outdoor movie series.

While organizers initially planned to repaint the mural on Monday, the Ypsilanti City Council is expected to discuss next steps this week, Duckworth said.

The City Council approved the murals in February. Volunteers, using paint donated by Ace Hardware, painted the murals on June 5.

Similar murals have been painted in cities across the country. Flint, Kalamazoo and Jackson have such murals, too.

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Ugly display of hatred: Black Lives Matter mural covered in white paint - MLive.com

By September 2020, police officer Robert Black was at his wits end.

Over his year of service in the department of Millersville, Tennessee, Black had allegedly been subjected to sexual harassment, including from a female officer who used a racist slur while grabbing his genitals. The police chief, whom Black suspected of harboring Ku Klux Klan ties, had allegedly made disparaging comments about Blacks biracial son. The assistant police chief was under investigation for allegedly assaulting his wife during a dispute over an alleged affair with a drug suspect. Through it all, management allegedly silenced officers complaints by instructing them to support the thin blue line.

Nobody would listen to what was going on up there, Black told The Daily Beast. Nobody cared.

So Black made a fake Facebook profile, reached out to Black Lives Matter organizers, and blew the whistle on his department. Days later, he was fired. At least two other officers who allegedly clashed with management departed soon thereafter.

In a new lawsuit, first reported by Nashvilles NewsChannel 5, Black and former Millersville Police sergeant Joshua Barnes describe a culture of harassment and intimidation in their former department. Both men cite a pattern of alleged racist behavior from the departments leadershipdirected at Barnes because he is Black, and at Black because he is white with a biracial son.

The lawsuits three defendants are Millersville Police chief Mark Palmer, assistant chief Dustin Carr, and the city of Millersville. Carr did not return The Daily Beasts request for comment. Palmer stated that, although he would like to address the suits allegations, all comments must be directed through the city and its manager. Millersvilles city manager did not return requests for comment.

The case is not the first time Palmer and the city have faced a lawsuit from within their ranks. In 2015, two men who had previously been Millersvilles only Black officers sued Palmer and the city, alleging racial discrimination.

In their lawsuit, which was dismissed with prejudice in 2016, both men claimed Palmer had told each of them that I dont like n-----s. One of the former officers, Anthony Hayes, claimed Palmer took him on an unexplained visit to a former KKK leaders home, where Hayes was subjected to an extended conversation in the presence of KKK memorabilia. Hayes also accused Palmer of placing a copy of a KKK magazine in Hayes locker, with a sticky note that read this was left for youdont let your subscription run out. In their response to the lawsuit, the city denied the allegations against Palmer. (The plaintiffs included in their lawsuit an email from the city manager stating that Palmer would be disciplined in the magazine incident.)

Hayes and the other former officer, Brian McCartherenes, claimed to have been forced out of their posts after they accused the department of racism. Hayes claimed he was forced to resign following a punitive shift change. A police memo shows that McCartherenes was fired for alleged racist conduct, because he told a new Black officer that at the end of the day, remember you are Black.

This KKK publication is not something you can go get at the library. You cant go buy it at the 7/11. These publications are like, homemade...

McCatherenes claimed he intended the statement as a warning about the risks of being a Black officer in a small town. That new officer was Joshua Barnes, one of the plaintiffs in the latest suit against Millersvilles police brass.

Barnes claims he soon encountered a culture of racism firsthand. Palmer called Black people n-----s, monkeys, and animals, Barnes alleges in his suit, adding that Palmer invoked racial stereotypes about Barnes always want[ing] to get some fried chicken and watermelon.

Barnes claims the legacy of Millersvilles previous Black officers lingered over his own employment. Assistant police chief Dustin Carr informed Sgt. Barnes that Millersville did not want to hire Black people because they may sue the City like Anthony [Hayes] and Brian [McCartherenes] did, the lawsuit alleges. Barnes claims the department hired only one other Black person during his tenure: an officer whom Palmer allegedly joked was related to O.J. Simpson. The officer lasted a few months before he left out of frustration due to Mark Palmers racist comments, the suit reads.

When Robert Black joined the force in June 2019, he had been unaware of its reputation. That changed quickly, he claims, when Palmer learned that Blacks son is biracial. The lawsuit claims Palmer expressed dissatisfaction with Black, telling another officer that Robert is a little different. Hes not one of us. When the other officer asked what Palmer meant, the chief allegedly replied well you know, his kid and all Hes just not one of us.

Black told The Daily Beast that Palmer started treating him with hostility around the time of the alleged comments. Other Millersville officers also allegedly turned against Black. A female officer allegedly made repeated unwanted advances toward Black. At one point, according to the lawsuit, the officer allegedly grabbed Blacks genitals through his pants. When Black told the colleague to leave him alone, she allegedly responded why? Because Im not a n----r?

Although Black claims to have reported his colleague, his supervisors allegedly refused to pursue the matter, with Carr allegedly making his own sexualized comments about Black. (Black told The Daily Beast that Carr gave the nickname Tripod in the office. It made me feel very weird, Black said, adding that other officers picked up on the name before he learned it was an innuendo.)

Carr, meanwhile, was facing other accusations of impropriety after he allegedly began a relationship with a Millersville woman who was charged, but never convicted, on multiple drug counts. Carr was married at the time. In April 2020, according to Barnes and Blacks lawsuit, Carr allegedly assaulted his wife when she accused him of infidelity. Carr began bringing his new partner into the office in May much to the chagrin of some officers, the lawsuit alleges.

That month marked another flashpoint for law enforcement. The murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer set off nationwide protests, allegedly enraging Palmer. In the lawsuit, Barnes claims to have witnessed Palmer watching a video of a protest in Nashville, during which Palmer allegedly called the demonstrators n-----s and animals. Let these motherfuckers come to my house, the lawsuit claims Palmer said. Ill shoot em and string those fuckers up in my front yard.

In August 2020, Nashvilles WSMV reported, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation began investigating Carr for alleged domestic violence. (A TBI spokesperson told The Daily Beast the investigation into Carr remains active and ongoing.)

Barnes and Black allege that Carr and other police leadership became convinced that officers were leaking details to investigators. According to the lawsuit, and an October 2020 report by NewsChannel 5, Millersville Police pressured officers not to cooperate with the TBI investigation. Chief Palmer berated Barnes about the thin blue line, and the need to cover for other officers, the lawsuit alleges.

But while Palmer allegedly warned officers against speaking to TBI officials, Black was ready to go public with a growing dossier of complaints. Following Palmers alleged remarks about Blacks son, Black had read up on Hayes and McCartherenes 2015 lawsuit, particularly Hayes account of finding a KKK magazine in his locker.

This KKK publication is not something you can go get at the library. You cant go buy it at the 7/11. These publications are like, homemade, produced on someones printing press. Its hate literature, Black told The Daily Beast.

The rarity of the publication, plus Palmers alleged field trip with Hayes to a former KKK house, led Black to suspect the police chief had current or former Klan ties of his own.

You cant find this anywhere, Black said of the magazine. Thats why I hit up BLM [Black Lives Matter] reps. I was like, hey yall

Nobody would listen to what was going on up there. Nobody cared.

Black said that in September 2020, he made a pseudonymous Facebook page and began seeking out Nashville-area Black Lives Matter activists. I started letting them know: hey guys, maybe you want to look into the police chief up here. Its a small city and everyones so focused on Nashville. This guy was apparently in a KKK lawsuit by a Black cop five years ago.

Activists decided to host a mid-September protest against Palmer. Black said he wanted to promote the protest using his pseudonymous Facebook account, but didnt know how to share the event information. Frustrated, he said he asked a room full of officers, who either appeared to support him or actively helped him share the post.

My sergeant closed the squad room door, Black recounted. A detective said heres how you do it. He grabbed my phone from me and started sending out the messages. (The Daily Beast was unable to reach the detective for comment.)

His success was short-lived. On Sept. 11, 2020, the city fired Black, citing his promotion of the protest.

These posts have been shared multiple times, and there is no way we can know at this time whether a large crowd will in fact show up at City Hall this coming Thursday evening, an email from Millersvilles then-manager reads. As a result of your actions, the City has been forced to incur expenses and devote resources to prepare for a potentially large and unruly mob of angry protesters. Your conduct has put the lives and property of our citizens in danger. (The protest took place several days later, without any such mob or arrests.)

Blacks firing was the first in a wave of departures. In his lawsuit, Black claims the citys then-manager told him to tell everyone who is involved in this [BLM protest] that we are coming after them next!

An officer who witnessed him send the protest invitations resigned the day of Blacks termination, he said. The lawsuit also describes Barnes and another officer as being forced out in the following weeks. Barnes, who claims to have been moved onto another shift in punishment for his ties to Black could no longer deal with the stress from the Defendants constant retaliation, and on October 2, 2020, he resigned from his position, the lawsuit reads.

Another officer was allegedly instructed to pick a side and chose to resign in October. A NewsChannel 5 report that month cited at least four officers as leaving the department over the previous weeks.

Black said he hopes his lawsuit will clear his name so that he can one day return to policing.

I tried to do my job. I tried to learn, I tried to do the right thing, he said. It seems like if youre a good guy in this type of work and youre willing to do the right thingits almost like if you dont toe the line, youre going to be dealt with, one way or another. And if you do toe the line, youre going to be living with the moral conflict of doing things you may not agree with.

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This Police Department Is So Bad, a Cop Reported It to Black Lives Matter - The Daily Beast

This summer began the first hearing of the U.S. House Select Committee investigating the January 6th attack on Capitol Hill. The insurrections review invites fresh examination about the ideology, symbolism, and aesthetics defining race and America today.

There is a war being waged on the fault lines of the symbolic. As individuals took to the streets to labor on behalf of Black life, the destruction of monuments and other edifices has taken a front-row seat in the struggle towards an anti-racist future. While the toppling of artifacts and iconography of the past may seem like token gestures, they are part of a tradition of creative protest that focus on aesthetics and should serve as a model to advance organizations and society towards social change.

Aesthetics and arts role in advancing political visions was most recently on display during the Capitol riot earlier this year. The mob came armed, not only with weapons but with far-right symbols, battle colors of the Confederacy, white supremacist emblems, ultra-nationalist and Blue Lives Matter signs, and other associated clothing and flags interspersed between pro-Trump campaign paraphernalia. Protestors utilized this symbolism to unify, powerfully connote their objectives, and mark their conquest of the Capitol. A rioter was seen removing an American flag and replacing it with a Trump flag in the institutions rotunda to signal that space was mapped in their ideological garb.

The deployment of art, symbols, and representation has not only been utilized by Capitol rioters but is an integral part of the Black Lives Matter resistance. From the Mayor of D.C. painting the space in front of the White House, Black Lives Matter plaza; to racist edifices being torn down that memorialized slave traders like a statue in Bristol, England. From films like Gone With the Wind being placed in historical context; to the ongoing debate about removing Confederate names and iconography in NASCAR and military installations.Art has been a site of resistance against white supremacy and the history of extrajudicial killings by police.

Stakes around this issue rose as former U.S. President Donald Trump mobilized the military to protect monuments and enacted an Executive Order to increase prosecution of those who damaged these exhibits. This policy formed part of the justification for a surge in federal forces dispatched to American cities including my hometown of Chicago. Describing the danger, the 45th President noted that, our nation is witnessing a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values. Trumps words represent the importance of symbols in crafting history and defining our future. At issue is not just damage of artifacts, but embodies a larger struggle of ethics and what we stand for as a nation.

Drawing from Americas past reveals that aesthetics has always played a role in shaping politics. For instance, the significant proliferation of Confederate statues and monuments by organizations like the United Daughters of Confederacy was part of a well-conceived plan to mythologize the Civil War. The fight to keep slavery was depicted as a noble cause from a benign institution to engender sympathy. This message helped solidify white Southern national identity and embolden racist power holders and vigilantes while terrorizing African Americans by projecting white supremacy.

Juxtaposed from these efforts is the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and early 1970s. This movement championed the Black Aesthetic, which weaved art and activism to detail the particularities of African American struggles, strength, and experience. To embody the aesthetic, Black artists drew on Black musical forms, especially jazz; Black hyper-masculinity to challenge historical degradation of African American men; Black vernacular speech; and experimentation with grammar and sound conventions. The movement, rooted in civil rights struggles, is considered the cultural sister of the Black Power Movement because it sought to transform the portrayal of African Americans in mainstream society, awaken Black consciousness, build Black community, and provide an impetus for their self-determination.

These examples of art from the Confederacy and Black Arts Movement, which helped to diminish and amplify Black life, illustrate how cultural production often serves an essential role in creating the type of society we would like to see. As we witness this aesthetic struggle play out in the streets today, it is essential to understand that this conflict is not an external fight resigned to protestors attempting to remake public landscapes and advance political visions, eluding the rest of us. Instead, it holds significant lessons for organizations as they reflect on how to achieve inclusive Black futures.

Institutions need to be thoughtful not only about who is in their space (increased Black and brown bodies) or what is taught in their space (diversity training or intersectional instruction), but also an institutions aesthetics itself (how space is curated and experienced). A spaces construction signals what it values; facilitates specific encounters; produces certain knowledge amongst its inhabitants; reinforces culture; and can serve to welcome or exclude Black, Indigenous, and other marginalized communities. Numerous studies have detailed the impact of space design on achieving academic and workplace outcomes, but usually the focus for organizations is on enhancing innovation, performance, or safety (especially in light of the ongoing pandemic). What protestors are teaching us is that an organizations space also bears on its ethical commitments.

I understand the power of an institutions space and construction aiding equity goals firsthand. As a student at Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago, I co-founded the Visibility Initiative. The project championed alternative aesthetics and facility construction that promoted social justice, human rights, inclusion for persons with disabilities, and diverse voices in the legal community. At the school, elite portraits and paintings featuring white men were a constant, reinforcing the idea of law as only serving a narrow community, dominated by judges and lawyers, and entrenched in power and privilege. Elevating different cultural expression such as sculpture, photography, graffiti, and performance art gave prominence to significant movements and actors like community activists, faith leaders, and artists that helped expand rights and equality under the law.

Additionally, I worked with other law students to use art to discuss social issues in Chicago through theatre productions;host photography exhibitswhere we brought the voices of urban youth onto campus; establish the Black Law Students annual Open Mic Night featuring poetry, song, and introspection; and even in my academia to incorporate the local community.

After these events, several students and faculty expressed feeling more invested in the school since it began to reflect their reality and closer to their peers because they felt comfortable being vulnerable in these settings. Many were pleased that community engagement and marginalized topics were finally discussed in ways that engendered empathy and action. For me, however, the impact was simple: I felt less alone.

These illustrations highlight what is possible through an intentional focus on art and aesthetics to enhance the inclusive climate of academic, business, religious, and other institutions of society. Art affirms through culture, expression, and connection. That is all Black people want: for their freedom and truth to animate the unfolding story of humanity.

In our pursuit of a more just world, many are understandably weary of concentrating on aesthetic disruptions, preferring substantive change to symbolism. But the passage of laws does not equate to their enforcement. Policy implementation happens by people, and the aesthetics of their lived environment helps shape their behavior, understanding, taste, and moral connection to others. To be represented in public space as inferior, as depicted in this Boston statue that has drawn criticism of Abraham Lincoln standing over a kneeling Black man, normalizes exclusion. If the decision to fight for macro-level change is ultimately the choice between life and death, then things that help determine how one views Black bodies (as a threat or as human) are also important.

Not only will policy execution be enhanced, aesthetic focus prompts specific interventions into the political, such as:

Pursing a new world requires reengineering policies and processes, but it also starts with the locations we inhabit every day. If you are committed to anti-racism, it means committing to creating anti-racist spaces, too. The values elevated by Black Lives Matter need to be reflected throughout society as a constant reminder of what we are fighting for, inside our institutions of public life, and outside on our streets as well.

Chime Asonye is a lawyer and development practitioner. He is a former Commissioner of the Washington, D.C. Commission on African Affairs.

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The art of Black Lives Matter: Lessons for organizations and policymakers from the streets - Brookings Institution

In this op-ed writer Jameelah Nasheed unpacks the current conversations around elitism, fashion, and how the protests outside of the Met Gala show our vastly different realities.

This years Met Gala was filled with celebrities and influencers wearing attire intended to be in alignment with this years theme, In America: A Lexicon of Fashion. Although some attendees left viewers confused, some nailed it. Still, the most on-theme part of the evening was the fact that while the Galas powerful attendees by way of fame, fortune, or job title enjoyed their evening, something far different what was going on outside: a protest for racial and social justice, which resulted in some protesters being arrested by the police.

According to The Daily Mail, a flyer from the protest referred to the group, called #FireThemAll on Twitter, as an autonomous group of NYC abolitionists who believe that policing does not protect and serve communities. The flyer also explained the protesters objective, which was to interrogate why the NYPD is being allotted $11 billion in resources, rather than allocating those funds to help Black and brown communities that are in need of support. In a video posted to Twitter, a protester is heard saying, Black and brown people are on the brink of houselessness. We cannot go back to normal. Where was your rage last year? The protester, who has been identified as Ella, and was one of the at least nine people who were arrested, continued, We demand free housing, we demand all political prisoners to be freed, we demand justice for our people.

Last year the Met gala was cancelled because of COVID-19. At the time, the world was just beginning to understand the gravity of the virus that would end up killing more than 670,000 people in the US alone with the majority being Black, brown, and Indigenous Americans. For many the return to normalcy this year felt premature.

Im not going to act like I dont love fashion like I dont enjoy watching in anticipation of my fashion faves. But I also understand that we live in a capitalistic society where things like fundraising work in a very complicated socio-economic scheme of privilege. So, theres something to be said about this years Gala, in context with the various challenges were facing as a global society.

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Black Lives Matter Protesters Arrested Outside of the Met Gala 2021 - Teen Vogue

Black and white Tennessee officers reported their departments alleged racism to Black Lives Matter (BLM).

The department of Millersville, Tenn., allegedly has a culture of harassment and intimidation, so Robert Black created a fake Facebook to contact his local BLM chapter, The Daily Beastreported.

America is changing faster than ever! Add Changing America to your Facebook or Twitter feed to stay on top of the news.

During that time, the assistant police chief, Dustin Carr, was under investigation for allegedly assaulting his wife, who was herself allegedly involved in an affair with a drug suspect. Black and other police officers claim they were fired for not complying with Blue Lives Matter.

In addition to questioning the police department management, Black endured alleged sexual harassment, including a female officer grabbing his genitals, and a second incident in which a male allegedly made disparaging comments about Blacks biracial son.

In a new lawsuit, Joshua Barnes, a former Millersville Police sergeant who is Black, claims the department harbors a culture of harassment and intimidation. Robert Black, who is white with a biracial son, has joined Barnes in the lawsuit.

The lawsuits three defendants are Millersville Police Chief Mark Palmer, Assistant Chief Dustin Carr and the city of Millersville. Palmer told The Daily Beast that all comments must be addressed to the city manager, which did not return requests for comment, and neither did Carr.

Palmer and the city had already in the past faced racial discrimination allegations. In 2015, two Black officers sued Palmer for racial discrimination, claiming that each of them were told I dont like n-----s.

One of the men, Anthony Hayes, claimed Palmer took him to a former Ku Klux Klan leaders home, where Hayes was subjected to an extended conversation in the presence of KKK memorabilia.

Hayes claimed that Palmer placed a copy of a KKK magazine in his police locker, with a sticky note that read, This was left for youdont let your subscription run out.

You cant find this anywhere, Black said of the KKK magazine. Thats why I hit up BLM reps. I was like, hey yall...

In their response to the lawsuit, the city denied the allegations against Palmer. The city managers office has not responded to a request for comment from Changing America.

Brian McCartherenes, the other officer who sued Palmer, said they were being forced out of their post after they accused the department of racism.

According to a police memo, McCartherenes was fired for alleged racist conduct, telling a new Black officer at the time, At the end of the day, remember you are Black. McCartherenes says he intended the comment as a warning about the risks of the job.

Robert Black was fired by the city manager for inciting a protest on Sept. 11, 2020, but the protest was relatively peaceful without anything getting damaged or anyone getting arrested, contrary to the warnings of the then-city manager who allegedly told Black in private to tell everyone who is involved in this [BLM protest] that we are coming after them next!

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Police officer reported his own department to Black Lives Matter | TheHill - The Hill

QFC and Fred Meyer violated federal labor law when store officials prohibited workers from wearing union-sponsored Black Lives Matter buttons, according to a ruling by Region 19 of the National Labor Relations Board.

Seattle-based UFCW 21 announced in a Sept. 17 press release that the board informed the union of the ruling against both companies, which are owned by Kroger.

Specifically, Region 19 (Alaska, Montana, Oregon and Washington) found merit in UFCW 21s charges that Kroger violated the law by: 1) failing to bargain with the union over a change in workplace conditions in this case the practice of allowing the wearing of buttons at work; and 2) prohibiting workers from taking action together in this case, by wearing Black Lives Matter messages to protest racism in the workplace and in society, generally, according to the press release.

Seattle-based Region 19 will now seek a settlement agreement with Kroger, which would likely require a change to company policy, according to the union. If a settlement cannot be reached, Region 19 would typically issue a formal complaint and a trial would be held before an Administrative Law judge, whose ruling would be subject to an appeal to the NLRB in Washington D.C.

This is very uplifting, said Sam Dancy a front end supervisor at the Westwood Village QFC in West Seattle. When workers were trying to speak out through these buttons and collectively say Black Lives Matter and Kroger said to take the buttons off, that was an insult. This decision is welcome news in our work to bring attention to social and racial injustice in the workplace and in our neighborhoods.

A QFC spokesperson issued the following statement in a Sept. 17 email to the Kent Reporter.

We look forward to reviewing the proposed settlement agreement, according to the spokesperson. Our company is unequivocal in standing with our Black associates, deeply listening and taking action to advance more diverse, inclusive and equitable communities.

UFCW 21 President Faye Guenther released the following statement.

In the wake of this welcome action by the NLRB, we are calling on Kroger to respect workers rights and take meaningful steps to address racial inequities in Kroger workplaces, Guenther said. Among other things, Kroger needs to do a better job of hiring and promoting African Americans at every level of the company and making it clear that it will not tolerate racism from customers or employees.

After Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd on May 25, 2020, many UFCW 21 members working in grocery and retail stores chose to express their opposition to racism by wearing face masks (otherwise worn for protection from COVID-19) or other items bearing the Black Lives Matter slogan.

Although Kroger issued public statements expressing sympathy with the Black Lives Matter movement, managers at Kroger-owned stores in Western Washington started ordering UFCW 21 members to remove Black Lives Matter masks in August 2020, according to the union press release.

UFCW 21 responded to the companys Black Lives Matter ban by collaborating with Fred Meyer and QFC workers to distribute union-sponsored Black Lives Matter buttons with the UFCW 21 logo. When managers banned the union buttons, UFCW 21 filed charges in September 2020 with the National Labor Relations Board.

UFCW 21 represents over 46,000 workers at grocery stores, retail, health care and other industry jobs.

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Grocery store workers have right to wear Black Lives Matter buttons | Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber - Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber

A Government insider raised concern that the NHS description of BLM failed to mention the contentious calls from some supporters to defund the police.

Managers, nurses and doctors are being indoctrinated with deadly doses of dodgy diversity and pernicious propaganda all at the taxpayers expense, a Whitehall source said.

In another of the four NHS People diversity courses, medics are warned: "You may lose 'friends' as you commit to anti-racist allyship".

As part of this process, the course suggests: With fellow white people, honestly explore how racism privileges you and how racism injures BME [black and minority ethnic] people.

The course adds: "To become authentic allies who will be in the struggle for the long haul, white people will need to deliberately and honestly work on understanding white culture and white privilege. [...] White people will need to see themselves as racial beings."

Other modules include exercises on what is white privilege and the importance of understanding your personal privilege.

The revelations come after it emerged that the NHS diversity tsar Prerana Issar, the chief people officer, earned 35,000 more than the recently departed NHS chief executive.

According to accounts for 2019 to 2020, Ms Issar earned between 230,000 and 235,000 - more than her former boss Sir Simon Stevens and Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Danielle Boxall of the Taxpayers Alliance said: "Taxpayers expect their money to be focused on improving frontline NHS services, not wasted on woke causes.

"There are already extensive laws to prevent discrimination in the workplace so training programmes like this should not be required.

"With the upcoming spending review, ministers should cut back on these controversial courses and save much-needed funds."

Meanwhile, Sir John Hayes, the chairman of the Common Sense Group of more than 50 Tory MPs, has written to Mr Javid asking whether taxpayers money is being squandered on woke propaganda.

He labelled it grossly inappropriate for the health service to be propagating the work of radical critical race theorists and peddling the dangerously divisive notions of collective racial guilt and collective racial oppression.

His letter was prompted by a blog post on the NHS Leadership Academy website, titled Dear white people in the UK, which advised white staff to be uncomfortable when discussing issues of race.

The Telegraph then revealed how NHS leaders had been told in a series of online seminars on whiteness and racial justice this year that speaking with a cottage cream-thick English accent was an example of privilege.

While almost one-fifth of NHS staff are from ethnic minorities compared to 14 per cent of the UK population they are under-represented in many senior roles.

An NHS spokesman said :"The NHS continues to improve recruitment, retention and patient care by ensuring all staff feel valued and supported," they added.

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Black Lives Matter training among new diversity courses offered to NHS staff - Telegraph.co.uk