June 11 Black Lives Matter protests

Our live coverage of the Black Lives Matter protests has moved here.

The mayor of a mostly white New Jersey township is apologizing for his comments during an anti-discrimination protest organized by residents of a neighboring community.

Protesters challenged Clark Township Mayor Sal Bonaccorso at a June 6 rally to say that he was “pro-black” and he responded by saying, “I am pro-black for all the good black people that I know in my life.”

That didn’t go over well with the crowd, and several people could be heard expressing their disapproval in a video from the event.

“Hey folks, listen, I can’t say I’m for anybody if I don’t know you. I’m for people. Good people, law-abiding, hard-working, good family, good friends, people with good intentions,” he said. “If you’re black great, if you’re white, great. If you’re Hispanic, great.”

“It doesn’t matter. I judge people on how you judge me. If you wanna be my friend and stick your hand out, I’ll shake your hand. I’ll look you in the eye.”

He released another statement on Wednesday, writing online that “If I didn’t care. I wouldn’t be here.”

“My goal when I spoke was to reiterate and affirm that we want Clark Township to be a place where everyone feels welcome. Looking back on what I said and seeing some of the public reaction to it, I see that I may have fallen short of that goal and I would like to clarify my answer to a question that was posed. An attendee asked me, ‘Are you pro black?’ The answer is of course, and unequivocally, yes. I also truly believe that Black Lives Matter,” he said.

Across the United States, statues of Christopher Columbus are being taken down as protesters point to his role in violent colonization at the expense of Indigenous communities.

The conversation around race, history and violence is taking place around the world as well – in New Zealand, a statue of a British naval captain who fought land wars with Maori was removed from public grounds after a formal request by a tribal organization.

The Hamilton City council said they decided to remove the statue of Captain John Charles Fane Hamilton after “it had become clear the status was likely to be vandalized,” said the city publication “Our Hamilton.”

The city was renamed after Captain Hamilton, who was a commander of the Esk and was killed at the Battle of Gate Pa, according to a guide produced by the city council.

“I know many people – in fact a growing number of people – find the statue personally and culturally offensive. We can’t ignore what is happening all over the world and nor should we. At a time when we are trying to build tolerance and understanding between cultures and in the community, I don’t think the statue helps us to bridge those gaps,” said Mayor Paula Southgate, according to “Our Hamilton.”

Some context: New Zealand has its own history of violent colonization by white Europeans.

Recent years have seen increased scrutiny on Captain James Cook, the preeminent British explorer of the Pacific in the eighteenth century, whose arrival opened the way for often brutal imperialism and colonialism.

Activists in New Zealand and Australia have pushed highlight this bloody history; last fall, a Maori tribe banned a replica of Captain James Cook’s ship from docking at its village during a national commemoration of Cook’s first encounter with indigenous New Zealanders.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot told CNN on Thursday night that the police officers filmed lounging in a congressman’s office on June 1 as protests and looting occurred throughout the city was “one of the most disgraceful, disrespectful things” she has ever seen.

“We are absolutely not going to tolerate it,” she said. 

Asked how difficult it is to discipline officers, she said, “They do have extraordinary due process rights, which is in and of itself a problem that we’ve go to fix.”

“We’ve got to start by licensing police officers, and I called for that today. We’ve got to change state laws so that we have a baseline of conduct that is acceptable,” she said. “It is all about the will and really seizing this moment to take on the police contracts, and other things, that are an impediment to reform and accountability.” 

What happened: 13 Chicago police officers lounged and slept in the congressional campaign office of US Rep. Bobby Rush on June 1, while protests raged citywide.

The officers, who included three supervisors, were seen on video sleeping in the office, eating the congressman’s popcorn and talking on the phone, Rush and Lightfoot said.

The incident came to light after Rush reviewed security camera footage from his office, the mayor explained at a news conference.

A man in Portsmouth, Virginia, suffered life threatening injuries on Wednesday night when protesters partially dismantled the city’s Confederate monument, according to Virginia State Police.

The Portsmouth Police Department has requested that State Police conduct the investigation into that bodily injury. Any and all charges to be placed will be determined by the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office for the city of Portsmouth, according to State Police.

Portsmouth Mayor John L. Rowe, Jr. said the police had done the right thing in confining vandalism to one piece of public property, thus protecting lives and the nearby private property.

He also noted that in 2017, the city council adopted a resolution to move the Confederate monument to a cemetery as soon as the governing laws clearly permitted its relocation. According to Rowe, that resolution remains in effect. 

Also addressing the incident in Portsmouth, Norfolk Mayor Kenny Alexander issued a statement last night, asking for peaceful protests and safety in his own city, saying “an individual was seriously injured in an attempt to remove a statue in Portsmouth. We are praying for his full recovery and hope that this incident will not be repeated in other localities.”

In a tweet on Thursday night, President Donald Trump tweeted, “The Radical Left Democrats: First they try to take away your guns. Then they try to take away your police!”

Some context: In the past week, calls have been growing around the country to defund, demilitarize, and in some cases, even dismantle the police.

What does this mean? It’s as straightforward as it sounds: Instead of funding a police department, a sizable chunk of a city’s budget is invested in communities, especially marginalized ones where much of the policing occurs.

In some places, the protests have actually worked. A veto-proof supermajority of the Minneapolis city council pledged to defund and dismantle the police force.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announced he would move funding from the NYPD to youth and social services.

And Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti agreed to slash between $100 million to $150 million from the proposed funding for the LAPD budget.

Read more here

The ongoing protest in Seattle around the East Precinct police station is not a threat to public safety, said city mayor Jenny Durkan on Thursday night.

“We’ve got four blocks in Seattle… that is more like a block party atmosphere,” Durkan told CNN. “It’s not an armed takeover. It’s not a military junta.”

Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best expressed frustration earlier today that protesters had demanded the removal of police barricades, only to erect their own.

The police building was boarded up and emptied, and Durkan says there is no timetable yet for officers to return. “I don’t know. We could have the Summer of Love,” said Durkan.

She also responded to President Donald Trump, who had tweeted earlier today, “Take back your city NOW. If you don’t do it, I will.”

“The fact that he thinks he can just tweet that, and not have ramifications, is just wrong,” Durkan said. “Our country was born out of a protest. The right to gather, the right to protest, the right to challenge government when it is wrong, is our most fundamental constitutional right.”

Watch more:

A Bronx teenager was allegedly tased on the face multiple times by police who mistook him for a rioter, his lawyer has told CNN.

Jahmel Leach, 16, was left with facial fractures and damage to his jaw, said his lawyer, Mark Shirian.

The New York Police Department did not immediately answer questions about Leach’s arrest, saying the matter was under internal review.

A source with knowledge of the investigation told CNN that a 16-year-old was arrested in the Bronx on June 1, after police saw the person pour an unknown liquid on a trash pile in the middle of the road and light it on fire.

According to his lawyer, Leach was walking home at the time, and was not part of any protests or rioting. Leach denies the allegations against him and has not been charged, Shirian told CNN. 

“They had no grounds to arrest him,” Shirian said. “Are we going to allow them to police the youth in that way?”

Leach’s family gave a press conference on Thursday, with supporters wearing shirts saying “Justice for Jahmel Leach.” Leach’s family alleged that he was released to his parents only partially clothed, in a hospital gown. 

Mayor Bill de Blasio called for the internal police investigation to be completed with “speed and transparency.”

“I want to make sure we get the truth, and I want to make sure we follow through based on what the facts tell us,” De Blasio said Thursday.

When Minneapolis-based activist Michelle Gross learned the name of the officer who planted his knee on the neck of George Floyd until after he lost consciousness, she wasn’t surprised.

Gross, who has tracked 20 years’ worth of complaints against Minneapolis police, identified the officer by cross-checking the badge number seen in the video of Floyd’s death against her records. It belonged to Derek Chauvin – a familiar name.

“When I saw the name I said, ‘Oh, him,’” Gross told CNN. “When you start to see those same officers over and over again with multiple complaints, their names lodge in your brain.”

Gross, of the non-profit Communities United Against Police Brutality, argues that Chauvin – who had 18 prior complaints filed against him and received reprimands for only two of them – exemplifies the way problematic officers repeatedly thwart accountability in Minneapolis.

Punishment is rare: Only about 1.5% of complaints filed against Minneapolis police have resulted in suspensions, terminations or demotions between 2013 and 2019, according to a CNN analysis of data from the city’s Office of Police Conduct Review, which investigates complaints.

That office, which is separate from the police department but works with officers to resolve complaints, received about 2,013 complaints against police within its jurisdiction in that time.

Read CNN’s full investigation here:

Related article Minneapolis police are rarely disciplined for complaints, records show

A woman from Tacoma, Washington, was arrested today for burning five Seattle Police vehicles during protests on May 30.

The US Attorney’s Office says Margaret Aislinn Channon is charged with arson for the fires near the Westlake Center shopping complex, where police were responding to protests. 

Prosecutors say they found Channon due to distinctive tattoos on her hands and elbows that were visible in surveillance videos and scene photos. They matched those tattoos to a prior police report identifying Channon and multiple Instagram pages.

Channon allegedly set the vehicles on fire by lighting an aerosol spray to simulate a blowtorch, “putting the public at risk and creating the very real possibility of a structure fire amidst the throng of people protesting downtown,” said US Attorney Brian Moran in a written statement.

Channon is scheduled to appear in court Friday afternoon. It is not immediately clear whether she has an attorney. 

Breonna Taylor, the Louisville emergency medical technician who was killed by police in her own home, would be “amazed to see the world changing,” said her mother Tamika Palmer on Thursday, speaking to CNN.

Earlier tonight, the Louisville Metro Council passed “Breonna’s Law” – an ordinance banning “no-knock” search warrants and regulating the execution of search warrants and the use of body camera equipment during the execution of search warrants.

It was Breonna’s 27th birthday last week. Mourners and activists around the country marked her birthday on social media and in marches on the streets.

“She was loving and caring and she loved to help people,” Palmer said. “She loved to be around family. Everybody loved her. Her co-workers, her friends, her family. She just was full of life … You couldn’t ask for a better child at all.”

Watch more:

In Seattle, protesters have occupied the area in front of a downtown police station – and they’re showing no signs of moving, even as evening approaches.

The police station has been “overtaken by these protesters,” said CNN Correspondent Dan Simon from the scene. “It’s totally been defaced.”

The sign at the front of the building, which used to read “Seattle Police Department,” now reads “Seattle People Department.”

“For several days in the wake of George Floyd’s death, you had violent clashes between protesters and police officers here in front of this department, and tear gas was deployed. It was not a pretty scene,” said Simon.

After days of clashes, the police decided to try and de-escalate the situation and “essentially abandoned the department,” he said. That’s when protesters flooded in.

The situation remains peaceful and lighthearted at the moment. “It really has the feel of a street festival,” Simon said – there are people serving food to the crowds, there’s a medical tent set up, and the demonstrators even watch movies and play live music at night.

“It’s sort of a contradictory situation. On the one hand, it began with force, but right now it’s peaceful,” Simon said.

Watch:

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot says she wants to “move in a completely different direction on policing.”

She called for changes like licensing police officers and changing state laws to provide a baseline of acceptable conduct. Lightfoot also said we need to “eliminate the problem of so-called pass the trash, where an officer gets disgraced, gets fired, and then he just moves down the road to the next town.”

“We’ve got to make sure that we really hit them where it hurts, and make sure if you have been convicted of a crime, if you resign under investigation, you lose your pension. That should just be automatic,” she told CNN on Thursday.

Lightfoot said she is determined to use the unrest happening across the country to make changes.

Some context: This comes after 13 city police officers, including three supervisors, were caught on video hanging out in Rep. Bobby Rush’s campaign office last week as businesses nearby were being looted.

Watch more:

Dallas County Sheriff Marian Brown said the absence of the top three law enforcement officials at a roundtable with President Trump on Thursday about “justice disparities” in America “says a lot.”

Brown, a Democrat who was elected two years ago, was one of three key black law enforcement officials in the Dallas, Texas, area not invited to attend the event.

She said that decision “causes one to raise the brow.”

Speaking to CNN’s Erin Burnett, Brown said she would have considered attending the roundtable, “simply because it is about policing.”

The Glenn Heights Police Chief Vernell E. Dooley, who is African American, was invited. Glenn Heights is south of Dallas and has a population of about 16,000 people.

More details: At the roundtable, the President confirmed that the White House is finalizing an executive order on policing standards in the wake of national outcry over George Floyd’s death at the hands of police officers in Minnesota.

Brown reiterated that members of local law enforcement agencies have to be at the table for any substantial police reform. 

“If you’re not getting information from the people who know about policing, if you’re not getting their input and if you’re not sharing the information with them, then those are the very people who are going to be affected. And those are the very people who can implement initiatives. Those are the very people who need to be included in the conversation,” Brown said.

Watch:

A bipartisan group of Mississippi state lawmakers want to remove the emblem of the Confederate battle flag from the Mississippi state flag, and appear to have support from at least one powerful Republican lawmaker.

The push from state lawmakers was approved by Republican Speaker of the Mississippi House Philip Gunn during a closed-door meeting, state Rep. Robert Johnson told CNN.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are in the process of wrangling votes for a resolution to allow changes to be made to the flag. All 45 Democratic members of the Mississippi House have signaled they will support that resolution. However, bipartisan support is needed to reach the necessary two-thirds majority.

Why this matters: The move comes following renewed efforts nationwide to remove memorials to the Confederacy as the nation grapples with the intertwined legacies of institutionalized racism and police brutality.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced he would remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, but a judge has since blocked its removal. NASCAR declared Wednesday it is banning the Confederate flag at its races, and the US Navy and Marines have also moved to ban the Confederate battle flag from public display.

Read the full story here:

In this April 25, 2020 photograph, a small Mississippi state flag is held by a participant during a drive-by "re-open Mississippi" protest past the Governor's Mansion, in the background, in Jackson, Miss. This current flag has in the canton portion of the banner the design of the Civil War-era Confederate battle flag, that has been the center of a long-simmering debate about its removal or replacement. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Related article Mississippi lawmakers pushing to remove Confederate emblem from state flag

The Louisville Metro Council in Kentucky passed an ordinance today banning “no-knock” search warrants.

The ordinance, which will be known as “Breonna’s law,” also regulates the execution of search warrants and the use of body camera equipment during the implementation of all search warrants.

Breonna Taylor was killed after officers forced their way inside her home and exchanged gunfire with her boyfriend, while executing a search warrant in a narcotics investigation.

The council’s vote was 26-0 in favor of the ordinance.

The ordinance requires all Louisville Metro Police Department officers present in the execution of a warrant to be equipped with an operating body camera, which has to be activated no later than five minutes prior to all warrant executions.

All recorded data also has to be retained for five years following an executing action, according to the ordinance. 

“I plan to sign Breonna’s Law as soon as it hits my desk. I suspended use of these warrants indefinitely last month, and wholeheartedly agree with Council that the risk to residents and officers with this kind of search outweigh any benefit. This is one of many critical steps on police reform that we’ve taken to create a more peaceful, just, compassionate and equitable community,” Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer Tweeted following the vote.

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont says he is working on “common sense solutions” related to policing including police accountability and collaborating more with communities.

“When it comes to George Floyd and the angst people feel across this country, when it comes to police accountability, when it comes to giving people confidence that our police are doing the right thing, I don’t want to wait,” Lamont said Thursday.

He said his administration is meeting with legislative leadership on both sides of the aisle “to see if we can find some common sense solutions to build upon the very far-sighted bill that was passed last year.”

On defunding police: Lamont said he did not think they would defund the Hartford Police Department.

“That would shock me,” he said “I believe in police departments, I believe in community policing, I believe policing is much more effective when you work in collaboration with the community.”

Lamont said he does think there needs to be an investment in resources in other areas as well.

“But I would bring in the social service providers as well. It’s not an either/or, cut from here, social service there. I think you need both to address the real needs that are out there,” he said.

President Trump said the United States needs to keep law enforcement “strong” and discussed issues facing police officers across the country in a clip of an interview released Thursday evening.

Trump harshly criticized the officers involved in the death of George Floyd, calling their actions “eight minutes of horror” and “a disgrace.”

Fox News’s Harris Faulkner interviewed the President after his roundtable at a Dallas, Texas, church.

In the clip of the interview, Trump said that he thinks “we are going to do a lot of good things” in the aftermath of nationwide protests, but that “we also have to keep our police and law enforcement strong.”

“They have to do it right, they have to be trained in a proper manner, and they have to do it right,” the President said in the clip, “and the sad thing is that they are very professional, but when you see an event like that with the more than eight minutes of horror. That’s eight minutes really of horror, it’s a disgrace. And then people start saying well, are all police like that? They don’t know. Maybe they don’t think about it that much, it doesn’t make any difference. The fact is they start saying, well, police are like that. Police aren’t like that.”

Trump called being a police officer a “very tough job,” and said that “we’ve seen some terrible things happen to police officers.”

“Most of the police officers are really good people,” the President added.

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said the city will not be accepting federal troops to move out protesters who are occupying the area in front of a downtown police station.

“The threat to invade Seattle – to divide and incite violence in our city – is not only unwelcome, it would be illegal,” Durkan said at a news conference Thursday.

President Trump tweeted earlier Thursday to Durkan and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee: “Take back your city NOW. If you don’t do it, I will.”

Durkan said the overwhelming majority of protests have been peaceful.

“One of the things this President will never understand is that listening to the community is not a weakness,” Durkan said. “It’s a strength.”

The Seattle Police Department East Precinct building was emptied after crowd control barriers in front of the building were removed. Police Chief Carmen Best said their efforts to ease tensions have not been reciprocated.

“Instead of marching, the protesters, after complaining about police barricades, established their own barricades,” Best said.

Durkan said he believed the Capitol Hill protests are not more dangerous than demonstrations that regularly occur in the community.

“I’ve got news for people: It’s been ‘autonomous’ my whole lifetime,” said Durkan. “It is not an armed Antifa militia no-go zone.”

Los Angeles, California, Mayor Eric Garcetti proposed rethinking the way governments spend money on law enforcement saying, “you can support public safety and reimagine it at the same time.”

He said that while police officers need to be there to help people who are victims of violent crimes, or caught in sex trafficking or domestic violence situations, they should not be asked to deal with other problems like homelessness or mental health.

Garcetti said he supports budgeting more money for other resources.

He told CNN on Thursday that police should not have to “solve what needs investments in education, health care, and social workers rather than just always putting that on the backs of our police officers.”

“Maybe there’s a smarter way that’s better for our police officers and the public to look at our future,” he added.

Some background: After facing backlash over how Los Angeles Police Department officials treated protesters during the first week of demonstrations following George Floyd’s death, city officials on Monday said they will not prosecute those arrested for curfew violations and failure to disperse.

The L.A. City Attorney’s Office said it will develop new programs focused on the relationship between the community and law enforcement and plans to implement them later this summer.

Watch: L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti speaks to CNN’s Erin Burnett

Protesters in New York City shut down the Manhattan side of the Holland Tunnel today.

A protester with a megaphone addressed the crowd while police remained behind barricades nearby.

Dozens of protesters gathered at Washington Square Park earlier today.

Watch:

Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan said removing the Christopher Columbus statue at the state Capitol is “not an eraser of history, but a reckoning with it.”

“I wish we had a better process that had been followed. I wish the removal had been different, but I am not sad that it is gone,” she said at a news conference. “I am not going to perform for folks. I’m not going to feign sadness. I will not shed a tear over the loss of a statue that honored someone who, by of his own admission, sold nine and ten-year-old girls into sex slavery.” 

“There is no honor in the legacy of Christopher Columbus. To remove a statue or choose not to place one there in the first place is not an eraser of history, but a reckoning with it,” Flanagan added.

She said the state needs to “evaluate and re-evaluate” what is displayed at the Minnesota State Capitol. All Minnesotans should feel safe and welcomed when they step into the Minnesota State Capitol, she said.

The protest and occupation of the Capitol Hill neighborhood in Seattle, dubbed the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone by the activists, was peaceful and calm Thursday.

Seattle police officers were present in the area engaging with protesters. Some officers are inspecting the currently-shuttered precinct that is at the heart of the occupied area.

Although President Trump called the protesters “ugly anarchists” in tweets, the people on the ground dispute that characterization.

Mark Henry Jr., a protester who has been there for the last week, said he “expected Trump to say exactly that.”

“This is a peaceful protest and it has been for over a week,” Henry told CNN.

Other protesters who spoke to CNN also said the protests have been peaceful.

Although Seattle has seen many days of protests, some turned violent following the death of George Floyd, it was unclear if the protesters currently occupying the area were responsible for any violence.

The NFL has announced the league is pledging $250 million over 10 years to fight systemic racism.

“The NFL is growing our social justice efforts through a 10-year total $250 million fund to combat systemic racism and support the battle against the ongoing and historic injustices faced by African-Americans,” the league said.

Read the rest of the statement from the league:  

“The NFL and our clubs will continue to work collaboratively with NFL players to support programs to address criminal justice reform, police reforms, and economic and educational advancement. In addition to the financial commitment, we will continue to leverage the NFL Network and all of our media properties to place an increased emphasis on raising awareness and promoting education of social justice issues to our fans and help foster unity.”

Clemson University football players, including star quarterback Trevor Lawrence, announced on Thursday that they will be leading a peaceful protest for social justice this Saturday.

Lawrence, joined on a video call with three teammates, wide receiver Cornell Powell, running back Darien Rencher, and linebacker Mike Jones Jr., discussed why the protest – called “A March for Change” – was so important to him.

“We’ve really been working together and trying to come up with something that would be impactful. We want to do it the right way, and I think it’s important. We’re not the first ones that have used our voice to try to make a difference. That’s something that’s important to us to recognize everyone that’s come before us, that’s also made a difference,” Lawrence said. “We don’t want it to be something that’s looked at to divide further, we want to bring everyone together. We think that’s what’s going to happen on Saturday.”

Rencher described how these past weeks have personally weighed on him, saying that “as a young black man, it’s been draining.”

“I can’t remember the last time I’ve been so emotionally drained. Just because I feel like all your emotions are just flooded with everything going on. You look at your phone. I feel like it’s constant videos showing the evil in this world,” Rencher said. “I would just say at the same time, I feel like our generation really is trying to push the ball forward and take the step of our generation. I feel like every generation has led us to this point. We’re just joining in on the fight and feel like it’s going to look different for us to take a step, and I feel like we’re doing that.”

Saturday’s event in Clemson, South Carolina, is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. ET and will include an eight-minute moment of silence followed by a two-mile march. The university is not sponsoring the event. 

President Trump warned against blanket descriptions of Americans as racist or bigoted.

Speaking amid a national outpouring of anger over systemic racism in policing, Trump insisted that “Americans are good and virtuous people.”

“We have to work together to confront bigotry and prejudice wherever they appear, but will make no progress and heal no wounds by falsely labeling tens of millions of decent Americans as racist or bigots,” Trump said at a roundtable in Dallas.

“We have to get everybody together, we have to be on the same path,” Trump said.

In his remarks, Trump repeatedly lauded police forces and described those who used excessive force as “bad apples.”

Instead of speaking about police violence against black people, Trump decried officers who are targeted in the line of duty.

“They get shot for no reason whatsoever and they are wearing blue,” he said. “They get knifed.”

Trump suggested his attempts at racial reconciliation would go “quickly and easily.”

“We have so many different elements of strength in this country, we have such potential in this country, we have the greatest potential,” he said. “But we get off-subject and we start thinking about things that don’t matter, or don’t matter much. The important things, we don’t even discuss but we are here to discuss very important things today.”

Watch more:

President Trump called for “law and order” at a roundtable on justice disparities in Dallas, Texas. 

“We’ve done a lot of good things, but we have to have law and order,” Trump said to the crowd gathered inside a Dallas church. “Gotta have some strength. You have to have strength, you have to do what you have to do.”

“You look at Seattle, we just came in, you could see over the screen, Bill and I were talking about it,” Trump said, seeming to refer to Attorney General Bill Barr, who flew from DC on Air Force One with the President. “The law and order. Look at what happened in Seattle. They took over a city. A city. A big city, Seattle. A chunk of it, a big chunk. Can’t happen.”

“That can’t happen here in the state of Texas, can it? I don’t think so,” Trump said, as the crowd applauded.

He said the issue in Seattle would be “so easy to solve.” 

Some background: Protesters in Seattle have camped out and occupied the area outside Seattle police’s East Precinct building in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, which protesters are now calling the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone.

President Trump confirmed the White House is working to finalize an executive order on policing standards, providing more details on the prospective order. 

“We’re working finalize an executive order that will encourage police departments nationwide to meet the most current, professional standards for the use of force, including tactics for de-escalation. Also, we’ll encourage pilot programs that allow social workers to join certain law enforcement officers, so that they work together,” Trump said at a roundtable event in Dallas.

“We’ll take care of our police. We’re not defunding the police. If anything, we’re going the other route. We’re going to make sure that our police are well trained, perfectly trained, they have the best equipment,” he added.

Explaining what standards of force the executive order would call for, Trump said it “means force, but force with compassion.”

“But if you’re really going to have to do a job where somebody’s really bad, you’re going to have to do it with real strength, real power,” he added.

The President also defended calling for police to dominate the streets during protests across the country

“People said, ‘Oh, I don’t know if we like that expression’ — I said, ‘We have to dominate the streets.’ You can’t let that happen, what happened in New York City. The damage they’ve done,” Trump said.

CNN reported on Wednesday the White House had begun the initial stages of preparing an executive order on police reform. 

The Seattle police chief is openly criticizing city leaders for evacuating the East Precinct building in the city’s Capitol Hill district amid protests in the city.

“You should know, leaving the precinct was not my decision,” Chief Carmen Best said in a video addressed to the members of the department. “Ultimately, the city had other plans for the building and relented to severe public pressure. I’m angry about how this all came about.”

She said officers spent days protecting the building before the city boarded it up.

“To have a change of course nearly two weeks in, it seems like an insult to you and our community,” she said.

The area around the precinct is now occupied by protesters, some of whom are calling it the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone.

“We have heard that there are people ‘patrolling’ the streets near 12th and Pine,” Best said. “Of course, this is very concerning, especially since we don’t know who these people are.”

Best added: “I understand that my comments in this message may be leaked to the public.”

The police department said they posted it to their public YouTube page only after learned it had already been leaked. The chief called the current climate “one of the toughest times ever in the Seattle Police Department.”

“Although it may not seem true at this moment, the community cares about you,” Best said.

A Senate plan to remove names of Confederate leaders on military assets has sharply divided Republicans — and has now put a GOP-led panel at odds with the White House at a time of deep racial unrest in the United States.

The amendment, offered by Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, calls for the removal of names of Confederate leaders from all military assets — whether it’s a base, installation, facility, aircraft, ship, plane or type of equipment — within three years.

The plan was adopted behind closed doors with the support of some Republicans, even as President Trump condemned any action to remove Confederate leaders’ names from military bases — and the White House vowed to veto any such legislative effort.

“There is always a history that we don’t want to forget,” Sen. Mike Rounds, a South Dakota Republican who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said when asked about the plan, which he supports. “With regard to that I agree with the President that we don’t want to forget our history. … But at the same time that doesn’t mean that we should continue with those bases with the names of individuals who fought against our country.”

President Trump is expected to host a roundtable as part of his visit to Dallas to discuss health, economic and justice disparities and then attend a multimillion dollar reelection fundraiser.

The roundtable, which will include “faith leaders, law enforcement, & small business owners,” according to White House spokesperson Judd Deere, will “discuss solutions to historic economic, health, and justice disparities in American communities.”

The event, the description of which doesn’t specify that racial disparities will be addressed, is scheduled to take place at the Gateway Church Dallas Campus.

Three key black law enforcement officials in the region — the region’s police chief, sheriff and district attorney — were not invited to the roundtable, CNN has confirmed. However, the Glenn Heights Police Chief Vernell E. Dooley, who is African American, was invited. Glenn Heights is south of Dallas and has a population of about 16,000 people.

The Dallas Morning News first reported that the three officials had been left out.

Responding to a request for comment, a White House official passed along a list of attendees, which include other law enforcement officials and representatives from police associations. Reporters with the White House travel pool have also been told the church event is expected to be set up more like the President is giving remarks than a roundtable configuration.

Some background: Past public conversations the White House has facilitated with the African American community have mainly included conservative allies, religious leaders and law enforcement. They have not included civil rights leaders, local activists and organizers involved in demonstrations over George Floyd’s death or the families of individuals who died as a result of police brutality.

The exact issues expected to be discussed at the roundtable are not apparent, but the President has used similar meetings this week to relay his perceived victories for the African American community — namely, criminal justice reform, opportunity zones and the general state of the economy. He’s also used the meetings to call against defunding police departments.

According to officials, the White House has been drafting an executive order on police reform and the President has considered endorsing additional police reform measures in the wake of national outcry over Floyd’s death at the hands of police officers in Minnesota. But it’s not clear whether Trump will take any of those actions while he’s in Floyd’s home state.

After the roundtable, the President is slated to attend a joint fundraising committee dinner at a private residence.

The dismantling and defunding of police department across Virginia is not something Gov. Ralph Northam agrees with, according to comments he made today during a news briefing.

“I certainly don’t support that,” Northam said. “Our police officers provide a much needed resources to our communities.”

Northam acknowledged that there are areas that need reform, but that starts with getting “input from community activists, community leaders, getting input from our police force, and also from our legislators.”

It’s also important to really try “to work on increasing the diversity of our police staff,” Northam said.

While police in the state are trained somewhat in incidents involving people with mental illness, “it’d be much better to have someone that’s truly trained in how to deal with mental illnesses” and that is being discussed, Northam said.

“I think there are opportunities to really get into the communities and make sure that people in our communities know that our police officers are there to protect them and to make sure that they’re safe and also that” communities are respected, Northam said.

Mayor London Breed unveiled her plan for police reform in San Francisco, with hopes of addressing structural inequities.

“If we’re going to make real significant change, we need to fundamentally change the nature of policing itself,” Breed said in a panel discussion with San Francisco Police Department Chief William Scott and CNN’s Van Jones. “Let’s take this momentum and this opportunity at this moment to push for real change.”

Breed’s vision of reinventing the model of policing in the city focuses on four main priorities:

Specifically mentioning homelessness and mental illness, Breed is looking at ensuring health and service providers are adequately funded.

Other changes: San Francisco has banned chokeholds and strangle holds and requires officers to intervene in cases of excessive force, according to a statement from Breed’s office.

She has directed the police department to form a policy banning the use of tear gas, bayonets and tanks.

One change expected in the next few weeks is a new policy from San Francisco police on releasing booking photos, Scott said.

Marta Kauffman, the co-creator of the popular sitcom “Friends,” recently apologized for the lack of diversity on the show during its 10-year run.

Actress Aisha Tyler, who appeared on the show as its first black series regular, said that while she’s glad and appreciates that Kauffman is attempting a “full-throated apology” she believes that Kauffman “knew then what she knows now.”

“I think it points to a large issue not just in Hollywood, but culturally … the casual racism of apathy,” Tyler told CNN’s Brianna Keilar.

Tyler said that she thinks that the “show was just a function of Marta’s personal experiences, and she was just telling the stories that she knew, and it just happened to be about white people.”

Tyler also discussed how Hollywood needs to handle diversity better.

“It’s not enough to not be a racist, you have to be actively be anti-racist and making the kinds of choices that are not just representative, but compelling and interesting and telling new and different stories,” she said.

“There’s always been code for, like, a non-white lead. Like a ‘diverse lead’ or an ‘urban lead.’ These are just Americans and I think we need to get past this idea that we’re doing someone a favor when we decide to cast someone who’s outside what’s been, for so long, in Hollywood the cultural norm and just start talking about telling American stories. It’s really important to tell black stories but that’s because they are American stories,” Tyler added.

The discussion about the lack of diversity in “Friends” is not new. David Schwimmer, who played Ross Geller, addressed the issue back in January stating that “maybe there should be an all-black ‘Friends’” — even though there was “Living Single,” an all-black version of “Friends” that predated Schwimmer’s series by a year.

Watch:

Two Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee are asking Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe to provide answers regarding his plans “to ensure that foreign actors do not exploit the current heightened tensions in America by spreading misinformation, inciting violence, or utilize any other means to support a foreign agenda not in the best interests of American national security, public health, and safety,” according to a letter obtained by CNN Thursday. 

Specifically, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi and Rep. Val Demings expressed concerns that foreign actors, including Russia, may seek to exploit racial tensions as part of a broader effort to interfere in November’s presidential election. 

“Unfortunately, we know that foreign actors have historically sought to exploit tensions in American communities during times like these. As has now been widely confirmed by the IC, the Russian government took various steps to exploit tensions in America in an effort to influence the 2016 Presidential Election. These actions included falsifying accounts from across the political spectrum, such as impersonating the Tennessee GOP party and even Black Lives Matter protestors,” the letter stated.  

The letter added: “In light of the above information and as a Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, I am concerned that the current situation could give foreign actors the opportunity to advance their strategic agendas by interfering in our domestic affairs. In doing so, they could use the current situation to add to any efforts to interfere in the upcoming 2020 elections, as happened in 2016 with Russia.”

Austin Police Chief Brian Manley announced a series of measures discussed with local organization JUST America regarding police reform Thursday. 

“The Austin Police Department stands ready to make changes,” he said.

In terms of body cameras, Manley said, “it was important when JUST America met with us that there were appropriate sanctions for any officers that were intentionally deactivated body worn camera during a critical incident. And we agreed.”

“If you are intentionally deactivating a body worn camera during a critical incident, that is a huge problem for our community and for a department that is deserving of the highest of sanctions,” Manley said. “And in our discipline matrix, it does call for the indefinite suspension. And we support that.”

Manley said if there was “an indication that there was any criminality in their intent when they did that,” it would be reviewed by the district attorney’s office.

He also explained the police department has a policy to release video of a critical incident within 60 days, saying, “We’ve taken steps here as a community to work towards releasing video in critical incidents, something that we have not done before. We’ve always awaited the grand juries review of a case or the declination of that case by the district attorney. But as you well know, we now have a policy that says within 60 days from critical incident unless there’s a reason that it cannot be done, we will be releasing a video of that incident that outlines what happened and what led up to that critical incident.”

Manley said the ban of chokeholds would be written into policy, stating, “although we have spoken regularly about the fact that the Austin Police Department has not approved or taught chokeholds in decades, our policy did not explicitly exclude it. So we’re taking that extra step so that the community understands where we stand on that issue.” 

The police chief also spoke about having the mayor and city council more involved with police department policy and making changes to their policies available to the public.

“A third area of interest that was brought up as we discussed with just America was having our mayor in and council more involved in the policy push out of the police department, specifically when we make changes to the policies.” 

He said this was to ensure the elected officials of the city “are the ones to ensure they’re communicating with their constituency as well, what has been changed within policy,” adding, “we will share policy changes with our mayor and our council and our city leaders and others, as they’re made.”

“The policies of the Austin police department are public, they’re online, they can be found there. But what often goes unnoticed sometimes is when we make changes,” Manley said, “we do see the importance of this community understanding when we make changes to policies.”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will announce a police reforms and accountability legislative package at today’s press briefing at 4 p.m. ET.  

“Governor Tim Walz, House Speaker Melissa Hortman, Senate Minority Leader Susan Kent, and members of People of Color and Indigenous Caucus will hold a press conference to announce a police reform and accountability legislative package,” a statement released by the governor’s office said. 

Some context: Demands for police reform continue to grow in Minnesota and across the country. In Minneapolis, where George Floyd’s death focused the nation again on police brutality, enough members of the city council are calling for a major shift in policing that they might dismantle and replace the police department.

Cities like Los Angeles and New York have also said they will cut millions of dollars in police funding.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said he will speak with military officials to let them know how important it is to remove Robert E. Lee’s name from Fort Hamilton and “everywhere else.” 

This comes after a reporter asked him a question about a street in Fort Hamilton named after Robert E. Lee and if it should be changed. 

New York City Deputy Mayor J. Phillip Thompson shared a moving story about his family being enslaved on the plantation of Robert E. Lee’s father, Henry Lee.

“This issue is an emotional issue for many people like me,” Thompson said. 

As Black Lives Matter and anti-racist protests continue to spread in the wake of George Floyd’s death, many Confederate statues — which some consider racist symbols of America’s dark legacy of slavery — have been removed.

Additionally, the GOP-led Senate Armed Services Committee adopted an amendment behind closed doors for the Pentagon to remove the names of Confederate generals from military assets within three years.

The attorney for Martin Gugino, the 75-year-old Buffalo protester who was hospitalized after he was pushed to the ground by a police officer, says Gugino’s “brain is injured” and he is not interested in giving interviews at this time.

Here’s the statement from Gugino’s attorney Kelly Zarcone:

“I spoke with Martin a few minutes ago. He reports that he is feeling better than yesterday. He is starting physical therapy today which is definitely a step in the right direction. As most of you know, Martin is a soft spoken but thoughtful and principled man. As heartbreaking as it is, his brain is injured and he is well aware of that now. Because of this, he told me that he is not interested in media interviews right now. He feels encouraged and uplifted by the outpouring of support which he has received from so many people all over the globe. It helps. He is looking forward to healing and determining what his “new normal” might look like.”

Microsoft said today that it will not sell facial recognition technology to police departments in the United States, at least until there is a federal law to regulate the technology.

The announcement follows in the footsteps of tech giants IBM and Amazon, who each rolled out limitations on plans to sell facial recognition.

Microsoft’s president Brad Smith said any legislation on facial recognition should be firmly grounded in human rights.

Some context: Microsoft’s decision adds to the pressure on lawmakers to respond to the protests focusing on racial injustice and police brutality. Studies have shown that commercial facial recognition algorithms frequently misidentify minorities and people of color.

Technology companies have rapidly expanded their partnerships with law enforcement agencies in recent years, providing them with sophisticated surveillance tools that have raised concerns about citizen privacy and discrimination. 

Amazon’s Ring subsidiary, for instance, has partnerships with more than 1,300 police forces in the US. The company said Wednesday that it will put a one-year hold on sales of its facial recognition technology to law enforcement. 

Earlier this week, IBM said in a letter to Congress that it will no longer sell general purpose facial recognition services, and said in a separate statement that it would no longer invest in research and development of the technology. 

Civil liberties advocates welcomed Microsoft’s announcement, but called for more. 

“We also urge these companies to work to forever shut the door on America’s sordid chapter of over-policing of Black and Brown communities, including the surveillance technologies that disproportionately harm them,” said Matt Cagle, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California.

In response to calls from the Denver City Council, the Denver Office of the Independent Monitor (OIM) said Thursday that it is launching an investigation into the Denver Police Department’s (DPD) handling of the protests over George Floyd’s death.  

“The investigation will evaluate, among other things, the DPD’s use of physical force, chemical agents, riot gear, and surplus military equipment, as well as its handling of community complaints regarding alleged officer misconduct during the demonstrations,” OIM said in a statement Thursday.  

OIM said it will look through hundreds of hours of body cam footage, video taken by the community, review radio transmissions and documents, and conduct interviews of both police and community members.  

The OIM monitors the disciplinary systems of the Denver police and Sheriff’s Departments, according to the statement.  

Former NBA player and George Floyd friend, Stephen Jackson, will lead a march Thursday to the Minneapolis District Attorney’s office to “demand convictions are made swiftly on all four officers involved in this case,” according to an Instagram post from Wednesday.   

Using the hashtag #IVEHADENOUGH, Jackson posted of his plans to march and said he will not leave Minnesota until “justice has been served.” 

Jackson also called on every team in the NBA to send a player to join him in his march “to take a stance against police brutality and systemic racism.” 

The march will start at 6 p.m. ET.

Read Jackson’s post:

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Thursday told reporters he supports banning chokeholds, a key priority Democrats have brought forward in their police reform proposal. 

His comments were a departure from other congressional Republicans, who have raised concerns about federalizing policing practices. 

“There should be severe consequences,” he added of officers who perform chokeholds on people who have already been handcuffed.

But during his news conference, McCarthy also hit Democrats for announcing their policing plan without collaborating with Republicans on it first. 

“Democratic leadership has kept Republicans shut out of those discussions and in turn left millions of Americans voices left out of this important conversation,” he said. McCarthy refused to detail what policy disagreements he has with the Democratic legislation, however.

“Let’s put all ideas up front, and let’s work together to produce law, not politics,” he said.

He also criticized Democrats for the “defund the police” rallying cry, which top congressional Democrats have publicly pushed back on this week. He said Republicans “stand by and support our police officers.”

Asked about renaming military bases named after confederate soldiers, McCarthy said he isn’t opposed to the idea and thinks “it would be appropriate to change some.” He said he will wait to see what legislation comes out of annual national defense authorization act negotiations. 

Watch here:

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he supports New York City’s statue of Christopher Columbus because it represents the “Italian-American contribution in New York.”

Anti-racist and Black Lives Matter protests have prompted the removal of some statues of Confederate leaders — and now statues of Christopher Columbus, another controversial figure in US history, are also being taken down.

Columbus has long been a contentious figure in history for his treatment of the Indigenous communities he encountered and for his role in the violent colonization at their expense.

Asked today if the Columbus statue in Central Park should be removed, Cuomo said he understands “the dialogue that’s been going on for a number of years,” but ultimately supports the statue.

“The statue has come to represent and signify appreciation of the Italian-American contribution to New York. For that reason, I support it,” he said.

The governor added that some of Columbus’ acts are ones that “nobody would support.”

A bipartisan House bill to remove the names of Confederate generals from military installations has been introduced by Rep. Anthony Brown, a Democrat from Maryland, and a Rep. Don Bacon, a Republican from Nebraska. 

“The symbols and individuals that our military honors matter. It matters to the Black soldier serving at an installation honoring the name of a leader who fought to preserve slavery and oppression. It matters to the culture of inclusivity and unity needed for our military to get the job done,” Brown said in a news release. “Removing these names will be another step in an honest accounting of our history and an expression that we continue to strive to form a more perfect union.”

This bill comes after the Republican-led Senate Armed Services Committee adopted an amendment behind closed doors for the Pentagon to remove the names of Confederate generals from military assets within three years, just as President Donald Trump vowed to fight any such effort.

The amendment was added to the annual defense authorization bill, and it could still be stripped out as it makes its way through the legislative process.

Following NASCAR’s decision to ban the confederate flag at its events, driver Bubba Wallace said “there’s just no good that comes from that flag.”

Speaking on “Good Morning America” today, Wallace — who is NASCAR’s only full-time black driver — detailed his experience at last’s night’s race in Martinsville, Virginia. Wallace, who was driving a special Black Lives Matter paint scheme on his #43 car, finished in 11th-place at Martinsville Speedway.  

“I sincerely thought it was the biggest race of my career with everything going on in the world and how we are standing up and making a positive message out of it, trying to create a new image for the sport of NASCAR,” he said of the race.

On NASCAR’s decision on the confederate flag, Wallace said this:

“This is about so much more than ourselves. This is about our brothers and sisters that are suffering through a lot. And you look at the Confederate flag and how… Yes, it may mean heritage to most, but to a group that is in a lot of pain right now – the African-American community is in a lot of pain – that is a symbol of hate. It brings back so many bad memories, signs of oppression from way back when. There’s just no good that comes from that flag.”

In a social media address to the New York City Police Department, commissioner Dermot Shea addressed morale within the ranks, protests, the role of the media and police reform.

Shea thanked the department for working around the clock, away from their families for the last two weeks as protests have been continuous in the city. He acknowledged that the protests have been largely peaceful and asked the department to “hang in there” to allow everyone to “have a voice at this difficult time.”

Shea’s address comes after New York legislators passed a package of bills providing for comprehensive police reform, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he intended to sign them all quickly.

Here’s what Shea said:

On police reform: With so much discussion about police reform across the country and in an effort to boost morale within the ranks, Shea said, “I think we are the best police department in this country. We’re a police department that the whole world looks up to, never forget that.” Later on adding, “You are that thin line that keeps this society functioning, period.” 

He continued addressing what the department has done to improve relations within the community like neighborhood policing, using data and technology to target where most crime happens and applauding the fact that crime has been down in NYC for years.

“Nobody is mentioning that we have been reforming for the past six years,” mentioning policies and tools that already exist in the NYPD, like body cameras, de-escalation training and a no chokehold policy.

Shea acknowledged that “we’re far from perfect” and said “difficult conversations” need to be had about race within the department — not just among uniformed officers, but civilian members as well. 

On NYPD incidents: In reaction to the “bad incidents” that the NYPD has faced the last few weeks, Shea said, “I won’t allow people in this noble profession to stain that shield you wear on your chest… we can’t have people acting inappropriately.” 

He said that there may be a few more disciplinary actions taken against officers, “not a lot more, but there may be more” and says he will hold people accountable.

On protests: Shea said they will continue to allow them to happen and he mentioned the media at these protests saying the department needs to make sure the press has the ability to do their jobs.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters Thursday that President Trump will resume rallies on Juneteenth, a holiday marking the emancipation of slaves, in Tulsa, a city with a history of a deadly racial massacre in order to “share some of the progress that has been made” for the African American community.

Asked what Juneteenth means to the President, she said, “The African American community is very near and dear to his heart. At these rallies he often shares the great work he has done for minority communities,” citing criminal justice reform and HBCU funding.

She continued, “He’s working on rectifying injustices… So it’s a meaningful day to him and it’s a day where wants to share some of the progress that’s been made as we look forward and more that needs to be done.”

Past controversies: As President, Trump has faced blistering criticism over his public and private statements, like in 2017, when he blamed “both sides” after violence sparked by a neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. He also privately referred to some African nations as “s***hole countries” and lambasted the protests led overwhelmingly by black NFL players.

Last year, the US House of Representatives voted to condemn the President’s comments when he told four congresswomen of color to “go back” to where they came from. And before taking office, he stoked racial tensions – taking out a full page ad calling for the death penalty for the Central Park Five and being one of the leading voices for the birther movement. 

The top general in the United States military acknowledged that his controversial appearance with President Trump and other administration officials that was taken last week after law enforcement officers forcibly cleared peaceful protesters from Lafayette Square was a “mistake,” in a pre-recorded video. 

“As senior leaders, everything you do will be closely watched. And I am not immune. As many of you saw, the result of the photograph of me at Lafayette Square last week. That sparked a national debate about the role of the military in civil society,” the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, said in a pre-recorded speech to a group of graduates from the National Defense University.

“I should not have been there. My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics. As a commissioned uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I have learned from, and I sincerely hope we all can learn from it,” he added.

Milley’s military fatigues-clad appearance in the photographs and video, along with that of Defense Secretary Mark Esper, drew criticism from lawmakers and several senior former military officials who said the image risked dragging the traditionally apolitical military into a contentious domestic political situation.

The imagery showed Milley and Esper accompanying Trump to Lafayette Square and was taken shortly after seemingly peaceful protesters were cleared from the area by law enforcement.

WATCH:

Scotland plans to establish a museum devoted to the history of slavery as a show of solidarity towards anti-racism. The measure is part of a motion which passed in the Scottish Parliament Wednesday which calls for a slavery museum to “address our historic links to the slave trade.”

The motion states Scotland “understands and shares the deep concern and horror that many feel about racism and racial injustice and police brutality across the world.”

To that end urges the UK to suspend all export licenses for tear gas, rubber bullets and riot gear to the US because of police tactics against protesters.” The motion also expresses regret “that so many monuments and street names still celebrate the perpetrators and profiteers of slavery”, calling on all levels of government to “address this toxic legacy.”

The motion was passed with 52 votes for and 0 votes against.

Moments from the debate: Scotland’s Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf gave an impassioned speech during the parliamentary debate in which he called on Scotland to “hold a mirror up to ourselves and to confront the racism that exists here”.

Yousaf spoke of his own experiences of racism as a Scottish Pakistani person saying he didn’t have to cast his mind far back to someone calling him a “Paki,” branding his Twitter timeline as “cesspit of racism”.

Yousaf also drew attention to the lack of diversity in Scottish politics, highlighting the fact that there has not been a single black Member of Scottish Parliament (MSP) during the twenty year history of the devolved government.

According to Yousef, the only non-white MSP’s have all been Asian Scottish men decrying the lack of minority women representation. Yousef also proceeded to list all of the white personnel of the Scottish justice system to highlight the lack of diversity.

“I hope we are sitting uncomfortably because these should be uncomfortable truths. So don’t just tweet Black Lives Matter, don’t just post a hashtag, because people of color don’t need your gestures. Yes solidarity is helpful, but we need for you is action and to be anti-racist by your deeds” he added.

Yousef finished his speech by reciting to Parliament the last words of George Floyd telling the officers “please sir, please sir, I cannot breathe.”

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf said in a tweet this morning that he is taking executive action on police reform.

CNN is reaching out to Wolf’s office for details.

Wolf’s post comes as other states and cities across the country are weighing measures to ban neck restraints in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death and the widespread protests that followed.

Read his tweet:

The GOP-led Senate Armed Services Committee adopted an amendment behind closed doors for the Pentagon to remove the names of Confederate generals from military assets within three years, according to a source familiar with the proceedings, just as President Trump vowed to fight any such effort.

The amendment was offered by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, defining assets as property own or controlled by the Pentagon, whether it’s a base, installation, facility, aircraft, ship, plane or type of equipment. The amendment would create an independent commission to review and develop a detailed plan for removing the names.

The move came as Trump rejected calls to remove the name of Confederate generals from military bases, citing American heritage, and the White House threatened to veto any bill that did such that.

The amendment was added to the annual defense authorization bill, and it could still be stripped out as it makes its way through the legislative process. If Trump were to veto such a bill, it would be a big risk given the popular defense measure sets policy for the Pentagon.

US Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy and Defense Secretary Mark Esper are said to be open to holding a “bipartisan conversation” about renaming nearly a dozen major bases and installations that bear the names of Confederate military commanders, according to an Army official.

Rep. Cedric Richmond, a Democrat from Louisiana, said that President Trump’s opposition to any effort to rename major bases and installations named after Confederate military commanders is racist.

“Donald Trump is exactly who I thought he was — and that’s a racist,” Richmond said.
“This guy in the White House is just unable to comprehend the moment. And he’s unable to heal this country. So, of course he’s going to retreat where he always retreats. And that is, when his numbers look bad, when things are not going his way, he doubles down on racism,” he added. 

Trump rejected calls yesterday to remove the name of Confederate generals from military bases, citing American heritage, and the White House threatened to veto any bill that did such that.

Richmond, a co-chair for Joe Biden’s campaign, also addressed the differences between Democratic and Republican plans for policing reforms.

The Republican proposal does not explicitly ban chokeholds.

“I mean, if we still have to explain why banning chokeholds or measures that restrict the airways is important, then I think we have not acknowledged the moment in American history,” Richmond told CNN’s John Berman. 

Richmond said that if Republicans refuse to address chokeholds in their bill, it’s a “nonstarter” for him personally.  

“Well, 8 minutes 46 seconds, a knee on the neck, and if they are not willing to ban chokeholds … I really don’t want to talk to them,” he said. “… [If] they cannot acknowledge that is the starting point, then we can’t go anywhere from there. I mean, I just think that that is so clear that it’s absurd that they can’t get there.”

Richmond said he has no expectations on a possible Trump executive order on police reform.

“I have no expectations from this President. If he does it, it will only be because of his staff pushing him there because of poll numbers,” he said. 

Watch:

Philonise Floyd, George Floyd’s brother, appeared yesterday before the House Judiciary Committee for an oversight hearing on policing and law enforcement accountability.

He told House lawmakers yesterday that his brother “didn’t deserve to die over $20,” and called for police accountability and reform.

Here are some of the key quotes from his testimony:

WATCH:

A statue of Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the worldwide Scout movement, is to be moved Thursday to “safe storage” amid concern that it could be targeted by Black Lives Matter protesters.

The statue is located at Poole Quay, on England’s south coast. Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council cited fears of public disorder and anti-social behavior and said it wanted to allow time for community discussion.

“We acknowledge the differing views of the life activities of Baden-Powell and want to create time for all views to be aired, and to minimise the risk of any public disorder or antisocial behaviour that could arise were the statue to remain in situ,” said a statement released by Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council.

The council’s leader, Chancellor Vikki Slade, said: “Whilst famed for the creation of the Scouts, we also recognise that there are some aspects of Robert Baden-Powell’s life that are considered less worthy of commemoration.”

The Dorset County Scouts group is said to “support” the removal.

On Sunday, Black Lives Matter protesters in Bristol, southwest England, pulled down a statue of 17th-century slave trader Edward Colston and dumped it into the River Avon. A statue of Scottish merchant and slave-owner Robert Milligan was taken down Tuesday from the Docklands area in east London after a petition called for its removal.

Conservative Member of Parliament Tobias Ellwood, who represents Bournemouth East, tweeted that a national debate on Britain’s past was “overdue” but that “simply expunging past connections from sight won’t correct wrongs or help us better learn from our past.”

The statue of Baden-Powell was installed on the quayside in 2008 and faces Brownsea island in Poole Harbour, where the Scout movement he founded began.

Baden-Powell served in the British military overseas in the late 19th century, including in the Second Boer War in South Africa.

Read more here:

Protesters pull down a statue of Edward Colston during a Black Lives Matter protest rally in College Green, Bristol, in memory of George Floyd who was killed on May 25 while in police custody in the US city of Minneapolis. (Photo by Ben Birchall/PA Images via Getty Images)

Related article Britain's imperialist monuments face a bitter reckoning amid Black Lives Matter protests

Police in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) have warned Black Lives Matter protesters they could face potential arrest if they participate in “unauthorized gatherings.”

Rallies in support of Black Lives Matter and Australia’s Aboriginal Lives Matter movement are planned to take place across Australia on Friday.

NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Mick Willing said Thursday that police in the state had “not received formal notification of that event, so, therefore, it is deemed as unauthorized.”

Willing added: “Those that attend [unauthorized events] will not have the protections of the Summary Offences Act, so people can be moved on. People who are obstructing traffic or pedestrian movement can be subject to move-on directions. And, of course, that may well lead to arrests, if possible. We do not want to see that.”

Police have urged people to “abide by the current health orders,” citing the case of a person who tested positive for the novel coronavirus after attending a Black Lives Matter rally in Melbourne.

New South Wales authorities’ rules on public gatherings during the pandemic state that no more than 20 people should gather outdoors. 

“Do not go to those rallies,” Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Thursday.

“When it comes to the issue of gatherings and protests, the health advice says it put other Australians’ lives at risk, including, in particular, indigenous lives.”

Read more about Australia’s protests here:

Aboriginal protesters perform a traditional smoking ceremony before the start of a Black Lives Matter demonstration to express solidarity with US protestors in Sydney on June 6, 2020.

Related article Why US protests have prompted a conversation about race in Australia

The New York Knicks and James Dolan, the executive chairman of the team’s parent company, The Madison Square Garden Company, have come under fire for their delayed response to George Floyd’s death.

Most NBA organizations were quick to issue public responses, but the MSGC only issued a statement Tuesday – 15 days after Floyd’s death – which was posted to the Knicks’ social media accounts, along with those of the New York Rangers, dancing troupe the Rockettes and the MSGC’s official social media feeds.

The statement read: “Every one of us has a role to play in creating a more just and equal society, where there is no racism, bigotry, violence or hate. We stand with all who act for positive change.”

However, the Knicks have faced backlash, owing to the length of time it took for a statement to be released publicly and the omission of any reference to Black Lives Matter.

Read more:

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JANUARY 26: Madison Square Garden is lit up in Los Angeles Lakers colors in honor of former Laker great Kobe Bryant prior to the game between the New York Knicks and the Brooklyn Nets tonight at Madison Square Garden on January 26, 2020 in New York City. Five people, including Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, were killed in a helicopter crash this morning in Calabasas, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

Related article New York Knicks criticized for statement on racial equality

At least seven Los Angeles police officers were removed from their field duties after using excessive force during recent protests, the police department told CNN Wednesday.

The move comes as police across the nation have come under fire for violent responses to demonstrators protesting police brutality. Critics have pointed to the use of tear gas, rubber bullets and in several cases, physical actions as examples of excessive force.

The department has assigned 40 investigators to “look into every complaint thoroughly” and “hold every officer accountable for their actions,” the department said. Fifty-six complaints are currently being investigated, with 28 involving alleged uses of force, Los Angeles police said.

After facing backlash over how LAPD officers treated demonstrations during the first week of protests, city officials announced they would not prosecute those arrested for curfew violations and failure to disperse.

The protests in Los Angeles and across the country began after the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, at the hands of Minneapolis police.

Read more:

LOS ANGELES, CA - JUNE 08, 2020 - - Michael Ashley, left, joins hundreds at a Black Lives Matter-LA memorial service and funeral procession honoring Floyd and demanding justice for those killed by the hands of the police in Los Angeles on June 8, 2020. Interfaith leaders, labor, people of color, immigrants and victims of police brutality attended. The memorial services consisted of four funeral processions beginning in South Los Angeles, Long Beach, Orange County, and the San Fernando Valley. The processions converged in downtown Los Angeles at the crossing of 1st St and Broadway Blvd.. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Related article 7 Los Angeles officers removed from their field duties after using excessive force during protests, police say

Tulsa police have released body camera footage from two officers who arrested a black teenager and handcuffed a second for jaywalking last week.

The videos were released in response to social media messages from the community about the arrest, police said. The videos appear to have been blurred and redacted by police to conceal the teenagers’ identities.

In the videos of the June 4 incident, the two teenagers can be seen walking down the middle of a road together before they are approached by an officer on foot and a second in a squad car.

Once the officers reach the teenagers, one officer can then be seen forcing a teenager onto his stomach to handcuff him, while holding him down with his arms and knees. The second teenager is also handcuffed, but doesn’t struggle and remains standing.

Read more:

Related article Tulsa police release body cam video of officers handcuffing black teenagers for jaywalking

The statue of a 17th century British slave trader that was dumped into Bristol Harbour has been salvaged, Bristol’s City Council said.

The Council said the statue was retrieved because it could not stay on the harbor floor while the waters were being used by ships.

Protesters on Sunday pulled down the statue of Edward Colvin and threw it into the River Avon while demonstrating in solidarity with Black Lives Matters protesters in the United States.

Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees previously said in a statement that the statue would be put in a museum “alongside Black Lives Matter placards from the recent protest so the 300 year story of slavery through to today’s fight for racial equality can be learnt about.”

Ongoing protests in Seattle have sparked a Twitter row between President Donald Trump, the city’s mayor, Jenny Durkan, and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, who are both Democrats.

What’s happening?

Seattle Police Assistant Chief Deanna Nollette said they have received reports that a group of protesters set up barricades and “some armed individuals running them as checkpoints” in the city’s East Precinct on Capitol Hill.

CNN affiliate KOMO reports that protesters have surrounded the area with barricades and are calling it the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone. Police left the East Precinct building in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, boarded up, but unoccupied. Officers are only responding to emergency calls. 

“While they have a constitutional right to bear arms, and while Washington is an open carry state, there is no legal right for those arms to be used to intimidate community members,” Nollette said at a news conference Wednesday. “No one at these checkpoints has the legal authority to demand identification from anyone.”

However, Nollette said “in an effort to try to collaborate and cooperate and move forward peacefully, we’re trying to get a dialogue going.”

“We’re trying to figure out a way to resolve this without unduly impacting the citizens and businesses that are operating in that area,” she said. “We don’t want the important message about justice and improving policing relations and improving racial equity to get drowned out by this small faction of what’s going on.”

Who’s organizing it?

That’s unclear right now. Nollette said police are trying to figure out a point of contact in order to establish a dialogue.

Seattle officials say they have no indication that the occupied area is being coordinated by left-wing activist groups under the umbrella of Antifa, despite online rumors to the contrary.

“City officials have not interacted with ‘armed antifa militants’ at this site, but will continue to be on site to monitor the situation closely,” Lori Patrick with the mayor’s office tells CNN.

What did Trump say?

Trump tweeted that “domestic terrorists have taken over Seattle,” claiming they are “run by Radical Left Democrats.” In another tweet, he said Mayor Durken and Gov. Inslee need to “take back” their city and that “these ugly Anarchists must be stooped (sic) IMMEDIATELY.”

How did Durken and Inslee respond?

Durken responded by telling Trump to “go back to your bunker,” a reference to when US Secret Service moved him to a secure, underground section of the White House during protests last month.

Inslee told him to “stoop tweeting”

Bubba Wallace, the only full-time African American driver in the auto racing Cup Series, responded to NASCAR’s decision to ban the Confederate flag saying, “bravo.”

Wallace was interviewed on FOX Sports 1 ahead of this evening’s race in Martinsville, Virginia.

NASCAR announced the decision in a statement earlier today saying “the display of the Confederate flag will be prohibited” from all events and properties.

Some background: Wallace told CNN’s Don Lemon he wanted NASCAR to go further than 2015, when it asked fans not to bring the Confederate flags to races –– instead prohibit it all together.

George Floyd’s death has sparked an outpouring of grief and protest worldwide. Here’s the latest on the demonstrations:

New York City Police Commissioner Dermot Shea joined CNN’s Don Lemon to discuss the protests in the city and around the nation.

When asked about the case of an office charged for shoving a woman to the ground, Shea said that “officers that do not uphold the standards that we set have to be held accountable.”

Regarding a report in The New York Times that as many as 40 more officers could be charged, Shea said he did not know how the Times got that number and believes the number of officers charged will be “very small.”

Shea on defunding the police: Shea said he believes that law enforcement is not the problem, but rather should be part of the solution. However, he warned that dismissing the concerns or fears of others – including those of black mothers who worry about their children being shot and killed by police – is a ” big mistake.”

When asked about the growing movement to defund the police, Shea said he believes people should acknowledge “the unprecedented time we’re in” with respect to how the pandemic has affected the economy.

“Everyone is going to have to tighten their belts including the New York Police Department,” he said.

Still, Shea told CNN’s Don Lemon he is committed to “taking some money out of the NYPD budget if it can be used to restore programs for kids. I think that’s crime fighting.

He continued:

“It’s by far the best use of our money and resources. I view that separately, Don, than this defund the police movement, which is a greater conversation and to be honest I don’t know that many people speak the same language here in terms of what it actually means. 
I think that law enforcement is part of the solution. I would go a little stronger than you. You said they can be. I think they are. We’re not perfect, but we are out there. Listen, this is such a complicated issue. We have to do a better job of making sure that the people we are striving to protect do not feel alienated.

WATCH:

The detective who applied for the warrant that ended in the March shooting death of Breonna Taylor has been placed on administrative reassignment, the Louisville, Kentucky, interim police chief said.

Police shot the 26-year-old EMT at least eight times after breaking down the door of her apartment in an attempted drug raid. Recent protests in the city have called for justice in her death.

The Taylor family, their attorney, the US postal inspector and others have raised questions about how and why the warrant was approved, Louisville Metro Police Interim Chief Robert Schroeder said Wednesday.

Schroeder added that the detective who applied for the warrant has been put on administrative reassignment until those questions can be answered.

“This is all part of the process of getting to the truth of what happened that night and leading up to that night,” Schroeder said.

The matter has also been referred to the FBI, he said.

Read more:

Breonna Taylor

Related article Breonna Taylor death: Detective who applied for warrant put on administrative reassignment

Over the weekend, thousands of people took part in Black Lives Matter marches across Australia. Yet these protesters weren’t just marching to voice their anger about the mistreatment of African Americans in the United States – they want to end entrenched discrimination against Australia’s Indigenous population.

The numbers back up their conviction that Australia needs to change. While the country’s Indigenous population makes up just 3.3% of its 25 million people, they account for more than a quarter of its prisoners. Indigenous Australians are also almost twice as likely to die by suicide, have a life expectancy that is almost nine years lower, and have higher infant mortality rates than non-Indigenous Australians.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg, too. A study by Australian National University released Tuesday found that 75% of Australians hold a negative view of the nation’s original inhabitants.

“This study presents stark evidence of the solid invisible barrier that Indigenous people face in society,” said report author Siddharth Shirodkar. “But the data is actually not about Indigenous Australians – it’s about the rest of us.”

Read more:

Aboriginal protesters perform a traditional smoking ceremony before the start of a Black Lives Matter demonstration to express solidarity with US protestors in Sydney on June 6, 2020.

Related article Why US protests have prompted a conversation about race in Australia

The Boston Red Sox say have apologized to former Minnesota Twins outfielder Torii Hunter, who said he was subject to racial abuse while in Boston or playing in the city’s famed Fenway Park.

Hunter, a five-time All Star and nine-time Golden Glove winner, told ESPN last week that has “been called the N-word in Boston 100 times. … From little kids, and grownups right next to them didn’t say anything.”

Hunter said he negotiated no trade-clauses in his contracts while playing professional baseball so he did not have to go to Boston.

“Torii Hunter’s experience is real,” the Red Sox statement says. “If you doubted him because you’ve never heard it yourself, take it from us, it happens. Last year there were 7 reported incidents at Fenway Park where fans used racial slurs. Those are just the ones we know about.

Hunter is not the first professional athlete to complain about racial abuse in Boston. Baltimore Orioles outfielder Adam Jones told USA Today in 2017 he was racially abused and had peanuts thrown at him while playing in Boston. Celtics guard Marcus Smart told ESPN’s The Undefeated, the network’s platform that covers the intersections of race, sports and culture, he’s been called the n-word in the city.

The Red Sox have a troubled past when it comes to race. They became the last Major League Baseball team to integrate in 1959, 12 years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

However, the team has been attempting to combat that narrative in recent years. Yawkey Way, an iconic street named after the late Red Sox owner who resisted integration, was renamed in 2017 because of Yawkey’s racist legacy.

Both Hunter and Jones posted on Twitter in support of the Red Sox’s statement published Wednesday.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said the United States past few days have been “traumatic” while addressing the demonstrations in the city over George Floyd’s death.

Garcetti said the struggle has been particularly difficult because of how the novel coronavirus pandemic has affected demonstrations.

“Powerful, peaceful, passionate protest is who we are as Americans,” Garcetti said. “No change has ever come to this country without the power of that protest, without our collective voices saying, this is our nation, we belong here, this is a part of it and we demand that this nation treat us all equally for the justice that we deserve.’”

Garcetti talked about making progress in racial injustice by having quiet conversations at dinner tables, in the workplace, or in neighborhoods.

“Racial justice is something that we all own,” he said. 

Garcetti previously announced that Los Angeles will invest $250 million in communities of color. He added that $150 million in cuts from the Los Angeles Police Department’s budget “is not enough,” as he addressed the need for advancing police reform.

The A&E television network is stopping production of “Live PD,” a show that follows police officers around the nation, amid the ongoing protests, the network said in a statement.

Here’s what A&E said:

“This is a critical time in our nation’s history and we have made the decision to cease production on Live PD. Going forward, we will determine if there is a clear pathway to tell the stories of both the community and the police officers whose role it is to serve them. And with that, we will be meeting with community and civil rights leaders as well as police departments.”

A&E’s decision comes shortly after “Cops” was canceled after a 30 year-run. A spokesperson for Paramount Network said that it has no “current or future plans for it to return.”

Houston,Texas, Mayor Sylvester Turner signed an executive order on police reform on Wednesday.

At a news briefing announcing the order, Turner said he was listening to concerns “and taking some immediate steps which we believe will create a much better system for everyone involved.”

Here are some of the things included in the order, according to Turner:

Philonese Floyd, George Floyd’s brother, joined CNN to discuss his testimony today in the US House of Representatives.

Floyd said he went to Capitol Hill because he “wanted to let them know about how the officer put his knee on my brother’s neck, and how my brother pleaded for his life.”

“I talk for a while trying to let them know that my brother, his death will not be in vein. I didn’t want him to be another guy on a t-shirt. I told them how much I loved him, how much he was a role model to people growing up around me,” he said.

When asked by CNN’s Don Lemon if his message got across, Floyd said: “I think they heard me loud and clear.”

Benjamin Crump, the Floyd family attorney who appeared beside Philonese Floyd during the interview, said he came away encouraged.

“For the first time, I believe that we have a real opportunity of getting people to come from across the aisle and change the culture and behavior of people across America,” Crump said. “We went to congress because we know if there’s a change in policing in America, it has to start at the top. And so, the lawmakers even on the other side of the aisle were literally saying that we have to do something about this. 

Crump said key issues mentioned were qualified immunity for police, chokeholds and the use of body cameras

Watch:

US Sen. Kamala Harris said she and her colleagues are calling for an “immediate review” of the use of rubber bullets by police following their use last week by authorities to dispel protesters across the country.

Rubber bullets, flash bang grenades and tear gas are among some of the “less lethal” options commonly used by police trying to disperse large crowds.

Rubber bullets have the potential to maim, blind, disfigure and even kill people.

When aimed at the legs, rubber bullets can stop a dangerous person or crowd from getting closer to a police officer, Dr. Douglas Lazzaro, a professor and expert in eye trauma at NYU Langone Health, told Kaiser Health News.

But when fired at close range rubber bullets can penetrate the skin, break bones, fracture the skull and explode the eyeball, he said.