June 21 Black Lives Matter protests

Bubba Wallace, the only Black driver in NASCAR’s top circuit, says he is “incredibly saddened” after a noose was found in his team’s garage at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama on Sunday.

But he said he won’t be deterred by the “reprehensible actions of those who seek to spread hate.”  

Wallace was instrumental in calling for the auto racing company to ban the display of the Confederate flag at its events. He raced with a Black Lives Matter paint scheme on his car during a NASCAR event last week.

Bubba Wallace, driver of the #43 World Wide Technology Chevrolet, stands on the grid prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Dixie Vodka 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on June 14, in Homestead, Florida.

A noose was found in the garage stall of black NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace on Sunday, the auto racing company announced in a statement. 

Wallace is the only full-time African American driver in NASCAR’s Cup Series. He has spoken out in support of NASCAR’s decision to ban the Confederate flag at all events.

“I was proud of the efforts by NASCAR, so hats off to them,” Wallace told CNN.

Read more here.

Police in Richmond, Virginia declared an unlawful assembly tonight after protesters attempted to pull down a statue of Confederate general J.E.B. Stuart with a rope.

The unlawful assembly was declared around 9.20 p.m., according to a tweet from Richmond police.

No arrests were made and no injuries were reported after police dispersed protesters, Virginia State Police Public Relations Manager Corinne Gellar said.

Most of the protesters have left the area and several are reconvening at a statue of Robert E. Lee, another Confederate general, in downtown Richmond, Gellar said.

In the wake of the death of George Floyd, protesters and some city leaders have started removing Confederate statues across the United States, which they say are racist symbols of America’s dark legacy of slavery. 

Over the weekend, protesters toppled a statue of Albert Pike, a senior officer of the Confederate States Army, in Washington DC. Two statues on a Confederate monument in North Carolina were also pulled down.

The video shows several officers arresting a man, with one officer appearing to put him in a chokehold. 

A New York City police officer has been suspended without pay after he was captured on video in what the police commissioner called a “disturbing apparent chokehold incident.”

The New York Police Department’s Internal Affairs Bureau launched an active use of force investigation after video of an arrest surfaced on social media.

What’s in the video: The video shows several officers arresting a man, with one officer appearing to put him in a chokehold. 

Another officer is seen tapping the back of the officer who had the man in an apparent chokehold, and that officer appears to release his hold. 

According to a law enforcement source, the incident happened at 8:45 a.m. Sunday morning on a beach boardwalk in Rockaway, Queens as police were responding to a disorderly group in the area.

What led up to the incident: Body camera footage released by the NYPD shows three men in exchanges with police, sometimes in conversation, other times name-calling and taunting.

At one point, a man who eventually was taken into custody approaches the officers and taunts them, saying: “I’ll throw sh*t in your face.”

About 10 minutes into the video, one man reaches down and pulls up a plastic bag. He then walks out of view of the camera and his friend asks him “what are you doing?”

The officers then move in to make an arrest. A scuffle ensues and several cops work to arrest the man. The body camera video shows an officer eventually remove his arm from the man’s neck.  

“He’s choking him,” bystanders can be heard saying, even as police are walking the man to their vehicle. When asked by another bystander, a cop says: “He’s not getting arrested, he’s going to the hospital.”

What happened afterward: The man, whose name has not been released, suffered a laceration and was taken to a nearby hospital, according to the police source. The man is still in custody and charges have not yet been announced or filed, the source added.

A protester carries a sign during a march in honor of Andres Guardado, on Sunday, June 21, in Compton, California.

Earlier tonight, police deployed rubber bullets and pepper spray on a group of protesters in Compton, southern Los Angeles County.

At least six people were detained.

Almost 3,000 people marched peacefully through the city today, with tensions rising toward the evening as demonstrators went face to face with police near the Compton courthouse and the sheriff’s substation.

He added that the demonstrators were marching in protest after the death of 18-year-old security guard Andres Guardado, who was shot by a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy while working at an auto body shop.

Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard released a statement Sunday in response to Republican US Rep. Doug Collins calling for state Attorney General Chris Carr to appoint an independent prosecutor in the Rayshard Brooks case.

New York Police Commissioner Dermot Shea.

New York Police Commissioner Dermot Shea will publicly testify Monday at 11 a.m. ET in an ongoing investigation by the New York Attorney General into recent interactions between the NYPD and the public, according to a press release from Attorney Gen. Letitia James’ office.

Shea’s testimony will be livestreamed. As part of the investigation, James’ office held two days of public hearings last week that heard testimony from 100 witnesses about their interactions with the NYPD during the recent protests over police misconduct.

Demonstrators mounted a protest in the middle of a key highway that leads to Capitol Hill closing it for a while Sunday afternoon. The highway is now back open.

Video posted to social media showed dozens of protesters standing on the lanes of the highway, called the Southeast/Southwest Freeway.

Most protesters were wearing masks. Some of them held signs up with the messages “This Is A Revolt Against Racism.” At least some of these protesters are aligned with a group supporting “Socialism” and “Liberation.”

As a result of this protest, several key bridges were closed from Northern Virginia into Washington, DC – the 14th Street Bridge and Memorial Bridge – as well several highways leading to downtown Washington, Interstates 395 and 695. Several roads in that area and entries into a key tunnel leading to the Capitol were closed. 

The Metropolitan DC Police Department now reports those closures are over.

Attorney Gen. Chris Carr responded to US Rep. Doug Collins’s calls for a special prosecutor to be appointed in the Rayshard Brooks case, in a series of tweets. 

“Charging an Atlanta police officer with felony murder before the completion of the GBI’s investigation was a political decision, not a legal one,” Collins said in a statement Friday, adding that Georgians need to be ensured “this case is devoid of any and all political influence.”

Carr’s tweets included Georgia code stating that the attorney general can appoint a special prosecutor if the current district attorney disqualifies themselves or is disqualified by a court.

Protesters in London on June 21, 2020.

Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets of London in a show of solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, marking the fourth consecutive weekend of anti-racism protests in the United Kingdom. 

Demonstrators marched from London’s Hyde Park down toward Parliament Square.

“One thing about the UK is that they say it’s not as racist as the US, but that doesn’t make it any better,” the same protester said. “It’s still racism that we need to battle and I feel like these past few weeks, it has proven to (many) how much racism is in the UK.”

Woodrow Wilson Hall is seen on the campus of Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey, in 2017.

Trustees at New Jersey’s Monmouth University voted this week to remove President Woodrow Wilson’s name from the campus’s Great Hall and will look instead to honor its lead designer, one of the first professional trained African American architects, according to a statement from the University.

The Great Hall serves as the campus’s main hub.

The university will instead look for ways to honor Julian Abele, the lead designer of the hall and one of the first professionally trained African American architects, the statement continued.

A bust of Woodrow Wilson is displayed in Woodrow Wilson Hall at Monmouth University in 2017.

Rep. Doug Collins, of Georgia, has called on Attorney General Chris Carr to appoint a special prosecutor in the Rayshard Brooks case, Collins said.

Some context: In a statement earlier this week Collins said: “Charging an Atlanta police officer with felony murder before the completion of the GBI’s investigation was a political decision, not a legal one. I’m calling on Attorney General Chris Carr to appoint an independent district attorney in the case of Rayshard Brooks.” 

GBI stands for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

“If a special prosecutor was warranted in the Ahmaud Arbery case, then it certainly warrants the appointment of one here,” the statement said. 

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard have been invited to attend the funeral for Rayshard Brooks, according to Tenisha Taylor, a spokesperson for Ebenezer Baptists Church.

Brooks’ viewing is scheduled for Monday and the funeral will be on Tuesday. Brooks’ family has requested that the Atlanta Police Department not be involved in the security for both the viewing and funeral, Taylor told CNN.  

Tyler Perry has offered to pay for all funeral expenses for Brooks, family attorney Chris Stewart told CNN.

Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets of London in a show of solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, marking the fourth consecutive weekend of anti-racism protests in the United Kingdom. 

The demonstration, which has so far proven to be entirely peaceful, began at London’s Hyde Park and moved through the city centre towards the Houses of Parliament, with protesters chanting “no justice, no peace” and “Black lives matter.” 

One activist and co-organizer of the UK Black Lives Matter campaign, said she is determined to keep up the momentum gained by the protest movement. 

London’s Metropolitan Police has urged members of the public not to attend the protests, calling on all those traveling into the capital to maintain social distancing. 

“We understand the importance of getting your voice heard, but we are still in the middle of a health crisis and we want people to stay safe,” Commander Alex Murray said Sunday. 

“If you feel compelled to come into London, please remain socially distant,” he added.  

While the large turnout has made social distancing difficult to maintain, many demonstrators have been seen wearing face masks.

Protests against police brutality and institutionalized racism have been held worldwide in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death. Here’s what you need to know:

More than 155 years after the end of the Civil War, America is finally having a more complete moral reckoning with the Confederacy.

The issue is the legacy of white supremacy.

Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens spelled it out in a March 1861 speech: “Our new government is founded upon … the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition.”

This is a matter of hate, not heritage.

And today we’re seeing Confederate statutes toppled across the country and Confederate flags banned from NASCAR races. Leading military figures say the time has come to rename military bases that were named after Confederate generals — even as President Donald Trump makes plain his opposition.

But as the nation confronts the ugliest aspects of its history, we need to recognize that there is a fundamental difference between statues of American presidents like Abraham Lincoln and statues of American traitors like Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

Read more here.

It was one of those moments that shows in stark relief the difference between being Black in America and being White in America.

As my partner, who’s White, was turning into the Lincoln Tunnel in midtown Manhattan, a police officer standing at the side of the road stepped into traffic while looking in the opposite direction from oncoming traffic. As he did so, he nearly walked into our car. If my partner had been going at the speed limit, he would have hit a police officer.

The officer, enraged even though he was the one walking into traffic without looking, banged on our car roof as we passed and motioned for us to pull over.

I immediately started instructing my partner in how to behave: Do not question him, do not ask what was he thinking, do not say what he was doing was stupid, do not say there was anything wrong with what he was doing, do not contradict him.

Pretend you are a Black man and don’t want to get shot. Because you are driving with me. And I am a Black man who does not want to get shot.

Read more here.

 A member of the Minnesota State Patrol stands guard during a demonstration on June 10.

Tony Williams remembers pulling into a gas station in rural Minnesota late one night after getting lost on his way back home to Minneapolis in 2018. He saw a couple of police cars parked on the lot and thought he’d ask for directions. Williams, a black man, pulled his car in near them and two white officers immediately jumped out and ran to him, both with one hand on a holstered gun and the other holding a flashlight that shined in his face.

Williams did what society conditioned him to do in such situations: he put both hands up in the air.

“I was acutely aware as a black man that my life was in danger in that moment if I didn’t have the right answers,” said Williams, an organizer with MPD150, a Minneapolis effort created by local organizers that supports the dismantling of the city’s police department and the reallocation of police funding to community-based organizations without a history of violence.

“What I needed then was not militarized folks who were worried that they’re under attack at any given moment,” Williams added.

Activists, like Williams, who are calling for the defunding and abolition of police, say the future of public safety doesn’t need to include police forces that systematically oppress black people, marginalized communities and communities of color.

Read more here.

A pedestrian walks past the Bank of England in London on June 17.

The Bank of England (BOE) issued an apology Friday regarding “some inexcusable connections” of former governors and directors to slavery.

The British central bank says it has commenced “a thorough review of its collection of images of former governors and directors to ensure none with any such involvement in the slave trade remain on display anywhere in the Bank.” 

It says it is also improving diversity and actively engaging with staff, particularly its Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic, employees to become more inclusive.

Jason Mraz is honoring Juneteenth by donating all profits from his new album to Black Lives Matter, and organizations working toward equality and justice.

The two-time Grammy winner released “Look For The Good” on Friday, the same day that African-Americans celebrate the black community’s emancipation from slavery in the United States.

“On June 19th, a historic day in the advancement of equality, I am proud to stand in solidarity with and be of service to Black Lives by donating all of my earnings from sales and streams of my new LP recording, Look For The Good,” Mraz tweeted.