Sunday, December 22

Tag: protests

Let’s call athletes ‘workers,’ and let’s call these NBA protests what they were – strikes
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SPORTS

Let’s call athletes ‘workers,’ and let’s call these NBA protests what they were – strikes

The Milwaukee Bucks’ startling refusal to take to the court for their NBA playoff game on Aug. 26 was the most consequential political development in sports over the last 50 years. In recent years, the prevailing media narrative is that athletes have routinely used their platforms to “raise awareness” or “bring attention” to a social issue. Awareness, though, has its limits. Rarely does it lead to the kind of structural changes the shooting by police of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin seems to demand. In this case, the players met the moment, marking a fundamental shift in the direction of activism generated by Black athletes. The mass player walkouts that followed the Bucks’ initial protest were no exercise in awareness, though some commentators framed it as that way. Instead, these...
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What is intolerance fatigue, and how is it fueling Black Lives Matter protests?
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VIDEO REELS

What is intolerance fatigue, and how is it fueling Black Lives Matter protests?

Protesters remain on the streets demanding equality and justice for Black Americans. What they’re feeling, I believe, is something I call “intolerance fatigue.” As a race scholar, examining the history of social justice movements, the phrase is new, but the concept isn’t. In 1962, during the civil rights movement, activist Fannie Lou Hamer sought to register to vote in her home state of Mississippi. When she was allowed to address the Democratic National Convention in 1964, Hamer told how she and her fellow activists were shot at, fined, arrested and brutally beaten in jail simply for trying “to register to become first-class citizens.” Fannie Lou Hamer’s powerful testimony at the 1964 Democratic National Convention. She spoke for millions in another speech that year, in which she declar...
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Why soldiers can’t claim conscientious objection if ordered to suppress protests
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IMPACT

Why soldiers can’t claim conscientious objection if ordered to suppress protests

President Trump’s order that National Guard should “dominate” the streets of Washington, D.C., during recent protests troubled at least a few of the men and women compelled to do the dominating. Most of the 84,000 Guard members activated in 33 states between May 29 and June 13 escorted ambulances and protected businesses from being damaged. Those in Washington, however, were instructed to use aggressive tactics to clear protesters. National Guard troops serving in the District dispersed a peaceful demonstration in Lafayette Park by buzzing the crowd with a Black Hawk helicopter and marching in lockstep with police who sprayed demonstrators with rubber bullets and tear gas. One D.C. Guard member later told reporters that, “We didn’t join the military to kill our fellow citizens.” Another...
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America’s Black female mayors face dual crises of COVID-19 and protests – but these women are used to uphill battles
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POLITICS

America’s Black female mayors face dual crises of COVID-19 and protests – but these women are used to uphill battles

Mayors are elected to govern their cities, serve and protect citizens, maintain law and order and bring about economic prosperity. Those are tall orders today, as American cities are wracked by COVID-19 and anti-racism protests. One effect of these simultaneous crises has been to thrust Black female mayors onto the national stage. That’s because, for the first time in U.S. history, Black women lead several of the United States’ largest cities, including Chicago, Atlanta and San Francisco. Black women make up just 14% of women in the United States, and their mayoral history is a short one. But it’s a history of achievement worth exploring. My upcoming book, an edited volume called “Political Black Girl Magic: The Elections and Governance of Black Female Mayors” examines the background of ...
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George Floyd protests aren’t just anti-racist – they are anti-authoritarian
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POLITICS, SOCIAL JUSTICE

George Floyd protests aren’t just anti-racist – they are anti-authoritarian

The massive protests that erupted across the United States – and beyond – after the police killing of George Floyd are billed as anti-racist mobilizations, and that they are. Demonstrators are denouncing police violence in minority communities and demanding that officers who abuse their power be held accountable. But I see something more in this wave of American protests, too. As a sociologist specializing in Latin America’s human rights movements and policing, I see a pro-democracy movement of the sort more common south of the border. The Latin Americanization of United States Normally, U.S. protests have little in common with Latin America’s. Demonstrations in the U.S. are usually characterized by pragmatic, specific goals like protecting abortion access or defending gun rights. They r...
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Black religious leaders are up front and central in US protests – as they have been for the last 200 years
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Religion

Black religious leaders are up front and central in US protests – as they have been for the last 200 years

When the Rev. Al Sharpton implored white America to “get your knee off our necks” at the memorial of George Floyd, his words were carried by news outlets across the globe. Meanwhile in the U.S., the Rev. William J. Barber II has been an ever-present voice in the protests, prompting some to place him as the successor to past civil rights greats. That people of the cloth are at the forefront of the current protests over police brutality should not be a surprise. From the earliest times of the United States’ history, religious leaders have led the struggle for liberation and racial justice for black Americans. As an ordained minister and a historian, I see it as a common thread running through the history of the United States, from black resistance in the earliest periods of slavery in the ...
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Minneapolis’ ‘long, hot summer’ of ‘67 – and the parallels to today’s protests over police brutality
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IN OTHER NEWS

Minneapolis’ ‘long, hot summer’ of ‘67 – and the parallels to today’s protests over police brutality

The scene was intense. Black residents of Minneapolis angered over an incident of police brutality fought with officers in the streets and set buildings ablaze. Many were injured; dozens were arrested. Eventually the National Guard, called in to patrol the streets, ordered black citizens back into their homes. This may sound a lot like a scene from the past week, but it’s actually a flashback to 1967, when African Americans took to the streets of north Minneapolis after a series of abuses that, like today, culminated in days of unrest. It took place in one of the “long, hot summers” of the 1960s, when black Americans in cities across the country protested and rioted over police abuse and segregation. While our history books remind us of famous riots in major cities like Los Angeles, Newa...
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IN OTHER NEWS

I Support NFL Players’ Protests. But I’m Not Boycotting the NFL

Because at this moment in time the power of Black athletes is overcoming the power of White billionaires. If you’re a progressive (if you’re anyone, really) there is a multitude of extremely justifiable reasons not to support the NFL. There’s the inherently violent nature of the game of football and the league’s refusal to properly acknowledge concerns about concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy. There’s the corrupt commissioner and the odious owners who punish smoking marijuana more strictly than domestic abuse. There’s literally everything about the team that plays in the District of Columbia. There’s the brain damage, the suicides, the homophobic bullying, the misogynistic treatment of cheerleaders, the well-established racism, the shameless commercialism,...
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Protests erupt in Chicago after black man fatally shot by police
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IN OTHER NEWS

Protests erupt in Chicago after black man fatally shot by police

Harith Augustus, known as Snoop the barber, was killed on Saturday, prompting clashes between police and protesters. Protesters in Chicago are demanding answers after the fatal shooting of a black man by police prompted violent confrontations in the Illinois city. "The whole damn system is guilty as hell," dozens chanted on Saturday just hours after police shot and killed 37-year-old Harith Augustus in the South Shore neighbourhood of Chicago. Augustus is known in the community as Snoop the barber, local media reported. The city's police patrol chief Fred Waller told reporters late on Saturday that Augustus was shot after police officers on foot tried to question him because "the bulge around his waistband" suggested he was armed. Augustus became combative and eventually broke free fro...
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IN OTHER NEWS

Protests follow decision not to file charges in Minneapolis police shooting

MINNEAPOLIS --Protesters gathered Wednesday night in north Minneapolis near the spot where a black man was shot in a confrontation with police last November.The gathering came hours after a prosecutor declined to charge two police officers in the death of 24-year-old Jamar Clark. The prosecutor said the officers were justifiably in fear for their lives as Clark tried to get hold of an officer's gun.The demonstrators marched down a major street to downtown, chanting things like, "Hands up! Don't shoot!" and, "No justice, no peace. Prosecute the police." Source: Protests follow decision not to file charges in Minneapolis police shooting - CBS News
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