Tuesday, June 16, 2020
Families Challenge Suicide in Deaths of Black Men Found Hanging From Trees
Sandra E. Garcia, The New York Times•June 15, 2020
The families of two black men who were found hanged from trees in Southern California are asking authorities to further investigate their deaths.
The family of Robert L. Fuller, 24, disputed authorities’ initial pronouncement that he died by suicide. The family of Malcolm Harsch, 38, is worried his death will also be ruled a suicide.
Harsch was found at 7 a.m. on May 31 near a homeless encampment in Victorville, California, where bystanders told authorities he was living. There were no indications of foul play but the investigation was continuing, according to a spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County Sheriff-Coroner’s Department.
The Victorville Fire Department found bystanders performing CPR on Harsch when it arrived at the scene, according to Sue Jones, the public information officer of the city of Victorville. Firefighters took over and tried to restore Harsch’s heartbeat, but they stopped after 20 minutes.
“We grieve for Malcolm’s family and extend our deepest condolences,” Jones said. “Malcolm Harsch’s life mattered.”
Harsch’s relatives were told by the coroner’s office that his autopsy was completed, said Harmonie Harsch, Malcolm Harsch’s sister, but they were not informed of the cause of death.
“We are really just trying to get more answers as to what happened,” Harmonie Harsch, 29, said in an interview Sunday. “My brother was so loving, not only to his family but even strangers. It is not like him.”
Malcolm Harsch moved to California 14 years ago from Ohio, Harmonie Harsch said.
“He loved doing tattoos, he was very artistic,” she added.
Harmonie Harsch said she was conducting her own investigation into her brother’s death.
“It has been stressful,” she said. “It doesn’t sound right.”
Around 50 miles west of Victorville, in Palmdale, California, Fuller’s family questioned authorities’ pronouncement that his death was considered a suicide.
At a rally for Fuller on Saturday, Diamond Alexander, his sister, said through tears that the initial resolution on her brother’s death “did not make sense.”
“Everything that they’ve been telling us has not been right,” she said, according to video of the rally in Palmdale. “We’ve been hearing one thing. Then we hear another. And we just want to know the truth.”
A passerby discovered Fuller’s body hanging from a tree in Poncitlán Square, across from Palmdale City Hall, at around 3:39 a.m. on Wednesday, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Though the investigation was continuing, authorities noted in their news release that “Mr. Fuller, tragically, committed suicide.” Fuller’s autopsy has not been completed, authorities said.
“My brother was not suicidal,” Alexander said. “He wasn’t.”
The men’s deaths have struck a chord with people in northern Los Angeles County and across the nation as many have protested against racism and police brutality for over two weeks, in response to the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
A petition demanding for a full investigation into Fuller’s death had over 215,000 signatures as of Sunday afternoon.
At a news conference held by officials at Palmdale City Hall on Friday, residents made it clear that they did not trust that local authorities would properly investigate Fuller’s death. They demanded an independent review and transparency.
“Why was it right here in public, in front of City Hall, next to a church, in front of a library?” one woman said. “Why was it like that? Who would do that? No black man would hang himself in public like that.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
© 2020 The New York Times Company
Families of black men found hanging from trees in California dispute suicide claims
Sandra E. Garcia, The New York Times•June 15, 2020
The families of two black men who were found hanged from trees in Southern California are asking authorities to further investigate their deaths.
The family of Robert L. Fuller, 24, disputed authorities’ initial pronouncement that he died by suicide. The family of Malcolm Harsch, 38, is worried his death will also be ruled a suicide.
Harsch was found at 7 a.m. on May 31 near a homeless encampment in Victorville, California, where bystanders told authorities he was living. There were no indications of foul play but the investigation was continuing, according to a spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County Sheriff-Coroner’s Department.
The Victorville Fire Department found bystanders performing CPR on Harsch when it arrived at the scene, according to Sue Jones, the public information officer of the city of Victorville. Firefighters took over and tried to restore Harsch’s heartbeat, but they stopped after 20 minutes.
“We grieve for Malcolm’s family and extend our deepest condolences,” Jones said. “Malcolm Harsch’s life mattered.”
Harsch’s relatives were told by the coroner’s office that his autopsy was completed, said Harmonie Harsch, Malcolm Harsch’s sister, but they were not informed of the cause of death.
“We are really just trying to get more answers as to what happened,” Harmonie Harsch, 29, said in an interview Sunday. “My brother was so loving, not only to his family but even strangers. It is not like him.”
Malcolm Harsch moved to California 14 years ago from Ohio, Harmonie Harsch said.
“He loved doing tattoos, he was very artistic,” she added.
Harmonie Harsch said she was conducting her own investigation into her brother’s death.
“It has been stressful,” she said. “It doesn’t sound right.”
Around 50 miles west of Victorville, in Palmdale, California, Fuller’s family questioned authorities’ pronouncement that his death was considered a suicide.
At a rally for Fuller on Saturday, Diamond Alexander, his sister, said through tears that the initial resolution on her brother’s death “did not make sense.”
“Everything that they’ve been telling us has not been right,” she said, according to video of the rally in Palmdale. “We’ve been hearing one thing. Then we hear another. And we just want to know the truth.”
A passerby discovered Fuller’s body hanging from a tree in Poncitlán Square, across from Palmdale City Hall, at around 3:39 a.m. on Wednesday, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Though the investigation was continuing, authorities noted in their news release that “Mr. Fuller, tragically, committed suicide.” Fuller’s autopsy has not been completed, authorities said.
“My brother was not suicidal,” Alexander said. “He wasn’t.”
The men’s deaths have struck a chord with people in northern Los Angeles County and across the nation as many have protested against racism and police brutality for over two weeks, in response to the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
A petition demanding for a full investigation into Fuller’s death had over 215,000 signatures as of Sunday afternoon.
At a news conference held by officials at Palmdale City Hall on Friday, residents made it clear that they did not trust that local authorities would properly investigate Fuller’s death. They demanded an independent review and transparency.
“Why was it right here in public, in front of City Hall, next to a church, in front of a library?” one woman said. “Why was it like that? Who would do that? No black man would hang himself in public like that.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
© 2020 The New York Times Company
Tulsa, site of next Trump rally, has a place in the memory of black Americans — a terrible one
Ellis Cose, Yahoo News•June 16, 2020
Black community leaders slam Trump's Juneteenth Tulsa campaign rally
Trump campaign officials knew, according to the Associated Press, that planning a rally in Tulsa, Okla., on Juneteenth, a celebration of African-American emancipation, was offensive. They just didn’t know how offensive. They didn’t realize that some people would put it nearly on par with scheduling a Nazi rally at the gates of Auschwitz on the eve of Rosh Hashanah.
Why is Tulsa’s history so allegorically powerful? Because it showed the debased lengths to which white Americans, well into the 20th century, would go to destroy black lives and crush the hopes of black people for a better life, literally into dust.
According to Trump, his black friends (and I will take him at his word that he has some) convinced him that this Juneteenth, as America endures a huge racial reckoning, might not be the best time for his rabid supporters — some of whom, based on past experience, would come carrying Confederate flags — to descend on Tulsa.
Instead they will gather there the following day, June 20. But for black Americans, the location will still evoke memories of an epic episode of mob violence and racial cleansing.
Ellis Cose, Yahoo News•June 16, 2020
Black community leaders slam Trump's Juneteenth Tulsa campaign rally
Trump campaign officials knew, according to the Associated Press, that planning a rally in Tulsa, Okla., on Juneteenth, a celebration of African-American emancipation, was offensive. They just didn’t know how offensive. They didn’t realize that some people would put it nearly on par with scheduling a Nazi rally at the gates of Auschwitz on the eve of Rosh Hashanah.
Why is Tulsa’s history so allegorically powerful? Because it showed the debased lengths to which white Americans, well into the 20th century, would go to destroy black lives and crush the hopes of black people for a better life, literally into dust.
According to Trump, his black friends (and I will take him at his word that he has some) convinced him that this Juneteenth, as America endures a huge racial reckoning, might not be the best time for his rabid supporters — some of whom, based on past experience, would come carrying Confederate flags — to descend on Tulsa.
Instead they will gather there the following day, June 20. But for black Americans, the location will still evoke memories of an epic episode of mob violence and racial cleansing.
Smoke coming from damaged properties following the Tulsa Race Massacre in June 1921. (Oklahoma Historical Society/Getty Images)
The nightmare began on the evening of May 31, 1921, after rumors raced through Tulsa that a black shoeshine boy had assaulted a 17-year-old white elevator girl. “Nab Negro for Attacking Girl In an Elevator” read a Tulsa Tribune headline.
Talk of lynching quickly took root. A mob gathered around the county courthouse where the black teen, Dick Rowland, was being held. The mob screamed for Rowland to be brought out. A small group of black war veterans armed themselves and went to the courthouse, hoping to protect him.
Angry words were exchanged, shots were fired and people lay dead in the street. The mob became an avenging army intent on destroying the Greenwood District, the most prosperous black community in America. The mob was joined by National Guardsmen and police. There were (unverified) reports of police-commandeered planes dropping nitroglycerin bombs as Tulsa’s whites contained what they described as a “negro uprising.”
When the mob was done, a 35-block area had been destroyed and some 10,000 blacks were homeless. The Red Cross, which conducted a major relief operation in the aftermath, estimated the death toll at perhaps 300.
The nightmare began on the evening of May 31, 1921, after rumors raced through Tulsa that a black shoeshine boy had assaulted a 17-year-old white elevator girl. “Nab Negro for Attacking Girl In an Elevator” read a Tulsa Tribune headline.
Talk of lynching quickly took root. A mob gathered around the county courthouse where the black teen, Dick Rowland, was being held. The mob screamed for Rowland to be brought out. A small group of black war veterans armed themselves and went to the courthouse, hoping to protect him.
Angry words were exchanged, shots were fired and people lay dead in the street. The mob became an avenging army intent on destroying the Greenwood District, the most prosperous black community in America. The mob was joined by National Guardsmen and police. There were (unverified) reports of police-commandeered planes dropping nitroglycerin bombs as Tulsa’s whites contained what they described as a “negro uprising.”
When the mob was done, a 35-block area had been destroyed and some 10,000 blacks were homeless. The Red Cross, which conducted a major relief operation in the aftermath, estimated the death toll at perhaps 300.
The aftermath of the Tulsa Race Massacre, during which mobs of white residents attacked black residents and businesses of the Greenwood District. (Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)
Newspapers of the time attributed the outbreak to the usual suspects. “Negro Reds Started Riots,” shouted the Los Angeles Times. The San Francisco Chronicle blamed “Bolshevik Propaganda.” In a generally sympathetic commentary, the Philadelphia Inquirer pointed out that blacks “fought for their country, just as the whites did. ... But it should not be forgotten that the strain of savagery in the race is not yet eliminated.”
The black-owned Philadelphia Tribune had a different view: “Once again has the attention of the world ... been called to the inhuman and brutal side of the American white man in his dealing with the colored people of this country.”
Tulsa’s was not an isolated incident. In the aftermath of the war to “save democracy,” white Americans set out to eradicate black hopes of equality. In 1919, violent riots had broken out in numerous cities, including Chicago, Washington, D.C, and Omaha. The worst was in the small town of Elaine, Ark.
The Arkansas Democrat blamed black radicals. In truth, those radicals were simple sharecroppers eager to unionize and get a better price for their cotton. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas describes the anarchy there as “by far the deadliest racial confrontation in Arkansas history and possibly the bloodiest racial conflict in the history of the United States.” It says something sad and profound that in neither Tulsa nor Elaine do we even know precisely how many were killed — just that there were a lot.
Whites inevitably blamed the violent outbreaks on blacks. The Chicago Tribune slammed the black press for spreading “propaganda” about racial equality. Such nonsense, concluded the Tribune, “is most generally ascribed to two causes: The presence of negro soldiers in France, where French women of the lower classes accepted them as equals, and the presence of an increasing number of agitators among negroes.”
Newspapers of the time attributed the outbreak to the usual suspects. “Negro Reds Started Riots,” shouted the Los Angeles Times. The San Francisco Chronicle blamed “Bolshevik Propaganda.” In a generally sympathetic commentary, the Philadelphia Inquirer pointed out that blacks “fought for their country, just as the whites did. ... But it should not be forgotten that the strain of savagery in the race is not yet eliminated.”
The black-owned Philadelphia Tribune had a different view: “Once again has the attention of the world ... been called to the inhuman and brutal side of the American white man in his dealing with the colored people of this country.”
Tulsa’s was not an isolated incident. In the aftermath of the war to “save democracy,” white Americans set out to eradicate black hopes of equality. In 1919, violent riots had broken out in numerous cities, including Chicago, Washington, D.C, and Omaha. The worst was in the small town of Elaine, Ark.
The Arkansas Democrat blamed black radicals. In truth, those radicals were simple sharecroppers eager to unionize and get a better price for their cotton. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas describes the anarchy there as “by far the deadliest racial confrontation in Arkansas history and possibly the bloodiest racial conflict in the history of the United States.” It says something sad and profound that in neither Tulsa nor Elaine do we even know precisely how many were killed — just that there were a lot.
Whites inevitably blamed the violent outbreaks on blacks. The Chicago Tribune slammed the black press for spreading “propaganda” about racial equality. Such nonsense, concluded the Tribune, “is most generally ascribed to two causes: The presence of negro soldiers in France, where French women of the lower classes accepted them as equals, and the presence of an increasing number of agitators among negroes.”
National Guard troops, carrying rifles with bayonets attached, escort unarmed African-American men to a detention center after the Tulsa Race Massacre. (Oklahoma Historical Society/Getty Images)
A century later, at long last, we seem prepared to remember those long-redacted chapters of history free of the denial, excuses and victim blaming of the past. Encouragingly, substantial numbers of whites are listening to black peers. Several years ago I wrote “The Rage of a Privileged Class,” a book explaining the intense frustration experienced by America’s rising black middle class. I advised black readers about the danger of pointing out racism at work. In all likelihood, I warned, such behavior would be met with a white wall of denial that might destroy their careers.
In the wake of the police killings of George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks, and of countless videos documenting racial bias, whites are finally accepting the fact that blacks have not been lying all these years. Finally, we are seriously debating whether the price of social order is the loss of so many black lives.
But there is an even deeper question. Why have we embraced an approach to policing that results in the deaths of so many civilians, white as well as black? European police typically kill a fraction of the number of people per capita that American cops do. World Population Review calculated that American cops kill at a rate of 28.4 per 10 million people annually, compared with a rate of 3.8 in France, 1.3 in Germany and 0.5 in the United Kingdom. In Norway, Denmark and Iceland, the number of people killed by police in a typical year is zero. In Iceland, cops don’t even carry guns.
Last year in Norway, after an eight-hour standoff, police shot a man wielding a machete and a chain saw. His was the first police fatality of the year. Norway Today noted that police had fatally shot only five people in 15 years. In all such cases, the person was armed.
When I asked a Norwegian journalist about the difference in American and Norwegian statistics, she replied, “Police violence has never been an issue here. Actually, we mostly regard the U.S. handling of so many things as both extremely uncivilized and immature.”
There is a rich irony in our current reality, which finds us governed by the most dishonest, least grown-up president in history as we finally face some difficult truths — and perhaps take some tenuous steps toward maturity.
****
Ellis Cose is the author of “Democracy, If We Can Keep It: The ACLU’s 100-Year Fight for Rights in America” (from which parts of this article are drawn) and “The Short Life and Curious Death of Free Speech in America,” both due out this year. https://elliscose.com/ Twitter: @EllisCose.
Tulsa Race Massacre / The Tulsa World Library
See all of the coverage of the race massacre in this special report.
A century later, at long last, we seem prepared to remember those long-redacted chapters of history free of the denial, excuses and victim blaming of the past. Encouragingly, substantial numbers of whites are listening to black peers. Several years ago I wrote “The Rage of a Privileged Class,” a book explaining the intense frustration experienced by America’s rising black middle class. I advised black readers about the danger of pointing out racism at work. In all likelihood, I warned, such behavior would be met with a white wall of denial that might destroy their careers.
In the wake of the police killings of George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks, and of countless videos documenting racial bias, whites are finally accepting the fact that blacks have not been lying all these years. Finally, we are seriously debating whether the price of social order is the loss of so many black lives.
But there is an even deeper question. Why have we embraced an approach to policing that results in the deaths of so many civilians, white as well as black? European police typically kill a fraction of the number of people per capita that American cops do. World Population Review calculated that American cops kill at a rate of 28.4 per 10 million people annually, compared with a rate of 3.8 in France, 1.3 in Germany and 0.5 in the United Kingdom. In Norway, Denmark and Iceland, the number of people killed by police in a typical year is zero. In Iceland, cops don’t even carry guns.
Last year in Norway, after an eight-hour standoff, police shot a man wielding a machete and a chain saw. His was the first police fatality of the year. Norway Today noted that police had fatally shot only five people in 15 years. In all such cases, the person was armed.
When I asked a Norwegian journalist about the difference in American and Norwegian statistics, she replied, “Police violence has never been an issue here. Actually, we mostly regard the U.S. handling of so many things as both extremely uncivilized and immature.”
There is a rich irony in our current reality, which finds us governed by the most dishonest, least grown-up president in history as we finally face some difficult truths — and perhaps take some tenuous steps toward maturity.
****
Ellis Cose is the author of “Democracy, If We Can Keep It: The ACLU’s 100-Year Fight for Rights in America” (from which parts of this article are drawn) and “The Short Life and Curious Death of Free Speech in America,” both due out this year. https://elliscose.com/ Twitter: @EllisCose.
Tulsa Race Massacre / The Tulsa World Library
See all of the coverage of the race massacre in this special report.
Tulsa World editorial: This is the wrong time and Tulsa is the wrong place for the Trump rally
Donald Trump addresses a crowd during his rally at the Mabee Center in Tulsa on Jan. 20, 2016.
IAN MAULE/Tulsa World
President Donald Trump is coming to town this week for a campaign rally.
It will be his first since such events were suspended earlier this year because of the COVID-19 shutdown.
We don’t know why he chose Tulsa, but we can’t see any way that his visit will be good for the city.
Tulsa is still dealing with the challenges created by a pandemic. The city and state have authorized reopening, but that doesn’t make a mass indoor gathering of people pressed closely together and cheering a good idea. There is no treatment for COVID-19 and no vaccine. It will be our health care system that will have to deal with whatever effects follow.
The public health concern would apply whether it were Donald Trump, Joe Biden or anyone else who was planning a mass rally at the BOK.
This is the wrong time.
Tulsa and the nation remain on edge after the May 25 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Trump, a divisive figure, will attract protests, the vast majority of which we expect to be peaceful. But there may also be confrontation and inappropriate behavior from some. His 2016 Tulsa rally provoked a heated response for some, and his ability to provoke opponents has only grown since then.
Again, Tulsa will be largely alone in dealing with what happens at a time when the city’s budget resources have already been stretched thin.
There’s no reason to think a Trump appearance in Tulsa will have any effect on November’s election outcome in Tulsa or Oklahoma. It has already concentrated the world’s attention of the fact that Trump will be rallying in a city that 99 years ago was the site of a bloody race massacre.
This is the wrong place for the rally.
When the president of the United States visits your city, it should be exciting. We think a Trump visit will be, but for a lot of the wrong reasons, and we can’t welcome it.
Larry Kudlow Vows End To $600 Unemployment Aid As 'Disincentive' To Work
THE REAL DISINCENTIVE TO WORK IS THE FAILURE OF EMPLOYERS TO PAY A LIVING WAGE
Mary Papenfuss, HuffPost•June 14, 2020
President Donald Trump’s economic adviser Larry Kudlow on Sunday vowed an end to an extra $600 a week in unemployment payments for the jobless, calling it a “disincentive to work” — assuming there is work.
Kudlow’s dismissive attitude about the payments amid massive unemployment amid the COVID-19 pandemic was a dramatic contrast to his defense of the Payment Protection Plan for businesses, which can use the forgivable public loans to pay exorbitant executive salaries.
He insisted to Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the extra unemployment aid “might have worked for the first couple of months,” but “it’ll end in late July.”
Kudlow insisted that “almost all businesses ... understand” that the $600 additional benefit is “a disincentive” to work. “I mean we’re paying people” without jobs “not to work,” he added. “It’s better than their salaries would get.”
He said the Trump administration is considering a “reform measure” that might provide an incentive to return to work — but that it won’t be as much.
The extra aid is in addition to regular unemployment payments that can be as low as an average of $250 a week in some states.
Kudlow’s comment assumes there will be jobs for everyone now collecting on unemployment, even though many experts predict jobless numbers will remain in the double digits at least until year’s end.
Tapper said he has a “tough time really believing that people don’t want to go back to work.” He also pointed out that some workers’ jobs aren’t coming back, which Kudlow called a “fair” point.
“I personally agree with you; I think people want to go back to work,” Kudlow added, undercutting his own claim.
The mediocre aid to the average worker came up as Kudlow staunchly defended the Trump administration’s refusal to reveal the recipients of some $500 billion in PPP aid to business owners — even though Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin promised the massive taxpayer aid would be “transparent.”
PPP loans become grants if the money is spent on particular costs, such as rent, utilities and payroll — including salaries up to $100,000. Only 9% of Americans earn $100,000 a year or more, leaving the 91% of taxpayers who earn less to subsidize the top rate covered by public PPP funds.
Tens of millions of PPP dollars are going to prop up wages in wealthy publicly traded corporations and companies owned by wealthy Trump donors.
The Heroes Act passed by the House would extend the $600 additional weekly unemployment benefit for workers through the end of January 2021. No similar legislation has been passed by the Senate.
THE REAL DISINCENTIVE TO WORK IS THE FAILURE OF EMPLOYERS TO PAY A LIVING WAGE
President Donald Trump’s economic adviser Larry Kudlow on Sunday vowed an end to an extra $600 a week in unemployment payments for the jobless, calling it a “disincentive to work” — assuming there is work.
Kudlow’s dismissive attitude about the payments amid massive unemployment amid the COVID-19 pandemic was a dramatic contrast to his defense of the Payment Protection Plan for businesses, which can use the forgivable public loans to pay exorbitant executive salaries.
He insisted to Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the extra unemployment aid “might have worked for the first couple of months,” but “it’ll end in late July.”
Kudlow insisted that “almost all businesses ... understand” that the $600 additional benefit is “a disincentive” to work. “I mean we’re paying people” without jobs “not to work,” he added. “It’s better than their salaries would get.”
He said the Trump administration is considering a “reform measure” that might provide an incentive to return to work — but that it won’t be as much.
The extra aid is in addition to regular unemployment payments that can be as low as an average of $250 a week in some states.
Kudlow’s comment assumes there will be jobs for everyone now collecting on unemployment, even though many experts predict jobless numbers will remain in the double digits at least until year’s end.
Tapper said he has a “tough time really believing that people don’t want to go back to work.” He also pointed out that some workers’ jobs aren’t coming back, which Kudlow called a “fair” point.
“I personally agree with you; I think people want to go back to work,” Kudlow added, undercutting his own claim.
The mediocre aid to the average worker came up as Kudlow staunchly defended the Trump administration’s refusal to reveal the recipients of some $500 billion in PPP aid to business owners — even though Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin promised the massive taxpayer aid would be “transparent.”
PPP loans become grants if the money is spent on particular costs, such as rent, utilities and payroll — including salaries up to $100,000. Only 9% of Americans earn $100,000 a year or more, leaving the 91% of taxpayers who earn less to subsidize the top rate covered by public PPP funds.
Tens of millions of PPP dollars are going to prop up wages in wealthy publicly traded corporations and companies owned by wealthy Trump donors.
The Heroes Act passed by the House would extend the $600 additional weekly unemployment benefit for workers through the end of January 2021. No similar legislation has been passed by the Senate.
Monday, June 15, 2020
No justice, no peace: Why SOME*** Catholic priests are kneeling with George Floyd protesters
Anna L. Peterson, Professor of Religion, University of Florida,
The Conversation•June 15, 2020
Fr. Joseph Rahal of Washington, D.C. honors George Floyd on Friday, June 5, 2020. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Liberation at any cost BUT NOT LIBERATION THEOLOGY
Pope Paul’s rhetoric echoed a core principle of liberation theology, a Catholic movement that was emerging from Latin America around the same time.
Liberation theologians see violence not as an individual flaw but as a feature of unjust social or political structures. This “institutionalized violence,” as the Peruvian theologian Gustavo Gutiérrez termed it, is the root cause of all violence – including government repression and popular uprisings against that repression.
The best way to avoid violence, as the Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador wrote in 1979, is “to guarantee a truly democratic state, one that defends the fundamental rights of all its citizens, based on a just economic order.”
Under Romero’s leadership, large sectors of the Salvadoran Catholic Church backed the popular uprising against the country’s oppressive military regime in what became the Salvadoran Civil War. Catholic leaders and laypeople also supported opposition movements in Nicaragua, Brazil, Chile and other Latin American countries.
Romero, who was assassinated in 1980, became a Catholic saint in 2018.
Not ‘both sides’
Liberation theologians believe that those seeking change should employ peaceful methods whenever possible. But when nonviolent protests and legislative channels prove fruitless or are met with violence, new tactics might be necessary.
“The church cannot state, in a simplistic fashion, that it condemns every kind of violence,” Romero wrote.
Romero criticized Salvadoran “moderates” who saw violence on both sides of the country’s civil war as equally wrong, implying a moral equality between those who uphold injustices and those who challenge them. The church, he insisted, must side with the victims of institutionalized violence.
This principle, known as the “preferential option for the poor,” guided Bishop Seitz’s decision to protest in El Paso.
“When religion becomes stagnant, we can forget that the Word always comes to us crucified and powerless,” Seitz told the National Catholic Reporter on June 4 to explain his silent protest. In Christian tradition, “the Word” refers to Jesus, the word of God incarnate.
Seitz then cited the prominent midcentury theologian James Cone, who said U.S. Christians must fight for racial justice because, “In America, the Word comes tortured, black and lynched.”
This isn’t the first time Seitz has sided with society’s most marginalized. In March 2019, he apologized to migrants for their treatment at the U.S.-Texas border.
“To say…that black lives matter is just another way of repeating something we in the United States seem to so often forget,” Seitz continued: “That God has a special love for the forgotten and oppressed.”
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This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.
Anna L. Peterson, Professor of Religion, University of Florida,
The Conversation•June 15, 2020
Bishop Mark Seitz and priests from his diocese knelt for 8 minutes and 46 seconds to honor George Floyd, El Paso, June 1, 2020. Courtesy of Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters, CC BY-ND
Two days after the Catholic bishop of El Paso, Mark Seitz, knelt with a dozen other priests in a silent prayer for George Floyd holding a “Black Lives Matter” sign, he received a phone call from Pope Francis.
In an earlier era Seitz, the first known Catholic bishop to join the anti-racism protests spurred by Floyd’s killing, might have expected censure from the Vatican, which is often associated with social conservatism.
Instead, Steitz told the Texas news site El Paso Matters, the pope “thanked me.”
Days earlier Pope Francis had posted a message to Americans on the Vatican’s website saying he “witnessed with great concern the disturbing social unrest” in the United States and calling Floyd’s death “tragic.”
“My friends,” he wrote, “we cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of every human life.”
Francis is seen as a progressive pope, but these are not isolated examples of his personal values. As a scholar of religion and politics, I recognize that both Steitz’s actions and the pope’s approval reflect a distinctive commitment to social justice that has entered the Catholic mainstream over the past 50 years.
Two days after the Catholic bishop of El Paso, Mark Seitz, knelt with a dozen other priests in a silent prayer for George Floyd holding a “Black Lives Matter” sign, he received a phone call from Pope Francis.
In an earlier era Seitz, the first known Catholic bishop to join the anti-racism protests spurred by Floyd’s killing, might have expected censure from the Vatican, which is often associated with social conservatism.
Instead, Steitz told the Texas news site El Paso Matters, the pope “thanked me.”
Days earlier Pope Francis had posted a message to Americans on the Vatican’s website saying he “witnessed with great concern the disturbing social unrest” in the United States and calling Floyd’s death “tragic.”
“My friends,” he wrote, “we cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of every human life.”
Francis is seen as a progressive pope, but these are not isolated examples of his personal values. As a scholar of religion and politics, I recognize that both Steitz’s actions and the pope’s approval reflect a distinctive commitment to social justice that has entered the Catholic mainstream over the past 50 years.
Changing social role
This commitment has transformed a millennia-old Catholic tradition of valuing peace over justice.
Writing in the chaos surrounding the fall of the Roman Empire, the prominent fifth-century theologian St. Augustine asserted that peace was the greatest good humans can attain on Earth. While both peace and justice are valuable, Augustine believed, peace – meaning civil order – takes priority. He thought justice could not be sustained amid violence.
Many bishops, priests and theologians since Augustine have used similar arguments to criticize social changes and legitimize the status quo, insisting that the faithful should bear worldly injustices and seek their reward in heaven. This moral theology provided justification for the church to ally with economic, political and military elites, from medieval kings to Latin American dictators.
That began to change with the Second Vatican Council of 1962 to 1965, which brought together bishops from around the world to reevaluate the church’s role in modern society. The council’s final document sided firmly with social justice.
Inverting Augustine’s thinking, Catholic bishops asserted that peace cannot “be reduced to the maintenance of a balance of power between enemies.” The only way to achieve lasting peace, they asserted, was to address the sources of unrest.
As Pope Paul VI stated in 1972: “If you want peace, work for justice.”
This commitment has transformed a millennia-old Catholic tradition of valuing peace over justice.
Writing in the chaos surrounding the fall of the Roman Empire, the prominent fifth-century theologian St. Augustine asserted that peace was the greatest good humans can attain on Earth. While both peace and justice are valuable, Augustine believed, peace – meaning civil order – takes priority. He thought justice could not be sustained amid violence.
Many bishops, priests and theologians since Augustine have used similar arguments to criticize social changes and legitimize the status quo, insisting that the faithful should bear worldly injustices and seek their reward in heaven. This moral theology provided justification for the church to ally with economic, political and military elites, from medieval kings to Latin American dictators.
That began to change with the Second Vatican Council of 1962 to 1965, which brought together bishops from around the world to reevaluate the church’s role in modern society. The council’s final document sided firmly with social justice.
Inverting Augustine’s thinking, Catholic bishops asserted that peace cannot “be reduced to the maintenance of a balance of power between enemies.” The only way to achieve lasting peace, they asserted, was to address the sources of unrest.
As Pope Paul VI stated in 1972: “If you want peace, work for justice.”
Fr. Joseph Rahal of Washington, D.C. honors George Floyd on Friday, June 5, 2020. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty ImagesLiberation at any cost BUT NOT LIBERATION THEOLOGY
Pope Paul’s rhetoric echoed a core principle of liberation theology, a Catholic movement that was emerging from Latin America around the same time.
Liberation theologians see violence not as an individual flaw but as a feature of unjust social or political structures. This “institutionalized violence,” as the Peruvian theologian Gustavo Gutiérrez termed it, is the root cause of all violence – including government repression and popular uprisings against that repression.
The best way to avoid violence, as the Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador wrote in 1979, is “to guarantee a truly democratic state, one that defends the fundamental rights of all its citizens, based on a just economic order.”
Under Romero’s leadership, large sectors of the Salvadoran Catholic Church backed the popular uprising against the country’s oppressive military regime in what became the Salvadoran Civil War. Catholic leaders and laypeople also supported opposition movements in Nicaragua, Brazil, Chile and other Latin American countries.
Romero, who was assassinated in 1980, became a Catholic saint in 2018.
Not ‘both sides’
Liberation theologians believe that those seeking change should employ peaceful methods whenever possible. But when nonviolent protests and legislative channels prove fruitless or are met with violence, new tactics might be necessary.
“The church cannot state, in a simplistic fashion, that it condemns every kind of violence,” Romero wrote.
Romero criticized Salvadoran “moderates” who saw violence on both sides of the country’s civil war as equally wrong, implying a moral equality between those who uphold injustices and those who challenge them. The church, he insisted, must side with the victims of institutionalized violence.
This principle, known as the “preferential option for the poor,” guided Bishop Seitz’s decision to protest in El Paso.
“When religion becomes stagnant, we can forget that the Word always comes to us crucified and powerless,” Seitz told the National Catholic Reporter on June 4 to explain his silent protest. In Christian tradition, “the Word” refers to Jesus, the word of God incarnate.
Seitz then cited the prominent midcentury theologian James Cone, who said U.S. Christians must fight for racial justice because, “In America, the Word comes tortured, black and lynched.”
This isn’t the first time Seitz has sided with society’s most marginalized. In March 2019, he apologized to migrants for their treatment at the U.S.-Texas border.
“To say…that black lives matter is just another way of repeating something we in the United States seem to so often forget,” Seitz continued: “That God has a special love for the forgotten and oppressed.”
[Deep knowledge, daily. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter.]
This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.
*** THIS DOES NOT INCLUDE AMERICAN CARDINALS OR ARCHBISHOPS WHOSE REIGN IS IN THE MATERIAL WORLD RUNNING VATICAN CORPORATE AND BANKING INTERESTS.
Reconsider reparations. We need them morally and economically, and we can afford them.
Ross K. Baker, Opinion columnist,
USA TODAY Opinion•June 14, 2020
I attended recently a rally in my town that should have left me filled with hope. I heard a policeman telling a neighbor that he estimated the crowd to be more than a thousand people — that’s about 10% of the town’s population.
Even more inspiring was the abundance of young people in the throng. But their signs and placards bore slogans that I’ve seen for years in demonstrations, and the chants and slogans sounded all too familiar: “Black Lives Matter,” “No Justice, No Peace,” “I Can’t Breathe.” And as I thought about this outpouring of grief for the death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police, what first came to mind is how little lasting influence demonstrations such as this one have had beyond letting people vent some steam and make others feel virtuous. What remains of them is a lot of debris to clean up but no serious changes in public policy.
I’m not an inveterate demonstration attendee, but having taught at a university for 50 years, I’ve seen my share of them. Yet I have come to question whether anyone out there is listening. The Vietnam War ended when Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger wanted it to end, not because of public indignation over the uprisings after the Kent State or Orangeburg massacres.
Black Americans need real progress
The results of the demonstrations following the deaths of black Americans at the hands of police, for all of their grief and passion, have left this 13% of America pretty much where it has always been: poor, sick, living in substandard housing and viewed by many whites as either pitiable or ominous. So much of what has afflicted this community can be ascribed to one burden that they bear disproportionately: poverty, and without the wherewithal to advance economically.
Across generations, for example, African Americans have been paying rent to landlords to keep a roof over their heads. Only about 40% of black Americans own their homes compared to about 70% of whites. The simple inability to purchase a house and benefit from its appreciation in value has deprived so many of them access to a tangible asset.
In Over-the-Rhine, Ohio, on June 7, 2020.
Homeownership gives all people a stake in their community and a proprietary interest in its safety and prosperity. And it doesn’t have to be a three-bedroom home on a quarter-acre lot, it could be a person’s very own space in a high-rise with the wherewithal to trade up to something bigger and better.
Solutions are obvious: Pandemic and police killings reveal brutal status quo. We can fix this. Why won't we?
For those who have been critical of the rioting and looting in the aftermath of the deaths of African Americans, it is useful to note that people who demonstrate in the aftermath of these killings may get angry but if they have a stake in the system are less inclined to vandalism and arson. Having a job is another stake, and in 2018, black unemployment was almost double that of whites and creates a pool of people with nothing to lose. While the only systematic study of why people loot is 50 years old, as University of Michigan political scientist Christian Davenport told The Atlantic, “The best way to prevent looting is to provide people with a living wage, provide for their basic needs, treat them with human dignity, and facilitate a life that is about thriving.”
Reparations don't seem extravagant
I once thought that reparations were a terrible idea, as likely to generate resentment among whites as to be welcomed by Black people. Money alone can never be sufficient atonement for slavery; it is a crime for which no living person can be made whole. But the possibility of a single endowment for tens of millions of people no longer seems extravagant at a time when the federal government is shoveling trillions of dollars out the door to sustain a crippled economy.
A targeted investment in a group of our fellow citizens who are descendants of those who endured a monumental injustice can certainly be justified. And it would be a shot in arm to the economy by boosting the purchasing power of tens of millions of Black Americans.
America's overdue reckoning with white supremacy: 'We have allowed evil to flourish'
The recipients should be those who can trace their roots to an enslaved ancestor. That should not be difficult to establish given the explosion of genealogical services, such as Ancestry.com. Skin color alone should not qualify. The compensation would not go to recent immigrants from Somalia or anyone whose ancestors emigrated from Africa of their own free will, although it would include the offspring of such people who married the descendants of the formerly enslaved.
There is an obvious precedent for reparations to black Americans in the legislation that compensated Japanese Americans for their internment during World War II. The principles are identical. The only difference would be the scope of the indemnification; $1.6 billion was paid in reparations to over 82,000 Japanese Americans.
Bills to study how a reparations program might work are pending in the Senate and House, and gathering Democratic co-sponsors. Perhaps the indignation unleashed by the killing of George Floyd will prompt more members from the other side of the aisle to support efforts to right a historic wrong.
Ross K. Baker is a distinguished professor of political science at Rutgers University and a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors. Follow him on Twitter: @Rosbake1.
You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @usatodayopinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter. To respond to a column, submit a comment to letters@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Reparations would help right a historic wrong and we can afford them
Homeownership gives all people a stake in their community and a proprietary interest in its safety and prosperity. And it doesn’t have to be a three-bedroom home on a quarter-acre lot, it could be a person’s very own space in a high-rise with the wherewithal to trade up to something bigger and better.
Solutions are obvious: Pandemic and police killings reveal brutal status quo. We can fix this. Why won't we?
For those who have been critical of the rioting and looting in the aftermath of the deaths of African Americans, it is useful to note that people who demonstrate in the aftermath of these killings may get angry but if they have a stake in the system are less inclined to vandalism and arson. Having a job is another stake, and in 2018, black unemployment was almost double that of whites and creates a pool of people with nothing to lose. While the only systematic study of why people loot is 50 years old, as University of Michigan political scientist Christian Davenport told The Atlantic, “The best way to prevent looting is to provide people with a living wage, provide for their basic needs, treat them with human dignity, and facilitate a life that is about thriving.”
Reparations don't seem extravagant
I once thought that reparations were a terrible idea, as likely to generate resentment among whites as to be welcomed by Black people. Money alone can never be sufficient atonement for slavery; it is a crime for which no living person can be made whole. But the possibility of a single endowment for tens of millions of people no longer seems extravagant at a time when the federal government is shoveling trillions of dollars out the door to sustain a crippled economy.
A targeted investment in a group of our fellow citizens who are descendants of those who endured a monumental injustice can certainly be justified. And it would be a shot in arm to the economy by boosting the purchasing power of tens of millions of Black Americans.
America's overdue reckoning with white supremacy: 'We have allowed evil to flourish'
The recipients should be those who can trace their roots to an enslaved ancestor. That should not be difficult to establish given the explosion of genealogical services, such as Ancestry.com. Skin color alone should not qualify. The compensation would not go to recent immigrants from Somalia or anyone whose ancestors emigrated from Africa of their own free will, although it would include the offspring of such people who married the descendants of the formerly enslaved.
There is an obvious precedent for reparations to black Americans in the legislation that compensated Japanese Americans for their internment during World War II. The principles are identical. The only difference would be the scope of the indemnification; $1.6 billion was paid in reparations to over 82,000 Japanese Americans.
Bills to study how a reparations program might work are pending in the Senate and House, and gathering Democratic co-sponsors. Perhaps the indignation unleashed by the killing of George Floyd will prompt more members from the other side of the aisle to support efforts to right a historic wrong.
Ross K. Baker is a distinguished professor of political science at Rutgers University and a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors. Follow him on Twitter: @Rosbake1.
You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @usatodayopinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter. To respond to a column, submit a comment to letters@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Reparations would help right a historic wrong and we can afford them
John Cleese Jabs At Fox News’ Monty Python Ignorance After Anchor Confuses ‘Holy Grail’ Line With Seattle CHAZ Report – Update
Bruce Haring June 15, 2020
View photos
Click here to read the full article.
Update, with John Cleese response Monty Python co-founder John Cleese has taken note of Fox News’ Python cluelessness, tweeting, “BREAKING: No one @FoxNews has ever seen @montypython & The Holy Grail. #runit #goodjournalism #factchecking.”
See the Cleese tweet below.
More from Deadline
Bruce Haring June 15, 2020
WE ANARCHO-SYNDICALISTS LOVE THIS MOVIE
View photos
Click here to read the full article.
Update, with John Cleese response Monty Python co-founder John Cleese has taken note of Fox News’ Python cluelessness, tweeting, “BREAKING: No one @FoxNews has ever seen @montypython & The Holy Grail. #runit #goodjournalism #factchecking.”
See the Cleese tweet below.
More from Deadline
Fox News Apologizes For Infographic That Showed Stock Market Gains After Martin Luther King Assassination, Other Moments Racial Unrest
Previous, Sunday Fox News confused a social media post quoting a line from the film Monty Python & The Holy Grail with a report about in-fighting in the Seattle Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ).
On Friday, Fox’s Martha MacCallum reported on the network’s show The Story that there was evidence of problems between the leaders of the Seattle protest camp.The CHAZ is a six-block area in Seattle where Black Lives Matter protesters have taken over.
MacCallum’s report showed an image of a Reddit post that was headlined, “I didn’t vote for Raz.” Fox apparently thought it was a reference to Raz Simone, a rapper who has been identified as an unofficial leader of the CHAZ.
Accompanying the image was the suggestion that “infighting among some of the occupiers and some signs of rebellion against Raz Simone.”
Unfortunately, the post was not a reference to the CHAZ, but was a quote from the 1975 comedy film Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
In the film, Terry Jones and Michael Palin say they are members of ‘an autonomous collective.’
‘We’re an anarcho-syndicalist commune,’ says Palin’s character.
Fox and MacCallum also did not report on the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow.
BREAKING: No one @FoxNews has ever seen @montypython & The Holy Grail. 😂 #runit #goodjournalism #factchecking pic.twitter.com/46sKRh4qQi
— John Cleese (@JohnCleese) June 15, 2020
Previous, Sunday Fox News confused a social media post quoting a line from the film Monty Python & The Holy Grail with a report about in-fighting in the Seattle Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ).
On Friday, Fox’s Martha MacCallum reported on the network’s show The Story that there was evidence of problems between the leaders of the Seattle protest camp.The CHAZ is a six-block area in Seattle where Black Lives Matter protesters have taken over.
MacCallum’s report showed an image of a Reddit post that was headlined, “I didn’t vote for Raz.” Fox apparently thought it was a reference to Raz Simone, a rapper who has been identified as an unofficial leader of the CHAZ.
Accompanying the image was the suggestion that “infighting among some of the occupiers and some signs of rebellion against Raz Simone.”
Unfortunately, the post was not a reference to the CHAZ, but was a quote from the 1975 comedy film Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
In the film, Terry Jones and Michael Palin say they are members of ‘an autonomous collective.’
‘We’re an anarcho-syndicalist commune,’ says Palin’s character.
Fox and MacCallum also did not report on the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow.
BREAKING: No one @FoxNews has ever seen @montypython & The Holy Grail. 😂 #runit #goodjournalism #factchecking pic.twitter.com/46sKRh4qQi
— John Cleese (@JohnCleese) June 15, 2020
MORE CONSERVATIVE BLACK CAUCUS BS
'Nobody is going to defund the police': Top black congressman says Democrats want to 'deconstruct' US policing
THE MAN WHO CROWNED BIDEN IS NOT PROGRESSIVE HE IS A TIRED BLACK LIBERALGriffin Connolly,
The Independent•June 14, 2020
WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 08: House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) joins fellow Democrats from the House and Senate to announce new legislation to end excessive use of force by police and make it easier to identify, track, and prosecute police misconduct at the U.S. Capitol June 08, 2020 in Washington, DC. Democrats introduced the legislation following the recent deaths of unarmed African-Americans in police custody, including George Floyd, and the nationwide demonstrations demanding an overhaul of law enforcement. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)More
The top black US congressman has signalled in clear terms he does not support calls to "defund the police," despite a wave of activism calling for such measures in the wake of the death of George Floyd and other black people during incidents involving police.
“Nobody is going to defund the police. We can restructure the police forces — restructure, reimagine policing. That is what we are going to do,” House Minority Whip James E Clyburn, the third-ranking Democrat in the chamber, said in an interview with CNN on Sunday.
“The fact of the matter is the police have a role to play. What we've got to do is make sure that their role is one that meets the times. One that responds to these communities that they operate in," Mr Clyburn said.
"This did not call for lethal force and I don't know what's in the culture that would make this guy do that," @WhipClyburn reacts to the killing of a black man, Rayshard Brooks, by a police officer in Atlanta. "It's got to be the culture, it's got to be the system." pic.twitter.com/N076K5sxK5
— State of the Union (@CNNSotu)
June 14, 2020
Mr Clyburn, a longtime ally of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is one of 213 co-sponsors for House Democrats' so-called Justice in Policing Act that, while enacting significant changes for US law enforcement, would not abolish police departments outright.
Such steps must be taken at the state and local level.
And while federal lawmakers have less of a hand in how to govern local policing, most Democrats in Washington, similar to Mr Clyburn, have said they do not support defunding police.
Congressional Democrats' bill would reform “qualified immunity" laws to make it easier to prosecute and sue police and other government agencies for misconduct, and also ban choke holds and no-knock warrants in drug cases at the federal level while incentivising local departments to adopt similar measures by withholding funding for those that don’t.
The Democrats' bill would also provide funding for training to reduce racial bias; create a national misconduct registry for officers to ensure officers with lengthy and questionable records cannot simply change departments to avoid accountability; and require state and local law enforcement agencies to report use-of-force incidents to the Justice Department.
The House is scheduled to return on Thursday, 25 June, for a vote on the bill.
It is not likely to pass in the Republican-controlled Senate without major changes.
Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, who is leading the Senate GOP's efforts to put together a policing reform package, has said reforming qualified immunity to make it easier to sue police officers would be a "poison pill" for his party.
"The president has sent a signal that qualified immunity is off the table. [Republicans] see that as a poison pill on our side," Mr Scott said in an interview with CBS News on Sunday.
Lawmakers from both parties have expressed optimism negotiators can reach a bipartisan compromise deal.
But Democrats have indicated they will not settle for changes around the edges. They want wholesale reform.
“The fact of the matter is, this is the structure that has been developed that we've got to deconstruct," Mr Clyburn said. "I wouldn't say defund — deconstruct our policing,” he said.
THE MAN WHO CROWNED BIDEN IS NOT PROGRESSIVE HE IS A TIRED BLACK LIBERALGriffin Connolly,
The Independent•June 14, 2020
WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 08: House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) joins fellow Democrats from the House and Senate to announce new legislation to end excessive use of force by police and make it easier to identify, track, and prosecute police misconduct at the U.S. Capitol June 08, 2020 in Washington, DC. Democrats introduced the legislation following the recent deaths of unarmed African-Americans in police custody, including George Floyd, and the nationwide demonstrations demanding an overhaul of law enforcement. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)MoreThe top black US congressman has signalled in clear terms he does not support calls to "defund the police," despite a wave of activism calling for such measures in the wake of the death of George Floyd and other black people during incidents involving police.
“Nobody is going to defund the police. We can restructure the police forces — restructure, reimagine policing. That is what we are going to do,” House Minority Whip James E Clyburn, the third-ranking Democrat in the chamber, said in an interview with CNN on Sunday.
“The fact of the matter is the police have a role to play. What we've got to do is make sure that their role is one that meets the times. One that responds to these communities that they operate in," Mr Clyburn said.
"This did not call for lethal force and I don't know what's in the culture that would make this guy do that," @WhipClyburn reacts to the killing of a black man, Rayshard Brooks, by a police officer in Atlanta. "It's got to be the culture, it's got to be the system." pic.twitter.com/N076K5sxK5
— State of the Union (@CNNSotu)
June 14, 2020
Mr Clyburn, a longtime ally of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is one of 213 co-sponsors for House Democrats' so-called Justice in Policing Act that, while enacting significant changes for US law enforcement, would not abolish police departments outright.
Such steps must be taken at the state and local level.
And while federal lawmakers have less of a hand in how to govern local policing, most Democrats in Washington, similar to Mr Clyburn, have said they do not support defunding police.
Congressional Democrats' bill would reform “qualified immunity" laws to make it easier to prosecute and sue police and other government agencies for misconduct, and also ban choke holds and no-knock warrants in drug cases at the federal level while incentivising local departments to adopt similar measures by withholding funding for those that don’t.
The Democrats' bill would also provide funding for training to reduce racial bias; create a national misconduct registry for officers to ensure officers with lengthy and questionable records cannot simply change departments to avoid accountability; and require state and local law enforcement agencies to report use-of-force incidents to the Justice Department.
The House is scheduled to return on Thursday, 25 June, for a vote on the bill.
It is not likely to pass in the Republican-controlled Senate without major changes.
Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, who is leading the Senate GOP's efforts to put together a policing reform package, has said reforming qualified immunity to make it easier to sue police officers would be a "poison pill" for his party.
"The president has sent a signal that qualified immunity is off the table. [Republicans] see that as a poison pill on our side," Mr Scott said in an interview with CBS News on Sunday.
Lawmakers from both parties have expressed optimism negotiators can reach a bipartisan compromise deal.
But Democrats have indicated they will not settle for changes around the edges. They want wholesale reform.
“The fact of the matter is, this is the structure that has been developed that we've got to deconstruct," Mr Clyburn said. "I wouldn't say defund — deconstruct our policing,” he said.
CBC IS ALL DEMOCRATS TIME THEY ADDED TIM SCOTT THE REPUBLICAN TOKEN CONSERVATIVE TO THEIR CAUCUS
Mass grave found of Sudanese conscripts killed in 1998: prosecutor
Issued on: 15/06/2020 -
A picture taken on June 13, 2020, shows members of a forensic team at a cemetery where a mass grave of conscripts killed in 1998 was discovered, in the Sahafa neighbourhood, south of the Sudanese capital Khartoum - AFP
Khartoum (AFP)
Sudan's public prosecutor announced Monday the discovery of a mass grave containing conscripts allegedly killed after trying to flee a military camp in 1998 under ousted president Omar al-Bashir's regime.
The grim discovery came as part of investigations into misdeeds committed under al-Bashir, who ruled the country with an iron fist before the army deposed him amid huge street protests in April 2019.
A investigating committee "found the mass grave in the past four days after hearing witness accounts," about killings at Ailafoon military camp, public prosecutor Tagelsir al-Hebr told reporters in Khartoum.
Some of those suspected of involvement in the incident have fled the country, said Hebr, who did not disclose how many bodies were found.
"The grave was exhumed and now the committee will continue to work with forensic authorities and examine the evidence," said Wael Ali Saeed, a member of the investigation committee.
Ailafoon military camp, located southeast of the capital Khartoum, was used for training new conscripts under Bashir's rule.
In 1998, a group of conscripts died as they attempted to escape the base for the Muslim Eid al-Adha holidays.
The Sudanese government said at the time that around 55 young conscripts who fled the base drowned when their overloaded boat capsized in the Blue Nile.
Opposition groups accused the regime of deliberately killing the conscripts and reported a death toll of more than 100.
- Other investigations -
Many Sudanese families reported that their sons went missing and their remains were never found.
Bashir used conscripts in the civil war against rebels in the oil-rich south, which seceded in 2011.
Following Bashir's ouster last year, the country has since August been led by a civilian-majority administration presiding over a three-year transitional period.
Sudanese authorities have vowed to probe "violations" committed under Bashir as well as violence during last year's protests against his rule.
Hebr also disclosed on Monday that an investigatory team is looking into the 1989 Islamist-backed military coup that brought Bashir to power.
Other ongoing investigations include cases of corruption and violence against demonstrators during anti-government protests that took place from December 2018, he added.
Doctors linked to Sudan's protest movement said at least 246 were killed and hundreds others wounded during the 2018-19 protests.
Since his ouster, Bashir and many of his aides have been kept in Khartoum's Kober prison on multiple charges.
In December, he was sentenced to two years detention in a correctional facility in an initial corruption case.
The ex-president has for a decade been wanted by the Hague-based International Criminal Court, where he faces charges of genocide and war crimes committed in the war ravaged Darfur region of western Sudan.
The Darfur conflict, which erupted in 2003 between African minority rebels and Bashir's forces, killed 300,000 people and displaced 2.5 million others.
Last week, top militia leader Ali Kushayb, who was accused of atrocities in Darfur, handed himself over to the ICC.
© 2020 AFP
Khartoum (AFP)
Sudan's public prosecutor announced Monday the discovery of a mass grave containing conscripts allegedly killed after trying to flee a military camp in 1998 under ousted president Omar al-Bashir's regime.
The grim discovery came as part of investigations into misdeeds committed under al-Bashir, who ruled the country with an iron fist before the army deposed him amid huge street protests in April 2019.
A investigating committee "found the mass grave in the past four days after hearing witness accounts," about killings at Ailafoon military camp, public prosecutor Tagelsir al-Hebr told reporters in Khartoum.
Some of those suspected of involvement in the incident have fled the country, said Hebr, who did not disclose how many bodies were found.
"The grave was exhumed and now the committee will continue to work with forensic authorities and examine the evidence," said Wael Ali Saeed, a member of the investigation committee.
Ailafoon military camp, located southeast of the capital Khartoum, was used for training new conscripts under Bashir's rule.
In 1998, a group of conscripts died as they attempted to escape the base for the Muslim Eid al-Adha holidays.
The Sudanese government said at the time that around 55 young conscripts who fled the base drowned when their overloaded boat capsized in the Blue Nile.
Opposition groups accused the regime of deliberately killing the conscripts and reported a death toll of more than 100.
- Other investigations -
Many Sudanese families reported that their sons went missing and their remains were never found.
Bashir used conscripts in the civil war against rebels in the oil-rich south, which seceded in 2011.
Following Bashir's ouster last year, the country has since August been led by a civilian-majority administration presiding over a three-year transitional period.
Sudanese authorities have vowed to probe "violations" committed under Bashir as well as violence during last year's protests against his rule.
Hebr also disclosed on Monday that an investigatory team is looking into the 1989 Islamist-backed military coup that brought Bashir to power.
Other ongoing investigations include cases of corruption and violence against demonstrators during anti-government protests that took place from December 2018, he added.
Doctors linked to Sudan's protest movement said at least 246 were killed and hundreds others wounded during the 2018-19 protests.
Since his ouster, Bashir and many of his aides have been kept in Khartoum's Kober prison on multiple charges.
In December, he was sentenced to two years detention in a correctional facility in an initial corruption case.
The ex-president has for a decade been wanted by the Hague-based International Criminal Court, where he faces charges of genocide and war crimes committed in the war ravaged Darfur region of western Sudan.
The Darfur conflict, which erupted in 2003 between African minority rebels and Bashir's forces, killed 300,000 people and displaced 2.5 million others.
Last week, top militia leader Ali Kushayb, who was accused of atrocities in Darfur, handed himself over to the ICC.
© 2020 AFP
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