GRIEF IN PARADISE
Hawaii grapples with Great Depression-level unemployment as tourism plummets





A surfer walks on a sparsely populated Waikiki beach in Honolulu, June 5, 2020.

Peter Yee has been furloughed from his job at a rental car company since late March, and now says he spends up to 12 hours a day, seven days a week answering questions and sharing advice in the Facebook group, "Hawaii Unemployment Updates and Support Group."

In just a matter of weeks, the coronavirus pandemic has ravaged the economy of the picturesque town of Kahului on the island of Maui where Yee lives.

"Driving through the main little areas was like a ghost town," Yee told ABC News.

The unemployment rate in Kahului skyrocketed to 35% in April -- nearly 10% higher than the national unemployment rate at the peak of the Great Depression -- and the highest of any metropolitan area in the U.S., according to the latest data available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

As COVID-19 decimated tourism and the planes stopped coming in, job losses on the island piled up with unprecedented furor. In March, Kahului had some of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation at 2.2%.

In an effort to contain the spread of COVID-19 on the islands, Hawaii’s government acted fast -- imposing a mandatory 14-day quarantine for all visitors. While the move was lauded by many and proved effective in preventing major outbreaks of the respiratory disease on the islands, the impact to tourism, Hawaii’s biggest industry, proved quick and severe.

"I knew that was a kiss of death," Yee said of the quarantine. "I'm not saying I'm against it, but I knew that there would be virtually zero visitors and zero business for my industry."
'You go from 30,000 airline passengers per day to a few hundred'

Carl Bonham, the executive director and a professor at the Economic Research Organization at University of Hawaii, told ABC News that the most recent data puts Hawaii's unemployment rate at 22.3% in April, but because these surveys were conducted early that month before many of the job losses, some economists estimate it's 30% or more.

"The range of unemployment estimates will vary dramatically," Bonham said. "The bottom line is it’s bad, a lot of the data is problematic right now because of sort of changes in what it means to be in the labor force."

The closest comparison in living memory is after 9/11 when air travel took a major hit, according to Bonham, but he said "this is completely different."

"After 9/11 there were literally zero planes in the air," he said. "That was a very different situation in that we had a shutdown of tourism for a short period of time, but we didn’t shut down the rest of the economy."

Roughly 25% of the jobs in Hawaii are connected to tourism, which has almost entirely vanished, according to Bonham.

"Because we rely completely on air travel, when you shut down tourism with a 14-day quarantine and you go from 30,000 airline passengers per day to a few hundred, that’s a very different situation from a place that may still be getting some visitors by car,” he said.

The community of Kahului saw the largest over-the-year unemployment rate increase in April, shooting up more 32.5% points, according to the BLS’s most recent data. As the travel industry was hit hard by the pandemic, fellow tourist hubs Las Vegas, Nevada, and Atlantic City, New Jersey, saw the second and third highest increases in over-the-year unemployment rates.

Bonham said due to high cost of living and a lack of jobs, they are forecasting an exodus from Hawaii within the next few years.
An unemployment 'nightmare'

Yee said he first joined the Facebook unemployment support group in early April when there were around 800 members, but said, "we accumulated 10,000 more members in 30 days."

It now has more than 14,000 members, all of whom have been vetted by admins to make sure they aren't scammers.

As a moderator, Yee said he is in the group every day trying to help people who post questions or share their stories -- many of which highlight dire realities of what Great Depression-era unemployment in America looks like.

"What else was I going to do during lockdown?" Yee said. "I was helping out every day, seven days a week, eight to 15 hours a day, and I still do that."

MORE: Another 1.5 million workers file jobless claims

He said he constantly replies to people reminding them of a temporary eviction moratorium, what food stamp programs are available, and mostly serving as a source of support as frustration and anger mounts towards the state’s unemployment insurance program.

Many members in the Facebook group say they have waited over six weeks to receive any benefits at all, according to Yee.

In the first week of June, the state's Department of Labor announced the sudden leave of its director, Scott Murakami. His office, which did not respond to ABC News' interview requests, said he and other workers had been receiving death threats.

Yee said it took more than four weeks between the time he submitted his unemployment claim to the time he received any unemployment insurance from the state.

Simon Kaufman, a stand-up comedian and radio DJ from Hilo, Hawaii, said he waited nine weeks before he saw any money after filing his unemployment claim.

Moreover, he said they didn’t calculate a majority of his income into his check, instead basing it off of a part-time holiday job he had waiting tables.

"I don’t know what’s going on," he said. "I’m not a waiter, they’re paying me on the side gig I did."

Kaufman said he has been surviving on savings and even tried "intermittent fasting."

Phone lines to the state’s unemployment insurance office have been almost entirely clogged up since the last week of March, Yee and Kaufman said.

"I've only gotten through once, since March," Yee said, calling the situation a "nightmare."

"If you've got no money for six, eight weeks living paycheck to paycheck, it would be a good assumption to say that half those claimants are in a very dire situation," he said. "But I knew that at that point six, eight weeks, it would be food lines, which came actually earlier."

The Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations announced earlier this week -- nearly three months into the crisis -- that it has finally made it through a majority of the claims.

"Eighty-eight percent (88%) of the valid unemployment insurance claims that have come in since the beginning of the COVID-19 shutdown have been processed and paid out by the DLIR," the department's deputy director Anne Perreira-Eustaquio, said in a statement on June 10. "We sincerely appreciate people’s patience and wanted the public to know the scope of the remaining issues as well as the scope of the incredible progress made."

Hawaii Gov. David Ige's office did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for comment Friday.

Despite the dire economic situation, Bonham told ABC News that Hawaii's actions in response to the health crisis have been notably effective.

"We’re probably the safest state in the country right now in terms of health outcomes and controlling the virus," he said.
'Something we've never seen in Hawaii, ever': Up to 4-hour lines at food banks

Ron Mizutani, the president and CEO of the Hawaii Foodbank, told ABC News there has been a 260% increase in the amount of food the nonprofit distributed in the month of May compared to the same month last year.

"This unprecedented to say the least,” Mizutani told ABC News. “We always see the face of hungry during crises, during hurricanes, tsunamis, during the government shutdown, but this is something we’ve never seen in Hawaii ever.”

“We have also had some serious issues with unemployment checks being distributed so that’s contributed to needs in a way that we haven’t anticipated,” he added.

Mizutani said according to their simple questionnaires, 80% of families who came to pick up food during the month of May say they have had somebody in their household furloughed or unemployed because of COVID-19, but only 5% have said they were receiving government assistance.

"They are willing to stand in line in their vehicles for three to four hours to receive much-needed food," he said, saying lines have been as long as 4,000 people.

Prior to the pandemic, Mizutani said they usually distributed 800,000 to 1 million pounds of food to those in need each month. In May, he said they distributed more than 3.75 million pounds of food.

"You don’t budget for that, nor can you anticipate those kinds of needs," he said.

"We survive on donations," he added. "Donations have also come to a screeching halt."

Mizutani said he is worried about how they will be able to keep up with the demand, which he expects to continue for months into the future.

"It takes a long time for food to get here to the island and we like other food banks are standing in line with the rest of the country," he said. "We made orders two weeks ago that won’t arrive until August, September, that’s the kind of wait time that we have before we receive food from mainland distributors."

A self-described "local boy," Mizutani said he has deep respect for those who come to receive food.

"They’re not quick to raise their hand when it comes to hunger," he said of many in his community. "It takes courage to wait in line for hours for something they would never thought they would have to do."

While empty beaches and recovering coral reefs have been a bright spot for some locals, Mizutani said "we need people back badly."

"This is not normal, I don’t like to use the word the 'new normal' because there is nothing normal about this at all," he said. "We live in a very special place here and while a lot of families are hurting, we are seeing a lot of our Aloha spirit."

"The world was not prepared for COVID-19, but I truly believe that COVID-19 was not prepared for Hawaii and our spirit," he added. "We are a resilient state and we are rising."

Rio cartels go from running drugs to pushing medication
By Nick Paton Walsh, Jo Shelley, Robert Fortuna and William Bonnett, CNN

© Jo Shelley/CNN 

Young dealers, not state medical personnel, are the ones encouraging measures against coronavirus in the favela.
Coronavirus rages on the edges of Rio de Janeiro -- in the hills and slums run by drug gangs, where police dare not go unless on an armed raid.

Absent of help from the state -- President Jair Bolsonaro has pledged to crush criminals "like cockroaches" -- the gangs have stepped up. Where before they peddled narcotics with the rule of the gun, now they also push curfews, social distancing and food handouts for the neediest.

"We fear the virus, not Bolsonaro," said Ronaldo, a gang member who, like most people interviewed, either requested anonymity or gave a false name. "We can't count exactly how many have already died. The hospitals kill more than if you stay home and take care of yourself."

A drug gang granted CNN access one of Rio's poorest and most socially isolated communities, to illustrate how it has dealt with Covid-19. It's an area inaccessible to state healthcare. Alcohol gel, medication and cash handouts are all part of a system that gang members were eager to display, with Brazil now the country with the second highest number of coronavirus infections behind the United States, and where cases are still doubling every two weeks.
Four young men climb off their motorbikes and begin to lift large plastic bags from the back of a pickup truck. The first package of groceries goes to a manicurist who has been out of work for four months. The second goes to a street vendor.

"Things are getting very difficult," said the street vendor, who requested anonymity. She says she is trying to set up a stall in the community, but there is nobody to buy her products.

"I'm trying at least," she said. "Kids and lots of people are getting sick. The food they're giving us helps a lot."

She says her father-in-law died in April from Covid-19. He seemed stable, she adds, until he was transferred to hospital, where he died within the day.

"Until now we didn't get a full report on what happened, except that it was Covid-19," she said. "It took two weeks for him to be buried."

She says that her uncle is now sick and hospitalized, having caught the virus while at his supermarket job.

Medical help is available in the community, and hospitalizations are rare.

"Doctors from the community are helping the sick people voluntarily," Ronaldo said. "The people who have money can get assistance. The ones who haven't just can't."

The local community sometimes chips in to pay for burials, says Ronaldo.

"The isolation was going well here but now even the President himself -- in his own words -- is disregarding it," Ronaldo said. "But we can't ease it. We've seen a lot of death. We know it's not a small thing."

As he spoke, two teenagers played pool nearby. Many here violate the social-distancing rules, like they do on the wealthier coast below.

"It's complicated to enforce quarantine on people," Ronaldo said.

These drug dealers -- young and armed with old semi-automatic rifles, short-barreled M4s and, in Ronaldo's case, a Glock pistol adapted into a rifle -- have become as knowledgeable about Covid-19 as they are about narcotics.

When asked if they would accept any of the two million doses of hydroxychloroquine that the United States has agreed to send Brazil -- despite the drug being ruled ineffective against Covid-19, and perhaps dangerous by the World Health Organization -- Ronaldo replies:

"I don't think hydroxychloroquine helps. It's BS. Everything that comes to Brazil from abroad has already been contaminated."

The streets seem busy for curfew. Bars are closed, however, and business has adapted to the pandemic.

Neia, a hairdresser before the pandemic, has turned to making masks. She sells them through her front window, which allows her to stay inside. They're free for children, and three face masks cost 10 reals (about US$1.75) for adults. But Neia says that drug dealers give her 15 reals.

"I am more afraid of the virus than anything else here," she said. "An elderly man who lives there (next to her home) died. People in general are respecting isolation."

Crime has often cut this community off from the rest of Rio. Police regularly raid the area, as part of Bolsonaro's crackdown on favelas. He has said that a policeman who does not kill is not a real policeman. And the resulting uptick in deadly operations has led to outcry from human rights advocates.

The most recent raid near this favela occurred ten days ago and left at least seven dead. The signs another raid may be on its way are everywhere: a big rock blocks a road, the sound of firecrackers from a rooftop -- a warning that a lookout has seen something strange, and the police may be coming again.

Nearly everyone we spoke to had a story of death or infection from coronavirus. Daniel, who runs a street food stall, told stories of deaths he had heard of as he prepared pastels.

"Today there was a girl who lives nearby who died," he said, adding a friend of his with diabetes and a heart condition also died suddenly at home. The street he lives on has seen two deaths, he says.

"There's less movement in the streets," Daniel said. "I wash my hands here all the time. I use hand gel, masks and clean the stall a lot."

The dealers have barred restaurants from putting tables out, he says.

"The virus is in control here," Daniel said. "Even the dealers are afraid. It's not possible to control everybody."

The motorcycles whizz back and forth, some carrying gunmen, others ferrying teenage girls out for the night. The streets buzz with activity. At times it feels like a world before lockdowns.

But locals say it's fairly empty. Bars, they say, would normally hum with music and drug dealing would be more prevalent.

Areas like these will be an enduring concern to healthcare workers as the pandemic grows. The state will know little about how the virus has spread in these communities. Residents here may live apart from wealthier Rio neighborhoods, but many work there, nonetheless, and may spread the virus.

Firecrackers suddenly crackle again, and a lookout fears the police are on their way.

Aid groups 'alarmed' by little US coronavirus assistance

© Provided by The Canadian Press

JOHANNESBURG — More than two dozen international aid groups have told the U.S. government they are “increasingly alarmed” that “little to no U.S. humanitarian assistance has reached those on the front lines” of the coronavirus pandemic, as the number of new cases picks up speed in some of the world’s most fragile regions.

The letter obtained by The Associated Press and signed by groups including Save the Children, CARE USA, World Vision and others says that “in spite of months of promising conversations with USAID field staff, few organizations have received an executed award for COVID-19 humanitarian assistance.”

It calls the delays “devastating” and says the window is closing for the U.S. to help mitigate the worst impacts of the pandemic around the world.

The letter to U.S. Agency for International Development acting administrator John Barsa is dated June 4 — the same day that other USAID officials were touting the U.S. government’s “global leadership” in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“To date, we have committed more than $1 billion to benefit the global COVID response,” Kenneth Staley, the leader of the USAID COVID-19 task force, told reporters covering Africa. The funds are typically provided to aid groups as well as private contractors and United Nations agencies.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

But much of that aid has been tied up in “uncharacteristic delays” nearly three months after the passage of the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, the letter from aid groups says.

“The long delays in COVID-19 awards — and as a result, U.S. response to a dynamic global emergency — stands in stark contrast to our experience in crises where (the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance) is known to turn around funding in a matter of weeks, if not days,” the letter says.

The letter makes clear the aid problem is a global one, pointing out the exponential rise in cases in Pakistan, and saying “the time to move is now.”

“The U.S. has basically been missing in action on the global front, which is very heartbreaking for me to see,” a director of the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance during the Obama administration, Jeremy Konyndyk, said Thursday during a Center for Strategic and International Studies discussion. “What we have is kind of a vacuum and a lot of chaos on the international level.”

Acting USAID spokeswoman Pooja Jhunjhunwala told AP that the more than $1 billion includes $218 million in humanitarian aid through the International Disaster Assistance account — nearly $100 million of that authorized as awards. Aid groups can begin spending the rest of it via “essentially a promissory note from USAID." Some of that amount, however, can also go to U.N. agencies. 

 

© Provided by The Canadian Press

“We are in unprecedented times right now, with a rapidly evolving situation on the ground in almost every country,” she said.

For months while promoting U.S. coronavirus assistance, U.S. officials have not given details on the number of crucial items — such as ventilators and testing kits — delivered to countries in Africa, where such equipment has been in short supply for months. And the need is growing.

Cases on the African continent are accelerating, the World Health Organization warned Thursday, saying it took 98 days to reach 100,000 cases and just 18 to reach 200,000. The total number of confirmed is now above 218,000 with more than 5,000 deaths.

Just 3 million tests for the virus have been conducted across Africa, a continent of 1.3 billion people, far short of the goal of 13 million. “One of the biggest challenges we face in the response continues to be the availability of supplies,” WHO Africa chief Matshidiso Moeti told reporters on Thursday.

Another growing problem is infected health workers - nearly 5,000 in the 47-country WHO Africa region — amid shortages of protective gear.

U.S. President Donald Trump in recent weeks has spoken of deliveries of ventilators to African countries, saying 1,000 of the machines were being sent to Nigeria alone. But Nigeria’s government said none has arrived.

In fact, just 50 ventilators have arrived in Africa from the U.S. government, all of them going to South Africa in recent days. That country has about a quarter of Africa's virus cases.

A State Department official on Thursday said the U.S. has pledged ventilator assistance to Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria and Rwanda as well. The U.S. is supplying ventilators as soon as the domestic supply chain and vendors can produce and deliver them, the official said.

Some African officials have expressed open dismay or signalled quiet frustration over the U.S. response. Some have called for a “Made in Africa” push to reduce reliance on imports, amid efforts to create homemade ventilators and repurpose factories.

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been quick to praise assistance from the Jack Ma Foundation and others for deliveries of ventilators, testing kits and other badly needed items.

But asked about just how many of those items the U.S. has delivered, Africa CDC chief John Nkengasong on Thursday said that “unfortunately, I cannot give you a number ... It has been a challenging time for many countries to fight their own pandemic.”

___

Associated Press writers Andrew Meldrum in Johannesburg and Ben Fox in Washington contributed to this report.

___

Follow AP pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

Cara Anna, The Associated Press

Missing and murdered Indigenous people rally planned for Sunday in Regina

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES LIVES MATTER

Connor O’Donovan

© Demi Knight The event is set to begin at 1 pm. Attendees are asked to bring hand sanitizer and masks and to practise physical distancing.

Following a week of Black Lives Matter rallies in Regina, another protest is planned for the Saskatchewan Legislature grounds -- this time with a focus on missing and murdered Indigenous people.

"There is so much violence toward Indigenous people and it is time to speak up about it," reads the description on the Facebook event page. "No more silence! We need to stand together."

READ MORE: Canada is asking families of murdered, missing Indigenous women to wait for action plan. Why?
The event is set to begin at 1 pm. Attendees are asked to bring hand sanitizer and masks and to practise physical distancing.

"This month is Indigenous History month," the description continues. "We need to be the change, and it starts now."

Judge orders Seattle to stop using tear gas during protests

© Provided by The Canadian Press

SEATTLE — A U.S. judge on Friday ordered Seattle police to temporarily stop using tear gas, pepper spray and flash-bang devices to break up largely peaceful protests, a victory for groups who say authorities have overreacted to recent demonstrations over police brutality and racial injustice.

The liberal city with a lengthy history of massive, frequent protests has taken hits from all sides — from demonstrators, some city officials, the president and now a judge — over the way it's responded to crowds taking to the streets following George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police. Those on the right say the mayor and police chief aren't being tough enough on protesters who have taken over part of a neighbourhood near downtown Seattle, while those on the left say police tactics have been far too harsh.© Provided by The Canadian Press

U.S. District Judge Richard Jones sided with a Black Lives Matter group that sued the Seattle Police Department this week to halt the violent tactics it has used to break up protests.

Last weekend, officers used tear gas, pepper spray and other force against crowds of protesters. Jones' order halts those tactics for two weeks, though demonstrations this week have been calm.

Mayor Jenny Durkan and Police Chief Carmen Best have apologized to peaceful protesters who were subjected to chemical weapons. But Best has said some demonstrators violently targeted police, throwing objects and ignoring orders to disperse. Both have faced calls to resign, which they have rejected

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The judge said those objecting to the police tactics make a strong case that the indiscriminate use of force is unconstitutional. Jones said weapons like tear gas and pepper spray fail to target “any single agitator or criminal” and they are especially problematic during the coronavirus pandemic.

“Because they are indiscriminate, they may even spill into bystanders’ homes or offices as they have done before,” Jones wrote.

Durkan, a former U.S. attorney, "believes the court struck the right balance to protect the fundamental constitutional right to exercise protest, with the need to also ensure public safety," spokeswoman Kamaria Hightower said in an email.

Durkan also has requested reviews of police actions from the Office of Police Accountability and the city’s inspector general. Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste also said Friday the agency will stop using gas until further notice, particularly amid the pandemic.

This week, demonstrators have turned part of Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighbourhood into a protest centre with speakers, drum circles and Black Lives Matter painted on a street near a police station. Police largely left the station after the chaos last weekend, when officers tear-gassed protesters and some demonstrators threw objects at them. Police sprayed tear gas just two days after the mayor and police chief said they were temporarily halting its use.

Durkan tweeted that on Friday she visited the so-called autonomous zone — which has been criticized by President Donald Trump and where people, including officers, come and go freely. She said she spoke with organizers about moving forward and noted that she's always known Capitol Hill as a place for people to express themselves.

Trump has slammed her and Gov. Jay Inslee for not breaking up the occupation by “anarchists” and threatening to take action if they don’t. Both have assailed his comments and say they're focusing on a peaceful resolution. The demonstrations have been calm since police left the area.

Michele Storms, executive director of the ACLU of Washington, said the group was pleased with the judge's ruling.

“The city must allow for freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, and it must address police accountability and excessive use of force,” Storms said in a statement.

The ruling came as massive crowds marched in the rain and some businesses temporarily closed in response to a call from Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County to launch a statewide general strike.

“As tens of thousands of people were gathering today to march silently and in solidarity against police brutality and misconduct, the U.S. District Court affirmed their right to protest, free from state violence. That is a victory for today," the group said in a statement.

Black Lives Matter encouraged supporters not go to work or to work from home Friday and to learn about local elected officials and issues. Organizers have demands for the city, county and state that include cutting at least $100 million from the Seattle police budget, ending cash bail and declaring racism a public health crisis.

Durkan tweeted that she and the police chief participated in the march, saying Best and her Police Department leaders have been working “incredibly hard to adjust and improve every day.”

Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste also said Friday his personnel will stop using gas until further notice, particularly amid the pandemic.

Lisa Baumann, The Associated Press

Protesters burn down Wendy's in Atlanta where black man was slain by police

By Brad Brooks and Dan Whitcomb

© Reuters/ELIJAH NOUVELAGE People watch as a Wendy’s burns following a rally against racial inequality and the police shooting death of Rayshard Brooks, in Atlanta

By Brad Brooks and Dan Whitcomb

© Reuters/ELIJAH NOUVELAGE A protester watches as a Wendy’s burns following a rally against racial inequality and the police shooting death of Rayshard Brooks, in Atlanta

(Reuters) - Protesters shut down a major highway in Atlanta on Saturday and set fire to a Wendy's restaurant where a black man was shot by police as he tried to escape arrest, an incident caught on video and sure to fuel more nationwide demonstrations.© Reuters/ELIJAH NOUVELAGE A Wendy’s burns following a rally against racial inequality and the police shooting death of Rayshard Brooks, in Atlanta

The unrest broke out after dark in Atlanta, where earlier in the day Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said she had accepted the prompt resignation of police chief Erika Shields over the death on Friday night of 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks at the Wendy's.© Reuters/ELIJAH NOUVELAGE A Wendy’s burns following a rally against racial inequality and the police shooting death of Rayshard Brooks, in Atlanta

The police department has terminated the officer who allegedly shot and killed Brooks, police spokesman Carlos Campos confirmed late on Saturday. Another officer involved in the incident was put on administrative leave.

© Reuters/ELIJAH NOUVELAGE Protesters are seen in silhouette as they block traffic on a freeway during a rally against racial inequality and the police shooting death of Rayshard Brooks, in Atlanta

Authorities have not yet released the names of the two officers, both of whom were white.

© Reuters/ELIJAH NOUVELAGE A protester watches as a Wendy’s burns following a rally against racial inequality and the police shooting death of Rayshard Brooks, in Atlanta

Images on local television showed the restaurant in flames for more than 45 minutes before fire crews arrived to extinguish the blaze, protected by a line of police officers. By that time the building was reduced to charred rubble next to a gas station.

THIS IS A PHOTO ESSAY READ THE REST HERE 

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/us/protesters-burn-down-wendys-in-atlanta-where-black-man-was-slain-by-police/ar-BB15rqUf

Virginia protesters march to statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee


Amanda Golden and Kyle Stewart

RICHMOND, Va. — Thousands of protesters marched Saturday through the streets of what was once the capital of the Confederacy in the "5000 Man March Against Racism" that started and ended at the monument of Gen. Robert E. Lee.

The three-mile route passed several Confederate monuments as protesters chanted in support of Black Lives Matter and held signs denouncing police brutality and systemic racism. The march, which started four years ago as the “1000 Man March,” grew considerably this year as several thousand people decried racism, discrimination and hate.

Similar protests were held in other U.S. cities Saturday as demonstrations prompted by the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died May 25 under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer, continued for a third straight weekend.

In Richmond, marchers returned to the Lee statue, where Tavares Floyd, a cousin of George Floyd, addressed the crowd.

“George carried the weight of a nation that is guided by white supremacy,” Floyd said. “A weight of police brutality that has permeated the Black community for far too long. And I weep because George was a man that should have been right here today. But instead his life didn't matter.”

© Provided by NBC News Image: Robert E. Lee statue (Ryan M. Kelly / AFP - Getty Images)

Organizers intentionally held the event at the Lee statue, which Gov. Ralph Northam has promised to remove. Earlier in the week, a judge granted a temporary injunction to halt the removal for 10 days in a lawsuit challenging the governor’s authority to take it down. The suit was filed by the descendant of a family that deeded the land the monument sits on.

“We picked the Robert E. Lee monument with the idea that this would be the last big gathering here,” said organizer Triston Harris. “What it means to us is, as we see the statue and we see the graffiti, see all of the Black Lives Matter support that’s now upon the statue, it's extremely ... I want to say, well ... thrilling, to see some of the ideas and see some of the creativity that has been placed upon the statute.”

In some places, protesters have begun taking down statues themselves. Just days ago, they removed one of Confederate President Jefferson Davis a few blocks from the Lee statue on Monument Avenue, and in Portsmouth, Virginia, a man suffered life-threatening injuries when part of a Confederate soldier statue fell on him as they tried to topple it.

Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, who attended the march, and other local leaders have acknowledged the statues symbolize hate and racism, but they urged activists to stop taking matters into their own hands for public safety.

Instead, they said, let the monuments be removed professionally. A new Virginia state law gives localities the ability to remove, relocate or contextualize war memorials starting July 1. Local governments were previously prohibited from taking such action.

Statues of Confederate leaders throughout the country are continuing to be vandalized and removed. To date, nearly 1,800 Confederate symbols still stand across the U.S., including more than 700 monuments in parks, schools and Washington, D.C. In the last few weeks, Confederate statues have also been removed in Kentucky, Alabama, Florida and Tennessee.

Public opinion about the fate of the monuments is also shifting, according to new polling that shows 44 percent of voters say statues of Confederate leaders should remain standing, down from 52 percent in 2017, and 32 percent say the statues should be removed, compared with 26 percent in 2017.

How Black Lives Matter protests are popping up in small towns across Ontario

'We live in a town where there is still a lot of racism,' Collingwood, Ont. organizer says


Haydn Watters · CBC News · Posted: Jun 11, 2020   

Rallies and solidarity marches sparked by the killing of George Floyd are happening in some of Ontario's smaller communities, including Cobourg, Ont. This group marched the streets of the small town east of Toronto and made a stop in front of the police station. (Submitted by Mallory Ford)


When Marrika Sanders saw the video of George Floyd's murder — the unarmed Black man was killed by a white police officer in Minnesota — she was devastated and knew she had to do something.

Sanders lives in Fort Erie, Ont., the small Niagara border town where protests aren't very common. But she wasn't letting that stop her. Sanders marched the streets of her small town with a pack of other young protesters. She led chants and held a homemade sign which said "Justice 4 George."

What defunding police means, why protests matter: Hamilton's Black community leaders

"It's a big deal for Fort Erie, for sure," she said. "I know we're a small town but it matters to us and we wanted to make a difference."

Fort Erie is just one of the smaller Ontario communities where peaceful rallies and solidarity marches have been popping up in response to Floyd's murder. During an arrest Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes.

Sanders took part in the Fort Erie protest because she wanted to speak up for those who have experienced racism in her area. (Submitted by Marrika Sanders)

Bracebridge, Ont., Elliot Lake, Perth and Timmins have all had protests. Each town is home to fewer people and less diversity than the larger centres where protests are taking place.

According to the 2016 census, 265 of Fort Erie's 14,315 people in private households identify as Black. Sanders said she hasn't dealt with racism much herself in Fort Erie, but her family has. Her father lives in the U.S., where he has also dealt with racism and police brutality.

"We're also just across the border ... so it's like, we gotta do something, right?"

Protesters in Fort Erie, Ont., encouraged others to join in. 'We’re a small town but we can make an impact,' said Sanders. (Submitted by Marrika Sanders)
'New step forward'

Grade 12 student Reneé Ficko is used to organizing climate protests, but often has a hard time getting people to join in.

She helped put on a protest in her hometown of Collingwood, Ont., on Monday and was struck by how many came out. The community sits on Georgian Bay, 150 kilometres northwest of Toronto.

"We closed the street down and we marched," she said. "We live in a town where there is still a lot of racism."

Only about 20,000 people live in Collingwood, Ont. Some of Trinity Stephens' friends stayed home because they were nervous but now are keen to participate because of the support they saw. 'If you care, then it shows other people that they should care.' (Submitted by Tom Hannan)

The area's Black population has a storied past, chronicled in a local Black history museum called Sheffield Park.

Trinity Stephens touched on her experiences with racism during a speech at that protest. She said much of it happened at a local high school, where her teachers didn't always stop it. She didn't have a speech prepared and said she spoke from the heart.

"I really didn't realize that I had all of that inside of me," she said, home from her studies at University of British Columbia. "I feel so much lighter."

Trinity Stephens, pictured centre, spoke at the Collingwood, Ont., rally about the racism she had experienced at high school. She said she wasn't prepared to give that speech and started crying. 'I was just really shocked by the turn out.' (Submitted by Tom Hannan)

She too was "shocked" by the turn out and didn't think it was very common for Collingwood. Both Stephens and Ficko plan to attend another protest in town this weekend.

"It makes it more of an accepting place," she said. "This is definitely a new step forward for Collingwood."

'It's not just a few political activists'

Isaac Burke was scrolling through Instagram on Black Out Tuesday and noticed many locals posting a black square. He wanted to see them do more. So, he cobbled together a protest in his hometown of Cobourg, Ont, a small town on Lake Ontario about 100 kilometres east of Toronto.

He made an Instagram account about the protest and days later, hundreds showed up in support. He's home from university because of COVID-19.

"It's not just a few political activists. It's not just a few people online or a few politicians or whoever. It's everyday people," he said. "People think that because it's relatively small, it would never take off. You'd never be able to mobilize people ... but that's not really true."

Isaac Burke, who helped organize the protest in Cobourg, Ont., said his community is predominantly white. 'There definitely is racism in Cobourg. There’s no doubt. There is racism everywhere and Cobourg is absolutely not exempt from that.' (Submitted by Mallory Ford)

As part of the protest, Burke collected donations for six different organizations supporting Black communities.

"You have to do quite a bit if you're genuinely supporting this. You can't act like there's nothing going on. We're tired of seeing people acting like there's nothing going on."

Similarly, Asha Agro thought coordinating a protest would help show support from her own community of Tillsonburg, 60 kilometres southeast of London.

Protesters in Cobourg lined the street, getting honks and fist pumps from those passing. (Submitted by Mallory Ford)

It was her first time organizing, so she was nervous. She said her mom helped her out.

The feedback was mostly positive though she did get complaints about gathering during a pandemic. She understood, encouraging participants to physical distance.

She also had a tricky time tracking down a megaphone but found one.

Asha Agro planned the Tillsonburg, Ont., protest last minute but she wanted to act fast. 'If you think that you are going to take this seriously and you really believe in a cause you can stand up for whatever you want.' (Submitted by Nicki Roy)

"I feel like a lot of people are scared to speak up but now that I have seen a ton of people start doing it more and more," she said.

"[It's] really cool because that means the message is getting out."

REDNECK COTTAGE COUNTRY
Confederate flags still flying in Ontario, prompting call for change
Petitions to ban racist symbol gather signatures as U.S. Marine Corps, NASCAR take a stand
Laura Howells · CBC News · Posted: Jun 13, 2020

A Confederate flag flies over a house in Collingwood, Ont. It was taken down after recent community backlash. (Submitted by Abigail Hitchens)

Kyra Nankivell remembers the first time she saw a Confederate flag. It was around Grade 9, and she was at a party at a friend's house. The flag was draped over a basement couch.

"I felt super uncomfortable," said Nankivell, now 19. She was one of only a few Black students at her high school in Wellington County, Ont.

It wouldn't be her last encounter with the symbol many now associate with slavery and anti-Black racism.

"[One or two] people had them flying out the back of their trucks in my high school," Nankivell said.
Anybody who says that the Confederate flag is not a symbol of hate, or that it is a symbol that is not deeply injurious to people of African descent, really is a person that doesn't know their history very well.- Barrington Walker, Wilfrid Laurier University

Earlier this month, photos of a veteran Belleville, Ont., police officer with the same flag on his shirt and flying from the back of a golf cart sparked outrage. But some Ontarians say it's not an entirely unusual sight, whether waving from trucks, on bumper stickers or flying over homes.

NASCAR bans Confederate flag from its races and properties
Belleville residents call for firing of veteran police officer over Confederate flag controversy

While some see it as a sign of rural pride or a harmless image from the Dukes of Hazzard TV show, "it's failing to acknowledge what that piece of history actually represents," said Belleville resident Kayla Koomans, who co-organized a vigil in her city following the death of George Floyd.

Confederate flags aren't a daily sighting in her community, Koomans said, but there are still "more than we should be seeing."

Kyra Nankivell, now a student in Toronto, said she felt very alone as a Black high school student in rural Ontario. (Submitted by Kyra Nankivell)

For her fellow co-organizer Sydney Jarvis, it "makes me think that those people who are flying the flag think that people of colour [like me] still deserve to be in slavery."
'Symbol of country living' ignores racist history

Some in Ontario see the Confederate flag as a "harmless symbol of country living, of rural identity," said Barrington Walker, a Wilfrid Laurier University professor who specializes in Black Canadian history. But that ignores the "long history of white supremacy, segregation and Jim Crow" the flag represents, he noted.

The Confederate flag was flown during the Civil War by the secessionist states, notoriously by General Robert E. Lee's army that fought to preserve slavery.

The symbol was later resurrected during the civil rights movement by those opposed to equal rights for Black people, and has since been associated with white supremacist groups like the Ku Klux Klan. To this day, the symbol remains in a corner of the state flag of Mississippi.

Const. Todd Bennett, a 29-year veteran with the Belleville Police Service, is seen on the left riding on the passenger side of a golf cart with a Confederate flag attached, and on the right wearing a T-shirt with the same flag pictured. (Facebook via Katie MacLeod)
The debate has long raged in the U.S. over whether the Confederate flag represents southern pride and states' rights, or racism and hatred.

"Anybody who says that the Confederate flag is not a symbol of hate, or that it is a symbol that is not deeply injurious to people of African descent, really is a person that doesn't know their history very well," Walker said.

How anti-Black racism protests are popping up in small towns across Ontario

For Dwayne Edwards, who is Black, seeing the Confederate flag on vehicles is yet another way he feels targeted in his largely white community of Belleville.

"I think [Belleville] is very friendly for Caucasian people," Edwards told CBC's Ontario Morning. He described being profiled in stores, getting dirty looks and hearing backhanded comments, and said he and his wife, Emily, have decided they don't want to raise their three young boys there.

"I think we need to open the chapter on how we treat Black people on a day-to-day basis," Edwards said.

Emily and Dwayne Edwards live in Belleville, Ont., with their three young sons. (Submitted by Emily Edwards)

Petitions gain momentum

Residents of other Ontario municipalities are petitioning their towns to ban the controversial flag.

Collingwood, Ont., Mayor Brian ​​​​​Saunderson said two "Civil War re-enactors" were flying Confederate flags in his town. One of them recently took the flag down as the petition surged to more than 28,000 signatures.

Clearview, Ont., Mayor Doug Measures has asked for a legal opinion on whether a ban is possible, noting the flags are "not common at all."

Emily Edwards took this photo of a Confederate flag on the rear window of a truck near Belleville, Ont. (Emily Edwards/Facebook)

Jacey Sampson, who started the Clearview petition, said she's "seen this flag my entire life" on car windows and bumper stickers, and believes most people are ignorant about its origin.

Collingwood town council will vote Monday on a motion to look into options for prohibiting "symbols of hate and racial intolerance."

Abigail Hitchens started that town's petition last year after a neighbour hung the Confederate flag in his yard, which she passed each day with her young son. She revived the petition in recent weeks after her son started asking questions about George Floyd's killing, and support took off.

The man flying that flag, Dennis Morris, has now taken it down after community backlash. In a message to CBC, Morris said he participates in Civil War re-enactments, and said to him the flag doesn't stand for racism, "it means history."

Hundreds of people attended Belleville’s march and vigil for Black lives this month. (Submitted by Kayla Koomans)

History of controversy in Ontario

It's not the first time the Confederate flag has sparked controversy in this province. In Hamilton, a man was fired after proudly flying the flag from his truck in 2017. A year earlier, Norfolk County Fair vendors were told to stop selling Confederate flags after complaints.

Last year, a Chatham-Kent councillor refused to take down a Facebook post showing a Dukes of Hazzard "General Lee" toy car, which has the Confederate flag on its roof, after complaints from a local resident. The councillor, Trevor Thompson, told CBC it was a childhood toy, and said only one person had complained.

Congress urged to remove Confederate statues on Capitol Hill as Virginia protesters topple monument
Photo of General Lee car on CK councillor's Facebook page causes a stir

Sutton High School, north of Toronto, banned students from wearing Confederate flag paraphernalia in 2013, with some students telling the Toronto Star they saw it as representing "country values" rather than racism. A year later, four teens at the same school were charged with assault after a black student was beaten while onlookers yelled racist slurs.


Georgetown High School had the Confederate flag on team merchandise until 1989, and only dropped "Rebels" from its team name in recent years.


Toronto Coun. Neethan Shan pushed for a ban on the Confederate flag from city-owned spaces and events in 2017 after a Dukes of Hazzard General Lee replica turned up at the Highland Creek Festival.

Belleville Mayor Mitch Panciuk said he does see some decals and licence plates with the flag, but called such sightings "unusual."

Regardless, Kyra Nankivell thinks Ontario should acknowledge its own legacy of racism and consider banning the Confederate flag from public display.

"Even if people don't tie it directly to oppression of Black people and slavery, the fact that a marginalized community does tie it to those things — and it makes them feel uncomfortable — should be a big enough reason."

With files from Ontario Morning and Ryan Patrick Jones

Trans Mountain pipeline shuts as crews clean spill in Abbotsford, B.C.

8 hrs ago

© (Ben Nelms/CBC) Workers are pictured at the Trans Mountain Pipeline in Burnaby, B.C., on June 17, 2019.

ABBOTSFORD, B.C. — A crude oil spill from the Trans Mountain pipeline in Abbotsford, B.C., has been contained and crews are working to clean up the site.

The company says in a news release that an alarm was received early Saturday and the pipeline was immediately shut down as crews went to investigate.

The statement says the pipeline remains closed, an incident command post has been set up to manage the cleanup and local authorities have been informed.

It says an investigation into the cause of the spill is underway and there's no estimated volume of what spilled at the time, but that it has been fully contained.

The Transportation Safety Board says it has also deployed an investigator to the spill that occurred in a pump station.

The Crown-owned pipeline moves about 300,000 barrels of crude per day from Alberta to B.C.'s terminal near Vancouver.