Oklahoma City

George Floyd updates: Protests growing in Philadelphia, Washington

The death of George Floyd, a black man who died on Memorial Day after he was pinned down by a white Minnesota police officer, has sparked outrage and protests in Minneapolis, across the United States and across the world. Second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter charges have been filed against Derek Chauvin, the ex-officer who prosecutors say held his knee on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes. The three other officers have been charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting manslaughter.

George Floyd funeral: Service underway in North Carolina

Hundreds of mourners mostly dressed in all white gathered in Raeford, North Carolina, on Saturday to celebrate the life of George Floyd who died shortly after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was seen on video kneeling on Floyd's neck. The public memorial services were held Saturday at the Cape Fear Conference B Headquarters, an affiliate with The United American Free Will Baptist Denomination. Floyd was born in North Carolina.

Buffalo cops plead not guilty in protester shoving

In a viral video, the officers are seen shoving an elderly man, who then fell to the ground and hit his head, and remains in "critical condition."

ICE special agents detain Floyd protester in NYC

"The fact that he's a man of Puerto Rican descent is really concerning because it raises questions about racial profiling," said Terry Lawson, of the Immigrant Defense Project.

'Sick with remorse': Cyclist charged with assaulting teen protesters who put up justice for George Floyd posters says he's 'committed to making amends'

Anthony Brennan III was charged with three counts of second-degree assault after being seen attacking young people while on a trail in Maryland.

Family of campers accused of having ties to antifa menaced by gunmen: Police

A family of four trying to enjoy a day of camping on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state cut their trip short when several people allegedly armed with rifles accused the family of having ties to anitfa, said police. The Spokane family, which officials described as multi-racial, called police on Wednesday evening when they were left stranded after "someone" placed trees across a roadway and prevented them from leaving the campgrounds. Earlier in the day, the husband and wife along with their 16-year-old daughter and the husband's mother, went to a store to buy camping supplies when they were confronted in the parking lot by up to eight cars loaded with people, police said.

Democrats to introduce sweeping police misconduct and racial bias reform bill

Congressional Democrats are set to unveil sweeping legislation intended to address elements of police misconduct and racial bias following the killing of George Floyd in police custody along with the deaths of other people of colour at the hands of law enforcement.The proposed bill — currently called The Justice in Policing Act of 2020 — would make it easier to prosecute police misconduct and recover damages from officers found to have violated the constitutional rights of civilians.

Two Buffalo officers charged with assault over police shoving 75-year-old man to ground

If the man, Martin Gugino, 75, was being disorderly, officers could have arrested him, the prosecutor said. "You don't take a baton and shove it ... and knock him down, and crack his head."

Police are not allowed to use tear gas, Colorado judge orders. Here’s why

“If a store’s windows must be broken to prevent a protester’s facial bones from being broken or eye being permanently damaged, that is more than a fair trade.”

Police are not allowed to use tear gas, Colorado judge orders. Here’s why

“If a store’s windows must be broken to prevent a protester’s facial bones from being broken or eye being permanently damaged, that is more than a fair trade.”

'She should be with us': Louisville protesters remember Breonna Taylor

People gathered to mourn the unarmed black woman shot dead by police in March – and vowed to never give up in the fight for justiceBreonna Taylor would have been 27 on Friday, but most of the people who showed up in downtown Louisville to mark that milestone did not know her. A lot probably wish they had never heard her name.If Taylor had not been shot dead by police in March, her mother believes she would have been out here on the streets herself, protesting against the deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis and David McAtee here, and demanding reform and an end to police brutality, just like the protesters who had shown up for her.As an emergency medical technician (EMT), maybe she would have been be a volunteer medic at the mass demonstrations that have convulsed the city over the course of almost two weeks. Or maybe – having risked her own health to work in the emergency room through the coronavirus pandemic – she’d be handing out protective masks. “I’m so grateful to everybody,” said Tamika Palmer, Taylor’s mother, as she gave brief remarks at a gathering that was half celebration of life, half protest.“Y’all don’t understand. It started off lonely, but it’s so amazing to see so many people standing up for her, just saying her name. And trust: if it was anybody else, Breonna would be out here doing the same thing. And that’s what I want people to understand about her.”It has been nearly three months since Taylor was killed in her home. Plainclothes cops had been serving a no-knock search warrant in a narcotics investigation when they burst through her door in the first hour of 13 March while Taylor was sleeping. Her boyfriend Kenneth Walker, a licensed gun owner, grabbed his gun and fired off a shot, thinking they were witnessing a home invasion. He hit an officer in the leg.Police fired back more than 20 times, killing Taylor and sending bullets flying into a neighboring apartment. No drugs were found.Yet after her killing, Louisville metro police department described her as a suspect. Her boyfriend was charged with attempted murder of a police officer, and a police union called him an “attempted cop killer”. The cops involved in the incident were not wearing body cameras.Charges against Walker have since been dropped, but the officers still have their freedom and their jobs, driving anger in Louisville. That anger has been compounded by the death of McAtee, who was shot and killed at his barbecue stand far from the center of protests early Monday morning as LMPD officers and national guard troops tried to clear a crowd violating curfew.Police say McAtee fired a shot, prompting them to open fire. In violation of policy, officers involved were either not wearing body cameras or did not activate them. The killings – combined with nationwide rage over Floyd’s death and police brutality – have prompted widespread protests in Louisville over the past nine days.On a sweltering Friday afternoon in downtown Louisville, businesses were busy boarding up windows, but the mood at the park was calm, hopeful and welcoming. People signed a large banner wishing Taylor a happy birthday while others wrote birthday cards and letters to the city. A woman painted a portrait of Taylor.“I’d just like to tell her: happy heavenly birthday,” said Tamba Foyah, a 32-year-old artist. “That’s really sad that we have to say heavenly birthday, because she should be here. She should be here celebrating her birthday. I mean, she should be here protesting with us over what happened to George Floyd. She should be with us.”As he walked through the crowd, Foyah was holding an artwork he’d made showing black bodies hanging in nooses from the barrel of a pistol. “Nothing has really changed,” he said. “It’s just we’re not hanging from trees any more. We’re just hanging from their weapons,” he said, referring to the police.A 22-year-old who identified himself as Bam Bam was signing a long banner wishing Taylor a happy birthday.“What I did was, I told Breonna happy b-day, and we want her to look over us,” he said. “Man, it’s hard, and it’s crazy that we have to lightweight turn half the city up so people can hear our voices. It’s not right and it’s not cool.And Breonna, baby, if you hear us: we love you, we sorry that this BS happened to you and we all here for you.”He added: “We letting the world know what it really is, what it’s like to be a black person in America. We letting you know what it’s like that we fearing for our life every time we get pulled over by the police.”Aleah Cohen, 23, was holding a “No justice, no peace” sign for passing cars to see across the street from Metro Hall with her friend Destiny Hancock, 22.“It’s beyond scary. It’s something that could literally happen to any of us, especially because she’s at home, in her bedroom,” Cohen said. “If you can’t be safe at home in bed asleep, where can you be safe?”Cohen says she has experienced racism as a young black woman in Louisville. At an old job, her and a friend got called the N-word and she was accused of stealing. She says HR told her to suck it up.On the night Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016 she says a guy chased her around her neighborhood in a pickup truck. She’s moved since, but one of her neighbors is a cop who she says has pulled her over for no reason and asked if she had a weapon.“Like: we shouldn’t be scared to leave our houses. I shouldn’t be scared to drive around at night,” she said.Hancock said the protest response to Taylor’s death now goes much further than just getting justice for her.“It’s for Breonna to make it about more than Breonna,” she said. “It’s about more than just Breonna – it’s about change long-term.”

NYC official and ex-cop says police profession has been "hijacked"

"I know what it is to have people call you Uncle Tom and hate you, and not realize it was just a few minutes ago I was marching next to you," Eric Adams said.

A New Mexico police officer was charged with involuntary manslaughter after using a neck restraint that killed a man during a traffic stop

The officer was fired and charged on Friday for his role in the death of a 40-year-old man during a traffic stop in February.

Denver police ordered to stop using tear gas on protesters

"The threat to physical safety and free speech outweighs the threat to property," the judge said.

As report shows suicides rising in NC jails, lawmakers propose canceling safety rules

The state had a record year for jail deaths and suicides in 2019. Many show jailers weren’t properly checking inmates, but sheriffs oppose rules that would increase supervision and screening.

New York prosecutors charged 2 Buffalo police officers with assault after video showed them shoving a 75-year-old protester to the ground

The Erie County District Attorney's Office announced the charges after a video went viral showing activist Martin Gugino, 75, shoved to the ground.

Cuomo: "We have a moment here where we can make change"

Cuomo spoke as protests against police brutality and the death of George Floyd stretch into a second weekend.

Britain's Banksy depicts U.S. flag on fire in Floyd tribute

Reclusive British street artist Banksy published a new artwork online on Saturday which depicts the United States flag being set alight by a candle that forms part of a memorial to an anonymous, black, silhouetted figure. The artwork appeared as thousands of people gathered in London and other cities around the world to protest the May 25 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, where a white police officer detaining him knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. Banksy likened racism to a broken pipe flooding a downstairs apartment, and said the downstairs occupants would be entitled to break into the apartment upstairs to fix the problem.

Buffalo cops who shoved elderly protester are charged as hundreds of cheering colleagues gather to support them

The two police officers suspended after video emerged of them shoving a 75-year-old man to the ground were charged on Saturday.In a virtual arraignment at Buffalo’s city courthouse before Judge Craig Hannah, officers Robert McCabe and Aaron Torgalski were charged with second-degree assault.

AOC slams NYC judge for ruling people arrested amid widespread unrest could be held for more than 24 hours without charge

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called the ruling rescinding arrestees' right against indefinite detention during protests "unconstitutional."

‘Everything felt like it was on fire.’ Floyd marchers say they walked into police ambush

Marchers say they were peaceful but targeted by tear gas, pepper balls and flashbang grenades.

Two Buffalo police officers charged with assault in alleged shoving of 75-year-old

A now-viral video of the incident shows longtime social justice activist Martin Gugino, 75, approaching officers before he is apparently shoved and falls back onto the ground.

Buffalo police officers arrested after shoving 75-year-old protester

Two Buffalo, New York, police officers are now facing criminal charges in connection with the graphic caught-on-video shove of a 75-year-old man during a protest, prosecutors said. Officers Aaron Torglaski and Robert McCabe were charged with second-degree assault during their video arraignments on Saturday and were released on their own recognizance. The Thursday protest at Niagara Square had less than 20 demonstrators and several members of Buffalo Police Department's Emergency Response Team, officials said.

Buffalo police arraigned for felony assault, elderly protestor still critical

Two Buffalo police officers were arraigned on Saturday on felony assault charges after a viral video showed them shoving an elderly protestor who remains critically injured after falling at a march against racism. Officers Aaron Torgalski, 39, and Robert McCabe, 32, were part of a unit in tactical gear enforcing an 8 p.m. curfew on Thursday during the protest involving long-time community activist Martin Gugino, 75, Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said in a statement.

Quaranstream: Free events and services to watch online while self-quarantining

As novel coronavirus spreads throughout the United States, millions of Americans are spending more time at home.MORE: Here's everything coming to Disney+ in JuneBut whether you're doing so because of a job loss, working from home situation or otherwise taking part in the mass effort to stay safe, chances are you've been bored once or twice while living under quarantine. ...

Oil workers, Louisiana island residents flee ahead of Storm Cristobal

Tropical Storm Cristobal moved through the U.S. Gulf of Mexico on Saturday carrying strong winds and heavy rains that prompted the evacuation of a coastal Louisiana community and dozens of offshore oil platforms. Cristobal, packing winds of 50 miles per hour (85 km), is expected to strengthen somewhat before making landfall late Sunday along the Louisiana coast, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC). Grand Isle, a barrier island on the Louisiana coast, was under a mandatory evacuation, ahead of a storm surge expected to be as much as 2 feet to 4 feet (1.2 meters) in an area between Morgan City, Louisiana, and the mouth of the Mississippi River.

Before the Death of Manuel Ellis, a Witness Told Police: 'Stop Hitting Him'

TACOMA, Wash. -- A woman who witnessed the arrest of Manuel Ellis, a black man who died during the police encounter in Tacoma, has come forward to dispute the account provided by police, saying officers themselves had initiated a confrontation so violent that she yelled at them to "stop hitting him."Sara McDowell, who was in a car behind the officers, said Friday in an interview that she saw Ellis approach the police car late on the night of March 3 for what she initially thought was a friendly conversation. But that suddenly changed, she said, when an officer threw open the car door and knocked Ellis to the ground.Police have provided a different account, saying that Ellis initiated the confrontation when he picked up a police officer and threw him to the ground, prompting officers to move in to restrain him.McDowell, who recorded parts of the encounter on video, said that the violence of the police response had appeared to her to be unprovoked.In brief video clips captured by McDowell, officers can be seen punching Ellis, 33, while he was on the ground. On one of the video clips, her voice can be heard calling out to them: "Stop. Oh, my God, stop hitting him. Just arrest him.""I was terrified for his life, honestly," McDowell said. "The way that they attacked him didn't make sense to me. I went home and was sick to my stomach."Ellis died in the minutes following his arrest after pleading, "I can't breathe" -- an eerie echo of some of the final words from other black men who have died in police custody, including Eric Garner and George Floyd.McDowell said she did not realize until this week that Ellis had died in the aftermath of what she saw.The Pierce County Sheriff's Department, which has been investigating the death, had no immediate comment on McDowell's account or on the two videos she posted of the arrest.The county medical examiner's office reported this week that Ellis died from respiratory arrest, hypoxia and physical restraint and categorized the death as a homicide. The report listed methamphetamine intoxication and heart disease as contributing factors.After McDowell's videos were posted online Thursday, Tacoma's mayor, Victoria Woodards, released a video message late Thursday night saying she was enraged by what she saw and was directing the city manager to fire all of the officers involved."The officers who committed this crime should be fired and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," Woodards said.While the videos show only two officers arresting Ellis, the Tacoma Police Department has identified four officers involved in the arrest: Christopher Burbank, 34; Matthew Collins, 37; Masyih Ford, 28; and Timothy Rankine, 31. Two of the officers are white, while one is black and one is Asian, according to the Police Department.After the death, the officers had been placed on leave but then returned to work because no policy violations were found. They were placed on leave again this week.On the night of his death, Ellis had been jubilant after playing drums at a church service, family and friends said. Marcia Carter, his mother, said he called her late that night as he returned home and told her that he was feeling good."I'm just coming from church, Mom, feeling real good," Carter recalled him saying. "I'm ready to give my life to Christ. I want to live it right. I want to raise my kids. I want to be around in their lives. I want to do the right thing."Family members said he later went out to get a snack from a convenience store.Detective Ed Troyer of the Pierce County Sheriff's Department said earlier that before the arrest, Ellis was bothering people in vehicles, approached the officers and then violently attacked one of them when they stepped out of the vehicle, throwing one officer to the ground.The first video captured by McDowell begins in the middle of the encounter, showing two officers taking Ellis to the ground on the road in front of some garbage cans. With Ellis on his back, one of the officers got down on his knees and began punching Ellis.In a later clip, as McDowell drove past the scene, video showed the officers asking Ellis to put his hands behind his back. The officers appeared to have Ellis subdued and on his side.Troyer said earlier this week that Ellis at one point called out, "I can't breathe," and the officers called for medical support and propped Ellis on his side. He has said that Ellis was breathing when medics arrived but that though personnel worked on him for more than half an hour, he did not survive.The officers were not wearing body cameras, and Woodards said Thursday that she would push to get funding for body cameras.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company

Cities Ask if It's Time to Defund Police and 'Reimagine' Public Safety

After more than a week of protests against police brutality and unrest that left parts of the city burned, a growing chorus of elected officials, civic leaders and residents in Minneapolis are urging the city to break up the Police Department and reimagine the way policing works."We are going to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department," Jeremiah Ellison, a member of the City Council, said on Twitter this week. "And when we're done, we're not simply gonna glue it back together," he added. "We are going to dramatically rethink how we approach public safety and emergency response."At least three others, including the City Council president, Lisa Bender, have also called for taking the Police Department apart.Minneapolis is not the only city asking the question. Across the country, calls to defund, downsize or abolish police departments are gaining new traction after national unrest following the death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white police officer pressed a knee into his neck for nearly nine minutes on a busy Minneapolis street.On Wednesday, Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles announced that he would cut as much as $150 million from a planned increase in the Police Department's budget. And in New York, Corey Johnson, the City Council speaker, and Daniel Dromm, a council member from Queens, vowed even before the latest protests to cut the Police Department's $6 billion budget, which they noted had been left almost untouched even as education and youth programs faced steep cuts.The calls to redirect money away from the police come as cities face steep budget shortfalls because of the economic fallout from the coronavirus, and as public anger against police brutality has roiled the country. Redirecting funding is one of the few levers that elected officials have over the police, who are frequently shielded by powerful unions and labor arbitrators who reinstate officers fired for misconduct.Dromm, chair of the city's finance committee, said that in order to restore some funding to youth programs he was considering a delay in the next class of police cadets and scrutinizing the $700 million in police overtime that has been budgeted for this year. He said the events of recent days -- including police officers' treatment of peaceful protesters -- had shown that years of efforts to reform the department had not succeeded."The culture in the New York City Police Department has not changed," he said. "The white shirts, the commanding officers, they kind of get it and talk the talk, but the average beat cop doesn't believe in it and we've seen this over and over again."In Minneapolis, calls to dismantle the police are likely to further demoralize a force that already is reeling from the killing of Floyd, the criminal charges filed against four former officers, looting in the city and the burning of a police precinct."That's not the answer," said Gwen Gunter, a retired lieutenant of the Minneapolis Police Department who is also a member of a black police officers association."There's a part of me that hopes they do succeed," she said, "because I want to see how long it takes before they say, 'Oh, no we do need a Police Department.'"The Minneapolis police chief, Medaria Arradondo, pledged Friday to "continue to work on efforts to improve public trust, public safety and transformational culture change of the MPD." His statement did not address the recent calls to dismantle the department.Those who support the movement to scale back the responsibilities of the police say officers frequently abuse their power and instigate violence rather than prevent it. They say many social welfare tasks that currently fall to armed police officers -- responding to drug overdoses and working with people who have a mental illness or are homeless -- would be better carried out by nurses or social workers.One model that members of the Minneapolis City Council cite is Cahoots, a nonprofit mobile crisis intervention program that has handled mental health calls in Eugene, Oregon, since 1989. Cahoots employees responded to more than 24,000 calls for service last year -- about 20% of the area's 911 calls -- on a budget of about $2 million, probably far less than what it would have cost the Police Department to do the work, said Tim Black, the program's operations coordinator."There's a strong argument to be made from a fiscally conservative perspective," Black said. "Public safety institutions generally have these massive budgets and there's questions about what they are doing."But handing over one aspect of police work is not a panacea. Eugene has had at least two officers shoot people in the past year.Last year, after a campaign by a group called Durham Beyond Policing, the City Council in Durham, North Carolina, voted against hiring 18 new police officers and began discussing a "community safety and wellness task force" instead.Minneapolis took a step in that direction last year when it redirected funding for eight new police officers into a new office for violence prevention."We have an opportunity to reimagine what the future of public safety looks like," said Steve Fletcher, a City Council member who pushed that effort. But he acknowledged that the effort to build a viable alternative to the police on social and mental health issues would take years and that no one could be sure what it would look like in the end."It's very easy as an activist to call for the abolishment of the police," said Fletcher, himself a former activist who protested a 2015 police shooting. "It is a heavier decision when you realize that it's your constituents that are going to be the victims of crime you can't respond to if you dismantle that without an alternative."Black activists in the city have been calling for the police to be dismantled for years, issuing a report in 2018 that argued that the oppression of poor people and black people was baked into the very founding of the department in 1867. Police reform has roiled politics in the city for years, and politicians who have been seen as slow to reform have been defeated. But only recently have calls to dismantle the police been widely embraced by white leaders in the city.In Linden Hills, a predominantly white Minneapolis neighborhood near a golf course and two lakes that has not seen very many of the overly aggressive police tactics that the city's black residents complain about, residents acknowledge that the department needs to be significantly reformed. But they have been leery of pledges to abolish the police."What does that even mean?" asked Steve Birch, the chair of the Linden Hills Neighborhood Council. "Then who provides the public service of policing? I don't even know how to answer that."But in Kingfield, a neighborhood in South Minneapolis not far from where Floyd died, Chris DesRoches, the president of the neighborhood association, said he supported defunding the department."The killing of George Floyd has opened the eyes of people to the worst case scenario of police," he said, adding that the case has created an opportunity "for white people to start hearing what communities of color and community leaders have been saying all along, which is that the police are an organization which has been actively harmful to our communities."Mayor Jacob Frey has said he does not support calls to dismantle the department. On Friday, City Council members voted to accept a civil rights investigation by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights and to adopt updates to the Police Department's use of force policy that include a ban on chokeholds. The topic of eliminating some of the department's functions was not discussed.Still, council members acknowledged during their debate that something had changed fundamentally in the way that city residents view the police. The University of Minnesota, as well as the school board and the parks department in Minneapolis, decided in recent days to cut ties with the Police Department.Many in Minneapolis have said that Floyd's death provided a stark illustration of how far efforts to institute reforms in the wake of the 2015 police shooting of Jamar Clark, a 24-year-old African American man, had fallen short.After that shooting, police officers received implicit bias training and body cameras. The department appointed its first black police chief. Community policing was emphasized. Policies were rewritten to include a "duty to intervene" if an officer saw a colleague endangering a member of the public -- a policy that was key to the swift firing and arrest of the four officers involved in Floyd's death.But those reforms were not sufficient to prevent Floyd's death."The fact that none of the officers took the initiative to follow the policy to intervene, it just became really clear to me that this system wasn't going to work, no matter how much we threw at it," said Alondra Cano, who heads the City Council's public safety committee.Cano, who says she was part of a "prosecute the police" campaign while she was a college student, acknowledged that it might take years to build viable alternatives. But she said many city residents, some of whom have formed mutual protection neighborhood groups in the wake of the unrest, were ready to try."There's a moment of deep commitment that I've never seen before, and that gives me leave as an elected official to start experimenting with other systems," she said.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company

George Floyd Did Not Resist Arrest: Witness

“I’m going to always remember seeing the fear in Floyd’s face because he’s such a king.”

We must keep fighting for justice for Breonna Taylor. We must keep saying her name

Black women are rarely centered in narratives about police violence and they are rarely the catalysts for mass outrageSign up for the Week in Patriarchy, a newsletter​ on feminism and sexism sent every Saturday. Justice for Breonna TaylorYou are not safe driving while black in America. You are not safe walking while black. You are not even safe sleeping at home while black – as the death of Breonna Taylor tragically demonstrates. In the early hours of 13 March Taylor, a certified EMT who hoped to become a nurse, was shot to death by plainclothes police officers while asleep in her apartment in Louisville, Kentucky. The officers were executing a no-knock search warrant and broke down a door to get in; Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, says he didn’t hear officers announce themselves and thought it was a home invasion. Walker, a licensed gun owner, responded by shooting an officer in the leg; they fired more than 20 rounds in return and Taylor was hit at least eight times.Taylor would have turned 27 on Friday. She should have been celebrating. She should have had many decades of life ahead of her. Instead she is a hashtag. Meanwhile, the officers involved in her shooting haven’t been charged with any crimes. Nor have they been fired; they are on administrative leave. Taylor’s family have filed a wrongful death lawsuit and the FBI’s Louisville office announced that it would be opening an investigation into Taylor’s death on 21 May; since then, however, there doesn’t seem to have been much movement in the case.Taylor hasn’t gotten justice yet, but she hasn’t been forgotten: protesters around the world are chanting her name. Nevertheless, the public outrage over Taylor’s death has been somewhat belated. Had it not been for the massive protests sparked by George Floyd’s murder, it’s unlikely that Taylor would have received much, if any, mainstream attention. NPR notes that the earliest news stories covering Taylor’s death didn’t mention her name; they referred to her and Walker as “suspects” and focussed on the injured police officer.Writing for Time, author and professor Brittney Cooper notes black women and girls are often an afterthought in our outrage over police violence – which is why the SayHerName campaign, which draws attention to female victims of state violence, was created in 2015. Cooper posits that one reason outrage over the police killing of black women is often a secondary concern is because many of these deaths have happened out of the public eye: “And in a world where the pains and traumas that black women and girls experience as a consequence of both racism and sexism remain structurally invisible and impermeable to broad empathy, these killings recede from the foreground quietly.”Black women, Cooper explains, also don’t easily fit into “the lynching script, what with its accreting black male victims, overzealous cops and devious white women,” which helps us understand why black men keep getting killed. “Femininity is a weapon only if you’re white,” she writes. “Black women have no such protections.”“The most disrespected person in America, is the black woman,” Malcolm X said in 1962. The most unprotected person in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America, is the black woman.” Over half a century later, not much has changed. Black women are rarely centered in narratives about police violence; they are rarely the catalysts for mass outrage; their deaths are often an afterthought. Which is why we must keep fighting for justice for Breonna Taylor; we must keep saying her name. Egyptian father ‘used coronavirus’ to trick daughters into FGMAn Egyptian man has been charged for allegedly having a doctor carry out a female genital mutilation (FGM) procedure on his three daughters. The man told his daughters, all under 18, they were getting a coronavirus vaccine; the girls were then drugged and mutilated. FGM was made illegal in 2008 in Egypt and requesting or carrying out the procedure carries a prison term. However, no one has been successfully prosecuted under the law so far. Missing Mexican congresswoman’s body foundAnel Bueno, 38, was abducted by armed men in April on Mexico’s Pacific coast, an area dominated by drug cartels, while raising awareness about the coronavirus. Sadly her body has now been found in a shallow grave; a suspect has been detained. Rudy Giuliani and Piers Morgan scream at each other on TVPlease enjoy this absolutely bonkers clip of Morgan and Giuliani slinging insults at each other on breakfast television. And I thought women were supposed to be the emotional ones?! Cate Blanchett injures her head with a chainsawThankfully she is OK. It is not clear what she was doing with the chainsaw, though. A desperate DIY quarantine haircut, perhaps? The ‘UES Mommas’ Facebook group shuts down after racism rowA private Facebook group of 38,000 Manhattan moms has reportedly shut down after members called for more diverse moderators – specifically a black moderator. This is not the first time the group has been embroiled in a racism scandal. Matt Lauer weighing next step in comebackThe former Today show host was fired by NBC in 2017 for an inappropriate relationship with a co-worker. He has also been accused of raping a former co-worker; an allegation he vehemently denies. Apparently, Lauer thinks it is time he returns to public life and is reportedly talking about doing a big TV interview – strategically timed to take advantage of the coronavirus pandemic. “Given [the fact there’d be] no studio audience, it could be a less hostile venue,” a source told Us Weekly. Latin America as deadly as ever for women, say activistsIt has been five years since Argentina rose up against violence against women under the slogan Ni Una Menos (Not One Less), a movement which spread across South America. Despite a wave of public protests, the region remains one of the most dangerous places in the world for women and the coronavirus crisis has compounded the problem of domestic and gender violence. The week in baby raccoonsA New York woman has, for reasons only she knows, been standing outside a 7-Eleven handing out baby raccoons. Health officials are not happy and are on the hunt for the little cubs which, while very cute, are a potential rabies threat and illegal to possess if you’re not a licensed raccoon caretaker. BRB, just going to google where you get one of those licenses.

New Mexico cop charged after man dies in neck restraint

The police officer has been fired after an autopsy report revealed that Antonio Valenzuela died from being placed in a vascular neck restraint.

Judge in Jeffrey Epstein grand jury case has ties to those with a stake in outcome

The Palm Beach judge who has thus far refused to release grand jury records in the Jeffrey Epstein case has both professional and family ties to three of the politicians who have a stake in keeping those records secret, the Miami Herald has learned.

Buffalo mayor says elderly protester pushed to ground by police was an 'agitator'

The mayor of Buffalo has said that the elderly protester filmed being knocked to the ground by police in a now viral video was an “agitator” who has been asked to leave the area “numerous” times.Byron Brown said that the 75-year-old man, Martin Gugino, was trying to “spark up the crowd of people”.

UK's rapid-fire changes on face coverings advice criticized

The British government faced criticism Saturday for another sudden change in its advice on face coverings that has left those running hospitals in England scrambling to work out how they will be able to meet the new requirements. On Friday, as the World Health Organization broadened its recommendations for the use of masks, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said all hospital staff in England will have to wear surgical face masks from June 15 while visitors and outpatients will need to don some sort of face covering.

Bootstrapping gear for coronavirus tests: How companies innovated to solve a critical shortage

The NP swabs are not your typical Q-tip. All these requirements make manufacturing NP swabs complicated. Origin, a California-based 3D printing company, was one of the four manufacturers whose swab prototype was clinically validated by Arnaout’s team.

Washington Mayor Bowser, 'unbought and unbossed,' challenges Trump

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser has drawn a battle line right up to the White House. Bowser, one of seven black female mayors of America's 100 largest cities, on Friday declared a small but symbolic patch of the U.S. capital - a section of 16th Street bounded by a church on one side and Lafayette Square opposite the White House on the other - "Black Lives Matter Plaza." The Democratic mayor then had the District Of Columbia's departments of transportation and public works paint giant yellow letters spelling "Black Lives Matter" followed by the city's flag on the street spanning two city blocks leading to plaza.

Floyd protests and Trump's response gave Washington a week it won't soon forget

Whatever does happen next, one thing is clear: Washington has never seen a week like this one.

Biden wins delegates needed to clinch Democratic nomination

Former Vice President Joe Biden has officially secured the majority of delegates needed to formally be named the Democratic presidential nomination, according to ABC News’ delegate count. The delegate count officially sets up a face-off between Biden and President Donald Trump in November’s general election. Biden has been the only Democratic candidate left in the presidential race since early April, outlasting 28 other candidates for the top spot on the Democratic ticket.

Graphic: What U.S. police are shooting at protesters

George Floyd died as a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes, and his death has triggered a wave of protests across the country and around the world. Police have used a range of weapons against peaceful protesters as well as members of the press during the demonstrations. Chemical irritants include tear gas and pepper spray, which cause sensations of burning, pain and inflammation of the airways.

Looting is inexcusable. So is the ongoing police brutality that steals hopes and dreams.

Incidents of police brutality have followed me. I'm enraged and exhausted. Enough is enough.

After Breonna Taylor's death, a look at other black women killed during police encounters

As George Floyd's death focuses renewed attention on the African American men who have been killed by police officers across the country and the deep-seated issue of bias in policing, advocates are also saying that dozens of African American women over the last few decades who have been killed by police or died in their custody are a part of the conversation that is missing. From Eleanor Bumpers to Alberta Spruill to Breonna Taylor, many African American women were either killed by police or died in police custody. While the rate of death for black women is much lower than black men who die by police brutality, it has been amplified recently by the case of Taylor, whose case is now under investigation by the FBI.

Why 'tough guy' policing fails

Law enforcement's reaction to widespread protests this week could be summed up in an order that was handed down from President Donald Trump to the nation's governors during a phone conference Monday. "Law enforcement response is not gonna work unless we dominate the streets," Trump told governors.

'GMA' Deals and Steals on summer solutions

Tory Johnson has exclusive "GMA" Deals and Steals on everything from soaps and hand creams to cooling jewelry. Find all of Tory's "Deals and Steals" on her special website, GMADeals.com. CONTACT TORY: For those who need assistance with a deal, please email Tory Johnson directly at help@gmadeals.com.

From Eric Garner to George Floyd, 12 black lives lost in police encounters that stoked mass protests

The eerily similar last words of "I can't breathe" uttered by Eric Garner and George Floyd echo across six years of accumulating carnage in the nation's history as protesters in the burning streets of American cities keep pleading for the recurring nightmare to end. From the police chokehold that cost Garner his life in New York City to a police officer pinning Floyd's neck under his knee in Minneapolis, demonstrators are repeating the same complaints that black people are paying the disproportionate and ultimate price of lethal actions of law enforcement. Black lives have been lost in numerous police encounters between Garner's death in 2014 and Floyd's death on May 25.

Why eye protection might be a necessary precaution against COVID-19

As evidence mounts that the virus that causes COVID-19 can be transmitted through your eyes, researchers suggest that people in high-risk categories should wear eye protection, in addition to practicing social distancing and wearing a mask. People in high-risk categories, as indicated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, include older adults and people of any age who have serious underlying medical conditions, in addition to frontline workers. The CDC has not issued formal guidance to the general public for eye protection wear, only for health care workers.

'Stay mad as hell,' says last surviving author of famous report on 1967 riots

The last living member of a commission on the civil unrest of 1967 believes today’s protests are indicative of a broader awareness in American society and could finally lead to lasting improvement in race relations.

New arms race taking shape amid a pandemic and economic crisis. What could go wrong?

Three decades after the Cold War ended without a long-feared nuclear cataclysm, arms control experts are starting to think the sigh of relief heard around the world then might have been premature.