Mediaboss Marketing

The statues of George Floyd in Brooklyn and Newark were defaced late Thursday night, as the long-awaited sentencing of former Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted of Floyds murder, was finalized on Friday, June 25.

Chauvins last effort to request a new trial was denied by Judge Peter A. Cahill of Hennepin County District Court hours ahead of the sentencing, reported The New York Times.

Chauvin was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison.

As the sentence was handed down by Cahill, a gathering of Black Lives Matter supporters, nonviolence organizations, and Councilmember Farah Louis (D-Brooklyn) surrounded the taped off statuea six-foot wooden bust of Floyd atop a five-foot pedestalas it was being repaired on the corner of Flatbush and Nostrand Avenues intersection in Brooklyn.

The sculpture was created by artist Chris Carnabuci and unveiled June 19 by Louis for a Juneteenth celebration this year.

It was so disrespectful for someone to come into our community because we cant go into nobody elses community, right? But you can come into our community and disrespect us. We were so devastated, said Louis at the gathering. I was pissed off for our community because for us George Floyds statue being here was a local landmark for our district. It was an opportunity for schools to bring students and have class trips.

Artist Chris Carnabuci, ConfrontART, the We Are Floyd Foundation, and National Action Network (NAN), a not-for-profit, civil rights organization founded by Rev. Al Sharpton in 1991, helped organize the peaceful demonstration and repair of the statue.

Its a modern-day lynching what he did to George Floyd, said a NAN organizer. All over the world we will never, ever forget this momentum, this moment, this occasion, this situation that has brought us all to our knees as we continue the fight.

Shanduke McPhatter, founder of Gangstas Making Astronomical Community Changes (G-MACC Inc.), which is a nonprofit that battles gun violence, said that incidents like this only encourage more violence in the community.

When we, the Cure Violence Crisis Management System and our partners in the city, see somebody defacing our community, that means we have to step up and do more in our community as well, said McPhatter.

NYPD said the vandalism was reported to police on Thursday at around 3 a.m. Four unidentified males used black spray paint to deface the monument and text on the pedestal and white spray paint was used to stencil PATRIOTFRONT.US on the pedestal over it, said police.

Last night a far-right extremist group vandalized a statue of George Floyd in Brooklyn. A racist, loathsome, despicable act of hate, tweeted Mayor Bill de Blasio. The City Cleanup Corps is repairing the statue right now and a hate crime investigation is underway. We will bring these cowards to justice.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams said hes calling for a federal investigation into the incident in Brooklyn and Newark, as well as any potential connection to the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol this past January.

While vandalism can be cleaned, the desecration of the George Floyd statue in Flatbush is a lasting insult to every New Yorker, said Adams in a statement. Just days after its unveiling on Juneteenth, and a day before the sentencing of Floyds murderer, this defacing that appears connected to a white supremacy hate group may have been an attempt to strike terror into our communityand it should be investigated accordingly.

Enjoyed this story? Please consider making a tax deductible donation to support Ariamas important journalism: bit.ly/amnews1

Excerpt from:
Floyd statues defaced on the eve of Chauvin sentencing - Amsterdam News

Martin Luther King III and the Rev. Al Sharpton will hold a nationwide march against voter suppression on Aug. 28 the 58th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington.

The event, dubbed March On for Voting Rights, comes as legislatures across the country move to tighten up voting rules.

Just under 390 bills have been introduced across 48 states aimed at restricting voting access in some form in the wake of the 2020 presidential election, the marchs organizer, March On, said in a statement.

King in a statement said his father, Martin Luther King Jr., would be greatly disappointed in where we are at this particular moment, but he would not give up on the nation.

He believed in the power of people, the power of young people, and the power of change to come, and I am proud to support March On for Voting Rights to help carry out that change and recommit ourselves to finishing my fathers unfinished work, he said.

Demonstrations are planned in Atlanta, Houston, Miami and Phoenix cities in GOP-led states that have passed controversial voting reform measures since the 2020 elections.

There will also be a march in Washington, D.C., to call for passage of federal voting rights legislation.

March On said the need to pass federal voting rights protections has increase dramatically since the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, when supporters of former President TrumpDonald TrumpAOC said she doubts Biden's win would have been certified if GOP controlled the House Trump aides drafted order to invoke Insurrection Act during Floyd protests: report Overnight Defense: Intel releases highly anticipated UFO report | Biden meets with Afghan president | Conservatives lash out at Milley MORE stormed the buildingon the baseless premise that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

The danger since then has only increased, as numerous elected officials have now codified such lies into law, citing nonexistent voter fraud and public doubts they themselves encouraged, the group said.

The march is being held in partnership with Kings Drum Major Institute, the Service Employees International Union, Sharptons National Action Network and the Future Coalition.

See more here:
Martin Luther King III, Al Sharpton to hold nationwide march against voter suppression | TheHill - The Hill

TheRev. Al Sharptonhas decided not to endorse in the hotly contested 2021 NYC mayoral primary race, but just two days before the June 22 election hes criticizingfrontrunner Maya Wileys diversity record.

When Wiley left the de Blasio administration in 2016 where she served as both Hizzoners counsel and the citys Minority/Women Owned Business Enterprise (WMBE) director less than 5percent of public spending went to those firms even though they account for 30 percent of Big Apple-based companies.

During her two years at City Hall, the portion of total WMBE procurement for the city actually dropped from 5.3 to 4.9 percent, according to the city comptrollers office.

"Ive not reviewed the contracts but much of our work at NAN is aroundeconomic equity and fighting to get MWBE contracts up, not down," Sharpton told The Post about his National Action Network civil rights group.

NYC'S GREENWICH VILLAGE TAKEN OVER BY CRIME, ANARCHY

City Council Majority Leader Laurie Cumbo, who is supporting Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams for mayor, had harsher words for Wileys inability to boost the bucks to minority businesses during her tenure.

"That is a disgrace. Black and brown New Yorkers need economic opportunity, not empty rhetoric," Cumbo said.

Robert L. Greene, head of the National Association of Investment Companies, questioned whether Wiley, a civil rights attorney, is a true progressive given the lack of minority contracting progress under her leadership.

"It is difficult to predict what any candidate will do when they are in office," Greene told The Post.

The Rev. Al Sharpton has decided not to endorse in the hotly contested 2021 NYC mayoral primary race, but just two days before the June 22 election hes criticizing frontrunner Maya Wileys diversity record.

"However the two best indicators seem to be track record and what are the priorities of their biggest supporters. The fundamental question is what did you do when you had an opportunity to lead?

"Unfortunately very little has been done in NYC to more broadly engage with minority business. Despite a progressive agenda the facts are that minority business enterprise (MBE) utilization rates have remained flat, leaving many minority contractors out of getting full and fair consideration.

"I hope the voters in this years NYC mayoral race understand that and elect a mayor that will provide broader opportunities for those that continue to be left behind," Greene said.

And while the MWBE work is in the past, opponents point to her current backing by the 1199 SEIU health care union as evidence that her lack of focus on boosting minority businesses will continue if shes elected mayor.

Greene said less than 2% of the unions $20 billion pension fund is with diverse asset managers.

A recent New York Post poll found Wileyin second placejust behind Adams in the hotly-contested Democratic primary race.

Other critics have attacked Wileysprogressive bona fides. The former NAACP attorney has put her own children in selective and private schools while advocating for a desegregated education system, her exclusive Prospect Park South, Brooklyn neighborhood has private security while she presses to defund the NYPD and shes raked in six-figure salaries as a career "activist."

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Wiley spokeswoman Julia Savel said, A rep for Wiley said, "As head of the MWBE program, Maya Wiley brought together every New York City agency and took New York from $500 million in contracts to $1.6 billion in just two years an unprecedented jump that reflects her deep commitments to creating a New York that lifts up every community.".

To read more from the New York Post, click here.

Continued here:
Al Sharpton and other black leaders attack Maya Wileys diversity record - Fox News

I think that Vice President Harris herself personifies the need for voting rights to be extended, the Rev. Al Sharpton, who attended the speech in Tulsa, said in an interview. When shes on the phone or walks into an office, were looking at the reason we need voting rights.

Michael Waldman, the president of the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law, said that the decision to elevate Ms. Harris as the face of the administrations work on the issue was a pivotal moment for the Biden White House given the number of voter suppression efforts that were moving forward 389 bills in 48 states and counting, according to a tracker maintained the Brennan Center.

It has been decades since a Democratic White House has made voting rights and democracy reform a central goal, Mr. Waldman said, but he added, the clock is ticking.

Ms. Harriss impact on the hand-to-hand politics of the Senate is expected to be limited, but she often drew attention to voting rights during her four years as a senator. During her last year in the Senate, Ms. Harris introduced legislation that would expand election security measures, require each state to have early in-person voting periods and allow for an expansion of mail-in absentee ballots.

In 2020, Ms. Harris was also a co-sponsor of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, which would restore a piece of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that relied on a formula to identify states with a history of discrimination and require that those jurisdictions clear any changes to their voting processes with the federal government. The protections were eliminated by the Supreme Court in 2013.

Still, Ms. Harris, who spent a chunk of her time in the Senate running for president, was not known for building especially close relationships with colleagues, and Mr. Manchin and Ms. Sinema are no exceptions.

Several Democratic aides who work closely with the senators scoffed on Wednesday at the idea that Ms. Harris, known as a staunch liberal, would be the one to persuade either moderate lawmaker to change the filibuster rule. Nor is Ms. Harris a likely candidate to broker the kind of compromise on the substance of the bill needed to persuade Mr. Manchin, the only Democrat who has not sponsored it, to back it.

Read more from the original source:
VP Kamala Harris Asked to Lead on Voting Rights, and It's a Challenge - The New York Times

Nearly one month ago, racial tensions threatened to tear apart an exceedingly rare and productive bipartisan relationship in Congress, a partnership making progress on one of the thorniest political issues of our time: police reform.

U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only black Republican in Congress, declared that America is not a racist country, although he added that it still has work to do on improving race relations and curbing police profiling and brutality.

The backlash from many corners of the black community against Scott, who made the statement in a televised rebuttal to President Joe Bidens address to a joint session of Congress, was fierce. The term Uncle Tim went viral on Twitter for nearly 12 hours before the social media platform stopped allowing it to appear in its trending section. The Rev. Al Sharpton countered that the practice of America was built on racism.

Before that firestorm, Scott was reporting new progress on a reform bill after more than 10 months of stalemate. And the two-term senator praised the work of his Democratic partners, Sen. Cory Booker, a 2020 presidential primary candidate and former mayor of Newark, N.J., credited for decreasing crime and turning the city around, along with Rep. Karen Bass, a California Democrat and a prominent member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Could the cross-party partnership survive the new wave of vitriol directed at Scott after his remarks countering the liberal argument of systemic racism?

Apparently so, because the same trio of lawmakers on Monday issued a joint statement citing renewed momentum in forging a compromise police-reform bill. Scott, Booker and Bass timed the statement to mark Tuesdays one-year anniversary of the death of George Floyd, who was killed by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, sparking months of protests, many of which became violent, in cities across the country.

One year ago, George Floyds murder awakened millions of people around the world who had never before witnessed the deadly consequences of the failures in our policing system, the lawmakers said. While we are still working through our differences on key issues, we continue to make progress toward a compromise and remain optimistic about the prospects of achieving that goal.

If a bipartisan bill is truly within reach, its passage would take pressure off President Biden, who in his joint address promised to help push a measure over the finish line before the Floyd anniversary, only to back off that goal once it became clear Congress wouldnt make the deadline.

The White House has since kept a lighter touch, arguing that it is allowing lawmakers the space to work through the issues, a position White House press secretary Jen Psaki repeated Monday.

[Biden] is encouraged that there is ongoing progress and that there is a sense from negotiators that theres a path forward, and he believes he can continue to press on that, Psaki told reporters during her daily briefing.

Instead of a Rose Garden signing ceremony on a reform bill, Biden will host the Floyd family at the White House Tuesday for a private meeting.

Meanwhile, Bass, Booker and Scott are working through their differences. Chief among them is crafting a compromise on the issue that became the main roadblock to progress last year: whether to lift qualified immunity protection for police officers in civil lawsuits. Scott in early April told RealClearPolitics that he is willing to forge some middle ground, but more recently signaled he will not agree to total elimination of the legal protection.

The bipartisan trio reportedly has met in person three times over the last week in sessions that included the chairs of the Problem Solvers Caucus Reps. Josh Gottheimer, a New Jersey Democrat, and Brian Fitzpatrick, a Pennsylvania Republican.

Last summer, Scott spearheaded a reform measure after an emotional speech on the Senate floor in which he talked about his own unsettling encounters with law enforcement, including one year in which police stopped him seven times. That effort broke down when Senate Democrats led a legislative filibuster to block the bill, with many of them stating that their top problem was that it didnt include an overhaul of qualified immunity protections.

The bipartisan measure lawmakers are hashing out right now would overhaul several policing practices and modify qualified immunity, although they have yet to say exactly how. It would bar racial profiling at every level of law enforcement while trying to stop no-knock warrants and choke-holds by preventing police departments that dont adhere to the standards from receiving federal aid.

The bill would also create a national police misconduct registry so that officers who are fired for such violations could not easily move on to another police department.

But the negotiations arent taking place in a vacuum. It could be difficult to win over the 10 Senate Republicans necessary for the bills passage, especially with new reports of skyrocketing crime in some big cities amid continued high levels of pandemic-produced unemployment. After seeing a 36% increase in murders, Los Angeles, for instance, is set to reverse its $150 million cuts to the departments budget made last year amid calls from the left to defund the police. The infusion of cash will allow the police department to hire 250 more officers.

Susan Crabtree is RealClearPolitics' White House/national political correspondent.

The rest is here:
OPINION | Bipartisan police reform in reach on Floyd anniversary - The Livingston Parish News