Mediaboss Marketing

Employees at QFC and Fred Meyer stores are saying a ban on Black Lives Matter buttons violates federal labor law and their union contract.

SEATTLE In another struggle over protest symbols in the workplace, employees at QFC and Fred Meyer stores are saying a ban on Black Lives Matter buttons violates federal labor law and their union contract.

Both companies are operated under Kroger.

On Tuesday, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 21 filed an unfair labor charge with the National Labor Relations Board against QFC and Fred Meyer, both owned by Seattle-based supermarket giant Kroger.

Many employees and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union say its wrong to not allow employees to wear Black Lives Matter buttons and other messages on the job.

Kroger said they have offered wristbands with inclusive messages.

In a statement, Kroger said the bracelets were distributed in July and "represents our commitment to Standing Together with our Black associates, customers and communities against racism in all forms, and the other to serve as a reminder of Our Values that guide us."

Sam Dancy, an employee at the QFC in West Seattle, said that the wrist bands are black and white and say "standing together."

"The particular wrist band that has a sign that just says standing together. Theyre simply black and white. And standing together for what? If youre standing together with us, you would let us wear these," Dancy said.

Fred Meyer and QFC are not the only organizations that have faced heat from employees and union members over not being able to wear BLM masks, buttons or other supporting apparel.

Back in June, Starbucks initially forbid employees from wearing Black Lives Matter pins, saying the phrase could amplify divisiveness," according to the New York Times.

The company has since reversed its policy and now allows employees to wear Black Lives Matter pins and shirts.

Starbucks stands in solidarity with our Black partners, community and customers, and understands the desire to express themselves, Starbucks said in a statement. We continue to listen to our partners (employees) about how they want to take a stand for justice, while proudly wearing the green apron and standing united together.

American Airlines is also allowing employees to wear Black Lives Matter pins on their uniforms, calling it a matter of equality and not politics. Delta Airlines enacted a similar policy.

Read more here:
Fred Meyer, QFC employees say they can't wear Black Lives Matter buttons - KING5.com

Find all of the most important pandemic education news on Educating N.J., a special resource guide created for parents, students and educators. As schools reopen across N.J., we want to know what is and isnt working. Tell us about it here.

The Middletown school district has ordered two signs that it deemed to be political messages taken down at its high school, one with the phrase Black Lives Matter and the other with Make America Great Again.

Former Board of Education candidate Mike Craig posted a photo of one of the images, a rainbow-colored Black Lives Matter message to Facebook, that read, In this class, we believe Black Lives Matter, womens rights are human rights, no human is illegal, science is real, love is love, kindness is everything. The message was posted on a science teachers desk in the front of the classroom, according to a screenshot of the post.

In Craigs post, which garnered more than 1,600 comments, he encouraged parents to e-mail the school administration and demand it taken down.

Other Facebook posts showed a Make America Great Again banner, posted on a history teachers classroom door. The banner contained an American flag, President Donald Trumps name and the words, The 45th U.S. President with his slogan beneath it.

Middletown Board of Education President Pam Rogers said both teachers were asked to take their signs down after Walker received several angry emails from parents.

The reason they were taken down from what I understand is that both were disrupting the classroom, Rogers told NJ Advance Media. In other words, students were either upset about things they saw on Facebook so whether they were in favor or against the signs, it was causing a lot of disruption in the classroom.

The We believe Black Lives Matter message was created by a woman in Wisconsin in the immediate aftermath of the 2016 election, though has since become a widely shared message promoting tolerance and progressive values. The Make America Great Again slogan was registered as a service mark by Donald Trump in 2015, shortly after he announced his run for President, and has come to be seen as his main campaign slogan.

Superintendent Mary Ellen Walker notified the school community of the removal at Middletown High School North in a brief statement related to recent events in the district.

Public schools have the responsibility to present information, aligned to the state standards and our district curriculum, in an objective manner, Walker wrote. Please be advised that this matter has been reviewed and mutually resolved in support of our efforts to promote a positive learning environment for all students.

The decision comes on the heels of a June letter, signed by more than 1,000 students, alumni and parents, calling on the school district to diversify its curriculum and prioritize anti-racism.

It is also imperative that the MTPSD commits to ensuring that ongoing discussions on topics such as racism, police brutality, mass incarceration, and white privilege are held within the classroom throughout the year, the letter reads.

In the same month as the letter, Jada Tulloch, Middletown High School Norths 2020 valedictorian, called out racism at Middletown schools with a viral video posted to Instagram. After her classmates gathered outside the Board of Education building to protest their in-person graduation being canceled, Tulloch urging students to stop trying to invalidate the Black Lives Matter movement and the protests against police brutality by comparing the injustices faced by minorities to the oppression that youre facing from the Board of Ed."

Rogers, a Democrat in a town where 60 percent of residents voted for Trump in 2016, said she personally did not agree that the items equally merited removal, but that the decision was made by the superintendent and informed by the districts legal department.

Craigs Facebook post called Rogers out by name, in whats become a heated fight for Rogers' re-election with plenty of mud-slinging from her opponents. A YouTube video from the channel Middletown Anonymous was posted last week, connecting Rogers to the Defund the Police movement, which she vehemently denies.

Its just ludicrous, ridiculous, insignificant, silly," Rogers said. Theres no ill will between Pam Rogers and the Middletown Police Department.

Walker did not respond to a request for comment.

As schools reopen across N.J., we want to know what is and isnt working. Tell us about it here.

Josh Axelrod may be reached at jaxelrod@njadvancemedia.com. Have a news tip or a story idea about New Jersey schools? Send it here.

Read more from the original source:
MAGA and Black Lives Matter signs ordered taken down at N.J. high school - nj.com

Your necessary airing of the views of young black Britons (Young, British and Black, 29 July) raises vital questions. What is important is what can be done to make their lives better. I have two adopted African-Caribbean children and have regularly discussed their experiences with them and I have found that authorities are supportive if problems are drawn to their attention.

My son was bullied by older children on his way home from primary school. When we took this up with the head, action was so effective that it stopped instantly. At secondary school a teacher used a racist insult and, instead of discussing it with us, my son wrote to the county education authorities, who contacted the school and the teacher was disciplined (he was later sacked for hitting a pupil).

Later, my sons only problems have been in London, where he was stopped too many times by the police. He has experienced no obvious racism at work, where he has been successful (but its not possible to tell if there has been any underlying prejudice).

It is clear that there are some overtly racist people in the police and elsewhere in authority, but the more universal problem is unconscious bias. Workplace training is essential and, importantly, should include tests to demonstrate to individuals how their underlying attitudes affect their responses to black people.Name and address supplied

The most disturbing aspect of the interviews with young black people is the reported amount of racism in schools. It is understandable, if wrong, that so many white children first learn racial prejudice from their parents. But it is unacceptable that so many teachers are allowing this to persist in their schools. Education is precisely the forum in which the elimination of racism should start. This issue should be fully covered in teacher training. Headteachers should make anti-racism part of their schools ethics. Teachers who do not comply should be removed.Robin WendtChester

The young voices in your special report are dignified, defiant and moving. The bullying experienced from a very young age shames white culture at every level. Jimmy McGoverns TV film Anthony is a tragic exposure of what racism can lead to. We all need to see it.John AirsLiverpool

More here:
Listen to the young voices of the Black Lives Matter movement - The Guardian

The intensification of the Black Lives Matter movement in the US in recent months has led to radical reform and action.

The police officers responsible for the killing of George Floyd were all charged with serious offences, including one with second-degree murder. The city of Minneapolis voted to replace its police force with a new system of public safety, while other cities have slashed their police budgets.

The BLM and Stop First Nations Deaths in Custody protests across Australia since early June have similarly called for charges against police officers and prison guards responsible for deaths in custody, as well as an end to racialised police violence.

Another major protest is scheduled for today in Sydney amid warnings from Prime Minister Scott Morrison that demonstrators would be breaking the law by attending after organisers lost their appeal to overturn the Supreme Court ruling blocking it.

Organisers offered to call it off if Premier Gladys Berejiklian committed to an investigation into the 2015 death of Aboriginal prisoner David Dungay Jr.

The co-chair of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services, Nerita Waight, said last month,

we cannot be silent while police violence is unchecked and continues to kill our people.

There has also been a push to implement the 339 recommendations of the almost 30-year-old Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, which call for the use of arrest and imprisonment as a last resort, safer police and prison practices, independent investigations into deaths in custody and Aboriginal self-determination.

In recent decades, however, governments have defunded many First Nations organisations and programs that would enable successful implementation of these recommendations.

Read more: Can you socially distance at a Black Lives Matter rally in Australia and New Zealand? How to protest in a coronavirus pandemic

While there has been no movement on these larger structural issues just yet, the BLM protests have resulted in smaller victories.

This month, the South Australian government committed to funding a custody notification service to ensure all Aboriginal people who enter police custody have access to a call to the Aboriginal Legal Services.

This service was recommended by the royal commission and has saved First Nations lives in other states and territories.

Another victory has been the initiation of a NSW parliamentary inquiry into how First Nations deaths in custody are investigated.

Ken Wyatt, the federal Indigenous affairs minister, has also met with Aboriginal peak organisations to discuss incorporating justice targets in the new Closing the Gap measures.

Yet, these targets have not yet reined in police powers and the discriminatory over-policing of First Nations adults and children.

Overwhelmingly, the Commonwealth and state governments have responded to the BLM protests in Australia with condemnation.

Police commissioners and political leaders in several states have sought to block protests to prevent the spread of coronavirus, threatening arrests and issuing fines.

NSW Police Minister David Elliott said of the move to push ahead with todays rally,

its actually arrogance and its probably the most dangerous act that anybody could do during a pandemic is organise a mass gathering.

Government leaders say they understand the cause and support the BLM movement, but not the means.

Yet, they still have not responded to the movements demands for mitigating police violence against First Nations people.

In fact, when police attacks on Aboriginal people have been captured on phone cameras and televised in recent months, they have been defended by the police, commissioners and ministers.

There have been at least five First Nations deaths in custody this year, with two in the last month alone.

There are also increasing concerns for the lives of First Nations people in prisons as COVID-19 has begun to spread in institutions and youth detention centres in Victoria.

Read more: 'I can't breathe!' Australia must look in the mirror to see our own deaths in custody

Urgent and systemic change is required to claw back decades of extended police powers in NSW under the Law Enforcement Powers and Responsibilities Act and redress the lack of accountability for the 438 First Nations deaths in custody since 1991 and the 99 deaths investigated by the royal commission.

However, there are internal and external factors preventing this type of structural change.

On the one hand, the police have considerable power in Australia to influence decision-making at the parliamentary level and the way the tabloid media report on policing. The police unions also run active campaigns to defend officers charged in deaths in custody cases.

On the other hand, there has been a national silence about racialised police violence and deaths in custody of First Nations people. Gomeroi scholar Alison Whittaker describes this silence as embedded in colonisation and white supremacy.

The BLM movement has stimulated critical discussions in Australia on racial injustice and how First Nations people have challenged and resisted racialised policing and custodial practices.

It has also opened up conversations on the historic role of the police in the assimilation, enslavement and massacre of First Nations peoples. These practices have disrupted First Nations cultures, laws, families, connections to Country, languages, health and well-being.

This is precisely why a holistic, nationwide truth-telling process is so critical to hold the police to account for enforcing policies to eliminate First Nations people in the past and today. We must decolonise our legal system to remove assumptions about the central role of the police in managing First Nations communities.

Read more: Despite 432 Indigenous deaths in custody since 1991, no one has ever been convicted. Racist silence and complicity are to blame

Truth-telling is not a one-off event, but a process of ongoing exchange. This requires reforming the education system: for instance, by emphasising diversity and cultural competency in the law and justice programs that produce the next generation of police and legal professionals. It also requires a commitment to independent investigations for deaths in custody and police violence.

Truth-telling can be a mechanism for structural change and reparations, as well. This requires resetting police strategies to reduce their disproportionate surveillance of First Nations people and ensuring police accountability.

Enacting policies, such as the NSW Police Aboriginal Strategic Direction 2018-2023 to improve relationships between officers and Aboriginal communities, is meaningless if Aboriginal people are still being disproportionately stopped and searched as part of police detection targets.

In the absence of truth-telling processes, police accountability and government commitments to de-centre the police from the lives of First Nations people, the BLM street protests will continue. Its the only way for First Nations people and their allies to be heard, to educate and to elevate calls for justice.

See the original post:
Instead of demonising Black Lives Matter protesters, leaders must act on their calls for racial justice - The Conversation AU

The 140-foot mural is on the side of a building in downtown Spokane, Washington -- sponsored in part by Terrain, a local arts nonprofit. Terrain, along with digital advertising agencies 14Four and Seven2, hired 16 artists to decorate and paint each letter in Black Lives Matter, according to CNN affiliate KXLY.

To some, though, it was insulting. The mural, completed less than two weeks ago, was vandalized on Wednesday.

But the community isn't letting the negative response hinder the effort. A fundraiser to restore the mural has already raised more than $10,000.

Artist Nicholas Sironka designed and painted the "A" in "Black" of the mural, a letter that received the brunt of the white paint. He wasn't surprised the mural had been vandalized, he told CNN.

"I just feel that the whole Black Lives Matter now to me has more meaning, unity of purpose. Everybody is unified to one purpose and that is eradicating inequality and injustice and all those things put together," he said.

Kiantha Duncan, vice president of the Spokane chapter of the NAACP, said she had a visceral reaction to seeing the photos.

This isn't the only BLM mural that has been defaced in recent weeks. In Spokane, a mural of George Floyd was defaced with white paint, though it has now been restored.

Read the original post:
A Black Lives Matter mural is defaced with red, white and blue paint in Washington state - CNN