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The Greater Atlanta organization maintained an active presence on Facebook, sought donations through GoFundMe, and cheered on the protesters. Weve been blown away by the millions that are coming together to demand justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and countless others whove had their lives taken, said one of its posts in August.

Mr. Page said in private messages that the donations it received were being used to finance the groups activism, federal investigators said. None of the money was used for personal items, Mr. Page wrote in one of the messages. All movement related.

Other groups based in Atlanta have distanced themselves from Mr. Pages organization and its appeals for money. A similarly named but unrelated organization, Black Lives Matter Atlanta, wrote on Facebook, This page will never seek donations. This is a grass-roots collective movement to fight for justice for the disenfranchised, and victims of police brutality.

The Greater Atlanta group stressed in a post in June that donations to it were not tax-deductible: We said it once, and we will say it again, BLMGA is no longer a nonprofit org, we are a social media grass roots org.

The authorities said that Mr. Page established a nonprofit organization in 2016 and opened a bank account for Black Lives Matter of Greater Atlanta Inc. in 2018 with himself as the only signatory. The balance in the account never exceeded $5,000 until May of this year, and at one point it was overdrawn by $12.42.

But then donations exploded.

Investigators found that Mr. Page used a debit card linked to the bank account to pay for food, entertainment, furniture and a home security system. On Aug. 21, the authorities said, he spent $112,000 of the donated money for the house in Toledo and an adjacent lot.

A friend, Ron Goolsby, told The Toledo Blade that he expected Mr. Page to be exonerated. Mr. Page had plans to turn the Toledo house into a shelter for victims of domestic abuse, Mr. Goolsby said. This is all going to be cleared up, for sure, he said.

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Man Spent Donations to Black Lives Matter on Himself, Prosecutors Say - The New York Times

The hamlet of White Sulphur Springs, two hours north-west of New York City, tumbles toward the rolling foothills of the Catskill mountains off New York state route 52 in rural, verdant Sullivan county. The first white settlers, drawn by the dense hemlock forest, set up sawmills; later, dairy farms and tanneries were the areas main economic drivers. But now and for the past hundred or so years, this bucolic wedge of New York countryside relies on tourism.

Nowadays in White Sulphur Springs, theres one inn, a gardening store, a small grocery that doubles as the local post office, a quaint used bookstore, a Methodist church, and a Dollar General.

And, in 2020, a couple of dozen Trump signs. In a town of 377 people, where 351 of those people are white, you cant help but notice the Trump flags, even if youre just driving through.

Sheila Parks says this proliferation of insignia displaying the US presidents name might be her fault, at least inadvertently. Back in late spring, Sheila decided that she was going to put a Black Lives Matter sign and a Biden For President sign in the front lawn of the house where she lives with her husband, Jimmy, and their two teenage sons. Theirs is the only house in White Sulphur Springs with a Biden or a Black Lives Matter sign. Their home is right before the main stretch of town. You cant miss it.

All the Trump signs came up after, she says. It was in response.

Sheila is Catholic but was raised in a Jewish hotel, where her parents worked, in nearby Swan Lake. She remembers guests with tattooed numbers from the Holocaust concentration camps. Her mother grew up in the Bronx, the daughter of Irish immigrants, and Sheila herself has traveled the world and lived in multiple places. Shes also an army veteran.

She credits those experiences with broadening her perspective. We were raised as people who, no matter your race or economic position, everyone should interact equally, Sheila says. Obviously it wasnt that way when I grew up here in the 70s and 80s. They were still using the N-word, you didnt see people of color in positions of power, and its pretty much the same way now.

In 2016, Sheila supported Hillary Clinton, but she didnt feel like she needed to put a sign out. Then, well, Trump won. This time around, she wanted to display a small act of resistance, but she was nervous. White Sulphur Springs is a conservative place youll also see one or two Confederate flags if you drive through and her husbands family are Republicans all the way down, though Jimmy doesnt count himself in that number. She was also concerned about consequences for her children, one of whom is especially supportive of progressive causes on social media.

But that was never going to stop her. She wanted to show that people who didnt cleave to the town orthodoxy of supporting the NRA, Trump, and hating AOC wouldnt be intimidated. And she wanted to show her kids that its important to stand up for what you believe in.

Plus, its not like Sheila is totally without support. Elderly Mrs Hogencamp, across the street, couldnt believe her eyes when she saw the signs. She supports Biden and BLM, but she doesnt want the drama that comes with advertising that. Same goes for the Parks neighbors, a Latino family who moved to White Sulphur Springs about a year ago. And Sheilas friend in town, Christina, is also supportive (her last name is being withheld at her request).

Christina is Puerto Rican and her husband is Black. He has been nervous since the pandemic began because when he wears a mask, people cant see him smile when he goes to the supermarket, and thats the best way to show youre not an angry Black man. When their 13-year-old daughter saw the video of George Floyd being killed by police officers, she was devastated. She was like, Mom, I dont want my dad and my brother to end up this way, Christina remembers. To be a parent and have to express to your child, I cant promise you it wont happen, but Im here for you she trails off. To see Sheilas signs just gave me a little sense of hope. I reached out to her literally in tears. Because its hard.

People drive by the Parks house and yell things like Biden sucks! or Bidens going down! (Occasionally there are more supportive gestures.) But a lot of politically opinionated people in White Sulphur Springs feel like they cant talk to Sheila if theyd even want to. Shes the town liberal, a role she seems to take some pride in. Same goes for her eldest son, 16-year-old Dylan. (Hes very opinionated, says one Trump-supporting woman, who happens to be Dylans aunt. Very opinionated.) For his part, Dylan can wholeheartedly say I dont feel like I belong in this town at all.

No, the individual whos borne the brunt of the backlash is Jimmy Parks, who has lived in White Sulphur Springs for 54 years. Jimmy is like a lot of people in the US: his political identity is not neatly divisible along party lines. I just want a good country, he says. I got kids. Hes voted Republican in the past, but hes colorfully unapologetic about his support for Biden and Black Lives Matter, and as for the Trump administration: They dont care, theyre racist people.

Whereas most of the Trump supporters in town dismiss Sheila out of hand, theyre befuddled by Jimmy. He seems a lot like them: white, working class, from the area and never really left. His family goes way back here. There are people in White Sulphur Springs who simply dont believe that Jimmy believes what he believes. Hes been approached at the store, confronted by cousins and strangers, all questioning why he has those signs on his lawn.

A lot of people in these small towns, they dont understand about equality, how much diversity there is in this country, Jimmy says. As for whether they ever can, hes not all that optimistic. Theres so many people in this country who are truly set in their ways, he reasons. Racist people who just want that Chevrolet, apple-pie lifestyle. Its not that way any more, man, and really at the end of the day, it never was.

April Kissel put up her Trump signs out of political loyalty, not in response to Sheila. She lives with her husband, Joe, in one of the first houses on the road into White Sulphur Springs. Joe is also a Trump fan. He watches Fox Nation all night, and was in the US national guard for nearly two decades after joining in 1969.

The Kissels have had four Trump 2020 placards on their lawn for the past month, but April says shes always advertised her political support, even for local elections. Shes not trying to start a dialogue, but to help other people think a little bit. Especially the people driving through. Its a small town; we all know each other, April says. Which means: where everybody stands politically.

April is Jimmys first cousin, but despite the fact the Kissels and the Parks live half a mile down the road from each other, the families dont interact much. The Biden sign is fine, but I dont agree with the Black Lives Matter sign at all, April says. Black lives arent the only lives that matter. It has nothing to do with politics.

Paul Lindsley feels much the same way. Whether Black, Spanish, white, Chinese all lives matter, he says when I find him sitting on his front porch, with a beautiful view of the hills, smoking a cigarette in a green wool overshirt. Paul is a hunter and a shooter, and he thinks Joe Biden is going to take his guns away. His house is next door to the Parks, and hes actually related to Jimmy, too a distant cousin. As is Judy Bradley, who lives across the street, next door to Mrs Hogencamp. When I first drive out to White Sulphur Springs, the Bradleys have two Trump lawn signs, an All Lives Matter sign, and a fire department sign. Judys not interested in talking. Two weeks later theres a Trump 2020: No More Bullshit flag flying in their yard.

Its not the most ostentatious display in White Sulphur Springs, however. That honor goes to Ed Roth, whose house is bedecked with three large flags: a thin blue/red line flag for policemen and firefighters; a flag depicting Trump standing proudly atop a panzer tank, assault rifle in hand, with an explosion in the background and a bald eagle soaring into battle; and, right in the middle, raised above the other two, an American flag. From the detached garage out back fly two more banners: A No More Bullshit flag and a Gadsden flag, the yellow banner depicting a coiled rattlesnake above the words dont tread on me. (The Gadsden flag was originally designed during the American revolution, but has subsequently been embraced by Confederate war veterans groups, white supremacist groups, and the American Tea Party, lending it the dual symbolism of revolution and racial animosity.)

When he speaks, Roth has to hold his thumb to the hole in his throat, which was cut out on his 50th birthday. The cancer is on his tongue now. Ive beat it twice, he says. Having trouble beating it this time.

To him, flying flags is all about respect. He used to be a Democrat, but he left the party a long time ago. He says hed hang a Confederate sign if he had one. They believed in what they were fighting for, just like the north believed in what we were fighting for, he explains. It was the same thing.

Not everyone is motivated by grievance politics, though. At the far end of town flies a bright blue Keep America Great banner, a gift to logger Dale Klein from his dying grandmother. Klein fashioned a makeshift pole out of two-by-fours painted blue and stapled together to raise the flag in her honor.

Dale is friendly. He refers to strangers as buddy. When I find him, hes wearing a racing cap and a T-shirt that reads Intercourse, PA, which is a real place in the Pennsylvania Dutch country. The makeshift pole where the Keep America Great flag hangs will be replaced by a 30ft aluminum pole as soon as Dale and his coworker find the time to pour concrete for a base.

As for the current set-up, we got a few compliments here and there, but thats about it, Dale says. Never got no complaints.

If theres any self-censorship of political expression in White Sulphur Springs, it isnt only exhibited by supporters of Democratic causes. When Alan Werlau hung a Trump banner from his front deck, his neighbor expressed support, but said he couldnt put one out himself because he works in real estate and is concerned it would harm his business.

The Trump signs just keep going up in White Sulphur Springs, from supporters who run a typological gamut of rural whiteness: a tatted-up biker who lives in an old hotel, a bottle-blond housewife with hot pink nails, men in rocking chairs with cigarettes and American light lagers. Theyre showing support, or acting out of fear or anger, or honoring some long-lost ideal. Mostly theyre affirming an identity.

What there isnt much of is dialogue, in a place you might expect there to be some. Everyone knows each other, after all. The state assembly district that includes White Sulphur Springs has been represented by a Democrat who has run unopposed since 2014. The district voted for Obama twice before swinging to Trump in 2016.

As for the 2020 election, Jimmy Parks knows its importance the pandemic, and its attendant threat to voter turnout, has only heightened the stakes for him. That sumbitch aint gonna stop me from voting, he says, referring to Trump.

The prospect of the US president winning re-election sends his mind to a scary place, though. Or at least an uncomfortable one. Ive been peeing in my backyard and living off the land my whole life thinking this is the greatest country in the world, Jimmy says. But if Trump were to upset the odds again, I think Id want to move, he says despairingly. But where would I go?

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The family whose Black Lives Matter sign shook their conservative town - The Guardian

More than 200 people gathered Saturday afternoon in Portland to protest police brutality and systemic racism, just days after a Kentucky grand jury decided not to hand up murder indictments for the three Louisville police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor in March.

The Black Lives Matter Maine demonstration moved between the Portland Police Department headquarters and City Hall, snaking through the Old Port and marching down Congress Street.

At one point, the protestors staged a sit-in at the intersection of Franklin and Middle streets, near the police station. They spread across four lanes of traffic, chanting along with trumpets and drums.

This is called civil disobedience, activist Hamdia Ahmed shouted. Are we rioting?

No, the crowd yelled back.

The sit-in was part of the hourslong peaceful demonstration. Diners, shoppers and walkers stopped to watch them pass by. Some raised their fists in solidarity.

Whose streets? the crowd chanted. Our streets.

On the steps of both city buildings, young Black people took the megaphone to call for change.

Justice for Breonna Taylor is us, Josh Wood told the crowd. We are the people. We have the power to change things in Portland, Maine, and everywhere.

In the hours before the protest, the organizerstraded criticismswith the Portland Police Department on social media.

On Friday night, Police Chief Frank Clark shared a statement that faulted the organizers for failing to work with his department or return its calls. Black Lives Matter quickly responded with a statement that said the organizers had reached out to the police in preparation for the event and accused the police chief of trying to discredit the movement.

The police department shared an update Saturday, sayingthe organizers agreed to start the protest at the police station and then move to Portland City Hall.

Were continuing to ask for calm from all of todays protesters and counterprotesters, the departments Facebook post said. Help us, help you as we work to protect each of you and your right to peacefully and lawfully protest.

But the group met a small number of agitators near City Hall, and organizers decided to move the protest away from them.

There may be counterprotestors here, but what are we here for? Ayanna Pappas said as she walked through the crowd with a megaphone, calling people away from the small group on a nearby corner. To spread the message.

They returned to the police station, first taking a knee and then sitting as speakers shared their own experiences with the police. When the sky was dark, they again marched into the Old Port. Dozens of people kneeled on Commercial Street, shouting one name over and over.

Breonna Taylor, they yelled. Breonna Taylor.

The protest ended back at City Hall, where the remaining people sang Lean on Me together shortly after 8 p.m. As the crowd dispersed, glowing messages flashed across the buildings face.

Black Lives Matter, the words read, and then, Say their names.

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Members of Black Lives Matter Maine protest in Portland - Press Herald

High-profile killings of several Black people by police sparked nationwide protests this summer, with marchers demanding police reform and racial justice.Jason Lazarus, Siebren Versteeg and Stephanie Syjuco founded Public Public Address on September 1 to help people with illnesses and disabilities participate in these protests and make their voices heard without putting their lives at risk.

"This is all about our solidarity with Black Lives Matter. We want people to be a part of the movement whether they can protest on the streets or not," Lazarus told CNN. "Our goal is battling systemic racism and violence and bringing all kinds of people along with us."

The site edits the submissions and weaves them together, creating one large virtual protest. It's broadcast online every day and all day with no end date in sight.

The project has attracted more than 100 participants since its launch, according to Lazarus, an assistant professor of art and art history at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

Lucie Duggan, a disabled and immunocompromised 16-year-old girl from Orlando, Florida, is one of the participants. She said she joined Public Public Address to take a stand against injustice.

"It is so important that everyone works as hard as they can to provide justice and equality. It's made an impact in my life by allowing me to further a cause that is so important and dire," Duggan told CNN.

"Even though we can't provide our bodies to the cause, we are with the protestors in spirit. Hopefully this project encourages many able bodied people to take to the streets and demand change."

Unable to walk without a cane or wheelchair, Duggan added that protesting was never an option for her until Public Public Address was launched.

As for the website's founders, they say they're just getting started.

"The end date for this project is open, as we see the upcoming presidential election as a moment to build toward even more work, outreach, visibility and racial justice," Versteeg told CNN.

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This website helps people with illnesses and disabilities participate in Black Lives Matter protests - CNN

As the 2020 election approaches, KUOW is talking with Washington voters about the candidates and issues they care about.

KUOW is presenting these voices as the opinions and the perspectives which inform people's votes in 2020.

Mellina White: Founder of the Seattle Conservative blog. She strongly favors free markets, fiscal conservatism, and individual rights.

Perspective/issues: Real change for Black lives will come from tangible policies and systematic reforms. This could come from addressing more wonky policy issues, such as civil asset forfeiture and qualified immunity.

When Mellina White moved to Seattle from Florida and started up a blog, she had a pretty good idea what to call it -- something that would turn heads and earn curious clicks. She called it "The Seattle Conservative."

I started this website in 2016, and in a way I chose that title just to be a little bit provocative," White said. "Because it is Seattle and Seattle is very progressive, very liberal. So I thought, Whats going to get attention, and also what will give me the best search ranking in Google? Because you dont see the words Seattle and conservative very often. I am certainly right-of-center, but I identify as Libertarian ... certainly fiscally, I am Conservative."

Over the years, she has written about her unique blend of right-of-center views. These days, White says the Republican Party under President Trump seems out of touch with its core principles.

More from Mellina White: Your #BLM memes aren't enough

"We have a war on free trade, which is one of the most Conservative principles," White said. "Just watching how everything has unraveling under President Trumps coronavirus actions; hes constantly threatening governors in other jurisdictions to do this or that and bring in the National Guard and attack them.

"Again what happened to Conservative values of states rights and jurisdictions rights? This is an about-face to everything we are supposed to stand for. To me, everything the Republican Party looks like right now, at least the leaders in Washington -- Im certainly not going to speak for card-carrying Republicans throughout the country is just not what the party stands for anymore."

It's probably not a stretch to assume that White will not be giving her vote to President Trump in November. She didn't vote for him in 2016 either (she supported Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson).

Looking ahead to November 2020, she feels that Trump doesn't have as strong a standing as he did in 2016 (though a few months ago, she may have said otherwise). White says that a lot of voters were simply voting against Hilary Clinton in 2016. This year -- with a pandemic and protests for racial justice -- there is momentum building against Trump. And she says this while also feeling that Democrat Joe Biden is not such a strong candidate either.

While White is careful to note that she is not a Trump supporter, she still won't be voting for Biden. That has to do with an issue she is passionate about -- that Black lives matter.

"Unlike Trump, Joe Biden has been very careful with his words around the Black Lives Matter movement very supportive of the Black Lives Matter movement," White said.

"But guess what? Most of the reasons I have protested in the streets (recently) against things like qualified immunity, against things like civil asset forfeiture, and mass incarceration that was all created by Joe Biden."

The argument is not uncommon among voters -- including Progressives -- who question Biden's record on crime and law enforcement after decades in office.

"He might get on television and say that Black lives matter, and hes gonna have a Black woman as his VP, but I couldn't care less because unlike Trump who just talks, Biden actually took lots of action for decades to create the unequal system we have in our country today, White said.

White has participated in Seattle-area Black Lives Matter protests in recent months. Though the topics she brings up aren't the issues that commonly make headlines, and are more wonky. Such as civil asset forfeiture or qualified immunity. These are policies she would like to take down.

For my fellow Seattleites, when it comes to the election and when it comes to making change lets focus on things that can actually make differences in our lives, White said.

For a very short period of time, I saw some action in my Instagram feed and my Twitter feed around police reform and the Black Lives Matter movement and it quickly changed to Were getting rid of Aunt Jemima pancake syrup. Which, Ill admit, I was happy about that.

"Or Were changing the name of the Washington Redskins and things like that. Its nice, but not going to help a kid in the inner city. So stop focusing on these surface things and call your senators, call your congressmen. Get rid of qualified immunity. Get rid of civil asset forfeiture. Lets reform bail. Lets focus on things that will actually make changes in peoples lives. And in November, elect people who have the gall to do it. The people in office right now dont.

Whereas the 2016 election had people voting against Hilary Clinton, White says, 2020 will have people voting against Trump. That could be because, for people like White, President Trump has a mixed record.

She is happy about the federal judges appointed under Trump, and is particularly fond of Neil Gorsuch. She argues that he, so far, has a great record on civil rights issue, particularly on decisions upholding Native American treaties.

And one of them was for the Yakima Nation, which is pretty cool and affects us here in Washington state, White said. He was also the person who wrote the opinion for this latest LGBT rights legislation; for us having the right to work without being fired for being gay or transgender.

"Very meaningful for me because I am from Florida, and that was the law there. There was even companies when I was a young adult working in Florida; it was in their policy handbook that you could not be gay and work for them. Living in Seattle, I dont think some people realize how real some of this discrimination is. And Neil Gorsuch, a Donald Trump appointee, wrote the decision on that.

She notes that President Trump might not always be happy with the judges decisions, as conveyed via Twitter. And its most likely that the Federalist Society picks the judges for him. But she also says that if Hillary Clinton was president, they would not be on the Supreme Court at all.

The tax breaks that we had at the beginning of Trumps term, the tax breaks were great," she adds. "It is true that there were a lot of tax breaks for the wealthy, but there were also a lot of tax breaks for the middle class. I personally am middle class and I saw thousands of dollars go back into my pocket after that bill passed. And any time we can reform and reduce taxes, I am for that.

White says that most objections about Trump have more to do with what he says than what he does.

"Ill give you an example of that. He certainly escalated it, but when we are talking about detention centers for undocumented immigrants, and putting children in detention centers horrible, horrible thing -- but it was happening under Obama ... Obama just didnt go on Twitter and defend himself. He was very careful to keep that quiet. But he was doing the same thing. So Trumps words are very horrible, but his actions are not as different from our other presidents.

"Often he will tweet Im going to do this horrible thing, and he doesnt do it," White said. "You hate hearing it, and that certainly isnt a vehicle to unite a nation. But at the end of the day what impacts me as a citizen? Lets say I wasnt on social media, I didnt watch the news how much does President Trump being in office negatively effect my daily life? .... if all that is turned off, and youre just thinking about your day-to-day life, how much does he negatively impact you? So much of what he does is words, and not actions.

Still, she says that the president's performance has been "abysmal" recently, especially considering the pandemic and the early response to the virus. White argues that the pandemic will last much longer than it could have because of a lack of critical leadership.

"I think a lot of what President Trump was trying to do is pander to his base, make himself look good, to undermine medical experts appointed to these public roles for these few lifetime moments to provide science so we can make decisions . And its really little things, for instance with masks. There are different ways we can approach encouraging people to wear masks in public. And I am not a fan of whoever the president is saying that I want a federal mandate that everyone must wear masks. I am not a fan of that because I believe in states rights. However, as the president, you should set an example and wear a mask say Im the leader here, Im going to listen to the science and Im going to encourage my constituents to do the same. Its as simple as that. And that level of arrogance and lack of leadership is really frustrating right now.

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A Seattle conservative who attends Black Lives Matter protests: 2020 election from a Washington perspective - KUOW News and Information