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Part I: Reactions to the Mayor

The announcement came yesterday from Mayor John Hamilton: the city will not privatize the farmers market in 2020. The Board of Parks Commissioners voted to remain under city leadership by a unanimous vote on Thursday.

Parks Commissioner Lisa Thatcher said at the meeting that the city had greater concerns of protesters at the market than Schooner Creek Farm.

Mayor Hamilton said he will work to improve the environment of the market.

Yael Ksander is the communications director for the City of Bloomington. She agrees saying every constituent has the right to freedom of thought, including Schooner Creek Farm.

Black Lives Matter Bloomington said society is built around cities where mayors wield power that is often unchallenged by state-level authorities. The group said the mayor failed to take any bold measures, prolonging progress.

Both Ashley Pirani and Sean Milligan of the Purple Shirt Brigade agree that the citys handling of Schooner Creek Farms presence at the market has been ineffective.

The Indiana Daily Student reported that Robert Hall of the Grassroots Conservatives said he wants the city to keep protesters in Info Alley, a neutral space for protest, to bring stability to the market.

He said in a Herald Times opinion column that he condemns the mayors acknowledgement of SCF as white supremacists.

He said, It has not helped heal the community when the mayor continues to advance a false narrative.

After the most contentious season the farmers market has seen to date, the future remains unclear.

***

Part II: Outside Input

Sarah Dye said shes a member but not a spokesperson for the American Identity Movement. Again, she denies the group is a white supremacy group. When pressed on this question, Dye asked for a definition of white supremacy.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, white supremacy falls under the blanket of four qualifying tenets, 1) whites should have dominance over people of other backgrounds, especially where they may co-exist; 2) whites should live by themselves in a whites-only society; 3) white people have their own culture that is superior to other cultures; 4) white people are genetically superior to other people.

Yael Ksander said the city thinks it is important to understand the threats tied to white supremacy ideology, however, the farmers market is not the place to solve these issues. This is why Ksander said the city turned to outside help.

Mayor Hamilton contacted representatives of The Divided Community Projects Bridge Initiative at Ohio State Universitys Moritz College of Law In August of 2019. The Bridge Initiative is a conflict consolation project that focuses on hate crimes and incidents.

The project researches local issues and then suggests solutions to local agencies and government. Hamilton asked the Bridge Initiative to help the community understand underlying issues that arose at the farmers market and to provide a structure for leaders to begin a plan for action, according to the report. The full report can be found on the City of Bloomingtons website.

Black Lives Matter Bloomington and the Purple Shirt Brigade criticized the Bridge Initiative.

BLM B-Town and Sean Milligan of the Purple Shirt Brigade said they agree the city needs to listen to members of the community, rather than bringing in outside sources who tell the city what they want to hear.

Milligan said this creates a communication gap between city officials and the community. He said its causing everyone in the community to suffer, including people of color.

***

Part III: People of Color

The city said it met with many community groups to seek solutions.

At the end of the two week period, the market reopened with a larger comfort zone created by two public streets being closed to traffic during market hours, an increase in security cameras, an increased presence of police, market ambassadors to create a welcoming environment, and signage indicating areas for protest and market rules.

Ksander said not everyone was satisfied with their new changes.

The idea of increased police was not met with open arms by Black Lives Matter. The group said an increase of police patrol does not mean a reduction in crime. They said it only increases tensions between marginalized communities and the city.

Black Lives Matter B-Town is a non-hierarchical organization. 3 of the 6-person core council spoke with WFHB. The group prefers to be referred to as a unit, rather than on an individual basis.

BLM B-Town said they criticize not only white nationalists but white liberals in city government who they believe enable white nationalists through inaction.

The group said Mayor Hamilton needs to take action through an anti-racist lens. They said there is a level of white fragility on behalf of city officials.

BLM said the Hamilton administration adopts a message of what they refer to as incrementalism, which means gradual change. The problem with this approach, they said, is that it impedes progress.

Three of the six core-council members agree that they feel abandoned by the city throughout its handling of the farmers market.

***

Part IV: The Contract

In the last episode we heard from vendor Susan Welsand, the Chili Lady, who vended next to Schooner Creek Farms booth in the past outdoor season. Welsand recalled a specific interaction with Doug Mackey which makes her think the issue is not only about freedom of speech.

Ksander responded to allegations of Mackey making such an offer.

Welsand mentioned a day when Patrick Casey visited the market and recorded footage that was later uploaded to the Schooner Creek Farms website entailing white- nationalism propaganda. The issue was that the video included the Citys Farmer Market Logo. Ksander said guidelines have been drafted to ensure this wont be a future problem of the farmers market.

According to the 2020 Vendor Handbook preliminary working draft, Behavior outside of the Market that relates to the Market must not reflect poorly on the Market or the reputation of the City and must be consistent with the mission and goals of the Market.

However, as Ksander addressed, according to the 2019 market season handbook, by posting the video Schooner Creek Farm didnt violate their contract.

Welsand also addressed another incident which we heard in the last episode. Yael Ksander talked about the Schooner Creek Farms stand assistants filing under false names.

Once again, the accused farm was in no violation. The 2020 Vendor Hand book preliminary working draft states, the City does not tolerate vendors or their stand assistants engaging in harassing or discriminatory conduct towards fellow vendors, members of the public or City employees at the Market on the basis of sex, race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, housing status or veteran status.

The Purple Shirt Brigade challenges this narrative. Ashley Pirani said she knows of at least two cases of harassment on behalf of two SCF stand assistants.

Pirani said she knows of a number of complaints filed against SCF, and she said the city failed to address them.

***Part V: American Identity Movement

The Purple Shirt Brigade said last year Casey mocked one of their protesters with a disability on social media. We checked his Twitter account, which was suspended in late summer 2019.

Executive Director Patrick Casey transformed the image and brand of Identity Europa with a suit-and-tie approach to his white nationalist ideology. He is the founder of the American Identity Movement. In a Facebook post, Casey defended Sarah Dye. He said the left considers Dye a threat, and he quoted an American Greatness article, which read Sarah Dye is a victim of a left-wing witch hunt involving Antifa terrorists and the mayor of Bloomington.

Patrick Casey showed up at the farmers market last season. Dye said she didnt invite Casey to the market. She defends Casey, saying hes a law-abiding citizen who rejects violence.

Nolan Brewer

In a 200-page document compiled by the FBI, Brewer said he briefly met with Sarah Dye and Doug Mackey.

In the interview, Nolan Brewer who spray-painted swastikas on a Carmel synagogue, said Sarah Dye and Doug Mackey werent aware of the vandalism before it happened.

Sarah Dye said she believes there were false reports about her connection with Brewer.In late 2018, a mutual friend of Sarah Dye and Doug Mackey arranged for the couple to meet Nolan Brewer and his partner over dinner.

The dinner was after the Brewers spray-painted swastikas at the synagogue. However, Dye said she didnt have any knowledge of the crime committed. She said it was only a week later when she discovered the news.

Nolan Brewer, a 21-year-old from Eminence, Indiana, was sentenced to three years in federal prison for violating federal civil rights laws.

The Transformation

Sarah Dye said it was a slow process for her transitioning from a left-wing activist to a conservative member of AIM. She said she was tired of the hate created by the left. She said she used to embrace the ideas of Karl Marx. She said the left follows political fads without extensive research. Sarah said she was embarrassed to admit her political past.

However, Dye said since her transformation to a member of Identity Evropa and then, she still claims to look at politics objectively.

Sarah Dye cited the U.S. Census Bureaus report that White Americans are projected to fall below half the population by 2044.

While this may be true, the U.S. Census Bureau says today the Bloomington is 83 percent white. The bureau said black residents make up about 4.5 percent of the population.

Dye said people should acknowledge the European history of America.

When asked about colonialism, Dye said she doesnt deny atrocities done to Native Americans during European colonization. However, she said there were atrocities during war in all parts of the world.

All forms of decimation cannot be underplayed. In todays society, protection of marginalized groups is up to the government. In this case, its in the hands of city officials.

***

VI. The Future

Mayor Hamilton announced that the city will continue its 46th year in owning the farmers market. After vandalism, threats, protesters, and arrests, more than 80 vendors sent a letter to city officials requesting them to continue control of the market. The city said it looks forward to improving the market community. Only time will tell the future of the market.

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What the Farmer's Market Part II - WFHB News

The last decade was a time defined by burgeoning activist movements across the globe. Among the most impactful and inspiring is the latest iteration of the centuries-old Black liberation movement, in which Toronto became a significant confluence for organizing and whose influence spread far beyond the city limits.

The 2010s was a time of courageous, fierce and unapologetic activism from communities of Black people tired of waiting for what had been promised for decades. And while I was involved in what was among the most visible movements as a co-founder of Black Lives MatterToronto activists and advocates were working in spaces seen and unseen across the city.

We organized against police brutality and carding until the city of Toronto and the province of Ontario could no longer ignore us. We intervened in anti-Black racism experienced in schools from primary school to post-secondary education. We supported the arts in our communities. We built educational opportunities for children and adults that would teach us what had been taken away from us in the formal education system. We brought attention to the detention of Black asylum seekers and supported families reeling from the violence of anti-Black racism.

The Black liberation movement of the 2010s was visibly organized and led through the brilliance and scholarship of Black queer and trans people to whom countless organizers in movements everywhere owe the deepest debt.

When Pride named Black Lives MatterToronto as the honoured group in 2016, we refused to be used by an organization that simply wanted to benefit from proximity to our cause. We demanded that which would genuinely honour us: a commitment to structural change within Pride that focused on stripping away the anti-Blackness our communities had experienced from Pride for years. That action, built by Black activist and queer and trans groups beyond just BLM-TO, sparked a shift in how Pride organizations engaged with Black and marginalized communities across the globe.

Most importantly, we changed the way mass culture discusses and engages with Blackness. At the beginning of the 2010s, anti-Black racism was an idea most people in power refused to acknowledge. Now, the world cannot claim ignorance in any discussion of anti-Black racism.

We reinvigorated what was possible not only for us as Black people, but for anyone who was willing to listen and learn from our work.

As we look toward the 2020s, we need to build a city (and a country) that refuses to take anti-Black racism lightly, and that refuses to acceptpoliticians who don Blackface and disappear the Black community along Eglinton West in favour of a gentrified condominium corridor.

We want to live in a place that builds permanent Black spaces; a place where Black people who contributed greatly to Toronto and so much of its culture and its sounds are not pushed to the margins. This is the work that we all have ahead of us if we believe in justiceforBlack people.

@nowtoronto

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Decade in review: Black Lives Matter changes the face of Black liberation - NOW Magazine

NEW YORK (WABC) -- As the decade comes to a close, we are taking a look back at the stories that shaped the 2010s in New York City.

There was no shortage of tragedy and conflict over the past 10 years, but there were plenty of stories of triumph.

This was a decade of activism as our communities took to the streets to fight for what they believed in: Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, the Women's March, protesting the travel ban and demanding equal rights of all.

These are the stories that defined the last decade in New York City.

View stories of the decade through photos:

2010:

We kicked off the decade with a war against salt. In January, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the New York City Health Department unveiled a plan to make New Yorkers healthier and urged restaurants to reduce salt levels in their food by 25 percent. The effort was part of a constellation of initiatives to promote public health, but some derided the push as indicative of a nanny state.

The narrative of the year soon segued from health fears to terror fears. On May 1, a car bomb failed to detonate in Times Square in an attempted terror attack.

Faisal Shahzad was eventually arrested and sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to charges of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to commit an act of terrorism.

While fears of terrorism lingered almost a decade after 9/11, a controversy brewed in lower Manhattan over the proposal to build a mosque near Ground Zero, called Park51.

The majority of the public was opposed to the idea, and some relatives of the victims of 9/11 said they found the proposal offensive, but others expressed support and were in favor of promoting interfaith peace and freedom of religion.

The controversy over the "Ground Zero Mosque" became a campaign issue in the 2010 midterm elections and also sparked a national debate over religious tolerance and sensitivity to 9/11 victims.

A story that fascinated the nation later that summer was the dramatic stunt pulled by disgruntled JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater on Aug. 9.

Slater apparently became fed up with passengers after their flight landed at Kennedy Airport and deployed the emergency slide from the aircraft and took off -- allegedly with a beer in hand.

Despite being arrested and facing serious charges, Slater's getaway stunt garnered him national support and made a viral star in these early days of social media.

Weather stories would prove to be defining moments of the decade.

A notable story involved tornadoes that spun through Brooklyn and Queens on the evening of Sept. 16 -- leaving a trail of damage in their wake. At least one person was killed in the storms.

And it was certainly a white day AFTER Christmas that year when a blizzard dumped between 18-24 inches of snow in NYC.

This was also the year that Humans of New York first launched -- giving the rest of the world a personal look into the lives of everyday New Yorkers.

2011:

The death of Leiby Kletzky in Brooklyn shocked the city in July. The 8-year-old boy was kidnapped after he asked for directions during his walk home and his dismembered body was later found after an extensive search across the city.

The medical examiner said he was given a lethal cocktail of drugs before he was smothered to death. Levi Aron is serving 40 years to life for kidnapping and killing Kletzky.

Sept. 11 of that year marked the somber 10-year anniversary since terrorists attacked the Twin Towers.

The 9/11 Memorial was officially dedicated on the anniversary and opened to the public the next day.

Less than a week after the memorial opened, protesters descended onto Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan for what would become Occupy Wall Street -- a weeks-long movement in the Financial District to push the government to address a range of issues like unemployment, the funding of wars and the foreclosure crisis.

It didn't take long for the movement to spread beyond the streets of NYC and onto main streets across America.

Do you remember that it snowed this year on Halloween? A nor'easter that some remember as "Snowtober" brought an early blast of snow to the tri-state area.

The year came to an end as the mystery of the Gilgo Beach serial killer was only getting started. On November 29, police announced that they believed the previous deaths of multiple people were likely connected, leading to fears that a serial killer was lurking on Long Island just miles away from NYC.

The still unidentified serial killer is believed to be responsible for at least 10 deaths over the course of 20 years -- and the victims were mainly women associated with prostitution.

2012:

2012 was a year that started with excitement over sports, but will be remembered for the tragedy that struck by the end of the year.

The New York Giants defeated the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI on Feb. 5. Not long after the excitement of that win, a personality from another sport stirred up a global frenzy.

In what will be remembered as "Linsanity," Jeremy Lin rose to fame after he unexpectedly led a winning turnaround for the New York Knicks.

The Knicks started selling his No. 17 jerseys and T-shirts and merchandise at stands throughout Madison Square Garden. Restaurants around the city started selling special food and drink items in Lin's honor, Ben & Jerry's created a special ice cream and he was even the subject of a documentary film that premiered at Sundance.

In baseball news, Gary Carter, a member of the 1986 world champion Mets, died on Feb. 16 at the age of 57 after a battle with brain cancer. The Mets added a memorial patch to their uniforms in Carter's honor for the entire 2012 season.

It was in April of that same year that the New Jersey Nets moved to the Barclays Center to become the Brooklyn Nets.

Although sports dominated the headlines for the first part of the year, the narrative shifted when Superstorm Sandy devastated the area at the end of October.

The storm slammed NYC with a surge of water that killed 44 people and plunged parts of the city into darkness. Flooding damaged tens of thousands of homes, drowned subways and forced hospitals and nursing homes to evacuate.

In a controversial decision, the NYC Marathon was canceled that year because of the storm's aftermath.

Communities are still recovering to this day after the damage and destruction left behind by the storm.

Hearts broke across New York City when a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14 in Newtown, Connecticut. Twenty-six people, including 20 children, were murdered in a crime that shocked the world.

2013:

After a long life in the public eye, the former mayor of New York City, Ed Koch, died on Feb. 1. Koch made his mark on the city during his tenure as mayor from 1978 to 1989.

That same year marked the beginning of another mayoral administration: Bill de Blasio was first elected to the position on Nov. 5.

The election year wasn't free of scandalous headlines -- this is the year that the infamous Anthony Weiner sexting scandal cost him the election.

Weiner had attempted to make a return to politics after his previous scandal in 2011, but ultimately lost the mayoral primary after admitting to sexting multiple women following his resignation from Congress.

2013 wasn't all about politics -- transportation also rolled into the headlines. Citi Bike officially launched on May 27 of that year and no one can forget about BridgeGate.

The first traffic closures that evolved into the infamous BridgeGate scandal happened on Sept. 9. Bill Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly were later convicted of creating the traffic jam on the George Washington Bridge for politically motivated reasons.

The year ended on a sad note with the Metro-North crash at Spuyten Duyvil on Dec. 1. Four passengers were killed and dozens were injured when the train derailed in the Bronx.

2014:

This year brought New York City into the national spotlight for multiple stories.

On the morning of March 12, a gas explosion in East Harlem leveled two apartment buildings and killed eight people. At least 70 other people were injured in the tragic incident.

The police chokehold death of Eric Garner on July 17 sparked protests around NYC and the country as it fueled the Black Lives Matter movement.

The Dec. 20 murders of two NYPD police detectives sitting in their patrol car in Brooklyn shocked the city. The gunman, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, apparently cited Garner's death as a motive.

Garner's daughter publicly spoke out and showed her support for fallen officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu.

All eyes were on New York City earlier that year as the Ebola crisis arrived in America.

Dr. Craig Spencer was diagnosed with Ebola on Oct. 23.

After returning from working with Doctors Without Borders in Africa, city officials rushed to find other people he may have come into contact with in NYC. Before he showed symptoms, he rode the subway, walked the High Line and even went bowling in Brooklyn.

After he recovered from the disease, Mayor de Blasio declared that NYC was Ebola-free.

Finally, the eyes of America and around the world fell on New York City on Nov. 3 when One World Trade Center officially opened -- marking a chapter of rebirth and renewal after the terror attacks.

2015:

The first quarter of 2015 was marked with disaster:

-A Metro-North train struck a passenger car in Valhalla on Feb. 3, killing six people and injuring more than a dozen others.

-Seven children were trapped and killed on March 21 when a fire broke out in their Midwood, Brooklyn, apartment.

-Two people were killed and 13 others were injured in a deadly gas explosion in the East Village on March 26. The owner of the building, an unlicensed plumber and a general contractor. would all later be found guilty in 2019.

The year also provided moments that will go down in pop culture history:

-On June 16, Donald Trump rode down an escalator in Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue to officially launch his presidential campaign.

-Lin-Manuel Miranda did not throw away his shot and opened his mega-successful "Hamilton" on Broadway on Aug. 6 -- arguably changing Broadway forever.

-Two words: Pizza Rat. Who would have thought a video of a hungry rat enjoying a New York slice would be a part of NYC history? Pizza Rat remains a viral sensation to this day.

The Pope's visit to NYC was a highlight of the latter part of the year. Pope Francis visited New York City from Sept. 24 to Sept. 26 as part of his visit to North America.

In his short visit to the city, he addressed the United Nations, visited the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, visited children at a school in East Harlem, made his way through Central Park and even held a Mass at Madison Square Garden.

New Yorkers felt a sense of pride and hope as the Holy Father forever left his touch on our city.

2016:

2016 got off to a cold and snowy start when the biggest blizzard in our city's history hit NYC in January -- leaving behind more than 26 inches of snow.

In a still-unsolved mystery, a tourist from Virginia lost his foot when he stepped on an explosive in Central Park on July 3. It is still unclear if the explosion had something to do with celebratory firecrackers ahead of the 4th of July or if it was intentionally placed there to do harm.

Later that summer, the murder and sexual assault of 30-year-old jogger Karina Vetrano on Aug. 2. shocked the city.

Vetrano left for a run through the Howard Beach neighborhood of Queens but she never returned home. Her murder went unsolved for six months until Chanel Lewis was arrested and charged in 2017. He was found guilty and sentenced to life without parole in April 2019.

September of that year was plagued with crime: Chelsea bomber Ahmad Rahimi set off pressure cooker bombs in New Jersey and Chelsea on Sept. 17. He was captured days later after a shootout with police.

Fortunately no one was killed or seriously injured in the explosions, but dozens of people were wounded.

It was the end of an era when the iconic Carnegie Deli closed its doors for good at the end of the year. New Yorkers said goodbye to giant pastrami sandwiches and huge slices of strawberry cheesecake.

2017:

After decades of talk, the Second Avenue subway finally opened on Jan. 1 and East Siders rejoiced.

On March 16, FDNY EMT Yadira Arroyo was mowed down by her own ambulance while she was on the job. The mother of five's death struck a chord with New Yorkers.

On May 18, 23 pedestrians were mowed down in Times Square. Police said the driver was high on drugs -- - possibly synthetic marijuana. An 18-year-old tourist from Michigan, Alyssa Elsman, did not survive.

New Yorkers came together to support their brothers and sisters in Puerto Rico when Hurricane Maria made landfall there on Sept. 20.

In October of that year, reports by the New York Times and The New Yorker would eventually lead to the downfall of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. This reports not only led to his fall from grace, they spurred the #MeToo movement.

Because of the empowerment movement, women around the world broke their silence to speak out against the sexual assault and harassment they had suffered.

On Oct. 31, a day that should have been happy and full of fun turned horrific when Sayfullo Saipov drove a pickup truck onto a bike path full of runners and cyclists along the West Side Highway in a Halloween terror attack. Eight people were killed -- six of whom were tourists.

That wasn't the last act of terror that year -- on Dec. 11, suspect Akayed Ullah injured four people when he partially detonated a pipe bomb in a tunnel at Port Authority.

No one was killed, but several people were injured.

Just days after Christmas that year, 13 people were killed in an apartment fire in the Belmont section of the Bronx on Dec. 28 -- marking New York's deadliest fire in 25 years.

Officials said it appeared a young child playing with a stove caused the fire. The child's mother escaped the apartment with her kids but left the front door open, which acted like a chimney and allowed the fire to quickly travel up the stairs.

2018:

The death of innocent 15-year-old Lesandro "Junior" Guzman-Feliz on June 20 outraged people in his Bronx community and far beyond.

#JusticeForJunior soon went viral and became a cry for justice for the teen who was chased into a bodega by gang members and killed in what is believed to be a case of mistaken identity.

Fourteen suspects were arrested in the murder and the first five to stand trial were all found guilty and later sentenced to life in prison in 2019.

2018 will also be remembered as the year that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, or AOC, rose to the national spotlight. The Bronx native was officially elected on Nov. 6 to serve as the U.S. representative for New York's 14th Congressional district.

That year she became the youngest woman to serve in U.S. Congress. And whether people loved her or hated her, there was no denying she made a splash in the world of politics.

The city was on edge for days in October when suspicious packages that supposedly contained pipe bombs were mailed to critics of President Trump, including CNN, causing the Time Warner Center in NYC to be evacuated.

None of the devices exploded, but the fear that they could prompted responses from bomb squads out of precaution. Eventually Cesar Sayoc was arrested in Florida on Oct. 26.

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The 2010s: These are the stories that defined the decade in NYC - WABC-TV

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(CNN) - These days, it feels like there's a petition for every cause imaginable.

Saving the Amazon rainforest? Check. Making Baby Yoda an emoji? Also check.

But some petitions are more successful than others.

The petition-hosting site Change.org considers a number of factors in determining which had the biggest impact: the number of people who signed, the zeitgeist and the conversations sparked and whether anything changed as a result, said Michael Jones, the platform's managing director of campaigns.

"People really see online petitions as a tool to help them fix something that is systemically broken," Jones said.

Over the past decade, people took to Change.org to raise attention to criminal justice issues, honor community heroes and challenge pharmaceutical companies and other businesses.

These are 10 of the biggest victories, according to Change.org.

After 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was was killed on February 26, 2012, his parents Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton started a petition calling for the arrest of George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch leader who shot him.

More than 2.2 million people signed in support of the cause. Within a week, it had become the one of the most popular petitions in the website's history, with 877,110 signatures.

The local tragedy soon became an international movement. Civil rights activists, politicians and protesters rallied behind Trayvon's family and took to the streets to demonstrate against his killing.

In April 2012, Change.org declared the petition a victory after a Florida state attorney announced that charges of second-degree murder would be lodged against Zimmerman.

Zimmerman was acquitted in 2013. But Trayvon's death forced a conversation about police brutality and inequality and helped give rise to one of the most prominent movements of the decade: Black Lives Matter.

Zimmerman is now suing Trayvon's parents, prosecutors and state authorities, alleging there was a conspiracy to frame him and demanding more than $100 million in damages.

Trayvon's parents and their attorney called the lawsuit "unfounded and reckless."

Maryland high school student Sydney Helfand started a petition in January urging Congress to pass the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act to make animal cruelty a federal felony.

The PACT Act had come extremely close to becoming law in 2017. Though the Senate passed it unanimously, it stalled in the House.

Nearly 800,000 people signed the petition and in November, the Senate passed the bipartisan legislation that the House had approved a month earlier.

US Rep. Ted Deutch of Florida credited Helfand, in part, for the bill's success. President Donald Trump signed the PACT Act into law.

As the trial of Casey Anthony, who was accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter Caylee in 2008, played out in 2011, a petition called for the creation of Caylee's Law, which would make it a felony for a parent of a guardian to fail to report a missing child if the child could be in danger.

It was one of the first petitions of the decade to go viral, Change.org says, ultimately attracting more than 1.3 million signatures.

At least 10 states since then have passed versions of Caylee's Law. Critics say the laws would negatively affect mostly innocent parents who may be grieving the tragic loss of a child.

Death row prisoner Rodney Reed was sentenced more than 20 years ago for the 1996 murder of 19-year-old Stacey Stites in Bastrop, Texas.

Reed says he is innocent, and attorneys from the Innocence Project say they have evidence that exonerates him. The lead prosecutor in his case maintains that he is guilty.

Reed was scheduled to be executed on November 20. But in the weeks leading up to that date, outcry to stop the execution grew from supporters, including celebrities, clergy and lawmakers.

More than 2 million people signed a petition at freerodneyreed.com, and a petition on Change.org garnered more than 300,000 signatures.

Days before he was scheduled to die, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals blocked Reed's execution, allowing a lower court to consider additional evidence.

After West Coast rapper and activist Nipsey Hussle was killed in 2019, Najee Ali, a community organizer and Los Angeles resident, called on a city councilman to name an intersection for the artist.

More than 500,000 people signed the petition in the days after Nipsey's death. Less than two weeks later, the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to rename the intersection of West Slauson Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard in South Central Los Angeles as "Nipsey Hussle Square." It's the site of Nipsey's Marathon Clothing store, near where he was fatally shot.

After a woman who goes by "K" said she was sexually assaulted by a tour guide who worked at a business promoted by TripAdvisor, she contacted the website in an effort to warn other tourists, The Guardian reported in March.

But the company suggested that she leave a review about the incident, K said in a Change.org petition. When she wrote a review, TripAdvisor did not publish it because it wasn't written as first-person account, according to The Guardian.

With the help of the Change.org team, K started a petition demanding that TripAdvisor "stop covering up sexual assaults," calling on the company to do more to warn users about businesses where assaults had been reported.

The petition received more than 500,000 signatures in the weeks after, and TripAdvisor announced changes to how it handles reviews and reports of sexual assault. But K and other activists maintained that the company still hadn't gone far enough.

After protests outside TripAdvisor's New York offices and continued pressure, the company announced further changes to its policies, including commitments to partner with sexual assault support groups.

In June, K declared that the petition had been successful.

"With these updates, TripAdvisor has shown that they are committed to both improving the experience for survivors and providing people with the information they need to travel safely," she wrote. "I'm thrilled to declare our campaign a victory."

After 12 years as a Scout, Ryan Andresen was told by his Boy Scout troop in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2012 that he couldn't receive the Eagle Scout award, the highest rank in the organization.

The reason? Because he had come out as gay.

Ryan's mother Karen Andresen started a petition to protest the troop's decision, garnering hundreds of thousands of signatures and national media attention.

In a historic decision in 2013, the Boy Scouts of America voted to end its ban on openly gay youth. But it wasn't until 2015 that the organization announced it would lift its ban on gay adult leaders.

When she was 16 years old, Cyntoia Brown was tried as an adult and sentenced to life in prison for killing a man who had bought her for sex.

Years after her sentencing, her case gained widespread attention and inspired the viral hashtag #FreeCyntoiaBrown after A-list celebrities like Rihanna and Kim Kardashian West publicly advocated for Brown's release.

In 2018, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that Brown must serve at least 51 years in prison before she would be eligible for release. After that ruling, a petition on Change.org called for then-Gov. Bill Haslam to grant her clemency.

He did so in January, and Brown was released from prison in August at the age of 31.

In July, Teva Pharmaceuticals announced it had made a "business decision" to discontinue Vincristine -- a drug used to treat childhood cancers including leukemia, lymphoma and brain tumors.

Childhood cancer survivor and pediatric oncology nurse Liliana Haas said the drug helped save her life and the lives of many children she works with each day. So, she took to Change.org in October to demand that the pharmaceutical company bring the drug back.

More than 215,000 people signed the petition, and the issue garnered national media attention. In November, Teva Pharmaceutical responded directly to Haas' petition and announced it would again start producing the life-saving drug.

Five years after a New York Police Department officer was accused of fatally choking Eric Garner, the Justice Department announced it would not bring charges against him.

Days later, Emerald Snipes Garner, Eric Garner's youngest daughter, launched a petition demanding that NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo be fired.

The petition received more than 144,000 signatures. Protesters interrupted the Democratic presidential debate in July to call attention to the issue, and New York Mayor and then-presidential candidate Bill de Blasio was asked why Pantaleo was still on the force.

In August, New York Police Commissioner James O'Neill fired Pantaleo. He is suing to get his job back.

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10 petitions that made impact - KXLY Spokane

It was a sunny day in July 2014 when Eric Garner was killed. The 43-year-old African American man had been approached by New York City police officers on suspicion that hed been selling loose cigarettes. After a few words were exchanged, the officers attempted an arrest. When Garner pulled away, the officers tackled him. One white officer put the father of six in a chokehold. As he lay face down on the ground under a pile of grown men, Garner pleaded for air. I cant breathe, he warned a total of 11 times before losing consciousness.

An hour later, he was dead. The medical examiner ruled it a homicide and the autopsy implicated the police. When a video of the incident hit social media, it set off a firestorm. The killing became a watershed moment in the fight for racial justice and Garners final words a rallying cry. The impact was felt all across the country, including in the small Indiana city of South Bend, where 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg was serving his first term as mayor. The moment would test the young politician and leave some in his community feeling as though hed come up short.

Today, even after his rise in the polls in some early primary states, Buttigieg boasts negligible support among black Democrats, a key demographic in the race for the Democratic nomination. At the same time, his presidential campaign has put his record in South Bend particularly on race relations under a microscope. His response to the reverberations of the Garner killing in South Bend, where he tried to chart a middle ground between calls for racial justice and denial of the problem, is another example of what critics say is his failure to understand and tackle systemic racism. Buttigiegs campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

On December 13, 2014, just five months after Garners death, during its televised warmup for its game against Michigan, the Notre Dame womens basketball team wore black T-shirts with the words I Cant Breathe emblazoned across the front in big white letters.

The ensuing, predictable controversy made it into the national news cycle. Following the game, Jason Barthel, a white police officer from the city of Mishawaka, began selling slogan tees of his own from his store, South Bend Uniform, which frequently did business with the city of South Bend, including a sale for $800 days before the basketball game. The shirts prominently featured a police badge over a thin blue line with the words Breathe Easy across the top and Dont Break the Law on the bottom.

The shirts sparked outrage within the community and on social media. In a post on its Facebook page, South Bend Uniform tried to defuse some of the anger, explaining that Breathe Easywas actually referring to knowing the police are there for you.

We are all one people and this is by no means is a slam on Eric Garner or his family, God rest his soul, the post read. Lets [sic] all band together as AMERICANS regardless of our feelings and know we can and will be better!

Barthel, meanwhile, told the media that he had wanted to inject the police perspective into the conversation that was sparked by the Notre Dame womens team.

Were here to protect the public, and we want you to breathe easy knowing that the police are here to be with you and for you and protect you, he told CBS affiliate WSBT22.

In other interviews, however, he was more explicit about the shirts meaning and implications.

When you break the law, unfortunately, theres going to be consequences, and some of them arent going to be pretty, Barthel explained to the South Bend Tribune. Unfortunately, thats the reality.

Three members of South Bends city council including the bodys only two serving African American men issued a statement with the president of the South Bend branch of the NAACP. The release condemned the shirts and requested that local vendors discontinue sales. It also had an ask for Buttigieg.

In the past, the City of South Bend has done business with one of these local vendors, it read, referring to South Bend Uniform. It is our hope that Mayor Buttigieg and Mayor Wood of Mishawaka will join us in unifying our communities and not support this dangerous message.

The first-term mayor, however, did not weigh in immediately, allowing the controversy to grow. When he did speak out during a local news interview, it was not the response the statements writers had hoped for.

Buttigieg asserted that the two sides of the controversy were really not that divided after all. Theyre being portrayed like theyre on two different sides, but theyre not even talking about the same thing, he explained. Were talking about two different things. And one of those is the way that race is playing a role in our criminal justice system. And the other is about the safety of police officers who go out there every day and risk their lives. And I fear that were being led down this path that you have to choose between being pro-minority/pro-equal rights and pro-police.

The mayors remarks on the controversy did not reassure his constituents who had wanted to see Buttigieg distance himself from Barthels message.

He refused to touch it, said councilmember-elect Henry Davis Jr., who was one of the drafters of the 2014 statement and launched an unsuccessful primary challenge against the mayor the following year. And when he touched it, he agreed with both sides. His 2015 run for mayor, he said, was partly motivated by Buttigiegs reaction to the shirts.

I just really thought that he was very insensitive, he continued. I was looking for somebody to have a heart. We knew that the guy had just died from being choked to death. It was on video and it was clear on what happened with the police.

Davis, who was re-elected to the city council this year, noted that the incident is a part of the mayors larger, problematic record on issues affecting the black community. He pointed out that during Buttigiegs tenure, two unarmed black men have died at the hands of law enforcement.

Thats too much, he said.

Demonstrators protest the shooting death of Eric Logan outside of the South Bend police station following his funeral on June 29, 2019, in South Bend, Ind.

Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Indeed, in 2012, shortly after Buttigieg entered office, Michael Deshawn Anderson died in police custody, prompting a wrongful death lawsuit, which Andersons family eventually dropped. In June of this year, 54-year-old Eric Logan was fatally shot by white officer Sgt. Ryan ONeill, whose body camera was turned off at the time and who had an alleged history of making racist comments. The killing received national attention this summer in light of Buttigiegs presidential run and even prompted the mayor to cancel campaign events to return home for a town hall where he was confronted by an outraged community.

Hes also come under scrutiny for his firing of South Bends first black police chief after it was revealed that he had improperly taped senior white officers making racist statements about him and other black officers. Buttigieg has since admitted that firing the police chief, Darryl Boykins, was a mistake, but hes thus far refused to release the tapes. And while Boykins was fired, the white officers who were on the tapes faced no disciplinary action.

On the presidential campaign trail, the mayors campaign appeared to chalk up Buttigiegs low levels of support among black voters to homophobia within the black community. The rollout of his Frederick Douglass Plan for Black America, meant to tackle systemic racism, was equally problematic, as the campaign claimed to have endorsements from 400 black South Carolinians, but subsequent investigation by The Intercept revealed that nearly half of the names were of white people. Moreover, some of the claimed endorsers had not actually signed on.

City Councilmember Oliver Davis, who also signed the 2014 statement, publicly rebuked Buttigieg late last month when he endorsed Joe Bidens presidential campaign. Speaking about the young mayors difficulty reaching black voters, Davis told Politico, For us, this has been a consistent issue that has not gone away.

In his 2015 State of the City address, even as Buttigieg attempted to assuage concerns about the race-related controversies plaguing his administration, he used the phrase all lives matter, widely understood as a rebuke of the Black Lives Matter movement. The blunder resulted in fierce pushback from progressives when the speech resurfaced earlier this year. Buttigieg said he stopped using the phrase after he understood its implications.

Stories like these have not helped Buttigieg win over black voters. In the aftermath of the Logan shooting, an exasperated Buttigieg was caught on tape telling a black woman whod asked how he expected black folks to support him, Im not asking for your vote.

You aint getting it either, the woman responded.

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Pete Buttigieg and South Bend's I Can't Breathe Controversy - The Intercept