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The Black Lives Matter (BLM) riots of 2020 were the largest and most successful shakedown in American history. These mostly peaceful protests which burned more than 200 American cities and wreaked more than $2 billion in damages achieved more than anyone could have predicted: changes in laws, private sector policies, and perhaps most importantly, a historic transfer of wealth to racial and leftwing causes. As a result, American corporations gave or pledged more than $83 billion to either BLM or BLM-related causes.

We created a database tracking contributions and pledges made to the BLM movementand related causes, which we define as organizations and initiatives that advance one or more aspects of BLMs agenda, and which were made in the wake of the BLM riots of 2020. To date, our data spans more than 400 companies and $83 billion in pledges and contributions.

The famed consulting firm McKinsey and Company thinks the number is far larger. They calculated that from May 2020 to October 2022 companies pledged about $340 billion to racial equity, specifically for Black Americans after the murder of George Floyd in May 2020. Our number is conservative by comparison. But unlike McKinsey, we provide details about the pledges and contributions of specific companies.

We are surprised at some of the incredulity in our calculations. So too is BLM, which suggests that objections to wealth transfers of this scale are rooted in white supremacy, and a pathology that Black organizations dont deserve to be funded.

BLM called for reparations. In a sense, they succeeded, as these reparations were paid out to BLM itself (approximately $122 million) and to its vast NGO archipelago and other racialized causes and schemes under various names.

While the money was given or pledged in different ways, it was unmistakable for so-called racial justice. Sometimes this meant cash transfers to partners of BLM, like the Color of Change,the NAACP, the Equal Justice Initiative, and theACLU.

Sometimes it meant cash or pledges to other reparative initiatives including race-based, discriminatory hiring programs; race-based, sub-prime lending; race-based scholarships; and partisan voter initiatives. Sometimes it meant Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, which are the polite versions of BLM calibrated to middle-class, middle-management tastes. The DEI ideology disagrees with BLM in few ways, if any.

DEI and BLM share one mission: to punish white America, through different means. The latter through riots and pressure campaigns, the former through preferential hiring and promotion of members of protected groups. Both aim to redistribute honor, privileges, and money to black Americans. Both are extorting special privileges and money by using white guilt.

Moreover, both are attempting to do so by cultural revolution, and both stand openly against meritocracy, the rule of law, freedom of speech, and individual rights. Correctly understood, DEI is an expression of BLMs broader agenda.

We already know the exorbitant amount of money given or pledged by large banks like JPMorgan ($30 billion), Bank of America ($18 billion), and Silicon Valley Bank ($70 million) in the wake of the 2020 BLM riots to subsidized and sub-prime race-based lending, race-based investment targeting, supply chain diversity initiatives, and nonprofits advancing racial justice.

But BLM was so effective that even seemingly middle-America companies shelled out big. For example, Cargill, the Minnesota-based food producer, launched its Black Farmer Equity Initiative, a redistributive program that attributes declining numbers of black farmers to the legacy of systemic racism and seeks to dismantle Anti-Black racism and operationalize equity across the food and agriculture system. Cargill pledged $11 billion to the initiative through 2030.

Kroger, a ubiquitous neighborhood grocery chain, spent at least $13 million to advance racial division, including $5 million toward its Framework for Action: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiative and a $500,000 contribution to LISCs Black Economic Development Fund, a discriminatory investment fund that promotes BLM. Kroger also partnered with the discriminatory, race-based hiring platform OneTen, which aims to hire, promote, and advance one million Black individuals who do not have a four-year degree into family-sustaining careers over the next ten years.

Caterpillar, the producer of heavy equipment, donated $500,000 each to the NAACP and the Equal Justice Initiative. It too partnered with OneTen. John Deere donated $1 million to the NAACP, again, an official partner of BLM.

Defense contractors, traditionally neutral and dedicated to keeping America safe, also submitted to BLMs demands. Northrop Grumman donated $1 million to the NAACP and an additional $1 million to organizations promoting social justice as part of an employee charitable gift matching program. It also partnered with OneTen.

Raytheon pledged $25 million over five years to advance racial justice, empowerment, and career readiness in underserved communities. The commitment includes donations to the NAACP, Equal Justice Initiative, and National Urban League; community outreach; public policy lobbying; and a supplier diversity initiative.

Boeing pledged a minimum of $25 million by 2023 toward racial equity and social justice. In 2020, it contributed $15.6 million to organizations addressing racial inequity, including $1 million to the Equal Justice Initiative.

The list goes on, and should be further explored by journalists in order to understand the full extent of the shakedown. By caving to BLM, American companies not only became the tools of radicals but also laid the groundwork for future violence and extortion.

The Center for the American Way of Life is a branch of The Claremont Institute. The mission of The Claremont Institute is to restore the principles of the American Founding to their rightful, preeminent authority in our national life.

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BLM Executed A Historic Shakedown Of American Corporations - The Federalist

More than 15 million Americans protested across the country after the 2020 police killing of George Floyd. Thousands demonstrated in Richmond that year to demand changes in policing pointing to the killing of Marcus-David Peters by a Richmond police officer.

The base of the now-removed Robert E. Lee statue on Monument Avenue became the central location for protestors calling for a reexamination of policing practices used in response to people in the midst of a mental health crisis.

In 2018, a Richmond police officer shot and killed Marcus-David Peters. The 24-year-old Black, high-school biology teacher was undressed and unarmed when he was shot. The officer who shot Peters, ten-year veteran Michael Nyantakyi, was cleared of any wrongdoing.

The incident sparked outrage and was the impetus for legislation to address how police respond to mental health calls.

Marcus-David Peters sister Princess Blanding, who is an educator turned activist, worked with lawmakers to pass the Marcus-David Peters Act in 2020. It established the Marcus Alert System, which was intended to encourage coordination between 911 and regional crisis call centers and create a specialized behavioral health response from police when responding to a behavioral health situation.

We don't call on a construction worker to perform heart surgery. So, why are we calling our police officers to deal with mental illness? Blanding asked.

The original version of the Marcus Alert System called for us to create community care teams which had a mental health professional, a peer recovery specialist, and a police officer standing in back, Blanding explained as she pointed to recent efforts to roll back the law.

In 2022, Virginia lawmakers passed a bill that allowed localities with a population of fewer than 40,000 to opt-out of implementing the Marcus Alert. Legislators cited funding and behavioral worker shortages as reasons smaller localities may not have the capacity to fulfill the law.

Blanding worries about what she sees as efforts to roll-back the Marcus-David Peters Act and stresses the need to address long-standing issues of mistrust regarding police.

We see time and time again, from George Floyd to Brianna Taylor, to Tamir Rice to Marcus-David Peters, Blanding listed a few of the names of Black people killed by police. To my other brother, who was recently killed by a police officer.

Blanding, who is one of 16 children, is now mourning the loss of a second sibling. New Jersey police shot and killed her 19-year-old brother Joshua Mathis in January. Police body camera video shows Mathis holding a knife and running toward officers before being shot. The incident is under investigation.

The Marcus Alert program is now operating in five Virginia localities - one in each region of the state including Richmond, Virginia Beach, Prince William County and cities and counties served by the Rappahannock-Rapidan and Highland Community Services Boards. The remaining cities and counties that have yet to implement the system and are too large to opt-out, have until July 2026 to implement the Marcus Alert.

In the meantime, Blanding, who ran for Governor of Virginia in 2021, continues to advocate for change. She thinks reforms; such as implementing civilian review boards and removing qualified immunity for officers, which allows them protection from civil lawsuits; could be a step in the right direction.

Blanding also supports Governor Youngkins calls for additional mental health service funding.

Invest it in those proactive measures, Blanding said. Invest it in those professionals, who can be the correct responders to the early signs of a mental health crisis.

In Chesterfield County, the police department isnt waiting for legislative reforms. Its been working on improving community care for decades.

Police Chief Jeffery Katz said the way to build trust is to focus on building relationships within the community.

Its important for people to see us as partners and as advocates, as opposed to an occupying force, Katz said.

Police officer Justin Abshier has been with the Chesterfield County Police Department for five years and recently joined the Community Engagement Unit, a team of nine officers who focus exclusively on building relationships within the community.

In community engagement, our goal is to address those underlying problems, Abshier said. And see if we can reduce the crime or the call volume in certain areas by working with the community to do outside the box problem solving.

The Community Engagement Unit works with local organizations and professionals to figure out ways to address chronic social issues like food insecurity, unemployment, and homelessness.

The chief hopes the positive engagement can help combat mistrust of the police.

Because theres so many negative messages out there about police, its incumbent upon us to make sure that we engage as many people as possible, before they need help, Katz said. So that they feel comfortable and safe reaching out to us so that we can provide them assistance in their time of need.

Katz said the Chesterfield Police Department and local mental health professionals already have a strong working relationship and hopes they can continue to work together to provide services the community needs.

When somebody calls that is in crisis, our interaction with them should be as minimal as possible. Katz said. We should be able to take them to a resource center and get them treatment as fast as possible. That is not happening right now. That needs to change.

Chief Katz pointed to what he called a broken mental health care system. He argued the system currently doesnt have the capacity to respond to those in need.

Chesterfield County has not yet implemented the Marcus Alert System. The chief says there are successful co-response models in the country, but he warns that the recent reforms may not be the best approach.

The reflexive reform efforts of the last couple years have not made our community safer, Katz said. I think its important that we go back to the drawing board, and we evaluate from an informed perspective how we can all work together to improve our criminal justice system to enhance public safety.

The chief speaks to law enforcement leaders from around the world about the importance of building trust within a community.

He said, while his department in Chesterfield County is still a work in progress, he hopes other jurisdictions will implement similar community engagement efforts.

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Policing reforms after Black Lives Matter demonstrations - VPM News

LOUISVILLE, Ky. Drag Queen Storytime is increasing security for an upcoming weekend event in Louisville over heightened safety concerns.

The LGBTQ+ nonprofit is hosting a "Reading with Pride" event, featuring Louisville Drag Queen Miss Diana Rae, at the No Kill Louisville Animal Rescue & Pet Food Bank on Sunday, March 26

In a social media post, event organizers said they were notified that White Lives Matter plans to travel to Kentucky to protest the event in hopes of scaring guests.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled the group a neo-Nazi organization created as "a racist response to the civil rights movement Black Lives Matter."

Screenshots from the Kentucky White Live Matter Official Telegram channel, provided by the nonprofit, show the group plans to "make our visibility known" at the event.

In response, Drag Queen Storytime says rather than canceling the event, they plan to increase security.

"This group is hoping to intimidate and scare us into canceling our event," officials said on Facebook. "Let's be perfectly Queer about this. We will not be canceling our event. We will make ourpresence known."

Drag Queen Storytime says there will be more security at the event to protect guests and say the event venue is gated and on private property.

Another Louisville nonprofit,the Parasol Patrol, also plans to attend the event on Sunday to shield guests from anticipated protestors.

"We are calling our community. Please show up!" Drag Queen Storytime said. "We will NOT HIDE from anyone."

On Wednesday, another LGBTQ+ event in eastern Kentucky canceled its drag fundraiser due to threats of violence from extremists.

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'We will not hide'; Drag Queen Storytime increases event security after threats from White Lives Matter - WHAS11.com

By LaKeshia N. Myers

A riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the negro poor has worsened over the last twelve or fifteen years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity.

These words were spoken by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1967.

Kings words were fresh on my mind last week during our assembly floor session where we debated a bill that would define riot in statute as well as provide penalties for individuals who incite and/or participate in a riot. I voted No on the billand for good reason. First, the bill defined a riot as, a public disturbance that involves an act of violence, as part of an assembly, of at least three persons, that constitutes a clear and present danger of property damage or personal injury or a threat of an act of violence (Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau, 2023). My colleagues widely referenced the protests of 2020, when statues we dismantled and storefronts were vandalized in the wake of George Floyds murder. They readily exclaimed that law enforcement groups were all on board with the legislation that would be aimed at saving property.

While they thought about property, I thought about people. The people whose lives are almost always at the heart of the protests. People who inherently carry the burden of fighting for their very existence and fight to hold on to their piece of American pie each and every generation. They are most often the people who would be prosecuted should a protest include any act of violence, and the truth of the matter is, they might very well be the perpetrator of a violent act done in the name of a worthy cause. But to me, riot, as defined by the legislation is par for the course of living in a democracy. It is the American way.

America itself exists because of riots. The Boston Massacre, Boston Tea Party, and Shays Rebellionall can be classified as riots. The people who perpetrated the acts (in most cases) were prosecuted and tried (or killed) because of their participation. But the end result was that our country changed because they were courageous enough to stand up for what they believed in. It amazes me that now, because of Black Lives Matter protests and the subsequent violence that occurred we need harsher penalties. There are very few penalties for police and others who choose to wreak havoc on marginalized communities. Where was the outcry about saving property when Black churches were being burned? When the Greenwood District of Tulsa was being bombed and burned to the ground? When cities like Watts, Newark, and Miami were hurting?

I am not a proponent of violence, but I understand why it happens. I understand that there is a fine line that can be assuaged between riot and protest. The determination is most often based on whether or not we agree with the people making the noise. And that is the sad part. There is no right way to protest. Dr. King and his contemporaries dressed in their Sundays finest and were met with dogs and water hoses. In Ferguson, Missouri, some activists burned a police car and were met with tear gas. Same fight. Same result. Property damage is the cost of living in an ever evolving democracy.

Instead of creating new ways to stifle citizen outcry, we need to begin doing the real work to make our society more equitable and just. If we dont just wait for the next riot, after all, its the American blueprint for Democracy.

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Riots: The American Way - Milwaukee Courier Weekly Newspaper

Amid all the chants, Travonna Thompson-Wiley searched for a voice. Someone who could guide her next steps.

The Seattle native had never considered herself an activist before the killings of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd. But after the video, the one she and so many others couldnt get through, shed seen enough. Felt enough. On May 30, 2020, she streamed downtown with thousands of others to protest for Black lives.

Outside the Nordstrom corporate building where she once worked, Thompson-Wiley couldnt find a leader. She followed the crowd to I-5, then up to Capitol Hill. She listened closely to stories of suffering and resilience from Black and Indigenous community members who huddled in the early days of CHOP.

Those conversations inspired Thompson-Wiley and others to form the Black Action Coalition. Group members started weekly marches. Then, when they joined daily demonstrations backed by more experienced activists like Nikkita Oliver, Thompson-Wiley heard a cacophony of outrage finally coalesce into a chorus of three demands: Free the protesters. Invest in the Black community. Defund the police.

But how much, exactly, should they ask for?

In concert with groups from Los Angeles to Minneapolis, local activists landed on a 50 percent reduction of the Seattle Police Departments budget for the remainder of 2020 and 2021. The money could be reinvested in community-led solutions and a road map to life without policing, a proposal advocacy groups King County Equity Now and Decriminalize Seattle outlined to the city council on July 7, 2020. Seven of the nine politicians pledged their support.

But three years since protesters hatched a bold plan to reimagine public safety, Seattle hasnt sniffed divestment of this magnitude. With a new administration in place, the city has quietly reversed course, raising questions about just how genuine, or widespread, calls for change in 2020 really were. And what their legacy will be.

SPD is receiving nearly $19 million more this year than in 2022. With crime and response times on the rise, the money will, in part, pay for hiring bonuses to bolster a depleted force. Over a two-and-half-year span, the department lost more than 400 trained and deployable officers for a variety of reasons, ranging from departmental squabbles to complaints about Seattles political climate.

The reimbursement fulfills one of mayor Bruce Harrells promises on the campaign trail. Make no mistake about it: Im not defunding the police, Harrell said during a debate with M. Lorena Gonzlez, part of the city council contingent who supported the 50 percent cut.

SPD BUDGET2020, actual: $402.3 million2021, actual: $361.7 million2022, adopted: $355.5 million2023, adopted: $374.3 million2024, endorsed: $384.9 millionIcon: EdwinPM / noun project

Harrells predecessor, Jenny Durkan, dismissed the feasibility of the councils stance back then. You cant govern by Twitter or bumper sticker. And the citys legislative body quickly discoveredthat a 50 percent cut was not possible, remembers council member Lisa Herbold, chair of the Public Safety and Human Services committee. A Covid-induced budget rebalancing shaved a paltry $3 million in the summer of 2020, and tweaks for 2021 ultimately amounted to just a 10 percent net cutprogress, but not what was promised.

Or what was necessarily popular. While a telephone survey in July 2020 showed 53 percent of likely Seattle voters backed a 50 percent cut, by October of that year, a separate Crosscut/Elway poll found just 20 percent did. Its respondents skewed older and whiter than the actual demographics of the city, but it also found a greater percentage of people of color wanted more police in neighborhoods than white city residents.

Focusing on a defunding number at all may have been part of the problem, Thompson-Wiley says. Especially such a large one. Initially she was a little ticked off when the city didnt allocate more money for community members marginalized by gentrification and the war on drugs. But she kept listening to the activist voices more seasoned than hers. Defunding the police wasnt just about dollars, she learned, a sentiment she would soon pass on to skeptics; it was also a broader mandate to reduce the power and size of the force.

Through that lens, she could see the steps forward.

Anglica Chzaro couldnt march during those early protests. With immunocompromised family members at home, she didnt dare come within shouting distance of the masses as a pandemic raged. Instead, she made her presence felt from behind a computer screen.

The University of Washington law professor and Decriminalize Seattle organizer helps steer the Seattle Solidarity Budget, a coalition of progressive groups that moves appeals for change from streets to spreadsheets.

The collective came together after some of its advocates were pitted against one another. In the first budget following 2020s Black Lives Matter protests, Durkan pushed for a $100 million investment in communities of color. But she wanted to fund the project with revenue from a new payroll tax earmarked for other progressive purposes.

Chzaro and peers balked. Investment couldnt substitute for divestment. And activists shouldnt have to draw from the same pot. Instead of competing for resources, they joined forces and asked, What does make us safe?

They helped secure nearly $30 million for participatory budgeting to address a broader slate of public needs: future housing, road safety, and climate change. The advocates clinched the removal of the civilian-run 911 call center from SPDs purview in 2021, potentially laying the groundwork for fewer armed responses to emergencies. And they requested the transfer of civilian parking officers to the Department of Transportation, the other major cut to the police budget.

SPD OFFICERS IN SERVICE2019: 1,2812020: 1,0942021: 9582022: 954Icon: EdwinPM / noun project

That one served as a learning experience. The move to SDOT contributed to a debacle (or a godsend, depending on your perspective), as the city had to cancel or refund more than 200,000 parking tickets from a seven-month period when its officers lacked the authority to write them. Now those officers have returned to SPD.

The parking enforcement fiasco reaffirmed that an administrations implementation of changes is almost as important as the policies themselves. With Harrell pushing for the recruitment and retention of hundreds of more officers over the next several years, Chzaro knows the Solidarity Budget is at odds with his visionthough the coalition did manage to defund 80 unfilled, or ghost cop, positions recently.

Several allies from the council who helped push for trims in the months after protests are also gone or soon leaving office. But their support didnt come out of nowhere. We knew the only reason we had this opening was because there was still so much pressure on the streets, says Chzaro.

Thompson-Wiley kept marching into the spring of 2021. Then, as she expected, things died down. Keeping the energy up was labor-intensive. She admired the work of Chzaro and Oliver, who later left for Detroit after losing a city council race to Sara Nelson, a moderate whos pushed more police hiring bonuses.

Oliver, the interim executive director of Creative Justice, where Thompson-Wiley is now a community organizer, told her that theyd shifted the conversation. Though a 50 percent defund had fallen through, police abolition was now ingrained in local political conversations. A study with UW ties showed antiracist language from Black Lives Matter protests persisted on social media and in news stories long after marches dispersed. And Herbold says that community-based alternatives to police responses are now part of the dialogue tosupport other officers, not just the safety of those in crisis. When a majority of the council, including Herbold, initially backed halving the police budget, it was not so much about whether or not the goal was realistic; it was about recognizing that you have to reach in order to even make a small change.

Still, Thompson-Wiley wonders if some of the city councils promises to defund the police were really just pleas to get them off the streets.

If so, at least she knows now where to negotiate.

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What Happened to Defunding the Seattle Police Department? - Seattle Met