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Tensions were high as plans were made and changed to hold a protest on June 1, 2020, in the Rio Grande section of Middle Township, at the intersection of Routes 9 and 47. As protests erupted around the country, sparked by the death of George Floyd under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer, several community members braced for the worst as wild rumors flew across social media.

Instead, the event remained a peaceful and emotional moment, finished with a prayer circle in the intersection in which township police officers joined hands with the protesters.

For Middle Township resident Anthony Anderson, that moment seemed to change everything.

I feel like the local officers that did show up, they were there not only to make sure that nothing went wrong but to show their support, Anderson said. He was not there at the protest, but he saw the video and images afterward and saw it as pointing to a way forward.

Floyd died May 25, 2020. Angry protests quickly spread across the country, reacting not only to a single death but calling for a new effort against racism and bigotry. Some locals interviewed for this story see reasons for hope that things will continue to improve.

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In the summer of 2020, Anderson helped found the Progressive Black Initiative of Whitesboro, which sponsored weekly events at the Martin Luther King Center in that section of Middle Township. It continues to work on community service projects. Next up is a family fun night at the MLK center, planned with the township Recreation Department and sponsored by local businesses.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) A 43-year-old man confronted protesters against police violence in a Portland, Oregon, park, told them to leave and then drew a pistol and opened fire, killing a woman and wounding four other people, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

One of the strongest legacies of 2020, Anderson said, was the connections forged with police and local government officials. That may seem counterintuitive for a time seen as one of the most contentious since the 1960s.

They were all humanized and made more approachable, Anderson said. He said law enforcement officers and elected officials used the moment to build new bridges and find new ways to support community members.

In September of that year, Middle Township formed the Law Enforcement Community Engagement Committee, which grew out of the summer protests, as a way to deepen connections in the community. Anderson was among the appointed members.

Another township resident, Crystal Hutchinson, helped organize several marches that summer, including in Wildwood and Cape May.

Like Anderson, she spoke highly of Cape May County Prosecutor Jeffrey Sutherland and Middle Township police Chief Christopher Leusner, saying they were willing to listen. She also mentioned Dekon Fashaw in Cape May. He was not yet chief when he was at the Cape May march in 2020, but later became the resort citys first Black police chief.

Contacted later, Leusner sought to spread the credit throughout the department. That included citing Capt. William Adams, the incident commander in Rio Grande.

ATLANTIC CITY Students and teachers took to the streets in Atlantic City Sunday to celebra

I think our officers did a very good job. They were fair and respectful and sought to keep everyone safe, he said. When people are willing to listen and are trying to make things better, I think youre always going to find a partner in the Middle Township Police Department.

He said the police officers and the protesters are all part of the same community. Leusner said his department was criticized for closing the busy intersection for the protest, but he stands by the decision.

Were all in this together, he said.

Not everyone welcomed the marches and protests in 2020.

As protesters marched down the Wildwood Boardwalk, several people yelled their disapproval or displayed it in hand gestures, and there were incidents in Cape May in which business owners shouted at the marchers.

But others joined the march as it made its way along that citys Promenade.

Former President Donald Trump, who repeatedly called Black Lives Matter protesters thugs and anarchists, said there's a lot of respect for the overwhelmingly white truckers who blocked streets in the Canadian capital and shut down border crossings with the U.S. to oppose COVID-19 restrictions.

In 2021, Hutchinson helped organize another march in Cape May, this one for gay rights. She said the gay community came out strongly for the Black Lives Matter events, and she wanted to show support as well. She sees the movements as fundamentally connected.

Theres an intersectionality between the struggle for Black and brown people and the struggle for the queer community as well, she said.

Kaleem Shabazz, an Atlantic City councilman who was involved in the Civil Rights Movement as a teenager, sees the marches of 2020 as part of the continuum of civil rights efforts. He said they reinvigorated the civil rights and social justice movements in the United States.

He believes those efforts today are wider than they were in years past, involving a greater percentage of people from different ethnicities and backgrounds. That includes people who did not march or otherwise get involved, but began thinking about questions of race and justice more deeply.

For us to move past the problems that we have, it has to be a multiracial and multigenerational effort, Shabazz said. Something has happened that is not going to go back to the way it was.

He said the murder of Floyd while other officers watched has galvanized people in a way that has not happened for decades.

Things to know today: Police officer indictments in Austin; sentencing for Kim Potter; plus, a discussion about trucker protests and banned books.

In South Jersey, the movement created some clashes, and even destruction. During a march in Wildwood, passersby yelled out support for police, even as local officers sought to keep the two groups separate, and some used rude language to taunt the crowd.

In Atlantic City, after a protest on May 31, 2020, rioters destroyed storefronts and stole items from businesses. Seventeen people were arrested.

In cities across the country, police and protesters clashed, sometimes for nights on end, with stabbings and other violence reported. There were also cases where police shot protesters, and incidents of violence against protesters were seen as well.

An independent report found that in 93% of demonstrations connected to the Black Lives Matter movement, there was no violence or destructive activity. Still, many see the demonstrations as violent and the movement dangerous. In comments made at a Homeland Security Committee hearing and emailed to district residents, U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-2nd, questioned why Black Lives Matter and Antifa were not included by name in a report on domestic terrorism.

Hutchinson decried the violence and destruction that took place around the country. She said the work continues.

In separate interviews, Hutchinson and Shabazz said the next steps include continuing to work toward justice, which they said includes making it easier to vote.

I am very optimistic. We have to realize that we are not perfect, that we have ideals we have to strive for and to realize that we can do better, Shabazz said. I see things changing. Its not overnight like it is on television.

On Oct. 21, 1967, 100,000 people came together at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. to protest the Vietnam War. Following several speeches, roughly 50% of those gathered walked over to the Pentagon where a few hundred people then attempted to levitate the building.

The striking civic protest against the Vietnam War was noteworthy not just for its unusual call to action, but for the new and inventive ways Americans were flexing their right to peaceably assemble. And the Yippies who put on the event inspired countless creative takes on what protest could be, from the Womens Art Movement (WAM) to the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP).

The tradition of protesting in the United States is older than the country itself. Weve seen that historic institution in full force with Black Lives Matter protests and, more generally, protests against the storied, systemic racial injustice in the United States. The May 25, 2020, death of George Floyd, a Black man, held under the knee of a white police officer in Minneapolis, sparked protests across U.S. cities and around the world. The protesters called for justice for Floyd and other Black peoplefrom Breonna Taylor to Elijah McClainwho were killed by police, an end to police brutality, a dismantling of racist systems and symbols (including memorials to Confederate soldiers), and a greater investment in communities in need.

The protests prompted widespread dialogue about racial injustice and the political and cultural systems that support it. The four police officers involved in the killing of Floyd were charged with crimes related to the incident. The Minneapolis City Council agreed to dismantle its police force and rethink how it approaches public safety. And many politicians promised to adjust police budgets so money gets reallocated to support communities directly through improved housing, education, and mental health programs, especially in communities of color.

To understand where the Black Lives Matter demonstrations fit into this rich history, Stacker took a closer look at some of the most famous American protests. Research came from The New York Times, The Week, Time, and Business Insider; government archives; and information from unions and mission-driven organizations. The demonstrations that have made their mark on history range from the Boston Tea Party and Temperance prayer protests to demonstrations for modern-day issues, like civil rights, climate change, nuclear disarmament, reproductive health concerns, LGBTQ+ equality, and gun control.

Keep reading to learn about the important issues that motivated Americans to protestand the impacts of those actions on our society today.

[Pictured: A portrait taken during The Day Without an Immigrant protest on May 1, 2006.]

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A group of Quakers in Germantown, Pennsylvania, in 1688 created the first written protest against slavery in the new world, according to the Germantown Mennonite Historic Trust. The group saw the enslavement of others as a contradiction to its religious values and its history of fleeing oppression from the British. Sadly, the petition was not formally accepted by the higher governing bodies of the Quakers, but enslavement was eventually banned within the Quaker community in 1776.

[Pictured: A photograph of the original 1688 Germantown Quaker Petition Against Slavery after restoration in 2007.]

Protesters flooded Griffins Wharf in Boston on a dreary December evening in 1773 to demonstrate against the Tea Act, which gave the British government an effective monopoly on selling tea in the colonies. People dumped hundreds of chests of tea from the British East India Company into the wateran act of defiance against British rule without representation of the colonists who just two years later would fight in the American Revolution.

[Pictured: A Currier and Ives lithograph showing the destruction of tea in the Boston Harbor.]

Enraged by a new duty on whiskey and distilled spirits implemented in 1791, farmers in Pennsylvania and Virginia used violence and acts of intimidation in attempts to stop the collection of the tax. They justified their tactics with the belief that they were fighting against taxation without representation. President George Washington and his troops headed to the area with the protests to demonstrate the governments authority to enforce laws.

[Pictured: A painting attributed to Frederick Kemmelmeyer and titled, The Whisky Rebellion, depicts George Washington and troops near Fort Cumberland, Maryland.]

A group of feminists on July 19, 1848, hosted the first womens rights convention in the United States: the Seneca Falls Convention in Seneca Falls, New York. Around 300 people assembled to protest the governments unequal treatment of women and to call for women to be granted all the rights and freedoms outlined in the Declaration of Independence. The convention gave the womens rights movement the momentum it needed to pursue suffrage.

[Pictured: An illustration of Elizabeth Cady Stanton speaking at the Seneca Falls Convention.]

Violent demonstrations erupted in Lower Manhattan from July 1316, 1863, in response to a decision by Congress to draft men into the Civil War. The protests quickly devolved into a race riot as white protestors (comprised largely of Irish immigrants) began attacking Black peoplemany of whom ended up permanently moving from Manhattan to Brooklyn.

[Pictured: An illustration shows the Provost Marshals office burning during the draft riots in New York City on Aug. 8, 1863.]

The Womens Crusade was a religious, anti-alcohol group. Members of the group protested the sale of alcohol through picketing, marching, and public praying outside of saloons in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Indiana, and Michigan in 1874. The group was the predecessor to the Womens Christian Temperance Union, which helped pave the way for Prohibition a few decades later.

[Pictured: An 1874 illustration depicts women in Logan, Ohio, singing hymns to aid the temperance movement.]

Labor rights activists mounted parades to draw attention to dangerous workplace conditions and mourn the victims of a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory that killed 146 garment workers in New York City on April 5, 1911. Legislation was passed a few years later to increase workplace safety and allow people to work fewer hours.

[Pictured: Mourners picket after the Triangle fire in 1911.]

An estimated 5,0008,000 protesters gathered to march down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C., ahead of President Woodrow Wilsons inauguration in 1913 to call for womens suffrage. People in opposition to the protest assaulted many of the demonstrators, sparking public outrage that ultimately helped increase support for womens right to vote. It was one of manyprotests for the womens suffrage movement that decade. The 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote, was finally passed in 1920.

[Pictured: Women lead the Manhattan Delegation on a Woman Suffrage Party parade through New York City in 1915.]

Around 20,000 veterans and their families assembled in Washington D.C., in June 1932 in anticipation of the passage of a bill that would allow former military members to cash in certificates for $1,000 bonuses early, in the midst of the Great Depression. The bill failed in the Senate, and shortly after, the U.S. Army used gas, bayonets, and other weapons to destroy the camp and chase out the protesters. The act of violence caused public outrage aimed largely at President Herbert Hoover.

[Pictured: Bonus Army marchers struggle with police.]

After Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger, the Black community in Montgomery, Alabama, banded together to boycott the city bus system in December 1955. The boycott lasted more than a year, only ending once a court order forced the Montgomery buses to integrate. The protests thrust Martin Luther King Jr. into a major leadership role of the civil rights movement.

[Pictured: Rosa Parks after being arrested on Feb. 22, 1956, during the Montgomery bus boycott.]

On Feb. 1, 1960, a group of young African American students protested racial segregation by staging a sit-in at a Woolworths lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. They refused to give up their seats, despite being denied service because they were Black, and even returned the following day with a larger group of protesters. The sit-ins at restaurants popped up in 55 other cities by late March and lasted through July 25 of that year. The protests led to Woolworth Department Stores ending segregation at its southern locations.

[Pictured: Civil rights protesters at a Durham, North Carolina, sit-in dated Feb. 10, 1960.]

More than 200,000 protesters gathered for a peaceful demonstration outside the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. to call for racial equality in August 1963. There, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his now-iconic I Have a Dream speech. The protest put pressure on President John F. Kennedy to push forward civil rights policies. It also helped get the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed.

[Pictured: Looking out on a sea of signs during the March on Washington, Aug. 28, 1963.]

Thousands of peaceful activists led by Martin Luther King Jr. trekked from Selma, Alabama, to the states capital of Montgomery in March 1965 to call for an end to the suppression of Black voters. Protesters were met with violence from white supremacist groups and local authorities throughout the five-day, 54-mile journey. President Lyndon B. Johnson would sign the Voting Rights Act of 1965 just a few months later.

[Pictured: Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife Loretta Scott King lead the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, on March 30, 1965.]

A wave of civil unrest swept through the nation after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, with the largest riots occurring in Washington D.C., Chicago, and Baltimore. The National Guard and federal troops were called in to stop many of the riots, which left 43 dead and thousands arrested. The riots helped revive a bill for federal fair housing and get the legislation passed in Congress.

[Pictured: A soldier stands in front of the ruins of buildings destroyed during the uprisings in Washington D.C. on April 8, 1968.]

Around 400 second-wave feminists organized a protest of the Miss America pageant near New Jerseys Atlantic City Convention Center on Sept. 7, 1968. They wanted to speak out against the ludicrous beauty standards women were supposed to adhere to, according to Megan Gibson of Time. The protesters tossed bras and other symbols of oppression into a trash can, which was never set on fire, but still gave birth to the myth of the bra-burning feminist.

[Pictured: Demonstrators protest the Miss America beauty pageant in Atlantic City, New Jersey.]

On June 28, 1969, New York City police conducted a raid on a gay bar called the Stonewall Inn. Spontaneous and violent protests and riots occurred immediately after the raid and continued for the next six days. The unrest ignited the gay rights movement around the world.

[Pictured: A group marches up Sixth Avenue during the annual Gay Pride parade in New York City, June 29, 1975.]

The streets of Washington D.C., were flooded with more than half a million demonstrators calling for the end of the Vietnam War in November 1969. The protest was part of a string of rallies that erupted across the world that year. The war wouldnt end for another six years.

[Pictured: View of demonstrators during the Moratorium March On Washington to protest the war in Vietnam on Nov. 15, 1969.]

A group of around 100 feministsstaged an 11-hour sit-in at the offices of Ladies Home Journal on March 18, 1970. The protesters called for the magazine to hire women to fill editorial staff roles, including editor-in-chief, commission women writers for columns, increase employment of women of color, and raise womens salaries, among other demands. The protest resulted in the company agreeing to let the feminists create part of an issue of the magazine, and eventually hiring only women editors-in-chief starting in 1973.

[Pictured: Three demonstrators during the Womens Strike for Equality in New York City on Aug. 26, 1970.]

Around 3,000 people gathered for an anti-war rally on the Commons of Kent State University on May 4, 1970. Ohio National Guardsman, who had been called to the campus after protesters and local police had a violent confrontation the week before, fired at the protesters, killing four and injuring another nine people. The shootings triggered student strikes nationwide and began the slide into Watergate, eventually destroying the Nixon administration, according to Jerry M. Lewis and Thomas R. Hensley of Kent State University.

[Pictured: View of students at an anti-war demonstration at Kent State University in Ohio on May 4, 1970.]

Anti-abortion protesters gathered in Washington D.C., for the first March for Life rally on Jan. 22, 1974. While it was initially intended as a one-time event aimed at pressuring the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, the March for Life became an annual event continuing today. In 2020, President Donald Trump spoke at the March for Life, making him the first president to do so.

[Pictured: Anti-abortion demonstrators pass the Washington Monument on their way to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 22, 1979.]

Take Back The Night events began in Belgium and England in the 1960s to draw awareness to the issue of women feeling unsafe walking on streets alone at night. The movement hit the United States in 1973 at the University of Southern Florida, when women dressed in black sheets and paraded through the campus while holding broomsticks, demanding that the school open a womens center. Take Back The Night protests now occur annually in communities around the world as part of an effort to end sexual violence.

[Pictured: Participants hold a banner for Take Back The Night in Boston 1978.]

The National Organization for Women staged a series of marches and protests in Illinois beginning in May 1976 protesting the states resistance to ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). The first demonstration drew about 16,000 people to Springfield, Illinois, while a record 90,000 people attended another march in Chicago on Mothers Day 1980. Illinois eventually ratified the ERA in 2018.

[Pictured: Womens Equal Rights parade in Washington D.C. on Aug. 26, 1977.]

After attempting to organize a march for LGBT rights since 1973, activists finally made it happen with the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights on Oct. 14, 1979. The event attracted up to 125,000 members and allies of the LGBT community and urged Congress to pass protective civil rights legislation. It helped make the gay rights movement a national issue.

[Pictured: Attendees gather around the Washington Monument at the first National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights.]

Around 260,000 people took to the streets of Washington D.C., on Sept. 19, 1981, for the Solidarity Day march against union-busting. The protest was sparked after President Ronald Reagan fired more than 12,000 air traffic controllers who had been striking for increased workplace safety and higher wages.

[Pictured: Marchers, including Washington Mayor Marion Barry, Lane Kirkland, president of AFL-CIO, Vernon Jordan, and Coretta Scott King, head down Constitution Avenue in Washington D.C. on Sept. 19, 1981.]

An estimated 1 million protesters gathered in New York Citys Central Park on June 12, 1982, to protest nuclear weapons. The event was intended to show widespread support for nuclear disarmament ahead of the United Nations Second Special Session on Disarmament.

[Pictured: A crowd participates in a peace rally in Manhattans Central Park in 1982.]

The Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament was a cross-country walk organized to raise awareness for the growing threat of nuclear proliferation. Around 400 people completed the 3,600-mile, eight-month journey from Los Angeles to Washington D.C. It ended with the marchers and thousands of supporters singing This Land Is Your Land in unison across from the White House.

[Pictured: The Great Peace March protesters travel across the George Washington Bridge in New York City on Oct. 23, 1986.]

The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, a grassroots organization aimed at ending the AIDS epidemic, got its first national coverage on Oct. 11, 1987, when hundreds of thousands of protesters rallied in Washington D.C. for the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. The march was just one of many activities held over a series of six days, which also included the first public viewing of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt. It is sometimes referred to as The Great March for its historical significance in the gay rights movement.

[Pictured: Marchers participate in the Gay Rights March on Washington D.C. on Oct. 1, 1987.]

Continued here:
Locals look back at 2020 Black Lives Matter protests and see hope for the future - Press of Atlantic City

Time and again the UMass administration has proven they only care about themselves and whats good for them, especially when systemic racism is involved.

While I am proud of the longstanding commitment to social justice at UMass, even here, the barriers to racial equity and justice are real, whether subtle or overtly threatening. We can break down these barriers: each one of us has the power to become an agent of change. By working to see our own biases, by undoing structural barriers, by identifying our shared humanity, we strengthen our ability to challenge racism in ourselves, our university, and beyond. As we begin Black History Month, let us use this time of celebration to reaffirm our continued commitment to creating a campus, a country, and a world defined by racial justice for all.

This quote comes from an email Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy sent to the UMass community on February 2nd. On the second day of Black History Month, the face of this institution chose language that on the surface reflects progress, but the reality is something different. UMass has never shown this much interest in addressing institutional racism beforehand, and it is only because of the pressure they received last semester and the previous ones that they do so. Put simply, UMass does not, never has, nor ever will care about Black people.

I have said it repeatedly, and I will continue to say it. Time and again the Chancellor has had the opportunity to go after the systemic issues that disproportionately affect Black people, yet he refuses to. What continued commitment? In my almost four years here I havent seen any sustained efforts from the administration to not only prevent racist acts from occurring, but also to ensure that students have access to the resources necessary in the aftermath of these acts. Where is the mentioning of the Black Advisory Council, one of its goals being to make campus truly equitable for Black people? What about the W. E. B. Du Bois Department of African-American Studies, that has had its resources cut by the administration year after year and continues to be a space for Black students on campus? Why not highlight the work various Black orgs have been doing to support each other? What about the RJC demands that remain largely on paper, waiting to be implemented? If he truly cared about Black people the chancellor would take action and ensure there are things in place that are built to last, instead of giving lip service every year that goes nowhere.

Pay Black student workers what we deserve. Implement the RJC demands. Give Black RSOs the funds and spaces necessary to host community-building events. Hire Black faculty and staff across the board, reinvest in African-American Studies. There are so many things that can be done, and yet they wont because Black Lives dont Matter at UMass. Have they ever? Honestly, no. Black people have had to constantly fight (still do) to be heard, respected, seen, and more. Yet those in power refuse to come to the table, choosing to allow racist incidents to happen in order to protect their bottom lines.

See original here:
When Will Black Lives Matter? Amherst Wire - Amherst Wire

The official account for the "Black Lives Matter" movement and many of its supporters lashed out at President Joe Biden after he proclaimed that Democrats would help fund the police in his State of the Union speech.

Biden emphatically renounced the "Defund the Police" movement in his speech and most Democrats applauded his statement.

"Proven strategies like community violence interruption, trusted messengers, breaking the cycle of violence and trauma, and giving young people some hope," said Biden.

"We should all agree the answer is not to defund the police, it's to fund the police!" he added.

"Fund them! Fund them!" Biden continued during the applause. "Fund them with resources and training! Resources and training they need to protect our communities!"

Not all were pleased at the policy announcement.

The official BLM account posted a frowning photograph of Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) in response to Biden's statement.

Others were far more strident in their excoriation of Biden.

"Fund the police? F*** you, Joe Biden. I f***ing hate this s***hole country," tweeted one user who identified himself as a communist.

"Love how Biden listed a bunch of bipartisan things he signed for many groups and then for black ppl was like, 'F*** YOUR MARCHES, More money for the police! Suck it blacks!' Real cool stuff," replied another commenter.

"lmao mask off ig this geriatric republican lite f***" read another tweet.

"Dude says we need to fund the police. He's an enemy of the people. Simple as that," replied Albert Corado, a candidate for the Los Angeles City Council.

"F*** off, Joe. The police are a corrupt, racist, transphobic, queerphobic institution. All cops are bastards," said another detractor.

Establishment centrist Democrats have blamed progressives and the "Defund the Police" movement for their relative losses in congressional and state races in the 2020 election. In one memorable incident, Democratic House Majority Whip James Clyburn of South Carolina said on MSNBC that the defund the police movement was "non-starter," even among black Americans, and called it a "chokehold around the Democratic party."

President Biden calls to fund the police, talks gun controlwww.youtube.com

See original here:
Black Lives Matter and its supporters are ripping into Biden for police remark in his State of the Union speech - TheBlaze

You know a show has made it when its prepared to say no to its main backer, especially when that backer is a megastar rapper who is singlehandedly responsible for the show even being on TV. When we first met Drake to talk to him about helping us to revive the series, he said, Look, Id love to be in it! says Top Boy creator Ronan Bennett, but this offer gave him a problem. If Drake were to appear, it would have been a distraction. It would be hard to maintain Top Boys level of authenticity so it didnt happen.

Since its launch in 2011, Top Boy has had a reputation for an unblinking depiction of the drug trade rife on inner-London estates. Soon, viewers will be treated to its second, hyper-realistic season on Netflix, nine years after it was cancelled by Channel 4 following two runs. Longtime fan Drake helped convince Netflix to commission the series, becoming executive producer along the way. It was also helped by calls from fans including famous ones. When Kane Kano Robinson, the grime musician who plays gang leader Sully in the show, met Noel Gallagher, the first thing Gallagher said was: Whens Top Boy coming back?

It got annoying sometimes, laughs Ashley Walters, who has played Dushane, another gang leader, since the start. I love the fans and I love how much they love the show. But you kind of get drowned by it sometimes. Its like you cant exist as any other character. Its like: All right, thats good. But whens Top Boy coming back? It was a relief to have it return.

This time round, the show is much bigger in scope. We follow the drug route into London from Morocco through Spain prompting scenes of sun-dappled ocean waves gently lapping a yachts bow. Naturally, this being Top Boy, these scenes are followed by a naked man being shot in the head and dumped overboard. We also see into the police investigation of the various London crews, which is actually a first, even though the show has been dubbed the UKs version of The Wire. (Bennett is quick to point out that this story has not remotely been influenced by comparisons to The Wire.) Plus, we see Top Boy do something it has certainly never done before have a grime MC hang out in a bush with a fox called Roy, fork-feeding it from a tin while chuckling: Here comes the plane!

Ronan had been showing us videos of him feeding a fox that was living in his garden, says Robinson. So when I saw that in the script, I thought: Oh God, youve stitched me up. This is a result of his character retreating into a less urban lifestyle after the climax of the previous series. I was a bit nervous. I dont like foxes. I dont think anyone likes foxes. You normally avoid them, dont you?

But some things have stayed the same. Just like the previous two series, this new season begins with Sully and Dushane falling out. Its an ongoing battle, says Walters. Every time we get scripts, Kane and I are like: Ah man, again? But were always creatively trying to find ways to make it feel different. Robinson adds: It does blow my mind how long the show has been running, especially when I get a young person saying: When the first series came out, I wasnt allowed to watch it. I was 11 and my mum wouldnt let me.

Its not just Top Boy fans who have grown up with the show. Its actors have, too. I just remember everyone in school talking about it, says Brit award-winning MC Little Simz, AKA Simbi Ajikawo, who plays Dushanes girlfriend Shelley. Jasmine Jobson, who plays Dushanes deputy Jaq, chips into our group Zoom call: Everyone in class would be like: Oh my God, did you see what happened in Top Boy last night?

In the past, the show has been very male-dominated. But last month, a giant poster was unveiled in London featuring Jobson and Ajikawo. There we are, faces as big as satellite dishes! says Jobson. Our boats are right there! Im so gassed! Ajikawo gets her own storyline, too, running a nail bar and being visited by a shadowy figure from her past. Meanwhile, as Jaq becomes a major player in the Summerhouse gang, we step into her love life and see her in the grip of a family drama that introduces a Liverpool-based crew.

So is there more of a spotlight on female characters this season? One hundred per cent, says Jobson. The women who live in this world arent often spoken about. And the female perspective was something we were lacking, but now were opening doors. Ajikawo adds: Yeah, the earlier seasons were really male-led, but were pushing the narrative forward now. Not just in showing that these men have sisters, girlfriends and mothers, but also that they work with women who are leading their field.

Top Boy has always been unflinching in tackling broader social issues, such as the county lines phenomenon, in which inner-city kids briefly decamp to small towns to sell drugs. Series four showcases the post-Windrush threat of deportation faced by older African-Caribbean immigrants, as well as homing in on gentrification and furious residents meetings whose attendees face rehousing in different cities. However, due to the series already being in production at the time of George Floyds murder, the Black Lives Matter movement didnt make it in. Does that feel weird?

You have to remember what type of people the characters are, says Robinson. Theyre violent drug dealers who come from a place that has made them that way. Are they going to Black Lives Matter marches? I doubt it. I doubt most people out there selling drugs are.

Still, its hard not to look at Top Boy at least through the prism of BLM. For years, it has been depicting a side of the inner-city British Black experience often overlooked by the mainstream media. And it does so by casting actors from the community it represents, initially holding open castings for kids whod never acted before, until by season two of its Channel 4 run they were swamped by thousands of applicants. Casting agent Des Hamiltons dedication to giving roles to actors with no previous experience saw him win the first ever Bafta for scripted casting.

Thats what Im proudest of, says Walters. Top Boy is creating careers for people who wouldnt otherwise have had that opportunity. You get to see new actors coming into the show, watch them flourish. Thats always been important to us.

Top Boy has launched the careers of Letitia Wright, Michaela Coel and last seasons breakout, Bafta Rising Star award-winner Micheal Ward, who has since worked with Steve McQueen on Small Axe and acted with Sharon Stone. This season, it looks set to do the same for Jobson. Top Boy has opened so many doors for me, she says. But I didnt get into acting to win awards. Its so important that were showing issues like gentrification because I honestly couldnt tell you how many estates from areas I grew up in are no longer there. Its heartbreaking. Sometimes thats all people know its where theyve lived their whole lives, where their whole family grew up.

Jobsons journey to acting via her background in care was not only made possible by Top Boy but also inspired by it, in particular Wrights shift into the Marvel universe. Letitia is definitely a big inspiration for me. She comes from nothing. She was the lead girl in Top Boy and now shes smashing it.

And what about Robinson and Walters, who have been with the show from the start when will they get their Hollywood break? I dont know, man, says Robinson. I just want to do what I believe in. Top Boy suits me artistically. If I come across another project I believe in, Ill give it a look. But its not something Im chasing.

Shunning Hollywood? Perhaps we shouldnt be too surprised. After all, Robinson does star in Top Boy, the show that refused Drake a cameo.

Top Boy returns to Netflix on 18 March

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The stars of Top Boy: Are drug dealers going to Black Lives Matter marches? I doubt it - The Guardian

The project is also a way for the Hutch to help lead social and scientific change in the Pacific Northwest, he said.

As an important Seattle employer, our support of social justice in our city is critical to our role as citizens of Seattle and [the] Puget Sound [region], Lynch said.

The initiatives leaders envision the Public Art and Community Dialogue Program as a new avenue for the Hutch to connect with people who may feel that sciences doors are closed against them, and to further break down the barriers that can cut science off from the broader community.

Engaging in this dialogue is a way to sustain the change that we need to make as society as we work toward greater inclusion and equity, Buckley said.

The Hutch raised its Black Lives Matter banner and flag in June 2020 in support of racial justice and equality, and the first commissioned piece to go on display will feature a message of solidarity created by a Black artist.

We are remaining committed to that effort. We recognize that in raising the [Black Lives Matter] flag, it is also raising someone elses message. This is an opportunity for us to explore our message and communicate our message with as much strength and power as the Black Lives Matter flag communicates, in solidarity with the Black community and with careful reflection on our mission and purpose, Buckley said.

The new initiative is a chance to send a message that will resonate within the Fred Hutch and Seattle Cancer Care Alliance communities, and beyond, said SCCA patient navigator John Masembe, who works with Black and African American patients, and is a member of the committee slated to review submissions from Black artists.

We want to let you know that we do hear you and see you. We're embracing your culture, embracing your background and respecting your values, said Masembe, who is the son of Ugandan immigrants, and envisions a message that embraces the interconnectedness of Black, African American and African immigrant communities.

Participating artists will draw inspiration from their own experiences, from their communities, and from exchanges with Hutch researchers. As part of their creative process, selected artists will meet and engage with scientists and science supporters in all areas of the centers administration. Buckley, Masembe and other project leaders, including Hutch diversity, equity and inclusion educator and learning specialist Nikkita McPherson, hope that this exchange of perspectives will inspire new insights for everyone involved enhancing both artistic and scientific aims. The effort will be a collaboration between the artist and the scientific community at the Hutch.

The beautiful part of this is we're creating it together, right? said McPherson, who will be facilitating the dialogues between artist and Hutch employees. And we're not making any assumptions. We have no preconceived ideas about what will come out of it. This is putting into practice what we've been talking about for over a year in terms of our anti-racist work and doing so through a medium I love, which is art.

McPherson, who is also a member of the committee slated to review submissions from Black artists, noted that the programs ideals have deep roots at the Hutch. The Fred Hutch/University of Washington Cancer Consortiums Office of Community Outreach & Engagement, or OCOE, conducts and facilitates research that connects with underrepresented and underserved communities throughout Washington to reduce inequities in cancer care and research. The HIV Vaccine Trials Network, headquartered at the Hutch, helped spearhead inclusive HIV vaccine science and was the model for inclusive studies of COVID-19 vaccines. Several of the Hutchs high school and undergraduate internships are designed to foster young scientists from underrepresented backgrounds.

To say we're anti-racist is to say that we're willing to be in community together, McPherson said. We have to be willing to be in dialogue, which is different than debate, which is different than conversation, which is different than discussion. And to be in dialogue with each other means that we are saying that we are going to address [injustice] and also create something together to move forward with. [With this new project,] Im joyous about what could happen, and optimistic about what could happen.

Read more here:
New Fred Hutch initiative to foster inclusivity in science and health via art and dialogue - Fred Hutch News Service