Archive for the ‘Black Lives Matter’ Category

Black Lives Matter rally coming to North Hudson for second year in a row tomorrow – Hudson County View

A Black Lives Matter rally is coming to North Hudson for the second year in a row tomorrow afternoon, an event organizers have been promoting for weeks.

By John Heinis/Hudson County View

The event is scheduled to begin at 79th Street and Bergenline Avenue at 12:00 noon Demonstrators will march in unison down Bergenline Avenue to an area near Celia Cruz Park in Union City.

HudPost founder James de los Santos, began working to organize the protest in partnership with prominent community leaders in an effort to create a space for Hudson County residents to support the Black Lives Matter movement and other issues affecting the North Hudson Community.

I hope that this demonstration serves as a model that cities are able to come together to enact real change when utilizing activism and effective community organizing. Last year, this event set the precedence of fostering meaningful relationships between local authorities and the community at large, he said in a statement.

Open dialogues were initiated and must continue in order to address and improve the community and how it is governed and policed. The residents of the North Hudson County region want to continue to see tangible changes in local policies and politics. This is just the beginning.

Dozens of community leaders are expected to make participate, including state Senator (D-33)/Union City Mayor Brian Stack, Progressive Democrats of Hudson County member Hector Oseguera, Black Men United Founder Nevin Perkins, Black Lives Matter representatives Kason Little and Zellie Thomas, CAIR New Jersey Executive Director Selaedin Maksut, and Dennis Febo of Amend the 13th NJ.

Furthermore, the organizations that helped organize the rally are the Hudson Partnership CMO, Amend the 13th New Jersey, American Muslims for Palestine, NJ-08 for Progress, Hudson Pride Center, ICNA Council for Social Justice, Black Men United Jersey City, Black Lives Matter Paterson, Elizabeth.

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Black Lives Matter rally coming to North Hudson for second year in a row tomorrow - Hudson County View

Groups gather downtown to mark anniversary of George Floyd protests – WANE

Posted: Jun 5, 2021 / 04:57 PM EDT / Updated: Jun 6, 2021 / 10:13 AM EDT

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) Fort Waynes ChangeMakers hosted a Protest Reunion celebration at the Allen County Courthouse on Saturday. The event marked one year since the Black Lives Matter protests downtown that were held in response to the murder of George Floyd.

This event is kind of like peaceful environment, said Slayla Marie, one of the hosts. And its a fun environment and its an environment where we can be like okay, this happened a year ago and it wasnt all that great, you know, we were protesting and fighting but today we can celebrate.'

This event was originally scheduled for May 28th but was rescheduled due to inclement weather. The organizers re-scheduled for June 5th, which would have been Breonna Taylors birthday.

We just want the community to know that there can be peace in the middle of a storm, said Julius Pressey, one of the speakers. Were in the middle of a storm of fighting for voting rights in America. Were fighting for our policing legislation. Its a battle, but in the middle of it, we can come together as a family and enjoy one another.

The Protest Reunion will took place on Saturday from 4:00-7:00 p.m. The organizers listed this as a family-friendly event and was hosted by Six 8, Slayla Marie and Tricey Lafaye. Other speakers that were listed include:

They also hosted a clothing drive by AlienNature Supply and passing out 300 free meals in partnership with Big Mommas Kitchen & Human Agricultural Cooperative for the Community Curbside BBQ Giveaway.

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Groups gather downtown to mark anniversary of George Floyd protests - WANE

UES Black Lives Matter Group Marks 1 Year Of Nightly Vigils – Upper East Side, NY Patch

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY On June 2, 2020, eight days after the murder of George Floyd, protesters occupied two full blocks of East End Avenue outside Gracie Mansion and held a silent vigil in memory of people killed by police. The following night, they returned.

Improbably, the vigils never stopped. On Wednesday, a few dozen people met in Carl Schurz Park, as they have done almost every night over the past 12 months, marking the one-year anniversary of the gatherings that became known as Upper East Side For Black Lives Matter (UES4BLM).

"It was just good to see that it's still going," said Saundrea Coleman, who attended the first vigil last year and later became one of the group's main organizers.

Along the way, organizers say they have driven meaningful change in a neighborhood hardly known for its protest scene even as they received harsh, sometimes violent resistance from others on the Upper East Side.

The vigils began when Patrick Bobilin, a neighborhood activist and onetime candidate for State Assembly, attended a similar event in Brooklyn's McCarren Park in the wake of Floyd's death last spring.

"I realized something like that could be valuable in my neighborhood," he recalled. "So I sent a couple messages out to a few neighbors."

The hundreds of people who attended that first night's vigil sat silently for a full 30 minutes before leading a "Black Lives Matter" chant and then dispersing ahead of the 8 p.m. curfew that the city had ordered.

In the ensuing weeks, attendance remained in the low hundreds, shrinking to a few dozen by the fall. Guest speakers ranged from the writer Maeve Higgins to the great granddaughter of Eleanor Bumpurs, an elderly Black woman who was fatally shot by police in her Bronx home in 1984.

In the depths of winter, five or six people braved the elements and shivered together in the park each night, Coleman recalled.

Since the protests' early days, however, participants have felt pushback. Hecklers occasionally walk up or drive past and shout profanities, threats of violence against protesters have appeared on social media, and the "altar" to victims of police violence that demonstrators constructed in the park is vandalized constantly including a recent night when it was smeared with feces, Coleman said.

Other antagonizing moments have included a baffling "No Protesting Allowed" sign that appeared in the park in October, and an incident in August when Coleman's cousin, visiting from California, was tackled to the ground by a stranger as she marched on the East River Esplanade.

Still, Coleman said the group's achievements carry more weight than the occasional hostility. She pointed to the formation in December of Community Board 8's social justice committee, which she co-chairs and which has pushed the board to call for major police reforms and accountability for the Capitol rioters.

"I think things are changing," Coleman said. "As long as people continue to speak out, speak truth to power, we're starting to look at all of these systemic issues that have plagued Black people."

Bobilin said he hopes the current organizers find new ways to engage their neighbors, to ensure that the vigil does not become "something that people either just pass by on their morning run, or try to avoid from 7 to 8 p.m. if they don't agree with it."

"My worry is that it becomes routine, whether for the neighborhood or for the attendees," he said.

Coleman said the group is already planning one major change: once UES4BLM reaches 400 consecutive days in July, it will cease to be a nightly event and will pivot instead to a Friday-Sunday schedule.

That reduction will give organizers more time to step back and consider the best ways to approach their work, Coleman said. But the underlying issues show no sign of going away.

"At the end of the day, Black people are still dying," she said.

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UES Black Lives Matter Group Marks 1 Year Of Nightly Vigils - Upper East Side, NY Patch

Edward Colston: Bristol statue vandalised and toppled during Black Lives Matter protest goes on display – Sky News

The statue of Bristol slave-trader Edward Colston - toppled during a Black Lives Matter protest a year ago - is to go on display to the public from tomorrow.

The temporary exhibition in the city sees the statue scratched and still covered in spray paint - just as it was recovered from the bottom of Bristol Harbour, where it was dumped by protestors back in June 2020.

Shawn Sobers from the Bristol History Commission has helped the M-Shed Museum organise the display: "What we don't want people to feel is that this display is in any way celebrating, commemorating, or commiserating Colston as an individual.

"But it is an important part of the history of the city to really get an understanding of his role in trans-Atlantic slave trade, and how we can move beyond this point," he added.

The statue of the 17th century slave trader was pulled down during a Black Lives Matter protest less than two weeks after the murder of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis.

It led to a national debate on the future of statues and the changing of other buildings and institutions in Bristol named after Colston.

The exhibition coincides with a new survey which will seek opinions from the public as to what should happen long-term to the statue and the now empty plinth.

"This display is all about gathering people's opinions on what should happen to the statue next," said Mr Sobers. "We feel this is an important moment and opportunity to find out how Bristol people want to go forward from this point onwards."

The statue lies on its side, still covered in graffiti, and surrounded by placards used by protesters on 7 June last year.

Ray Barnett, head of collections and archives for Bristol City Council, told Sky News work has been carried out to keep the protestor's paint work in place: "Our view was that our role was to keep all options open. From a museum point of view that was about conservation rather than restoration."

"We're expecting a great variety of reactions from people to be honest. We want people to use it as a vehicle for people to express their views on how these problematic issues are faced up to as a city," he added.

The toppling of the statue on 7 June last year divided opinion in Bristol - and reaction to the new exhibition remains mixed.

"Now that they've put it on display it's not a bad thing as it's an opportunity for people to educate the other people who come to visit to tell them what kind of guy he was - he built a school, okay, but he also did lots and lots of bad things," said Bristol local Farhap Oshref.

But another lady - who did not want to be named - said she wants the statue to be put back.

"It's been there for years, just leave it, put it back - why not? It's just been there, do you know what I mean, and if that was ours, and it is history gone by, I believe things have moved on," she said.

There is no set time frame for how long the exhibition will last, or when the public survey will close.

Mr Sobers told Sky News this initial display is simply about starting a conversation about the issues raised by the protest, the city's slave-trade history and the statue's toppling.

He said: "This display is by no means suggested that those issues have gone away, actually what we want is this display to do is think about and address it what are those issues going on.

"These very strong feelings in the city are still present and how can we start to have a conversation and what actions can we put in place."

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Edward Colston: Bristol statue vandalised and toppled during Black Lives Matter protest goes on display - Sky News

Australia’s news media play an important role reminding the country that Black lives still matter – The Conversation Australia & New Zealand

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names of people who have passed away, and descriptions of these deaths.

One year has passed since George Floyds death under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer. Floyds name is imprinted upon our consciousness, as it should be.

However, in Australia we know less about the more than 474 Indigenous people who have died in police or prison custody in the 30 years since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.

While Floyds death and the Black Lives Matter movement sparked extensive media attention, Australian Indigenous deaths in custody have had a harder time attracting sustained coverage, particularly from mainstream news outlets. Media attention on the issue has been episodic and too often absent.

As Darumbal and South Sea Islander journalist Amy McQuire says, there is a national apathy in response to First Nations deaths in custody. McQuire, who consistently reports on deaths in custody as an independent journalist, says: When Aboriginal people die in custody there is a national silence. Some deaths in custody break through, but many more pass unnoticed.

The royal commission stated that to reduce Aboriginal deaths in custody it is critical to reduce imprisonment rates (which have doubled since 1991), and to improve the exercise of the duty of care owed to people in custody.

Two Indigenous deaths in custody, 20 years apart, demonstrate the failure to achieve both.

In 1994, 30-year-old Aboriginal woman Ms Beetson died of treatable heart disease in Sydneys Mulawa womens prison.

She was admitted to prison unwell; previous open-heart surgery and other concerns were highlighted on her admittance form. She was given a cursory medical examination and her symptoms were put down to drug withdrawal. Over a week, she became weaker and sicker, received no effective medical attention and died alone in a cell.

In 2014, Yamatji woman Ms Dhu, 22, was arrested for unpaid fines, against royal commission recommendations. She was held in a South Hedland, WA, police watch house for three days in intense pain and growing sicker.

The usual assumptions were made about drug withdrawal and that she was faking it. She died of staphylococcal septicaemia and pneumonia.

Twenty years apart, the circumstances around Ms Beetsons and Ms Dhus deaths reflect the same inadequate medical treatment, inhumanity, lack of professionalism and failures. Both medical conditions were treatable and both deaths preventable.

But the story of Ms Dhus case broke through, due to local and effective activism, and because the media landscape had started to change.

Read more: Not criminals or passive victims: media need to reframe their representation of Aboriginal deaths in custody

The year before Ms Dhus death, The Guardian began publishing an online Australian edition. Guardian journalist Calla Wahlquist reported at least one story every day from the inquest into Ms Dhus death.

The Guardians sustained deaths in custody reporting and its Deaths Inside database have made a difference to deaths in custody coverage.

Media attention was important in helping to create the conditions for the royal commissions establishment. Among the more influential and agenda-setting stories were those by Western Australian freelance journalist Jan Mayman reporting on Roebourne teenager John Pats 1983 death for The Age, and a 1985 Four Corners program presented by David Marr.

In its report and recommendations, the royal commission recognised the important role of the media as a form of collective conscience, contributing to the possibility of increased justice for Aboriginal people.

The release of the royal commissions final report was a Black-lives-just-could-matter moment in Australia.

Here was the blueprint for transforming the life chances of Aboriginal people, and the relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians. Implementing the reports 339 recommendations could reduce imprisonment rates, deaths in custody, inequality and disadvantage.

When the report was released, the media was again interested and engaged. Aboriginal peoples points of view were heard, and Aboriginal deaths in custody became an important story that put individual deaths into context. However, this kind of reporting soon fell away.

Four years after the report, governments were claiming successful implementation of the royal commissions recommendations. However, the Australian Institute of Criminology was reporting deaths in prison at record levels.

Research by the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism found the media uncritically reported government implementation claims as if they were true.

While First Nations journalists, such as Amy McQuire, Gamilaraay and Yawalaraay woman Loreena Allam and Muruwari man Allan Clarke, are telling stories of injustice meted out to Aboriginal people, non-Indigenous journalists must also keep telling stories about the injustices caused by colonisation.

It took an event in the US to spark the Indigenous lives matter response across Australia. Journalists must continue to report on the chain of events that lead to Black deaths at the hands of the state.

How we can do this:

We can report the facts, for instance, Indigenous adult and youth apprehension and imprisonment rates, Aboriginal youth and adult suicide rates, coronial inquest findings and recommendations.

We can interview witnesses, family members and representatives, police and prison officers, and other experts and report what they and other informed commentators say about the facts, consequences and causes of those deaths.

We can investigate and discern the patterns emerging from these deaths; the similar facts and common factors, the same systemic failures, the ongoing evidence of institutional racism.

Through our journalism we need to honour each person who has died, and try to bring some comfort to their affected families and communities.

As investigative journalist Allan Clarke says:

Australia, we can do better and we must do better.

See here for resources and guides for what we as journalists can do.

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Australia's news media play an important role reminding the country that Black lives still matter - The Conversation Australia & New Zealand