Black Lives Matter as a movement, or at least a slogan,recently has attracted broad support in favor of racial equality and opposition to police brutality.

Two-thirds of Americans say they either strongly or somewhat support the Black Lives Matter movement, according to a Pew Research poll.

However, at least one self-described trained Marxist founded the organization behind the movement, and that organization also has called for dismantling the nuclear familysomething that likely extends beyond the goals of many supporters.

This hardcore cadre, they are parasitic on genuine outrage and genuine injustice, Scott Walter, president of the Capital Research Center, an investigative think tank, told The Daily Signal in a phone interview.

I dont know anyone on the planet who doesnt think the George Floyd death was an injustice, Walter said. Thats why it was against the law. Thats why they [the four Minneapolis police officers involved] are being prosecuted. Most of the people out protesting are going to be moved by the outrage of the moment. The problem is that you have this cadre.

Walter was referring primarily to the three founders of Black Lives Matter as well as a board member with Thousand Currents, the leading funder of the group.

Here are four things to know about the founders and organization behind Black Lives Matter.

The Black Lives Matter movement began after the 2013 shooting death of Trayvon Martin, 17, in Sanford, Florida, and picked up after the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown, 18, in 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri.

The groups co-founders are Patrisse Khan-Cullors, Opal Tometi, and Alicia Garza, all of them black women.

The first thing, I think, is that we actually do have an ideological frame, Khan-Cullors said in a 2015 interview with Real News Network. Myself and Alicia in particular are trained organizers. We are trained Marxists.

Khan-Cullors continued:

We are super-versed on, sort of, ideological theories. And I think that what we really tried to do is build a movement that could be utilized by many, many black folk. We dont necessarily want to be the vanguard of this movement. I think weve tried to put out a political frame thats about centering who we think are the most vulnerable amongst the black community, to really fight for all of our lives.

Khan-Cullors, who serves as strategic adviser to the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, is an artist and organizer from Los Angeles, according to the groups website.

Khan-Cullors, 36, is also the founder of Dignity and Power Now, a group that advocates for incarcerated people and their families. A Fulbright scholar, she is the New York Times best-selling author of the book When They Call You a Terrorist.

Garza, an organizer in Oakland, California, is also special projects director for the National Domestic Workers Alliance, an advocacy group for domestic workers.

Garza, 39, was named to The Roots 2016 list of 100 African American achievers and influencers and is the recipient of the 2016 Glamour Women of the Year Award and the 2016 Marie Claire New Guard Award. She was recognized as a Community Change Agent at the BETs 2016 Black Girls Rock Awards.

While two founders of Black Lives Matter are on the West Coast, Tometi works out of New York. The groups website describes her as a Nigerian-American writer, strategist, and community organizer and a transnational feminist.

Tometi, 35, created online platforms and social media strategy during the early days of the movement.

She also is executive director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration and, according to the website, is featured at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington.

More than one Black Lives Matter appears to exist, but the one primary associated with its best-known founders and that receives the largest level of donations is the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation.

According to the groups website, the organization has a national network of about 40 chapters.

The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation didnt respond directly to questions from The Daily Signal. After two days of inquiries, spokesman Jordan Jackson said in an email that the organization was inundated with media requests.

Should someone be available to fulfill this request, Jackson wrote, I will circle back here as soon as possible.

In 2016, the left-leaning grantmaker Thousand Currents, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit group, became the financial sponsor of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation.

As a result, the foundation doesnt have its own tax-exempt status and is instead a project of Thousand Currents that doesnt yet have to file what are called 990 forms with the Internal Revenue Service.

Thousand Currents reported $3.35 million in donations earmarked for the BLM Global Network Foundation in 2019, according to Capital Research Center, a watchdog group for nonprofits.

Pledges of donations skyrocketed after the May 25 death of Floyd, a handcuffed black man, in police custody in Minneapolis. Those donors include major corporations.

Thousand Currents has been a fiscal sponsor of BLM since 2016, and serves as the back office support, including finance, accounting, grants management, insurance, human resources, legal and compliance. Donations to BLM are restricted donations to support the activities of BLM, Thousand Currents said in an email to The Daily Signal.

It deferred other questions to the BLM Global Network Foundation.

Thousand Currents reportedly gave a total of $90,130 in grants to the Santa Clarita, California-based Black Lives Matter Foundation, according to its tax filings for fiscal years 2017 and 2018.

This second organization, according to BuzzFeed, is a one-man operation separate from the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation. After Floyds death, the foundation in Santa Clarita raked in $4.3 million in donations, BuzzFeed reported.

To add to the mix, a separate Movement for Black Lives has financial sponsorship from the Alliance for Global Justice.

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation gave a three-year $900,000 grant through Thousand Currents to help organize local BLM Global Network Foundation chapters, according to Capital Research Center.

More recently, several major corporations announced they were donating to Black Lives Matter.

Amazon announced it would give $10 million to 12 groups, including BLM Global Network Foundation, while Microsoft vowed to give $250,000 to it. Airbnb announced it is giving a total of $500,000 to the NAACP and the BLM Global Network Foundation.

The George Soros-backed Open Society Foundations reportedly contributed about $33 million to groups associated with the Black Lives Matter movement. However, it isnt clear whether that money made it to the BLM Global Network Foundation, according to Capital Research Center.

Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation doesnt hide its more out-of-the mainstream views, although many of them are stated in broad terms.

We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and villages that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable, the organization says on its website.

The website uses the word comrades several times, in one instance to say: We practice empathy. We engage comrades with the intent to learn about and connect with their contexts.

Although the organization states that We are unapologetically Black in our positioning, it focuses heavily on something that traditionally has not been part of African American activismsexual orientation and gender identity:

We make space for transgender brothers and sisters to participate and lead. We are self-reflexive and do the work required to dismantle cisgender privilege and uplift Black trans folk, especially Black trans women who continue to be disproportionately impacted by trans-antagonistic violence.

We build a space that affirms Black women and is free from sexism, misogyny, and environments in which men are centered.

Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation says it is a queer-affirming network.

When we gather, we do so with the intention of freeing ourselves from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking, or rather, the belief that all in the world are heterosexual (unless s/he or they disclose otherwise), it says.

It also fights age discrimination, stating: We cultivate an intergenerational and communal network free from ageism.

Thousand Currents, which underwrites the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, describes itself as an organization that envisions a world where humanity thrives as a creative force that is in reciprocal [sic] and interdependent with nature, and creates loving, equitable and just societies.

Notably, the vice chairwoman of the board of directors for Thousand Currents is Susan Rosenberg, a convicted felon who participated in bombing buildings in the Northeast and Washington, D.C.

In an email Wednesday, The Daily Signal asked Thousand Currents about Rosenbergs position on the board of directors. That morning, the organizations webpage about the board included a short bio of Rosenberg. By late afternoon, that page no longer was available and a message said: Ooops. Sorry. This page doesnt exist.

Rosenberg was part of M19, short for May 19th Communist Organization. Her memoir An American Radical, details her 16 years in federal prison.

At her sentencing hearing in 1984, Rosenberg urged supporters to continue to fight for the defeat of U.S. imperialism.

One of the biggest bombs they had went off in the U.S. Capitol and tore up that fine Democratic slave owner John C. Calhouns portrait, Capital Research Centers Walter said of Rosenberg and M19. The Weather Underground wasnt really radical enough for her. Some of those people ended up wimping out and going off to be stock brokers and whatever. That wasnt good enough for her and she stayed radical.

M19s bombings reportedly were for the sake of causing enough disruption to prevent President Ronald Reagans reelection in 1984. Rosenberg was a member of the Weather Underground in the 1960s. President Bill Clinton commuted her 58-year sentence on his last day in office in January 2001.

According to Capital Research Center, Thousand Currents also is a grant-making organization that assists various other left-of-center causes and has focused heavily on opposing genetically modified organisms.

Donors include the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the NoVo Foundation, and the Libra Foundation. It had annual revenue of $6.8 million in 2018.

This report has been modified to correct the name of the NoVo Foundation.

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4 Things the Liberal Media Wont Tell You About Black ...

The Black Lives Matter movement has gained steam recently following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis last month. Protests and riots have taken place across the country, all in the name of so-called "justice" for Floyd. BLM organizers have repeatedly said their goal is to end "police brutality" and "systemic racism" that disproportionately impacts people of color. One of BLM's co-founders, Patrisse Cullors, admitted that the group is lead by trained Marxists who have the ultimate goal of ousting President Trump from office.

"I think that the criticism is helpful. I think the first thing is we do have an ideological frame. Myself and Alicia, in particular, are trained organizers," she explained during an interview with The Real News Now. "We are trained Marxists. We are super versed on ideological theories."

Although the Black Lives Matter website doesn't explicitly say that Joe Biden should be president, Cullors reaffirmed that point during a segment on CNN with Jake Tapper.

"I'm hands down not only Trump needs to not be in office in November but he should resign now," she said. "Trump needs to be out of office. He's not fit for office so what we're going to push for is a move to get Trump out while we're also going to continue to push press on Vice President Joe Biden around his policies and his relationship to black policing and criminalization. That's going to be important but our goal is to get Trump out."

According to the group's website, they have specific campaign goals for 2020.

1.Vigorously engage our communities in the electoral process:

Millions of Black Americans are repressed within the democratic process, yet data shows Black voters tipped the balance in the 2018 midterm elections. Moving towards 2020, we seek to increase the power of our voices and votes.

2.Educate our constituents about candidates and the issues that impact us most:

We will amplify and do a deep dive into the issues that affect our communities most and hold our candidates accountable on these issues.

3.Promote voter registration among Generation Z, the Black community, and our allies:

Demographic shifts means that in the 2020 election, non-whites will account for a third of voters and one in ten voters will be members of Generation Z. We will encourage and provide resources for those seeking to vote.

With an emphasis on the following issues:

Notice "beat Trump" isn't explicitly listed?

Read more from the original source:

Here's What Black Lives Matter Leaders' Ultimate Goal Is

Alicia Garza, from left, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi, co-founders of the Black Lives Matter movement, arrive at the Glamour Women of the Year Awards at NeueHouse Hollywood on Monday, Nov. 14, 2016, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

Theres Black Lives Matter the concept and Black Lives Matter the institution. Most people who sign onto the BLM movement believe they are backing the concept, but it should be understood very clearly that the institution is reaping all the benefits.

And the institution has absolutely no concern for the well-being of black lives or equality in this country. In fact, by their own admission, their purpose isnt to heal this country, its to rip it apart and remake it into a more Marxist kind of society.

For more on that, I highly recommend you read my previous article on the matter.

(READ: Black Lives Matter Is Preying on Americas Belief That Black Lives Matter)

A 2015 video has resurfaced proving that the entire intent of the Black Lives Matter movement is marxism. As you can see during the interview with the Real News Network, BLM founder Patrisse Cullors admits she and her cohorts are trained Marxists.

We actually do have an ideological frame. Myself and Alicia [Garza] in particular, were trained organizers. We are trained Marxists. We are super versed on ideological theories, said Cullors.

Black Lives Matter the institution isnt trying to hide their Marxism either. As I list in my previous article, in their what we believe section, they list their goals and all of them are extreme leftist stances concerned with destroying the very fabric of America in favor of the implementation of radical marxist ideals:

We are self-reflexive and do the work required to dismantle cisgender privilege and uplift Black trans folk, especially Black trans women who continue to be disproportionately impacted by trans-antagonistic violence.

We build a space that affirms Black women and is free from sexism, misogyny, and environments in which men are centered.

We practice empathy. We engagecomradeswith the intent to learn about and connect with their contexts.

We make our spaces family-friendly and enable parents to fully participate with their children. We dismantle the patriarchal practice that requires mothers to work double shifts so that they can mother in private even as they participate in public justice work.

We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and villages that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable.

We foster a queeraffirming network. When we gather, we do so with the intention of freeing ourselves from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking, or rather, the belief that all in the world are heterosexual (unless s/he or they disclose otherwise).

Anything permeated with Marxism doesnt have the interest of the people in mind. It often uses people or causes as an avenue to dismantle and rebuild political systems. Communism and socialism are not a solid system to replace anything with as it deteriorates and degrades anything it touches and that includes the lives of the people. These two systems alone have claimed the lives of millions over the span of its implementation in various countries.

The black community isnt really a concern for BLM the institution. If it was, it would be looking into studies on what policies affect the black community on a fundamental level, improving relations between law enforcement and the black community, and putting money toward the institutions that do see marked improvements for the black populations way of life.

They have no interest in that, however. They maintain themselves to be a reactive organization that has no interest in fixing the problem. This is evidenced by Cullors reaction to the Wichita first steps barbeque event in 2016 where a black community and the law enforcement community got together to have real conversations to provoke better understanding. Cullors immediately distanced BLM from this event and said this:

We dont sit on panels with law enforcement, and we dont have BBQs or cookouts with law enforcement. We feel the best method at this point in history is by holding police accountable by organizing and advocating for police accountability.

In other words, BLMs purpose isnt to bridge gaps, its to criticize and react. This is textbook Marxism meant to bring down organizations, not help improve them.

Supporting the concept of Black Lives Matter (ensuring the equal opportunity and well being of the black community) is what many believe they are doing, and if thats the case, then be sure to only support the concept and distance yourself from the institution, which is putting black lives in harms way for political and monetary gain.

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You're Being Duped: Black Lives Matter Founder Admits "We ...

Back the Blue and Black Lives Matter protesters both rallied in front of Danvers Town Hall Thursday evening, slamming the town managers decision last week to force local firefighters to remove thin blue line flags from firetrucks.

I was quite upset when I found out our town did that to our law enforcement, when we have one of the best law enforcement departments in the entire state, said Rick Bettencourt, who organized the Back the Blue rally in response to the decision.

Last Tuesday, town manager Steve Bartha ordered the fire department to take down thin blue line flags that had hung on trucks for the past two years.

The symbol has also become a form of political speech in todays social landscape that has the power to make marginalized members of our community feel unwelcome and unsafe, Bartha said in a statement last week.

Bettencourt rounded up hundreds of supporters to rally in front of town hall, but he soon got word that a local Black Lives Matter standout was scheduled for the same night, in the same location.

Not everyone got the memo. Lynn teacher Davia Moore showed up to what she thought was simply a BLM standout and was overwhelmed by the number of vocal police supporters waving enormous thin blue line flags and blasting music from speakers set in the beds of pickup trucks.

It feels aggressive. It feels like people are crowding our space, she said through tears.

The lives of police officers mean quite a bit to me, so the feeling that I can either care about Black lives or the lives of people who serve us, feels like a really hard choice for me to make and one that I dont think I should have to make in my community, she said.

Bettencourt said the counterprotesters reached out to him about the scheduling conflict.

We said, Youre more than welcome to do it. I dont think its a good idea to have it the same night, he told the Herald.

He said he believes removing the flag from firetrucks is an instance of misconstruing its message.

That thin blue lines a beacon of hope. Its a safety blanket, he said.

Danvers resident Emeline Walker brought a sign that said: Blue Lives dont exist.

A lot of times, rallies like this theyre saying theyre the same thing: being Black, and being a cop. And theyre not, she said.

Originally posted here:

Back the Blue and Black Lives Matter protests face off in Danvers - Boston Herald

Since the height of the protests in June, theres been an absence of a meaningful nationwide embrace of police reforms. That month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for the creation of a national database on police use of force, yet the measure fails to address broader issues related to policing. And while the aftermath of the Jacob Blake shooting by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, may provide renewed pressure on state legislators to act, theres no denying that the largest social movement of the 21st century has to enter a new chapter.

To that end, at Friday nights convention, the Movement for Black Lives presented a robust 2020 platform, connecting the dots among issues of policing, reproductive justice, housing, climate change, immigration, and disabled and trans rights. In addition to outlining demands to end the war on Black people, the platform urges the passage of the Breathe Act, federal legislation that would ensure the closure of Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities, defund police departments, and reestablish social programs for the formerly incarcerated. The platform also calls for land reparations for Indigenous communities and Black farmers, electoral justice via the passage of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, and the advocacy and protection of trans people. The convention was an energetic capstone to a summer of victories both significant and modest.

Read: What incarcerated rappers can teach America

Still, direct action is never the primary component of a movements longevity; it is only a piece that works in concert with a multitude of efforts. Movements frequently face setbacks and fierce resistance, and some even wait decades to capture the national imagination. When the cameras turn off, when theres not as much attention to the issues in mass media or social media, we think that the movement activity has somehow ended, Allen Kwabena Frimpong, a co-founder of the AdAstra Collective, an organization that supports and studies social movements, said in a recent interview. But it hasnt. Its that what is required of us has shifted ... in this phase of the cycle. Its a time to build strategy.

When Black Lives Matter protests first captured the nations attention and spread across American cities in the late summer of 2014, three high-profile police killings of Black people had occurred: John Crawford III in Ohio, Eric Garner in New York, and Michael Brown in Missouri. It was 18-year-old Browns shooting death by an officer in Ferguson that marked a tipping point in the movement: The nation saw several weeks of uprisings and sustained protests demanding policing reform and accountability. That energy was sustained in Chicago, New York, Baton Rouge, Dallas, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Oakland, St. Louis, and others until 2016.

More:

Black Lives Matter Just Entered Its Next Phase - The Atlantic

Utahs largest police union alleges that some teachers in the state have been pushing an anti-law enforcement agenda by making disparaging comments about officers in front of students and wearing Black Lives Matter shirts in the classroom.

In a letter addressed to the state superintendent this week, the Utah Fraternal Order of Police demands that Utah Board of Education immediately denounce such actions. Educators, the union said, should be neutral on all political issues.

If teachers want to protest police, then it needs to be on their own time, the union wrote. The classroom is NOT the place for political indoctrination or social engineering based upon the political leanings of the teacher.

The FOP specifically points to a teacher at an unnamed West Jordan elementary school, who it said wore a BLM T-shirt and spoke out against police to her class.

One of the students in the room, the union said, happened to be the daughter of an officer who was injured during one of the recent Salt Lake City rallies. At those events, protesters have denounced racism and violence at the hands of law enforcement in response to the death of George Floyd, a Black man who was killed by a white Minneapolis officer.

In its letter, the FOP called the demonstrations riots. And it said the West Jordan student was uncomfortable with the discussion and felt like her parent was being attacked by her teacher.

This child was emotionally devastated by someone who should be helping her feel safe, the union added.

Ian Adams, the executive director of the Utah FOP, said Thursday that he wouldnt identify the family or school for privacy reasons. But the officer, he said, had to be hospitalized because of his injuries during the May 30 rally that was the most turbulent and likely the largest. Now, how is that child supposed to trust that teacher? Adams asked.

In response to the allegations, Sandy Riesgraf, the spokesperson for Jordan School District, said Thursday that administrators there were never contacted directly by the union. But they conducted a review after seeing the letter and found no evidence that a teacher, as they say, was making disparaging comments about law enforcement officers in the classroom.

Riesgraf said a teacher at a West Jordan elementary was wearing a BLM shirt. That alone, though, likely does not break the districts or the states policies concerning political speech by educators.

Obviously, within the confines of a classroom discussion, to discuss the Democratic and Republican parties is fine, said Mark Peterson, spokesman for the Utah Board of Education. But to say one party is better is not. Youre allowed to discuss them as concepts.

Peterson added that it would probably be up to attorneys to determine if a Black Lives Matter shirt crosses a boundary. Is it like a rainbow sticker supporting the LGBTQ community? Does it just tell students that they should respect Black lives? Or, he asked, does it convey an anti-police message?

That would be open to interpretation, Peterson said. Im sure there are lawyers who would argue that is political speech.

However, Black Lives Matter Utah does not view it as political. Leader Lex Scott said that valuing Black lives isnt a partisan issue.

When we say that our lives matter and you disagree, thats racism, Scott said Thursday in response to the FOP letter.

She has sent a message to the union, asking the leaders there to sit down with members of Black Lives Matter Utah and have a discussion. Currently, she feels the letter is creating more division in the community. I hope that theyll give us a call and that we can handle this diplomatically, Scott added.

Adams with FOP, though, believes that wearing the shirt expresses an opinion about political activism. And he said he also wouldnt want teachers to wear Blues Lives Matter shirts to support the police. There should be no agendas about law enforcement, he suggested, inside the classroom.

Unfortunately, its the students who pay the price on this one, he said.

Additionally, the FOP said the West Jordan elementary incident is just one case of several it has heard about from its 4,100 members since the new school year began last month, after a summer of tensions between police and protesters.

The union suggested that teachers are also assigning books that portray police officers as evil, or unnecessarily violent toward persons of color. The group said educators have, as well, given speaking assignments full of anti-police sentiment.

This is not what the education system in Utah should look like, the group wrote in its letter. And students, they said, especially those with parents in law enforcement, should not be subject to this treatment.

The union is now calling for the Utah board to remind teachers of the rules regarding political speech. The FOP concludes: We trust that this issue can be resolved.

The rest is here:

Utah police union accuses teachers of 'political indoctrination' by supporting Black Lives Matter movement in class - Salt Lake Tribune

Police in Burlington, Vermont, arrested a man on Monday who was carrying firearms near the citys Black Lives Matter protests for three consecutive days.

Jordan Atwood, 25, is barred from possessing firearms due to restrictions imposed by conditions of a prior criminal release. He was arrested on Monday afternoon for violating those terms, Burlington police said.

Atwood was first spotted Saturday evening in the police parking lot across the street from Battery Park, where protestors have been camping out for the last week.

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Vermont is an open carry state, so when community members initially made complaints, dispatchers told callers that the man was exercising his Constitutional rights, interim police chief Jon Murad wrote in a press release on Tuesday.

City police continued monitoring the armed man, later identified as Atwood, who was seen again the following evening on Sunday at the same park. He refused to identify himself when a police officer spoke to him.

On Monday, police investigated Atwood and discovered that he was banned from possessing firearms as part of his conditions of release due to a previous reckless endangerment charge from 2019. Detectives then applied for search warrants, police said.

That evening, police dispatch received a call about an armed man walking up the street by the park.

At the time of his arrest, Atwood was carrying a pistol and an AR-15, police said. Atwood did not immediately respond to an NBC News request for comment. It was unclear if he had any legal representation.

The incident follows the arrest of Kyle Rittenhouse, 17, who was charged with first degree homicide in connection with the deaths of two people during the protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, over the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Wisconsin officials say Rittenhouse was also carrying an AR-15 style rifle the night of the shootings.

In a statement released on late Tuesday, Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger applauded the police for investigating Atwood, but said he was concerned for the safety of both the protesters and police.

We had a person whose behavior was, on its face, lawful but was nevertheless troubling. His behavior frightened and alarmed community members, including those exercising their right to free speech, Murad said. Additional investigation work instead discovered him to be committing violations of the law, and he was apprehended appropriately.

Wilson Wong is a news associate at NBC News.

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Man arrested after carrying AR-15 near Black Lives Matter protests in Vermont - NBC News

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Webster Groves neighbors mailed anonymous letter asking them to remove Black Lives Matter signs - KMOV.com

By

WAYNE PARRY Associated Press

September 2, 2020, 5:48 PM

2 min read

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Atlantic City is attempting to co-opt plans by protesters to paint Black Lives Matter on the seaside gambling resort's famous Boardwalk by doing the same thing in a place of its own choosing on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, in front of its civil rights memorial.

Mayor Marty Small, who is Black, said at a news conference Wednesday that painting the historic Boardwalk is illegal and that the city will host a community event about 90 minutes after the scheduled start time of the protest rally that was to include the Boardwalk painting.

We believe theres a better way to handle it, Small said. Painting on the Boardwalk is prohibited.

Small praised the organizer of the Boardwalk event, Steve Young, who has drawn the ire of many in city government for organizing a protest with the stated aim of shutting the city down" just as its pandemic-shuttered casinos reopened.

The city is trying to strip Young of two city posts he holds because of the July protest.

But the mayor invited Young to join the city-sponsored event, even though Small stopped short of asking him to cancel the Boardwalk event.

Reached after the mayor's speech, Young said in an interview that Friday's rally will go on as scheduled and will include a brother of George Floyd, a Black man whose death at the hands of Minneapolis police inspired worldwide protests.

But Young said he was not sure whether participants would still try to paint the Boardwalk.

We want to keep things peaceful, he said. We do not want to be confrontational.

The city has consulted with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, Small said, and is prepared to respond to whatever may happen Friday.

There have been three racial justice demonstrations in Atlantic City this year. The first, on May 31, was followed by theft and property destruction for which about 100 people were charged. A second on June 6 was peaceful.

Young organized the July 4 protest as the casinos were permitted to reopen after more than three months of being shut due to the coronavirus outbreak. He was among seven people arrested when marchers tried to block the entrance of the Atlantic City Expressway, the main route to the city and its casinos.

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Mayor one-ups Black Lives Matter rally with his own plans - ABC News

The dominating presence of racism, with its harmful effects on both mental and physical health, has been an undeniable reality for Black people for centuries.

Despite the election of a Black president, the election of Black members of Congress, and the appointment of Black Supreme Court Justices, the detrimental effects of racism on the health and safety of Black people in the United States continue to be evident.

This is a result of centuries of institutionalized racial policies that continue to serve as obstacles to Black people fighting for racial equality.

Although the struggles that Black people continue to face have largely been discredited under the belief that society has moved beyond segregation and slavery, the recent shooting of Jacob Blake and the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery to name but a few have brought to light the extent of racial injustice in the U.S. and beyond.

Despite police brutality and the lack of repercussions that come with the killing of Black lives being an epidemic that has defined the Black struggle since the beginning of slavery, recent events have caused an awakening to the extent of institutionalized racism, particularly among white people and non-Black people of color.

The recognition of the toll that institutionalized racism continues to take on Black people has become even more evident in the climate of the current pandemic.

COVID-19 has been disrupting and taking lives all over the world. But it is disproportionately affecting Black people, largely due to the lack of healthcare resources and the high rate of poverty among this demographic due to a long history of institutionalized racial policies.

The murder of unarmed Black men and women at the hands of the police over the past few months has shown that Black people are not only going through one health pandemic, but two systemic racism being the other.

The growing presence of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement has brought to light this reality of the multifaceted nature of racism, with its demands for the end not only of racist police, but of discriminatory laws, housing segregation, health inequities, and education inequity all of which point to the fact that racism is a public health issue.

Systemic racism is the cause of many health issues and a direct determinant of health. Let me illustrate my point.

Experts have said that housing segregation is a fundamental cause of racial disparities in health.

A survey of young Black men appearing in the American Journal of Public Health found that [p]articipants who reported more police contact also reported more trauma and anxiety symptoms.

Meanwhile, this study shows that being discriminated against changes motivation mechanisms in the brain.

It is without a doubt that the reality of brutal confrontations with the police has a similarly devastating effect on the mental health of Black people in America. African American people are being systematically targeted by the very system that is supposed to grant them protection.

The endless murders of Black people at the hands of the police further jeopardize the mental health of Black people as a result of this collective suffering, lack of justice, and perceived lesser value of life that these racist institutions continue to perpetuate.

It has been over 3 months since the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery. After the killing of George Floyd, protests raged across the world in hopes of achieving justice for Black people. But, only a few days ago, we witnessed the shooting of yet another Black man: Jacob Blake. And once again, protests have erupted.

The BLM protests have been defined as the largest protests in the U.S. since the Civil Rights Movement, with every state including all American territories seeing protests spanning the course of several weeks.

In addition to these ongoing protests, there has been an identifiable shift in social media use in the movement for social justice. Within a week from the start of the protests, I saw my Instagram and Twitter feed go from an endless array of selfies to threads and resources about the dimensions of racism, ideas for how to support the BLM movement, and updates on the protests in general.

The endless amount of information that has continued to circulate on social media outlets in relation to addressing racial inequality has made it impossible for anyone to claim that they do not have enough knowledge about the situation to have an opinion.

Social media in the age of BLM has transformed into an outlet to spread useful information, hold people accountable, and keep the issue of racial inequality alive.

It is the issue of social media that leads me to comprehend the necessity of allyship, in support of non-Black people in the movement for racial equality, when trying to address racism in America and beyond.

What has made this wave of the BLM movement so continuous is the fact that this discussion on police brutality and systemic racism is finally being had across all aspects of society.

More non-Black people are attending protests and being vocal about the injustices that Black people face at the hands of the police than ever before. With this movement, it seems increasingly evident that more non-Black people are also being made aware of their contributions to racism and of the necessity to remain vocal and in solidarity with Black lives.

It is growing increasingly apparent that recent events have taught us the importance of non-Black allyship in addressing racism in all its dimensions.

There are many different methods of allyship, starting with a personal recognition of racism on an individual level and continuing onto more active forms of allyship, such as participation in protests and phone banking elected officials.

Nevertheless, while the involvement of non-Black people in the movement for racial equality is necessary, we must not forget that people of color need to be at the forefront of this movement. Genuine allyship should start with the acknowledgment of this fact.

It is important to note that allyship must not be a politicization of Black lives and white saviorism. Allyship must, first and foremost, start with listening.

The importance of allyship, particularly at a time like this, is even more significant given the detrimental impact of the recent events on the mental health of Black people. While many may respond to tragedy through methods of resistance such as protests and organizing, the reality is that such advocacy can be both emotionally and physically draining.

In addition to the heightened risk that Black populations face of suffering mental health issues as a result of forms of discrimination such as housing and public health inequities, this trend of murdering Black people surfaces a trauma in the community that runs deep.

With these events, Black Americans are reminded of the realities that they were taught growing up that their lives are valued less than those of the white American, that they are viewed as inferior by the system, and that they are more likely to die as a result of the color of their skin.

This is a hard reality to sit with, and it is exactly why, in a time like this, other communities must come together to fight on their behalf. This cannot be just our fight.

This brings me to my next point.

1. Take time to analyze your own prejudices, contributions to racism, and relationships with people of color. What language or behaviors are you exhibiting that put Black people in an uncomfortable position? Often, it is comments on hair, accents, and other stereotypes that many non-Black people view as harmless that play into the negative portrayal of Black people. Comments like these also make Black people feel uncomfortable. Doing some research into microaggressions is a good place to start with this personal reflection.

2. Educate yourself on the dimensions of racism, starting with the history of the slave trade, the Civil Rights Movement, and the racialization of the War on Crime. It is impossible to fully understand the extent of the movement today without realizing that this battle is one that has been raging on for much longer than many of us can imagine. Other events and phrases to research include Oscar Grant, Amadou Diallo, Rodney King, respectability politics, institutional racism, and the school to prison pipeline. Documentaries and series that provide a good portrayal of these topics include 13th, Trial By Media, When They See Us, LA 92, and The Kalief Browder Story.

3. Share educational resources on your social media pages. Although a story post may not seem significant, it is the very least one can do to not only show allyship, but to keep the conversation going. Refusal to post online signifies complacency and a lack of discern for the racial injustices that are occurring.

4. Speak up when you witness racism at your school, in your workplace, within your friendship groups, or within your family. Often, racism manifests itself in casual settings such as family dinners or work parties. Regardless of the physical outcome of racist comments, they must be addressed and silenced. Casual racism cannot be tolerated in any form when working toward dismantling racism at large. It starts at home and within your friendship circles.

5. Show up for the cause. Whether that be through attending protests, making phone calls, or writing emails, it is necessary to acknowledge that in addition to addressing societal racism, there must be change at the legislative level.

Therefore, engagement in politics is necessary. We must apply pressure from every aspect of society.

The burden of fighting against racial inequality must not fall on Black people alone. The recognition of this fact is necessary when fighting to keep the movement alive in demanding tactical change.

It is also important to realize that, during this time, the mental health of Black people is highly likely to take a toll, with many finding themselves forced to justify their experiences, advocate against the violence against their community, and fight for their voice to be heard.

As a result, being an ally to this movement must start with routinely checking in on our friends of color. For Black people, it is also necessary to take time for yourself to avoid being overwhelmed by the outpour of devastating news coverage.

To do so, it is important to take a break from social media when needed, seek support from your community and friends, and set some time aside to make sure your basic needs are taken care of.

Lastly, it is important to remember that even if one is not directly affected by these murders, these events still have the ability to play a huge role in affecting one of the most important aspects of ones health: mental health.

The extent of the collective suffering of Black people during this time must not be forgotten when pursuing this fight.

Hanna Al-Malssi is a BLM activist and political science and history graduate at the University of California, Los Angeles.

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How to be an ally for Black lives - Medical News Today